boy was heavy shells into mozambique and also zambia. what makes this movement this era we're living for so unique this is really an attack on itself is a lot of misunderstanding a distortion of what free speech is supposed to be about the context is hugely important. to publish it. to be offensive or provocative without eyes people to. setting the stage for a serious debate. up front at this time on al-jazeera. a big gamble in court got a shorter sentence and he'll be out of prison by the end of the day.

i'm richelle carey this is al jazeera life and also coming up. not safe and not sound crude sworn hundreds of thousands of syrian refugees could be forced to go home far too early. gasping for breath a suspected chlorine gas attack on rebel held areas and serious but the problems are. drilling into the super bowl america's biggest sports spectacle. we begin with breaking news out of south korea an appeals court has reduced and suspended the sentence for the man at the head of one of asia's biggest ever corruption scandals samsung vice chairman jay wiley has had his five year sentence reduced to two and a half years and that term has spent suspended so that means he'll be free by the

end of the day he has spent nearly a year behind bars for corruption name joins us live from seoul so this is a pretty big change how did all of this play out and tossed and what's the reaction been. richelle it's important for people to remember that lee was just one character a very high profile one as vice chairman of samsung that's part of a broader corruption scandal that brought down impeach president pock last year this country was riveted by the scandal there were frequent protests that brought millions of south koreans to the street and this was hoped to be when lee was convicted in august of last year it was hoped that this would assure in a new era of accountability for conglomerates as well as politicians but as you mentioned after one year in jail lee will be home in time for dinner and this is already generating

a lot of response among those who are critical some of the words we're hearing are shock speechless we expect there will be enough anger that there could be protests over this appellate court ruling in the coming days now there is no official word yet from samsung but we are hearing from lee's attorney who says that he wants to express the respect to the court's courage and wisdom to give a not guilty verdict of key charges but richelle they are not satisfied was not completely exonerated when it comes to the bribery allegations against him and they plan on appealing the remaining charges that he faces but in reality this case is over for him he will no longer do any time behind bars and that is something that is sure to anger a significant portion of the population so so about that natasha as you said this was part of

a much bigger corruption scandal and something that the country was trying to push back against what does this mean for how seriously people will take this law enforcement's attempts to to crack down on corruption if things like this are going to happen. well one professor we spoke to earlier in advance of the appellate court ruling said that he thought that if the appellate court ruling did free leave that it would send a message that in fact people were not or at least the judiciary was not taking seriously the quote misdeeds of politicians or members of these conglomerates you have to keep in mind that in the past members of congress who have committed misdeeds have largely been tolerated they've never done any kind of jail time and when lee was sentenced to five years last august that ruling was considered unprecedented so the hope was that by cracking down on these alleged

misdeeds of mr levy that it was sending a message not only to samsung and lee but also to other conglomerates and as we mentioned this is inextricably linked to be corruption case that president poc is in the midst of we're expecting a verdict in her case in the next couple months but again remember that levy was allegedly or was convicted last august of paying eight point two million dollars in bribes tupac in exchange for the government her government putting its imprimatur on a merger of two units within samsung that he viewed as essential to cementing his ascension as the next leader of samsung right now his father is incapacitated he's been in the hospital and lee is intent on assuring that he becomes the next leader of samsung it's worth noting that richelle despite the fact that leave was in jail for

a year he continued it was common knowledge that he continued to run samsung behind bars they even have a term for it here it's called jail management he oversaw the reshuffle a cabinet reshuffle if you will last december of key executives. samsung electronics a reminder again but though he was behind bars he continued to run his patch of jail management all right we'll have to see how this plays out with the wider community is people find out about this natasha thank you very much international aid agencies have issued a warning that hundreds of thousands of displaced syrians are at risk of being forcibly returned to their homes despite the ongoing violence it won't report by six leading agencies says the neighboring countries as well as european and u.s. governments are putting pressure on refugees to go back the syrian government is taking control of more territory giving the impression many areas are stable enough

to return to but for every syrian who went home last year three more were displaced then predicts another one and a half million will be displaced this year so her joins us live now from because valley so you know why this pressure when the situation is still so clearly volatile. well like you said there's misleading really information when you talk about deescalation agreements then people will cease fire on the ground but in fact there is no ceasefire for example is a war zone every day at least a dozen people are killed in airstrikes it's not just that the government pro-government forces they have recaptured the major cities but it doesn't mean for refugees to return because some of these refugees are wanted by the government other areas in the country have been reduced to rubble i can tell you that the majority of people in this informal settlement come from the city of which was destroyed really in the fight against and the fact that i still territory has been

cleared doesn't mean really that people can return home so it's not just a question of safety it is a question of where these people going to return to there's no services there's no infrastructure no hospitals hospitals. have been hit these children i'm not sure if they're still behind me they cannot return to school so these n.g.o.s are warning that there should be no forced returns they should be voluntary it should be safe for these people and it should be assisted and protected so that when these people go home they can find something there and i have to say that this is the position of the united nations as well as the international committee of the red cross. trying the talk of repatriating their attention back to a place where they also don't feel safe so saying that they don't feel safe and they don't want to go home because of that doesn't mean that in the broader picture they don't want to go home they obviously do want to go home so what. that at some point in the future when they're ready. well of course they want to go home

you just ask anybody here but like we mentioned it is not safe. two hundred more than two hundred thousand people were displaced in the past month alone that is in the southern countryside of the northern countryside of hama there's an ongoing offensive there two hundred thousand people displaced in just the months now the united nations says and have exact figures on the numbers who have returned but they are saying a few thousand yes a few thousand have returned from lebanon for example but those people are not wanted by this they didn't take part in any opposition activities lebanon's position let's just talk about lebanon's position some politicians say these people should just go home there are areas which are safe but there are other politicians and the government the official government policy is that no we're not going to force them and if there will be returns it has to be coordinated with the united nations so that's the official government policy but many syrians here are afraid that they may be forced back all right. thank you very much.

at least eleven people have been injured and a suspect of chlorine gas attack in serious trouble held at live province actis video shows people being treated in the town of sorry have confirmed that would be the third attack in fifteen days. joins us live now from southern turkey near the border with syria so small what else do we know i think about this and leading into you we were just talking about about the fact that there are there's this pressure to get syrians to go back but things like this are still happening there. of course and all too frequent rasho if you speak to people inside syria particularly and it looked province where it is where the chlorine attack took place because this was meant to be the place where many of the displaced who had fled aleppo often it was essentially all but burnt to the ground after russian and regime or strikes targets there the idea was that it was going to be

a safe zone protected in these deescalation agreements that were sponsored by the russians torques and iranians however that's has been far from the case what's significant about this latest crowing it's likely shows that it was targeting the exact same area where just a couple of days before russian. aircraft was downed by rebel fighters there are so many believe it was some sort of direct punishment consequence of the success of the rebels through targets one of the russian militaries as well as that there were other attacks there was an attack on a hospital also in altogether in the past twenty four hours we understand at least fifteen civilians were killed twelve people and three emergency security services personnel as they try to rescue them whilst that has taken place obviously it is a sign of just how violent the area is and obviously throughout the day will be

bringing more news including that of the turkish operation that's taking place in the use them parts of the northeastern parts of syria where this constant shelling taking place as the turkish military targets kurdish fighters there all right some live for us in southern turkey here the border with syria thank you. still ahead on al-jazeera the only surviving suspect from the two thousand and fifteen paris tax is due to go on trial in belgium or had around on the case and two candidates with the posing views on gay marriage looks set for a run off presidential election. we've got more very cold weather across western parts of europe but cold normally blast driving its way across the british isles down across that western side of france

down into the iberian peninsula a fair amount of snow in the forecast over the next few days and a fair amount of snow recently across the balkans cystic behind a cloud that's been producing that wintry weather will continue to make its way further eastward sclera colder air coming into moscow the minus ten celsius in the heat of the day central parts of europe looking pretty quiet three degrees celsius there through vienna face else is that so for a paris london will struggle to get up to around five degrees celsius that's a sort of value we can expect him a trade and here we are going to see further spells of snow that snow stretching across southern parts of france into the alps it all makes its way little further east was as we go through a cheese day we're hanging on to that cold northerly blast be some more wintry weather there into scotland into northern england he took a pass if wells up and counts out the southeast of england as well actually london i would be four degrees celsius but my cold air continues to dive its way down across much of spain and portugal and it will filter into the north of iraq owes

only thirteen celsius and repat snow over the atlas mountains and temperatures for the better just eleven degrees celsius in out is. in. the final session.

you're watching al jazeera let's recap the top stories right now out of the courthouse reduced and suspended the sentence for the man at the head of one of asia's biggest ever corruption scandals samsung vice chairman jay wiley has had his five year sentence reduced to two and a half years and that term has been suspended so that means he'll be free by the end of the day. aid groups are warning hundreds of thousands of syrian refugees are at risk of being forced to return home despite the ongoing war joint report by six leading agency says neighboring countries as well as european and u.s. governments are putting pressure on refugees to go back. at least eleven people have been injured in a suspected chlorine gas attack in syria. rebel held a live province that is act as video shows people being treated in the town of stark had. pictures obtained by philippines media appear to show further

militarization of the spratly islands in the disputed south china sea photos released by the philippine daily inquirer show china has built several multistory concrete buildings on one of the artificial islands military transport ships are also talked china had previously said the construction is intended to improve peace and maritime security richard branson churchill insists on skype from singapore he's a senior fellow at the military transformation program at the s. rajaratnam on the school of international studies thank you very much for joining us what do you see when you see these pictures what do they tell you. well there's certainly a general. development of violence it was pretty intense a lot who says if you're going to the movies just in. great forward little settlements that look at bombs that are construction or a large building. on the turbines all solar powered animals.

once he is the large number where you don't suppose a large golf ball shaped objects and shoes will not protect radar systems there is way too many in there who are all basically every day condo law on air traffic control rooms so what do you think their what their intentions be if if you had to guess and read the tea leaves what do you think well why are they things one this certainly gives them the. will and some substance which once we do know we only do much better job and keep driving here and it's welcomed to welders on the other side is why they chose to blur. the weapons of the deadly missiles like surface to air missiles or answer those missiles and often subsystems on the disk gives them the ability to do hard to do a lot there are a lot of. it's always called the disputed spratly islands there's

a lot of people that a lot of countries rather that say they have a claim to it this far as the philippines goes the presidential spokesperson said that as long as china keeps its good faith commitment as the exact words they would not reclaim anymore islands in the waterway basically they're going to be fine with that basically it sounds like they're storing up their hand saying there's nothing anybody can do about this is that right. well stoutly that is largely what drove for me not long these things are afraid to call police and this is the chinese are to die in the plot everybody got upset about the senate when he said you shouldn't do that the chinese just ignored went on and doing what they're doing. the only way that you could really get the chinese out of these would be to forcibly evict them or distorted resile oaths which were in the tantamount to lapse of declaration consulate so i think in most cases countries are just kind of holding their vendors and hoping china isn't doing the more aggressive they need to look things lima so

i'm not too confident ok which means i'm sure we'll be talking to you again richard sector thank you very much. the only surviving suspect from the paris attacks more than two years ago is due to go on trial and belgium bizarre mr arafat's trying to murder police in a shootout a belgian born french and was arrested along with another suspect four days before bomb attacks killed thirty two people in the belgian capital that asked about reports from brussels. it was in this house in the district of brussels that salah up to islam was arrested in march twenty sixth. you only surviving suspect to the paris attacks the previous november of dislike spent four months on the run hiding in places not far from his family home a few days before being corti was involved in a shootout with police in another part of the belgian capital his trial will

examine his role in the crime. to slam is also linked to the bombers who attacked brussels four days after his arrest nearly two years on the belgian government has lowered the threat level but analysts say europe remains a target middle i'm a student of locals as with. the meek another attack is always possible whether it's by i saw all kind or another radical islamic group europe is still targeted by these organizations what has changed though is that since i saw a lot of territory in iraq and syria it has lost some ability to train people to commit attacks in europe but it is still possible that they'll be able to do it again. police say many of those involved in the paris and brussels attacks had links to mullen back people here are fed up with the unwanted attention so lobbed islam grew up in mali and back but he is a french citizen and since his arrest he has been kept in solitary confinement in

a prison in france off the floor here in process he will return to france to wait for another trial or raise the alleged role in the powers attacks. one hundred unsteady people were killed in paris when attackers targeted a football stadium cafes and a rock concert. philip depair all son thomas was killed that night now the head of the think tim's association he feels compelled to attend dislodges trial even. if you don't. it's important for us to be at this trial because it's the first trial for so up to slam he's facing the belgian justice system the charges against him in this case in belgium aren't directly linked to the november thirteenth previous attacks it's true but for us there is a link to this man to seller. belgium's federal prosecutor says the trial could shed more light on the assailants who planned the paris and brussels

attacks whether the court will learn more from abdus lama himself is unclear since his arrest he's refused to speak to interrogators as ash about al-jazeera brussels belgium. israel has given to importation notices to thousands of african refugees and threatened any he refused to leave with imprisonment they've been told to leave israel by april first for an unnamed african country in exchange for thirty five hundred dollars and a plane ticket the government says around twenty thousand have already been expelled about sixty thousand refugees nearly all from eritrea and sudan crossed israel's border with egypt before the government erected a fence along the desert front here many were fleeing violence and persecution. you know a funeral. killed in one of those raids carried out by israeli forces the nineteen year old was shot by police and joining on saturday another palestinian man was shot dead and several others injured and other. urban celebrations in venezuela

to mark the anniversary of the failed military uprising led by former president hugo chavez at the elections to the end of april current leader has been cheering supporters at a rally to celebrate the coup attempt by rebel soldiers in one thousand nine hundred two. prizing twenty six years ago was arrested and jailed for two years at the time. for a presidential runoff in april after candidates failed to get enough votes to win sunday's election issue of same sex marriage has dominated the campaign and polarized the country as reports. it has been one of the most divisive elections ever in the study and one that is historical for two need. to reach the presidency. what it shows is the affection we've gained among the people messages reach the people's heart we are very happy about it a message has already won these elections a message delivered in a position to

a ruling in january by the interim american court of human rights demanding costa rica legalize gay marriage. it propelled. christine singer into a surprising front runner after he had been lagging behind in the pool. the court's decision turned the election into a single issue campaign revealing a conservative streak in a society usually considered a progressive bastion in the region. and convincing many to change their vote. did change my mind we don't know why it happened when it did it but the reason right before the election and the not only influenced i believe it influenced the vote of many people. living the result. he will face. the progressive citizen action party in a runoff in early april. as the oldest and most stable democracy in latin america

yet here to discontent with traditional parties and growing unemployment in crime have opened the door to more unconventional candidates. and other christian pastor says that. are taking advantage of the faction to radicalize what has always been a moderate country. this division is caused by fundamentalists that have brought messianic overtones into the election they have divided our society into some naive people who are falling for this populism and others who are deeply worried and committed to ensuring that this radical fundamentalism doesn't reach power a growing division that will meet governing difficult for whoever will take the place of korean president. in a country that seems ready to abandon its traditional. for the first time. people in ecuador have voted to stop their presidents holding more than two terms

and office sixty four percent supported changing the constitution and the current president and in the run up his predecessor. in two thousand. come back and twenty twenty one means he'll not be able to run again for the top job. politicians are meeting again to try and reach a compromise to form a government. conservatives are in negotiations but. the opposition social democrats has been unable to form a coalition since the election in september when both parties lost seats to the far right. i talked as a consequence constructive talks today we have reached a lot of agreements we managed to reach consensus on the important issues of habitation and renting we managed to finish the issue of digitalisation and we could reach an agreement on art and culture but we've just joined in the high level meeting that there are issues ahead of us with a party still definite about which we still have to talk which we want to debate

fairly and with focus. on it has more from berlin. given the differences between these two sides sensor writes i'm glad michael c.d.u. and center left martin short as s.p.d. it's perhaps not surprising that they're finding it quite difficult to tie down the final details of this coalition treaty it looks like they've agreed things like energy and agriculture policy in the matter of labor reform health policy and housing policy still some distance apart from each other and we heard it when the two leaders went in that they sounded sort of they were making the right noises but preparing people for a long night ahead no surprises realistically there and the reason really is because the s.p.d. the center left need to have a deal on the table that they can actually sell to their membership because it's the membership of the s.p.d. who will have effectively a veto on this if they come out with an agreement the can't be sold so the center left voters and frankly it's dead in the water. thousands of football fans are

celebrating in the u.s. city of philadelphia when their team won the biggest prize in the u.s. sports the super bowl with alfie eagles beat the defending champions and new england patriots they were not the popular pick when the season began but they overcame adversity as the underdogs in the game had high drama you know when it came to the halftime show at least hallman reports. it's the short piece of vent on the american sporting calendar and one that the new england patriots knew only too well forty year old star quarterback tom brady leaving out the team to get his eye to super bowl appearance they were the defending champions against the philadelphia eagles who had never won the title before but the eagles got the first touchdown of the game that was one thing that american

football has been plagued by debate over the dangers of concussion in recent years and this has on the patriots brandon cooks in the second quarter who do nothing to a life certain fee is never he wouldn't return to the game while a remarkable trick played by eagles quarterback nick foles ensured philadelphia would lead twenty two twelve at half time he scored the touchdown from his own play cheers be remembered as one of the all tired great just go in for. justin timberlake headed the famous hot time show but it was the appearance of the my friends who was born in host city minneapolis the stirred controversy moved each . overnight as had been forced to scrap a hologram of the singer after craig and criticism he appeared as a projection instead. tom brady is used to being the star of the show.

and he started to drag new england back into the game. so the patriots hit the front for the phones time with just as the ninety minutes remaining but the eagles reclaimed their advantage with two minutes twenty two on the clock so. thanks. last year new england had come back from twenty five points down just on the atlanta falcons but then would be norm there are cool comebacks on peace occasion as the eagles secure with their those times when she won those three. through to. the vince lombardi trophy it's finally heading to philadelphia home and al jazeera . and we shall carry let's recap the top stories for you right now a south korean appeals court has reduced and suspended the sentence for the man at

the center of one of asia's biggest ever corruption scandals samsung vice chairman j.y. least five year jail term was reduced to two and a half years and then that was suspended so he will be free by the end of the day his lawyers say they will launch an appeal to dismiss the other charges against him . has the latest from seoul. and this is already generating a lot of response among those who are critical some of the words we're hearing are shock speechless we expect there will be enough anger that there could be protests over this appellate court ruling in the coming days now there is no official word yet from samsung but we are hearing from lee's attorney who says that he wants to express the respect to the court's courage and wisdom to give a not guilty verdict of key charges. aid groups are warning hundreds of thousands

of syrian refugees are at risk of being forced to return home despite the ongoing war a joint report by six leading agencies says neighboring countries as well as european and u.s. governments are putting pressure on refugees to go back least eleven people have been injured in a suspected chlorine gas attack in serious trouble help in the province of video shows people being treated in the town of sark have they reported a foul smell following a raid by syrian government jets. the only surviving suspect from the paris attacks more than two and a half years ago is due to go on trial in belgium. is charged with trying to murder police in a shootout these are live pictures outside the courthouse the belgian born frenchman was arrested along with another suspect four days before bombs killed thirty two people in the belgian capital. coaster reka rather looks to set for a presidential runoff with no clear winner emerging so far from sunday's election

the campaign spent on unaided by the issue of same sex marriage the candidate who at the moment is leading with the most votes of the christian angelus to campaign against same sex marriage. keep it here inside story is next. for the benefit of saddam people so. they are. documentaries that open your eyes at this time on al-jazeera. seven turkish soldiers all killed in the northern syrian district of green turkey it says the operation is crucial to defeat what it calls terrorists and establish a buffer zone but how much of a challenge is that and could this lead to a quagmire for this is inside story.