al-jazeera. where every. verdicts imminent in south korea in a corruption case that led to the downfall of the president. and this is al-jazeera life and was a coming up forty eight hours reports say that's the deadline set by south africa's

ruling. for president jacob zuma to resign. more than half of toto's buildings are damaged by the worst storm to hit the pacific island nation in decades plus. rolls on do it passion week in new york city where some of the biggest brands in the world have decided to take their show or coming up tell you why. the verdict is jury in south korea and a corruption case involving former president park geun his long time confidante tracer is accused of controlling the president and meddling in stage affairs in the past few hours she arrived at the central district court in seoul last year was sentenced to three years in prison for using her relationship with parg to get her daughter into a prestigious university cases had replications for south africa for south korea's

political and business elite it triggered the impeachment of president park geun hye in march last year first in the nation's history park is on trial alongside she faces more than a dozen charges including colluding with her to extort money from saga of south korea's biggest companies in return for political favors one of those companies implicated was last year's chief was jailed for five years for bribery and embezzle and although his sentence was recently suspended and he was released from jail in the name joins us live from seoul in the trash to tell us more about the charges leveled against her. well let me give you a little bit of local color as for all the reasons you just mentioned this case has generated enormous interest among south koreans there is actually

a group of supporters of former president pot goon hey outside the courtroom closely monitoring the developments today because they are worried about what kind of impact it will have on pox case as for choice the interest is so great in whether or not she will serve a lengthy prison sentence that her name is trending she is a top ten search on south korea's number one search engine she is facing eighteen charges they include coersion bribery abuse of power and prosecutors say that what she did was tapping allies on a forty year relationship with pot use that relationship to control her and ultimately quote to disrupt the political process and shake the foundations of south korean society she's accused of many things but namely of coercing fifty conglomerates in south korea including samsung as you mentioned which is the

biggest one here in the country of donating seventy one million dollars to two foundations that she controls she says this case is simply political revenge that there is an enormous bias against her and there is real concern that she's not going to be able to get a fair trial jane so many players involved tell us more about the political fallout from this case it's. well there's been a real reckoning if you will in south korean science society about what happens to the business and political elite who find themselves at the center of scandals like this this is not the first time that a president or a business leader as you mention the former vice chairman a samsung was also and implicated in the scandal has been in trouble but what has happened in the past is that generally their misdeeds have been tolerated and they have been dealt with pretty leniently so when millions protested last year which

ultimately led to the ouster of poc there was a hope that this would usher in a new era of accountability the other thing that's happening is there's a discussion going on about what kind of political reforms need to be in place as a result of this case analysts say that there is too much power concentrated in the presidency and that until that power is diffused across the political process we will see these kinds of cases again thanks for that natasha. north korea's leader kim jong un says he's satisfied with the talks held this week with south korea on the sidelines of the winter olympics his sister led a delegation on a story three day visit to south korea during the trip she extended a rare mutation to president moon jane to visit to pyongyang kim jong un praised south korea for hosting his delegation and called for more reconciliation and talks now serving as ruling a.n.c. is expected to hold a news briefing in the next few hours with state media reporting the party has

given president jacob zuma forty eight hours to resign it follows a marathon thirteen hour meeting by the african national congress to discuss his face and see presence around a person is understood to have met zuma in person to inform him of the party's decision zuma faces hundreds of corruption charges but has refused to stand down before his term ends next year meta miller has more from janice berg. there's been no official word from the african national congress as to the outcome of this meeting held by the national executive committee the stop decision making body of the a.n.c. but we do understand based on reports from the national broadcaster the c.b.c. that as well as the secretary general of the a.n.c. met with jacob zuma to relay a message from the a.n.c. and according to the state broadcaster that was the jacob zuma has

a day or potentially to to resign as president of the country now the a.n.c. has been meeting throughout the day in fact will rip him up also returned to the ne see so it would appear that the conversation they're having isn't entirely over yet jacob zuma is certainly under pressure all indications are given his behavior in the last ten days or so he is reason. distant he's resisting this resignation he doesn't want to step down and if that continues to be the case the a.n.c. would then have to institute proceedings for a motion of no confidence to be debated in the parliament now the opposition parties in south africa have done exactly that expected to debate a motion of no confidence next week they wanted put forward by parliament if the speaker of parliament doesn't agree to the demands by the opposition they say

they're going to court ultimately jacob zuma is under fire from all sides what's most a tremendous will to him is the position that his party the african national congress has taken in that they've said now it's time to go south africa's biggest opposition party is calling for parliament to be dissolved even if president zuma remains in office the democratic alliance also wants early elections it is the quality features. finally on stage. and they fall. off of a. back. seat to undermine. and therefore we want to avoid section fifty. which calls for this vision. of. who wants to lead.

us to lead. the people. from the people who so. soon as nine years in power have been overshadowed by controversy and economic problems he's survived eight no confidence votes in parliament most recently in august last year and twenty sixteen a court ruled that zuma should face charges of bribery in a nine hundred ninety nine. he's been accused of accepting outside. in france and government decisions and cabinet appointments by the gupta is a wealthy indian born business family now living in south africa zuma and some of his family members along with the gov't is being investigated in charges of international money laundering he was also accused of using twenty three million dollars of government money to innovate his private home he later paid the money back africa policy analyst nick says says the agency's decision is an exercise in

damage control ahead of next year's elections this is largely a political decision and yes the courts we are talking legal issues we are talking about possible whether he will be. charged but it is a political decision if it is the perception south africa goes to the polls next year to elect a new leader i think the n.c.a.a. is worried about the e-mail because this story has been played so much as the litany of that you read about mr zuma shows there's me along he has this image he has been knighted that he has done anything wrong it hasn't been proven in court but this is a political decision and i for one thing the a.n.c. is worried that if he doesn't leave quickly and mr omar pulls or comes in to show that things are changing spruce up the economy also do some things that the grassroots want to include in the laundry form the n.c.s.

worry that if they don't do that the chances in the next year's elections will be pretty bad so this is a political decision and so i'm saying if the errancy wants to give in the concessions that he he does want. continues to ten destruction through the south pacific and is now bearing down on southern fiji the category four storm injured several people as it moved through togo on stu's day the governor as a kid a state of emergency. reports. the powerful category poor roofs off buildings downed power lines toppled trees and flooded low lying areas it's believed cycling guitar is the worst storm to hit the tiny south pacific island nation in decades there are very serious about because of that a month on that there's been a more concerning because visibility was a huge issue here and there and also there's a lot of theory that has completely disappeared and but the there's

a lot of rubble of the road there's a lot of. people. have been destroyed. guys an archipelago comprising one hundred sixty nine islands around three thousand kilometers east of australia. more than half of all homes and buildings including kong as part of the house are said to be damaged or destroyed the disasters need go on about when the storms are no recovery does take time it's hard to say how long until we know exactly what's happened what the damage is what the impacts are what. the cycling was packing winds of two hundred thirty kilometers per hour and emergency management teams are now out assessing the damage trying to clear roads and working to restore power and water to any cycle and we have concerns and making sure people have enough food and not wars that go to the here

and they stay healthy and. i'm pretty just from one of one and it didn't want to diseases. the cyclon is expected to weaken and bring rain and winds to new zealand by the weekend. al-jazeera a palestinian teenager charged with assaulting an israeli soldiers due back in a military court on tuesday i had to mean these cases attracted international attention but as iran contra ports she isn't the only young person detained by the israeli military thousand a.d. is sixteen years old and already a veteran of the israeli prison system in december he was visiting shops in his home city of hebron when protests started around him his arrest was caught on camera his parents gave us permission to interview thousands he says he tried to flee the protest and didn't take it despite that israeli soldiers pushed him to the ground and something that had been on one of them called to me hit me on my chest

with the butt of his rifle he pushed me to the ground and then all started beating me but they arrested me and took me into detention and beat me again and cursed at me. he spent twenty days in detention and he's currently out on bail he was arrested on charges of throwing rocks and resisting arrest the israeli army says it's investigating his claim the innocence is having regular hospital treatment because his shoulder was broken during his arrest. his case is far from unique. lives with their parents in the refugee camp in ramallah. the decision but it made me go no one enters prison as a child then leaves us such they didn't allow me to call my family or a lawyer before investigation they used pepper spray on me called me names and big me up. to help group a defense of children international is concerned that the israeli military often makes violent arrests the group says children often lack proper legal representation joining the court process and the impact of detention

loss well into apples and what we see is that those three months or four months in military prison for having the first stone throwing for example which is the most common charge and impacting the your entire trajectory of that child's life palestinians in the occupied west bank subject to israeli military law now for a very long time international human rights groups and local human rights groups have criticized the israeli military courts for handing down harsh sentences the illegal occupation of their land by israeli forces is never far from children's lives here the latest available total from the israeli prison authority in november said three hundred thirteen palestinian minors are in jail for security offenses imraan khan had brought. colombia's last rebel group has destroyed power lines and part of a bridge with explosives the illin says it's imposing a three day blockade after the government refused to resume peace talks colombian

president juan manual santos suspended the negotiations earlier this month after a series of bombings that killed seven police officers still ahead on al-jazeera donald trump spending plans how the u.s. president wants to divide up more than four trillion dollars plus. i am. military might on show in thailand we look at why there's controversy over who's invited. the a. hello there over europe at the moment we've got one belt of rain after another here is mondays and it's making its way steadily now towards the east it sort of fizzles out as it makes its way east was still for some of us in the mediterranean there we're likely to still see some pretty stormy weather as we head through into choose day i don't choose day here's the next system then that's making its way into the

western parts of europe and is just on the cusp of rain or snow so don't be surprised if you see some wintry outbreaks of parts of france or over the british isles as that one makes its way eastwards that will fizzles out as well and then we've got yet another weather system for us on wednesday and this will be giving some of us some or all the heavy outbreaks of rain meanwhile for the eastern parts of europe we still got that system that's making its way further eastward still that's going to be giving some of us in the southeast a fair amount of snow but up towards the northeast no snow for moscow wednesday and our maximum temperature will be rather chilly minus ten for the other side of the mediterranean there's plenty of fine drawing weather to be found here and the temperatures aren't too bad bengazi there it around sixty. degrees that matching the temperature that we're expecting in were bad they could just be a little bit more cloud in the chance of a future i was across the north coast about jiri and tunisia as we head through the day on wednesday.

today watching out is there a mind of our top stories this hour

a verdict is due in the south korean corruption case that brought down president park geun hey it centers on a childhood friend soon il who's accused of controlling the president and meddling in state affairs south african media reporting president jacob zuma has been ordered to resign within forty eight hours of face being stripped of his office the decision was taken at a meeting of the highest decision making body of the ruling a.n.c. party late on monday evening cycling gates is heading towards fiji after bringing destruction to togo in the south pacific the category four storm caused widespread flooding catholic trustee and damaged buildings told us government has declared a state of emergency. return to our top story now the corruption case in south korea been. from the australian national university joins us from canberra good to have you on the show our correspondent was telling us a little earlier on that the story is trending there's

a lot of interest there why do you think people are so interested in the outcome of the court case today. well chason still herself has been described as a breast putin like figure she's been accused of influencing presidential decision making despite holding the government position and she's been accused of using her connection to the president to solicit vast bribes from the korean chaebol that's the family run conglomerates that dominate south korea's economy and this scandal inspired the candlelight protest movement and this drew millions of protesters over successive weekends and they successfully demanded last year the former president park going. and see the the trial today will be one of their objectives is to see her come to justice but the trial alone won't bring their

objectives of the candlelight movement to an end and i mean what do you think will is it the fact that the political elite is being targeted in those associated with them is that what dominates that case like this. yeah i mean it's a remarkable case. that brought down that impeached the south korean former president. so you know many in the united states would maybe like to follow the example of south korea but. you know there's also greater interest and pressure on the current president. to follow through on seeing the objectives of the candlelight movement come to fruition. which is why there's such intense interest in this case and those further objectives of the candlelight movement will include seeing through the prosecution of part going to self which is a ruling on her trial expected next month and then also strengthening our

democratic institutions to stamp out corruption the current system is said to encourage corruption from presidents there's need for greater checks and balances from its detractors and then there's also demands for a corporate governance reform so demands that political elites and business elites cozying up and so much also demands to diversify the economy away from excessive reliance on the table led growth and demands to reverse inequality and both to the wages of ordinary workers getting all sot spend thank you. here is president donald trump has sent congress a four point four trillion dollar budget for twenty nine thousand that proposes huge infrastructure projects and seven hundred billion dollars for the military but it includes deep cuts to programs on climate change and foreign aid can really help it has the details from washington d.c.

. for years republicans in washington promise to cut government spending if their party won the white house but for the second straight year republican president donald trump's done just the opposite we will build we will. maintain and the vast majority of americans want to see us take care of our infrastructure. on monday trump presented his twenty one thousand budget proposal giving the world a hard look at his administration's spending priorities they include a proposal for one point five trillion to rebuild roads bridges and airports and six hundred eighty six billion for the u.s. military a thirteen percent increase from the previous year proposal also reduces the state department budget by nine billion or twenty six percent that decrease includes the elimination of a program promoting climate change we have spent seven trillion dollars

in the middle east seven trillion dollars what a mistake. as with his twenty eight team plan trump has again proposed cuts to humanitarian and economic aid last december he threatened to link foreign assistance to support for u.s. measures that the united nations like recognizing jerusalem as israel's capital but when it comes to foreign spending congress largely ignored trump's last budget proposal and is expected to do the same for twenty nineteen. last week the u.s. congress approved its own to your spending deal the president signed into law. keeping the government open with boost to defense domestic spending that congressional deal as sensually overrides the budgets released by the white house the president has merely when it comes to the budget the power to propose but it is congress that appropriates and decides and congress decided and appropriated

last week but what is consistent about both proposals is unrestrained spending trump's budget projects a deficit of more than a trillion dollars with no plan for reducing america's spiraling debt kimberly helped get al jazeera washington the u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson is in kuwait as part of his tour of the middle east we're looking at live pictures from there and we can see him in that picture is among representatives a meeting of what's called the global coalition to defeat eisel. it is the first summit of the coalition since the group was defeated in iraq and syria it's discussing how to stop its global ambitions. now iraq is seeking more pledges from international donors at a three day conference in kuwait to help rebuild the country to govern hopes to raise one hundred billion dollars to rebuild cities destroyed in the conflict with

eisel on monday non-governmental organizations pledged more than three hundred million dollars but there's concerns countries like the states will no longer support the efforts. pearson thailand has been criticized for inviting a representative from him to attend a major military exercise in eastern thailand twelve thousand personnel from twenty nine countries are taking part in the annual war games minimize inclusion comes despite accusations its army has committed ethnic cleansing in rakhine state where it has moved from yet the young. the opening ceremony for the thirty seventh cobra gold military exercises has been held and in attendance at that opening ceremony was at least one member of the armed forces initially there was supposed to be three representatives of the me and my military coming as observers only so they will not be taking part in any of the exercises over the next ten days but they

will be observing only now we understand that that status may have been downgraded even further and they will not be observing the whole ten day program but only one aspect of the khobragade military exercises and that is one that is designed to provide the soldiers with training in providing humanitarian assistance which in itself of course has caused a lot of controversy given the humanitarian crisis that has unfolded in myanmar's rakhine states ukrainian opposition leader mikhail saakashvili has arrived in poland off to being deported from kids he was detained by armed men in a restaurant in the ukrainian capital and taken to the airport such as really is a former president of georgia who later became a provincial governor in ukraine he recently fell out with the present petro poroshenko has been leading protests against him. volatility in the price of bitcoin has been a cause of concern over the past two months now these centers which mine the

cryptocurrency in iceland are worried about its long term environmental impact the mines are filled with computers that are never turned off and coins are created when they solve mass problems during a digital trade but this year the mining sensors are predicted to use more electricity than all of iceland's homes one of the country's biggest energy firms warns the small nation might not be able to keep up. new york fashion week is in full swing but there is less glitz on the runways this year because several top designers have chosen to skip it the reason a changing industry and a focus on other shows in europe. is under reports from new. everybody's running a frantic buzz of activity bowman's before the big show oh. me. too crazy this collection is all about ultra chic and comfortable travel garments from the colombian born designer edwina d'angelo new york fashion week it's

a very important platform for myself and for emerging designers like myself because he offers an opportunity of excitement where everybody wants to come to a show of the who wants to be part of of of this week well emerging designers like d'angelo still flock to do york's fashion week some of the biggest design houses like a school or. and tom brown are skipping it this year the fashion industry is in turmoil the way people buy their clothes is changing fast and fashion week in new york has become less important to the high end brands as a focus on european buyers and big shows in europe beyond london and primarily paris paris is the crime till a crime of fashion week that's where chanel and christian dior these brands that that we know is the real luxury brands show it's incredibly competitive and it's also a matter of money runway shows can cost anywhere from one hundred thousand dollars

and upwards to a million dollars and even some of the biggest names in fashion don't want to spend that much money brands are starting to look for different ways that they can introduce their apparel their products to consumers without the costly and sometimes really ineffective ways it used to be. a fashion label rag and bone gave up on a new york fashion week runway show and instead got creative they introduced their new collection in this video to reach more customers and drum up excitement it certainly doesn't fashion week is dead far from it there wasn't an empty seat at d'angelo show. just be some of the biggest names not here. some of the little guys get the spotlight. i'll be your.

zilch zero these are the top stories a confidant of the former south korean president park geun hye has been given twenty years in jail on corruption charges trace soon sil was accused of controlling park and meddling in state affairs the scandal led to parks impeachment last year of korea's leader kim jong un says he's satisfied with talks held this week with south korea on the sidelines of the winter olympics his sister led a delegation on a historic three day visit to south korea during the trip she extended a rare invitation to president moon jane to visit pyongyang kim jong un praise south korea for hosting his delegation and called for more reconciliation and talks . south african media are reporting president jacob zuma has been ordered to resign within forty eight hours or face being stripped of his office the decision was taken at a meeting of the highest decision making body of the ruling a.n.c.

party late on monday evening cycling gators heading towards fiji after bringing destruction to tonga in the south pacific a category four storm caused widespread flooding catholic tricity and damaged buildings tankers government has declared a state of emergency. u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson is in kuwait as part of the middle east. there is amongst representatives at a meeting of what's called the global coalition to defeat you looking at live pictures now from kuwait city it is a first summit of the coalition since the group was created in iraq and so it's discussing how to stop its global ambitions. ukrainian opposition leader mikhail saakashvili has arrived in poland off to being deported from kids he was detained by armed men in a restaurant in the ukrainian capital and taken to the airport former president of

georgia and later became a provincial governor in ukraine as the headlines inside story is up next. the number of child soldiers is expanding in many war zones according to the u.n. tens of thousands of children are involved in conflicts in over twenty countries around the world so what should be done to stop this practice this is inside story . hello and welcome to the program. monday marks the international day against the use of child soldiers it's a problem.