facing realities 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 while activists to live in jail just because she expressed herself hear their story on a tour to al-jazeera at this time. a new leader for south africa several ran up for as a protest step and often jacobson as resignation. and oh and welcome to al-jazeera live from my headquarters and me as

a prawn i'm also ahead. dies we look at his legacy of resistance. russia can push the regime to commit to seeking a real peace in syria the u.s. and russia again blame each other off a strong words from the special envoy for syria. dead body there on the floor and blood on the floor of the u.s. reels from yet another school shooting seventeen people are killed. south africa is awaiting a changing of the guard after jacob zuma resigned from the presidency the stage is now set for a.n.c. leaders. to become the country's next president parliament a set of ottoman later on thursday but the governing party demanded seumas departure after years of corruption allegations of the men of reports from

johannesburg. a reluctant announcement from an in vattel to president i have therefore coming to the decision to resign as president of the republic with immediate effect even though i disagree with the decision of my of the leadership of my of going to zation i have always been a disciplined member of the. it came just hours before parliament was due to vote in a motion of no confidence against jacob zuma president's hand may have been forced but zuma says his party did not give reasons why he should resign that's despite being in broiled in scandal after scandal throughout his presidency including accusations of corruption and a court ruling that he had broken his oath of office when he ignored the public

protect his recommendation that he paid back some of the state money used to refurbish his private residence despite all the criticism against zuma the a.n.c. says the decision to recall him was a difficult one to make following xoom was resignation the ruling party saluted what it called his outstanding contribution and thanked him for the role he played in the a n c for many decades. earlier in the day the home of zoomers associates a family known as the good was raided. five people have been arrested after an investigation revealed that billions of dollars of state funds was siphoned from a dairy farm project into business is linked to the. next week the national prosecuting authority will decide if a corruption charges against zuma that were dropped in two thousand and nine will be reinstated and an inquiry into the extent of external influence in seumas administration known as state capture is due to begin his removal as president may

just be the beginning of zuma struggles for media miller al-jazeera johannesburg. well several rumple's are set to become south africa's next leaders so let's take a look at his path to the presidency he started his career as a lawyer then formed the national union of mineworkers in one thousand nine hundred two and became a leading trade unionist in one thousand nine hundred four became an m.p. and chairman of the constitutional assembly playing the lead role in drafting south africa's post apartheid constitution but after missing out on becoming nelson mandela as deputy he withdrew from politics and went into business a move that's made him one of south africa's richest men with a net worth of four hundred fifty million dollars it was also a director of lonmin mine with thirty four striking miners were killed by police in two thousand and twelve or some suggested he was to blame for the massacre but a commission of inquiry cleared him of any wrongdoing well let's get more on this

now we're joined by can be set for could a researcher at the al-jazeera center for studies very good to have you with us on al-jazeera some will say that ron paul is a has had his eyes on this prize for a very long time but do you think he is the man for the very big job of cleaning up of reviving the african national congress which it needs while his his his his career in history as a politician proved. yes that he actually can do something better than his predecessor jacob zuma he drafted the constitution of the country he's done in business he was very active in the civil society in south africa and as a deputy president we've seen him sending positive signals i mean we saw the market how directed after the announcement of he's nomination of the president of a n c so i think i think he can do something much much better than what jacob zuma. could

have done at least if was given another chance to continue it in south africa yeah the markets with course very excited because he's one of south africa's richest men with a very good business credentials but will he be a president for all south africans do you think he needs to be because of the stakes of the country the democracy the economy right now in south africa you know when markets when markets gets excited to the poor often get watery because it means that all hope for the g seven opposable clinton brace the new liberal politics which have been voted to mentor to many countries in africa so he faces a really really serious challenges and some of the particularly in terms of addressing the higher unemployment and looking at the delivery of basic services like water creation etc so he is the right men but again his politics and his economy. to some odd bit warry because they're not really geared towards you know social

political edge and says of the points of africa he's seen as more of a new liberal top of a guy capitalist friends of i.m.f. and the world bank you know that in his address you know he called for sort of like a radical economic transformation for the country well hey do you think face challenges. more challenges from within the party itself now the. has left because i had his supporters within the party within the african national congress and also his supporters among ordinary south africans to some kind of contradiction contradiction because the n.c.s. is calling for the radical inquiry transformation. is one of the leading industrialist so. that's you know it's only time can tell if we'll be able to to navigate this very very narrow and complicated path. because the no doubt

a very big challenge for mr. thank you very much for your time on the recording thank you. we're moving on to other news now in zimbabwe as political opposition has lost a towering figure with the death of morgan chiang rai he founded the movement for democratic change and became a symbol of resistance against former president robert mugabe channel i was being treated for colon cancer in south africa how do we toss it takes a look back at his life. to his supporters more good richardson good i was a man who challenge his longtime leader robert mugabe at a time when few people day to do so but it was a long and sometimes painful journey in one thousand nine hundred nineteen good i'd been a trade union leader for the opposition party the movement for democratic change in the years that followed he organized protests to try and force mugabe out of office he was beaten while in police custody charged with treason jailed several times and

labeled a change by mugabe supporters. in the two thousand and eight presidential election he won the most votes but not enough to win outright. before a second round took place his supporters were targeted in a campaign of violence the opposition leader pulled out of the presidential race in protest regional leaders and the international community intervened after months of negotiations i was sworn in as prime minister in two thousand and nine it was a temporary power sharing government but mugabe was still the president. remembered fundamentally in the sense that he broke. into got this huge huge include those eight when we got before the first of this did last. the first president. in almost the majority overall of of religion in that is we've been done since then to doing. so for dogs. four years later

another elections took place this time m.d.c. party lost by a huge margin his critics say that he had ignored the plight of the poor and got caught up in the trappings of wealth and power allegations of party infighting and corruption also tarnished his image some of his closest allies left accusing him of being a dictator. but in twenty seventeen the m.d.c. alliance was formed those who had less hunger returned for me a coalition to challenge and grab at the polls. they were occasional anti-government protests zimbabwe's economy was on its knees there was a shortage of foreign currency and the government couldn't pay salaries on time the military intervened in a van by twenty seventeen and put mugabe and house arrest and zimbabweans from all political parties marched together in solidarity saying mcgovern must stick down eventually mcgarvey resigned and emerson when i got there was sworn in as president . despite having cancer thank god i support his insisted he was

a place. the candidates for the twenty eight thousand elections they were confident he could defeat at the polls but he never got that chance opposition supporters states that i will be remembered as a brave man a charismatic public speaker and a symbol of resistance. the un's envoy for syria has warned that violence in the country is now among the worst case seen since the start of the job four years ago so if on the mr was a briefing at the security council prompted more finger pointing between the u.s. and russia both accusing each other of blocking the path to peace or from the u.n. in new york is our diplomatic editor james bay. the deteriorating military situation dominated a security council meeting that was both grim i've been now four years special envoy this as violent and worrying and dangerous a moment as any that in my time he mentioned all the nations now

fighting in syria the turkish operation around after three in a me assad government's continued bombardment of an eastern ghouta civilians are being killed on a horrific scale reports suggest more than one thousand civilians in the first week of february alone he went on to describe developments in recent days the u.s. attack on assad forces near dera zoar and israeli air strikes in syria including on iranian targets but both these operations were later defended by the us ambassador to the united states will always reserve the right to act in self-defense. the assad regime has become a front for iran hezbollah and their allies to advance the irresponsible and dangerous agenda for the middle east outside the council chamber the french ambassador warned the situation in syria risks spiraling out of control all the

ingredients are present if we do nothing about it urgently for a major. regional and international confrontation the un's latest modest peace effort based on the outcome of a conference in the russian city of sochi seems now to be in doubt mr de mistura wants to select members of a new committee to come up with a new constitution for syria but president assad's ambassador at the u.n. rejected that one i'm not emotionally coffin madama participants of this conference did not grant any authority for mr de mistura to set up this community. afterwards i asked him for further clarification don't get lost into the little details there was not me or what we've constantly seen is the syrian government not being prepared to fully engage with your plans isn't it now time as yet again they seem

to be not engaging peter call them out on their obstruction i'm a diplomat and i'm up to thirty peter my job is not to call out anyway it's actually do make sure that we move forward in the hours before the security council meeting the first convoy was committed since november. every bit of health is obviously welcomed by a starving community but diplomats pointed to a familiar and somewhat cynical pattern by the syrian government it's only when it's in the international spotlight with a meeting like this with a small amount of aid is finally delivered james barry's out his era at the united nations. still ahead on the we take a look at a new u.n. report on violent attacks in afghanistan and the threat facing millions of children living in conflict zones wife worse than it's ever been.

welcome back as we look at weather conditions across southeastern parts of asia a former tropical cyclone is gradually moving across the south china sea as it continues to weaken so an area of rain for eventually heading towards southern parts of vietnam and cambodia but for the time being looking good in how cimon city much of borneo is looking fine it's pretty wet at the moment all the way from java across. through towards east timor and as far as west papua we're seeing some big storms at the moment but up through the all the way from singapore towards bangkok it is looking draw and fine with plenty of sunshine and it's expected to stay that way as a head through into saturday with thirty four somites from in bangkok now as you head down into a stray you see this massive cloud across the top end and this is got a potential to develop into a tropical cycle which we call kevin when it forms can use some very wet weather

across parts of northern territory into the kimberley elsewhere then we've got to find conditions for sydney in the forecast with temperatures expect to reach twenty eight there on friday we're going to see some rain developing across parts of western australia person looking fine conditions on friday but there will be some rain developing later on saturday heading across into new see them awaiting for the arrival of what will be former cycling peter and i'll bring some heavy rain on monday. while the world's rich take what they want the world's poor must beg to survive from the streets of manila to the roots of my own people and investigates the injustices of a globalized economy. and how different countries responds to those at the very bottom of society. begging for life. at this time on

al-jazeera. good to have you with us on the al-jazeera these are our top stories south africa is awaiting the changing of the god after jacob zuma resigned from the presidency the stage is now set for a.n.c. leaders civil bamma pulls up to become the country's next leader to sit to watch the men based on the state members of the boys off position movement for democratic change a hard look an emergency meeting after the deaths and they need to move on chiang rai who is a talent figure in the opposition and a symbol of resistance against former president robert mugabe and the un's on wife

a syria has warned that the recent surge in violence there is among the worst he's seen since he started the job four years ago last week was one of the bloodiest in the conflict as government forces the last major rebel held areas of eastern and the province. seventeen people have been killed in the u.s. state of florida off to a gunman opened fire at a high school it happened and the miami police have arrested a suspect who is a former student who was expelled from the school. we were. talking to each other that switched social in each other. and this. everyone was really there. were. reports for each other saying. they're going to. the u.n. says more people were killed or wounded in suicide bombings and attacks in the last year than any previous year of the conflict they accounted for two thousand three

hundred of the more than ten thousand afghan civilians. over wounded in violence in two thousand and seventeen the most deadly attack was a truck bomb in may which killed ninety two people while the number killed in bombings and attacks walls haya and two thousand and sixteen the overall number of casualties is slightly less than the previous year and strikes by u.s. and afghan forces inflicted a rise and told armed groups have responded to the more aggressive u.s. strategy with a wave of ones that's killed nearly one hundred fifty people in recent weeks. as will the united nations assistance mission in afghanistan and she says while the decrease in the total number of casualties is good news far too many people are still being hurt and killed. the mission documented over ten thousand five hundred civilian casualties in a year and while it is a nine percent reduction it is the fourth consecutive year where we've seen more than ten thousand civilians killed or injured and in terms of how this impacted

life for everyday people one of the things we look to first is the children and children were killed maimed injured by ground gauge ment's unexploded ordinance pressure plate i.e. we saw child recruitment cases as as the report documents so it has been indeed a very difficult year in terms of the taleban the report notes a twelve percent reduction in civilian casualties caused by taliban in areas including from my e.t.s. where we saw the biggest increase in two thousand and seventeen was attacks attributed. so while we did see an improvement on the battlefield by taliban and by pro-government forces more still needs to be done because a nine percent reduction is a beginning but much more needs to be done. now at least thirty billion dollars have been pledged to help rebuild iraq after the defeat of their seventy six

country promise to provide money at a major summit in kuwait but much of the cash will come in the form of loans which will need to be paid back and the focus falls well short of what the government says it needs reports from kuwait city. feeling the heat of another day of waiting for the world to help aid agencies provide supplies and tents that have been the air campaign in iraq but it's just survival they haven't been given enough to return to a normal life. or areas have been liberated but most people say they can't go back because their houses have been destroyed either by airstrikes or by isis. the iraqi government too is had a day of waiting for the world's help at the reconstruction conference in kuwait it didn't get all it needs either but it's still got significant money most of it in credit in loans. this huge gathering has produced commitments towards reconstructing iraq amounting to turkey billion dollars. that's far short

of the one hundred billion dollars the prime minister says is needed to complete reconstruction but the president of iraq's reconstruction fund told me it's more than he expected. to be honest with you i mean if you ask me i was thinking this is. it's unclear when that money will make a visible impact on iraq's wastelands nevertheless it was a case of a glass half full for iraq's foreign minister. i love living. the amount which was committed with a grants or loans doesn't meet our needs but thirty billion dollars is not a small sum in today's world. in fact it's a lot of money for these people and more so on their street needs running water their homes and businesses lie in the rubble of despair. we hope the culprits will pay the people who everyone is rebuilding their shops and their own money no one

has received anything from the government international figures called the fund raising in quite impressive impressive for these people is when their markets peddle more than losses. to get the wheels rolling on reconstruction the country faces the challenge of maintaining security there's also the merry go round of corruption to overcome but with all the money pledged actually come through in two thousand and three thirty three billion dollars was promised to iraq at the madrid donor's conference but a year later they had to have a follow up meeting in tokyo because only a fraction of the money had actually come through the quite conference is open the door to the winds of change for iraq the government must now show that this chance won't be squandered by another gust of turbulence sam al jazeera kuwait.

the un has warned that unexploded bombs in the iraqi city of mosul will continue to put lives at risk for a decade many of the devices a buried under rubble they could pose a threat to more people who want to return to their homes the city was devastated after a nine month long campaign to retake it from i saw last year forty five thousand explosive devices have been removed so far. now a damning new report has highlighted an apparent rise in sexual assault and violence against children and. a new report by save the children says there's an alarming increase in cases of killing and maiming reports. destroys lives it traumatizes communities. and in many of the world's conflict zones children are suffering the most. this is east in a suburb of the syrian capital damascus last week. it's space for lentulus

bombardments after years of starve and surrender tactics. the human rights group save the children believes youngsters in war zones are now more at risk than at any time in the past twenty years. according to a new report by the organization one in six of the world's children live in conflict zones that's three hundred fifty seven million children a seventy five percent increases the early one nine hundred ninety s. syria afghanistan and somalia of the three most dangerous conflict affected countries to be a child in the past few years there's been a three hundred percent increase in un verified cases of killing and maiming of children and around half of all children in conflict zones lack access to schools and health facilities for care for. many of these children in the democratic

republic of congo's kasai region count violence among the earliest memories militia have destroyed schools and homes across the region and the u.n. says thousands of children have been forced to become soldiers. save the children is one of several organizations trying to rehabilitate victims i think we're talking about in this report of children being raped children being forced to fight children being forced to kill other children horrifying brutality and so there's a number of things we can do we can invest in mental health and psychosocial support for children in disaster zones we can rebuild the society around them get them back into school and with their families there's a whole range of things we can do but that does take investment it takes time and it takes support. despite greater international standards when it comes to protecting children increasingly brutal tactics are being employed to fight the widespread use of indiscriminate weapons cluster bombs have seen child casualty numbers saw. this nine year old range ago was shot three times while fleeing

myanmar children are not simply caught in the crossfire they are targets the groups say the profound psychological impact of conflict on children cannot be underestimated there are things seen in childhood the can take a lifetime to recover from the al-jazeera. place in egypt have arrested a prominent opposition figure accused of having contact with the outlawed muslim brotherhood. was a presidential candidate in the two thousand and twelve elections is a staunch critic of president up and. a boycott of next month's presidential election a number of candidates who announced their intention to run against. or forced to withdraw including a former army chief. naipaul's time minister has resigned after his party lost in parliamentary elections. vale the head fein leader for eight months his departure

to doff a new alliance to major communist parties are expected to take power. now six native american tribes in the u.s. state of virginia have been granted full federal recognition after a nearly twenty here legal fight the declaration clears the way for them to receive health care education and housing benefits alan fischer reports. this land occupied is where the white house is today they had a weird of their past proud of their history big keen to protect the future and those six native american tribes in the u.s. state of virginia have been granted federal recognition it's an important step in securing funding for schools housing and health care for two decades the chickahominy eastern chickahominy apartment a pony rappahannock known seem and the manakin campaigned and will be success was never again but was finally achieved i've cried. i am dead

emotional talking about it because you know the song we fought so hard for i have always said in the thing that helps one track in this country will help them all eventually i don't know if it will make it easier for us but they can take what we do and look at it and you know the big thing i hope they'll learn from it if it takes persistence opponents told the tribes not to seek direct federal recognition but apply through the bureau of indian affairs but the president of the national council for native americans says in this case that would have been difficult but i know that historically there there were documents that were either lost or destroyed or or. missing. and for whatever reason these delays were unfairly placed on the tribes and as you mentioned these are drugs these are tribes that predated. the united states of america in some cases in fact

some of the tribes made peace with england before the u.s. was even imagine and so they never signed a formal treaty with america this new deal opens up huge opportunities for the tribes because of direct access to federal budgets they're immediately old school for those types of assistant which is an enormous when you look at the. medical systems health care systems housing education all of those things so it's just an immediate. boost for the other tribes are looking to see if they should directly seek federal recognition as well but to be more in the fight could be difficult something they've experienced before in their long history alan fischer for ginia. you know again i'm one of the problem and the headlines on al-jazeera south africa is awaiting a changing of the guard after jacob zuma resigned from the presidency the state has

now set a.n.c. leaders several to become the country's next leader. and later on thursday. members of the opposition movement for democratic change are holding an emergency meeting after the death of their leader morgan chiang rai a sixty five year old was a towering figure and the opposition and a symbol of resistance against former president robert mugabe. the un's envoy for syria has warned that the recent violence the search and violence is among the worst he's seen since starting the job four years ago last week was one of the bloodiest in the conflict of government forces on the last major rebel held areas of eastern and added a problem. i've been now for years special envoy. this is as violent and worrying in dangerous a moment as any. in my time of day in your so far

therefore i strongly rate the rate the appeal of this is to all concerned in syria and the region and beyond that do this collate immediately and unconditionally and urge all stakeholders including the go around to use their influence to help reduce violence. at least seventeen people have been killed in the u.s. after a gunman opened fire at a high school in florida it happened in parkland just north of miami the suspects been arrested he's believed to be a former student who was expelled. police in egypt have arrested a prominent opposition figure accused of having contact with a outlawed muslim brotherhood then my name i will fall to was a presidential candidate in the two thousand and twelve elections he's a staunch critic of president other than fattah el-sisi and called for a boycott of next month's presidential election a number of candidates who announced their intention to run against sisi have either been arrested or forced to withdraw including a former army chief. of the headlines on al-jazeera but do stay with us people in

power is coming up next. ahead of the september twenty fourth national election survey showed a satisfied for the state of their economy this is easily estonia's biggest tech success story the company was bought by microsoft in two thousand and eleven we bring you the stories that are shaping the economic world we live in counting the cost at this time on al-jazeera. because found on city streets around the world often ignored sometimes helped frequently moved on but always hoping for the charity of others so how do different cultures respond to the pleas out.