a man has decided to break his tradition and training to sail competitively will not that he want to present a positive image and to use the steering typical expectation of women for them it's about more than just racing yachts you can still be a good a man a woman and also a very talented sailor going off around the world showing everybody how strong omani people are al-jazeera world meets the first female same crew in the gulf a man's sailing at this time on al-jazeera. this is al-jazeera. hello and welcome i'm peter double you're watching the news our live from our headquarters here in doha coming up in the next sixty minutes. when you are prepared to kill your own people mining is easy to the u.n.

rejects syria's justification for the offensive on eastern guta as more troops are sent to the rebel enclave. it's too early to be optimistic south korea's president says sanctions against the north won't be eased for the sake of next month's summit . sierra leone chooses a new president but the fear of election violence is never far away. and saudi arabia's crown prince heads to the u.k. backed by a massive p.r. campaign. the united nations high commissioner for human rights says the syrian government's offensive in the besieged rebel held enclave of eastern group cannot be justified zain been rod zeigler hussein says civilians are facing a catastrophe as government forces. his target

a few hundred fighters president bashar al assad to send in more troops to the rebel enclave that's according to the syrian observatory for human rights the u.k. based monitoring group is reporting at least seven hundred fighters have arrived at the front lines near the capital damascus well the u.n. human rights chief wants the syrian government to be referred to the international criminal court claims by the government of syria that it is taking every measure to protect its civilian population are frankly ridiculous this month it is eastern water which is in the words of the sector general hell on earth next month or the month after it will be somewhere else where people face an apocalypse an apocalypse intended planned and executed by individuals within the government apparently with the full backing of some of their foreign supporters it

is urgent to reverse this catastrophic course and to refer syria to the international criminal court. correspondent joining us from beirut in neighboring lebanon so the syrian forces are moving up reinforcements are they worried to do things and of course we can't know for sure but all the worried or anxious that this might spill over and head towards damascus this fighting that's happening around the system go to area. well the syrian government the pro-government alliance seems to be very comfortable they have been making steady advances in recent days like you mentioned they're sending reinforcements a few hundred men really stepping up the pressure on the rebels they want to defeat the rebels they want to recapture eastern time they're making this very clear in their actions in their words that they're not willing to compromise they have pushed from the eastern side they have taken over farmlands and small towns and now their next target is the town of misrata which is in the center of eastern huta

government forces approaching from the east and from the west and if they're able to hook up then they divide the enclave into two they cut it into two severing rebel supply lines and putting more pressure now the program and forces want to avoid direct combat they want to avoid casualties so what they do is that siege to these main population centers and put more pressure on the rebels and the civilians so the government pushing ahead really defiant but the rebels just as the fighting and saying that they're they will defend their land some of the rebels however according to one of two reports saying look we will accept this idea of the russian pushed the street is that the rebels beginning to fracture and split how significant is that. well we haven't been able to independently confirm what the rebel group the russian defense ministry is talking about like you mentioned the russian defense ministry saying some rebel groups are accepting this offer but jaiswal islam which is one of the main groups in eastern releasing

a statement saying that no we are not involved in any negotiations over a withdrawal and our people and the rebel factions will defend. lands but russia making it very clear the only way that this bombing campaign which is now in its third week is going to end this if the rebels leave they're offering them safe passage to leave with their families but this is quite difficult because it's not just the rebels who are going to leave many people are wanted by the government simply for opposing the state civil defense volunteers are considered terrorists by the government media activists are going to talk about thousands and thousands of people having to leave their homes so there are still defiance but the suffering is immense and it is not clear how long the people can hold out in eastern huta thanks . donald trump says north korea seems quote sincere in its apparent willingness to negotiate with the u.s. on abandoning its nuclear weapons but south korea's president says it is too early to be optimistic when jean says he has no plans to ease sanctions before next

month's summit with kim jong il rob mcbride has more now from seoul there's widespread optimism in south korea at what many believe is a landmark agreement but conservative opposition parties still suspect north korea of playing a game of deception to buy time for its nuclear and missile development there's been similar caution from japan which has accused north korea of reneging on previous agreements. past discussions with north korea have not resulted in the nuclear a cation so our response should be based on lessons learned from their talks for the sake of talks are meaningless in china one of north korea's few allies and a possible partner in brokering future negotiations has been more welcoming. and a cautious welcome from u.s. president donald trump. hopefully we'll go in the very very peaceful beautiful pair

we're prepared to go whichever path is necessary i think we're having very good dialogue south korea's envoys now travel to the u.s. to sell the merits of the deal the question for officials there is whether there is sufficient substance to get them involved this is a huge opportunity lost if we can't get some talks going with north korea to prolong this reduction in tension because what's the alternative to talks is what winston churchill said if you don't jar jar you're going to be in war war south korea's desire to avoid conflict at all costs may have started this push for dialogue it is now for others it seems to take it up for it to work if americans decide that it's a time to stop talking to the north koreans and it's like if they're making this here right now they will do it again there's not any inference of north south communication all sides no previous talks on the north korean crisis have been

plagued by mistrust and failure. supporters of the initiative say the difference this time is the sincerity to reach a deal but unlike previous attempts the northeast so close to achieving its nuclear ambitions the united states is so determined to stop it one way or another the price of failure could be far higher problem pryde al jazeera so. voters in sierra leone are choosing a new president ernest bai koroma step into an after ten years and the leaders of sixteen political parties are vying to succeed him three million voters are registered for the certain actions since the end of the civil war and interests of one of the polling stations in the capital city freetown. there is so much enthusiasm in this election several unions are eager to select a successor to president anas by koroma so many of them hundreds and thousands of them have queued up at polling stations like this some have been here even before

five o'clock local time that's five g.m.t. and they are all eager to cast their ballots in this election basically the president would be elected members of parliament chairmen of local councils as well as councillors so when they queue up on lines like this they get accredited and then they come to this particular station there are in fact twelve of them in this location then they'll be casting ballots this particular box is for councillors. the next one is for mayor or chairman and then over there there is a box for presidential candidates and members of parliament now as you can see over there that is an election official issuing out voters card or other a voting card. for this particular voter who will go and stamp and market then drop it inside now he's here marking his buy a lot after this he will drop it in each of the boxes slated for president member

of parliament chairman of council. all i'm mayor so basically that shows how enthusiastic these voters are but of course there are at the back of their mind there is fear this is a country emerging from a brutal war a civil war it ended fifteen years ago but of course there are fears lingering fears of outbreak of violence. trying to the blocking of social media sites including facebook to stop the spread of religious tensions the president's declared a week long state from urgency to try and stop recent violence between buddhists and the muslim minority the latest unrest began when a buddhist driver died following a fight with four muslims in elfin and us reports now from the city of candy. a heavy military presence deployed to keep the peace witnesses say organize mobs from the single majority targeted mosques muslim homes and businesses on monday

afternoon mama brother of dual died in their home one of many set alight early morning today i came to inside the house check with my parents. that day my so my brother he was down in the. bottom of the attacks were sparked by the death of this man. the forty one year old driver was beaten by four reportedly drunk was lim utes for not allowing them to overtake his vehicle days later he was dead muslims were attacked on the day of his funeral after thirty years of brutal conflict or lankans don't want more violence but have made increasing nationalist sentiment promoted by hardliners minorities a feeling vulnerable president might be powerless serious in acted to address those concerns imposing a state of emergency to last for a week. i expressed my deepest regrets and pain to every family and relative who

suffered the loss of life and property and i strongly condemn all acts of violence i have also asked the police to strictly enforce the law against whatever group individual or organization that was behind the unrest sri lanka has had a violent past helping for many theories on why and what is happening today boils down to in a way. the believe that the majority has. that beyond the country and. some observers say police and special task force personnel couldn't control the mobs the trend right in and on monday and the state of emergency is aimed at preventing similar incidents see the minister mungle a summary of leader has said enough is enough calling for inciting racial violence to be baited non-bailable offense and politicians who lead such violence to be

stripped of their civic rights behalf and then there's the era beginning sri lanka . last more and still to come for you here on the news hour including these stories donald trump's top economic advisor quits as the controversy over proposed tariffs gropes. i'm adrian brown in northwest china where president xi jinping recently vowed to eliminate poverty it's going to be a big challenge find out why here on al-jazeera. and other sports news ronaldo is on target as real madrid stay on course for a third straight champions league title. another aide to donald trump has quit chief economic advisor gary cohen was a critic of the president's controversial tariffs on steel imports and he was an

architect of last year's tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy he is the latest in a series of high profile resignations from the white house well stuart has more now from washington. certainly the terror of issue is much more serious because that goes to the very heart of the u.s. economy its ability to trade goods with other countries in a way that doesn't cost the u.s. economy too much money and of course there's now fear that is going to be the case we don't know when gary coleman is leaving but certainly it's been a lot of discussion here in washington today this is the u.s. president the white house has a tremendous energy and we have tremendous talent you know they'll be people i'm not going to be specific but they'll be people that change they always change sometimes they want to go out and do something else but they all want to be in the white house so many people want to come in i have a choice of anybody i could take any position in the white house and i'll have a choice of the ten top people having to do with that position everybody wants to

be there and they love this white house because we have energy like rarely before now later this evening the u.s. president did tweet out that apparently he does have someone in mind to replace gary cohen he's not dropping any has about. that who that person might be it could be a noted economist it could be a noted businessman or investor we'll just have to wait to see but again gary condit will be leaving the white house after a little more than a year on the job at least he can say that he helped push through a big tax cut plan even though the plan itself is still very controversial. an advisor to the united arab emirates with ties to president trump has reportedly given evidence to the probe on alleged foreign meddling in the twenty sixteen us presidential election the new york times is reporting that george neda is cooperating with the special counsel robert muller's investigation and testified

last week to a grand jury that says nato attended secret meetings between iraqi officials and frump associates during the presidential transitional period. legal john shand is executive director of the arab center of washington he's worked with george nader he says nader has a reputation as a political mettle there is no doubt this is very embarrassing for the administration how could a shadow we should figure like george and i don't know who basically has been known around town to be more of a political a slur if you will how did he manage to penetrate the highest levels of the campaign at the time and get to meet with people like ben and glen and friends on behalf of the transition team and to connect them with a foreign government assuming that he was paid probably by that foreign government or some of its actors this is definitely embarrassing to the president but it's also embarrassing to another who kind of you know made

a living out of such shenanigans and washington d.c. he's not the only one nor him for more than i would say twelve to fifteen years washington is full of characters like that are basically trying to present themselves as. brokers if you will. but i report released by human rights watch and justice project pakistan has documented rampant violations by the criminal justice system in saudi arabia now the report says pakistani defendants are held for prolonged periods without charge or trial and with no access to any legal assistance and also accused of forcing detainees to sign confessions while the report was released as saudi arabia's crown prince arrives in the u.k. for a three day visit human rights groups urging the u.k. prime minister to resign me to deliver a tough message jamal joins us live now from outside buckingham palace on the mile there in central london jamal who get squat from this trip.

well that is the big question and that's what's making this trip so significant as far as the u.k. is concerned to raise a maze government is looking for money and a lot of money especially as she struggles with trying to find some sort of security instability in reinject some sort of confidence in the u.k. economy as she tries to find out the details in briggs's negotiations so she's looking for roughly what we're understanding is an announcement of one hundred billion dollars was of investments in the u.k. over the next ten years is not the number might sound huge but actually it's only about twenty percent increases through with the amount of trade already that exists between the two countries which is estimated at around eight billion dollars a year as far as the saudis are concerned while the have been some money is essentially being treated as a head of state even though he is still an heir apparent he will be meeting in the next couple of hours with queen elizabeth the queen of england who is the head of

state he will then head to downing street where he will be meeting with to raise a made there they will be announcing a joint strategic committee set up between the united kingdom and the kingdom of saudi arabia that will be headed jointly by the british prime minister and mohamed bin saddam on all of this obviously taking place with no mention of king solomon who is technically still alive technically still that of saudi arabia and therefore it is strange or peculiar to say the least obviously this is also giving more credibility more recognition to the young prince only thirty two years old there's been these billboards that have been set up put across the united cross in london as well as online adverts estimated to cost over a million pounds in terms of spend expenditure by the saudis to try and present it inside a man as this force of change his reform or reform is present but obviously as you mentioned there are a lot of criticism from human rights groups as well as the opposition party here in britain who are against this visit jamal for the moment thanks very much we'll talk

to you later i'm sure let's now talk to yossi metal doug he's a senior researcher at chatham house his middle east and north africa program he joins us live from london as well you'll see michael but what are the questions here that will not be asked all over the next few days. i think if this russians. you know who. i think is least. neighborhood. issues for instance where the. work to be discussed was the important bits of the same. nations between united. if you. talk about general relations in the middle east in the middle east and syria. has. a few shoes

and says the visit of means here in london so i think the muslim go. to be honest. and to base on the issues that are concerns for both sides ok let's just talk about a couple of those very specific issues here are the e.u. countries have unashamedly adopted the moral high ground they've said look we are not selling arms to saudi arabia because of what's going on in yemen and yet that is that is a square that theresa may is happy to try to turn into a circle and live with. well when we're talking about cell phones in general i think what's. the standard of go when you because if you go around apparently this you mentioned human rights watch that. if there is an international standards reached. with our own i think you'd be

welcome any any one of us that support human rights yes they should be stunned at what we see is of course of all of decision about as well count me as another kind of well known who said when the we. the united kingdom on its way. of. execution if you as the united states i think if you be fair to you i think the most important thing in you who should be civil consult and. what when and i think just to interrupt you for a second you're seeing there on that idea of what they could and should do here is it potentially or could for the british prime minister for the foreign office for boris johnson because there are the message from riyadh seems to be look we are a country of reform we are a country of opportunity but not yet so the headline economics come comes down to

what it's always been an arm surely. well i think this one comes to all this discussion between bones jones or. some other i think has to be about about issues such as human rights but also i think we need to be. but. i think you know there is an agenda. of change and. it was initiated by. i think we need to give you more time to see how you know. if you go on to. be. positive. on women driving go on the issue of business in the same time not only is very long and i think the saudis will be the first will be that this is just the beginning of a long journey and it will be if you like judge by the end of the journey you know

. ok at the end of the journey presumably the crown prince has got to convincingly make people believe that he is economically prudent but this is a man who himself has spent five hundred million dollars on a boat this is a man who himself likes to spend four hundred fifty million dollars on a division she painting how does he get that across there and make it acceptable at a time when he's saying look you know we're where we have an economic issue that we have to deal with about our own economy. but if you ask me this question i don't have an answer to this question why people spending their money i would like a very. very thing so i don't have been and so i think you can see by your. own mind your own answer. you know so this is not. even. wrong if you think one should have. no doubt

this is part of the discussion by the way it's not. a. discussion about how to spend money. and i think. we've been so which will be as inclusive as possible and i think you have to ask. you not to be understood i thought i'd give it a chance anyway you'll see michael good to talk to you as ever thanks so much for joining us from. we move on poverty is a major problem in china of course government statistics say more than thirty million chinese survive on less than two dollars per day the president's promising to tackle extreme poverty by twenty twenty on the local governments are working hard to meet that deadline particularly in shannon she province as our china correspondent interim brown explains chung has one hundred and sixty goats so in this impoverished part of china that makes her wealthy but

a few months ago she was told to leave her farm by local government officials along with the rest of the village they left she stayed taking people out of the countryside sometimes against their will is one of the ways the government's trying to end rural poverty but this is the only livelihood chung has ever known so you don't know i don't know why the government wants us to move to the town most people already left but i have the scouts i can't leave where will that put them. the demolition of the village has begun the rubble will soon be cleared away but other reminders of the primitive way people lived will be harder to raise some created a home by burrowing into the clay hillsides china is now a world superpower but until a few months ago people here were living in caves with little protection from the heat or cold the only source of water was half

a kilometer away in winter little grows in the dry fields the hut where june chong hsien lived has gone it was wedged into this hillside he's been resettled in a government provided apartment and doesn't miss this place for that. this village is very poor most people barely had enough to eat potato used to be a main vegetable he couldn't get at the vegetables to eat eighty years ago china's nascent communist party was literally battling for its survival in this area today it's in the midst of another battle against me but local officials insist they are making some headway last year the local government said four thousand nine hundred people were lifted out of poverty in this county one hundred fifteen of them in this village last july china's president xi jinping came to visit villages which showed heaping praise on him later they were told they'd be moving now the

president has set a lofty target in his campaign to eliminate poverty cheer we must ensure that by twenty twenty all rural residents living below the current poverty line how be lifted out of poverty we wanted to talk to other villages who'd made the move to hear what they thought about apartment living instead we were detained by police for more than two hours and then a scored it out of town they said foreigners were not allowed here. adrian brown al-jazeera in chancey province northern china now in a few moments we'll have the very latest world weather for you with rob but also still ahead here on the news out there are still more questions than answers in the case of a former russian spy and his daughter now both critically ill and a u.k. hospital plus. i'm andrew thomas in the rural heartland of australia i'll be explaining why for farmers here the new c p t p p trade deal one without the united

states is beyond even that while the strings and in the sports details of the car are charged with helping electric racing catch up with its rivals. from dusky sunsets over disproving savannah. to sunrise atop an asian metropolis. i was being very wet in tropical queens and over the last few days we could see last few weeks but this developing cloud showed some signs of a little tropical cyclone within it more recently and that dropped an awful lot of right now in the last twenty four hours the line of credit she extended from the north down to the south are we talking here some of in sydney in brisbane but the concentration has been up in tropical queens a little place called winton maybe did demonstrates it most clearly this is not the

coast this is in landing in queens and it's not supposed to be a lake is just this town has become an island because the amount of rain that has fallen now we are technically in el nino season which means this part of the city southwest pacific is slightly will it should be it tends to generate rather more rain during the wet season and indeed the next day or so that rain will keep moving slowly west was through the desert middle of australia will probably see all rue waterfalls once more but there's one more thing to look at in this part of the world we're actually in the islands of vanuatu a year ago more or less fun about who was hit by cycling dollar devastating but this is a category one storm so as rain risk is main risk i think is through rain it will strengthen in the next day or. the weather sponsored by cateye place. they suspected money laundering operation but this time it was different. an

accidental discovery the wharfs initial suspicions and unravels an unprecedented scale of systemic international corruption people in power investigates a racket of such magnitude that it threatened governments and redefining the rules of impunity. the car wash. at this time does the. algae zero. and. where ever you.

welcome back you're watching the al-jazeera news hour live from doha a reminder of your top stories the u.n. human rights chief says the syrian government's offensive in rebel held eastern ghouta can't be justified zain been rugs and also saying civilians are facing a catastrophe as government forces target a few hundred fighters monitors are reporting the government sent in reinforcements . south korea's president says it's too early to be optimistic about progress with the north wingy and says he has no plans to ease sanctions before next month's summit with the north korean leader kim jong il. and voters in sierra leone are choosing a new president and his bike obama stepping down after ten years and the leaders of

sixteen political parties and vying to succeed him. let's get more on one of our headlining stories the apparent easing of tensions between north and south korea we're going to talk now to steve and maggie he's a senior associate professor at the international christian university's department of politics in tokyo stephen maggie when north korea says we are not getting rid of our new x. what happens that. well i think in the world has to realize that it has to somehow find a way to co-exist with a new could arise north korea and this is a chance it's a challenge for regional security and the chance for a global rivalry between the go global growing rivalry between china and the united states at the regional level of course if north korea does keep its nuclear weapons south korea and japan will most likely have to rethink their security orientation this could be acquiring preemptive strike capabilities or acquiring their own nuclear capabilities to be destabilizing for the read. at

a broader level i think. yet. stephen i think we're going to draw our conversation to a close just for the next couple of minutes we'll get back to you if we can we're losing that skype line to you there we will return to that story a little later as i say if we can the head of the u.n. human rights commission is accusing me of trying to cover up evidence of crimes against humanity against the range of muslims so you've seen says he's concerned that mass graves of being bulldozed the u.n. is warning that ethnic cleansing is continuing the same tactics of change from mass killings and rape to forced starvation nearly seven hundred thousand ranger have been seeking refuge in bangladesh since myanmar's military launched a crackdown in august victims have reported killings of rape torture and abductions by the security forces militia as well as apparently

deliberate attempts to force the injured to leave the area through starvation with officials blocking their access to crops and food supplies this council is aware that my office has strong suspicions that acts of genocide may have taken place in rakhine state since august. i am therefore not surprised by reports that villages which were attacked in recent years and alleged mass graves of the victims are being bulldozed now the revised t p p that's the trans-pacific partnership trade deal will be signed in chile this week the us pulled out of the original agreement for farmers in australia the absence of america is an opportunity for thomas now reports from prima. these cows are pregnant when they have their calves

most of the male ones will be fat and then slaughtered for beef this week signing of the comprehensive and progressive agreement the trans-pacific partnership or c p t p p trade deal means import tariffs on australian beef will fall that will impact where different cuts of those calves go the kidneys and the livers and the hearts and things like that could end our family in our eyes or some way into a pen for sure all the hard not end up somewhere else out there there's a possibility for that animal feed and after him it could be well travelled could turn into a pretty good thing simpsons wife lobbies for the agriculture industry years of work seem to have paid off in twenty sixteen of the twelve countries agreed in principle to an initial t p p agreement then the huge emotional rollercoaster happened donald trump comes in suddenly you know expectations squashed but then c.p.t. b.p. between all the initial signatories except the united states rose out of the t.p.

he's ashes and for australian agriculture it may be better than the initial deal for australian farmers the new trans-pacific partnership without the united states is the best of both worlds increase the mom for their exports through tariff reduction without a big competitor on the supply side representatives of agricultural industries can hardly hide that lights are you feeling sorry for your american counterparts relying on them now we're never laugh when we face a number of common challenges. that harmonize ation of trading to other markets so we're more closely aligned and people might think how about in the case of tape a lever and we certainly were disappointed not to have them at the table from a grand perspective for australia's economy as a whole it's more complicated the new deal is projected to raise australia's g.d.p. by no point five percent by twenty thirty the in. one including the united states would have risen it by north point six percent and having the us in the deal might

have led to other bigger benefits the whole point of the team was always to attract more members within the asia pacific region into their grouping and as you attract more members the market access benefits of course start to grow us again still the largest of the world's largest economy having it in the t.v. play would make the tape b.p. as a free trade agreement a much more attractive proposition in other words these cows female cars cabs could have ended up in countries not yet part of any deal that now looks less likely andrew thomas al-jazeera prima and on thursday our correspondent when he reports from vietnam a country expected to be one of the big winners from the new trade deal with full coverage of the signing ceremony in chile that's on thursday here on al-jazeera. in the us a fifty two year old from kansas has pleaded guilty to murdering an indian man and in a racially motivated shooting last year prosecutors are now deciding whether adam

or intern should face the death penalty for ensign yelled get out of my country before the fatal shot the victim and wounded another man at a bar last february the intern who also faces federal hate crime charges will be sentenced in may senior british ministers are set to meet over the suspected poisoning of a former double agent in the u.k. counter-terrorism police are investigating why a former russian intelligence officer script l. and his daughter were found unconscious on sunday they remain in the critical condition in a hospital the u.k. says it will respond robustly if russia it turns out was behind the incident but moscow has denied any involvement so if you go joins us live now from salt spring in the west country sunny what's the latest on the inquiry. well the investigation as enters into its fourth day now has been taken over by counterterrorist police and although it's not been described as a terrorist incident yet the police are saying that they are keeping an open mind

on the case and the cordon has been widened out just behind me there the bench on which his daughter you were found also samples from the area where they were found have also been sent now to military facility a science facility called portadown just very nearby here that has the equipment to be able to tell whether in fact any flubs were used and also if any of the surrounding areas were in fact infected so that has been been the next stage meanwhile they have been described the victims have been described as fighting for their lives in hospital but also interestingly enough there are two other developments namely they are looking into also investigators are also looking into the death of. wife who died in twenty twelve of cancer

but also his son alexander who died last year after visiting some petersburg apparently from liver failure investigators are looking into see whether there was anything untoward or anything unusual that could have contributed to those deaths we had. in the u.k. foreign secretary this time yesterday is this a bump in the relationship between london and moscow or something potentially a bit more serious than love. there has been a lot of pressure on the government to take a look seriously into this but there has been also knowledge went of the fact that they have worked at all sora teams have worked quicker on this case certainly than they did when it was first alexander litvinenko who was killed almost twelve years ago took ill there seems to be

a sense that police seem to be working quicker to establish exactly who was behind this but there is certainly a pressure diplomatic pressure on this don't forget also at the time when the prime minister theresa may was home secretary she came under criticism for not coming down hard enough on russia over the case of alexander litvinenko but there is really very much a very delicate position that britain finds itself in not forgetting of course that the u.k. does have a lot of russian money which goes into it a lot of properties brought by brought by very wealthy russians and so there is really a line that they have that they are sort of finding themselves fred but this when you pressure has also got the government looking into a further thirteen other fourteen of the deaths which have occurred all in the u.k. while the police dismissed them as anything criminally untoward there have been reports that they could have been connected to russia and perhaps even state

sponsored by them but that even though there is that pressure if there is that state sponsorship then yes the government will find itself in a position to do something and to be seen to do something tough. thanks very much the u.s. secretary of state has announced an african aid plan worth more than half a billion dollars. somalia south sudan and nigeria among others receiving humanitarian assistance rex tillerson revealed the plans as he began his first official tour of the continent she has more. mr rex tillerson. eight days the u.s. secretary of state will visit the capitals of ethiopia kenya chad and in nigeria rex tillerson says the u.s. wants to show its commitments to african development this administration six to deepen our partnership with africa with the name of making african countries more resilient and more self-sufficient the trip was first announced in january shortly

after donald trump allegedly used a profanity to describe african countries other than that sentiment which the president denies having expressed this is one of the few on the record elements the president has made about the continent's have so many friends going to your country is trying to get rich and it's not clear that president shop has ever been to africa that he knows very much about the continent it's all. and nor does he appear particularly interested in learning which is the great irony because for it ministration such as his which is trying to grow economic relationships around the world as a means of improving american businesses there is enormous opportunity at the state department background briefing about to listen strip officials they were keen to emphasize the u.s. sees more in africa than u.s. corporate profits and military bases in fact u.s. officials criticize china and russia for exploiting the resources of african

countries without giving back to the african people but while china has poured money into the development of african infrastructure and trade the u.s. under president obama massively expanded the u.s. his military and cia footprint throughout the continent and it's notable that while key african vacancies remain in the trump state department for example an assistant secretary to coordinate diplomatic policy the white house has managed to appoint a former cia official to be its senior director for africa but the five countries are fifty four trays in for to listen strip key to the u.s. is military strategy in. the region suggests here at least there will be continuity with president obama's african policies thank you very very confidential the state department says to listen this trip will be the first of many to africa where there is a suspicion that the trump administration doesn't intend to engage with the continent diplomatically there's a debate as to whether that's necessarily a bad thing for african nations you have recounts the outages zero washington

judges in brazil have rejected an attempt by the former president lula da silva to avoid a twenty twelve year prison sentence the superior court of justice ruled he can be rearrested if the jail is held on appeal the ruling cost further doubt on his bid to run for the presidential election in october looted silva who was convicted last year for accepting a luxury apartment from a construction company involved in a massive corruption scandal. calls are growing in argentina for abortion to be legalized it's restricted in this mainly catholic country for instance of the pregnancy is the result of rape congress is expected to debate the controversial issue for the first time just risible no reports from when as ours. so. green bandanas have become the symbol of the fight or legalized abortion in argentina. on tuesday there were hundreds of them when the bill was presented in congress. this

is the seventh time we've presented this project and for the first time it will be debated in congress that's why we're happy and it includes the possibility of having an abortion until fourteen weeks of pregnancy we've been fighting for years for something like this to happen abortion is illegal in argentina in most cases but the health ministry says that between three hundred seventy and five hundred thousand planned a stein abortions are carried out every year we mean argentina are not only address come being detained if they have an abortion but also thousands of them are hospitalized every year because of complications with the procedure and that's why women here i demanding the legalization of abortion because basically that women's lives i would risk their lives out for the first time in this country's history abortion will be debated in congress over seventy congress men have already signed the petition. a move that people. are celebrating this days they're

part of an aid group that assists women who want to have an abortion even if that means breaking the law the group has a website where women can get information and help if something goes wrong. but in some poor areas women end up going to appease to get rid of the baby easy you know it's unsafe what we try to do is give them information and put them in touch with people that could help them if they have complications. to for. the main opposition in argentina is the catholic church and it's not clear yet whether the abortion project will get enough votes to become law. the fact that both francis his argentinean has many wondering whether the church will get involved in the debate. says it's time legislators put their religious beliefs aside and start looking at argentina's dramatic health indicators that showed that candace tine abortions cost . the country. would mean that i wouldn't see women here in the

hospital with the complications that we see today that would make the doctor go to the pharmacy and then they can have a private abortion at home. the debate will begin later this month in congress and it is expected to divide argentinean society those supporting the bill say they will continue to fight for a right they believe will save many lives. when a site is. still. a victory in a row portland winning in the n.c.a.a. details just ahead with a comeback. time

for sports news with andy thank you so much pain so well for the eighth straight time right through to the last thanks of the champions league or i am not south parisa your man follow i have to say on aggregate christiane although i scored his twelfth goal of the season in this competition is the two telling if any champions one to win in paris to back up their three one hundred victory in the first like pace she had midfielder mark of a right he sends off in the second half they went out in the last sixteen for the second consecutive year well no draw down the field so liverpool through five nail on aggregate against poles i was the first time since two thousand and nine that the five time champions of reached the quarter finals this year we belong there to be honest it's should be a big surprise. and next round will be very difficult

to think that's clearly a lot of good t.v. was exactly seven of the barry good teams who we've been involved. so maybe five of them are four of them are them from growing learned english premier league leaders manchester city are on course to reach the last eight as well writes a composite highlights from having won the first leg of that site for nail tottenham meanwhile looking to complete an unlikely comeback against eventis it's a nice side escape for the two two draw ensuring in the first leg after being two down inside the first ten minutes against last season's runners up we nobody will we are going to play with one of the best team. but we are brave brave team billy bush did people. that love the challenge and tourism us a challenge we're going to compete on in the same time trying to enjoy the course

is a game. to enjoy. six north korean athletes have arrived in south korea as the country prepares to take part in the winter paralympics for the very first time last month of course north korea is a part of the pyongyang winter games and this latest move comes a day on from north and south korea by a landmark agreement to ease political tensions on the peninsula the paralympics themselves start on friday. i don't top twenty fourteen australian sean pollard was attacked by two right want shocks while surfing the then twenty three year old lost his left arm and right hand in the incident within a year paul had tried snowboarding for the first time and now he's getting ready to

represent his country at the winter parlin takes you know i i'm sure i'm a professional athlete from western australia. a little over three years ago i lost my left hand in a shark attack since then i have. the wives which i wanted to. i turn to snowboarding and i've got a guy. definitely snowboarding has kind of through that hole that surfing left leave probably almost four thousand ties from the nearest scares or coming from bomber there's no it's not anywhere near a lot of i'm trying to go off to do down the local skate parks i'll just go down there and lots. all competing sports banks and snowboard cross on the top say it is pretty much the bottom of the hill wins you by stacking whoever gets

out quicker and gets across the lawn wins yeah if you stack it in the other god doesn't fall off and usually they're going to win i'm losing a nominee here and a lot of money trying has to do with cool strength and i'm down the gym a lot strengthening that core and a con to get driven to push myself knowing that you know last and got about the best you can my diet i lost i get by using the prosthetic it took a while to learn and it took me a good couple wasteland out a bout of ties and even just can't dress to walk to get. everything figured out when it's right usually try to keep relaxed in or around the contests it's as soon as you're in the stock i kind of switch to rice mode and it's. never really crossed on representing my country when i was younger and conan has since gone shocked enjoyed being challenged and it's been a big challenge to try and get to the top level my family's really exhausted it's

rewarding for them and myself to say that i've got these amazing opportunity that i have now. i'm just going to be happy to be represented on the big stage the biggest thing i've learned three more experience is you never know things are going to turn out you have to just have a big challenges and you'll be surprised what you can actually achieve. the pole in trouble is extended their winning streak in basketball's top league eight games damien the lord scored thirty seven points and made a three points as they beat the knicks column added nine things in this one eleven so eighty seven when it sees the blazers move into third place in the n.b.a. western conference standings while the mix of one is one of the last fourteen games . the columbus blue jackets secured an important win over the vegas gold knights in the national hockey league with goaltender cigar brodsky ruled out through illness jr's cup a solid stood in and stopped thirty seven shots for the blue jackets full on the

school the win over the pacific division leading gold nice means columbus hold on to the second wildcard spot in the eastern division while the tampa bay lightning ended before a punt the six game winning streak beating west state rivals five four and i would side break points scored his tenth game win of the season for the lightning. and the most racing championship at the forefront of electric car technology believes its new car can take the sports the next level formally has revealed details. of the car that will be used in its fifth season increase but surely for many drivers no longer need to swap calls made why three races and top speeds will now hit two hundred seventy kilometers per hour that is though still around one hundred kilometers per hour down on f one cars these guys are we see them all there is a weapon against climate change we need to change or see these we need to gain the mobility we need to go electric and formally as a job usually that goes all around the world promoting local guards went through

that and this is our our weapon for the next three seasons change the world will likely. ok throughout the day but as if and now it's undue thanks very much a lot more news on the web site al jazeera dot com sami is in this chair and about three minutes i'll see you a little later today. graduate

from iraq he's also a part time going to museum which includes a reconstruction of the famous. most of the people he's showing around came to germany as refugees this is just one of several billion museums taking part in the project called meeting point and as well as bringing people together one of its aims is to emphasise the contribution of migrants right up to the present day to western culture. because i've been here for some time i can help them with lots of things that mrs ford to me the great thing is it's not just about museums about forming a new life here and part of life is culture as poverty and desperation sweep across ruhi just settlements women and girls are being bought and sold and given away you know refugee camps one on one east investigates yet another dark side of the crisis at this time on al-jazeera bigger and potentially more dangerous that's the best

way to describe what's happening with the smoking alternative known as favorite i enjoy the taste of it and the harmful effects of what smoking does between two thousand and thirteen and two thousand and fourteen a lonely star tripling in use among us high school students and head to head is a person's conventional cigarette which one do you think has helped my opinion i think they're both dangerous take no at this time on al-jazeera. when you are prepared to kill your own people lying is easy to. the u.n. rejects syria's justification for the offensive only used in a whole does more troops to send to the rabble long.