simple small to underestimate the size and scale of the economic crisis it's not just about the billions trillions of dollars of debt it's not just about the banks it's not just about the government to my real people. i really felt liberated as a journalist loved about was getting to the truth as an eyewitness that's what this jobs bill. this is al-jazeera. this is the news hour live from london coming up in the next sixty minutes knew us no problem a revamped version of the transpacific trade partnership is about to be signed in

chile we live in santiago. the syrian government tightens its grip on rebel held and it appears to be using any means necessary. more attacks against the muslim community in sri lanka the government is forced to reimpose a curfew. i'm joining. with the day's top sports story south korea gets ready to host the biggest ever winter paralympics but they won't be joining up with their north korean neighbors at the opening ceremony. it's a landmark trade agreement involving eleven countries that will connect five hundred million people and economies worth ten trillion dollars we're talking about the trans-pacific partnership trade deal which is about to be signed in chile's capital it's going ahead despite don't want trump's withdrawal we live in santiago in

a moment but first a look at what this new mean for vietnam we one of the biggest winners once it's signed when he reports from his you won't. the oldest porcelain factory in vietnam hasn't changed much since it was opened in one thousand nine hundred sixty back then it was operated by the communist government of the former north vietnam when the country was divided today it's united under communist rule but the government has embraced capitalism like most state owned enterprises this factory has been privatized and will soon move to a new purpose built industrial park and a moving to a new factory will help us develop you can see all our machines our old so will invest in more modern production lines for more than twenty years vietnam was torn apart by war it ended in one thousand nine hundred seventy five with the north defeating the south which was backed by the united states communism emerged victorious but the leaders soon realized that the centralized economic system had

to change economy worse your best picture. the government embarked on a series of reforms to open the country up and allow market forces that now has one of the best performing economies in the world when vietnam began reforming in one nine hundred eighty six its total trade was worth only six hundred forty million dollars a year it was really only doing business with the likes of china and the former soviet union just over thirty years on as its economic borders have opened that figure has slipped to more than four hundred and twenty billion dollars but some believe it could do even better and say the government must continue evolving to combat problems like rising inequality it coes by corruption. in an informal economy and vietnam must try to reduce it and now that now might create new into the to modernize economy the process is ongoing and reforms like

increasing efficiency and breaking down bureaucracy may be pushed along by trade deals like the trans-pacific partnership some may question the pace but certainly there are direction of the reform is very welcome but some of that will need to be accelerated for for the domestic private sector to be able to grow more that it has been so far that certainly the goal of this company which used to import its clay and export the finished products price fluctuations mentored eventually became a domestic supply or only. and a new modern factory male aout to realize its goal of returning to the international markets wayne hay al-jazeera has on vietnam. oh not america newman joins us now from santiago so the signing imminent how big a deal is this for these countries are involved in this. i don't know or me back to you in the ballroom where the signature and the ceremony is about to take place right now with the eleventh congress ministers bigsby all that do you see that you

see in that it is a big deal but it may not have the united states in it which would have made. it would have made it for about forty percent of the world levy rather than over thirteen percent that represents now what is being seen as a powerful symbol particularly the timing lauren this comes just one day after the european union and the i.m.f. one of the united states against a lesion on the world train for a local trade war and see if he continues to go ahead no question to impose duties . and the many other imports to the west so these countries here see this deal as a kind of an antidote to the growing u.s. protectionism and of course that will allow them monks themselves trade much much more they say to produce more jobs and more you want to within their country and that you see it took a long time to to on up the dittos a bit more the biggest stumbling grokster to getting this to happen. it was

basically just the idea of going ahead without the united states and first time we're talking about exactly one year ago when the whole i remember donald trump decided to pull out of the deal three days after taking office and many of us thought well maybe this is dead wrong if i was pushed on by jim then it curiously enough which is now the largest economy in this deal they would forward they were if they eliminated twenty two articles in the the original treaty most of them were there to please the united states and so they were able to come up to finally do this and in the meantime now we have other countries like taiwan singapore possibly even the u.k. after brags that a feeling signs of wanting to join the pact as well and what about the u.s. might eventually rejoin it now that it's seen a new version of it was that is that an imp an impossible situation to think. well in fact i'm glad you asked that because the u.s. trade secretary i'm going to have to whisper now because they are the ceremony has

started the u.s. treasury secretary has in fact said that they are at this moment to go to have been called sessions with members of the t.v. crew to talk precisely to rejoin the blog but it's not the same deal it was when donald trump pulled out it probably a sell off let's say green out to the united states but clearly the concern i growing real political strength or china is something that is is very weighing on the united states and so it may just reconsider not necessarily will move into the on the same terms as it was before you see a new moon thank you very much indeed. and i will keep an eye on the new signing that deal as it happens and meantime thanks so very much to us in america at its embassy in yemen for that update. i want to talk about free trade in chile right now in the u.s. the move has been as we heard towards protectionism president donald trump is planning to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and he set to make an announcement on exactly what he'll do in the next few hours can be how could joins

us live from washington d.c. so we've been out hints that some countries might be exempt what kind of deal are we expecting from them and what kind of terrorist right will the official announcements you point out an awful twenty thirty g.m.t. but this president seems pretty excited about what he's doing or is planning to do and he's been talking about it now for almost a week despite the threats of a global trade war despite threats of retaliation from the european union even potential action at the world trade organization it appears donald trump is pressing ahead with this plan on tariffs for foreign imports into the united states of steel as well as aluminum as it's pronounced here in canada and the united states but he did signal there could be some flexibility lauren and that's the key what everybody is watching for with the official announcement what could that mean what could that look like we're expecting it could mean that canada and mexico as there is this negotiation to renegotiate of of the north american free trade

agreement that they could be exempted and there could be potentially flexibility for other countries as well take a listen to what the president had to say from his cabinet meeting. sticking with ten to twenty five additional oh have a right to go up or down depending on the country and i have a right to drop out countries or and countries we just want fairness because we have not been treated fairly by other countries. so the president's view is very much consistent with what he said on the campaign trail his mandate is for tech those who voted for him namely those he feels have been unfairly treated by global trade agreements and also the fact that there have been industries that have been decimated the steel and aluminum industries the manufacturing industries his goal to bring jobs back despite the fact that there are members of his own republican party that say that there needs to be a more surgical approach this is not the way to do it the president is pressing

ahead and again we expect that announcement to made sometime around twenty thirty when it should become official and we'll get more clarity on what this might look like to me how good for time being thank you very much indeed for kind of exports most to the us than any other country officials there have been lobbying hard for an exemption from the terrace house in ontario christianson reports. at the mccain metal processing plant owner bruce relies on the steel industry to make his living just as his father did before him his workers processed steel coils from nearby plants for sale to manufacturers many in the united states or more customers grew lose business as a result of the twenty five percent there are quite likely. a lot of the stuff we supply here is automotive. furniture construction tiptoe has just seven employees but they're among the forty thousand who work directly or

indirectly for the steel industry just in the city of hamilton alone ninety percent of canadian steel and forty one percent of its aluminum is sold to the united states so it's not surprising that canadians are resisting trump's plan to impose tariffs because of the threat to business and jobs hamilton chamber of commerce argues the cost of the tariffs will get passed on to american consumers were highly specialized and so it's going to take a long time for any u.s. company to be fined domestic steel that will compete against the steel that we produce right now. china may be the target of president trumps tariffs but canada is the number one supplier of steel and aluminum to the united states and the amount it comes in the midst of efforts to renegotiate nafta the north american free trade agreement which governs trade between the two nations and backs of. had a very big deal with mexico very big deal with canada gone nafta after announcing the tariffs trump suggested canada could get

a waiver in exchange for concessions on nafta but canada has threatened to retaliate sparking fears of a trade war the threat is well maybe we'll negotiate an exemption if you give us everything we you want on the nafta agreement but mexico is and can are serious they might walk away well that leaves steel in a black hole steel processor tiptoe doesn't know what to expect you want to be a win win situation and right now it looks like it's. us looks like they want to with anybody else's cost and without a waiver the cost of tariffs could be steep for canadians kristen salumi al jazeera hamilton ontario chilling new video has emerged from inside syria showing what appeared to be phosphorous bombs being dropped on the rebel held enclave of eastern ghouta activists say they were dropped on a residential area in the town of how maria the bombs start fires when they land

and cause excruciating burns if contact is made with the skin items have also posted video showing what looks like a chlorine gas attack syrian government forces are pursuing a relentless offensive against the rebel stronghold that now on the verge of cutting the territory into two isolated pockets santa harder is following developments from neighboring lebanon. the assault on eastern who is intensifying pro-government forces have pushed deep inside the besieged enclave rebels are finding it increasingly difficult to hold their ground there has been heavy shelling extreme levels of bombardment to help ground troops. even civilians are not. over nine hundred people have been killed in nearly three weeks of what many describe as one if not the fiercest military campaigns of the syrian civil war. medical workers reported yet another chlorine gas attack the government

denied the claims and blamed what it called desperate rebels for distorting facts but videos appear to show victims struggling to breathe and i was. most. used. not just the bombs. but me situation because it's like two thousand and thirteen when. the remaining aid supplies that were not are floated on monday because of the shelling were supposed to reach the besieged population on thursday but according to the international committee of the red cross the conditions on the ground did not allow that sources have told us that the russian government and the rebel factions in eastern who are holding the gauche ations over a withdrawal it may involve them one of the main rebel factions leaving two rebel

controlled territories in the southern province of daraa the other main faction failing men will leave to areas under the control of turkey backed rebels in the north of the country. also understands that international humanitarian organizations are meeting to prepare for what could be a mass evacuation even though that is not what the hundreds of thousands of people in peace say they want. i swear by god i will never leave our country i'll stay here till death look at the structure around you we are asking for in countries to help them get rid of us this is inhumane and you are killing children and displacing people you are displacing the people of your own country. that has been part of the ceasefire deals reached in the past an effective surrender rebels their families and civilians who are either afraid of arrest or who don't want to return to government areas have little choice

but to leave bussed out to other rebel controlled areas that is what the pro-government alliance wants to happen in eastern it's the deal on the table if it's not accepted it has made it clear it will push for an all out military victory . is much more to come on the news hour including boyd up by me to time's up millions mark international women's day it isn't all talk and no action. zimbabwe's new president is under pressure to fix a crumbling economy and russia be the one to help. and syria's return the tennis legend has to take to the court for her professional comeback after giving that. anti muslim violence is continuing in central sri lanka despite the government imposing a curfew and deploying hundreds of soldiers to candy riots there have killed at

least three people and damaged more than two hundred muslim owned businesses they say they've now arrested ten people connected to the violence including the suspected leader from candy bennett's miserables. the muslim business owners here don't need to take to tell them who's destroying their shops in the hope. nationalist groups have again been exploiting long simmering resentment among some ethnic sinhalese who think muslims dominate the economy. this is my country i want here and i going to die here i don't know how i'm to be a long time after that i don't know that this is nothing but simple isn't it but i am. proud of my three month. using social media rumors of alleged muslim wrongdoing spread fast and regroup quickly for an hour before the mob came through the military and the police told the muslims

living here to get out so they did when they came home and it was all over they came back to this and many of the people living here have told us that they have been left with the impression however right or wrong the security forces weren't interested in looking after their property the local police chief tells us they did everything they could. the government to send troops imposed a curfew and cut access to social media with the coalition administration led by prime minister rana wickramasinghe is politically weak and some have accused it of not doing enough to tackle rising nationalism it's very difficult these are going to be a question to answer because of the emotions involved it's very easy to fall from but it will give me that. that idea and play something in me and then and get my emotions run riot in me so maybe in the future there may be things that we can do better so. it's a topic that we have to discuss in the future. three quarters of sri lanka's

population is sinhalese and overwhelmingly booklist but nationalist promoted long held fears that the character of the island is under threat first from british colonialism then there was a twenty six year civil war with tamils now it's muslims and they are destroying up all the sites and we definitely cannot stand by sinhalese as but this and watch as that is happening. one or two temples have been targeted but most victims of the violence are muslim the region of candy is vital to sri lanka's multi billion dollar tourist industry but it's under curfew once again bernard smith al-jazeera can be. britain's home secretary is valid the u.k. will pursue whoever is behind a nerve poison attack on a former russian double agent sixty six year old pal and his daughter remain in a critical but stable condition after being found unconscious on sunday a police officer also harmed by the rare nerve agent is still in a serious condition. the use of a nerve agent on the u.k.

sorrow is a brazen and reckless act. this was attempted murder in the most cruel and public way people are right to want to know who to hold to account but if we are to be rigorous in this investigation we must avoid speculation we are committed to doing all we can to bring the perpetrators to justice whoever they are and wherever they may be convinced acacia is moving at a pace and this government more act without hesitation as the facts become clear. thursday is international women's day and women have rallied across the world to market the head of the un's refugee agency visited a camp in lebanon to speak to women who fled violence in syria or grandy said the biggest challenges facing them are violence and early marriage lebanon is hosting around one and a half million syrian refugees. hundreds of women are gathering at turkey's border

with syria to raise the plight of syrian women after years of civil war organizers of the process say more than six thousand women are currently being held in prisons in syria and some are being subjected to torture and rape so i'm cautiously report from istanbul. it's an all women can watch dozens of buses carrying women activists have been on the rules for two days from istanbul to hot site on the turkish syrian border the organizers of the so-called comes to school or want to remind the world of syria's forgotten women who have suffered dire conditions and syrian regime prisons and been tortured since the war began in two thousand and eleven lawyer demand musar sees the conditions violate not only international law but also syrian law absolutely no rights and a lot of times the families have some sort of idea where they are but for the most

part they don't know which security branch they are imprisoned in or which present and for many they are forcibly disappeared which means we don't even know if they're actually detained in the prison or they have been taken hostage according to the organizers of the cold war more than six thousand seven hundred women are currently in jail at these five hundred thousand people have lost their lives in syria during the seven year conflict the british based syrian observatory for human rights says more than nine thousand were women and at least ten thousand were children thirty one year old nurul who jersey was tortured for several weeks the police in the massacres arrested her because she was an activist in two thousand and twelve she is one of the convoys leaders for thought of the. rule i haven't repeatedly beaten during interrogations they did everything including. electrocution they also humiliated us and tortured us the worst moment

was when an officer ordered other soldiers to rape me if i don't talk for me there was always the threat for some other girls they weren't so lucky. women in this convoy are from different religious and ethnic groups they aim to create international awareness about the violations and crimes committed against women in syrian prisons it is the least they can do on an international women's day for them and for their children no one here is expecting president bashar assad to be watching but what they are demanding is that the international community puts more pressure on his government to act at the doorstep of syria these women call out to those in prison beyond the border we are coming to save you see them to solo al-jazeera stumble down in new york is rebecca from romberg she is the lead of the she decides movement of the global fund for with thanks very much indeed for your

time i just want to go back to. we saw earlier on the report about the syrian refugee refugees from syria and the u.n. refugee agency saying that the biggest challenges facing these women are early marriage and violence so obviously the violence is something that needs to be addressed but what about that issue of early marriage would you say that's one of the biggest challenges there is. it's a big it's a really big challenge and what we've seen in recent years is particularly in crisis when like the syrian crisis that where parents maybe in the past would not have married their daughters off early they do so now because they they feel and it's it's a wrong sense of security but that it gives them some sense of security but of course if a girl is forced to marry early it's she's just you know in the hands of one man rather than at risk of being being sexually harassed by more and more men and so what would you say the most practical measures are on international women's day

what would you like to see in future that would that would make a really big difference to to women's lives. i think that the basic recognition that that women and girls should be able to decide about their own bodies i think that is that the most important thing that for a woman to make it to make her own decisions about her life and about her future and that includes early marriage that includes freedom from sexual violence but it also includes access to good sexuality education to contraception and to safe abortion one woman needs it what do you make of the me too movement has it had a global reach do you think or does it is it largely a western phenomenon. it's both i think it's. me to itself has kept most traction in the western world but for instance in india we've seen. similar campaigns popping up like no cinderella started by

a woman who was sexually harassed when she left her work as a d.j. late at night and her feedback was why why were you out so late at night. and then she said she said he lost in her cinderella and that went viral in india and in the arab world we've also seen misha procedure it's not ok but it hasn't had as much traction even though the levels of sexual harassment in the arab world and in africa are just as high as in. in the west do you think though that there needs to be a sort of legislation to bring about change i mean for instance in france in terms of the the pay gap they're talking now about the possibility about bringing in legislation that would force companies to pay women the same or only said they're looking at that i'm not saying it's actually to go ahead but do you think those kind of things are needed or do you think it's a cultural shift that needs to happen both i think you need legislation and you need cultural shifts. but they the to work together i mean if you have

a cultural shift the legislation becomes easier but legislation can also create a cultural shift so we need to work at this from both angles rebecca from rome but thank you very much indeed for your time you're welcome to stay with us on the news hour still ahead. it's about to cool down again across the levant there's plenty of cloud in the

eastern med and it's producing a lot of rain in turkey and a few showers for the sciences into beirut for example but as that blows through is the other side of a cold front the temperatures drop by thing up to ten degrees barry is forecast times about eighteen come friday i was still at twenty seven in baghdad and it's twenty two in teheran and i on notice but the cokes this is pretty wet but will snowy and the still some to come for afghanistan the far north of pakistan as well iran looks largely fine the moment the temperatures in baghdad drop a little bit two to twenty four we talk about saturday here so give you a sight of beirut much the same sort of out of the breeze a little lighter and for much of the caucasus i mean here in georgia as by job the sun is back out here and back is cooled down to about ninety degrees or night south of this it's been really quite warm recently than through the gulf and counterpoint types of thirty two degrees thirty one is in the forecast this is well above average should be now the records thirty nine we're not anywhere near that but here

and i and susie you're a we're up above where it should be twenty nine abu dhabi thirty four in the middle of our mom but it's nothing in the sky it's not about dusty aagot. michael capital the capital which makes a great if. when nature is transformed into a commodity big business takes in the interests crime landscapes protecting wild scoops it's a phenomenal opportunity to be able to use a business model to achieve sustainability of nature but at what risk banks of course don't do that because they have at the heart protection of nature they do that because to see a business that pricing the planet at this time on al-jazeera. running six continents across the. al-jazeera is corresponding sleeping through the stories

they tell you that it's. not just about nothing and that's the. we're at the mercy of the russian camp for palestinian growth. sued in world news. and my now the top stories here. a new version of the trans-pacific partnership agreement known as the t.p. p eleven has just been signed in chile after languishing for more than a year after the u.s. withdrew it will connect five hundred million people in economies with ten trillion dollars. new videos emerge from inside syria showing what appeared to be false

first bomb was being dropped on the rebel held enclave of east and go to activists say they were dropped on a residential area in the town of how maria. anti muslim violence is continuing in central sri lanka despite the government imposing a curfew and deploying hundreds of soldiers. to candy. you know on turkish soldiers working with the free syrian army have captured a strategically important town in northern syria the town of gender is was held by the u.s. backed y p g fighters who are promising to fight off the turkish assault own fisher reports from the turkish syrian border. the final assault began just before nightfall on wednesday. less than twelve hours later the free syrian army backed by the turks entered the city of jenin that its. doctors treated those caught up in the fighting some too young to fully understand why they were in pain.

some too late to help the taking of a strategically important for the free syrian army and also the targets to give them control of the higher ground and also give them control of one of the main roads towards afrin city itself the final target speaking in vienna turkey's foreign minister said the operation against the cut this militia the y p g called all of branch should end by me the question whether now that we have passed the critical stages mountainous areas are captured the border control is sustained we are moving towards africa of course when we get to a friend we have to be even more careful to avoid civilian casualties our aim our target is the terrorists we are more sensitive compared to anyone else when it comes to humanitarian aid and civilians dinda this is the biggest turn that has fallen to the f.s.a. backed by the turks since this operation was launched in january but before they can even consider moving on from here they have to take complete control of

genderless first. today first we targeted the town agender us by artillery shells and took full control of the town from like p.g. fighters we've captured and killed a few of their members and one of their fighters blew himself up the spite the bravado they may not have complete control yet sporadic fighting is reported to be continuing in the tyrant the battle for free in may not be as quick or the straightforward the cards are moving seven hundred fighters across the country away from the battle against eisel on to the front lines for the coming assault alan fischer al jazeera on the turkey syria border. political business and. mental leaders from around the world are gathering in mexico for the world oceans summit the aim is to come up with ways to use maritime resources sustainably but as john homan reports the location of the meeting itself is a cautionary tale of financial gains trumping environmental concerns. for the

delegates gathering to discuss how best to save the seas in the world ocean summit is a textbook example of what not to do in the very town that they flew into cancun it attracted seven million international visitors just last year but financial success has meant abandoning the principles of sustainability that the summit is trying hard to promote. also changing the way the territory west conformed into a touristic area really brought lots of problems because for example we started to lose these natural barriers for the natural he says there's not only the coral reefs but also the mangroves and what do you do this transformation you cannot go back easily. mangroves have been ripped out to make way for development it reflects a global trend more than thirty percent of the unique trees crucial for storing carbon dioxide have been destroyed worldwide cancun's lagoon and seas have been polluted that together with global warming has damaged the mess where american

reefs the largest in the western hemisphere worldwide over three quarters of reefs are under threat cancun is like holding up a mirror to the world or what happens when urban development tourism explode largely unrestricted by authorities it might look good for now but environmentalist say that here and elsewhere time is running out. but just as globally here there's a local fight back going on this project is one of several farming coral to replenish the damaged reef one piece at a time it's the key to the ocean ecosystem that's had a sea face reefs and corals generates so many habitats for fish quest haitians it's as if they were and always is in the desert or flat or fishing corporate is working with authorities and n.g.o.s are enforcing no catch sones the fishermen themselves monitor the protected areas and have seen biomass go up by more than four hundred

percent though this is the work or if we didn't do this now we'd only be thinking a short little we hear of it now would disappear are fairly wealthy but the state government long lacks in holding hotel years and developers to account says it's also now on board you know you can put on these so there is a serious commitment from the government to focus on the environment because. he recognizes that tourism attends only natural resources if we exhaust them tourism in spanish to. just words for now but it's a local vision in line with the anger of this global summit united effort of business leaders conservationists and government before it's too late. darwin joins me from cancun so i suppose it is there are some encouraging initiatives out there as we heard in your report. absolutely and not just locally but also on the global level there are things that are going to being done at the moment we'll get into that in just a moment where i guess first of all i want to present you with a statistic that's

a little bit worrying eight million tonnes of rubbish in particular plastic could going into a seize every year just to put that into perspective that's the same way as fifty seven thousand blue whales so he had to talk about that plastic we have with us at the moment doug would ring who is the director and the founder of ocean recovery alliance but can you just explain to us why exactly so much plastic is going into our world sees what the impact is of that so the problem is as the world population grew and the packaging and the plastic got used to as a material which is very valuable for so many things the world waste management systems and recycling never kept up with it so when you look at the graph of growth the graph of investment in infrastructure for recycling is it's here so that the gaps giant anywhere in the world doesn't have the capacity to absorb this and the waste stream when there's big rains floods or just the normal trash mismanagement

it gets into the rivers and then into the water how do we start to close the loop as you were describing it to me how do we make these plastic recycled so that it's not going to waste so the challenge for recycling especially with plastic is that it's lightweight there's a many many types of it it's hard to recover to get that value so we're trying one of our apps that we have is called global alert that allows people to report trash hotspots anywhere in the world waterways and coast to show where the hot spots are that could be captured with a boom or a net in a river before it goes to the ocean that can then drive people thinking about oh now what do we do with this material and there are new technologies that can use dirty plastic in building material. ols fuel conversion and this is actually a big opportunity for the world if we turn it around and say let's go scavenge this stuff which is ninety percent of the world's plastic and never getting recycled

today to ninety percent and you as you saying there are opportunities to recycle that plastic what's the attitude of big business and of government that would sit with a very keen what are you seeing at the moment well there's a big groundswell of momentum it just really happened like a tsunami probably in the last six months partly polluted due to blue planet david attenborough but the big corporates and the governments are finally realizing this is probably one of the most challenging issues to solve today because of the material and they're now starting to a brace the fact that we've got to get on there says a team and i think that's great for all of us now we've got to get these actions go even replicate them across the planet ok thanks a lot for that doug so of course that's one of the reasons why everyone here entrepreneurs like doug environmental environmental intrapreneur as conservationists people from government and big business actually the mets can

president enrique pena nieto is speaking to the conference right now so the hope is that out of this summit the meetings in hallways the networking some sort of relationships alliance can come out this to try and start saving the world's oceans john heilemann thank you very much and yes actually state has warned african nations against surrendering rest sovereignty to china in return for loans rex tillerson has been meeting with chairman of the african union in the capital addis ababa as part of his first official visit to africa you know his states is the leading a donor to africa but china's supposed it as a trade partner in two thousand and nine. we are not in any way attempting to keep chinese investment dollars out of africa they're badly needed however we think it's important that african countries carefully consider the terms of those investments and we witness the model that the chinese follow follow. very

they do not bring significant job creation locally they don't bring significant training programs that enable african citizens to participate more fully in the future and often times the financing models are structured in a way that the country when it gets into trouble financially loses control of its own infrastructure or its own resources through default russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov has criticised to us and comments as inappropriate several for his own his own african total having to strengthen ties on the continent is countries competing with china the e.u. and the u.s. for influence rolf met zimbabwe's president ends in managua in harare paragould just reports. the last time sergei lavrov visited zimbabwe was in twenty fourteen when robert mugabe was still president the plan was to build a platinum plant worth an estimated four billion dollars but the deal stalled the

country's new leader is under pressure to create jobs his administration needs to attract foreign direct investment to turn around the struggling economy it is the desire of zimbabweans that we can. benefit our only technology was the russians are quite competent in that we can also develop in terms of upgrading through the. example we asked for that we can invest realized. and then create value in what we do russia's platinum project is one of the biggest investments in the country since one nine hundred eighty zimbabwe has a second largest known deposits of platinum after south africa president gives his support to prison or zimbabwe in force to stop the lies the internet political situation in the country and of course really did in society as well is developing comprehensive in multifaceted cooperation with countries that are willing to help

zimbabwe you know addressing its problems. but russia's the galimore traded economic interaction with countries in africa is less than other trading partners the cooling of russia's relations with the waste and sanctions against moscow have forced it to look for new partners in africa is competing with china the e.u. and some arab gulf states after sanctions were imposed nearly twenty years ago for less human rights abuses some western countries stop supplying military equipment technical and agricultural support to zimbabwe russia says it doesn't interfere in domestic politics russia's politicians and investors seem eager to strengthen their interests as the battle for africa's resources intensifies. al-jazeera. votes are being counted in a presidential election sixteen candidates are vying for the top job but none is expected to receive the fifty five percent needed to win outright many interests has more from creetown. vote tallying at this data center for the national election

commission has been go along smoothly according to officials at the what you see here really results of the vote counted in polling stations across there in your own they'll be brought here and sorted and immediately they are sorted then they'll be passed on to certain members of staff to individual members who will be looking at those and of course cross checking whether that i address the detail they correlate here will be passed on to another set of election commission workers. and there are two start actually who would be assigned to different computers and each one will be imputing the results or the data obtained from each of the polling stations so that the reason for doing that is that if there is any major i don't fly will come up and then what they do here finally at the end of the day will before

a bigger database that will be analyzed by election officials finally before the results announced by the national election commission. the mood on the streets of freetown another major television set is in sierra leone is about topics but the issues then are someone zite is by the way one politician started asking their supporters to go out on the streets and start celebrating even before the announcement by the national electoral commission how about people are very cautious of what is coming out and for the next one or two days their attention will be on the national election commission to hear what was the outcome of this court having a president after the first round or they should be prepared for a second round of vote. three members of the maldives main opposition party have been arrested and they were taken into custody after police raided the moldavian democratic party's office the police reportedly refused to disclose their charges and said the arrests were made on

a state of emergency declared last month president abdoulaye yemeni granted sweeping powers to the police to investigate suspected. and there are military cargo plane has violated qatar's aspace the plane was flying from abu dhabi to kuwait on sunday when it entered the country airspace without authorization for seven minutes and the aircraft was intercepted by country fighter jets which tried to establish communication with the pilot of the u.a.e. plane but there was no response this is the third time the u.a.e. has breached space within four months the u.a.e. is one of the four countries that cut ties with qatar last june workers at foreign embassies in qatar say they've been left to fend for themselves after the nine month blockade by neighboring countries some staff haven't been able to work since their bases were closed and they're also unable to leave the country matheson reports. for five years ashraf has been a driver for the saudi arabian embassy nine months ago he lost his job the embassy

is one of several which shut their doors in doha when countries cut diplomatic relations and imposed a blockade on qatar last june ashraf like many other embassy staff who aren't diplomats is sponsored by his employer that means he can't leave qatar or work for anyone else unless his employer agrees and his employer has left the country. and tonight it's been very tense i spent all my savings on my daughter's wedding in india and then i came back and lost my job i can't earn money i need to get my sponsor changed so i can work but i don't know how. saudi arabia and other countries including the united arab emirates and egypt cut ties with qatar accusing it of supporting terrorism which qatari leaders vehemently deny this man also used to work at an embassy which is now shut he didn't want to be identified with. the

closing of the embassy affected me i can't change work because the embassy has closed there are no officials to sign my papers and now i want to work somewhere else but i can't i don't know what the future will be. for the last nine months embassy staff are being coming to qatar as human rights department they've made statements hoping that the qatari government will help to release them from sponsorship agreements with their embassies most of the people we've spoken to said they only came here for help today because they thought the blockade was going to be over by now but it's been nine months some of them haven't been paid since june of last year others we're told are living in the embassies where they used to work and the cattery government says it is willing to help them but there's a limit to what it can do if it doesn't have permission from the embassies or the people here the most important thing is to win their freedom. and these people who belong to countries which are blockading us they've come to try to

get justice that we're able to protect them and we're trying to solve their problems. some like these have been getting support from. their own governments. the mauritanian government has taken an incorrect step that has harmed its people this is a goal and we have nothing to do with it. the stranded embassy stuff including after a wait to see if they'll be allowed to restart their lives matheson. sport is just ahead of. defending women's football well champions at the hands of trophy.

i mean. if. you really look. up top of the sport now and the races from chung chang chosen to hell lauren thank you north and south korea will much separately friday's opening ceremony for the winter paralympics north korea will be making its games debut in pilling china but the respective teams have opted not to replicate the joint procession seen last month lympics the north korea's taking pot at all is still being viewed as a major step forward bright reports. a build up events to do support for the paralympics games that often struggle in the shadow of the more

popular olympics they follow. but amid the olympic goodwill generated between north and south korea these winter paralympics have an added political dimension. to the north and south the one nation and we should be united one day i see it as a positive move as a korean national. just as we saw a very successful winter olympics i believe we will see another equally successful paralympics. south korea's paralympians are being joined by a small team from north korea. a chance to help closer relations while supporting the development of schools for athletes with disabilities. the conditions for paralympics in the north is hard we want to help develop the sports and we hope that these paralympics can play a positive role in reunification with the men's pair ice hockey team is one of south korea's medal hopes the subject of

a feature length documentary released to coincide with the games. of the nativity lots of people look at us with pity but we hope they just see us as athletes. and also as inspirational role models overcoming challenges and adversity. one of the team members is a defector from north korea now wearing south korean colors choi one calc how does leg amputated when he fell from the train he'd been clinging to. puddles are. there some people who wish for information and some who don't i personally want i wish all those who were hurt because of the division can't heal thought out. the games organizers say ticket sales are beating expectations pointing to increased interest and spite of the hype it took time for the south koreans to get behind their winter olympics for once they did no one it seems was more enthusiasm. the

hope is that same action will now carry through to support the paralympics. and if they help north-south relations say the games supporters koreans will be the winners even before the first medals have been awarded rob mcbride al-jazeera self-cleaning. serena williams makes her return to competitive singles action later this thursday thinks muslim from giving birth the former world number one is taking part in the indian wells tournament in california williams played an exhibition of an early this week in preparation for her first tour event since winning the two thousand and seventeen strain open the thirty six year old will take on serena if you have done the event will also see the comeback of victoria and the ring. well it's great to see them back of a week been gone for different reasons but you know obviously having the best.

woman says her ever come back and play on two or something was very special some very happy to see serena back and going to be exciting to see. you know what she's going to come up with over the next few weeks and months very sharp overs already out of the event she beat she was beaten in straight sets by new soccer of japan sharper who has also been playing first round the last one here in don't. have been working for a few physical things and. and that's been frustrating you know starts and stops since. since i've come back and that hasn't really given me the type of playing match rhythm that i really wanted. former u.s. open champion sam stosur is through but it took the australian three seconds to hours to be america today thanks to the world of football has been remembering the life and career of a tally in player davide

a story the fear and he the captain died on sunday at the age of thirty one thank you thank stories clean or taken place in florence with representatives of every top level returning from attendance caps fourteen times by his country who died of a suspected cardiac arrest just hours before and here is to explain the mexicans. well for first leg games in the last sixteen of the europa league just coming up to half time the composition of course offering the way to a passage to the champions league also north facing ac milan and the gunners are under serious pressure to get a result having lost the last four games in a row but they are winning to nail at the san siro the favorites that led to co-hosting lokomotiv and their one nil out in front no goals than the other two games going on there right now now for more europa league games kickoff later including must say they play atletico at it bilbao the teams met in the last thirty

two of the competition two years ago on that occasion it was the spanish team who went. defending women's world champions the usa have beaten england in the final game with the she believes cup the full team tournament also included france and germany this match monday was decided by an own goal from england's money right it's the second time the u.s. have won this title over the size of building up to next year's what is wrong. sebastian vettel in for ari are gaining momentum ahead of the new f one season which begins with the australian grand prix later this month the full time world champion that an unofficial track record in testing at buffalo the second week of the year vettel smashed daniel ricardo's lap time for wednesday by nearly authentic and the german is the first driver this winter did this this season to go below the one minute and eighteen second mark as just one day of practice left for the teams

and that is all useful for now back to lauren in london thanks very much john and time for us to anish and this news hour but i will back in just a minute but not the full run of the day you do stay with us if you can thanks for watching. the scene for us whether online what is american sign in yemen that peace is always possible but it never happens not because the situation is complicated but because

no one cares or if you join us on set there are people bit that are choosing between buying medication and eating base is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's been out of it has posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. al-jazeera . where every. an act of youthful defiance we've ruled your turn next doctor also in the school will be arrested me at home with four in the morning while the electric shock treatment was the worse that triggered

a revolution. the arrest of those children sparked it all of which became a battle with als and that was the beginning of the armed struggle in syria. the boy who started the syrian war at this time on al jazeera. reaching a new era for trade eleven countries signed the child specific partnership but without the united states president trump says he's going ahead with tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.