managed to escape their countries haven't truly been able to escape the. refugee problem is something which is a geopolitical issue that's for governments international institutions to manage on their one thousand refugees don't have the right to more freely on the other hand gord's can move freely as far and as much as they want. multinational colonialism this is a v i'm not and over the democratic process these companies they just want the money europe's forbidden colony episode one at this time on al-jazeera. this is al-jazeera. hello i'm maryam namazie this is the news hour live from london coming up in the next sixty minutes president trump agrees to make can john earn but the white house

insists it needs concrete action from north korea first more aid has been to have rockets landing in pyongyang whether acting out of fear or seeing an opportunity much credit will go to south korea special envoys went to pyongyang on a mission of hope bringing back a landmark agreement and seoul exploited its good fortune in hosting the winter olympics just when the world needed a path to peace it's still early days but this is being seen as a major diplomatic achievement for south korean president moon jay in building on the goodwill of the winter olympics two remarkable effect as the paralympics get underway south korea will be hoping these games continue to work their magic. as it did in the winter olympics north korea is sending a team of paralympians sport and politics mixing it seems with

a beneficial outcome at least dialing less talking to each other then i think sport playing their part in nor putting the door from then on it's up to the politicians until now south korea's politicians and diplomats only have that's only have to plan for the agreed into korean summit at the panmunjom truce village at the end of april first in eleven years now they face the prospect of a first ever summit between north korean and u.s. leaders rob mcbride al-jazeera south korea. that speak to mike hanna he's following events for us in washington and mike it would appear that we're getting some more details from the white house on what needs to happen before a meeting takes place yes indeed the question that has been our since this meeting was announced is whether they are going to be any preconditions well white house spokespeople have been huffing and puffing about this particular issue maintaining that certain guarantees have been given by the north korean leader that

there will be no nuclear development no nuclear testing that he has no problem with the ongoing exercises between the u.s. and south korea however the press spokesperson sarah huckabee sanders was asked directly at today's news conference as to what preconditions there are and this is what she had to say. they've made promises to denuclearize they've made promise just to stop nuclear and missile testing and they recognize that regular military exercises between the u.s. and its allies south korea will continue the maximum pressure campaign we're not letting up we're not going to step back or make any changes to that we're going to continue in that effort and we're not going to have this meeting take place until we see concrete actions that match the words in the rhetoric of north korea. right and given that this meeting is supposed to take place in less than two months from now how much work is that to do in preparation for it well there's

a great deal of work to do even if this meeting does in fact take place still no real clarity there about what the u.s. sig's actually means by no preconditions and concrete actions concrete steps to take place by north korea the one question is how on earth do you ascertain whether the concrete actions have been taken or the concrete steps made but there will be a lot of legwork obviously the whole question of a presidential face to face that's normally the end of the process not the beginning the north koreans have been working for decades in terms of their policy because of the the united states this is a new u.s. administration they are learners in terms of north korean policy they going to be making it up as they go along so already you do believe that the north koreans have something about it having spent the same team in effect for ages in terms of dealing with the united states so there's a lot of work that has got to be done obviously the first step that needs to be

made is to decide if the meeting is going to take place what country will it take place in what will be the venue these are all the issues that have to be sorted out in the weeks and the days and months perhaps ahead but the issue still remains is does the trumpet ministration insist on preconditions or doesn't it thank you very much mike hanna in washington. well a few moments ago i spoke to kevin rudd the former prime minister of australia and current president of the asia society policy institute i asked him how likely it is that the meeting will actually take place well difficult for us all to know we've had a state and so far effectively from the south korean national security adviser. reflecting an oral account of a discussion which they had with the north korean leadership. and then we have what seems to be a communication from president trump that he's willing to meet the north korean

leader but there's still a lot of water to go under the bridge to yet so i wouldn't be putting all my money on it just yet but as i've said consistently in the public debate on the north korea nuclear question we should seize with both hands the opportunity for substantive negotiation assuming the north koreans are prepared to move as well but none of that substantial substantial negotiation has taken place there are no working level negotiations even has the us given away one of its biggest cards the possibility of a meeting with the president of the united states. i don't think that's the case because president trump has on many times in the past indicated that he's prepared to see the north korean leader under the right circumstances now we're now at the hard and difficult bit of determining what those quote right circumstances unquote might be. on the core question of denuclearization what do the north

koreans mean by the use of that term they mean simply arresting their testing program or risking their. missile development program the nuclear testing program the destruction of the intercontinental ballistic missile capability all the destruction removal of both that capacity as well as those shorter range capabilities as well as surely none of that is clear from the statement we had from president trump he is agreeing to a face to face meeting now without any of those conditions in place. it's true that we have a question of the chicken in the egg here what comes first the united states as indicated in principle of preparedness to speak to the north koreans. i don't see anything inherently wrong with that what we'll now have is a frankly a big clarification process on what would be the ground rules going into any into

any such negotiation so i think we'll have the truth tested frankly in the days and weeks ahead and we cannot rule out the possibility that it might not proceed but we'd be foolish to simply throw our hands in the air and to say that such a summit would be impossible or if it's held unproductive i come from a long history of dealing with the north koreans and we should be skeptical each step of the way so then let me ask you because you have served at the highest level in your country if you were an american advising president trump what would you say to him about the balance of risk versus reward in taking this course now. well there is one thing which is ticking away at present and that is the actual development and expansion of the north korean nuclear program but it's ballistic missile reach as well as its continued accumulation of nuclear bombs that goes on

step by step day by day week by week that's what's causing the diplomacy to happen that's what's causing or has caused a crisis to emerge so that's the analysts will reality he is so the advice that i would be providing to the u.s. administration would be seize opportunities when they exist to test whether the north koreans are serious about substantive denuclearization and if this process of pre-negotiation an actual negotiation and possible some a tree establishes that there's something to be had here well and good but if we establish that it's all false hope then at that point nothing particularly is laws then it must cling to that mission and. somewhat that we have had a very significant announcement from the white house the first face to face meeting between a sitting president and the leader of north korea without any of that being established

. well as we know president trump has his own remarkably unique diplomatic star. as i've said on other international networks including c.n.n. yesterday let's let's remember this is donald trump it's it's not being done according to the classic international diplomatic handbook but it hasn't been for the last twelve months so the bottom line is he's the president this is were up to the question is therefore what can we produce by way of substantive outcome from these pre-negotiation zz about the substance of what would be on the negotiating table on denuclearization and so i don't have any particular problems by the process by which we've got here what i'm concerned about based on historical skepticism of north korea's bona fide g.'s is what the result will be but we should give diplomacy a chance we moved to syria now where five civilians were killed in attacks by government forces on positive eastern ghouta on friday in

a convoy crossed into the rebel held enclave delivering desperately needed food despite heavy fighting that broke out extremely close to the relief workers the delivery included supplies that were not offloaded on monday when a convoy was forced to retreat because of her new violence well the syrian rebel group on the of islam has agreed to release fight is being held as prisoners in eastern guta syrian state t.v. showed footage of thirteen fighters from the group formerly known as nostra front and their families beginning to leave the rebel held and kaif rebel group said the decision was made in consultation with the united nations and a number of international parties but it's not clear if the deal would lead to a why the evacuation of fight has from other groups or civilians. the turkish present i do one says his troops have surrounded the northern syrian town of afrin and will enter it imminently but. that's after the takesh military seize control of the keenly at the nearby town of generous helping the

troops advance turkey and allied syrian rebels are trying to push kurdish kurdish fighters from the area alan fischer has been with turkish troops inside syria and their ballot southwest of generous. we drove into syria with a turkish army escort they decided where we would go the destination the village of one of the first retaken from kodesh militia by the free syrian army supported by the turks in the operation named all of branch sitting in the shade the children waited for the truck to distribute its boxes to date here has been the scene for a while in a small building a makeshift doctor's office treating a lot of minor injuries anything serious in the transfer to turkey for further treatment. for some who knew nothing but war. it's a new and frightening experience. then it was time to hand out the aid but i am an animal family's name was called and someone stepped forward some fairly tall enough

to carry it home but people are starving here waiting patiently for the to be handed out that is they say they were at it long enough for the eight her rival but they don't mind waiting that little bit longer. each box is all in sugar and flour and sanitary products enough to last the family three weeks. since the f.s.a. came we are receiving eight it is enough for us it's enough six years we lived under the y.p. there was the aid material should be a little bit more because of the number of people here and the number of people in those families some of them received aid but one or two boxes are not enough for one family because they're all gathered in one house the turkish red crescent says it's doing what it can with what it has. up to but we came to the area yesterday and assess the needs of the village residents who are prepared food and hygenic material for everyone. every so often the grain shakes with the sound of

activity fire the big guns pointed in support of the ongoing military operations the children told me they don't like the noise they may have grown up with the war but it's something they will never get used to alan fischer al-jazeera pollute northern syria. a turkish court has ruled two journalists from the opposition newspaper should be released for the duration of their trial two journalists are among a group of seventeen staff members being tried for allegedly aiding u.s. based muslim cleric fertility and turkey's government accuses glenn of orchestrating the july twenty sixth in the attempt. you're watching the news hour live from london still to come. here. and his opposition leader and the president promised to unite the country at their first meeting since last year's election. the ancient iraqi manuscript safe from the

hands of i still fight is by a quick thinking month. and in sport the biggest winter paralympics in the history are officially on the way. the world still producing nations aligning up to seek exemptions from the new u.s. tariffs on steel an alum in human oats president has already waived canada and mexico from the twenty five percent levy on steel and ten percent on aluminum that he signed off on thursday japan brazil argentina australia and south korea already said they will seek exemptions china steel industry is calling for its government to take retaliatory measures will the e.u. is already preparing counter measures targeting products from swing states that help donald trump win the us presidency like primaries from wisconsin and orange juice from florida it's also putting pressure on the world trade organization to rule trumps tariffs unfair the e.u.

is the world's second biggest still produce off to china with an output of a hundred seventy seven million tons a year around eleven percent of global output but just five million tons of that is exported to the u.s. around one and a half percent of the output so why is the e.u. so concerned it's worried that it may become a dumping ground for steel produces around the world who would usually sell to the u.s. the import surge would drive down the price of steel and could cost tens of thousands of jobs in the industry and in related sectors. we have been very clear that we think this is not in compliance with w.h.o. so we will go to w.h.o. possibly with some other friends we will have to protect our industry with rebalancing measures safeguards and we are also preparing a moment with the member states a list of rebalancing measures that could possibly enter into force we hope that will not be the case of course because nobody has an interest of escalating the situation but we if we have to do that that is what we do well brennan has been following events at the e.u. headquarters in brussels the approach from here in brussels appears to be

a pragmatic one of trying to work out exactly how donald trump's tariff imposition will work and whether or not the european union can negotiate for itself some kind of exemption from those tariffs what they're saying here in brussels is that the justification that don't trump is putting forward that there is a national security threat from europe or that the european steel producers are dumping subsidized steel into america simply doesn't stand up to scrutiny what they're saying as well is that it's not crystal clear how donald trump's door that's been left ajar to exemptions is actually going to work what they're absolutely clear about is that individual countries within europe will not be picked off by the u.s. for example donald trump appears to have a particular problem with the german still produces the message from the european commission behind me in brussels at a news briefing which you've attended today is very clear you deal with the european union as a bloc as a trading block and they will have negotiate

a solution to this if possible as a bloc. kenya's president and the main opposition leader to begin a process of reconciliation it's the first meeting since last just disputed election which was followed by widespread violence across the country as the u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson has arrived in the country for the first day of his official africa toll gaffing so he reports from nairobi. a surprise public show of unity that has caught many of their supporters off god president two who are not an opposition leader. have agreed to bury their political hatchet after two presidential elections last year that led to the deaths of many people. as the people's president his refusal to recognize allegedly mysie of cannot his presidency and the government's reaction to a swearing in cracking down on the media and opposition now the two say all that is

behind them. and understanding. and one individual and that this country to come together leaders must. discuss. must be able to be really and open the what is the country what. is the real. vision. and we see. many opposition supporters want to know what really was discussed behind closed doors electra just is that the dinka has been so passionate about the credibility of the presidential election and what about justice to the many people who died in the election. that what he and the president have done is provide leadership. agreed. to the differences and.

millions of our children continue to be born and mounted into these differences people are dying out of these these differences my brother. and less certain of them come together today to see this descent stopped here this meeting appears to have been particular times to coincide with the visit of the u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson the us has been critical of both sides and how they've handled the political situation and perhaps want to show that all is well now they want to move the country forward and help heal deep apnic divisions. t.v.'s on met the president when he arrived we shared our concerns and our discussions with the president about the importance of democratic institutions and

kenya is a leading the mocker c n africa we believe that there are actions the need to be taken in kenya and that they need to correction actions like shutting down t.v. stations and threaten him independence of the court they also discussed economic ties between the u.s. and kenya and the fight against terrorism in the region catherine saw al-jazeera nairobi kenya the un has won that more than two million children the democratic republic of congo are risk of dying from acute malnutrition about three hundred thousand of whom live in a caste i rejoined by fighting between armed groups of forced millions to leave homes over the past year the un humanitarian chief for me don is in the next week well yeah i go and as the secretary general of the norwegian refugee council and he visited the country recently saying that trying to reach the west affect it. yeah well there is access is very difficult but we can reach people i would see congo

more than these other places where. it alerted you to it's a funding crisis of epic proportions one example i was in northern kenya. that place has gone from five hundred fifty thousand to one point two million internally displaced a doubling of needs in one year what happened the back in again half of the humanitarian groups packed and left because there was no money for them because it became too soon too dangerous to be there one hundred and thirty on groups so women and children not kebo are left to fend for themselves we have forgotten and neglected them. scholars from europe and the americas are tending to iraq now that i said i has been driven out to continue their research about mesopotamia the land between the tigris and euphrates rivers which covers most of iraq is dorian's believe the region is where civilization began four thousand years ago but it was

also the scene of the fiercest battles against eisel as paul chatted chan reports. that. when these lawmakers state of iraq in the levant was trying to carve out its own caliphate four years ago its members destroyed thousands of christian and muslim relics and monuments eisel also stole some of your oxen syria's most prized ancient artifacts. but dominican fire no she managed to pack these rare manuscripts and sixteenth century books and smuggled them out of i sold battlegrounds. kurdish peshmerga fighters helped carry them to the safety of iraqi kurdistan that's. what the help of small cars we save these archives and especially some manuscripts belonging to a convent and church of the dominican and the mosul archives important letters and files that date back two hundred fifty to three hundred years that. the book of the

father knows been other dominican priests rescued a veritable treasure trove of religious documents and moved them to our bills oriental manuscript digitization center the center was stablish to nine hundred ninety by dominican friars the same religious order that set up iraq's first printing house in eight hundred ninety seven the monks brought the equipment to the region through the desert and on the backs of camels now the friars are using high tech equipment to scan manuscripts recovered from churches and religious. she who him in fact all the archives are important because they reflect the roots of a civilization and that is why the islamic state group is trying to eradicate and. stroy the heritage and archaeological sites to erase everything that existed before the introduction of this presumed islamic state father knows training more helpers who will ensure digital copies are preserved for posterity and the originals

returned to their owners. so you have the news hour still to come on the program japan builds fifty metre high tsunami defense walls but not everyone is happy with this concrete protection a former drug company executive once stopped america's most hated man is sentence will bring you the details. and liverpool's hit man mohamed salah is looking to complete a goalscoring sweep against the premier league's biggest pains santa will explain in sport. welcome back it's turning considerably montor over parts of western europe as we are southwest the flow coming in but the price we're paying for that warmer air he comes in the form of rain or over the alps in the form of snow and also the risk of

significant thoughts taking place where we have got snow over the ground of parts of the u.k. for instance so it's a pretty unsettled picture across the west is fairly subtle across more central areas milder than has been and certainly for berlin temperatures on sunday up to sixteen degrees a long time since we've seen those sort of temperatures across germany further towards the east much that has been really cold are still in place moscow look at them to minus five as a nice one but for the south twenty in athens can be bad on the other side of the mediterranean still looking fine along the coast their way through towards cairo a temperature of twenty five but for coastal parts well cheerio and then later on here we will see some showers working their way along those coastal regions with quite brisk winds into central parts of africa we got showers across kenya tanzania and then further towards the west towards the gulf of guinea gabon seeing some downpours but you west africa those don't look too bad there are a few showers around but generally find bamako mali up at forty one degrees for southern portions of africa certainly fine across much of south africa with highs of twenty in cape town.

natural capital the capital which makes you creative. when nature is transformed into a commodity big business takes in new interests buying landscapes protecting landscapes 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 they see a business that pricing the planet at this time on al-jazeera.

and. where every. welcome back you with the news outlets update you on the stories making headlines now the u.s. president donald trump was accepted an invitation from north korean leader kim jong un for a face to face meeting before the end of may the world's still producing nations a lining up to seek exemptions from the new u.s. tariffs on steel and allen. president has already agreed to waivers for canada and mexico and there's been renewed violence and relief workers trying to deliver aid the red cross says as strikes hit the outskirts of do much just as thirteen of its

trucks entered the town. united nations commissioner for refugees says syria remains too in secure for refugees who fled the country to return for the program to has been visiting refugee camps in lebanon he says the u.n. is making preparations for the eventual return the situation on the ground remains to volatile. well in two thousand and fifteen lebanon decided to stop the un registering new refugees fearing that the numbers could cause unrest at that point there were nearly a million registered syrian refugees living in the country but the real number is estimated to be much higher that's already a quarter of lebanon's population couldn't the country's also been hosting four hundred fifty thousand palestinian refugees who live in twelve formal camps across the country provided by the un by listening to rely on support from the un's relief and welfare agency off facing a crisis though after the united states withheld much of its funding in january

there is also growing and the refugee sentiment inside lebanon with many high profile politicians saying the syrians should go home lebanon's president has said syrian refugees pose an economic and security threat to his country. well the u.n. high commissioner for refugees felipa grandy says that the countries sheltering syrian refugees need more support well of course humanitarian assistance has been delivered now for several years to respond to these crises i think in the last couple of years the international community has also tried to invest more in the longer term aspect of the situation to try to respond to the impact on the environment on water resources on public structures but that effort must continue conferences coming up in brussels in the next month where once again the international community will rally to see what can be done to help syrians affected

by this terrible conflict and i do hope that it will result once again in commitments to support the countries to lebanon in particular but also jordan turkey and other countries that are hosting more than five million syrian refugees still unable as you said as i said here to return to their country. saudi arabia has signed a plane or a deal to buy forty eight typhoon fighter jets from the u.k. it was announced on the final day of a three day visit by saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed bin salman to the u.k. aimed at strengthening lateral ties sports and twenty fifteen faces attractive criticism from those who fear the weapons have been used to kill innocent civilians in yemen the u.k. has license six point four billion dollars of arms for saudi arabia since the conflict began in two thousand and fifteen joining me now in the studio is andrew smith is the spokesperson for the campaign against the arms trade thanks very much for coming in to speak to us and so we've run through the facts and figures that

obviously there is a very strong economic relationship between the u.k. and saudi arabia one driven very much by defense and security but aside from that why is this new deal for typhoon jets important well versed. that this deal is going to be getting celebrated in the policies of the know and there's no doubt if the arms companies will be celebrating it too because they stand to make an awful lot of money from it but for the people of yemen this is a sign that there's more destruction on the way this is a sign that uncritical political and military support that view kier shown the sodium is going to continue and that is despite the terrible humanitarian catastrophe that has been inflicted on the people of yemen and yet legally we know that in supplying weapons to the saudis the k. is not breaching export license or is it well this went to the high court last year campaign against armstrong and unfortunately high court came down on the side of the government but we are in the process of appealing it no they're hoping to have another hearing in the court of appeal next month but. it doesn't seem as though

with this ruling in place the government isn't doing anything illegal these sort of deals can can he keep happening nothing much as is likely to change in the near future but we know where public opinion stands because poor after paul has shown that the overwhelming majority of people across the u.k. are firmly opposed to these deals there was a new pool produced only last week by populist which phone only six percent of people in the u.k. support arms exports to saudi arabia and right now if the u.k. fighter jets flying over yemen they're being flown by u.k. trained military personnel and often u.k. made bombs a few keys arms are playing a central role in the devastation of yemen and just to be clear it isn't just. all sides including he forces have found to be guilty of indiscriminately. taking action against areas that are populated with civilians how do you see this playing

out because there is this discrepancy between u.k. government policy and public opinion that doesn't seem to have any impact on policy does it well you're certainly right that trains being committed on all sides is no question but after free years of from bartman it's clear that there isn't a military solution either what we need to see is a political settlement and that's not going to happen as long as bombs are being dropped from the sky we need to mobilize public opinion as far as possible hundreds of people to touch and against a train prims in the protest two days ago and we want to see that meant to continue and to the opposition brought to the fore of british politics but do you see how might brett's it play into these political economic. calculations does it make the scenario that you described much less likely or one thing which is very concerning about it but i'm leaving vu is that the manner in which the government is doing it seems to be putting an even greater emphasis on arms exports to human rights of using regimes we saw with the major fighter jet deal so you end with thirty. turkey

last year and we're seeing it again played out of so you review an even greater scale we don't believe that the people who voted for of u.k. to leaf european union did so because they wanted to see more arms exports to human rights abusing regimes we believe that people want to see the use of it it's just that breaks it means that the u.k. is perhaps more keen to strengthen relationships elsewhere is opposed jeopardize anything that might already be in place quite possibly yes but as a crossroads and right now we want to see v.u.k. standing up for human rights and democracy around the world not causing up to dictators and human rights abusers thank you very much for coming to speak to us and anderson this from the campaign against the arms trade thank you. now catalyze complained to the un that an m.r.i. naval vessel intercepted in hijacked a country fishing doha says on january nineteenth its maritime surveillance system so the military vessel trespassed into its waters it then hijacked a fishing boat which was carrying eight indian nationals i sill is crime

responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on the afghan capital kabul nine people were killed and eighteen more wounded in the blast which happened near a crowd of shia protest as they were commemorating a political leader from the shia minority. now calm is returning to muslim neighborhoods in sri lanka is candy region after army reinforcements helped stop the violence there security forces have managed to control the but a small violence that hit the area earlier in the week many shops have now reopened police say they've arrested more than eighty people so far religious divide has grown in sri lanka in recent is it the rise of but it's nationalist groups who accuse minority muslims of stealing from buddhist temples or desecrating them. britain has sent specialist troops to remove potentially contaminated objects from the english city of souls of three a former russian double agent and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve agent secretary visited the scene on friday

a target of the attack sixty six year old surrogate script file and his daughter remain in intensive care a total of twenty one people have been treated after the incident russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov dismissed the u.k.'s warnings of retaliation as propaganda once dubbed america's most hated man a former drug company executive marchant has been jailed for seven years for fraud mr scraggly became notorious for increasing the price of a life saving drug by more than five thousand percent prosecutors push for the thirty four year old to be jailed for fifteen years after being convicted of defrauding investors which is separate to the pricing increase. kristen slimmy was in court and joins us now so tell us more about the ruling. well the sentence was less than prosecutors had asked for seven years instead of fifteen but substantially more than the defense had requested they were looking for

an eighteen month sentence it's a substantial sentence considering that the investors who were defrauded in this case actually ended up making money at the end of the day but the judge said that the substantial and egregious lies that he had told factored into this decision he lied to get investors to put up their money he then lied when he lost their money and there were more lies and sketchy maneuvers to raise more money and cover up his fraud so all of that was taken into account by the judge and you know martin shelly's own lawyer said during the sentencing that there were times when he wanted to punch his client in the face this is someone who ignored his lawyers advice during the trial he antagonizes journalists on social media he. lashed out at authorities in the court during the trial and then after the trial he after

he was convicted went on facebook and he had a substantial following on social media there and he offered money to anyone who would bring him a lock of hillary clinton's hair and the judge talked about that during the sentencing and said that this was a public safety concern at the time she revoked his bail and made him wait until his sentencing in jail so all of that when into account as the judge handed down her sentence what windage barely have to say for himself. well broke down during the sentencing hearing he spoke before the court he said that he knew he had make mistakes that he had been driven by a need to be successful he came from a very humble upbringing. and that the six months he had spent in a maximum security prison recently had really opened his eyes about his need to change he said that i've learned a harsh lesson now i understand that i need to change the judge would give him

a lot of time to think about that and think about how he can change with a seven year sentence he was also ordered to pay seven hundred fifty thousand dollars in a penalty and forfeit some stephen million dollars in assets including possibly the two million dollars rare wu tang clan album that he bragged about paying two million dollars for online prior to the trial thank you very much question salumi with the latest on that story from new york. it's been seven years since japan was hit by an earthquake causing a tsunami to crash into its coastal cities well than twenty thousand people were killed now huge concrete walls of being built on parts of the coast to protect against huge waves that some say the new barriers are too high and could have an impact on tourism rob matheson reports. for fishermen atsushi frizzy to the open waters of the to hokkaido coast swelling beneath a hazy blue sky where he earns his living pulling oysters from the sea bed. but

when he returns to the shore the rolling hills of his home have been obscured by high concrete walls. i feel like i'm working inside a fence it feels like we're in jail even though we haven't done anything bad. in the two thousand and eleven earthquake and tsunami wave slammed into coastal cities two thousand people were killed in that sushi is home time the focus shima nuclear reactor was swamped leaking radiation into the surrounding land and sea their original tsunami badia was just four meters high but the waves just swept right over it now japan is building sea walls fifteen meters high they offer more protection but not everyone thinks they're worth it just an oklahoma today at the local i think about fifty years ago we used to bring our kids here and enjoy the beautiful ocean and bay area while driving but there's not even a trace of that left or to it that will knock the world i don't think we need

a sea wall if we could see the wave coming we could shout run but because of the wall we can't see anything. many local authorities refused to give planning permission for new homes until the walls were built of wood to the begin to build after the construction of the seawall was confirmed i was able to get permission to rebuild my bed and breakfast that is why i can't say things like the wall should be lower or we don't need it it's thanks to the wall that it could rebuild and now i have a job. on the oyster fishing has improved because this is an army stood off the sea beds some complain to resume will be affected because the walls obscure the views but others say they're willing to pay that price for protection from mother nature rob matheson al-jazeera. france is enjoying its strongest economic growth in six years but many companies a struggling to find qualified staff some economists are why the shortage could slow down the growth or a port in the french city of kanada it's another busy day at this building material

supplier business is booming for the sam c. group that has outlets across france to keep growing the company needs more staff but it's struggling to find skilled workers. one of those will says we have five thousand three hundred staff but two hundred and sixteen job vacancies we may need sales people forklift drivers and tireless it's really hard to find people who are specialized in areas such as woodwork so it's difficult for us to recruit staff with the skills we need. the boss says the twenty years ago people joined young trained on the job and worked their way out but today that's rare because he were people are attracted to industry. and we can't fill vacancies internally anymore so we must recruit externally but the skills we need are not always taught in training schools so there's a lot of available talent we train in the house but it's not enough. france is

experiencing its biggest economic growth in six years but nearly half of its manufacturing companies find it hard to recruit staff even though unemployment is high experts say the labor shortage could slow growth there isn't new or clear for growth in the next few months but as a liberal they g.'s can be a real drag for next hugo. the french government wants to fix the country's labor shortage and get more now people into world it's already reformed the labor allow the workplace to be more flexible and it was the bruce the number of training in apprenticeship schemes like this one. teachers at this school near paris hope the government's focus on training will improve the image of apprenticeships and create more opportunities. for your future also were africans think when a young person arrives at a company with two years of training like this they are much more attractive and

it's what companies want freedom of religion but i want to learn as much as possible here then one day i open my own company to what extent the government's reforms will ease the labor shortage will be clear for a few years but investing in this generation can only help the economy in the future natasha al-jazeera. france. still to come for this hour saving l. seas pledges to focus on sustainable fishing at the wild ocean summit but is everyone on board. and ferrari head into the. all that more in the sport. the a. cool. business updates brought to you by qatar oh we're going places to get the.

business updates brought to you by qatar oh we're going places together.

the economy. is wrapping up and the riviera maya and mexico it's a chance for business government and environmental leaders to talk about the problems facing the wall seas and to come up with solutions actions to come. also the sun that included a pleasure meet central american nation at least a triple its no catch sends john home and has the story. this is soon going to be the first insured coral reef in the world a trust fund of government n.g.o.s and duck leaders has been created to take a policy to cover the mix conception of the mess with american research against hurricanes the nature conservancy mastermind the scheme and hopes it can be replicated elsewhere we should be quite a race as i import them because two hundred million people in the world live below story and they are protected like what i was really for and you're against sea

level rise beach erosion so we continue to see i will reeve's as we are doing right now we will start off by protection so being sure without us to have some funding to restore their we after that you can keeps them on the pioneering plan was announced to the world ocean summit every year it brings decision makers and conservationists together to find sustainable ways to use the world sees the environmentalists here this is about more than just the scheduled events it's about the chance simple ways in the lobby bar the rare chance to network with government and business leaders who have the power to put their plans for the future of the oceans into practice. mexico's president riek opinion it all showed up and so did iceland's i think we need to face the fact that the future of the oceans is a common concern whether you're a head of state or an ngo we all need to get inside the proton grow in the same

direction in mind but more governments meet take responsibility says the un environmental direct to for oceans it belongs to everyone but still no one is protected so if there is one issue that i would say it's crucial to get sorted out is this sort of noble governance that's a reason why we are facing here. a borrowed to problems in fact eight million tonnes of plastic go into the sea every year three quarters of coral reefs are under threat around ninety percent of fish food stretch or overexploited here at least there's no lack of ideas or willpower to turn things around john home an al-jazeera the mayan riviera mexico. sanna's and now at the sport thank you very much marion was reno williams has returned to competitive singles action over the when williams is back six months after the birth of her first child

her opening round when at indian wells setting up a possible court reaction and with her sister venus and it isn't of course. the biggest name in women's tennis is back on calls serena williams returning to action at the indian wells tournament in california prior to this match against kazakstan zareen a d.s. the twenty three time grand slam singles champion hadn't played a top level tour event since winning the australian open at the start of last year i. was her only appearances since the birth of her daughter have been in doubles games all exhibition matches but that famed fighting spirit soon reemerged was williams winning in straight sets. i was i was almost going to cry because i missed my daughter and i was just like

you know but i pulled myself together and i was like serino you got to do it but it was good i was really i mean when i was really happy to be out there you know just just below the plate and i think. dutch play a key burton's in round two a sister venus a possible third round opponent on the richardson al jazeera. roger federer begins his bid for a record six india a wells title on saturday that a six year old is back at the top of the world rankings that with world number two rafael nadal missing from this event due to injury as little pressure as they seem to be there is always on the top guys you know because you're always at the center of attention and expectations are there. you know but i'm definitely good place i also feel like i have less to prove today than in the past but that doesn't mean that i don't want it badly so i made a strong finish to pre-season training ahead of the new f one championship which

begins with the australia gone play on march the twenty fifth kimi rikon ing was quickest in the final session of barcelona caps a promising week for ari with the fins team a sebastian vettel fastest on thursday and their arch rivals are taking their threats seriously as well of that of red bull. we definitely think it is going to be tree tree team this year which is always good for more than it's good for for us as well to try you know have to have some clear targets and some someone always to push us forward that makes us to work harder so i think consistent consistency is definitely going to be be the key you know it's it's a long season ahead. if you continue.

the biggest winter paralympics is in history is officially underway the opening ceremony and has finished area or north korea will be making its games a debut but north and south korean athletes smart separately at this event it's the country's united for a joint session at last month's lympics this time the north i had wanted disputed islands to be put on the unified flag but the south disagreed. i reckon five of the sixty seven athletes from forty eight countries will be competing along with north korea draw journey to stun i have athletes at the games for the first time eighty medals are up for grabs in six sports all pine skiing snowboarding power ice hockey welcher curling and the nordic skiing events of cross-country and pass along with the winter olympics russian athletes deemed drug free by organizes will be able to

compete as neutrals around thirty russians will be in all must have had at least two anti doping tests in the past six months. the has a quiet a day at the engine open he finished five the second round in a tie for second despite nearly missing his teatime spy and said he missed his morning a long call and woke up less than forty minutes before he was due to tee off thanks to a quick shower and fast driver was still able to get to the new delhi calls on time . my heart was pumping big was very nervous because you know. i think the court. made a war record from the hotel to the golf course and you know a couple minutes right that can take ten or fifteen minutes he was really worried for one hour manchester city running away in e.p.l.

total raised sixteen points clear with just nine games left to the closest rivals he really left to battle it out for second place manchester united to oak apply about sports and a host third place liverpool's side today with only two points separating the teams leave the poor in a better form going into the match there on beaten in their last five league games while united have lost two of their last five. and that's those fall from around you back to maryam now really thank you very much sana well that's it for this news hour but i will be back very shortly with a full of news for you a full round up of all the day's top stories coming up in just a couple of minutes to stay with al-jazeera now.

as quiet the signal is given. out so it's safe to walk to school last year the more than thirty minute is in this community in one month the police say this area is a red zone one of several in some townships and cape town children sometimes it caught in the crossfire when rival gangs fight so parents and grandparents have started what they call a walking us to try to take them from gang violence i lost my. way limbs go i also lost my but there are more than one hundred fifty volunteers working for several walking busses teachers say it is working class attendance has improved the volunteers also act as security guards.

to. protect. the capital which makes a creative. when nature is transformed into a commodity big business takes in the interests. of protecting landscapes 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 in pricing the planet at this time on al-jazeera. president

trump agrees to meet kim jong un but the white house insists it needs concrete action from north korea first. i know i'm maryam namazie in london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up more aid has been delivered to syria despite continue.