the smoking alternative known as favorites i enjoy the taste of it and the harmful effects of what smoking does between two thousand and thirteen and two thousand and fourteen a lone star tripling in use among us high school students and head to head comparison ysaye versus conventional cigarette which one do you think it's healthy for my opinion i think they're both dangerous take no at this time and else is the. this is al jazeera. hello i'm daryn jordan this is the al-jazeera news live from doha coming up in the next sixty minutes a potential roadblock to the meeting with donald trump and the north korean leader

the white house is now insisting on north korean concessions. so grateful for what they received we're in a syrian village as people get enough basic necessities to last them for a few weeks. brothers in arms kenya's president reconciled with his longtime rival for peace on the good of the country plus. we had to do a detour which was three hours long. and what's turning off tourists and a popular part of china. welcome to the program donald trump's plan to meet north korea's leader now comes with a strict condition the u.s. president says the secretive state must take quote concrete action towards denuclearization but trump agreed to meet kim jong un within the next two months off an invitation was extended through a south korean envoy but the u.s. is confronting criticism for the move which could be seen as a meeting that will legitimize north korea's leader. they've made promises to

denuclearize they've made promise just to stop nuclear and missile testing and they've 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 i mean oxidation is chief antonio get ted if says he'll do whatever he can to help make the meeting happen the secretary general is encouraged by the announcement of an agreement between the united states and the democratic people's republic of korea to hold a summit meeting by may he commence the leadership and vision of all concerned and reiterate his support for all efforts towards the peaceful denuclearize ation of the korean peninsula in accordance with relevant security council resolution there

was mike hanna joins us live now from washington d.c. mike so what is the trump position now then because there seems to be some confusion of the preconditions for this meeting. well it's not clear whether a precondition was made or not daryn we heard there from the press spokesperson saying that the meeting will not take place unless concrete action and a concrete signal is given by north korea off the authenticity of what it said now taking this back we must remember that there has been no direct negotiation between north korea and the united states it has been through the south korean intermediary that is where all the information came from about what the north korean leader is prepared to do to put a halt to missile testing to a lot of the south korean and u.s. . defense exercises to go on but here we hear all of a sudden that they need concrete evidence of north korea keeping true to its word

now that raises the question of who actually decides what such a concrete action is and of course how do you verify whether such concrete action has taken place so all very confusing at this particular stage daryn unlike what kind of preparation there needs to go into talks like this should this meeting go ahead. well obviously it's something that requires weeks and weeks of preparation by the negotiators themselves now at this particular point north korea has been plotting it's understood some form of negotiation has been undertaking the go see ation with the united states and others for a period of decades the trumpet ministration is a new team basically they learning as they go along they going to be going into any negotiations that might take place at something of a disadvantage they do not have the experience they do not have that prior experience that the north korean negotiators would have so certainly at the very

beginning should any form of negotiation take place the u.s. would be at a disadvantage adding to this this type of process normally has negotiations first and then the face to face meeting of the leaders is the cherry on the top here the cart is being put before the horse the meeting is taking place it appears before negotiations start so as i said aaron all very confusing mike let me get a final thought from him before you go you say the cart before the horse but how is all of this going down there in washington. well there's a mixture of reaction here there is a degree of surprise that president trump jumped into this so enthusiastically given his comments on north korea in the past there's also a degree of surprise that his statement that he was prepared to talk came just hours after his foreign. secretary of state had said that to go see asians are

unlikely so once again he undermined his secretary of state who should be the point person on this type of negotiation so there's a degree of confusion within washington that exactly what the president means for a start what are the ramifications off of this unprecedented move for a u.s. president to have face to face talks with the leader of north korea this is uncharted waters washington hasn't be near this type of situation but typically as the negotiations appear to be starting off if they do start at all with ace to face meeting between leaders no negotiation process has begun in this type of way before mike thank you let's talk to ariel cohen is a senior fellow at the atlantic council which is a political policy think tank he joins us live now from washington d.c. so we have the prospect that at this meeting between donald trump and the north korean leader but many people are already asking the question what sort of preconditions do you think the americans will want going into this meeting.

clearly north korea is not asking for this meeting because it's doing well it's not the hundreds of thousands of north korean workers which were earning money for the regime almost like a slave labor throughout europe in the middle east are being kicked out the sanctions are getting tighter china is participating so the regime is hurting and that's why most probably they're asking for negotiations yes there's another explanation and that and that is that. it's just dragging time to launch yet another more powerful missile with a more powerful ball so the regime should be giving concessions to the trump administration such as shutting down its nuclear weapons program and that's an important point to make because kim jong un talked about being open to denuclearization but what exactly does that mean is this just the north koreans

freezing their nuclear program because the west will clearly want to see verifiable decommissioning and an end to the program that's their end game isn't it. i hope so because we made mistakes. the iranian nuclear program the obama administration did not demand to dismantle the program the enrichment the obama administration did not put the end to the misao program to threatens all of the middle east and pretty soon can threaten europe so we should not step into the same trap again we should as a part of this negotiations we need to understand what is it the camera she wants and i can tell you that what they want is a recognition and the survival of that harsh communist regime in north korea in exchange for that he needs to pay the ultimate price which is full dismantlement

of the missile nuclear weapons program and the civilian reactors under the additional protocol inspection of the i.a.e.a. international atomic energy agency u.s. vice president mike pence said the strategy to isolate came john noone is working but in reality of sanctions really force the north korean leader to come to the table all is kim jong un playing the americans in well that's the sixty four billion dollar question because i would say from washington perspective thirty percent that he has come in good face seventy percent that he is doing what he did before which is dragging time or his father and grandfather did dragging time preparing another nasty surprise for the trumpet ministration ariel cohen thank you very much indeed for your time. now five civilians have been killed in attacks by syrian government forces on parts of eastern ghouta on friday an aid

convoy crossed into the rebel held on klav delivering the delivering desperately needed food despite heavy fighting close to relief workers delivering food supplies that didn't reach the air on monday when a convoy retreated because of renewed violence the syrian rebel group army of islam has agreed to release fighters being held as prisoners in eastern guta syrian state t.v. showed thirteen fighters in the group formerly known as the al nusra front and their families starting to leave well the rebel group says the decision was made after consulting the u.n. and international parties it's not clear if the deal will lead to a wider evacuation of fighters from other groups or civilians turkey's president richard type heard about it says his troops will soon enter the northern syrian town of a free. turkish military has surrounded a free and after seizing control of the neighboring town of generis turkey and allied syrian rebels are trying to push kurdish fighters out of the area out of

here as alan fischer has been with turkish troops inside syria in the southwest of generous. we drove into syria with the turkish army escort they decided where we would go the destination the village of one of the first retaken from kurdish militia by the free syrian army supported by the turks in the operation and 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'm an animal the family's name was called and someone stepped forward some fairly tall enough to carry it home but people are standing here waiting patiently for the aid

to be handed out that is they say they waited long enough for the aid to arrive but they don't mind waiting that little bit longer. each box is all oil and sugar and flour and sanitary products enough to last the family three weeks one retired from another since the f.s.a. came we are receiving aid it is enough for us it's enough six years we lived under the y.p. gene no one 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. missed this beauty up to 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 growing shakes with the sewn to the tiller the fire the big guns pointed so in support of the ongoing military

operation 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 there balut not in syria. but more still ahead here on the news hour including caving in to pressure florida's governor signs off on age restrictions for people buying guns. and building barriers but there's a new concern about the sea walls to protect people in japan from another tsunami in sport the biggest winter paralympics in history are officially underway that's also the. saudi arabia has signed a preliminary deal to buy forty eight typhoon fighter jets from the united kingdom it comes during a three day visit to london by saudi crown prince mohammed bin sandman he held talks with the u.k. prime minister to resign may on wednesday the trip was aimed at strengthening bilateral ties well defense and security at the core of the relationship between

the u.k. and saudi arabia britain is the world's third largest exporter with fifty eight percent of its arms going to the middle east saudi arabia has consistently been the u.k.'s top export market for the past five years receiving two thirds of its arms exports in twenty fifteen this is attracted criticism from those who fear the weapons are being used to kill innocent civilians in yemen where the u.k. has licensed six point four billion dollars of arms for saudi arabia since the conflict began in twenty fifteen dollars more now from london. britain selling the large amounts of weapons to saudi arabia is nothing new in fact the u.k. has been selling weapons and arms to the saudis for years and those sales of blood in billions of dollars worth of income to the british economy but whereas previously critics of these arms sales would focus on the saudis domestic policies in terms of not letting women to drive beheading people in public and the general lack of freedom in the kingdom the brits would answer and say well you know it's

not the fighter jets that are preventing saudi woman from driving now however the criticism in the connection between british weapons arms sales to saudis and the infringements on human rights is much more direct and clear and that it is bits of programs that are being used through bomb civilians in yemen for human rights watch as international say thousands of civilians have been killed as a result of the war in yemen which was announced launched and is being led by specifically the crown prince mohamed bin sideman it is the british weapons that are being used by the saudi air force that has turned yemen into the worst humanitarian crisis today according to the united nations and that's why the head of the labor party germy corben had demanded from to resume to use this opportunity this visit of the crown prince to announce a halt in weapons sales to saudi arabia but tourism a has decided to do the exact opposite and signed this memorandum of understanding to sell even more weapons and the reason for that according to analysts obviously is that may finds herself

presiding over an economy that is in the west has been for many years and she's struggling to inject confidence in u.k. markets because of her inability to find a deal post brackets and to convince investors and to convince. the population of how opposed burke that britain would look like and therefore her critics are accusing her of selling out on the principles of freedom and democracy and essentially the ideals that britain holds dear leader in favor of saudi money. i still says it carried out a suicide attack in afghanistan's capital kabul the bombing happened at a police checkpoint near a gathering of a shia minority seven people were killed and more than twenty injured in a separate attack six soldiers were killed when the taliban ambush an army outpost in the northern province of takar scholars from europe and the americas are returning to iraq now but i still have been driven out and they're keen to continue

their research about mesopotamia an ancient land that covers most of iraq historians believe the region is where civilization began four thousand years ago but it was also the scene of the fiercest battles against eisel this portrait. 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 i saw also stole some of you rocks in syria's most prized ancient artifacts. but dominican fire no she managed to pack these rare minute scripts and sixteenth century books and smuggled them out of i sold battlegrounds. kurdish peshmerga fighters helped carry them to the safety of iraqi kurdistan. with the help of small cars we saved these archives and especially some manuscripts belonging to

a convent and church of the dominican in the mosul archives important letters and files that date back two hundred fifty to three hundred years. the author of the father knows she been other dominican priests rescued a veritable treasure trove of religious documents and moved them to air bill's oriental manuscript digitization center the center was stablished in one nine hundred ninety by dominican flyers 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 villages but. she who on 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 destroy 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 paul chatterjee on. the un's human rights chief has suggested the philippine president should seek psychiatric evaluation zaid rod out his sayings comments come after a court petition was filed by rodrigo detaches government which tries to get a human right but sure and several other high profile people declared as terrorists are accused of being part of a communist group wanting to overthrow the government. this is of course unacceptable for a special rocketeer are. acting on behalf of the international community whose expertise is sort by the human rights council to be treated in this way and hooper and i expect the human rights council to respond accordingly and read makes one believes that the president of the philippines needs to submit himself to some sort

of psychiatric evaluation this sort of this this sort of common reed is unacceptable. when president through the good the third to was sworn in in two thousand and sixteen he promised so usher in a new era of peace between the philippine government and members of the communist party of the philippines he promised to end a five year conflict in the country he released members of the communist movement and even appointed some of them within his cabinet but months of attempts and failure at negotiations and skirmishes between the philippine army and members of the armed wing called the new people's army has led to this new terror to says the new people's army together with some other members of the national democratic front he says are there and it's intended to destroy quote unquote his country and so the

department of justice has submitted to a court a list of what it seeks to tag as terrorists this includes members of the new people's army but it also includes activists former priests and former politicians and even members of the united nations human rights organisations and it is something that they say is deeply dangerous they say president of the good that their dad has the makings of a dictator and they say that using the word terrorist is irresponsible malicious and downright dangerous kenya's president and main opposition leader promised to begin a process of reconciliation followed the first meeting since last year's disputed election which was followed by widespread violence u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson who's visiting the ruby welcome the move comes from sort reports. a surprise public show of unity that has caught many of their supporters off god president two who are working as an opposition leader. have

agreed to bar their political hatchet after two acrimonious presidential elections last year that led to the deaths of many people swearing in as the people's president his refusal to recognize allegedly mysie a contract his presidency and the government's haase reaction to it being a swearing in cracking down on the media and opposition now the two say all that is behind them we have come to a common understanding and understanding that this country of kenya is greater than any one individual and that for this country to come together leaders must come together you guys must be able to discuss the defenses you guys must be able to discuss freely and openly what is our country what. is the reason and the. ethnic divisions and situations

that we see across the country many opposition supporters want to know what really was discussed behind closed doors electric justice 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 tains that what he and the president have done is provide leadership not duping and agree on the other use of the differences and all of the. millions of our children to be born and mounted into these differences people are dying out of these differences my brother. and myself. of them come together to. see this descent still 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 in how

they've handled the political situation kenyatta 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 there and our discussions with the president about the importance of democratic institutions and kenya is a leading democracy in africa we believe that there are actions the need to be taken in kenya and that they need to correct certain actions like shutting down t.v. stations and threatening the independence of the courts 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 well me a question a is an independent africa policy analyst and former executive director for africa action he joins us live now from washington d.c. this announcement by president kenyatta not doing

a seem to catch everyone by surprise how significant is this bit reconciliation between both men. thank you for having me i am among those who are caught by surprise but i think it is very significant because evidence is the you know contentious elections in august and the you know the back and forth and the instability the mr swearing self as the public the people's president there have been scenes i mean talks and discussions behind the scenes and by that i mean that even observers and policy makers in washington have been trying to quietly and curry the two to come together so yes it is a surprise but it is extremely. significant because if they can come together and there are many unsaid questions it could go our right because you know mr odinga is

the head of the coalition and it looks like the coalition members were not involved he says that he's doing this i say statesman as an individual's iseman so things to go wrong but if they go correctly it is significant it could bring you need peace to kenya and kenya is so very important in the region the announcement came shortly before the arrival of u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson can we read anything into the timing of this i think so even though according to the news reports that i have seen both president kenyatta and mr odinga insist that it was just a coincidence but i but i think that their precious behind the scenes for them to show some progress before mr taylor sing gets there so i tend to believe that he was in coincidence i think we can read into it that for us to get them to come

together from abroad where escalated i had of mr taylor since our arrival. as you say resulting the differences between kenyatta and the dingo won't be easy i mean kenya is deeply divided along ethnic lines because of this political standoff it is true on the other hand one of the great things kenya did was the new constitution down the road which actually devolved power to. lower and lower levels so that you have a lookout controls it defused a lot of the situation and yes the fight there quarrel has been over that precede dacia elections and yes it has an ethnic character but because they have. done deval louche in one of the most serious efforts i divil luzhin africa based on their constitution i think if they can resolve the presidential level then the country to come together quickly because now each of the local neighborhoods and

regions are governing themselves thank you very much for talking to al-jazeera a lot more still to come here taking out insurance on the future of cover reefs how a pioneering plan could save some of the world's most vulnerable marine life. and on victory gates and here the capital gains in die hard and event go rounds at the gulf diplomatic disconnects. also ahead ferrari head into the new f one season with some serious momentum has also come into sport stay with us here not. hello there we're going to take a look at weather conditions across the americas this time we've lost most of the snow as a result of that nor'easter still a little bit higher across the eastern parts of canada but a lot milder weather pushing in towards new york and washington then washington

d.c. seen highs of ten degrees further towards the south where we've got an area of low pressure given the risk of some heavy rain that's going to moving further south into georgia and on its northern edge we're going to see some significant snowfall developing once again stage we're looking at largely fine conditions for the pacific northwest but further south we could well see some rain effect in san francisco at times with some snow it's higher elevations down into central parts of america it's all looking pretty good here at the moment one of two showers as you'd expect but really most places seeing lots of sunshine and the same goes for the caribbean islands for the most part a few showers around but i think for most of the audience the days ago we dominated by warm sunshine the highs will run about the thirty mark heading into south america plenty of showers around the eastern part observer at the moment extending toward southern areas with rio still seeing some share eight to fifty asuncion in paraguay should be largely dry and further towards the south around the river plate it should be dry for both pilots erisa and also montevideo fine conditions are likely in santiago there's a move the forecast on twenty four hours just

a chance of wanted to showers in argentina. the continent of antarctica is facing multiple threats from climate change people over fishing and tourism but now a campaign is underway to create the largest protected area on earth the remote waters of the web don't see stay with al-jazeera for a series of special reports from the greenpeace expedition and antarctica. in bolivia like everywhere connectivity is paramount and yet more infrastructure and dependence on foreign corporations means to many remain offline now a politician and tech activists are building a homegrown solution connect the libyans and secure the nation's technological sovereignty to. rebel geeks the citizens network at this time does

either. welcome back a quick recap of the top stories here on al-jazeera donald trump's plan to meet north korea's leader now comes with a strict condition u.s. president says the secretive state must take concrete action towards denuclearization. five civilians have been killed in attacks by syrian government forces on parts of eastern friday and a convoy crossed into the rebel held on plate delivering desperately needed food despite heavy fighting as to relief work. and kenya's president and main opposition

leader promised to begin a process of reconciliation the pair held talks for the first time since last year's disputed election u.s. searches state rex tillerson is visiting nairobi and welcomed in the. police in sri lanka are investigating whether the suspected leaders of this week's wave of violence against muslims had foreign funding two people died and more than sixty were arrested in attacks on mosques and muslim own businesses in the central region of candy well calm has now returned and many shops have reopened but as bernard smith reports the economy has taken a hit. candy's temple of the tooth is up there on the must see list of tourists coming to sri lanka. millions are drawn to the island serenity and natural beauty but that images taken a hit after the attacks by sinhalese nationalists on the minority muslim community in candy we had to pass the area which was under curfew and so we had to go to the police to get a special permit to go through and that was quite exhausting and annoying also we

had like to do a detour which was three hours longer than sixty to the mood of suspected a member or two so we saw destroyed things destroyed listening to them. on those. prime minister knows the violence has impacted his country's image by these unwise acts carried out by a small group have done great social and financial damage to the concrete dorris were greatly in can we missed and this has dealt a blow to the tourist industry. government assessors are now drawing up lists of businesses that are to be compensated many muslim families have seen a lifetime's work go up in flames after their properties were attacked. but the curfew imposed has meant lost income for almost every large and small business in kandy which have to close as the security forces try to contain the violence nothing over in doing something illegal is indeed for the slaves and the salaries.

are in the water. and there is no one's interest to really make. you know money is the only way to listen illegal immigrant. eighty percent of tourists who come to sri lanka include candy on their itinerary the government is very sensitive to threats to tourists and to tourism more than two million foreign visitors to sri lanka last year bringing in more than three point two billion dollars in foreign exchange so while the authorities were very quick to put out a warning telling foreigners not to come to candy when trouble as soon as calm returned that warning was just as quickly. the national state of emergency is in place until monday and there's still an overnight curfew the authorities are hoping the worst is now over bernard smith al-jazeera candy british specialist troops are removing potentially contaminated objects from the english city of salzburg where a former russian double agent and his daughter were poisoned so again yulia scrip

are remain in intensive care after being targeted with a nerve agent a total of twenty one people have been treated following the attack russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov dismissed the u.k.'s warnings of retaliation as propaganda a rally has been held in slovakia as capital bratislava calling for a probe into the killings of an investigative reporter and his fiance the protesters want foreign experts to join the local investigative team working on the case jan could shaq and his fiance martina costa rover were shot dead in their home last month last unfinished story was on the activities of the italian mafia in slovakia and their ties to people close to prime minister robert fico. are to hear that we want our government to investigate the murders with international expert and also we want a new government a trustworthy government with no existing links to corruption in organized crime. now it's been seven years since the may just an army struck japan killing more than

twenty thousand people well now huge concrete walls are being built along parts of the coast to protect against waves but some say the new barriers are too high and could impact on tourism reports. for fisherman atsushi frazee to the open waters of the to ho coal coast swelling beneath a hazy blue sky where he earns his living pulling oysters from the sea there. 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 barrier 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 knocked me that i don't think we need a seawall 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 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 stored off the sea beds some complained 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. friday's the final day of the world ocean summit being held on mexico's riviera maya it's a chance for business government and environmental leaders to talk about the problems facing the world sees and to come up with solutions to protect the planet's vast ocean resources from home and. this is soon going to be the first insured coral reef in the world a trust fund of government n.g.o.s and dr deming leaders has been created to take care of 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 take what i raised as an important because two hundred million people in the world live close to reef and they are protected like what i was really for and you're against sea level rise beach erosion so we continue to see and 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 there we've

after you again hits then. 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 chat sinful 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 so did iceland's i think we all need to face the fact that the future of the ocean she is a common concern whether you're a head of state or an ngo we all need to get inside the boat and grow in the same direction in mind but more governments need to take responsibility says the un environmental direct to the oceans state belongs to everyone but still no one is

protecting. there is one issue that i would say is crucial to get sorted out is this sort of noble governance that's the reason why we are facing a huge problem. 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 stocks are food stretch or overexploited here at least there's no lack of my dears a will power to turn things around john homan. the mayan riviera in mexico a former u.s. drug company executive once dubbed america's most hated man has been jailed for seven years for fraud martin squarely became notorious for increasing the price of a life saving drug by more than five thousand percent prosecutors had pushed for the thirty four year old to be jailed for fifteen years after being convicted of

defrauding investors. france is enjoying its strongest economic growth in six years but many companies are struggling to find qualified staff some economists are worried the shortage could slow down growth reports in the french city of connaught blitz 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. 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 would work so it's difficult for us to recruit staff with the skills we need. the boss says that 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. most unity 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 near a clear implement for growth in the next few months but as a liberal pages can be a real drag for growth in the next few quarters the french government wants to fix the country's labor shortage and get more young people into work it's already reformed the labor or allow the workplace to be more flexible and it was the priest the number of training in apprenticeship schemes like this one.

training will improve the image of apprenticeships and create. a company with two years of training like this they are much more attractive and it's what companies want. i want to learn as much as possible here then one day i open my own company. but investing in this generation me help the economy in the future. al-jazeera.

welcome back now a gunman has entered a veteran's home and taken hostages in the u.s. state of california police and village strange fire with a man who is reported to be wearing body armor and carrying an automatic weapon it's understood three people are being held captive the veterans' home is the largest in the united states and houses more than a thousand elderly and disabled residents the suspect has three hostages detained in one room we have him confined to one room there are three different tack teams on site in the building keeping him in that location. where we have the hostage hostage negotiators from at least three different agencies on site so that when we

make contact with the suspect we can begin to go she issues now the national rifle association has found a lawsuit challenging new gun control laws in the u.s. state of florida branding them unconstitutional the move comes just hours after florida's governor signed the bill and creasing the minimum age for buying firearms to twenty one it follows weeks of campaigning by survivors of last month's parkland high school shooting in which seventeen people died a lot also paves the way for some school stuff to be armed well let's talk to holly dexter she's co-chairwoman of women against gun violence that's an organization working on education and legislation for gun control she joins us live from burbank in california ali so let me start by first getting your reaction to florida governor rick scott breaking with the n.r.a. and signing these new gun regulations. i first like to really give credit where credit's due and that's to the children in this movement and the parents of parkland who got governor rick scott to do anything about gun safety.

he does enjoy an a plus rating from the n.r.a. this is the same governor who has made sure that backyard gun ranges are legal and has also expanded the deadly stand your ground law. so we're very concerned about this law being passed because of course it has a kickback in it for the n.r.a. in that they want to arm school personnel so i don't know exactly what they mean by that is that the lunch lady is at the coaches either way in a state where stand your ground is legal that means that if any of this school that this school personnel is says that they feel threatened by a student they can shoot to kill and legally get away with murder many people say never again movements could be a tipping point i mean how important is this campaign and can it really make a difference against powerful gun lobby groups like the at araa. i think that it

can and i think that it will and the reason why is what we've seen in america before with our youth movements is that like during the vietnam war these young kids were seeing their friends come home in caskets and they said enough and now they're seeing their friends being carried out of their schools in body bags and whereas the rest of us in america not me personally but many people have sort of this this cycle of learned helplessness we've seen the mass shootings the thoughts and prayers. the got the call for new gun laws and then nothing happens and we've just sort of gotten used to the fact that the n.r.a. gets to control everything and dictate policy from the white house but now these students are saying they don't have a learned helplessness response they're seeing this their friends are being gunned down and they're saying no we're not going to take it we're going to change this we're the future we're tomorrow and we're going to make this happen just

a final quick thought from you one of the things our international viewers find difficult to understand is that whenever there's a mass shooting in other countries legislation all amnesties are quickly brought in yet in america it doesn't matter how many people get killed as you say nothing seems to change so what is it about america and guns why is america so different just briefly we have the n.r.a. who is basically dictating policy as i said from the white house they have been a powerful gun lobby their first gun lobby as marion hammer has pretty much been called the governor of florida because she dictates all the policy there other countries don't have the n.r.a. but we're working now to overcome that there are a lot more americans there are three hundred forty million americans and five million in our remembers who really holds the power here thank you for talking to us. no it said that necessity is the mother of invention and this is true for many people living in qatar since an a.s.e.

on land blockade began nine months ago students in doha are blocked from taking part in sports competitions and other gulf countries so they've come up with an alternative as victoria gaijin reports. angus spencer goes to a british school and never imagined that he and his friends would be caught up in a political dispute between on one side saudi arabia egypt bahrain and the united arab emirates and on the other cattle but that's been the case since organizers blocked him and hundreds of others from competing in a major school sports event in dubai this weekend. teaches dismayed by the decision of organized the cattle games as an alternative students are competing in basketball football athletics swimming and other events. and what has been the most enjoyable bit of working with my team. mates and seeing how close to respond with others is remark excited by like really competitive katie

want to gold medal in the team swim event and says the standard of competition is high. i got to compete with other people. and to some of my friends the cattle games is another example of how tyreese as well as the more than two million ex-pats living here are adapting to the challenges caused by the blockade that said there is a certain amount of incredulity head that countries blockading cattle are using children to school political points it's also raise questions about whether sports education and politics should ever met organizers say that even in the gulf diplomatic dispute is eventually resolved the cattle games will run every year from now on you know i want to sell tiflis games will beat the blockade games because you know very much now. out of adversity comes opportunity and the opportunity is here because essentially because of the blockade and now that it's happened once on

has been social special and i know it will continue to be it will happen year after year after year the children had set their sights on competing in dubai this weekend the cattle games has ensured that months of hard work has not gone to waste victoria gave him be out there at doha transport now his stuff and give them a tour serino williams has returned to competitive singles action with the when williams is back six months after the birth of her first child hoping round win that indian wells setting up the possible on court for union with her sister venus and a richardson or force. the biggest name in women's tennis is back on cools 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. of these are only appearances since the birth of her daughter have been in doubles games all exhibition matches but that famed fighting spirit soon reemerged you williams winning in straight sets and i was almost going to cry because i missed my daughter and i was just like you know but i pulled myself together and you got to do it but it was good i was really in it when i was really happy to be out there you know just just be a plate and i think you should meet dutch play a key persons in round two assist of 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 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 just you're always in the center of attention and expectations are there. you know but i'm def in a good place i also feel i have less to prove today than in the past but that doesn't mean that i don't want it badly time made a strong finish to pre-season training ahead of the new f one championship which begins it with the australia gone play on march the twenty fifth kimi rikon ing was quickest in the final session in barcelona it caps a promising week fulfil ari with the finns teammate sebastian vettel fastest on thursday and their arch rivals are taking their threat seriously as well of that of red bull. we definitely think it is going to be a tree treat team battle this year which is always good for form one and it's good for for us as well to try you know half and half 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. you. the biggest winter paralympics is in history is officially underway the opening ceremony m p on chang has finished early or north korea will be making its games debut but north and south korean athletes march separately at this event the two countries united for a joint session i had last month lympics the samba north i had wanted disputed islands to be put on the unified flag but the south disagreed i reckon five in the

sixty seven athletes from forty eight countries will be competing along with north korea georgia. 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. has a quieter day at the engine open he finished of the second round in a tie for second despite nearly missing his tea time the spaniard said he missed his morning along 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 hair was pumping big term it was very nervous because you know. i think the court to seek i made a world record from the hotel to the golf course and i in a couple minutes to write that can take ten or fifteen minutes he was really wide mantissa city of running away in the e.p.l. title race sixteen points clear would just nine games left their closest rivals are seemingly left to battle it out for second place to stay united occupied that spot at host third place liverpool all saturday with only two points separating the teams now while i'm better form going into the match their unbeaten in their last five games while united have lost two of their last five if a full stall forward the most solid has a chance to complete a sweep against england's biggest clubs if he scores he would have netted a guess every other top six sides in the e.p.l.

i don't think that game needs any and the extra reasons to be a big game it's the biggest game i can imagine. so first of all really looking forward to it but how it always is in these games are difficult as well and that's a spell for me we'll have more later on our lot said from me for this news out more news at the top of stay with us.

the final treasure. a new poll ranks mexico city is the pulpit worst in the world for sexual violence many women are attacked while moving in the crowded spaces of the metro buses and even at the hands of taxi drivers the conversation starts with do you have a boyfriend very pretty young young you feel unsafe threatened you think about how to react what do i do if this gets way no money on the uses a new service it's called loyal droid it's for women custards is only a drum by women drivers pull for some extra features like a panic button and twenty four seven monitoring of drivers. subzero temperatures

the stream altitudes. this is where the hard part is the extraordinary journey from polish to tajikistan. ordinary joins us. to high up there's no oxygen. just to experience life simple pleasures. risking it all on kurdistan at this time on al-jazeera. a potential roadblock to the meeting with donald trump and kim jong un the white house is now insisting on north korean concessions. hello i'm down in jordan this is al jazeera live from doha old.