you know you're getting more traffic behind me i mean how do cause i'm cutting so i have to have a lot to have to put my disposition. when i walk on the street. i feel. to have. proud of it i mean it would mean i'm walking on the streets and to drive on the light honking be all that me. doing i love. that for keeps me cool. this is al jazeera. hello and welcome to this al-jazeera news hour live i'm martinelli's coming up in the next sixty minutes kurdish forces in northern syria say they'll form

a human shield around the town of africa as the turkish military closes a. china's parliament abolishes presidential term limits clearing the way. to rule for life. british police say there's been limited contamination in a restaurant or the pub after a lethal nerve agent was used to poison a former russian spy. under it while reporting from underdog a group don't fall for the bible through a wall above from the remotest waters although. turkey's military campaign in northern syria has taken a new development with kurdish why p.g. forces announcing that they are mobilizing a human shield to defend afrin now turkish and free syrian army forces have surrounded the town and

a warning that they're on the verge of entering the kurdish forces say many civilians a volunteered to protect the region and several bus loads are believed to be heading for africa in this hour we can speak to our correspondent alan fischer who's in gaziantep that's in southern turkey very close to the border with syria what more do we know then about this kurdish appeal if you like for more most civilians to come to this city of afrin in order to protect it. well they said they're looking for volunteers to go to our friend we know that the turks who are backing the free syrian army have made impressive gains over the last few days just in the last few hours they've taken two turns in villages in the north of africa in two tones in villages in the south of afrin this has been part of a sweep that we thought me take several days but the white p.g. the cultish militia know seeing that they're calling on people all across the country to come and help them form this human shield to stop this advance going

much farther you remember just last week the y p g said it was pulling out seventeen hundred fighters from the fight against eisel elsewhere in syria to go to africa to shore up defenses there know they're asking people to come along and their support as well totally voluntarily they say we have no way of checking that interestingly enough just on saturday president everyone was speaking at a campaign event and he said look if tucky was like every other country and treated syria the same way like everyone else then we would have soldiers within three days in the center frame but we're going to approach this with a humanitarian approach we're going to make sure the civilians aren't harmed while the cards are essentially calling his bluff and saying right we're moving civilians into that place if you want to continue with your military operation go ahead also from the city of often itself we're hearing that internet has been cut the water has been cut and senior members of the local council there are calling on the

united nations to intervene all right now let's look at that other main area of violence in syria third the south from af in eastern guta where more reports of gas being used various kinds of gases chlorine gas some white phosphorus having been used and now we hear that the defense secretary of the u.s. has intervened. but what he said is that the president has made his position on the use of chemical weapons very clear this isn't anything new you remember that last april after the use of gas sarin gas in that case the united states launched limited air strikes against syrian military targets and they have been seeing for a number of weeks as reports have come out of syria of the use of chlorine gas and that all options are on the table you've got to add that to the fact that both the french and the british just in the last ten days or so have said that if they find out and that the syrian regime backed by the russians are using chemical weapons

against their own population then there will be severe consequences essentially diplomatic speak for saying that the two will consider military strikes well the fact that james mattis the u.s. defense secretary saying it's certainly backs up what we've heard from the podium of the briefing room in the white house in the last two weeks or so when they said all options are on the table and the syrians would be wrong to try and test donald trump's resolve on this issue all right for now thank you very much alan fischer live for us and we'll be talking a little bit more about what's going on in syria later on in the program in the meantime let's go to china where the national people's congress is now they did to abolish term limits for the president and the vice president the change of the constitution paves the way for she chimping to remain in office beyond twenty twenty three our correspondent adrian brown reports now from beijing. an army of chinese legislators came to the great hall of the people knowing what was expected

of them a display of uniform loyalty to the man who could now be china's leader for life. the constitution is in accordance with our country's reality and the wishes of all the people here in boston this is a big event a very memorable moment in our political life. and historic and country. herschel moment as well the almost three thousand delegates had been told the amendments were needed because the challenges china faces require a strong leader and a united party. in china's version of legislative government new laws and constitutional changes are always passed unanimously and so it proved to be the case again on sunday when delegates approved twenty one constitutional revisions including the scrapping of term limits for the president and vice president for there was perhaps token opposition to votes against and three

abstentions congress officials insist this process transparent. the chinese people have had no say in this historic moment critics accuse president . of building a personality cult indoctrinating the masses with his political philosophy just as chairman mao once did it was done shopping the other towering figure in recent chinese history who'd insisted on two term limits for the president he wanted to avoid a repeat of the cultish devotion that had surrounded mao but analysts say one party rule is once more turning into one man rule the fact of the matter this seeming has hijacked the entire communist party in the country so we are back to just one person doing the talking one person making the decisions for the entitled

party and the entire country we are back to the period of the so-called one wars echo chamber. the president's influence is now felt in many aspects of life here she thought is now required reading for party members study groups of spread to businesses and universities. parliament also voted to expand the president's campaign against corruption during a five year purge more than one and a half million party officials have been punished analysts say the campaign is a guys for getting rid of potential rivals for now at least she would appear to have no adrian brown al-jazeera beijing. well president she has carved out a number of signature policies over his first term in office he said a campaign as you just heard in adrian's report against corruption with more than a million officials charged supporters praise it as

a victory for the rule of law but critics accuse president xi of using it to go after his political rivals the president has promised to eradicate rural poverty by twenty twenty abroad china is investing heavily in asia and beyond it beyond she is promoting this through the so-called one belt one road economic plan and the establishment of the asian infrastructure investment bank is also ever seen a more assertive role for the military its budget has risen steadily every year and china's first overseas base was established in djibouti just last year we can now talk to an italian now who is in beijing he's a political analysts who advises the chinese government on economic and development issues and i know good to talk to you again are you in the least bit concerned that all of these reins of power and now centered on one man in china. absolutely actually not i think the real concern is what happens in the future how

if and how she unwinds this kind of power couple in that he's created i mean if you go back to deng xiaoping he centralized power and then at the end he tried to make sure that there was a much more disciplined way of exercising at least for the next two generations and even with jiang zemin you as you will recall he held on to the military commission chairmanship for fifteen years so what you have here really is paying sending out a very strong domestic message that this policy of rebuilding the party anti-corruption s.o.u. reform economic progress is going to continue because without a strong message at this point you know two or three years down the line he would be in essence a lame duck a lot of people would be looking at who is going to come in next and they might not be so willing to enforce some of the hard decisions especially when it comes to things like anti-corruption and reform ok i understand that point now i'm just i'm

going to refer to a quote from the people's daily which often reflects party thinking it's said that the abolition of term limits does not necessarily imply lifelong leadership how are we going to get rid of him if he starts to do about job. well i think you have to look at it slightly differently i think there is a lot of confidence and she if you go on the streets or talk to ordinary people in and there but there are divisions on it i think they believe that his program the anti-corruption rebuilding the party the reforms and things like that are necessary i think most people here realize that they have to be fully implemented if you stop just because of a. time limit and they're not firmly rooted you could risk undoing that if the next group of leaders were to say that they wanted to take a different tack we see this in western democracies where one administration like

trump tries to do undo everything the previous administration obama has done and i think she is very conscious of this and i think a lot of the people around him see the same thing what about if president xi what a fool. what if he were to be said badly and well that he wouldn't be able to function as a leader of china then what would happen well the leader of china is not chosen just there's no hereditary basis it's not like she's daughter takes over as wife takes over there would be a meeting of the top political body and they would have to decide what to do they haven't had a situation like this occur but if it did they would have to take action and one once again you're talking about a group of people who would have to reach a consensus agreement remember there's a very very different perspective in the east versus the west the corporate idea

that i have fifty one percent therefore control versus this consensus approach where everyone keeps talking until they can reach a point where all can agree on a time and thank you very much indeed. now the u.s. president says north korea's government is halting its missile tests ahead of it in his meeting with kim jong un donald trump was speaking at a rally in pennsylvania where he praised china and south korea for helping to build dialogue with north korea has been no official comment say far from pyongyang on the proposed meeting mike hanna has more from washington throughout the day president trump was upbeat about the proposed face to face meeting with the north korean leader he tweeted about phone calls he made with various world leaders including the prime minister of japan the president of china the president of france getting international support for this unprecedented meeting also in the course of the day he tweeted that north korea had not carried out any missile test

since the twenty eighth of november indicating that he believed the assurances that were passed on to him by south korean mediators this theme you return to during a campaign speech in support of republican candidates in the course of the evening they're not going to send missiles or think of it they're not sending missiles out and i believe that i believe that i really do i think they want to do something i think they want to make peace i think it's time and i think we've shown great strength i think that's also important but many in washington expressing concern about the lack of preparation by the trumpet ministration should any such face to face talks take place there is no ambassador in south korea also the expert in the state department under oath korea resigned last week so should have been go see asians take place in a face to face basis the u.s.

would be at a disadvantage it would appear right from the start. and the south korean foreign minister says she's planning to meet rex tillerson the u.s. secretary of state to talk about the proposed talks between the americans and the north koreans conk kill was says her trip next week will help to form an agenda for this historic meeting she was speaking was on a visit to vietnam p.j. kim is a fool that south korean diplomats and he says the u.s. needs to add stuff to important diplomatic positions in order to be better prepared for these talks the white house the national security council they have other through crow who has the professional you know with long experience in this because they're having discussion with north korea before but other than her i mean there are other competent professionals but state department is a problem they don't have the bathroom to south korea here but also they have several layers of sr and one thing that will result not yet a point is so you know this is

a diplomatic game we're talking about therefore no matter how hard trump and the national security council at the white house are needed in the game still at the state department there's a lot of work to do and they don't have the people so that they'll have to mow grilli quickly but in the meantime because of the lack of manpower at the state department probably will continue with the white house the national security council leaving the game for quite some time. plus what's coming this al-jazeera news hour including why france's far right national front has severed ties with its founder as marine le pen is reelected leader. colombian say corruption is their biggest concern as a head to the polls in congressional elections and in sports for fourteen time major winner tiger woods crazes in on his first win in the early five years.

now to britain where health officials say they found some limited contamination of nerve agent into public places following the poisoning of a former russian spy up to five hundred people who have visited the two places in saul's free have been urged to wash their clothes and other belongings police have identified more than two hundred witnesses in their investigation so gays could have all of his daughter yulia remain in critical condition in hospital after being infected with a nerve agent we've learnt that there has been some limited contamination in both the milk and seizes restaurants insoles free so anyone who visited the mill kirpan sees his restaurant where the two affected individuals were can be reassured that this limited exposure will not to come to health today. however there may be a very small health risk associated with repeated contact with belongings which may

have been contaminated by this substance so we're recommending a very very precautionary approach is taken and we're biting people to clean the clothes that they were wearing and any possessions that they had with them at the time for let's go live to our correspondent paul brennan in london our pool limited exposure to what could be a lethal nerve agent it's very alarming. it is it's definitely an escalation in the case and the warning that's been issued although the chief medical officer of the u.k. dame sally was saying that it was trace elements of this nerve agent and that she was taking a belt and braces approach to this cause a precautionary. warning that she's put out what she is not it's going to worry people undoubtedly but we're talking about the possibility of around five hundred people who were in the public house and the restaurant over the period of time from that sunday lunchtime through all the way through to the monday evening that's in

excess of twenty four hours and the details given by the public health authorities as to exactly what they should do with their clothes with spectacles with their watches with their jewelry how they should go about cleaning these items certainly it's it's on the one hand restoring that the authorities are taking these things into account but the fact that this nerve agent could have affected so many people is undoubtedly going to be worrying and identifying the actual substance that was years i presume is going to be vital to this investigation. indeed the police are not yet saying exactly which nerve agent was used and from the it's the warning that was issued by the chief medical officer you can see you can assume that this is a nerve agent which lingers in the atmosphere or on the items which it comes into contact with so that might be a clue to experts there as to what kind of nerve agent it is it clearly doesn't disappear or evaporates very quickly the other thing though as well or maybe cast

your mind back to the two thousand and six alexander litvinenko case there were traces of polonium found at several places where the people who had poisoned litvinenko had been as they trailed him around trying to administer the poison to him so one possibility that the police might be looking at is that the contamination in the mill pub and the diseases did not come from surrogate scrip of his daughter from having been contaminated it could be that the contamination came from those who had the nerve agents and were about to administer to the victims so that's a possibility that i'm sure the police are going to be looking at as well all right for now thank you very much indeed paul brennan will keep us right up to date with that dramatic story out of london. now the founder of france's far right national front has lost his last remaining post while his daughter marine le pen has been reelected as leader the move comes at a crucial time for le pen she's hoping to broaden the party's appeal and will be

speaking to delegates shortly jamboree lappin was expelled in twenty fifteen because of anti semitic remarks but he kept his owner in position of president until now david chaytor has more from the northern french city of legal. a page in political history in france is being turned today the national front will no longer exist by the end of this day that's because its leader marine le pen will change the name of the party now this is being called by her father who founded the party forty five years ago he said that this would mean political suicide for his daughter and for the movement he started but it's her attempt to try and rebranding the image of the whole party to detoxify it to distance it very much from her own father john marie le pen who's got a top top selling autobiography now in france where he shows his support for the

vichy regime and nazi and nazi collaborators so that's why she wants to sort of completely cut all ties with her father change the name of the party and try and reach out and gain more alliances with other political parties she realizes this is the way to remember in the last elections she more than doubled the vote for the national front some thirty four percent of the vote is behind that's more than ten point six million people now that was the high point since then there's been some bruising divisions within the party she's losing control that's why she's having to rebranded and that the whole point about that is that she feels that the policies should remain the same but the name the national front that brand and her father was simply too toxic for her to get the sort of support she needed to make an inroad into french politics. second round of voting looks likely in sierra leone

with results from wednesday's presidential election too close to call that the ruling people's congress and the opposition's sierra leone people's party have gained around forty three percent with health the votes counted candide the need fifty five percent to win outright the election itself was largely peaceful but rival supposes force on saturday as the results were coming in a run of poll let's now take place two weeks after the final results and then armitage as has more from the capital freetown many civil unions believe that this election is headed for a run off with fifty percent of the vote counted there is little difference between the two leading candidates candidate of the ruling a.p.c. party and the biggest opposition party in the country the s. and p. p. all of them have scored more than five hundred sixty thousand votes the third candidate is hundreds of thousands of votes behind them now there are reported

cases of. stuffing which the election officials say they are investigating now the election commission is expected to announce twenty five percent more of the votes by to morrow probably by the end of. sunday the result will be finally end and now civil unions are bracing themselves for a second round of voting on the streets of several young there are new to celebrations in certain places the celebrations were actually wild people commending the election commission for conducting what looks like a very very fair vote in sierra leone eight million cubans are expected to vote for a new national assembly it will be the first time in almost sixty years that a new president will be chosen from outside the castro family incoming members of the national assembly will decide on a successor to eighty six year old raul castro who steps down next month. of ages

in colombia heading to the polls for the first election since the signing of a peace deal with gravels the agreement has reduced political violence but. now reports many of the affecting colombian society have not changed its colombians gear up to renovate their congress on sunday there's one issue on everybody's mind . groups are corruption is the biggest worry of voters rich or poor on the right or left of the political spectrum. as long overshadow the legal political practices which are only now coming under bigger scrutiny scandals in past months have involved most parties and even tainted president santos last campaign. yet the new study by the peace and reconciliation foundation says the public outcry will not bring political renovation. more than eighty candidates for the senate and the house of representatives that have links with criminal

organizations or are involved in corruption scandals such as older brecht or our children our wives are currently jailed representatives all with excellent chances of being elected they represent rural family clans that have for decades run their districts like. most are expected to remain in power doling out jobs public work contracts or just a little food and money to maintain the loyalty of their impoverished voters. many politicians and thirties corruption circuits to finance their campaigns they buy out local community leaders and pay around one thousand dollars per vote the culprits in the end there to citizens they vote for the same corrupt parties then they complain about corruption it's a vicious cycle you can't vote for bandits and then expect to be well governed. according to this study only three of the main political parties have presented candidates viewed with suspicion for their relations with illicit activities or

criminal or variations which have many here worrying that the new congress will have a hard time changing longstanding corruption practices when the rector of political website alessio i see says the system is part of a sieve i have done an informal survey with professional politicians asking them how what is the percentage will. open your votes for congress and they all agree that seventy percent seven to thirty percent opinion votes. and like other major latin american countries jailed many claim chieftan yet the clans remain tough to this large as long as votes can be bought for pennies. the u.s. state of florida has passed modest gun restrictions after the high school shooting last month that killed seventeen people but in washington there appears to be little appetite for new laws john hendren reports. the outcry for stricter

gun laws in america has perhaps never been louder or more emotional. this makes me sick millions of children are rationally preparing for six students slaughter and this is normalized we cannot allow our nation to go along with this any longer how many more times how many more children are going to need to be slaughtered their names have become international shorthand for mass shootings in america littleton colorado virginia tech orlando's plus nightclub sandy hook and now parklane florida but little has changed since last month's school massacre there. this hearing by senate democrats is unofficial the republicans you control both houses of congress are holding no hearings on guns. president obama hugged me and wouldn't let go until i could catch my breath and stop crying it's different this time because people are taking it personally he sent but it wasn't different. at

weekend gun shows across the us guns are easily bought with or without background checks and the appetite for weapons seems insatiable just try to find a parking spot at this one in virginia one reason background checks are such a point of contention is what's called the gun show loophole while licensed firearm dealers need to do background checks on buyers any individual can sell to any other individual as long as they don't have reason to believe that person is prohibited from owning a firearm and gun shows are where they meet. even many gun aficionados are willing to support some change like mandatory background checks for all gun buyers should there be background checks absolutely absolutely the state of florida has passed modest changes banning the bump stocks that turned semiautomatic weapons into automatics raising the minimum age to buy a gun to twenty one setting a three day waiting period in arming school employees but on capitol hill the senate has moved on to banking reform leaving all proposals for new gun

restrictions on the shelf john hendren zero dale city virginia. all right it's time for the weather now inevitable tells me spring is arrived in europe but i don't believe in that just kept thinking i would see some moderate started to push its way in marci flowers starting to bloom and blossom first of all looking good even moscow is going to get above freezing for the first time since the third of february so that you can see the cloud piling its way in from the atlantic that's our motto rare is a little bit grim as martine's implying there was a cloud lots of rain and lots of wind as well this area of low pressure well that is storm felix has been bringing some very lively weather into the iberian peninsula northwestern parts of spain sings a massive waves as high as eight meters at times and very blowy conditions but as i said it has turned mild and take a look at this lovely picture from st james's park in london the daffodils are blooming quite nicely now we will see the moderate continue to push its way further

eastward so we're into double figures there for london in paris eleven degrees celsius here twelve. similar temperature for madrid as well burley also getting up to twelve look at warsaw a southerly breeze getting up to fifteen degrees not too bad at all i cloud that rain that will continue to make its way further research as we go on through the next couple of days some brighter skies coming back in behind wins the weasel little at least of course those western parts for the british isles for our winds and also for much of the u.k. and also seeing temperatures getting up to around fifteen celsius in madrid as i said it's been a pretty cold one in moscow recently will get above freezing by tuesday martin. still to come here on the al-jazeera news hour police detained pro-democracy protests in hong kong during a crucial vote for the legislative council. and looking to the sun and the international alliance wants to increase the uses solar energy to combat climate

change and the serener williams continues her tennis comeback a familiar face awaits at indian wells. as poverty and desperation sweep across ruhi just settlements women and girls are being bought sold and given away you know refugee camps when used investigates yet another dark side of the crisis at this time on al jazeera. al jazeera where every new war. in the past seven years over three million homes destroyed. and eleven million people displaced.

syrians made homeless by war share their stories. in the ruins of a dream and this time on al-jazeera. take a look at the top stories here it out there kurdish forces in syria have announced that they are mobilizing a human shield to surround a free and as turkish and free syrian army troops approach the town bus loads of people are believed to be on their way to fall is turkey's announcement that its forces are on the verge of entering the city. china's parliament has voted to

remove term limits for the president and the vice president to change the constitution paves the way to xi jinping to remain in office beyond twenty twenty three leaders until now were restricted to a maximum of two five year terms. health officials in england say they found some limited contamination of nerve agents into public places following the poisoning of a former russian spy up to five hundred people who visited the two places in seoul three that south of london have been urged to wash their clothes and their belongings. pried never get a look at look a little bit more closely at events in syria here's a reminder of the situation particularly in the northwest of the country for several weeks now turkey has been conducting a military campaign to try to push the kurdish wife p.g. out of the african region it says the group is linked to the p.k. k.

which it considers a terrorist organization and last month syrian government forces cross into our friend to help the kurds fight the offensive but turkish forces have taken control of several villages and president had a one says after a friend has taken his forces will move on man be the town is controlled by the s.d.f. that's in the alliance led by other kurdish fighters and backed by the united states well to arm the rival this terribly cold. plex picture let's talk now to just one line this is the director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma and he's joining us from that search in a city thank you for talking to us but i'm just wondering whether this dramatic announcement by the kurds in africa into to gather people together to form some kind of human shield whether this is going to change his result of to enter the city and then with its partners in the free syrian army. it probably won't

affect turkey is resolved very much on the other hand the kurds unlike the arabs in there or in iraq in other cities has urged kurds to go to safety and this is made it very easy for turkey to roll through these cities with very light numbers of yet and the kurds are increasingly worried that they're going to be ethnically cleansed unlike the palestinians at nine hundred forty eight if they run away then never be allowed to come back and so they're struggling with what strategy is the best should they emulate the the rebel forces in the who talk and try to keep people inside in raids the death well in order to get the world to pay some attention most of the news has been answered prayer on other places it makes it too easy for turkey and remind us i mean this is this is called operation on

live branch by the turks remind us what the at to live get to have is on the part of ankara the objectives are separate one is to take what they call security anchor calls a security belt around the edge of turkey the other is to destroy the white p.g. that's the military forces of the curtis. if the kurdish forces in syria and the third is to return. to its rightful owners that's what caroline said and by that this is where the ethnic cleansing worry comes because evidence suggests that it belongs to both turman and syrian arabs who lived there before erratic saying that this is just i mean i mean the what do you how do you assess then that fear coming from the ca's that this is about ethnic cleansing because we know that turkey does not want anything remotely resembling

a kurdish homeland on his border and contiguity between the two pockets of of kurdish donated territory is what we understand the kurds to be seeking themselves i indeed and we saw this stokoe bani almost two hundred thousand kurds were driven out of obama by isis forces that turkey. assisted at a certain level so the kurds have every reason to believe that this could be at this some form of ethnic cleansing war after all turkey will worry that if they left all the kurds and it's why people back should their forces withdraw so. this is been the worry of course and why the syrian war is so terrible is because all the different verbs are worried about being ethnically cleansed the sunni arabs say that they fear being ethnically cleansed by shiites the alawite you know that they'll be driven into the ocean if they don't hold fast and now the kurds also are

worried about being up in the clans and that means that the violence goes sky high and and it's very difficult to stop the fighting on that gloomy night i thank you very much just for landis talking to us live from at seventy three. that eight months offer us back full says dr eisele from every second largest city mosul unexploded bombs mosts and other nations still litter the streets the u.n. says most of them a buried under an estimated eleven metric tons of destroyed buildings in test time reports. it's one of the most dangerous jobs for an iraqi soldier identifying and defusing unexploded mortars homemade bombs and other explosives. the streets of mosul's old city or littered with such weapons most of which are buried under houses and buildings destroyed by mortar artillery and air strikes. the sound of explosions

regularly brings out as teams detonate the bombs. that we are working hard to dismantle leigh's an exploded bombs yet many of the displaced trying to tone home have found explosives in their houses all of the houses were rigged with explosives or the neighbors' houses rigged instead so when they report this to us we have to take action. on the outskirts of mosul which is in iraq's predominantly sunni nineveh province some of the unexploded devices are brought here to be destroyed iraqi officials estimate more than five thousand civilians were killed in the battle for the city most of them in u.s. and iraqi airstrikes artillery and mortar attacks targeting eisel fighters. with no escape route out of bosal several hundred thousand civilians were trapped as security forces seize control of the city. i received beating

iraqi military leaders promised nineveh provincial council officials they would remove be unexploded ordinance as quickly as possible so that those displaced in the fighting could return home tell. me how i did to implement in order to prioritize a mission to remove explosive devices as soon as possible from the city when the pope was awfully moving these explosives used to comply with the orders of the prime minister. has lifted that it didn't offer displaced people and bring back at most a bit of a that's. according to the united nations most of the explosives are buried under an estimated eleven metric tons of rubble u.n. experts say removing the devices will likely take many years the u.s. government has promised to provide loans and loan guarantees to american companies to help reconstruct mosul but won't provide any direct funding for the eighty eight billion dollars iraq says it needs to rebuild the city and others like it meaning get a likely take

a long time for any form of normalcy to return here in the style of al-jazeera a senior yemeni official has called for protests to demand the return of president . from saudi arabia the minister of state salah. made the statement on his facebook page how do you left the country ahead of the coalition's a campaign against a healthy revels in march twenty fifth the president has reportedly been in riyadh for over a year now. the voting is underway in a byelection in hong kong polls close within the next hour also with voter turnout lower than expected police detained a number of protesters outside the polling station where the city's leader cast her ballot pro-democracy candidates are worried the low turnout could affect their chances to win back veto power in the legislature the election is seen as an indicator of public sentiment about beijing's increased role in the city's governance pollin has more. edward you knows too well that

victory doesn't guarantee is placed on the legislative council. the former professor won in the twenty sixteen elections and while being sworn in he added to fray saying he would fight for universal suffrage after a year in office the beijing government reinterpreted hong kong's constitution to deem him ineligible because of that this time he promises his supporters he has a plan ranging if you are going to unite and they believe in the end of this year we will discuss about the political rights of all of call people by you finish the twenty fourteen pro-democracy demonstrations known as the umbrella movement beijing has tightened its grip on the city as on cities that you would like to have you got to meet his new hair his new cap our. bosses god the legal his fellow man although he made calcareous to these elections to

a place for ousted legislative councillors are divided along very clear lines the candidates are either probate are pro democracy. and this is the other camp rallying supporters in front of the government headquarters the poll beijing parties the main office used to stabilize home called government so i suppose that these are the government's preferred candidates if they win the opposition will not have the numbers in parliament to block bills or question beijing sections but many here believe these candidates will help the city run smoothly i hope it is a problem i know i keep trying to write so insulting but i think all it takes is a kind of heart of all faiths ok my analysts say this vote is mostly symbolic a victory for the pro-democracy candidates would be an expression of frustration at beijing's increasing interference in hong kong's affairs former colonies macau and hong kong are the only territories in china where the public can directly vote for

their government but many here say with beijing becoming more intrusive and pushing for more integration with their. so china voting is increasingly regarded as something that matters less and less al-jazeera hong kong. the indian prime minister and the renderer mady and the french president emmanuel mccrone hosting the official launch of the international solar alliance in new delhi the summit aims to reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels by expanding the availability is solar energy the idea was first proposed on the sidelines of the twenty fifteen paris agreement on climate change representatives from forty five nations are attending dhruva. is a foreign policy fellow at the think tank brooking's india he says the alliance can help bring down the cost of solar power. the second idea that perhaps the most he had spoken about even on the campaign trail before he became prime minister he spoke about creating a g twenty four solar orbit which is now expanded quite

a bit one of the one of the. goals of this initiative is really as part of india's national solar india has a very ambitious targets to be trying to get a hurricane a lot of install solar capacity by twenty twenty so that's just a few years from now which would be a very massive massive increase of overcorrection stock and one of the things that such an alliance would help do is bring down the cost by increasing the global demand for solar power particular money in the developed developing world and another thing that we do is help the transfer of technology from more high income countries to turn countries including india and to help really helping if you use those national targets and comply with the commitments in the paris climate agreement. seven years internet quake and tsunami killed thousands of people and

cause a major nuclear disaster in japan prime minister shinzo are being told to remember in-service intake air that reconstruction is making steady progress but tens of thousands of people have still not returned to their homes and cleaning up the still radioactive fukushima nuclear plant site may take up to forty years. the antarctic has been described as one of the most remote and treacherous places on earth much of its rich biodiversity is yet to be fully documented and the second part of our on topic serious we look at the european union's campaign to protect this desolate region trying to greenpeace scientific expedition through the what i'll see. the captain's eye view of our voyage south as the icebreaker optic sunrise pushes through into the remote waters of the weddell sea vost unknown territory few ships venture this far altie has already made an attempt

this antarctic summer but was foiled by ice because right now we have a way through. to get it down into the wealthiest try and reach before the beginning of what would be protected looks like opening at least for. yes probably just great here is a long war that. finally we break through into the isolated area of the proposed site tree at the moment i checked on the. satellite charts this morning and there's some one other ship in this entire space as us that another ship about there and that's it and the whole whole area that's a slightly scary terrifying. exciting exciting kind of just makes the case that this is pristine this area is not developed his not call

industry has never had industry. we take a chance and it's rare window of weather to take to the air and look down on the mesmerizing scene below. the western edge of the would be protected zone breath taking the role power of land and sea and ice constantly reshaping on the move this is nature on a planetary scale so what we're looking at here is melting yes sea ice and great ice bergs of the glass is sweeping up james ross island at the weddell sea extends way to a distance over that proposed area pretty much all touched by human activity almost no scientific research is taking place back to base the arctic sunrise standing by for a return alongside a giant type ila ice pack perhaps a kilometer long the next helicopter sortie is to the very top of it the expedition team in making

a dramatic landing to spread the sanctuary message around the world this iceberg thousands of years in the making now adrift in a process that has been going on for hundreds of thousands of years appraises it seems may be changing because of global warming and did a day of scenic wonder the end talked to day ends with a spectacular show above this apparently a reverse sunset phenomenon while simultaneously the clouds more in shape and color into fantastic unworldly painting across the evening sky at the ends of the. mc law al-jazeera until ticket and then the third part of a serious nick will look at the multiple threats to wildlife in antarctica ranging from climate change to tourism. still to come on this out of their news out of the los angeles clippers give the n.b.a. playoff hopes a big boost tatiana will have the details. facing

realities growing up when did you realize that you were living in a special place a so-called secret city getting to the heart of the matter while activists to live in jail just because he expressed himself hear their story on the tour to al-jazeera at this time. at. the scene for us whether online what is american sign in yemen that peace is almost possible but not what happens not because the situation is complicated but because no one cares or if you join us on sat there are people that little choosing between buying medication and eating basis is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's an

activist has posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. by this time for the schools he's here is touching on the thank you mod team tiger woods is closing in on his first win in nearly five years the fourteen time major winner is just a one shot off lead to cory khana the championship woods carded a four on the past sixty seven in the third round on saturday a win would mark a huge turnaround for wood says drop down to three hundred eighty eight in the wild run can this be just his fourth official start off to having back surgery last

april. i am excited i feel good i feel like i've i'm playing little better little cleaner the last two days and i missed a medical use there's a lot of holes a sandwich yesterday i don't know it's been a pretty clean last couple days been a really good i've been really consistent a little myself off the board i know it's packed up there but. they say i got a shot serena williams will play sister venus in the third round of indian wells as she continues her comeback following the birth of her fast child it's off to the thirty six year old kinky battens in the second round of the tournament on fact a seven six seven five to score this is serene his first tour events and her daughter was born just six months ago the williams sisters last met in the twenty seventeen australian open final when serena won her twenty third grand slam singles title. every front you know she was you know as one of the best players in the world last year so for me to have to go up against so passes will be good to see

where i am on my level well see i'm not putting too much all myself. venus advanced to round three with a straight sets victory over sat on the couch to play her twenty ninth competitive match against her youngest sister on monday with serena having won seventeen of the only thing. in the men's draw rain has put the world number one roger federer's opening match on hold the swiss was up against arjun time for that he called the bonus for a place in the third round federer took the first set six three and its two all in the second elsewhere spaniard fernando verdasco upset third seed grigor dimitrov to reach the last sixty fourth seven six four six six three the score here. there were emotional scenes in italy on sunday as feared and tina played their first match since the sudden death of their captain diver that started just a week ago fans paid touching tribute to astoria ahead of their game with better

vento which was stopped on the thirteen minutes to one of the former italy international players from both clubs also was studies number thirteen feet and tina went on to win the match one nil a study died of a cardiac arrest just hours before the his side were due to play. last sunday he was just thirty one years old. so the english premier league where there are two games on sunday arsenal have just got under way against what third is currently one nil to the hosts in the early stages there and later tottenham are up against bournemouth is their first match since being knocked out of the champions league by eventis on wednesday. disappointed in this. he said do you. it's a personal thing that you need to motion everyone is kind of in this feeling way the only you need to give time for them to assimilate disappointing though is it's

a moment to think in that we can in this game they can but this one doesn't wait for you. buffalo to have extended their lead in the spanish league to eleven points they beat malaga to nail on saturday the catalans were without lionel messi who took time off after the birth of his child but even without that stop play a missing even with the stop a missing flight path of a dominant goals from luis suarez and catania field when. earlier on saturday two goals from christiana ronaldo helped realm enjoyed to a two one win over. saw them hold on to third place in the table that still fifteen points adrift of barcelona though and the lengthier only a single point behind row off to they beat the via two nil later on second place athletico faith celta vigo looking to close that gap on the latest. i. think it was.

the u.s.a.'s candle grabbed his establishing herself as the one of the early stars of the paralympic than pyong chang the twenty five year old has claimed her second gold in the space of two a day she has won the cross-country leading the twelve kilometer race from start to finish the medal goes alongside her biathlon title the usa out top of the medal table with four goals already two more than the gold medal total from the such a game france and survive each have a three goals. and finally russell respired claimed his nine it t. the triple double of the season on saturday leading the oklahoma city thunder to one hundred four to ninety four when over the san antonio spurs swallow for in california the l.a. clippers boosted their chances of making the postseason lou williams scored twenty

five points have been beat b. orlando magic one hundred thirteen to one hundred five that means the clippers occupied the eight and final playoff spot in the western conference. and i would say marty. thank you very much indeed and that's it for this al-jazeera news hour but don't go away because if we look for more news in just a minute. on counting the cost in what's been a big week for global trade we'll look at how the u.s. is bending the rules of comus and free trade is really worth fighting for the latest mind bending concept cars from the geneva also show counting the cost at this time. it was just ten years old when a devastating earthquake struck mexico city in one thousand nine hundred five the quake damaged her family's apartment and the government moved them to distant shack

around seventy families who lost their homes in that earthquake still live in this camp. the government raised our hopes and then abandoned. politicians have promised that they won't allow a repeat of what happened after the earthquake in one thousand eight hundred five but the cost and complexity of housing hundreds of people living in camps is a major task and one that many people here think the government fail. bigger and potentially more dangerous that's the best way to describe what's happening with the smoking alternative known as favorite i enjoy the taste of it and the harmful effects of what's called the does between two thousand and thirteen in two thousand and fourteen alone start tripling in use among us high school students and head to head comparison ysaye versus conventional cigarette which one do you think has helped my opinion i think they're both dangerous take no at this time and else is the.

benefit. of being. with. documentaries that open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera. forces in northern syria say forming the human shield around the town of print as a military closes in.