so not too much but a little bit of weather some very heavy rain into northern zimbabwe adelson tents and. i really feel liberated as a journalist who loves. getting to the truth of the. deadline passes russia doesn't respond to an ultimatum from the u.k. of the poisoning of a former spy. i'm james up in this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up world renowned scientist stephen hawking who helped unlock the mysteries of the universe dies at the age of seventy six. we disagreed on what you look at iraq

i think it's terrible i guess it was ok. to listen and replaces him with cia director like plus. zimbabwe tells the world its economy is back on the right track but foreign investors are not so sure. russia has not responded to an ultimatum given by the u.k. over the poisoning of a former spy prime minister to resign may have given moscow till the end of choose to explain how a soviet era nerve agent was used in the attack on sergei scruple and his daughter may's expected to discuss britain's response when she meets her national security council later on wednesday barnaby phillips report. is this the lull before the

storm the british government says it's looking at ways of responding to what it believes is now rageous act by russia this is part of a pattern of behavior by the putin regime and you'll seeing this reckless support for the use of chemical weapons all the way from syria to the streets of which are not in our country. being encouraged by the determination of our friends to stand with us except that friends aren't so predictable these days the american president shortly after sacking a secretary of state who was highly regarded by the british government says it sounds to him as if russia was involved in the nerve agent attack but in moscow the russian foreign minister said britain was being obstructive refusing to give russia samples of the nerve agent so that it could carry out its own investigation but a senior you know it's russia is not guilty but russia is ready to cooperate in the

framework of the chemical weapons convention only in the united kingdom takes pains to fulfill their legal obligations and cling to the same document that was the london's luxury properties luxury shops could britain target russians who spend money here an anti corruption group estimates more than a billion dollars of suspicious russian wealth is invested in u.k. property well it's certainly the case that some of the individuals that we've identified in this research are well known to the kremlin so if they were to find themselves subjected to police investigations by unexplained well for days for example then that would send a very clear message to the kremlin the corrupt individuals and their illicit cash and no longer welcome here british politicians want to send a message to russia that they won't tolerate what they see as a brazen attack on british soil but they also hope to cooperate with russia on issues like. containing iran and north korea's nuclear ambitions in other words

russia's international significance presents britain with a diplomatic dilemma britain says it's ready to act but if this crisis escalates west to duty could come under great strain to be phillips al jazeera. british counterterrorism police are investigating the death of a high profile russian businessman nikolai was found dead in his london home late on monday the sixty eight year old was an ally of the late boris berezovsky a critic of president vladimir putin police say there's no evidence to suggest a link to the poisoning of sergei schiphol and his daughter more than ten prominent russians have died in unusual circumstances in the u.k. in recent years and joins us live now from london for more let's talk through the responses we're getting so far lourdes. well the response is well i mean this this this midnight deadline that britain had demanded of russia to the response to was

obviously passed and the russians patently don't care what what what reason why the british promise is demanding and so she's having a meeting this morning at the security council and things that people are suggesting might happen include expelling some diplomats russia would respond by expelling some diplomats in return some members of parliament here talking about closing down russia today the t.v. channel which is regarded as a propaganda wing of the kremlin but the russian foreign minister is a belief you do that will shut down the b.b.c. and sky news in moscow and so these internationally renowned t.v. channels now find themselves politically political pawns in this game as well people talk about and we heard in bonobos report there that they might kick some wealthy russians out and make it difficult for them to spend their money here frankly the kremlin would be quite happy for that to happen too because they regard a lot of these people who have been granted political asylum like the other guy who was who was found dead yesterday in the u.k. there in moscow they're regarded as crooks who really in the moscow very much like

to come back said so they can be prosecuted and so in many ways there aren't very many options that the u.k. has they're actually russia's very frightened of it all honesty the biggest thing i think they could do would be to do with energy and try to persuade european countries not to rely so much on russian gas but that's a much longer term strategic piece of thinking rather than something the they can really grab a headline with in the short term and i wonder where this leads russian hard play hour to me sunday's presidential elections that. yeah i mean i mean there is clearly a point of view and it's been expressed by by by a number of critics of lot of near putin that the reason why if you assume the russians did this the reason why they did it is is because they they wanted to become part of putin's reelection the problem for putin on sunday's apathy it's going to be his fault people are bothering to turn out sees he's disbarred the only

person who matters to the against a man got anywhere and so the you know the entire putin line is russia is under threats we're under siege the whole of the west is hostile to us and suddenly you have the the attempted murder of this guy and all over russian state t.v. as you see the brits are blaming us for this and we're under attack again and it's their theories it's a way of energising and apathetic electorates back to the only man who can protect russia from these evil opponents vladimir vladimirovich putin so that is the theory that's doing the rounds in you know in the absence of any other obvious motive and obviously it seems to have some waves thank you. one of the world's greatest scientists stephen hawking has died he was seventy six in a statement his children paid tribute to their fathers an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years emma hayward looks back on his life and

achievements. this was an eye for the clueless and accolades stephen hawking was often treated like a rock star scientist millions revered him for his gift of communicating complex matters to the masses the common man's genius i we are alive we are intelligent decoded some of the most enigmatic mysteries of the universe its origins structure and end from big bang to black hole his life was also an enigma nine hundred sixty three hawking was always twenty born in a student to cambridge university when he was diagnosed with a degenerative motor neuron condition he was given just two and a half years but went on to live for more than half a century taught me. because.

i developed a condition. like me work. in which. the serious. as the disease progressed talking lost mobility and had to rely on a wheelchair his speech then began to slur an emergency operation rope to move his voice but not for long. haul king turned to a speech synthesizer which allowed him to select words by moving the muscles of his cheek it was a tedious process but one that gave him the ability to express his pine airing ideas it also gave the british cosmologist his trademark american accent. dark hawking was respected early on in scientific circles for helping prove the big bang theory when the universe burst into existence fourteen billion years ago global acclaim came in one thousand nine hundred eighty eight with the release of

his book a brief history of time the introduction to cosmology was a runaway hit standing more than ten million copies and eventually translated into dozens of languages hawking's only magnified with time a pop culture figure he gets starred on shows such as the simpsons and star trek. the first. public class a nation with hawking culminated in the blockbuster hollywood film of his remarkable life the theory of everything the universe is expanding if you invest time in the universe or it's all stephen hawking devoted his life to seeking answers to the questions of our existence and in doing so he helped us to pay a deeper into how our universe works. here's an astronomer at cern university of technology he says hawking was far more than a scientist. professor hawking was a unique figure for many reasons scientific work was beyond compare of course his

ability to communicate that science to many millions really elevate it is stature but i actually think it was his sense of humor he had a wicked sense of humor and ability to explain the most incredible of ideas with that rise a expression a turn of phrase all combine with his perseverance through the debilitating disease he was a unique figure and that really did elevate him to worldwide acclaim i think he made the best of who his fame quite frankly he often spoke at a boy issues that concerned him from the status of stem science technology and mathematics funding as well as the more esoteric or worries of life should be to space if there are aliens i think he prayed to. to go out and to to speak his mind and to inform and educate the population of the world and

i think we will all be the poorer for his passing of going here secretary of state rex tillerson is aging a smear of translation after president donald trump fired him over twitter one of his top aides released a statement saying to listen didn't know why he was forced out that official was later fired as well democrats say it's another son of chaos in the white house trump blamed policy differences the two had disagreed over a number of issues including the iran nuclear deal and the blockade of cats are to listen will be replaced by a cia director mike pompey he advocates a more aggressive stance on north korea and iran and his job will go to jinnah haskell who said to become the first female leader of the cia president jordan looks back at the friction between to listen and chop. it's not every day you lose your job to be a social meeting but an emotional rex tillerson deliberately ignored that detail

when he addressed reporters on tuesday all received a call today from the president night states at low afternoon time from air force one my commission as secretary of state will terminate at midnight march thirty first tillerson served as u.s. secretary of state for a little more than a year he spent much of that time pushing back against reports that the president donald trump wanted to fire him on tuesday morning on twitter trump did just that mike pompei a will become our new secretary of state thank you to rex tillerson for his service trump then told reporters this we disagreed on thing when you look at the iran deal i think it's terrible i guess it was ok i wanted there is a regular to something he felt a little bit differently so we were not really thinking the same looking back it's clear trump and tillerson disagreed on the big problems of the day whether or not

to engage directly with north korea how far to hold russia accountable brits meddling in u.s. political and civic affairs something tillerson made a point of stressing the u.s. must do ultimately former u.s. diplomats say taylor since firing is no surprise and neither is the choice of his replacement the cia director mike pompei oh he's well known for his support of trumps policy trump is impulsive and trump is temperamental trump wants. once a neighbor is in validators more than he wants advisors tillerson didn't have many fans at state because of his plans to cut staffing by nearly thirty percent some senior diplomats quit in protest but the firings at state didn't end there at lunchtime the white house dismissed under secretary of state steve goldstein after he released this statement suggesting tillerson thought his job was safe the

secretary did not speak to the president this morning and is unaware of the reason for his dismissal in any case tillerson said he had no regrets rex tillerson didn't lose his job because he didn't agree with the president analysts say he lost his job because he refused to pretend that he agreed if confirmed my palm pale will face a very high standard of agreeing with the president all the time especially because the president believes he already does rosalyn jordan al-jazeera the state department christopher hill of former assistant secretary of state for east asian and pacific affairs and former ambassador to south korea he says it was clear that trump and tennis and when seeing eye eye to. certainly people have been expecting this for a long time really rumor back in october of that november december and people thought maybe he would wait for his first anniversary office which are a bit in february but frankly speaking it was it was absolutely inevitable and i

think a big problem was that president trump wants people who. instinctively agree with him and so rick still works and who is and his own share of problems at the state department i can assure you there are not too many people in the state department who were direct seeing him go but he was very clear with president trump that he didn't approve of some of the things he was doing he felt that we were on the right track with north korea specially sanctions program and so he thought we should continue that and then all of a sudden president trump announces that he's going to meet with kim jong un and so i think to some extent it was a last straw there are other issues as well of course tillerson became more and more strong on the issue of dealing with russia and i think clearly the president didn't agree with. still ahead on al-jazeera calls for help from the international community as violence continues in democratic republic of congo plus. i'm

a quote reporting on the increase in krill pretty good water in a bid to try and restrict. hollywood had some nasty spring storms across central parts of the mediterranean still a fair amount of cloud showing up across italy into the balkans and this little area of disturbed weather brought some vomit storms into southern italy see here into set where we had the tornado bring down trees with some power outages even the local burger king took something off the grilling out of these nasty conditions and we will see quite in down a little as we go on through the next hour or so wednesday still a few showers in place either side of the age of the attic so the west very heavy rain starting to pile its way into that western side of your very windy as well we

are going to see those temps just getting up to thirteen or fourteen degrees so there's the spring warmth cooling off a touch as we go on through thursday and note by the end of the weekend temperatures will be struggling in an easterly breeze at least the breeze is going to come in so temps is in london for example just about getting above freezing by sunday ahead of that there's the war little bit of snow over the alps temperatures hovering around freezing there for moscow with a little bit of snow coming in here as well for northern parts of africa not too bad twenty celsius there for kyra increasing tabel make its way into northern parts of iraq and looks like a wet one here on thursday with a top temperature just seventy degrees.

right. top stories this hour russia has missed britain's deadline for answers on the poisoning of form a double agent sergei scruple and his daughter the u.k. wanted why a soviet era nerve agent was used the kremlin says it won't respond without samples of the substance. of stephen hawking has died he was seventy six his

children paid tribute to their father as an extraordinary man his work and legacy will live on. for years to listen he was fired on twitter by president on trump is urging a smooth transition for his replacement to listens also warning of what he calls russia's troubling behavior and actions. human rights watch is urging saudi arabia to immediately investigate reports of coersion and abuse during its anti corruption campaign on monday the new york times reported seventeen detainees including members of the royal family were hospitalized of to be interrogated in the ritz carlton hotel witnesses say the body of a general in the national guard who died after being detained showed signs of torture the man behind the anti corruption effort crown prince mohammed bin salmond is due to visit the u.s. in six days. it is forty people have been killed and into ethnic fighting between

two communities and democratic republic of congo the violence in the north isn't it true province happened a week after the seventy nine people died in fighting between the humor and lendu groups the united nations is appealing for international donors to help. has more. this camp in tangney could province is home to thousands some of the four and a half million people displaced by entering violence and fighting with rebel groups . integration louisa came here three years ago she's desperate with few prospects and even fewer options but one thing is clear she can't go home. they were killing us with the arrows we had no choice but to come here even though people here have not always been kind to us but we stay in these terrible conditions we can't do anything as long as the fighting continues in our village.

the united nations describes the situation in the democratic republic of congo as a forgotten crisis so serious and on such a scale that the un humanitarian chief is there to try to get the world to take notice the u.n. warns millions will starve if they don't get help mark local cause calling on nations to act to the donors meeting in geneva next month the situation is very bad and the single biggest problem we have is we're short of funds to meet the needs of these people pay for the immediate lifesaving needs food and shelter water health care and so on but all. the things we need to do to give them a chance to rebuild their lives together children back to school many of those caught up in the violence complain the government does little to keep them safe but president joseph kabila is grappling with his own crisis he refused to step down when his to tims in office came to an end in two thousand and sixteen under an

agreement brokered by the catholic church kabila was allowed to stay on provided new elections were held in two thousand and seventeen. that deal wasn't honest and simmering frustration spilled onto the streets last month opposition supporters were killed congolese authorities now say elections will be held in december but kabila is opponents say it's just more delay tactics. many are looking to the catholic church for leadership in a country where its members make up about half of the population the church holds some sway leaders have called on the faithful together on friday to remember those killed and to keep pressure on kabila to give up power. but a resolution seems a long way off as long as the political tummo continues there is little prospect of security and stability improving media not harmed al-jazeera sarah learns presidential election is heading to

a second round to in two weeks opposition leader julius. won the first round but fell short of a majority he's up against the ruling all people's congress party candidates america mara the virtual decide who replaces president ernest bai koroma who's served his maximum two terms in office i would address as more from the town of long in the northern province. former military head of state brigadier general julius might a bureau wins the first round of sierra leone presidential election with forty three point three percent of the vote but not enough to avoid a runoff he leads the anointed candidate of president announced by koroma dr camara who scored forty two point seven percent of the vote now the third and fourth candidates who interestingly broke away from sierra leone's two main political parties to form their own and challenge for the seat of president may decide who becomes the country's next president according to the election commission ninety

four point eight percent of registered voters participated in the election so i run over several for two weeks from now that means that several units will be required to come out again on the twenty some of march to vote the next president of this country zimbabwe's business community is calling for all international sanctions to be removed to help improve the struggling economy president. wants to attract more foreign investors but some are cautious about doing business with zimbabwe more from going away. as a building company produces one thousand eight hundred tonnes of flour a month he thinks he could double production as sanctions imposed on zimbabwe by the west nearly two decades ago are removed they targeted specific individuals loyal to former president robert mugabe was that his company is not on the sanctions list but he feels. means that many others like him are considered guilty

by association we could not do with countries. or states in you know. sending money to zimbabwe ultimately to school for a new york there was an instruction that funds coming to suburban things to be frozen. confiscated or to turn to page that affected us so could not buy from me from you know number of companies. equipment bought from europe and the u.s. can't easily be replaced the state owned railway company is one of several that needs urgent foreign direct investment. right now president was government is leasing locomotives and wagons from neighboring south africa he says it's a temporary solution until people are ready to do business with zimbabwe again presuming that god was right and hold free and. once that then perhaps all remaining sanctions will be removed. to law foreign investment

when god was government says it will amend black economic empowerment laws to limit majority ownership for the state to only diamonds and platinum so right now all they have to work with is promising. but not many. actually being actively kept. encourage people to believe that everything. transcriber. not quite enough for investors and until those investors season as low risk which could take a while remnants of the once thriving industrial sector towered over the jobless al-jazeera. conservationists are warning that the industrial fishing of krill in antarctica is threatening the future of its ecosystem the tonic of stations or a source of food for whales penguins and seals and the clock as. b. arctic sunrise sails down the west coast of the antarctic peninsula in the hope of

observing krill fishing boats in the main focus of the crow fishery across the entire area is in this peninsula and it's a region the expedition helicopter takes off and the rare view of krill boats with spotted fishing close to shore they are operating within their rights feeding the growing demand for krill based health products like three fish oil they want to expand their fishery. the krill are obviously densely packed into this area up against the island is the base and just circling round and round it's bring them out and in the months that all the whales are feeding and see them growing in whale tails disappearing flippers showing as we can about the krill company say they're tapping into a resort that is sustainable for the few here on board is that that is what they said about other species like the bison in north america called stop so if you found for both with decimated the areas closest to the shore almost always where

penguin foraging grounds are while feeding grounds. westsail foraging grounds and it's exactly where these plants are choosing to come in. the nets and take the crown that they're directly competing with these animals for food by radio the campaign team suggests that company bosses should consider fishing in less ecologically sensitive areas and with that the arctic sunrise moves on for the team this is just the beginning of the battle against krill fishing. time to batten down the hatches the ship is returning to port in chile there's still a major obstacle in the way the drake passage between the antarctic continent and cape pull in and the weather quickly deteriorates they call the arctic sunrise the washing machine you can see why. i think with the wind it will be probably around three in the morning it's a living crease so if it gets too bad what will do is put the nose of the ship into

it and slow down and then just run the swell. next morning as predicted it's blowing hard. drive. me away right now. thanks fill me that this is quite mild. but i'm going to. this is where. the weather just keeps rolling. about after five days of stories we finally pass into the magellan straight our expedition over the continent behind us and south america to head. al-jazeera chile. these are the top stories russia has missed britain's deadline for answers on the poisoning of form a double agent sergei scruple and his daughter the u.k.

wants to know why a soviet era nerve agent was used the kremlin says it won't respond without samples of the substance may is expected to discuss britain's response when she meets her national security council later on wednesday world renowned physicist stephen hawking has died he was seventy six his children paid tribute to their fathers an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years. the former u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson he was fired on twitter by president donald trump is urging a smooth transition for his replacement to listens also warning of what he calls russia's troubling behavior and actions he'll be replaced by cia chief mike pompei i. work by phone now for my job. prevent its energy from the lack. always on the same wavelength. the relationship is

a very good. one i. stay with my right from very well we have a very similar thought process i think it's going to go over well human rights watch is urging saudi arabia to immediately investigate reports of couldn't and abuse during its anti corruption campaign on monday the new york times reported seventeen detainees including members of the royal family were hospitalized after being interrogated in the ritz carlton hotel witnesses say the body of a general in the national guard who died after being detained showed signs of torture the man behind the and to corruption if it crown prince mohammed bin salma is due to visit the u.s. in six days the presidential election in syria and is going to a runoff in two weeks time opposition leader judas bio won the first round but fall short of a majority he's up against. the ruling old people's congress party candidates one of them will replace the president in a spy koroma who served his maximum two years inside story is up next.

it's candidates but i'm the one likely winner but he may putin's tight grip on the kremlin is mind eighteen years now and when the russian people voice on march the eighty days every indication that they will return him to power is full presidential time. follow the russian elections here on al-jazeera. the u.s. walls the u.n. act now on syria always good to loan say when asked last backed by a bus to have made some how washington says enough is enough but what will the trump administration do this is a inside story.