follows a group of u.s. army veterans. by war. as they struggle to get their lives back. at this time. i really felt liberated as a journalist. getting to the truth. that's what this. al-jazeera. hello and welcome to the al-jazeera news hour live from my headquarters and the problem coming up in the next sixty minutes.

against the syrian town of man bridge raising fears of a faceoff with the u.s. . president hanging out china as the closing session of the national congress we'll be live in beijing breaks that break through the. transition phase still no solutions for ireland and pressure grows on facebook to explain how a political consultant got access to data on fifteen million off. the syrian government has criticized what it calls turkey's occupation of the town of a free and is demanding the withdrawal of turkish forces but turkey says it plans to expand its military operation to other kurdish held towns and syria where u.s. forces are known to be further south and what's left of the rebel held eastern

ghouta local media and activists are reporting that an airstrike has had a school where people were sheltering in the town of i've been fifteen children and two women have been killed or russia is of course an. major player in the conflict and that's blocked a u.n. security council meeting on human rights and syria we'll get more on that shortly but first victoria gaze and the reports on the situation in northern syria the only solution is enough rain some much needed aid is starting to flow in the to say they were careful to leave the towns infrastructure intact and have told civilians they can return to those who've already made it home there's a huge sense of relief not only i'm talking to the people of my village of lift on what they can hear me return to your village we're comfortable here there's nothing to worry about it's quiet now. the syrian government has criticized what it calls

turkey's occupation of the town and blames the united states for allowing it to happen if turkey is part of the nato and the nato is involved into the bloodshed in the area in iraq as well as in syria so the nato is protecting turkey don't believe in this hollywood show you are seeing in ankara and elsewhere turkey is doing what it is doing with the blessing of the americans. turkey started pushing into kurdish held territory marked in yellow in january the green is held by techies troops in the syrian rebels they support almost two months later they've taken a free the next major target is members where kurdish forces are directly supported by u.s. troops then offering she'd met as you know after controlling the city center of afrin yesterday we completed the most important phase of operation olive branch now we will continue this process with members i know and ras al-ain and chemists leave

until we remove all of this corridor. with turkey's plan to push further east and directly into the path of u.s. forces the situation on the ground is likely to become even more difficult i would expect the americans to avoid. with turkey and they will. alternatives scenarios perhaps a different force to be. created over here well. turkey's operation has been criticized by all sides in the syrian conflict a monday the u.s. state department said while it respected turkey security concerns the operation against kurdish forces has distracted from the campaign against the remnants of i saw in the area it calls that a serious and growing concern. is there. while let's get more on

the fighting in the east and go with an allen reports from merging that soviet government forces have arrested hundreds of people as they fled rebel held territory over the past few days the syrian government backed by russia have launched an offensive to retake the district me at damascus a month ago and since then more than a thousand people have been killed and tens of thousands have escaped zana hall there are reports from neighboring lebanon. estimates vary on the number of civilians who have crossed into government controlled territory big. of military operations in eastern huta but it's believed to be in the tens of thousands many people found themselves back under government rule as frontlines quickly changed the pro syrian government camp is calling this a victory a liberation but human rights organizations are expressing concern following as of yet unverified reports of people going missing or arrested no one it's fair minded about the violations that we have seen in places of detention by government forces

from torture ill treatment sexual violence and even executions in order to ensure the security of these people that are fleeing from the center. we do need to have independent monitors on the ground thousands remain trapped inside an ever shrinking rebel enclave many of them are wanted by the state because they were involved in opposition activities medics civil defense volunteers are particularly vulnerable so are media activists who the government accuses of being terrorists a reporter working for the syrian opposition orient t.v. is missing the organization says he is being held along with members of his family by the government it is demanding his release. activists and journalists are demanding. the. international. leading through status quo president of the un and other international community is what is . the pro-government alliance has recaptured approximately eighty percent of the

enclave eastern huta is now divided into three pockets in the north the largest town duma is surrounded it's the same case in nearby harasta and both are split off from the rest of the area the rebels still control some towns in the southern edge . each rebel faction controls different pockets are not a sham controls harassed or socialist controls the north and five man controls the southern towns there's three rebel factions are involved in separate negotiations with the russian military they are insisting that the negotiations do not involve an evacuation of civilians and rebels but it is clear that anything short of a surrender will be a nonstarter for the pro-government alliance the situation on the ground is an indication the talks are not going well the pro-government alliance resumed its offensive from the air and on the ground after a brief lull piling more pressure on the opposition since the military campaign

began just over a month ago the russian military and the syrian government have made clear that agreeing to leave to go to other rebel held areas is the only option the opposition has if the military assault is to end. beirut. now the un's human rights chief says the syrian government siege of eastern go that has involved pervasive war crimes including using starvation as a weapon say that others are saying speaking at an informal briefing at the u.n. headquarters after russia blocked a meeting of the security council mike hanna explains. but it was a very rare occurrence within the security council when a procedural motion to dismiss a session was actually up held what happened the un human rights chief was due to brief the security council on the human rights situation in syria it was expected that russia would object having argued that the forum for such

a briefing should be the human rights council in geneva not the security council chamber as expected it was backed in its photon a procedural issue by its normal allies including china but what was not expected what's this. the result of the voting is this follows eight votes in favor for votes against three abstentions the provisional agenda has not been adopted it have been filled to obtain the required number of votes and abstention by the three african members of the council equitorial guinea ethiopia and cote d'ivoire this is only the fourth time in some four decades that a procedural vote has actually been carried in the security council what happened next well the meeting went ahead the briefing went ahead but in an informal aria

form and that means that it did not carry the weight politically or diplomatically off a formal security council session the human rights chief went ahead and brief security council members and as expected deep criticisms of the syrian government the c. joy of eastern war torn by the syrian government forces half a decade long has involved pervasive war crimes the use of chemical weaponry in forced starvation and certain weapon of war for and the denial of essential life saving. the current relentless month long bombardment of of hundreds. terrified and trapped civilians at the end of the day perhaps a tactical miscalculation by those who want to the briefing to take place in the security council chamber in a formal session. with the abstention by the african members this a curate council is divided as never before. let's move on to other news now the

chinese president has outlined his vision for the nation and a closing speech delivered to the people's congress members have to say views of. days including the abolishment of presidential term limits the decision paves the way for president xi jinping to remain in power and definitely. there have been profound changes in the international situation the development of our country is at the strategic opportunity stage and we are enjoying very good opportunities for development but also facing unprecedented challenges and difficulties the congress of the communist party of china as depicted the decisive stages of the overall victory realizing for the people the rejuvenation and building a society a modern and prosperous future the path is long and time waits for no man but we

must not be content with the status quo and forget about the difficulties we should hold dear to our original heart and work hard to build a future that belongs to the new era. well let's get more on this. is live in beijing the abolishing of term limits one of a number of changes made scott talk us through the more important changes that this congress. i do apologize we don't have an oreo connection with correspondent. that for you but let's move on for now we do have plenty more ahead on the news hour including a stark warning from the year when as it reveals humanitarian needs have doubled over the past year and the democratic republic of congo. the u.s. president proposes the death penalty to combat a nationwide drug epidemic plus. college.

who were threatened with eviction property impress those. russian president vladimir putin appears to have softened his tone towards the west today after he secured another six years in office has a victory received a mere to reception of many international latest slow to congratulate him but at a meeting with the cabinet putin said russia doesn't want an arms race and will seek to resolve its differences with other countries lawrence lee has more from moscow. the russian president spent monday basking in the warm glow of his record breaking success he had said he wanted to reach out to his opponents and build bridges abroad meeting with all the candidates his language could hardly have been looking silly a tree. we must vote and we will give necessary attention to further

strengthening the country's national defense capability but i want to tell you now that no one is going to accelerate any kind of arms race issues if we plan to build relations with all the countries in the world in a way that is constructive we will aim for and of course encourage our partners towards constructive dialogue. fears that his vote might go down to prove groundless. even if there was the mind. inconvenience of people being filmed stuffing huge reams of ballot papers into boxes still the margin of victory was such that even independent monitors accepted the cheating didn't make much difference it was a one horse race most candidates publicly expressed their certainty that the incumbent president would prevail in the election with many of the candidates themselves stating that they did not expect to win the election lect general in competition thus efforts to increase the turnout predominated over the compay name

of consistence after his victory on sunday putin thanked his supporters we won big team he said but the same cannot be said of his relationship with the european union foreign ministers met in brussels on monday in recent days russia had accused several countries including sweden and slovakia of holding supplies of the nerve agents used to poison the spice. the european backing of the u.k. position on the poisoning also led germany to question its entire partnership with russia to give mr vireo. result of the russian election a surprise a sabbats much is the circumstance of the election obviously it is impossible to speak of a fair political contest as we know it a fact that this result was also achieved and what a speck of nice this crime mean territory is another aspect which we find unacceptable we continue in the knowledge that russia will remain a very difficult partner but also say that when it comes to finding international

solutions russia is indispensable for germany to question the strength of its relationship with russia is a far far bigger problem for the kremlin than the collapse of its relations with the u.k. at so that's hugely condom a three language from countries like sweden and slovakia in recent days and it starts to look like a much bigger structural problem for russia with its so-called european partners only adding to the sense of isolation for vladimir putin. the real worry for russia is that germany is on the point of signing a big new deal to import russian gas poland with still a key to russia is now urging the germans to scrap the deal. many russians idolize the president because they regard him as impervious to pressure the strong man who can take on everyone single handed he might say he wants to get along with other nations but as he starts his fourth term more and more countries are lining up against him lawrence lee al jazeera moscow. let's go back to china now and the

closing session of the national people's congress for president xi jinping has addressed the gathering just a short while ago our correspondent scott highlight is joining us live from there and as the congress wraps up scott they have been a number of changes made at least one very significant talk us through them. yes elizabeth definitely though the most significant i would say is the constitutional changes that remove term limits for the presidency and the vice presidency that happened during these seventeen days as they're wrapping up in the last day here the national people's congress or a couple of other smaller changes but still pretty significant for the first time the president xi jinping when he took oath for his second five year term he actually put his hand on a book and raised his hand and took an oath sort of the vice president and other officials who were sworn in over the weekend on saturday that doesn't happen that hasn't happened before so that was a change then also we're hearing from she's in pain we heard

a half hour speech from him before the closing ceremonies here during the closing ceremonies here in the great hall of the people that isn't really customary either so that was a bit of a change but when you look at the government the overhaul that's happened over these seventeen days it's very significant because you haven't really seen an overhaul like this a streamlining of the government like this the ministries the bureaus the departments it hasn't seen like this in several decades now they say the party and the leadership here say it's because they want to streamline and make the government more efficient but we haven't seen things like these changes like this in the last several decades and another thing to watch out for scott will. be holding has annual press conference today we expect that. well that'll be different then she's a speech this morning that was more kind of broad strokes kind of motivational he he kind of reminded the legislators about three thousand of them here that they

serve the people very broad themes that she's been paying has been kind of a spousal over the last several years and that is his thoughts thoughts about the national renaissance and the need to dig back into history and use that as motivation that was she speech today this afternoon we hear from her later today should say we hear from. the premier that's going to be more contemporary issues this is one annual press conference that's how every year but we need to emphasize that it's very choreographed the questions will be foreign media asking questions but there are questions that have been vetted beforehand so yes we're going to they're probably going to hear we're going to hear things about north korea about the united states about trade but again these questions have already been vetted but unlike what we heard from she this is going to be more specific and more contemporary issues than what we heard from xi jinping just in the last hour oh it's called thank you very much for that scott hind leg joining us live thank you. now u.s. president although trump has released an unusual statement to mark the iranian new year greeting the iranian people on the occasion trump says the islamic

revolutionary guard corps is a hostile army that brutalizes and steals from the people to fund terrorism abroad and that since two thousand and twelve the i.r.g.c. has spent more than sixteen billion dollars of iran's wealth to prop up the assad regime and support terrorists in syria iraq and again he goes on to say that it employs propaganda and censorship to hide the fact that the iranian regime plundered iran's wealth and abuses its people and to hide the truth iran's rule is suppress their own citizens rights to free assembly access to information and equal opportunity. let's get more on this now we're joined by. our correspondent in washington d.c. it's not your usual new year's message heidi. that's right in recent years elizabeth the u.s. president has greeted the iranian people on this day with warm holiday greetings

welcoming this spring not so much in this statement as you just read this was a scathing criticism of iran's a branch of iran's armed forces the i r g c which though currently mired in corruption it does hold a dear place in recent iranian history for many of that country's people the i.r.g.c. was established close to forty years ago at the time to be the so-called guardians of the nation currently many of its officers are engaged allegedly in illicit financial activities and perhaps to the biggest objection of the united states this branch of iranian forces does provide military reinforcements to hezbollah and hamas now the u.s. reportedly has been poised on designating the i.r.g.c. as a terrorist group which would be a first for the international community in essence designating another country's

military officers as terrorists iran ian leaders have said that such a move would push both countries toward open war possibly with u.s. military bases in the region as targets and the statement as targeted at the g.c. heidi but as a tell us anything about you know where trump stands on the nuclear do with iran. that's right that is the bigger issue overshadowing all of this elizabeth and the u.s. is reportedly on the brink of pulling out of that deal possibly as early as this may and it is ironic that in two thousand and fifteen when president barack obama delivered this message of holiday greetings he used it to encourage iranians to embrace and join the nuclear deal this time trump is using it to signal his intention of withdrawing from the deal completely this follows on his move last week of firing the u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson who had been one of the few supporters about

a deal in the trump administration i'd like you very much for that. live in washington d.c. thank you the u.n. is calling for urgent funding for the democratic republic of congo where it says humanitarian needs have doubled over the past year the u.n. through military and chief has just returned from the d.l.c. and says thirteen million people there are in need of aid. says the long delayed election to replace president joseph kabila has led to an escalation in violence more than two million people have become internally displaced in the last year alone. he managed area needs caused by internal conflicts have doubled over the last year thirteen million people need humanitarian assistance more than four point six million children are acutely malnourished including two point two million suffering severe acute malnutrition we're seeing mushrooming epidemics including the worst outbreak of cholera in fifteen years. there is also an epidemic of sexual

violence most of it on reported and on addressed and much of there against children . the palestinian president has blamed a mass for a bomb attack on a convoy transporting the prime minister last week without mass describes tuesday's attack on gaza who escaped on the injured as despicable and sinful and speaking at a meeting in the occupied west bank also has part of the us ambassador to israel and dismissed a u.s. plan for reconciliation talks. i love the but. this plan began being implemented when troops administration declared jerusalem as israel's capital decided to move its embassy to it could donations to a u.n. relief agency and regarded settlements as illegal and that was said by more than one american official the first of them was their own bussard to tell of the david friedman who said that the israelis are building on their land the son of

a dog says they build in their land and he is a settler and his family are settlers he is the u.s. ambassador in tel aviv what should we expect from him now and what's being hailed as a major step forward and direct that negotiations the u.k. has been granted a twenty one month transition period after the e.u. is to reduce any sudden shocks when the u.k. leaves the bloc next march means it will effectively remain as a non-voting e.u. member until the end of twenty twenty the u.k. will be able to negotiate trade deals with the rest of the world during the transition but there's still no agreement on the question of the irish border has more from london. much goodwill between the u.k. briggs's secretary david davis and the chief breaks of negotiator michel barnier a lot being made about the fact the progress that has been made that means coming to the agreement on those two main issues there one which would include the rights for european union citizens to be able to have enjoy the same rights as e.u.

citizens already living in the u.k. if they are to enter the country during the transition period this was something that had been resisted initially by the prime minister to reason may she had thought about saying that they should perhaps have different residency rights considering that they would enter the country knowing that the u.k. would eventually be leaving the european union but certainly on the on that point that this is a point that michel barnier was eager to play up in terms of the progress that is being made after all hard work that both sides have put in their mutual redo has really this makes it possible today to reassure the four and a half million people british and european who are affected and concerned by break that those are the people who have been our priority from day one the priority of european parliament and the priority of the member state the other issue of course the u.k. is also able to pursue and negotiate third country deals but it will

not be able to implement any of them until the end of the transition period which is the end of december twenty twenty the first day breaks that obviously being the first journey twenty twenty one but the other issue which is a sticking point here is still regarding the situation of northern ireland. is being put into place a backstop deal which would mean that if in the event that the u.k. would crash out without a deal then northern ireland would be protected and it would still be included as in the single market and the customs union to prevent any fracture or any issue between the border with the republic of ireland lot of work having. been put in there of course not forgetting the good friday deal which has been made so much of everything is trying to be placed into a position where tension along that border will be preserved as little as possible during the brics negotiations still ahead on the bulletin saudi arabia's crown

prince heads for the u.s. and the trumpet ministration prepares a welcome fit for a future king and search for the missing sri lankan woman demand answers and justice for their loved ones. and with the first major of the golf season on the horizon tiger woods has been tapped as the favorite for the masters after and credible return to show who has the sport. from the neon lights of asia. to the city that never sleeps. hello the weather is generally set farakka southern parts of china nab a little further north and we've got some or all the heavy rain making its way across the southeast and colder pushing towards taiwan we'll see a clearer skies coming into hong kong just the winds coming in from the northerly direction so it will just have a little bit of

a unaids to that way then certainly killing off in shanghai no woman that around nine degrees celsius homewards day off today not to bad in hong kong twenty three degrees lossy dry by this stage still a few showers possibly some of them wintry over towards china but essentially a lot of dry weather dry weather as we go on through the next few days try to into much of the philippines a scattering of showers across malaysia down into indonesia was just around southern parts of borneo pushing over towards. as we go on through tuesday and on into wettest i don't think a little further south with by that stage much of the my potential generate dry but not just up into the gulf of thailand we could well see some love i was from time to time and still a chance of some lively showers creep in the whites was frank it was a fosse out of india much of india does looks awful and sunny the pre monsoon hate continuing to build not perky up to thirty six celsius and a little bit of cloud for them all. the weather sponsored by qatar raise.

the scene for us whether online what is a very nice time in yemen that peace is 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 is choosing between buying medication and eating this is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's an activist and just posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. i remember the first time i walked into the newsroom and it felt like being in the general assembly of the united nations because it was so many nationalities. just that we all come from different places but it's one that gives us that gives us the ability to identify with name one side of the world but we can understand what it's like to have a different perspective and i think that is

a strength for al jazeera. good to have you with us on the al-jazeera news hour these are our top stories the syrian government has heavily criticized what it calls turkey's occupation of the town of brega and has demanded the withdrawal of turkish forces but turkey says it now plans to expand its military operation to other kurdish towns in syria where u.s. forces are supporting the y p g. the u.k. has been granted a twenty one month transition period out of the e.u. in what's been held as a major step forward in bret's of negotiations is to reduce any sudden shocks when it leaves the bloc next march and russian president vladimir putin has been

outlining his priorities for his next six years in office after being reelected he says russia doesn't want an international arms race and will seek to have dissolved differences with other countries. and appended to experts have arrived in the u.k. to assess the nerve agent used to poison a former russian spy and his daughter or promise to treason make continues to point the finger at russia while that to me putin has demanded that the u.k. provide evidence or apologize but it's not clear if the scientific analysis will prove that moscow was responsible for the attack as a b. phillips explains. the technical experts from the p c w will be collecting samples in and around salzburg of what the british government says is the nerve agent novi chunk the o.p.c. w. will be able to make its assessments on whether the british government is correct it doesn't follow however that they will be able to say with any certainty where

these particular samples were manufactured whether they were actually made in russia or not the o.t.c. w. will simply be confirming the identity of the substance it may do that in its own laboratory and one of twenty other designated laboratories around the world and get them to help confirm the identity but it will not point the finger of blame at russia for using this particular agent if the finger of blame is to be pointed at anyone it will have to be done through united nations circles meanwhile the rhetorical war between the british government and the russian government grows ever more hostile boris johnson is the man the foreign secretary who's led the attack from this side over the weekend in interviews here in london he was saying that the had been evidence over the past decade that russia had kept. stocks and i had been

looking at ways in which they could be used in assassination he's been in brussels rallying support from other countries this is a classic. strategy of trying to conceal the truth in a haystack all. of the station and it really strikes me to be to european friends and partners today is it twelve years to the assassination of the indian tell you. anybody and. meanwhile we understand that the russian diplomats who are due to be expelled from this country given a week to meet by to resume a statement here in the house of commons last week will be. on tuesday. now the trumpet ministration is calling on the gulf latents to meet to settle their differences and to end the blockade of copper a senior official told reporters that the us president is concerned about the long

term impact off the dispute on the region and jordan saudi arabia the u.a.e. egypt and bahrain and post an economic blockade they accused of supporting terrorism which it strongly denies. saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed bin makes donald trump at the white house on tuesday is the first of several gulf latest so visit washington in the coming weeks patty culhane reports. u.s. president donald trump was clearly impressed with the reception he received in saudi arabia and it's likely the saudi crown prince mohammed bin solomon can expect a similar greedy perhaps just a bit more understated when the two speak their words will be closely watched trump initially sided with the blockading countries against cutter but then reportedly pushed by then secretary of state rex tillerson he later called for the crisis to be resolved but tillerson is gone fired by tweet millions have been spent trying to . yes this debate i would say if there's any winner in the blockade k.-street is

a euphemism for lobbyist ben freeman studies the influence of foreign money he says millions have been spent since the start in june according to public records since the blockade saudi arabia spent more than two million dollars a new contracts with lobbyists but many of the amounts are recorded so it's likely much more the u.a.e. has also increased its lobbying and qatar did as well according to the center for responsive politics spending at least five million as of last october and they continue to sign contracts after that worth hundreds of thousands of dollars a month but freeman points out saudi arabia has a big head start they started lobbying after nine eleven was working before they just didn't have anywhere near the scale of the saudi lobby before him to be fair cutter so as one of the largest lobby is that that there is it's it's a very powerful effective lobby too it's just simply not in the scale of the saudi lobby right now you might be asking why people pour millions of dollars into the

lobbying firms that line the streets of washington d.c. well they are trying to buy access to policymakers and they are also trying to shape public opinion the firms have to detail their work public records show several sunday talking points to reporters posting twitter ads and putting competing commercials on cable news they want to limit all seventeen could tar and north korea partners in terror saudi arabia has benefited from some positive press some of the most influential columnists have praised the crown prince as a reformer but there have also been some negative stories as well one alleging been some on has been secretly keeping his mother away from his father for years and she was under house arrest and they believe that he did this because. i felt that she was not on board with his plans for a power grab and several organizations have printed detailed accounts of the alleged torture of prominent saudis at the ritz carlton in riyadh. still been soul

man has spent millions to make sure he will find a friendly reception at the white house and on wall street while millions more have been spent in hopes he won't leave washington. u.s. president donald trump has called for the death penalty for criminal smuggling in large amounts of opioid drugs is the most controversial of a range of measures he's proposing to tackle the opioid crisis and epidemic of drug dependency that's affecting more than two million americans but opioids a powerful painkillers designed to replicate the effects of opium they include illegal drugs like morphine or oxy code on as well as illegal ones like heroin by two thousand and twelve doctors in the u.s. were handing out two hundred eighty two million opioid prescriptions a year in two thousand and sixteen there were nearly sixty five thousand overdose deaths two thirds of those involved opioids that's an average of one hundred and fifteen every day for the president is vowing to crack down on drug traffickers.

some of these drug dealers will kill thousands of people during their life to thousands of people and destroy many more lives but they will kill thousands of people during their lives. and they'll get caught and they'll get thirty days in jail or they'll go away for a year or they'll be fined and yet if you kill one person you get the death penalty or you go to jail for life. now the u.s. state of mississippi has introduced strict new laws limiting access to abortion the legislation immediately bans the procedure and almost all circumstances after fifteen weeks of pregnancy a legal analysts say it's the most restrictive set of rules implemented by any state. and office of missing persons has finally opened and sri lankan line years after the end of it seventy one of them look at the thousands of unexplained disappearances that is there smith reports from jaffna it won't have the power to

prosecute maheshwari sub romani i'm story is similar to that of the relatives of at least twenty thousand people civilian and military who disappeared during decades of conflict she says her son pretty hasn't been seen since the family escaped from a tamil tigers battlezone towards army positions at the end of the civil war and i wonder what i did have to tell us if they did anything to our children otherwise they have to release the people they have even if they tell us they shot them then that will end the mental anguish we have we can't give up. trying because twenty six year civil war ended in two thousand and nine after the deaths of more than one hundred thousand dial and us. attempts to find out what happened to those who disappeared have been stalled by governments that didn't want soldiers in their commanders investigating now an office of missing persons or o m p has been approved by leaders of the current government the senior lawyer who will

oversee the zero m.p. admits he has a daunting task we want to be independent. and we. need to go to the fact. that we would have to manage expectations like what these tamil mothers and wives in jaffna have been protesting every day for the last year to demand answers giving them justice will be difficult. by law can only inquire it can't prosecute the government did not want to bring this about jaffna street minister a former supreme court judge says without international involvement the o m p won't be effective what is taking place in sri lanka is they are looking at. global equivalence of crimes as they are be brought. to look at don't look at it from the point of view a bigger person has committed a wrong or not. in just an old government office has been left in ruins as

a physical reminder of the war there are hundreds of thousands of sri lankans with mental scars in eighteen months they'll be elections in sri lanka but could see a return to power of former president mahinda rajapaksa he oversaw the military defeat of the tamil tigers and is seen as being even less enthusiastic about the office for missing persons than the current administration so the armed people have to establish itself quickly if it's to withstand any future challenges to its already limited powers bernard smith al jazeera jaffna in northern sri lanka. facebook's chief information security officer is stepping down the new york times reports that alex thomas disagreed with the company's handling of revelations that russia use facebook to spread false information it comes as a us democratic senator sent a letter to c.e.o. mark zuckerberg demanding a response to allegations that the data of fifty million users was harvested by a political consultancy firm a whistleblower who worked at cambridge and

a letter says the data was used to build a system which may have influenced voters in the u.s. presidential election. cambridge analytic. was birthed out of a company called a c.l. group which is a military contractor based in london. this data was used to create profiling algorithms that would allow us to explore mental vulnerabilities of people and then map out ways to inject information into different in different streams or channels of content online so that people started to see things all over the place that may or may not have been true this is a company that really took fake news to the next level by pairing it with algorithms now michael simon is the c.e.o. of tech company and lucid he set out then ran the in-house analytics department for barack obama's presidential campaign and he says the poor response from facebook has already hit the company. facebook's reaction to

a series of embarrassing sort of egg on their face moments including this one revolving the recent us elections have been. surprisingly slow for a company whose motto is move fast and break things. they've been very reactive very behind the ball this particularly of this particular event. this theft of data happened over four years ago so it's very surprising to see them be so reacted as had a proactive i think you're going to starting to see members of congress of both parties really wake up and start to see a problem and start to sort of shake the cage and demand that back in january a number of sort of mid-level executives from facebook and google and twitter were called before congress testify about a unrelated matter regarding the u.s. election and foreign meddling but they said middle of executives that in the send

the c.e.o. i think when your company loses almost forty billion dollars in market value in one day that probably is deserving of sending the c.e.o. to to account for it. the un says five million people could face water shortages by two thousand and fifty caused by climate change increased amount and pollution the warning comes as world leaders and experts made to brazil to discuss the world's growing water crisis well daniel schwann the has more from the world water farm and brasilia. the aids wells water forum here in brasilia is a huge event bringing together something like ten thousand delegates forty old thousand visitors from one hundred sixty countries discussing all the elements of water distribution the care of food which are this is the this happens every three years the last one was in south korea three years ago at this conference report will be issued on how the various agreements reached there are going to be

implemented around the world we've seen across the world that the lakes and losing routes are glaciers are melting something like seven hundred eighty million people do not have running routes are something like two point five billion people did not have sunny taishan and up to three million people mostly children die every year from movie related diseases we have experts covering the whole field here the big question always is how to implement the various solutions being agreed at these big conferences and who eventually will have to pay for them the one message that comes out of this is. we all need water whether it be in agriculture whether it be in industry or for domestic consumption what is the best use of that water from now into the foreseeable future these are the issues that are being discussed here while at the same time here in brasilia they have their own little to be sure they have been protesting about the diminishing. as i say it will aspects being

childhood's much talking going on that the question always is how will these solutions be implemented well one place already affected by the water crisis is the lake chad. and central africa the lake provides water for millions of people and for countries but it's drying up the first series mohamad evolve reports from lake chad. for the people of getting village and the lake is life but these fishermen see things changing. different now than when water was abundant on the lake we could fill our boats with fish on one trip so now the water is scarce and we need ten trips to catch half the previous amount. of the lake chad was one of the largest freshwater bodies in the world it straddles the borders between chad cameroon and nigeria in the mostly dry ice ahead climate the lake remains an exceptional no city for thousands of fish animals and plants species supporting the

livelihoods of forty million people living along the. drought and the harsh dusty winds over the last sixty years have turned much of the area into a desert. hundreds of islands began to appear in the middle as the water level stopped and vine mental organizations and regional governments sounded the alarm bells and villages that were on the shores of the lake years ago are now fifty kilometers away the little studies show that is appearance of the lake is an extremely sad situation within the us twenty five years its water receded by two thousand five hundred square kilometers and the right of it's shrinking is getting faster now causing a huge disruption in the natural habitat. the climate issues have been compounded by insecurity at times. and it's a new island's a hiding place and base from which it could launch attacks. on the majority of villages around the lake are now deserted especially on the nigerian side those who

fled living in refugee camps and lack of funds has also complicated regional and international efforts to launch meaningful programs to save the lake. and there's a growing concern that further deterioration of the lakes environment will encourage thousands of the split young people to join armed groups as the only available source of income. so they had to. call one hundred twenty five. of its corralled. in school.

thank you you. thank

. thanks very much well with just two weeks to go until the first major of the golf season a surprise favorite has emerged for the most is tiger woods being tipped by many to win not only his first tournament in five years but also his fifteenth major when it comes to a customer that's after a return to form which saw him pick up a second top five finish in as many weeks on sunday at least holeman has the story there was no doubting who received the loudest cheers at the bank your club in orlando was. it's been five years since fourteen time major winner tiger woods has posted a victory on the professional tour but as he continues a comeback from multiple back surgeries for a second straight week woods found himself in contention during the final round.

you asked me you know the beginning of the year that i would have a chance to win two golf tournaments. or take it on a heartbeat. while woods finished in a tie for fifth child of the late he can finally be considered again in next month's masters at augusta. i miss playing there i've been there for the for the dinner and as great as it is it's frustrating knowing that i'm you know i would have to say you young enough to play the event as some of the other champions you know are not and i just have not been able to physically do it the most as is the only my jury looting rory mcilroy he also had inclined to tour victory since the twenty fifth of september twenty sixth the day that onil palma died but the northern irishman strauss hinted at the events named after the goldfish way was

yeah i'm really proud of myself i've hung in there over the past sort of year with injuries and. you know taking a little bit of time off at the end of last year to to sort of get myself right come into this year and. you know all the all that were hard workers. has finally paid off mcelroy had started the round two shots behind those and i played a henrik stenson was like but birdied five of the last six holes for a round of sixty four and just three shots take drink was was i mean i played a perfect going to golf i got myself pretty chances on basically every hole. you know just executed shots the way i the way i wanted to when i needed to mcelroy another big name that will now be considered a contender for the queues for most my job was released home an al-jazeera roger federer says his loss in the final at indian wells stings and he just has to

get over it the world number one so his seventeen match unbeaten streak end on sunday when martin del potro rallied from three match points down in the third set to win six four six seven seven six and then federal first defeat of two thousand and eighteen this is the biggest tournament the aza time has won since the federal . to win the u.s. open back in two thousand and nine. but i'm so happy to win a title like this many fine arts some masters but today was the day for me i play the number of attorneys on the three hours from our time leading rusher in the first time of day. that's means a lot to me. just it should sting like you said you know for a bit the question is how long it won't be long but it's it's disappointing talking about a great match that is losing even though i was right there. now you may not have

heard of them but dallas hamlet football club in london has been going for one hundred twenty five years they should be enjoying a successful season on the pitch but instead they're fighting to stop their identity from being removed the wedding's reports on how the problems with their own is should serve as a warning to bigger cubs in england and beyond. tucked away in south london a football club the served its community for one hundred twenty five years it was built by american property investors named but when the local council didn't agree to their plans the company suddenly kicked the club out of its heart and even stated their attention to remove permission for dollar charlot to use that. this should be much value for dollar football club with hundreds of people in the community poor thing into the ground so watch that same plan instead the ground is locked a new fencing has been erected to keep them out yes the are being

used as leverage like this has been a shock to fans of what is a friendly and socially conscious club with a track record for staging games for charlton. jays on a bitterly cold day hundreds of them gathered to stage a protest we were in the second example. is threatens. nothing to do with the community and everything to do with the value of money are really. the matter is serious enough to have been biased in the u.k. column and this is an inclusive club which prioritises and racism which protests like a t.v. rights protests is women in football and you see that on. a saturday afternoon and at the gate how us fighting for their existence but not along the gulf in a respectful nothing ever day league rivals to see the mitcham over twelve kilometers away quickly offered to share that ground and so much tie against

worthing happens a dilate. refusing to let this affect them on the pitch by with a match three nil to reach the top of their division the promotion to level six of english football within their reach the. fans mr huhne comforts but this is about survival and pride yes been such a manic couple weeks and just the high. like turnout today is such a testament to the power behind the club and just the ethics behind it show. us you know i think they should just take the money whatever money is on the table and. suffolk county says it will try to buy the ground from inside the club and events it into talks with the meds i would not. request for an interview and to answer a simple question if their intentions are honorable they're more aggressively threaten to remove a club's one hundred twenty five year old. the english football association has yet to intervene might be powerless to but they told me they're monitoring developments

the question beyond this call of london is who i'm sure called. and want to they intend to do with it this club will not be frozen out. and the family. and. thank you very much for watching. on counting the cost our russian is getting all they bargained for economically. for reelection saudi aramco keeps the financial world guessing but the globe's largest i.p.o. on ice will be asking what's behind the delay counting the cost and i just. and monday put it on the. u.s. and british companies have announced the biggest discovery of natural gas in west africa but what to do with these untapped natural resources is already

a source of heated debate nothing much has changed they still spend most of their days looking forward to for dry riverbed like this one five years on the syrians still feel battered or even those who managed to escape their country have been truly unable to escape the war. the foreign minister. 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 county ca going to be up at the gallop the government raised our hopes and then abandon us 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 the fail. texas says it will launch a military operation against kurdish fighters in the syrian town of mandates raising fears of a faceoff with the u.s. . now on foot.