alpha's the this is the opportunity to understand a very different way where there before something happens and we don't live up to. what makes this moment this era we're living through so unique this is really an attack on truth itself is a lot of misunderstanding but distortion isn't what free speech is supposed to be about the context is hugely important level wise to publish if you choose to be offensive or provocative whatever those people do setting the stage for a serious debate up front at this time on on al-jazeera . al-jazeera. hello i'm barbara sarah this is the news hour live from london thank you for

joining us coming up in the next sixty minutes syrian state television says a rebel rocket attack has killed thirty five civilians in a market in damascus plus five hundred thirty three million dollars five hundred twenty five million dollars that's peanuts for you the u.s. president shows off his arms sales to saudi arabia as he hosts the crown prince mohamed bin son man twenty three russian diplomats fly out of london after being expelled by the u.k. over the poisoning of an expiry and his daughter and the world's left last male northern white rhino dies in kenya leaving only two females of his subspecies. i'm joined again with the day's sport as serino williams prepares to take to the at her home tournament a tough first round opponent awaits her in miami. let's

begin the news hour in syria were state media say that at least thirty five people have been killed after a rocket fired by opposition fighters landed in a busy marketplace in a government held area of the mosque it happened at the cash school market close to a rebel held parts of eastern huta since last month the area has come under heavy bombardment from the syrian army and its allies this comes after reports that twenty eight people most of them children were killed while attempting to shelter from a or strikes in a school in eastern huta in the past twenty four hours and discriminant airstrikes and shelling by the syrian government have killed dozens of people in the damascus suburbs the rescue group the white helmets says weapons like white phosphorous which are banned in civilian areas have been used on the enclave. ok let's go live to zain a holder who is in beirut for us so it happened quite recently but what do we know

about this attack on the government held area of damascus in that market well yes like syrian state television reporting thirty five people killed at least thirty five people killed that rocket landing in a busy market place now this neighborhood is very close to the front lines in eastern huta and like you were mentioning a bombing campaign is underway in eastern huta the pro-government alliance trying to recapture territory from the rebels now this is not the first time civilians are killed in government controlled territory since this bombing campaign began over thirty civilians have been killed really over the past few past months this is the way the rebels have been retaliate and really fighting back and it is one of the reasons why the pro-government alliance say they want to recapture to eliminate this threat so thirty five people killed in government controlled territories and like you mentioned dozens of people killed in rebel controlled territories what

we're seeing really over the last twenty four hours is renewed escalation after a few days a brief lull in the fighting really over the past few days and we're also hearing from the white helmets to rescue group there that weapons like white phosphorous has actually been used the white phosphorous of course illegal to be used on civilians how rare i guess is this allegation in the fighting that we've seen in syria. well this allegation is not new they've made accusations like this in the past but the bottom line is for the past month one thousand four hundred people have been killed with you know a variety of weapons that have been used this bombing campaign targeting residential neighborhoods the united nations saying that there's immense suffering these are besieged neighborhoods where food cannot get in aid cannot get in medical supplies cannot get in fact wasn't that people were wounded and there aren't enough medical supplies to treat them now eastern route that has now been divided into three different pockets the north the west and the south and the rebels what we understand is that talks have collapsed at least with one rebel group. that is in

the north of the country north of eastern huta and the syrian military saying that talks have collapsed so we're going to continue with this military campaign the pro-government alliance making it very clear they're going to push for all out military victory and they will not accept anything short of a rebel surrender. it's in a holder with the latest analysis there from beirut zain i think you. well the united nations has demanded full access to civilians forced to flee stern hu and a free in what it says is a massive new displacement the u.n. says about fifty thousand people have left eastern who turned the last few days it's the air we were just discussing it was in a harder as syrian government forces close in on opposition held pockets about seventy percent of them are women and children many suffering from life threatening illnesses that's according to the un's children's charity agency unicef they are now in overcrowded shelters and that adds to the risks to their health and further

north in the country in a free one hundred four thousand people have been uprooted by the turkish offensive to wrestle control of the enclave from kurdish fighters according to your knowledge just off the needs are overwhelming and growing by the hour there are also serious health risks all existing shelters are extremely congested and overcrowded and like basic sanitation people queuing for line for hours to use restrooms. many syrians who were displaced by the fighting in aleppo in two thousand and sixteen ended up moving to be in the north of the country but even there they are not safe an explosion in a camp for the internally displaced has killed at least ten civilians in rwanda the many more it live is controlled by the syrian opposition and is the last that rebel held province. u.s. senators are to vote in the next few hours on whether to end military involvement in yemen's civil war the move coincides with

a visit by the crown prince mohammed bin some man of saudi arabia who's been meeting president donald trump at the white house trump gave a strong defense of the money and the jobs that he said arms to sales to saudi arabia were bringing in. it would become very good friends over a fairly short period of time i was in saudi arabia in may and we are bringing back hundreds of billions of dollars into the united states and we understand that and they understand that some of the things that have been approved and are currently under construction and will be delivered to thirty arabia very soon and that's for their protection but if you look in terms of dollars three billion dollars five hundred thirty three million dollars five hundred twenty five million dollars that's peanuts for you could've been. crowned prince thank you very much take it again thank you mr president a truly good relation to saudi arabia

a message for america it's all the relation the oldest ally for us of america in the middle east right more than eighty five and begin trist politically economically and security a different area lot for you and the condition of the relation it's really huge and . loud as it was alan fischer is at the white house and he explains why donald trump chose to highlight the multibillion dollar investments from saudi arabia. well these were all agreed when donald trump was in saudi arabia and many came back in saying look it was a great trip he liked the way that they treated him he thought he'd established a connection particularly with the crown prince and it's odd that in the oval office that donald trump would take this approach but this is really playing to the domestic audience he's saying look we're friends with saudi arabia and this is why we're friends with saudi arabia we're friends with them because they're spending millions and millions of dollars on our arms industry and that is creating jobs for

walkers for our people and while he's doing this just across time in the senate they're debating how the united states gets involved in various conflicts around the world bending sanders has been talking about the united states being involved with saudi arabia in the war in yemen and he said look you can argue not it was technical and legal sense that the united states isn't fighting the war there but try explaining that to people whose homes are being bombed with bombs mark meet in the u.s. see who are being targeted by planners who work for the united states so he's very clear in his position but for donald trump this was all a vote boarding his achievement back in me and making sure people understand the reason he continues to be linked with saudi arabia and one part is because of their dislike is probably too light a word but their dislike of the regime in tehran and also the fight that for the

united states means investment and it means jobs and it means money. well let's talk more about this with heidi and they're a senior fellow of foreign policy at the center of middle east policy in washington d.c. sir thank you so much for joining us here on al-jazeera we just heard those that report from my colleague alan fischer and the audio as well and video from both president trump and mohamed bin salon very much emphasizing the business the financial relate. ship and the trade between the two countries interestingly the senate voting also to potentially end the u.s. military involvement in yemen do you think that donald trump can and wants to put any kind of pressure mohammed bin some on to end the saudi led coalition's actions in yemen. well i think. everybody in washington wants a responsible outcome in yemen that preserves you know humanitarian concerns and

preserves so that the best we can encourage is ability and security in yemen. you know i think donald trump to a certain extent he gave. saudi arabia a bit of a carte blanche when he went out there last year. and you know we we now see some challenges i mean you say everyone in washington is sort of aware and worried about the humanitarian situation in yemen which is often described as one of the worst humanitarian situations in the world but in that press conference between the president and the crown prince i didn't maybe i missed it but i didn't really hear yemen being emphasize that in any way i mean do you think that that is something that will be brought up either by the president or maybe by public opinion the united states or senators like bernie sanders. i don't know that will be brought up by a public plan in the united states which is sort of dominated these days by you know the latest you know scandal with donald trump or this white house but i think it is

a deep concern by the rank and file senior diplomatic staff at the state department and department of defense and our humanitarian agencies and i think you know on capitol hill as well so i mean you know i think there is a desire for a responsible outcome in yemen. and a better outcome and better steps but you're right i think as your previous speaker noted donald trump is really keen to to emphasize the benefits to the united states of the saudi partnership. one of the reasons i guess that he was listing the number of jobs and just how you know the financial benefit of the trade of the arms deals with with saudi arabia is that obviously that would perhaps make the saudi image a bit more palatable to the united states and to the american public on the other hand there's a lot of people in the middle east a lot of governments in the middle east that don't necessarily like donald trump's way of doing policy by i tweet to do you think that mohammed bin some on himself

will try to distance himself from tromping in any way or do you think the two are completely aligned on pretty much and every policy in the middle east. so two things in terms of donald trump's way of doing business by tweet i think that you know i think around the world not just in the middle east right around the world i think you know european leaders asian leaders and many of us here in the u.s. find. you know donald trump's approach to being you know whether or not we agree with his policies we find his approach to be distasteful and damaging to the united states credibility integrity in terms of the united states and saudi arabia i think there you know as has been emphasized by both parties there is a long standing strategic alliance between the united states and saudi arabia that has been tested at times and stronger at others and this is a moment where the current president the united states and the current leadership

in saudi arabia want to emphasize and strengthen those ties and i think both both this white house and the saudi leadership want to see that happens so i don't i don't see honestly a lot. standing in the way there there will be frictions in the relationship yemen being one of those examples but i think now with ousting of rex tillerson. you know we're going to see you know increased alignment between the trump white house and saudi arabia heidi emma at it from the center of middle east policy sir thank you for sharing your views with us. well meanwhile amnesty international is accusing france of breaking international law by selling weapons to saudi arabia and the u.a.e. and failing to ensure that those weapons are used illegally both gulf states have been accused of committing war crimes in the conflict with the fighters in yemen the french foreign ministry is dismissing amnesties concerns as now reports.

searching for what little was left this house was destroyed in an airstrike by the saudi led coalition the yemeni capital sana'a has been targeted repeatedly since the conflict began nearly three years ago killing more than ten thousand yemenis displacing millions and threatening famine and what the u.n. describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis in paris amnesty international released a report it commission from a law firm which found france on its arms suppliers faced heightened legal risk for supplying weapons to saudi arabia and the u.a.e. the rights group said the sales are continuing despite their warnings the main outcome is that most of the exploitation of weapons of mass invite friends to saudi arabia and three united arab emirates within the yemenis conflict. probably completely legal. and this could lead to

legal actions against either companies or. french administrative was it to gulf states are leading the coalition fighting the iranian backed coup the rebels who controlled most of northern yemen and the capital sanaa the report follows criticism by french politicians of president emanuel because of his support for the coalition. because this legal study we call for the opening of a real debate and equally an immediate suspension of the sale of arms from france to those two countries in war in yemen. france's foreign ministry has dismissed the concerns processes surrounding arms sales are robust and transparent saudi arabia and the united arab emirates are among the biggest buyers of french weapons tanks armored vehicles munitions artilleries and in the usa use case fighter jets into

al-jazeera. how mass has rejected an accusation by palestinian president mahmoud abbas that it was behind the attempted assassination of his prime minister a roadside bombing struck romney motorcade during a visit to the gaza strip last week during a speech blamed hamas which controls gaza and threatened to retaliate. we call on ari gyptian brothers to intervene immediately in order to stop this criminal policy against the people of palestine and the palestinian cause and these policies prepare the environment for the arrival of the so-called deal of the century that will separate the west bank from gaza and we call for the creation of the large national front to reject these decisions and allow the reconstruction of the palestinian home. coming up on the news hour a package bound for austin explodes in texas during an employee at a fed ex facility another school shooting in the u.s.

this time in maryland and then sporting limping back into the spotlight brazil star neymar makes a rare appearance since a world cup threatening injury. but first twenty three russian diplomats and their families have left the u.k. after being expelled over the poisoning of a former spy in salzburg. britain accuses moscow of using the nerve agent navi chalk in an attack on sergei scary pilot and his daughter who are still critically ill in hospital moscow denies the claims and has retaliated by forcing the same number of british embassy staff to leave russia on a b. phillips reports an abrupt farewell to colleagues and to london some people diplomats and families are believed to have left the russian embassy for those on their way and those left behind this is not being a happy day. to hold

a reception for those leaving a few days ago the mood appears to be. being expelled would resume their diplomatic careers elsewhere so the diplomats and their families have left they will argue that their lives have been cruelly unnecessarily disrupted the british government argues that the spying capacity of embassy has been severely weakened the british prime minister lead a national security meeting the outcome britain's borders have been tightened against those who threaten it other measures against russia are being considered. will be discussed at this week's summit meanwhile the expelled diplomats and family had arrived at london's stands today port moscow less than four hours away by plane but right now the u.k. and russia seem light years apart but to be phillips al-jazeera london. police in

texas have sent a hazardous materials team to a fed ex depo near san antonio to investigate an explosion there a package filled with nails and shrapnel exploded at the distribution center early on tuesday police are looking into whether it was linked to a series of bombings in the explosion on tuesday is the face in texas in the past nineteen days two men have been killed and several others have been hurt in the attacks. a package had been traveling along the automated conveyor when it added had exploded one employee that was standing near the explosion later complained complained of ringing in the ears. she was treated and released we were very fortunate that there were no injuries. well and hendren is live for us now in austin and john here at the scene of another alert to tell us what's happening there. that's right this is a fed ex facility where

a suspicious package has been found this is also the facility where that explosive that was found about one hundred thirty kilometers away in church texas was destined it was to come here in austin and i have a guest here who might be able to tell us a little bit more about it first off let me ask your name brian brian what do you know all i know is that they took us out of the building very quickly early in the morning around six forty and everybody was like refuse about what's going on and everybody left their stuff in their jackets or keys in their phones so everybody was left outside with basically had shorts on. tank top shirt because everybody's hot in there everybody's out there freeze in the fall and they have no way to call their parents or their friends or otherwise where and you've since found out that there's some suspicious package in its package yeah it wasn't suspicious package in there. so how does it make you feel i mean i'm always scared because i want to because then i was like well what if i pick up that paper that baggage and put it inside that truck and and what if it was me that if that bag is or explode in front

of me just because they're your mind is crazy and how many packages are in this facility there's always around twenty to thirty thousand packages every day so that's a lot of packages to search all right thanks for talking to us thank you. so that is the that's the story from a worker who is inside of this building they were evacuated as you heard early this morning and they haven't been told exactly what happened except that there was a suspicious package here and john as far as you know do the authorities have any suspects. no they say they have several persons of interest in the police but they have no suspects and what's really confounded them is they don't know why this is happening there is no set pattern the first three explosives were set on the door as if they were deliveries and then the fourth package was attached to a trip wire on the side of the road. killed three people have been injured and of

course you had that final explosion overnight a package that was apparently destined for austin the city i mean all five have targeted this city we have no idea why and the police are asking the bomber to please communicate with them so that they can find out why this is happening and stop it. john hendren latest live from austin in texas john thank you. and staying in the u.s. an attempted school shooting there has been stopped by an armed policeman a pupil opened fire at the school in the state of maryland before being shot dead two students were wounded this is the latest in a series of gun incidents of course in u.s. schools roslyn jordan has. witnesses say a student pulled out a gun in a hallway a great falls high school during the first hour of class on tuesday the motive still unknown authorities say a girl and a boy were hit and then

a police officer assigned to school security then shot the attacker a male student produced a handgun and fart around. wounding a female student and a nother male student in a hallway of grade most high school just before classes. all three of the students were rushed to hospital the shooter died shortly before midday on tuesday the school went into lockdown the parents rushed to a nearby school to be reunited with their children one of them no no i'm sitting here they're telling me to go to some school in a minute yeah but i'm third in here because i don't want to boney i were thrown out of that school shooting a great falls is the twenty first incident involving gun violence or a threat of violence in u.s. school since february fourteenth that's the date nicholas cruz is accused of walking into a florida high school and killing seventeen students and teachers with

a semiautomatic rifle he is now facing the death penalty for those murders because he was the sixteen hundred students a great falls had joined in last week's school walkout in on are of the florida victims and to demand tighter gun control laws four days before taking part in a national gun control march on the national mall these maryland students now have a personal motive for pursuing their campaign jordan al-jazeera washington. well let's go live now to heidi show castro who is in maryland for set the scene of that shooting first of all heidi any news from police of they revealed any other details . sure barbara actually we just got an update and they have identified the shooter here as a seventeen year old austin rawlins police say that rawlins died in the hours following the shooting it is unclear whether that was because he shot himself or whether because he was mortally wounded by

a bullet shot from the school police officer who engaged rawlins of the seconds after the shooting broke out ending this free of violence police also shed a little more light on what may have been the motive for this school shooting saying that one of the victims a sixteen year old girl who is now in critical condition with life threatening injuries had a prior relationship with the shooter a fourteen year old boy who was also caught in the gunfire remains hospitalized as well now all of this is leading up to the march that we just heard rosalind telling us about planned in washington d.c. this saturday that's only one hundred kilometers away from where this latest school shooting happened in maryland in organizers say that students from around the country are organizing caravans they will arrive in the districts with some five hundred thousand protesters expected barbara and heidi in this particular case a was a police officer assigned to school security that actually shot the shooter so i

know it's still early days because this event happened just in the past few hours but how is it playing in with the bigger more national debate and president comes for pozole that actually one way to stop school shootings is to arm for example teachers. that's right and there is a distinction here now for those who support the national rifle association the association itself has been on social media in the hours since the shooting praising this as an example of effectively using more guns to stop mass shootings in the country however the distinction here is it was a trained police officer a law enforcement officer who was armed and on campus that engaged the school shooter bringing the violence to an end many are saying it's a completely different story if you're talking about training teachers or other educators and giving them gods now donald trump the u.s. president had initially said he would back some gun proposals that were opposed by

the national rifle association including raising the minimum age to buy a rifle from eighteen which is current law to twenty one however last week he abandoned that promise sparking much outrage among protestors and students around the country and instead is championing this idea as you mention of arming teachers which is very controversial with teacher unions and most law enforcement around the country saying that would be a very bad idea barbara. starr with the latest in maryland heidi thank you. still to come in this news hour former french president nicolas sarkozy is held in custody over questioning over alleged campaign funding for libya's colonel gadhafi plus. i'm sorry i got to go inside intro london outside the offices of cambridge i mean let's look at a company that's in the eye of the storm on the latest data breach scandal. and in sport the gender pay around when the commentry boom is the howard or does mcenroe

deserve more money than work enough. hello there is looking a little bit more settled across parts of the middle east at the moment we're still the circulation here that's over parts of afghanistan giving us a fair amount of rain and still some snow over the mountains that's clearing away the things for many of us here will be a good deal dry up then the other two weather systems are in the far northern parts of our map so one of them just getting to the north of azerbaijan there and here it should stay dry even as we head through thursday and the next system is working its way across the northern parts of turkey day during the day on thursday but generally speaking to the south of that it's fine and dry and the temperatures will be climbing now so force in baghdad will be around thirty degrees the temperatures

certainly climbing here in doha to say thirty one degrees will be the maximum on wednesday that as we head into thursday will get to around thirty three or thirty four say feeling hot. for so long more humid here saw temperatures topping out at around thirty degrees let's head down towards the southern part of africa then and we can see all spiraling cycling gradually trailing away towards the south it's clearing away from madagascar at madagascar so if you mostly fine now but further west for some of us here in namibia it's looking pretty wet that's also affecting us in angola this system is still with us as we head through wednesday and it's just giving a few showers for the south as well. a key figure of the early twentieth century arab literary scene. and a feminist writer and her time. so why did

her story and in such tragedy. al-jazeera won't expose the life and why of maisie adda at this time on al-jazeera. perceptions. documentary. from around the globe. it was a big sound that that brings me down. felix journalism. debates and discussion this is a lot of misunderstanding and distortion in that the only argument i find against that is all over you courted history. see the world from a different perspective on al-jazeera.

a reminder now the top stories on al-jazeera syrian state media says thirty five people have been killed after a rocket fired by opposition fighters and that in a marketplace in a government held area of damascus the saudi crown prince says met president trump at the white house with trump showing off about his arms the sales to riyadh and how many jobs they will bring to the u.s. and twenty three russian diplomats expelled from the u.k. in the wake of the souls for a nerve agent attack have now left london along with their fans. the former french president nicolas sarkozy is being held by. police for questioning over allegations that he received millions of dollars in illegal campaign financing from a former libyan leader moammar gadhafi investigators are looking into claims that the gadhafi regime gave sarkozy as much as sixty eight million dollars so because

he has always denied any wrongdoing that hash about the reports from paris. nicolas sarkozy only served one term as french president he swept to power in two thousand and seven promising a new style of leadership but he left office amid allegations that his presidential campaign had received illegal funds from libya in two thousand and twelve a french news website published documents suggesting former libyan leader mohamed gadhafi had agreed to give sarkozy's campaign fifty million dollars today the editor says it's one of more than france's biggest political scandals. when the arab spring kicks off starting in tunisia and people start rising up there are real questions about this twenty eleven war where france with nicolas sarkozy overstepped the mandate of the united nations to the point where a regime was overthrown allowing for a dictator to be assassinated one can wonder if there was not

a dimension of private war to destroy the evidence i think because the allegations of overshadowed sarkozy's political career some people in france questioned why just months into his presidency sarkozy and find to get daffy to paris for a lavish state visit at the time gadhafi had been eager to shake off his image as a political pariah and reenter the world stage then in twenty thirteen a french lebanese businessman said it carried millions of dollars from tripoli to paris for sarkozy's campaign although. these are the facts yes yes gaddafi pates a cozy he paid for the complain he paid for other things it's not my problem. dean's accusations helped end sarkozy's third presidential bid. what a disgrace you know the shamed to be giving publicity to a man who's been in prison he's been convicted numerous times of slander who is

a liar so cozies under formal investigation into other corruption cases but so far police haven't established a direct link between the former president and any illegal libyan money foreign campaign funding is banned in france nicolas sarkozy has always denied receiving any illegal funding from libya and over the years he has accused his opponents of the political smear campaign now that he has retired from politics it will be harder for him to use that line of defense convincingly it's also bottler al jazeera paris first as data protection watchdog is seeking a search warrant for the company in a computer hacking scandal involving millions of facebook users cambridge analytical work for donald trump's presidential bid and the bricks of campaign in in the u.k. the political consultancy based in london is accused of gaining unauthorized access

to the data of fifteen million facebook users and now the company's chief executive has been secretly recorded boasting about their ability to sway elections news of the scandal hit facebook shares they continued to fall on tuesday after a drop of almost seven percent on monday wiped about forty billion dollars off the firm's value so they ignore reports. a virtual world with a very real money making data trail users of social media platforms unaware how profitable the information they have is for those who are willing to access it the scandal involving facebook may make many of us reconsider that. cambridge analytical is accused of misusing the data of millions of facebook uses a whistleblower who works for the british based data mining firm says the information was used to build a system which may have influenced voters in the u.s.

presidential election and other votes to 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 really took fake news to the next level by pairing it with algorithms for some politicians the advantage of using information harvested from social media be used as a north of try and get into the minds of potential voters but there's been little questioning of the consequences which is now why the information commissioner wants that search warrant to get into the offices of cambridge i mean let's look out behind me here and to get an audit as the details of millions of facebook users were reportedly gathered by a university professor using

a personality testing out he created called this is your digital life while users gave their permission but information to be used by him it's alleged the data was then sold to a third party cambridge analytic or in violation of facebook's own policies but cambridge analytic denies doing anything wrong and says it deleted all records when it discovered how the data had been attained from facebook. not only is britain's data protection watchdog after proof the data was wiped facebook says it wants that proof to the social media giant has since hired a digital forensics to find out how the data was leaked and assurances but it was destroyed but its response may have come too late facebook share price fell almost seven percent wiping nearly forty billion dollars of its value the company's chief of security alex thomas is reportedly to leave because of internal disagreements at how facebook should deal with its role in spreading disinformation this theft of

data happened over four years ago so it's very surprising to see them be so reactors at a proactive politicians in britain and the us that are pushing for facebook's chief executive mark zuckerberg to appear before them to answer questions over the massive data breach meanwhile the accusations against cambridge analytic are rapidly growing since. an undercover investigation by britain's channel four secretly taped a cambridge analytical executive appearing to boast about the firm's ability to sway elections by entrapping politicians in compromising situations. and conducting fake news campaigns something facebook's accused of enabling and failing to tackle effectively sunny day ago our jazeera london. major areas

military failed to act after multiple warnings that boko haram fighters were preparing to enter a town where they then abducted more than one hundred schoolgirls last months that's the finding of an amnesty international report which says the army and police received at least five calls in the hours before the attack the kidnapping of one hundred ten schoolgirls and the youngest of who is just ten has revived memories of the two thousand and fourteen abduction of hundreds of girls in chibok the nigerian government has launched an investigation into the attack a species of the rhinoceros is a step closer towards extinction after the last male died in kenya vets and that the life of the northern white rhino called sedan when his health worse and but there are hopes that d.n.a. samples and developments in technology will help revive the species catherine soy has more veterinarians at the old conservancy in central kenya put sudan to sleep

because he was in too much pain and could not walk he had been struggling for years with complications that got worse in the last few months. but he leaves a reach and the last his life managing to stay clean off poachers most wiped out the entire population of north and white trials in the one nine hundred seventy s. named after his country of back now south sudan he ended up in kenya from a zoo in the czech republic with a few others to help them breed in an environment which was more like the natural habitat but the program proved difficult as sudan got older he became weak and his sperm count was nil thirty so now researchers are watching on ways to use in vitro fertilization to save the species from extinction this will be the fast of its kind a delegate expensive and risky process we want to do everything but it's possible we even tried to keep them next to the southern white rhinos to see whether you

know we could get down to be a little interested so we brought in your girls and we said please you know can you talk to them and quite please stand and eyes but he just didn't respond while the north and why trials are the most endangered of this species the black rhino is also in grave danger all poached for the horn now why expensive than gold but measures a nine place to protect them in kenya in the last four five years you'll notice that for the case of kenya poaching on rhinos in particular has reduced by up to eighty percent and that is the effort to try and make sure that we protect them it's a pity that we get to this point for the not on white rhino as humanity we should have done but sudan was forty five years old they lent all of about ninety human ears he leaves behind his don't imagine and granted to them now the world's only north and white rhinos the survival of the subspecies depends on them and the

technology that has never been tried before cathy zoi al-jazeera nairobi kenya. well we just two females left conservationists face an uphill task reviving the northern white rhino but efforts with other african rhinos have been more successful when sudan was born in one thousand nine hundred seventy three there were seven hundred northern white rhinos left in existence by two thousand and eight poaching rendered them extinct in the wild the block rhino also saw a dramatic drop in numbers that to two thousand four hundred ten in one nine hundred ninety five but conservation measures have got their numbers back over five thousand and the southern white rhino has been rescued from the brink of extinction in the course of a century in the early one nine hundred zero only about fifty to one hundred left now they number around twenty thousand. well joining us live in the studio now is kate ford from save the rhino international thank you so much for joining us here on al-jazeera let's start with the northern what right i mean there's two females

left obviously biologically speaking that process of problems but how likely is it that with the d.n.a. in future that the that this subspecies might actually reemerge yeah so i b.f. is the only potential option now there's two women in such a sad day sudan dying. and i do think you know they've been functionally its think for a long time because of what you said the genetic diversity but is there actually his daughter and granddaughter yes are there two interbreeding i mean too much but i.v.'s is a potential from our point of view that say the rhino we've got three of the critically stink ronna populations job. and then the black rhino so this fewer than one hundred of the job and. we need to support these critically endangered species because otherwise the same thing will happen to them but there are clever scientists and brilliant conservancy those who want to put money towards i.v.'s to try and save this species so if i guess is one avenue but obviously could tailing

or stopping poaching is is the main way to go forward how are things going there in the water i guess the critical hot spots around the world for poaching so that demand yes so. crisis is increasing we're seeing demand from places like vietnam china increasing but there is incredible work being done on the ground but we have to do more pushing you know has made this subspecies go extinct or functionally and we are seeing people really struck in the ranges on the ground trying their best but it's not enough we need to do more because the value of some rhino horns i mean it's staggering it can be up to a quarter of a million dollars i heard so that sin credible how do you change i guess public opinion in countries like you mentioned vietnam and china that still see this as quite a coveted material and something to desire yet. really really difficult and that's where you know conservation is a extremely difficult complex human death but you have to look at the community

level on the ground in africa or in asia you need to look at demand reduction in these countries can you do campaigns can change behaviors what can you do to bring everyone together science research all these things to stop poaching happening i guess you know as your the name of your charity save the runner international you know you obviously care how would you convince or make people who don't care about the rhino care about the run of the sorts of people that perhaps say well you know species go extinct it happens why should people care ok so if on the human level the species can be incredibly important for local communities in areas where there's not much resource but the natural wildlife is a real resource and if you care about wildlife want to video verein running around they have such a personality they're an incredible animal and i think people get them wrong because of the horn because of the thick skin but yeah i would want to rid of iran

or and think about if they don't want them to exist because that's what will happen if we don't do more or let's hope that never happens kate ford from say the run to international kate thank you african leaders are set to sign a new free trade agreement which will increase trade on the continent by fifty two percent over the next few years the african continental free trade area is being discussed at a summit in the rwandan capital kigali all fifty five member states of the african union are expected to agree to the deal on wednesday nigeria which is africa's most populous and wealthiest country has pulled out but there are still plans for the others to go ahead it's projected that a deal covering africa's one point two billion population could give the continent a g.d.p. equal to that of the u.s. and europe combined by twenty fifty. and there are hopes the agreement will help ease the economic crisis in south sudan where drought and war have decimated it's in the streets the country now has to import pretty much everything but rising

customs fees are making even the most basic products on affordable heba morgan reports now from juba. markets here in south sudan's capital juba may be packed with goods but almost all of them have one thing in common they had to be imported from neighboring countries rather better when most of their goods come from uganda kenya or even sudan and that means we have to pay custom fees which keep rising to bring them in people now come and say they want goods but when they hear the price they walk away since gaining independence in ten to eleven thousand has been relying on imports for most of its needs from food products to clothes and cars and all goods coming into the country are subjected to customs and taxes because of high customs feast traders are forced to raise their prices so in a country where the world bank says more than half the population lives below the poverty line even if the goods are available not many south sudanese can afford to buy them more than four years of war has damaged south sudan's economy resulting in an inflation rate of one hundred eighteen percent according to economists there's

also a shortage of hard currency needed by traders to bringing goods further contributing to high market prices and you know when easy we're suffering a lot things are expensive and we don't even have salaries we keep looking for money to buy things but we don't have a proper source of income we don't know why the government isn't helping this isn't are really suffering. south sudan virtually has no commercial agriculture or production industry in ten to fifteen its exports total twelve million dollars but it imports cost four hundred twenty six million dollars the government hopes a regional trade deal will change that when you have tired of also in the heart of the country to get you know the new. because now. people. are coming that is being collected all the boarders is going to the government revenue to the inside the government and with that avenue. for the so the government may

may gain but until a deal is signed traders say they will continue to put high prices on imports while people struggle to pay for family needs he will morgan al-jazeera juba. china's annual national people's congress has roughed up with a warning for the president against anyone attempting to divide the country z. him paying sent a strong message to self govern the taiwan during the two week session condemning moves towards independence from china the congress also saw an end to the two term limit on the presidency and that means that xeni whose term is expected to end in two thousand and twenty three or was expected to end can now stay in power for life . in the fears of the will of the people and the trend of history and the actions and tricks to split china are doomed to failure and will be met with the people's condemnation and the punishment of history. a giant antarctic last year the size of france is melting faster than expected sparking fears it would cause

sea levels to rise dramatically scientists say a large part of the top ten last year is sitting directly on top of the sea enabling a warm currents to melt from below if the melts completely world sea levels would rise by at least three meters. shocking still ahead in this news hour in sports blowing away his indian wells loss in the windy city. chicago find out why.

all the sports news here. barbara thank you serena williams will continue her comeback to tennis following the birth of her first child at her home tournament the miami open on wednesday williams has won the event a record eight times but she's been handed a tough first round draw this year against the newly crowned indian wells winner naomi osaka ahead of that blockbuster clash williams helped to launch the construction of the new venue for the miami open from two thousand and nineteen the joint men and women's tournament is breed like a team to the home of n.f.l. team the miami dolphins which williams owns a stake in the thirty six year old who grew up just outside of miami has high ambitions for the future of the tournament. we want this to be the best tournaments ever we want this to be the best experience ever we want to read we want the players to feel like this is the best start we can't wait to get here we never we never want to miss it this is exactly what we're looking for and that's what we're

going for head of the defense of his miami title world number one roger federer stopped off in chicago to help launch the second edition of the leyva cup the men's team competition which takes place between a team from europe and a world team was a huge hit when it made its debut last year in prague is named after australian tennis legend rod laver he was at the launch alongside john mcenroe and nick kerry allows the tournament takes place after the u.s. open in september and federer is hoping it will be a success again in chicago. being able to play. in sort of a basketball stadium you know of the chicago bulls you know michael jordan being my all time favorite sporting hero and scottie pippen the team was just something else . very special on a personal note but never been to chicago to played in chicago so for me i mean i think it's very fitting for me to finally come here after playing in new york and l.a. and all in all sorts of places already here in america in miami of course as well

every year or so to come to chicago finally and bring the labor cup here as well with the great man standing next to me it's super exciting so i can't wait well there's a whole debate happening right now on the tennis circuit about equal pay and it's got nothing to do with the players it involves to form a grand slam champions who are now in the commentary box martina navratilova who has won forty nine major singles and doubles titles has found out that she gets paid ten times less for her work on the b.b.c.'s coverage of wimbledon than john mcenroe her him self has sixteen grand slam titles to his name and she's pretty upset. it's shocking if really this happens to me then you know for me it's a part time job it's two weeks of my life. but for the women that work there full time it's extremely unfair and you know and makes me angry for the other women that i think go through this b.b.c.

might say well john mcenroe does more hours or he's on hair longer sometimes as much i don't think so and i don't know the details of what's going on. and i don't think it's appropriate i certainly feel like it's going to be appropriate real soon become a. because it's somehow making him like poor johnny america the bad guy in this and so. we'll see what happens well here's some of what the b.b.c. said in response john and martina perform different roles in the team and john's role is of a different scale scope and time commitment they are simply not comparable martina is one of a number of occasional contributors the b.b.c. believes her pay reflects what she is also to do her time commitment a level of broadcast experience profile and track record and expertise cleveland cavaliers star le bron james has added some more history to his already glittering basketball career on monday james became just the fifth play in n.b.a.

history to school five forty point triple doubles this came shortly after he won the eastern conference player of the week for record sixtieth time and third time this season is achievement helped the cavaliers defeat the milwaukee bucks one hundred twenty four to one hundred and seventeen the cavs a third in the eastern conference and it's a credit to chambers and his team who are without their coach has taken a break to deal with an illness. brazil star player neymar remains a doubt for the upcoming world cup because of a broken foot but he's made a rare appearance that one exactly put his country at ease the striker limped his way into a south paolo nightclub on monday to celebrate his sister's birthday he was on crutches and wore a predictive boot so as not to exacerbate the injury since his surgery two weeks ago neymar was expected to be out for three months meaning it's still hard to know if he'll make gene's world cup in russia. and that is for now back to

barbara in london joe thank you very much for that and that is it for this news hour remember you can get more on everything that we have been covering on our website there's a top story of one of our top stories actually president trump me seeing the saudi crown prince mohammed bin. that is it for me barbara sarah julie mcdonald will be here in just a few moments with more of the day's news some much watched by. the scene for us where there are online what is american sign in yemen that peace is

possible but it never happens not because the situation is complicated but because no one cares or if you join us on sat there are people that that are 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 and has posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. jeannette morales 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 going to be up at the gala 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 failed.

stories of life. and inspiration. a series of short documentaries from around the world. that celebrate the human spirit against the odds some of them come to something some place. al-jazeera selects changemaker is at this time. three billion dollars five hundred thirty three million dollars president trump both about us i'm sales to saudi arabia as he'll scribe prince mohammad and some.