a key figure of the early twentieth century arab literary scene. and a feminist writer. and time. so why do the story and in such tragedy. al-jazeera won't expose the life and why of maisie arda at this time on al-jazeera. this is al-jazeera. welcome to the al-jazeera news hour live from my headquarters in doha me it is the

problem coming up in the next sixty minutes after days of silence facebook c.e.o. addresses privacy concerns that have taken tens of billions of dollars off the company's value. airstrikes in syria as a live province killed at least twenty two people most of them children. french authorities open a formal investigation into ties between former president nicolas sarkozy and libya . and three months after barely surviving an impeachment vote hiro's president has resigned. the head of facebook has promised tougher steps to restrict developers access to information after admitting it mishandled data belonging to fifty million of its users all c.e.o. mark zuckerberg finally broke a file and five days after u.k. media exposed the actions of cambridge. analytic or the firm accused of improperly

access and use information to manipulate us voters in a post on facebook because i have admitted his company made mistakes and if the data protection he's promising an investigation into apps on the platform after a quick is allowed cambridge analytical access to information on millions of profiles that's despite only three hundred thousand users responding to the quiz the quest gave cambridge analytical access to respondents friends as well and because of this facebook maintained that there was no data breach as permission was given by the original users zuckerberg says terms of service have since changed and mike hanna has more from washington d.c. . and here in a hearing on election security by the senate intelligence committee johnson discussion about how to protect the electoral process from outside agencies in the light of social media interference and twenty sixteen the elephant not in the room though is facebook founder mark zuckerberg he and facebook chief operating officer

sheryl sandberg were also absent from an internal facebook meeting tuesday that was addressed by legal executives zuckerberg has released a lengthy statement acknowledging that there were failures in facebook's protection of data he continues i started facebook and at the end of the day i'm responsible for what happens on our platform i'm serious about doing what it takes to protect our community while the specific issue involving cambridge analytical should no longer happen with new apps today that doesn't change what happened in the past we will learn from this experience to secure our platform further and make our community safer for everyone going forward but us lawmakers remain adamant that the facebook founder and other tech c.e.o.'s should provide information in person minnesota senator amy klobuchar has formally asked for a judicial hearing with social media c.e.o.'s including zuckerberg. this isn't the

first time we've made this request but now fifty million people who had their records stolen should add to our numbers for chuck should be for the judiciary committee or the commerce committee maybe both under oath under subpoena with documents of doubt this fundamental breach of trust underlying the uproar the allegation that data harvested from facebook servers was used by cambridge analytical to support the trump campaign in twenty sixteen interference in the electoral process confirmed in this undercover interview with the company's then c.e.o. alexander nix have you met mr barnes. with teams to talk to. a. strategy of facebook spokesperson says the company remains committed to protecting the privacy office users there's a surance is not enough for u.s.

lawmakers though all for those who wants the facebook faithful trending on social media is a hash tag delete facebook and the chilly prospect facing the company is that its own client base may freeze it out mike hanna al-jazeera washington. correspondent joining us live from washington d.c. for more on this and what specific steps are facebook going to take to shore up security now heidi. hi elizabeth so zuckerberg post on facebook says that most of these actions have already been taken and that the breach that cambers analytic was able to conduct in two thousand and thirteen years ago what already have been impossible to to accomplish however zuckerberg does acknowledge more steps that facebook will be taking to further shore up the security which includes limiting more access to the data of users by these third party applications as well

as an easier way for users to see and to limit what type of data they have access to now with this statement does not go all the way fully do is to issue an apology for what happened it also does not explain why facebook did not tell its users back in two thousand and fourteen when it was for two thousand and fifteen rather when it was first made aware that this breach had happened it does it does fully place the blame on the data breach itself and the leading according to that camera's analytic and its research or are guilty of however it only takes partial responsibility for facebook itself many saying the statement doesn't go far enough and it's coming at least four days before we first heard about cambridge at a little it's use of fifty million facebook uses. and in that time facebook

has suffered tremendous fallout tidy. that's right mostly in the stock market it is lost value of close to sixty billion dollars although today wednesday that did take up a point seven percentage points as far as the social the publicity fallout though as mike had mentioned there is the delete facebook hash tag that's gone viral although still to be turned out to be determined how many users go ahead and delete it and then of course there is the investigations that continue to move forward the federal trade commission here in the u.s. is investigating as well as two attorneys generals in the state of new york and massachusetts not to mention the u.s. congress many members saying that they were himself should appear in person to testify and there are summons from british parliament to do the same elizabeth and heidi how will all of this playing out with the trumpet ministration is putting any

pressure on them given cambridge analytical is now suspended c.e.o.'s claims that you know they played this played a role in the election of donald trump as president. right and donald trump is still trying to keep this as an arm's length as far as possible so he himself has not directly addressed this however it's up to it's a matter of time and if the mall or investigation the independent counsel will be probing this as well in his overarching investigation of whether the trump campaign colluded with russia or and heidi thank you very much for that that is. joining us live from washington d.c. thank you. we're going to move on to other news for now and at least twenty two people most of them children have been killed by an airstrike in syria's province the white helmets rescue group says the children died while fleeing a school after the raid began. as more details.

there have been deaths and injuries mainly among children because of our strikes launched by what the opposition says were russian jets they targeted residential areas in the village of kaffir about the. countryside they hit civilian homes the first airstrike targeted a house near an elementary school children at the school were terrified they fled the school in a chaotic way so residents tried to shelter them inside an underground cave in the neighborhood however the jets turned back on targeted the location with several missiles hitting the cave that was sheltering more than twenty children and women the cave fully collapsed on top of the children civil defense units did all that they called to rescue them what they could not rescue them and after several hours of throwing all those inside the cave are found dead. the government has agreed with the rebels. to evacuate the town of. people have died in the besieged the government intensified attacks. and elsewhere in the country

a turkish offensive in the northwest continuing. have hit that school held province so you know how there has. one of the rebel factions in eastern a good hour has decided to surrender a sham they control the town of house the eastern huta this besieged enclave of eastern widows now divided into three pockets three pockets that are surrounded by pro-government forces now one of those pockets how to ask the pro syria government media reporting that up to one thousand five hundred fighters and six thousand members of their families will be leaving early thursday they will be bussed to the north western province of idlib which is under the control of the opposition this will be the first deal of its kind in eastern huta because there are two other rebel factions list them and file that they recommend they have also been involved in negotiations with the russian military but so far those the negotiations did not

make any progress but undoubtedly the decision by the to sham to lay down its arms will pile more pressure on these two other rebel factions now the pro-government alliances military campaign has entered its second month really relentless bombardment that put a lot of pressure not just on the rebels but the thousands and thousands of people who are trapped inside according to the united nations hundreds of thousands remain in these rebel controlled besieged pockets of territory and that their situation is catastrophic many of them want to leave but they are requesting safe passage what they mean by safe passage is that these humanitarian corridors should be monitored by international observers they're too scared to cross into government controlled territory in fear of arrest and even some will tell you we could be executed simply because we belong to the execution so one rebel faction surrendering the pro-government alliance making this clear in its actions and its in its words really since the start of this campaign that they will not stop until the rebel factions lay down their arms and any agreement short of that will not end the

military onslaught. to france now where former president nicolas sarkozy has been placed on the formal investigation accused of receiving illegal campaign donations from the late libyan leader moammar gadhafi sarkozy allegedly accepted millions of dollars from gadhafi while running for office in two thousand and seven the investigation into his election campaign has been underway for the past five years he denies any wrongdoing has more from than ten near paris. this is the first time that a former french president has been placed under formal investigation for illegal foreign campaign funding for planned during presidential campaigns here in france well nicolas sarkozy was questioned by french police for just over twenty four hours police station just behind me just outside of paris and then he was released earlier on thursday afternoon around five thirty local time and placed on

a conditional release we don't know whether that means bail whether there will be restrictions on his travel but what we do know is three judges then decided to place him under formal investigation for corruption for the misuse of libyan funds and for illegal campaign foreign funding now that of course is the worst case scenario for nicolas sarkozy who's always said that he is innocent and he was of course hoping for his release what he can do now though is he has six months to try and appeal those charges during that time the magistrates will try and put together a case they will do more investigating see if they can possibly bring nicolas sarkozy to trial at some date in the future. police in the u.s. state of texas say the suspect in a series of possible bombings has killed himself he's been named by u.s. media as marc anthony condit offices the urging texas residents to remain on alert and case more parcel bombs are still out there john hendren reports from austin.

the confrontation with the main suspect ended as dramatically as it began police cornering then firing on him in a hotel car park as he tried to drive away then a deadly detonation police say the man set it off killing himself as members of the austin police department swat team approached the vehicle the suspect detonated a bomb inside the vehicle knocking one of our swat officers back and one of our swat officers fired at the suspect as well he had been a person of interest seen on video and mention by witnesses police knew his car the bombs had no set patterns some were random some were targeted five hundred federal state and local police are still scrambling to unravel three mysteries are there other bombers other other bombs waiting to explode and why he did it for weeks austin has been a city on edge the mysterious bombs in the state capital city killed two people and

injured four others. you will be too. you know random packages explosives people dying for no reason i'd be scared to you on tuesday another package exploded at a courier distribution center in the city of shirts near san antonio f.b.i. agents say a sixth package was sent to a separate fed ex depot police say the eventual destination of that package was an address in austin brian jaime's and sixty other employers of the courier company were evacuated after an unexploded bomb was found here giving police potentially valuable clues it gives me. that packet in soon as i set it down and explode then i go in sort of the truck goes and then the truck is full of the other trucks full of gas and diesel and the senate is all destroyed and everybody strapped in there you scared now not scared not since the attacks by the so-called unabomber ted kaczynski in one nine hundred ninety five have police faced

a spree like it now police will continue to search for any other devices he may have left behind and try to find out what his motive was john hendren al-jazeera austin texas. plenty more ahead on the news hour including the occupied west bank a plea deal sends palestinian teenager the means of president for eight. freedom for more than one hundred schoolgirls held by boko haram in nigeria. and iraq ends a three decade long ban on hosting international matches but fans in the capital feel shut out of the action joe will have the details and school. to formally accept the president's resignation or pedre public was facing an impeachment vote over corruption allegations vice president. to be sworn in as his

replacement on friday the pressure had been mounting after a video emerged of his allies offering rewards to the opposition if they voted not to else then the ada kaczynski has denied any wrongdoing but in a nationwide address he said he didn't want to become an obstacle to problems development john heilemann takes a look back at the political career. but then sometimes seven year old. had waited years to become president of peru finally he had a chance to put his arm vicious plans for the country. yet all or not. i want a social revolution for my country hope that in five years peru is a more modern country more just more equitable and have more solidarity. but his plans and his presidency which to be sure live it should have been the culmination of a long career that straddled the public and private worlds mr ski had held roles as

peru's economy minister with the world bank an improviser investment and equity firms ultimately it was the intersection of those public and private spears that caught up with him in the shape of the scandal surrounding brazilian construction joint older british which admitted bribing officials across latin america christian skate denied any links with the payments were found was investment company while he was the economy minister a hostile congress was looking for reasons to get rid of him and with that they had found one could skate their first attempt at impeachment in december two thousand and seventeen when lawmakers supporting imprisoned ex president alberto fujimori abstained from the vote could chin skee them pardoned fujimori and what was seen as a clear case of quid pro quo ultimately it was only a temporary reprieve the pardon loss could chin ski credibility and support

especially when fresh accusations related to older breast emerged now at seventy nine he confronts the end of a long political career and a short presidency john homan does either. let alone a franchise has more from lima. left the presidential palace and as he was walking down the steps he waved at the camera us he was only flanked by administrative people not ministers not cabinet members or congress men or party allies he walked out alone and left the presidential palace to go home right after that the presidential palace aired a recorded message to the nation where he maintained that he was innocent of the charges that were brought to him buz. i think that the best thing for the country for me to resign the presidency of the republic i don't

want to be an obstacle saddam nation can find the path to harmony but it very much needs and i was denied. he was about to go on to congress for impeachment proceedings because of his links with the brazil who are still construction giant although it is for links for having received apparently money for consultancy services when he was a government minister more than a decade ago and now what prompted the resignation however was videos from party allies apparently negotiating volts with congress men as so he would save it to save him from losing the presidency now according to the constitution the first vice president takes over and he should be taking over.

an ambassador. to canada but he's now on his way to peter who should be taken over to finish term and he had three more years to go. well let's get more on this now we're joined by peter hacking latin america analyst he's live for us in washington d.c. very good to have you with us on al-jazeera mr he came so as we've been reporting. has been under a lot of pressure and scrutiny for a while now so why has he decided to resign now and do you think well i think is a support is virtually or evaporated the prospects of his coming out of the impeachment process still president or disappearing and in this recent video that you've reported on. made it almost impossible for him to remain as president and as as we've said vice president of the sky expected to be sworn in as the

president what could all of this mean for you know what has been one of latin america's most stable country as well who. after the revelations about federal paul bocuse in ski being involved with a company that was involved with the owner of record company. it was clear that he had become virtually a lame duck and many of his supporters were disappearing his initial response was not as frank and open and transparent as it might have been and it was a slow period but. day by day he began to lose support. by the time he pardoned president next president fujimori and allowed him to return to his house leaving him out of jail. his.

criticism of him was growing louder and louder approval was going one way or the lower and there was really nowhere to turn and he had very little support in congress his own cabinet was questionable support i think he finally took the advice that this was not going to work and three years was an awful long time to remain without very much to do in the presidential power to be a lame duck president to mention the depression or he will be the first latin american president to be forced out because of links to the brazilian company which has of course been at the center of the consciousness biggest corruption scandal could we see other politicians follow here. oh there's no question we're seeing in brazil some of the most important politician. candidates for the next

presidential election later this year heads of the various committees in congress who are doing the president of the lower house and the president of the opera house are all involved in fact the president of the country who had been vice president. is also involved in corruption they're tending to protect one another but there's no question that in country after country there will be political hits and some more than others not necessarily because one country is more corrupt than the other it has to do with the effectiveness of law enforcement the effectiveness of the judiciary lest i came thank you very much for your insights into this that's people who came joining us live from washington d.c. thank you. pope francis has reportedly called the mother of a murdered brazilian councilwoman. was shot dead last week and thousands of brazilians have been protesting since demanding police find her killer is

a nonprofit organization alameda tweeted on wednesday saying found mother spoke to the post. for her activism against police brutality. a palestinian teenage girl on trial for slapping an israeli soldier has been sentenced to eight months in prison the case has made for many a symbol for the palestinian struggle and international attention the toria gate and the reports. i had to maybe arrived in qute to hear her sentence in a defiant named five. we are not satisfied with anything we especially don't accept the existence of the occupation on our lands it's illegal the seventeen year old agreed to a plea deal with israeli prosecutors to avoid most serious charges that could have imprisoned her for years under the deal she's due to be released in the summer she was fined fourteen hundred dollars her lawyer says the case against her was

possible after we understood the military prosecution wanted to keep hiding detention for several years because this case is a case of detail that they're trying to detail are other palestinian youth from resisting occupation as i did. to me was arrested in december after a video of her slapping and hitting israeli soldiers went viral the confrontation in the occupied west bank took place after what israel says was a stone throwing assault on its troops the judge agreed to a similar plea deal for to mimi's mother who was charged with incitement. to me respond the visited his wife and daughter for the first time in prison on choose day he says his daughter spends her time doing schoolwork she isn't doing when she heard the reading studying the first born of the stronger that there is a body how she was doing to the people the point of the hour fighting for our rights

to me is case was heard behind closed doors in a military court it's drawn international criticism one point seven million people across the world have signed a petition calling for her release and she's not alone the pressure group defense for children international says that last november three hundred thirteen palestinian children were imprisoned victoria gate and be out there. still ahead on the news on days before egypt's presidential election. papa l.c.c. says egypt should not be afraid to speak out braving. what in your trade agreement could mean for the fifty five african nations that sign on the dotted line and the west indies get a little help from the weather to book their place at the christian world cup challenge will have the details and watch.

hello spring is started it shouldn't be snowing but of course it is the last hope for the of the nor'easters is this mass here we go towards coming from the south cold tucked in behind is a fairly familiar story for the northeast the us and the snow will fall overnight probably disappeared during the day from the u.s. i was still in the canadian side of the border in the air left behind is quite cold five or six degrees that is why the sunshine is not that will not back to chicago only eight degrees now the other side of the pacific coast a bit of a worry the amount of rain is light to fall in southern california is enough to cause to require some evacuations because the girls that burn scar from the far south california it's still there if it rains on top where the rain go just washes away now it should be gone by the time we get to fraud his sons back out but the still rain some stuff come out hight for the whole of the western side of the mountain side of the us has dropped sas have quickly got the caribbean full cost

wise apart from passing charles you should enjoy the sunshine it is rather cloudy a when you come down to south america but if you want showers proper probably haiti hispania generally and probably haiti hispania are generally cuba the place to go with jamaica just tagged on as a hopeful. a scandal which took the nation to its core and exposed hundreds of calls official accused of accepting bribes just to show the most dangerous commodity one s. sometimes take a spot at the door and i did for years to blow up a personal pot that things judicial corruption has in my bio by i come out of my compass in an exclusive documentary al-jazeera and examined one man's extraordinary battle for justice in ghana.

with every. good to have you with us on the al-jazeera news out of these are our top stories the head of facebook has a message his company made mistakes and it's done to protection off the revelations

the u.k. misused information from fifty million although it's uses c.e.o. mark zuckerberg has promised office steps to restrict developers access to information at least twenty two people months of them children have been killed by a strike censorious at the province activists say the civilians fled this school into a nearby cave on the first wave forms were struck by russian jets the cave was hit in a second series of strikes. and francis former president nicolas sarkozy has been placed on a formal investigation accused of this even illegal campaign donations from the late libyan leader moammar gadhafi sarkozy allegedly accepted millions of dollars from gadhafi wanting to office in two thousand and seven he denies any wrongdoing. now most of the one hundred ten schoolgirls abducted in north east in liberia last month have been reunited with their families. five was released all but mine girls to their hometown of thought. my jarius government says it agreed to

a temporary ceasefire with to secure the girl's release. date has the latest. it's difficult to hold back their tears after what these girls have been through these are some of the hundred in ten children who were kidnapped last month boko haram fighters took them from their school inductee town in northeastern nigeria the girls say five of their fellow students died. when they took us from the school we've been sitting thinking about what we might eat then we heard a gunshot everybody was confused they asked us to come to the school gate we were in the area they picked us into the vehicle and asked who were the people fasting that they gave us a drink certain cake this was on the way after when they took us food there under a tree and gave us food to cook we cooked and asian proceed further we continued going we entered one river then we boarded a canoe and crossed the river into

a village they took us away from the village in the night we boarded another canoe to another place and remained in their place until today when they brought us back we didn't go to any other places they didn't mistreat us the dust in the distance are the boko haram vehicles which dropped off the children parents and relatives have been anxiously waiting for reeks to find out what happened to their children. i saw with my own eyes live a book of her own vehicles they were with the children they dropped the children at one corner they told us to give space for people to recognize their children and i got my child. it's a government really clear that it would negotiate with the kidnappers rather than use military force would not use any means of competition i don't forget the last of the children are much more important to us than. geopolitically. there's an even silence at the girls' school and men dressed in military fatigues entered

the school and took the girls away in their truck. this isn't the first time school girls have been abducted there was an international outcry in two thousand and fourteen when more than two hundred seventy girls were kidnapped from she broke many have still not been found nigerian forces have not declared the details of the deal under which these latest girls were released. their journey and its allies have been fighting boko haram in the lake chad region for years but brazen kidnapping and drop off of victims indicates that the group is far from being defeated solomon job aid there. let's get more on our top story now facebook and the fallout from the latest massive data breach at the social network a central player in the story is cambridge analytical the firm is accused of using improperly obtained facebook datta to manipulate voters in elections around the world mariana home takes a look at what we know so far. cambridge analytic care executive say publicly at

least that they helped politicians win elections what the companies accused of is secretly and improperly manipulation voters the famous perhaps best known for its work in the u.s. on donald trump's presidential campaign two years ago it began operating there in two thousand and thirteen when it was formed from its parent company is c.-l. and with the involvement of conservative steve benen but its operations extend well beyond america cambridge analytic has executives have reportedly boasted of targeting will than two hundred elections around the world including in kenya nigeria india the czech republic and tina the firm was in kenya just after it opened its job there was to help in her opinion at the time facing charges of crimes against humanity he went on to be elected president cambridge analytical is accused of stoking it's nick tensions and demonizing kenya his opponent. its parent

company is c.e.o. worked in the caribbean from at least two thousand and ten one of the accusations is that it targeted lindsay grant an opposition leader on the island of st kitts and nevis by sitting i'm up and filming him in a shady deal and why do you distributing the video online and the gulf crisis cambridge generalistic a has been linked to a social media campaign to discredit qatar and in the u.k. it worked for the levy you campaign during the brics it reframed i'm british police are asking questions and the need is widening with investigations also underway in the us and destroy a year. well let's get more on this now we're joined by you know free chief technology correspondent for media and she's joining us from san francisco california miss fried always great to have you with us on al-jazeera so given the seriousness of what's happened what do you make of mark zuckerberg statement.

you know i think this is kind of what people expected to hear from him if you spoke right in the wake of this on friday or even perhaps monday i think people were hoping to hear something more concrete facebook did announce a couple specific action third thinking but for the most part facebook saying we address this in the past these are issues from long ago and i don't think that's driving with how the public is receiving this but no absolutely not if you look at you know what's happening to their share value people talking about deleting their facebook accounts and we have heard more from a facebook spokeswoman who said that the entire company is outraged that we were deceived but do you think they should be especially given what we've heard from former employees about just how lax they say the company was with people started. yeah i think that it's it's somewhat surprising that facebook is so surprised since

they have known about this for quite a while i think what's new is more people are paying attention to it but facebook made changes back in two thousand and fifteen to limit the amount of access that apps had today to one of the things in this was this app that got the data was only used by one hundred thousand or so people and yet they got data on fifty million because of the way that facebook allowed access at the time and facebook has known this for a while so you know i think they are certainly dismayed by the attention they're getting right now but it's a little surprising to hear them say how surprised they are have they made the changes they need to make sure that you know the millions of users data won't be taken as on the say a hundred thousand and agree to their data being used then there's also this course the issue that so many uses don't have raised the sort of very complicated agreements on what's going to happen with their data.

so they have made some changes and some of these are changes they made quite a while ago so today if i download an app it's not going to give the data on you just because we're facebook friends and that's really important because clearly only i should be able to give away my data i shouldn't be able to give away yours or my cousins or my uncles so that that also limits the scope and that's really important they've said they're going to go back and look at all these apps that back then back in two thousand and fourteen did have access to so much data and make sure it isn't being misused and they will give users more control easier to see over your data but we've heard some of that before i think the question is will they go far enough for real regulators say we want you to give users even more control over their data and there's also of course the question of what use is going to do as i said you know there's a lot of talk now about deleting facebook accounts what should people do you think . well i think you know for a lot of people deleting facebook isn't that realistic they want to keep in touch

they want all the photos that they've had i think there are ways to check a lot of people of recommending some smart things check which apps you've authorized to use your facebook data most of us do it we hear about some cool photo filter or game or whatever and we give them permission at least go back and say you know what i'm not using that anymore and facebook is going to proactively do this for abs you haven't used in more than three months it's going to turn off permission and that's probably a good thing the other thing is to think twice before you give facebook more data you know in general i think when i put something on facebook do i want the whole world to know this i assume my data is going to get out there not because it should but because it might mess fade always a pleasure to have you with us that's in a free joining us live from san francisco thank you thank you. mt yemen central bank has ceased all activities due to a shortage of cash that comes after a lot shipment of yemeni reales equal to six hundred eighty million dollars was

seized by you a full source and february and that obtained biologist shows the central bank requested soon after the funds they've released by the sound of that coalition but it's yet to receive a response the money was needed to pay public employees' salaries. egypt's president abdel fattah el-sisi has said in a televised interview that egypt should not fear speaking freely he also denied that he is responsible for a lack of competition and upcoming elections the leader made the comments in response to criticism that people in egypt are afraid of imprisonment and a struggling economically. and i have noticed on t.v. that there are phrases like oh stop talking or no you can't say that this is not good and i am not saying this for the sake of saying it i mean it and people are comprehensively free to talk and act only one thing is not allowed for example to violently hurt the country some people ask about the democratic process and practice when they say that sisi may win the elections but still we wish to see

some other competitors yes they are right why not more candidates but you talk to me about something i have nothing to do with well earlier we spoke to his a professor of security studies at the institute for graduate studies and he says the statement is not truthful. practice is on the ground completely different from what he says. most of the serious contenders for the presidential elections were either marginalized or live in prison including the former chief of staff of the egyptian army general sami on and you have all those who have been harassed you have human rights watch is talking about fifteen solid than civilians who were court martialed in his reign between october twenty fourth seen in september twenty seventh this is unprecedented number even on the mubarak's time we have hundreds of cases of forced disappearances to do so killings are well documented and made the

human rights commission areas they've been rather speaks frankly about the. era of intimidation and terror in ruling the country which is also unprecedented for a human rights commissioner to say that never been said before under any of the regimes so when this is said that nobody no one should fear and these are the realities documented realities on the ground and there is a big gap. now myanmar's president and a key ally to leader aung san suu kyi has announced his sudden retirement president says he needs a rest and has reportedly been suffering ill health his role is largely ceremonial ceremony of a choice a close close confidant of sochi the country's vice president is expected to fill the void until a new president a selected within a week elected within a week. and two voices journalists accuse me on my government of limiting media freedom during a preliminary hearing on wednesday and yang gone. and has been in custody

for one hundred days accused of illegally obtaining secret government papers rights groups say the journalists are being targeted for their reporting on a military crackdown against one hundred muslims in a state they face up to fourteen years in jail. the u.k.'s foreign secretary has compared russia hosting the world cup later this year to nazi germany hosting the olympics in one thousand nine hundred thirty six mos johnson was responding to questions from politicians who've been calling for britain to take tougher action against russia london has accused moscow of the recent poisoning of a former spy and his daughter. yes i think the comparison with one hundred thirty six is. right. i think it's a messy process but rightly think of. putting glorying in. this sporting event the european union has set out

plans to increase the tax paid by digital companies the finance commission appear moscovici says he wants firms with large digital revenues and europe to pay a tax of three percent of their turnover plans won't come into force unless they're backed by the european parliament and the twenty eight e.u. countries moscovici says he's not specifically targeting the group of companies sometimes court gaffar that's google apple facebook and amazon this is needed again that's new york and us tax proposal doesn't target any company or any country we still meet that between one hundred and twenty and one hundred and fifty companies will actually fall into the scoop. they are u.p.c. americans each of us. forty four countries have signed

a free trade deal the biggest since the world trade organization was a stablished like the e.u. it will allow the unrestricted movement of people goods and capital but among the countries who haven't signed up to south africa and nigeria the continent's biggest economy the home of the reports from the rwandan capital kigali. one by one they signed up to an agreement decades in the making it's estimated the african continent toll free trade area could see business between african nations increased by more than fifty percent within four years the idea is to bring together countries with a combined population of one point two billion people and gross domestic product or g.d.p. of more than two trillion dollars into one market africa in suits stronger acting together now we are creating an african economy into a free trade area so we are realizing that we asked when you have a larger market so far four to four of the african union's fifty five member states

have signed the protocol but these one multiple absentee nigeria africa's biggest economy prison muhammadu buhari did not attend the signing ceremony to allow time for more consultations nigeria's led by unions have cautioned him against signing what they called an extremely dangerous initiative african union officials admit everyone is such a fight that individual countries would be better off under the deal look at the european union from the treaty of rome. almost to. the teeth of these well if we projects of integration of any level as well as work in progress i mean commits countries to removing targets on ninety percent of goods and lifting all body has to trade with in the continent eventually the free movement of people and even a single currency could become part of the free trade area but before the tuppence

banks are looking to fill the void what's we have to. make sure that the chorus problem. is only when. we are working with the launch for the. traffic to have a settlement. that. was. a bond. with them but. some of them were made. to them. to the. south korea. between the two countries president.

of the border next day. talks with. talks with. the compression. straps on his football boots. on the pitch that.

thanks. to the be be. the

. thanks very much iraq has made its return to hosting international football the team played a historic match on home soil on wednesday for the first time since fifa lifted a three decade long ban on the country holding international tournament iraq played cats on the southern city of basra in front of a packed crowd the much finished three two to cata it's one of a series of friendlies with iraq set to play syria next week but as our correspondent in one can reports from baghdad fans in the capsule feeling shutout reaction. has lifted its ban on international games taking place in iraq but the band's only been lifted in three cities are built where that game is taking place. the bow doesn't extend to baghdad and that's left a lot of very disappointed because we have the start of a lot of praise god it's

a big joy that the band for these three major signature karbala and erbil has been lifted we look forward to the band being lifted in baghdad but as we know it's there are security reasons but when iraq plays it lifts our spirits like it's going to die i mean i don't think i can have as you know iraq just came out of war the cities are the safest all the baghdad is the capital we all know security here is an issue that we hope for the future the security gets better and the pain gets lifted now despite that disappointment whoever wins this tournament football wins in iraq and that's possibly the most crucial things fans a very excited international football it's a competitive international football maybe able to return to iraq in the very near future and not be able to see the big heroes people like most people like neymar. will prove had a boost ahead of the world cup captain paolo garo has returned to training at brazilian club from anger as the end of his doping ban approaches credo was initially banned for one year after testing positive for cocaine which he denies

the suspension was subsequently reduced to six months and now ends in may meaning he will be eligible to play in russia. one of cricket's most famous teams the west indies have booked their place in the twenty nineteen cricket world cup but they were made to sweat by scotland and helped by the rains in harare the windies were two for two the third over. they recovered a little but were eventually all out for one hundred and ninety eight scotland battled one hundred twenty five for five in reply with more than fourteen overs left to play but then rain ended the match and with it scotland's world cup dreams . definitely you know. coming into this tournament been here for the first time and . we know what was at stake and i was just really pleased to see how the gays responded you know i think is one of better things we really came together as a school as a squad and everybody put him there has to go in and try to do what's best for us

in this week and what's best for us and it's a good thing that the west indies won so that these two teammates can put this incident behind the marlon samuels had a powerful strike which accidently struck ever lois in the back of his leg the friendly fire floored him for a bit but he got back up and both of them grabbed a half century each. one country that can now dream of playing at the world cup in the future is nepal just last week they end their official one day international status that means that they can play with some of the sport's big guns like england india and australia but a subpoena shuster reports from katmandu the new status hasn't stopped allegations of corruption and political interference. hundreds of fans wait outside government to airport to get a glimpse of their favorite stars and powers national cricket team arrived home on monday evening from zimbabwe after winning one day international status and i'm looking forward to playing the giants of the one day game such as india england and australia. this comes with

a lot of responsibility we have to improve our game and if infrastructure is built on the next six months to a year we can plan and move ahead it's time the government gives priority to cricket. the path to one day international state as has been a rocky one for the nepalis the players are talented but the sports administrators are plagued by allegations of mismanagement political interference and corruption involving embezzled funds all that caused the world governing body international cricket council to suspend cricket association of the past two years ago. association suspension from the i.c.c. has. excluded the team from competitions but it has meant a reduction of more than ninety percent in funding of we. don't i mean snow mustard on i mean are it going to hamper because there were no board running the door buster going i mean so we had a problem with pearson action and. problem for people who are involved in the

system so the direct impact and most important impact that we had in the domestic structure. far from developing new facilities existing cricket grounds have not been meant tain still control this is around the sports administration that's hard to dampen the spirit of aspiring players cricket has become in you know mostly popular in their part earlier this year one of the national players was selected for the indian premier league the richest cricket league in the world and a few people across the country have started to see the sport as a viable career option now with o.d.i. status assured for the next four years nepal hopes to cement its place as a competitive international team fans here hope that the sports administrators in the park as well as the newly appointed sports minister will make changes and start investing in the development of the sport to beat us russia al-jazeera. belgian

cyclist thomas to ghent has grabbed the overall lead at the tour of castle only after state street again staged a solo breakaway with twenty kilometers left to go on wednesday and himself a twenty three second overall lead over defending champion at the hands of albert. meanwhile cycling's governing body the u.c.i. says it will use x. ray machines and dismantle bikes to try to tackle the issue of mechanical doping that's the use of a mini engine inside the frame of a bike to help power it in two thousand and sixteen a belgian cyclist was found to have a motor in his bike cycling bosses have been concerned about the issue for some time they've used thermal imaging cameras in the last two editions of the tour de france. since hanging up his running shoes hundred metre world record holder you saying bolt has made no secret of his next sporting ambition and that's to play football for manchester united well earlier the eight time elim pick champion have

a chance to impress united manager is a marine you're jamaican looking serious he took to the pitch alongside a host of football legends including diego maradona event marks eighty four days until the start of the world cup. and that is all useful for now more later. thank you very much joe and that does it for this al-jazeera news hour but i will be back in just a couple of minutes with another full news bulletin thank you very much for watching .

a new poll ranks mexico city is the full first in the world for sexual violence many women are attacked while moving in the crowded spaces of the metro buses and even at the hands of taxi drivers the conversation starts with do you have a boyfriend to your very pretty and young you feel unsafe threatened you think about how to react what do i do if this gets worse no money on the uses a new service it's called loyal droid it's for women passages only and drawn by

women drivers pull for some extra features like a panic button and twenty four seven monitoring of drivers. in syria citizens are collecting evidence and all thought it was shot of crimes committed against civilians we've moved out of syria six hundred thousand pages of material so that one day they can bring the assad regime to justice it puts a she will face on the charges it's a dead she will face but the situation tricks syria witnesses for the prosecution at this time on al jazeera. after days of silence phrasebook seen addresses privacy concerns that have taken ten for the names of dollars off the company's value.