race relations in the us today the award winning show thrives returns for another season with stories about solutions to some of the greatest manmade environmental problems as the first meeting since the bridge that vote is set to take place in the u.k. we examine how relevant the commonwealth is today between corporate and public interests up to the last drop unveils the longstanding rule for water in europe april on al-jazeera. facing realities growing up went to do you realize that you were living in a special place a so-called secret city getting to the heart of the matter while ease activists to live in jail just because she expressed herself hear their story on talk to al-jazeera at this time.

china hosts north korea's reclusive leader on his first foreign trip since taking power seven years ago but what does it mean for his controversial nuclear program. and i'm citizen this is al jazeera live from london also coming up in control of the northern syrian town of a free turkish forces push east in their offensive against kurdish one p.g. find. problems on earth the policeman who sacrificed his life to save a hostage. and fan time in disgrace australia's cricket captain forced to contemplate a whole year out of the game. north korea's leader kim jong un has made his first trip abroad since taking power seven

years ago came met with chinese president xi jinping during a surprise visit to beijing chinese state media described the talks as a success with kim saying he is open to giving up his nuclear weapons china correspondent adrian brown reports from beijing for xi jinping this was a diplomatic triumph he told us president donald trump now the first world leader to beat kim jong un. chinese state controlled media waited until kim was back home before confirming what officials had tried so hard to deny just a day earlier. in the great hall of the people kim and his wife were welcomed like old friends appearance is important at times like this she opted for a business suit whereas kim stuck to the look favored by his father and grandfather the wives of both men were present during most of the photo opportunities. visits

like this are all about symbolism for she it served as a reminder that china still holds sway over its neighbor and intends to be at the center of diplomatic efforts to achieve a nuclear free korean peninsula. it's not clear what made him come to beijing or indeed what incentives he may have been offered to do so but china remains north korea's only real friend and ally so it's fair to assume the president xi jinping might want to know what kim's negotiating strategy will be during his upcoming summit with president trump. and kim's visit made it possible for china to know what north korea will be talking about to south korea and the united states in his discussions on the nuclearization china has also learned what north korea demands will be which will help china. it's a visit the would have seemed unimaginable just a few months ago where north korea was ignoring chinese appeals for restraint at an

exhibition showcasing some of china's technological achievements the message appeared to be we can help you with all of this if you behave. china's leaders are fond of metaphors at a lavish banquet she told his guest that in the beautiful season of spring everything comes to life kim replied i believe our meeting will yield abundant fruit that could mean making good on his commitment to give up nuclear weapons but the fruits of spring were apparent in the garden of the state guesthouse where friendship also seemed to blossom she accepted an invitation to visit north korea and told him he was welcome to visit china again the visitors left happy adrian brown al-jazeera beijing. south korea greeted news of the china summit with kathy novak has the reaction from so. the south korean government says it welcomes the visit by kim jong un to china and says that it hopes that the meeting between

kim and she jinping will help contribute to the overall goal of denuclearization and peace on the korean peninsula the spokesperson though added that the situation is evolving beyond their expectations and that they will have to monitor things as they go forward with all possibilities in mind there is an acknowledgement there i think of the surprise that was involved with this visit by kim jong un the first that he has taken as leader out of the country indeed the surprise that many felt when donald trump accepted the invitation to hold a meeting with the leader of north korea kim jong un in fact chinese state media reported that kim said he was willing to have that summit with donald trump and it was the first time that we had a direct confirmation from the north korean side of plans to go forward with that meeting there were indications that even the north koreans were surprised that

trump accepted that invitation so there are a lot of moving parts here now on the korean peninsula for the south korean side they are moving ahead with plans for an intercom summit on thursday there will be a high level meeting at the d.m.z. at the border that separates the two koreas and we are expecting china's top diplomat to be in seoul to brief the south korean government on the meeting between xi jinping and conjunction. u.s. president gave his reaction to the meeting on twitter he wrote received a message last night from xi jinping of china that's he's meeting with king john once very well and that kim looks forward to his meeting with mate this month trump surprised the world by agreeing to meet kim to place on time to be determined. there are a conflict in reports about who is in control of the northern syrian town of

telephone tech issues have been closing in on tara fatah off the taking the kurdish held enclave of affray in ten days ago turkish president roh chip type earlier on has said his forces will continue to move east as far as one beach to push out the y.p. g. fighters who he says are terrorist sinan costello has more now from istanbul turkish officials have told me that white beaches withdrawing from tel rafah but they underline that there is no military operation as an offering on the other hand why p.g. has denied all these statements that they are withdrawing from tel rafah to the town which they conquered from the syrian opposition groups in early two thousand and sixteen what we understand is that there is a deal between russia and turkey over the strategic town of northern aleppo but this time told her father is going to be more different compared to our friend because in often there were boots on the ground at the f.s.a.

and the turkish military but in tell her father it is more about diplomatic and political talks between two sides both russia and turkey also turkish foreign ministry undersecretary who will be in washington d.c. on march thirty to talk about violator all issues and also about the ongoing operations in northern syria so probably we are going to be hearing more detailed information within the coming days about the strategic town of northern alabama it is very strategic for all parties in syria because it is a strategic transition straight across syria so if you take tel referred under control you are controlling the east west route also the area between aleppo and bob. french basemen killed in last friday's terror attack on a supermarket in southern france has been honored in a ceremony led by president emmanuel knuckle it talent colonel are nobel transport

places with a hostage during the supermarket attack in treb saving her life but losing his own has been posthumously awarded france's highest award for bravery that tasha butler reports from paris. trams coffin was a school to paris and to pouring rain people came to pay their respects to a french police officer has become a national hero in imposing courtyard of the adelaide france's most famous military memorial think tim's families joined politicians of all persuasions and former presidents in a show of unity on friday beltrami had swapped himself with a hostage in an attack in southern france it was a display of courage that cost him his life the consumes a preschool just as soon as we learned of this high risk act all french people trembled as one one of us said stood up straight clear headed and brave he was standing up to islam missed aggression to hate the folly of murder and with him the

whole country's heart swelled with the french spirit of resistance the bravery of one man taking the whole country with him mccall wanted beltrami the commander of the legion of honor one of france's highest accolades the nobel transactions have touched so many people in france because he did something that very few people could imagine doing sacrificing his own life for that of a stranger. bell tram had rushed to the supermarket in the town of tired last week after news broke that a gunman had taken hostages twenty five year old writer one black team had been on a shooting spree in the name of eisel he'd killed three people including two men in the supermarket and it injured a police officer who'd been joking facts that beltran would have known when he volunteered to put down his weapon and take the place of the female hostage french police said lacked him was radicalized and under surveillance but he wasn't considered a threat on tuesday the prime minister dismissed criticism by the opposition that

the government's not doing enough to prevent such attacks research your film. say that this attack could have been avoided those who believe there's a guarantee to french people there's a residual risk i say to them so it's a mistake responsibility falls on the e.v.g.a. . more than two hundred forty people have been killed in attacks in france in the last three years each time many people in the country feel a sense of anger and despair in bell trum some have found a reason to hope for tasha butler al-jazeera paris. powell and her son in the largest arms deal in its history four and three quarter billion dollars for the patriot missile defense system from the united states is the latest and biggest step in poland's efforts to upgrade its military which has accelerated since russia's annexation of crimea in twenty fourteen the page a system which is designed to shoot down incoming missiles will be delivered in

twenty twenty two. funerals are being held for some of the victims of a fire at a shopping center in siberia on sunday it's a day of national mourning in russia to remember the sixty four victims forty one of whom were children and as were challenged reports from moscow people now want ounces. oh. on sunday night dish. took her grandchildren ten year old maria and eight year old constantine to the cinema they didn't come back just three victims of the russian shopping mall fire that killed at least sixty four people set again natalya's house will be quiet now the children to go on there are many more shattered families like the ago because most of those who died in the fire were kids he was with him this tragedy is made even worse by the fact children became victims of the blaze great grief is upon all of us and the no words that can express our shared pain the bereaved siberian city

of camera began burying its dead on wednesday but as more bodies are identified many more coffins will be loaded into siberia. it's not just one city grieving though wednesday is a day of mourning across russia in moscow flags were flying at half staff and there are two memorial sites best still considerable anger being voiced in this country some people feel they haven't been told the whole truth about the fire and there's a sense that official corruption and a disregard for safety regulations are largely responsible for the horror that unfolded in kemah rivers burning shopping mall the shopping centers director is one of five people that have appeared in court as suspects in the investigation she denies doing anything wrong even. you know i wholeheartedly bring my sincere condolences for the fact that this tragedy this disaster happened i'm

a mother myself i perfectly understand what people who are now burying their children are experiencing but i do not want to blame myself for this. the search for bodies in camera is now officially over but the investigation continues locked cinemark doors blocks fire exits nonfunctioning alarms these are reasons investigators have already given for how or shopping mall fire became a national disaster for each island's al-jazeera mosque or. still to come on the program survivor the sierra leone's worst ever natural disaster accuse the government of leaving then i am drawing. chalk fishing is still big business here in indonesia a population i decline and the government aims in the tree it's protected i'm fat bob reporting from a third option and making. some

lovely spring sunshine across southern parts of china little further north the robbers a few showers in the full cost at my lodge it doesn't look too bad but a bit of cloud up towards shanghai temperatures here at twenty five celsius on thursday a little cold as they go on through friday on show breeze populist temps is back to twenty one celsius which is still seventy and found high much catch one but for the most part is five dry and sunny and that sunshine well it sustains its way across much of south asia and boy is it hot here that pre monsoon hate temperatures or well about the seasonal average we getting what up into the thirty's for many could touch forty one celsius in hyderabad also at around forty degrees possibility of wanted to show us it to carol a stay still a little bit of cloud to southern pos as we go on into friday before many it will be dry just notice amount wet weather up towards nepal so when she weather further

north over the himalayas meanwhile we've got a little cloud just pushing towards northern parts of the arabian peninsula over the next day or so but for many again it's the hate here mecca could touch forty celsius here in doha right around thirty three degrees possibility of a little bit of early morning mist and fog on friday and here's that comes that cloud for friday afternoon. our. own the benefit of people. who see being bold and. witness documentaries that open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera.

welcome back i remind all the top stories say on al-jazeera all hours after he left china it was finally announced that north korea's leader kim jong un has in fact made his fast trip abroad since taking power seven years ago he met president xi jinping in beijing. they're all conflicting reports over who is in control of the northern syrian city of tal or if as turkish troops close in on it ten days after taking the kurdish enclave of a frame. and a french police officer killed off to trading places with a hostage has been posthumously awarded the legion dollar the city's highest and.

but it isn't a chip have just a few hours left to cast their ballots in the presidential election with a fine it's the third and final day of voting but authorities are concerned turnout has been low president abdel fattah el-sisi is expected to win a second four year term is only opponent. is a supporter who's made no effort to campaign against him all of the serious challenges were forced to pull out of the race or were arrested with several international rights groups calling the election a fungus a lost senior political analyst mo and bashar and joins me now live in the studio to talk about this thanks for coming in and why all this half it really by the president with the talk of bribing of voters talk of payment to voters. all this

pressure to make sure people vote when we know what they results going to be that's actually a very important question despite the ready cooed around this whole you know election circus since the since the elections are not indeed independent because the electoral commission is in the pocket of the government since it's not fair because most of the other candidates in fact virtually all of the other opposition kind of this were banned or imprisoned and this is not free elections because again people were intimidated or oppressed and so on and so forth well it just turned out to be more of a referendum now for i'm going to be successful what you need is height or not and even if there's no terror now you give the impression as if it was hard to not because who's going to look at the numbers several days down the road it was very important for the president to show that there is a high turnout and hence there are great interests in his presidency

and of course the think the figure is going to be in the whatever ninety's as and veloce time in two thousand and fourteen. and that's important not only for him and his legitimacy internally it's important to keep appearances of a democracy of sorts for his western backers because in the day egypt relies on the west and on the i.m.f. and so on so forth there were these two generals that were going to stand against him that where removed and that didn't we just had this one dummy candidate that has been the one of the top when wilson was in power that the state never allowed him to really rule is there any suggestion hand that actually the deep state is kind of the thing that ruling the roost the military and the generals still leading the race and sisi is at all worried about his own position at one point between two thousand and thirteen and two thousand and sixteen seventeen there was there was this idea that there's a deep state has the intelligence community. and the army at one point we didn't

know what's what was the intelligence community were still with the mubarak era and the army has moved on to be with sisi i think that what i think that's a bit of a discussion of the past in a fight as two thousand and seventeen two thousand and eighteen is concerned president sisi or sealed marshal objects that the has c.c. has. you know got a real good to hold on power on the military on the various and shallowness of power of the various organs organism of power within the country the intelligence the army the economy and so on so forth and hence you could say no he is in total frontal he is i think egypt has moved from an authoritarian states to a tightly therion state today you don't just not have the right to express your opinion today you have to express your positive opinion of the ruler thanks very much. a four year old boy has been detained by israeli soldiers on suspicion of

attempted stabbing in hebron in the occupied west bank alice tinian media say the boy who was holding a sharp object was detained for an hour on tuesday this will change which was shared by a palestinian journalist shows the moment the boy's family confronted the soldiers at an army checkpoint. the catalan parliament has approved resolutions defending the political rights of politicians in custody or self-imposed exile lawmakers in barcelona used yellow ribbons in place of their missing colleagues they want to fishel is like pushed him on and at least two others to be able to reach parliament in order to stand for election. seven months on survivors of last year's mudslide disaster in sierra leone are struggling to rebuild their lives temporary shelters for those made homeless have closed and only a fraction of them are being cared for by relatives and neighbors are religious

reports from freetown for the first time since the disaster in august two thousand and seventeen percy for four unarmed musters enough courage to take me to where her mother and sister still lie and the rocks and debris. it's an emotional foster she couldn't complete and it's about i feel bad right now because i remember my mom my sister and people i know are still under that pile of rubble coming here is hard for me healing is taking a long time for the twenty three year old she lives with neighbors along with her son just three hundred meters from our mother and sisters multi-tool. more than five hundred people were killed and hundreds more remain missing after part of the sugarloaf mountain collapsed following torrential rains the tide of rubble swept over homes and anything else in its path just as people are waking up you might

notice the workers have given up digging here they say the sheer size of the area is overwhelming however residents say many bodies still lie under the rubble and some i will say not enough relief has come their way most of them are broke and homeless. who lost his wife and three children as well as the house they moved into just before the disaster the house i've been. up to now i cannot get to where i built my house everyone living there including neighbors died we thought the end of the world had come. the civil union government took possession of fifty two homes donated by some construction companies to help the victims but survivors say the government is demanding their pay for them government he says intro on you to do something for us up to now the fifty two hours that we're talking about that we didn't get access to was the central union government said each family affected was

given about six hundred dollars money the victims say is inadequate some of the victims of this disaster are buried alongside thousands of victims of another which recently shook solely on their border crisis they have a resting place but survivors are struggling to build their lives how many trees how does the freetown sierra leone. shop fin soup is a lucrative tried in china but the high demand is endangering many species scientists are calling for a strictures on shark fishing to prevent them being wiped out from indonesian waters steadfastly reports from east into next year. they are predators at sea but powerless against fishing lines shocks of all sizes float the fish market a number nearly every day their court for one reason their expensive fins mostly sold to china to end up in soup we've filmed fifty five sharks being auctioned on

a single day some still babies jackfish and is legal in indonesia except for whale sharks which have become an endangered species the government has also impose an export ban on hammerhead sharks to prevent more populations coming under threat conservationists are keeping track on the trade. what we have found is a populations of sharks a declining and also the sars of sharks are becoming smaller. sharks are at the top of the oceans food chain scientists say they keep populations of fish stock healthy and protect the ecosystem. five populations are easily threatened because of the slow reproduction rate some female sharks can only give birth at the fifteen or even quietly and so that's why fire urged the government to create perfect. shock fishing is big business in indonesia with export revenues of hundreds of

millions of dollars a year traders not only sell shark fins but also to skin and bones they say the export ban and other protection measures have hit them hard they're going to die. since the government is banning all kinds of sharks the prices have dropped drastically we can now only sell locally and the prices we get for export a much higher. but new research scientists say law enforcement has been weak and more needs to be done to enforce the export ban and protect vulnerable shark species something the government wants to discuss at this week's symposium in jack after what we tried to do we will work together with minister of environment to put also tough measures on the business side because i think that's the easiest actually to to stop to make the fishermen understand it's going to take time. in order to protect fishing communities the government does not plan to impose a total ban on shark fishing but rather increase restrictions but with the month

likely to remain high conservation is worried that it will be hard to prevent fins of protected species continuing to end up at markets stedfast an al-jazeera. in east. australia's cricket captain will be banned from all forms of the sport for twelve months for his part in a cheating scandal that's rocked his nation even drawing condemnation of the prime minister steve smith the world's leading batsman admitted ordering a young member of his team to illegally tamper with the ball during a test match in south africa and leaves home and has more. australia's cricket captain steve smith being a school to out of south africa with his career in tatters the world's top ranked batsman won't be playing for his country for the next year neither will be vice captain david warner a third player cameron bancroft has also been banned for nine months for his role in a ball tampering scandal copping to very sad and disappointed and and remorseful

for what has happened they want to use their own words but cheating is certainly one of them that is probably appropriate in the circumstances bancroft was caught on camera placing a small object on his trousers during a match in capetown on saturday he lied to pies on the field and later claimed it was a piece of tape that he was using to change the ball condition in breach of cricket's rules of cricket australia as investigators have now revealed it was sandpaper warner is being blamed as the instigator who instructed bancroft to do it smith being charged with knowing about a potential plan and failing to stop it. they had been called for a strategy of cards darren lehmann to also be punished but officials maintain he had no knowledge of the plan or do in daryn's defense i do want to just clarify that specific matter and i want to what a side that he sent a message to say what in the hell is going on i mean this this has been i shocking

affront. to a strike. even the prime minister has had an opinion in a country where cricket is the national sport and the consequences may extend far beyond the three ply is sponsors for cricket australia are questioning the why they manage the brand in the brand of the straight in cricket team add to that at the moment cricket australia is negotiating the t.v. rights for cricket in this country they will be severely compromised by what is happening in south africa so this could cost cricket in this country millions. the indian cricket board has also barred smith and warner from competing in the indian premier league a decision that will cost each player one point seven million dollars they will be permitted to appeal their strelley and cricket bans but it's going to be a very long way back to the top if that old elease homan al-jazeera.

skate reminder of the top stories now on al-jazeera hours after he left china it was finally announced that north korea's leader kim jong un had in fact made his first trip abroad since taking power seven years ago kim chinese president xi jinping jury in the secret visit to beijing officials had remains tight lipped over who was making an official shift after a motorcade was filmed during driving through the capital chinese state media have been reporting that the talks were a success with kim saying he is open to giving up its nuclear weapons south korea's minister of unification says she and kim's meeting has helped set the right tone for upcoming talks between pyongyang soul and washington i think improvement in the north korea china relationship ahead of the into korean summit and u.s. north korea summit will we hope for in solving the problem in the korean peninsula

such as denuclearization and establishment of peace. there are conflicting reports about who is in control of the northern syrian city of telephone out turkish troops have been closing in on the area after taking the kurdish held enclave of a free ten days ago turkish president chip type erdogan has said his forces will continue to move east as far as mom reach to push out the white b.g. fighters who he says are terrorists or french police officer killed in last week's supermarket siege has been poster mostly awarded the the country's highest accolade the talent colonel noble trum was hailed a hero after trading places with a female hostage at a supermarket in tramp in the south of france last friday funerals are being held for some of the victims who died in a shopping center fire in a siberian city of kemmer over on sunday flanks have been flying at half mast

across the country on a day of national mourning to remember the sixty four victims forty one of whom were children investigators say the fire may have been caused by an electrical fault on that emergency exits were locked voters in egypt have just a few hours left to cast their ballots in the presidential election or risk a fine in the third and final day of voting incumbent president abdul fattah el-sisi is expected to win a second four year term as your top stories stay with us witnesses coming up next.