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this is al-jazeera. hello and welcome to the al-jazeera news hour i'm cell robin coming up in the next sixty minutes the syrian government declares the battle for a do over saying rebels are leaving what was the last stronghold near the capital. also a former high flyer wants to for china's presidency becomes the latest casualty of anti corruption campaign. also new figures show a drop in the number of people being put to death but there's no data from the country said to be the world's biggest executioner. and the health problems ivory coast communities to embrace new tech. for tradition that dates back

generations. and i'm peter seven with all the day's sport including the last minute penalty that same trail madrid to the semifinals of the champions league while infuriating opponents you venters. welcome to the program we begin in syria where government forces have pushed the last rebel fighters out of the southern town of duma that's according to russia's military police have also been deployed to take over security moscow says it'll ensure there is law and order in the town while the syrian government took control of doomer after an agreement with russia and the group jaish al islam the deal says only russian military police are allowed to enter the city after the evacuation not syrian government forces now crossing points will be open to commercial movement as soon as the military police enter the city the agreement also guarantees that those

who wish to stay in the city will not be prosecuted or forced to serve in the syrian military and it ensures the release of all pro-government prisoners held in duma well senator is monitoring developments for us from beirut in neighboring lebanon will be live to her shortly but first we'll speak to rory chalons in moscow so what we do know what we are hearing is that. turkey is now coming into the mix to try and negotiate potentially between russia and the u.s. what more are you hearing about this. well look the kremlin at the moment is saying that it has currently open lines of communication with the the americans the confliction line which has been going on for the duration really of russia's and air campaign in

syria and they are talking to each other we don't know whether they are talking specifically about coordinates of targets that the u.s. might be thinking about so as not to endanger the lives of russian personnel in syria but of course turkey as a global power or a regional power that's that's involved in this conflict as well is keen i think to take some sort of mediating role between the the u.s. and the russians and as a nato member there reason be well positioned to do that trying to calm tensions down and to make this situation less combustible than it seems to be at the moment it terms of the agreement with duma it's a very specific agreement that's been implemented under the auspices of the russians what more do we know about this in the way that it's going to work so that

even the international community can't criticize both either syria or russia that the local population is still being persecuted in some shape or form. well i mean basically the deal is the result of the. c. century that he. has been under for months years basically being pounded over recent weeks by the russian and syrian air force josh. basically came to the realization i think over the weekend that there was no way out for them and certainly of course it was the weekend in which the suspected gas attack took place in duma which might well have influenced their thinking so yes they have essentially surrendered and basically said that they would leave the region leave east and do say leave duma and handed over to the control of the syrian government and to the control though of russia's military police so the news that we're

getting out of the russian defense ministry today is that has was telegraphed yesterday russian military police and now on the streets of duma basically there to safeguard law and order i think the rebels have made it one of their criteria for this surrender that they don't hand over directly to syrian government forces but actually handed over to the russian military police but certainly this is a transition period in which duma has handed over to syrian government control of course the o.p.c. w chemical weapons inspectors are expected in duma in the coming days perhaps as early as the beginning of next week and so. they will be walking into an area under the direct control of the syrian government and the russian military police and i think there are many people around the world particularly in western capitals and also in the armed opposition in syria who feel that they will perhaps not get the real picture of what happens in duma over the weekend with the chemical weapons

incident that it would have been cleaned up and made possible for moscow damascus perspective on that event we'll leave it there with you for now of course and monitor events rory through the day thank you let's cross over to beirut now and say. joins me now what does this mean in terms of the rebel defeat for the government in the light of the possibility of potential western military action. well the evacuation of fighters and civilians is almost complete the government declaring victory and there is no doubt this is a victory the rebel enclave of eastern who has long been a thorn in the side of the government right at the doorsteps of the capital the rebels the thousands and thousands of rebels who were there were able to threaten the capital so the government declaring victory and with the possibility of airstrikes or military action from the united states and its allies we have to

remember that the government is in a much more comfortable position it is stronger than it was in two thousand and thirteen in two thousand and thirteen there was a threat of military intervention but the rebels were very strong they were close to the capital most of them were not up in the north so so the government didn't even have the support of the russian military the russian military intervened towards the end of two thousand and fifteen so the government this in a much more comfortable position and the options of the united states are limited even if it is a sustained the air campaign and they target military bases this will not weaken the syrian government and its allies because those bases have now been evacuated and of course there has to be said the damascus must feel emboldened also be comfortable with the situation that they're in right now they definitely are perhaps holding all the cards for the moment. well maybe not all the cards but at the moment they've evacuated their bases they've moved military hardware and

they're believed to have moved them to russian military bases because they believe that the western countries will not target russian military bases in order to avoid a confrontation between the russian and the american military right now any strike if they target the air bases if they target military airports or or for example the defense ministry or the army headquarters in damascus what is going to change it's not going to change the course of the war in one way or another the country has already been divided into spheres of influence so this retaliation if you like from the western nations is not going to change much on the ground it will be mainly symbolic for the moment and it will leave that of course come back to you as a situation develops thank you. well as i was saying the world is waiting to see if donald trump will come through with his threat through time regime targets on wednesday the u.s. president tweeted a warning to syria's ally russia that it should get ready for missiles to be fired now the kremlin meanwhile has announced that its communication line with the u.s. forces in syria is open here's

a white house correspondent kimberly how could. this is how the united states responded to last year's nerve agent gas attack in qana by attacking a syrian air base with tomahawk missiles and it's how the u.s. may act again. to the truck display of the syrian government for a recent suspected chemical attack outside damascus with their troops on the ground in syria he's also accusing russia of complicity for supporting president bashar al assad in a series of tweets on wednesday morning president donald trump warned missiles will be coming and taunted get ready russia because they will be coming nice and new and smart russia has proven themselves to be responsible in part for this they guaranteed that the use of chemical weapons by syria would not happen again fail they. told it that russia shot back in the war of words with trump it says there's no proof

a chemical attack occurred on facebook the russian foreign ministry spokeswoman posted a smart missile should fly towards terrorists and not towards the lawful government which has been fighting international terrorism for years it will be met and it will be met forcefully for days trump has been meeting with top military leaders and advisors. clued in on wednesday with defense secretary general james mattis we're still assessing the intelligence ourselves and our allies we're still working on this. there are also reports a u.s. navy carrier task force led by the u.s.s. harry truman is sailing towards the region trumps also been conferring with world leaders like french president jacques raul and british prime minister theresa may. it's an astonishing and confusing wrapping up of rhetoric for a president who said just

a week ago that he wants to get out of syria what is clear is it appears the united states is determined to hold those responsible for the suspected attack accountable can really help get al-jazeera at the white house take of him and it is they project director for iraq syria lebanon the international crisis group he joins me now from beirut good to have you with us. is a response that the u.s. is advocating justified when you have international consensus that is normally required at the security council russia and america have a bilateral conversations now we're hearing that turkey wants to come in as a mediator wow how do we actually assess what's going on. well i mean acting outside the framework and acting without an authorization is of course illegal it's deeply problematic any respect. in that said mean we have

to admit that relying on the u.n. system in this case in particular in syria has been proven to be. the safest way to inaction so if you rely on the u.n. system it's nothing is going to happen that is clear we have seen that last year after the you the u.s. attack in response to the chemical weapons attack and. there was a proper investigation and in the end when the result was clear very clearly pointing to the culprit as the syrian government the russians pulled the plug on that so if there's a u.n. process it will and again that is the rationale of cutting of cutting and cutting it out from the american perspective but again it is deeply problematic and it is technically illegal you touched on the fact that the u.s. did act syria year ago with the. attack. and we've had no major

gas attacks since then since last weekend so in terms of what we're now facing internationally what does the u.s. have to consider in terms of any next move. well we had no gas attacks for about eight months and then in the beginning of this year they started again on a smaller scale this is not the first gas attack in eastern with it's the first one of which we are hearing that much and and perhaps the largest one but it has happened before now what do you asked us to as to basically do is to make sure if this is done with all the warnings in the cabinets that i have made if this is done that is not that it is done right it is very that us very clearly communicates in particular to russia that this is a step to reinstate the turns against chemical weapons use which is a very grevious breach of international law of war and to make sure that no

russian personnel is hit obviously to minimize any of its exclude of possible any civilian casualties in the process really make make this make very clear about this if you put this to you as sort of puts this into a frame more of a much larger of a vague. vague strategy or the directive of what it wants to syrian government to do what it wants russia to do things that they cannot do and that they cannot deliver then the danger of the slippery slope into real intervention is very very great to see what does happen in the coming hours at least take a women in there in beirut thanks so much for joining us sir. still ahead here on the al-jazeera news hour is this the best man to become america's next top diplomat we'll hear why some not so sure. and we'll also take you inside africa's first

planned little turn garbage into energy. and in sport there's no love lost between two of baseball's biggest rivals the red sox and the yankees peter will be here to explain. i'm getting news that at least fourteen people are being killed by a taliban attack as in afghanistan gunman stormed a district government compound in the south eastern province of carson ie the local governor policeman and intelligence officers were among the dead in the pre-dawn raid the government says its forces are back in control of the district. israel says it's fired at least several at several hamas positions in gaza in response to an explosion which damage one of its army vehicles the military says a bomb was planted under a digger during protests along the gaza israel border no one was hurt it's not

clear what type of weapons israel used in the attack thirty one palestinians have been killed by israeli forces since protests began that the border fence two weeks ago. a former senior official in china who was once a contender for a leadership position has pleaded guilty to charges of corruption. is one of the most prominent figures charged as part of president xi jinping and the corruption crackdown now he's pleaded guilty to taking bribes worth twenty seven million dollars and abuse of power between two thousand and two and two thousand and seventeen and that is say she's anti corruption campaign is more than liberating political rivals. in the tank it is a political and economic affairs commentator who advises the chinese government on economic and development issues it's good to speak with you again you're with us from beijing of course the question has always been is this really about stamping

out corruption or is it president xi choosing a successor of his own choosing a not of his predecessors. well i think the answer to that can be seen in a movie a few weeks ago one of his protegees who was the party secretary of beijing was removed because of an incident involving how a number of migrants were treated in a few months beforehand so i think that question has been answered he's applied an even hand it doesn't matter where if you're with him or you were with one of the other power pyramids that existed in china you will be held accountable what's the thought process what does the chinese administration feel at the moment do they have a crisis on their hands because we are hearing stories day in day out that officials are tempted by the fruits of capitalism and the benefits that it seemingly brings.

well i don't know that this is purely a chinese problem it's more about an issue of human nature i think she has made a concerted effort to try to rebuild the party and that's quite evident i think the next moves that you'll see take a look at some of the princelings who have used their family connections in order to get additional power and money. the interesting part of that is she is considered a princeling himself the other part will be these flies this is referring to these kind of village and local heads whose corruption directly touches upon the people's lives on a very very real and daily basis so expect to see more in that area a little less in terms of what they call the tigers i think a lot of that has been taken care of including the military which was a very very under reported but very important part of his anti-corruption drive come the anticorruption drive actually control this president she would like the

issue of corruption across china is that some level of corruption that is tolerated one has to be tolerated because of the size of the country the bureaucracy that's involved in trying to govern such a vast number of people. well china is very different i mean when you when you're in a multi-party system i think there is a temptation to say well look a little corruption is ok greece is the skids there are competing interests you have to figure out a way to get where you need to go but for china it's a one party system if the party condones corruption the party is corrupt so one of the great difficulties for the communist party is that they cannot be seen or advancing any kind of corruption at any part of it or they risk in the long term losing the faith of the people remember china has one of the highest levels of confidence in the government it's over eighty percent of any developed nation in the unite in the world at this point large developed nation and it's and always

a pleasure to speak to get your analysis on this thanks very much for your time from beijing. now we have another tweet from donald trump about syria here are his thoughts never said when an attack on syria would take place could be very soon or not so soon at all in any event the united states and my administration has done a great job of ridding the region of isis where it is thank you america we'll of course have more this from washington d.c. later in the program. amnesty international says last year saw a drop in the number of people being sentenced to death around the world but its figures don't include china said to be the world's biggest user of death penalties and the report highlights how for middle eastern countries resume capital punishment the team barbara has more. amnesty international says the global picture

is continuing to improve last year they counted at least nine hundred ninety three executions that's four percent fewer than in twenty sixteen and thirty nine percent fewer than in twenty fifteen and there's been a marked drop in death sentences passed at least two thousand five hundred ninety one were recorded in twenty seventeen a yearly fall of seventeen percent but there's a major caveat to these figures don't include china amnesty says it's by far the world's biggest executioner carrying out thousands of death sentences last year but statistics are considered a state secret now eighty four percent of all recorded executions took place in just four countries iran saudi arabia iraq and pakistan iran executed at least five hundred seven people last year more than half the recorded global figure amnesty says courts very often rely on confessions made on the torture when passing death sentences and several countries in the middle east resumed executions in twenty seventeen after years of not doing so one continuing practice that amnesty calls

disturbing is executions for drug related defenses something that's against international law we have not been used by them a lot of countries malaysia and iran in any on indonesia singapore notice other countries and this is contrary to some of the obligations that is a country of international human right along standards and the fact that some of these countries are actually even now taking steps to reform their own national laws to align it with international laws and regulation is a is a testimony to the fact that they agree with us in the usa the only country in the americas executing people the number of states carrying out executions rose from five to eight and while there was progress in sub-saharan africa nigeria sentenced six hundred twenty one people to death last year more than any other country in the region so a mixed picture and amnesty international says its public campaign to get the death penalty abolished will go on. there are reports of

a merger that the us president used forceful language during a recent phone call with saudi arabia's king salon when discussing the gulf diplomatic crisis cording to the reuters news agency donald trump demanded that saudi and its partners quickly end the dispute it's not clear what the king's response was saudi arabia the united arab emirates bahrain and egypt are severed ties and imposed a trade embargo on qatar for nearly a year accusing its government of funding terrorism a charge that qatar strongly denies. the description of the forceful language is very different from the original white house readout of trump's phone call with king saul man which was released on april the third it says president trump emphasized the importance of resolving the gulf dispute and restoring a united gulf cooperation council to counter rainy and malign influence and defeat terrorists and extremists. mom bashar is

a senior political analyst joins me now live from our london bureau on the release of this document does actually make for interesting reading that the white house has to all intents and purposes seemed to be telling the saudis and the u.a.e. to sort their regional issues out and soon what's your reading of it well look clearly the american president the administration in general in the united states feel manipulated by the united arab emirates and saudi arabia. you know almost a year later a year or two late the truth has come out and clearly the entire crisis has been a hoax a total fabrication by the united arab emirates and saudi arabia and egypt on behalf of and against because they wanted to subjugate got out with it which has slightly more independent foreign policy to their own when i think now washington with so many issues and challenges on its hands including president trump that has

a lot of issues in his hands like china and russia trade security syria iran afghanistan and so on and so forth and the last thing he wants is just because of some ego over a number of leaders in the gulf that there are that america's allies remain divided and any attempt at confronting iran and at least as far as the nicest concern will be undermined by the us if there is this so-called forceful approach being used by the president to wardes arabia and its allies is it falling all deaf ears. what it seems to have fell on deaf ears since the former secretary of state for external or sun was putting pressure on both sides and clearly some of the. you know playing games by the crown prince of the united arab emirates not going to washington until after the emir of qatar visits washington in order to counter

argument to argue against got that and so on so forth all these games i think are becoming a bit too stale and boring in washington a washington that really wants to move on a number of important dossiers and then in the middle east and it feels that its own interest meaning american interest is being undermined by it good to stick a leaders who just don't want to just get in line and just do what they must do in order to establish a bit more stability in the gulf region of course no one can really address me as posed the timing of this release of the statement when we've had the saudi crown prince and the emir of qatar both visiting the white house in recent days. yes i think the idea that the president could not hold an immediate summit for those gulf leaders in order to mend fences because of apparently

objections by the saudi and the about i think leadership perhaps the egyptian leadership as well i think that sort of undermines american started gentlemen to come partnership if you want to call it that way in the gulf region ahead of an important deadline such as renewing or not the nuclear deal agreement such as attack or not are on syria such as releasing or not the so-called at the end of the century and so on so forth so really you know a feeling in washington that one must push the leaders in the gulf especially in saudi arabia on the either of them on its own or to do what they should of done from the beginning which is end the fabrications and mend fences with osha see what happens in the next few weeks and months for the moment tomorrow and thanks so much for joining us from london. well it is here now with a check of the weather in a moment that. we didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility and that was a big mistake months ago but it gets a rougher ride on a second day facing the u.s.

congress. and in sports the longest playoff drought in the n.b.a. is finally over peter will be here with those details just. by the springtime flowers of a mountain late. to the first snowfall on a winter's day. the weather remains unusually wet across parts of north west africa over the next twenty four hours will say it will be on the usually wintry as well up to the far north of morocco eighty millimeters of rain in twenty four hours little further south for bat saw forty millimeters of rain now this band of cloud here that's in the process of pulling away easing across is pushing across a good part of the wrist while it's making way for the next weather system you can see this one just lining its way up just around the straits of gibraltar that will

slide through as you go through friday heavy rain coming in we may well even see some snow late season snow there coming in across the atlas mountains not just the rain which makes its way across northern parts of algerian it'll continue to ease further research as we go through saturday prices guys come back in behind her back getting up to around seventeen thousand is just a few showers now further south plenty of showers across central africa some lively ones just around west africa as well but it's better seeing the heavy rain extending all the way across into the ethiopian highlands right down the rift valley and beyond star islam fifty seven millimeters the frame here in the space of twenty four hours they sat was all set to continue as we go on through the next few days more on showdown polls easing in. the weather sponsored by the time race. in australia more indigenous children are being taken from their families than ever before. when east investigates whether history is

repeating itself. on how does iraq. al jazeera where every year. in the next episode of techno the team looks into the environmental impact of waste management trash is a big business for them and for one of the smelly bill goes to the complexities of recycling when these different plastics are blended together then recycling of economies difficult to impossible and the signs that office solutions it's very easy for us to have a hundred percent recycled material techno on al-jazeera. welcome

back you're watching al-jazeera i'm still robin a reminder of our top stories in this news u.s. president donald trump has just tweeted that he never said when an attack on syria would take place could be very soon or not so soon earlier on monday he said that he will be making some major decisions on syria over the next twenty four to forty eight hours and then he had warned russia that missiles were coming. meanwhile syrian government forces have pushed the last rebel fighters out of the southern town of duma that's according to the russian military whose police have now been deployed to take over security. and a former senior official in china who was once

a contender for a leadership position has pleaded guilty to charges of corruption shouldn't change shy is one of the most prominent figures charged as part of president xi jinping is anti corruption crackdown. duma and eastern goose or were part of the years of siege and suffered almost constant bombardment before falling to syria's government and its allies marianna hard looks back at the fight for this important territory and a warning to our viewers that you may find some of the images in her report distressing. duma stood as the last bastion of resistance against syrian president bashar al assad. located in the heart of the once rebel held region of eastern bhutan. just ten kilometers northeast of the capital damascus it was a thorn in the government's side for years rebel fighters took control of eastern ghouta in july two thousand and twelve. but by the following year the government

had it completely besieged a blockade that would last for more than five years and lead to incredible hardship in a region once known for its fertile land and bountiful produce aid agencies said syrians here suffered the highest rate of acute malnutrition than anywhere else. and all the while they were being bombarded the people of eastern ghouta by u.n. estimates around four hundred thousand civilians and judy years of a strikes and shelling. the rebels in turn would target the capital without hillary and rockets the main group in charge was called jaish al islam the army of islam but over time there was splits within the group and in fighting with smaller brigades in the area and as always in war those in control reap the rewards the rebels controlled a lucrative smuggling trade using

a tunnel system for years. some may did get in but the government and the rebels were both accused of removing vital items sometimes most of the cargo from the trucks in. the world started paying attention to the good to region in august two thousand and thirteen that's when at least a thousand people were reportedly killed in a suspected chemical weapons attack the united nations investigation team said it found clear and convincing evidence that sarin gas was used the. and government denied it was behind it and many thought it would lead to u.s. intervention a red line for us is we start saying a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. but that red line came and went there was no intervention by russia brokered deal was to rid assad's government of its chemical weapons and another political deal last may involving russia iran and to ricky was to include eastern guta as one of the four

so-called deescalation zones. but the relatively short lived ceasefire wasn't to last and allegations of chemical weapons attacks returned the worst just last week when at least forty people reportedly died in duma the syrian government again denied being responsible for the tragic individual stories in duma heavy easily been lost if the numbers of the deed have risen east in ghouta is no longer in rebill hands and now into the eighth year of war president assad has control of most of the country medium mahommed al jazeera. let's return to our breaking news story on the latest tweet from donald trump about his intentions in syria whether he'll launch strikes against the syrian government and its targets well he says never said when an attack on syria would take place could be very soon or not so soon at all in any event the united states under my administration has done

a great job of ridding the region of isis where is our thank you america let's cross over two hundred calories one tree of ants force from washington d.c. we're looking at a bit of a u. turn here. i mean i don't think you can get a tweet any more different than the one that caused so much panic and so much speculation what twenty four forty eight hours ago this is an incredible turnaround by president trump the last tweet that we saw from him really threatened in very clear terms to rain missiles down on syria and told brochure that it shouldn't be a friend with someone who is an animal and president trumps words one can only assume that over the last twenty four hours president trump has actually sat down with his advisors it seemed were surprised by that first tweet and actually took some advice and said look mr president this is where we are we will take some time to put assets in place we have to gather evidence that this gas attack actually

took place and who is to blame it's hard to know what's going on in this president's mind he is the person that as candidate trump continually criticize president obama for telegraphing any military action at all and here he was twenty four thirty six hours ago saying that he was going to take. military action into place and now here we have him again saying i never said this was going to happen it may still happen or it may not happen at all it's a very confusing picture for anyone around the world who's concerned with what's going on in syria and concerned with what the united states ultimately might do about it and of course i do you know we're getting news now that turkey is coming into the mix by trying to apparently mediate between russia and the united states and russia also saying that the lines of communication with american troops on the ground in syria is still open so a lot of moving parts to the story. a lot of moving parts and you heard sarah sound as the press secretary at the latest conference yes is yesterday saying look all

options are still on the table military options diplomacy options it just seems that the outlier here the lone voice if you will is president trump and his twitchy hands when it comes to his twitter account it seems that every time he does something like that he takes his own staff and his own military by surprise so it's hard to know what's actually going on within the administration but it looks from this tweet like he's had a reassessment of the situation is perhaps sat down with his military leaders and advisors and thought well i'd better send something out because that forty eight hour deadline i was threatening as now passed so it's difficult to think what president trump will do it's thursday here in washington d.c. early in the morning he's heading to go in florida this weekend the reason may the prime minister of great britain is pulling her cabinet ministers back to possibly talk about backing up the united states as is france so there are lots of moving parts in this issue but however you look at this this is

a stunning tweet from the president in a long line of very stunning tweets from this president it's hard to know what to think but at the moment what he's saying seems to be about as clear as what he was saying in the last week which is very unclear at all of course we'll leave it we'll leave it there for now of course the very early hours there over in washington d.c. and of course i will follow events as people wake up to that tweet thanks a lot. now let's carry on with all of this going on of course president trump's choice for the next secretary of state will begin his confirmation hearing later stay my pump he's the current cia director selected him to replace rex tillerson who was fired last month state department correspondent roslyn jordan possible. confirmation hearing date is at hand for the cia director michael palm peo on tap to become the next u.s. secretary of state great service for cia director. bruce some say if

confirmed pale eagerly will embrace president donald trump's america first approach to foreign policy that he's a kind of guy that approaches the world thinking about how to use force and how to use coercion before he thinks about how to use diplomacy and that's you know mr secretary of state is america's first diplomat so it's concerning to me. as cia director pompei o has been skeptical that negotiations will lead north korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program even as trump prepares for a key meeting with kim jong own in the coming weeks. during his time as a congressman peo called the iran nuclear deal terrible and wants the u.s. to walk away from it and he has long accused muslims and arabs of being security threats a belief after this a disqualifies pompei o from serving as the country's elite diplomat if confirmed

as our next secretary of state mr pompei i would infuse u.s. foreign policy with his view that muslims are a monolith against which america must fight but others say views won't matter to middle east leaders who are more concerned in getting weapons and political legitimacy from washington what could be problematic for pompei o is his willingness to attack moscow's behavior in syria in ukraine and in cyberspace something donald trump has up until recent days been reluctant to do here's what pompei o said last month about vladimir putin he continues to view the greatest. the greatest failure of the last century japan the dissolution of the soviet union he is. bent on returning the former soviet union to its greatness and glory but john glaser of the cato institute says pompei o knows how to stay in his boss's good graces he knows how to talk in a way that doesn't offend trump and he knows how to bolster trump's sort of

attitude and confidence it's unlikely the u.s. senate will reject pomp ailes nomination ultimately it's worth recalling that he will be advancing donald trump's view of the world not his own rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington. facebook last month zuckerberg has admitted that his own personal information has been compromised while talking to or taking questions from u.s. politicians about the breach of users privacy as i sat through two days of hearings in washington d.c. after data belonging to almost nineteen million facebook members was obtained by a political consultancy firm he said he's among those users and promised to work with congress to find solutions including stronger regulations it's clear now that we didn't do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm as well and that goes for fake news foreign interference in elections and hate speech as well

as developers and data privacy we didn't take it broad enough view of our responsibility and that was a big mistake it was my mistake and i'm sorry i started facebook i run it and at the end of the day i'm responsible for what happens here they've mccabe is a technology reporter to exhaust an online news magazine that he says the important question is whether zuckerberg will change the way he runs facebook. what we saw at these hearings was it he is resistant to changing the overall business model of facebook which is based entirely on the harvesting of user data and taking that data to help target ads he has said the company is open to regulation very vague ideas but certainly he did not get behind some sort of sweeping regulation of facebook that i think some critics of the company would like to see but it's not clear that there's the appetite for that even in congress let alone at facebook and

in silicon valley you know i think shows. that they're not any closer really to regulation of facebook i do think that they do they put facebook on notice they essentially said clean up your act or we might have to come in and clean it up for you. as a president times when a fourth consecutive time in a snap election was boycotted by the main opposition parties. took eighty six percent of the vote reports. he's made as of two thousand and three and now in president seven years. there were multiple candidates in the race but only one from politics in azerbaijan is a family of. first vice president last year. succeeded his father haider president in the early ninety's the former k.g.b. general clamped down hard on opponent while at the same time opening up the

country's huge energy reserves to international companies. this was crumbling post soviet republic is now one of the world's fastest growing economies balancing relations with azerbaijan's former soviet master russia and the west this country is one of the main partner of the repeal union from the point of fuel energy security but at the same time this country is located between russia and iran these folks in beauty and the smart foreign policy helps as a bridge on to have good relations with only worse i but the economic boom hasn't benefited all many people struggle on low incomes have made growing inequality. and this is what happens to antigovernment protesters. leading opposition parties boycotted the election accusing him of vote rigging and nobody can speak out

in the ways that challenges the government and not face consequences and that means freeways are either in prison or outside that was there where john when they keep quiet to many azerbaijan is a post soviet poster child an international player the host of major cultural and sporting events but it is to this day the only former soviet republic to witness the rise of a ruling in a city as the nation gets richer one family the only arabs remain firmly in control of eve al-jazeera africa's first plan that converts waste to energy is close to coming online in ethiopia it's being built next to a landfill site in the capital that is ever stephanie went to look. this is only waste dumping site it is on an extraordinary scale we're being told it's been here for around fifty years it also goes around thirty meters underground it is untreated it is not dealt with it keeps growing waste is of course not just an if

you can problem it's not just an african problem it is a global problem now there is an exciting new project underway here it is africa's very first waste to energy plant currently we have the waste to energy plant an idea how about this what you see is the tipping hole. will receive the waste so basically what the facilities one receives one thousand four hundred tons a day this is equal to almost eighty percent of our waste what's currently goes to the land the field and polluting the environment once this facility starts operating an incinerator in this waste we kind i want to produce a hundred and eighty five hour electricity which is equivalent to light. i decide my household we're told that the plug will be fully operational in a couple of months from now and once it gets underway it's going to make a massive difference to the capital's waste management now this is technology that's already being used on every single other continent and this is why

authorities here are keen to showcase it as a success story as africa's for us and of course it remains just a small step in dealing with the ball quantities of waste that we as humans produce . well smoked fish is a popular food enjoyed in many west african coastal communities the traditional smoking process they produce a substance is known to cause cancer in the ivory coast people are being encouraged to use healthier methods shala ballasts reports. in a bubble to may women smoke fish for food. from afar they sound happy up close it's hard to tell for generations they have risen above the smoke glad for the work now they are learning they're surrounded by cancer causing particles and posting the environment where she lives that it's really difficult but this is my job i live with it i can't stop i printed this job since my children to school and can help when they're sick. coastal communities in ivory coast rely on fish for

food and income the un says up to thirty percent of the catch is smoked the reason it tastes better and lasts longer but the consequences hang heavy in the year. by the time to fish their smoking is not of good quality it contains aromatic hydrocarbons which is a source of disease and cancer for the consumer those who smoke the fish are subject to lung diseases and sinusitis. the president of the fish process is union says this is the answer new traditional avon's and obvious smoke rises from a fire at the base through layers of fish and out of a vent it can act as a storage unit requires lease wood and can drive five times more fish than traditional makes us. therefore follow toy these evans' improve the quality and hygiene of products the health of women fish processes working on the robins and the health of consumers it also has

a positive impact on the prison vaishnav the environment and the misuse of wood. widespread implementation will be difficult most communities cannot afford with the new weapons. the potential is great and these fish giants know the new ovens will likely help them live longer and hunky unlined style. shall not balance. while sport is just a few minutes away here on the news our peter will tell us about the kind of strike you don't want in major league baseball.

welcome back it's time to support his peter thank you so much twelve times european chairmans real madrid are through to the champions league semifinals but they did so in dramatic fashion against juventus on wednesday the italian club with three nil down that was often the first they going to win but two mario men duke it strikes gave them a two lead on the right players made so we made it three around the hour mark and it was game on in madrid then that stunning comeback was reduced to nothing in added time christiane and all those stepping up with a penalty to make it four three on aggregate and say in the champions from the last two seasons through to the semifinals a sad end for you very goalkeeper a genuine fourteen year old was infuriated by that penalty decision and was red carded in a glittering career that includes a world cup win move on has never managed to win the champions league but it will be quite sure i could have said anything to the referee and he should have had the

sensibility to forgive me because what he did is to commit a crime against sportsmanship and that's why i said the words i have to say he is still committed to do. i don't think he deserved it not at all but we can't change that either anyway what happened at the end is not going to change nor raise everything the plan is for football and i still think he's an amazing player and you just need to think about everything he did throughout his professional career and maybe you can play next year maybe this is not as a last match. nowhere near as much drama early on serino whereby i mean it played out goalless draw against severe the five time european champions had won the first leg two one and thus progressed to the final four for the fourth time in five seasons the draw for the semifinals takes place on friday as it was i told my team in such matches you have to keep a clean sheet usually we are always able to score a goal but unfortunately today this wasn't the case but with a goldstraw in the first leg we made it into the semifinals we mentioned earlier in

all those late goal to save real madrid in the champions league well carlos tevez also came to the rescue in the self american equivalent the copper libertad thought is to visit a team baka juniors in the yellow strip here we're up against brazilian club powell met us on wednesday the brazilians laid one no thanks to a ninetieth minute goal but then astonishingly two minutes later tevez popped up for his boyhood club in argentina and level game for baka. the minnesota timberwolves ended the longest playoff drought in the n.b.a. on the final day of the regular season it was all or nothing for both the timberwolves and their opponents the denver nuggets on wednesday the winner would head to the playoffs the loser would be out of the teams still could not be split after four quarters meaning it went over time with symbols finally prevailed one hundred twelve to one hundred six they will feature in the postseason for the first

time since two thousand and four. the n.b.a. playoff picture has now been set with sixteen competing teams in the eastern conference top seed the toronto raptors face the washington wizards the celtics meet the milwaukee bucks philadelphia take on the miami heat and le bron james as cleveland cavaliers clash with the indiana pacers. they used and rockets over the top seed in the west then face the minnesota timberwolves reigning champions the golden state warriors have got the san antonio spurs the trailblazers and the pelicans are pitted together along with the oklahoma city thunder and utah jazz the vegas golden knights have won the franchise's first ever playoff game in the n.h.l. and it continues a remarkable davey's season for the team from las vegas when they division shea thehotel scored in the first period of the golden knights beat the l.a. kings won the thing on wednesday. sidney crosby still as the pittsburgh penguins

thrashed the philadelphia flyers in their playoff opener the penguins captain schooling the third playoff had trick of his career as they won seven the thing in . japanese baseball star shohei otani has helped the l.a. angels equal their best ever start to a major league season after thirteen games famed for being both a pitcher and the batter return to the angel starting lineup against the texas rangers on wednesday he had struck home runs in these three previous games as designated hitter but had to settle for an r.b.i. single as the angels won seven two they've won ten from thirteen. that's why the slam is the thing we are going to come here. to stick. this was the scene at fenway park of the boston red sox face so for the new york yankees there's no love lost between these two rivals and there was not

one but two bench clearing brawls during the contest the yankees won on the scoresheet at least ten seven but that was not the only big eighteen m. l.b. on wednesday now which are two. good. these down and he wants to be a lot of pain. detroit tigers picture jordan zimmermann was taken to hospital for x. rays after being hit in the during the game with cleveland the post concussion tests and is expected to be pitching again in five days time. that's all the sport for me i'll have another update again later on so hail great piece thank you seeley. that was the al-jazeera can use our little brother will be here with another full half hour of news for them to learn from me told the news on t.v. thanks very much for your time and your company.

carcinogen. the sams in archaeology graduate from iraq is also a part time going to pergamon museum which includes a reconstruction of the famous ishtar gate in bubble most of the people he's

showing around came to germany as refugees this is just one of several berlin museums taking part in the project called a meeting point and as well as bringing people together one of its aims is to emphasise the contribution of migrants right up to the present day to western culture. he had been because i've been here for some time i can help them with lots of things that mrs ford to me the great thing is it's not just about museums about forming a new life here and part of life is culture. i am doing this for the benefit of people. so in that they see the importance of there are guys. who witness documentaries that open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera.