the scene for us where on line what is american sign in yemen that peace is always possible but it never happens not because the situation is complicated but because no one cares or if you join us on sat there people that there are choosing between buying medication and eating this is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's an activist and she's close to the story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. bureaus running six continents across the globe. al-jazeera is correspondents living bringing the stories they tell of this was not a good novel nothing less this young. were at the mercy of the russian camp for palestinian refugees older syria fluent in world news.

this is al-jazeera. hello welcome to the news our lives a whole robin live at our headquarters here in doha you watch al-jazeera and coming up in the next sixty minutes the syrian government's ally russia declares the battle for the rebel stronghold of duma is over. also while president trump now strikes in a vase of note on attacking syria in retaliation for an alleged chemical weapons attack on the city. also a former high flier once tipped for trying his presidency becomes the latest casualty of cheating ping's anti corruption campaign and i'm peter stammered with all the day's sport including the last minute penalty that sent real madrid to the semifinals of the champion's league infuriating opponents you ventus.

welcome to the news hour france's president says he has proof that the syrian government used chemical weapons last week in the town of and about his intentions in syria and whether he'll launch strikes against regime targets saying 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. the syrian government took control of duma after an agreement with russia and the armed group jaish and islam the deal says only russian military police are allowed to enter the city after the evacuation not syrian government forces crossing points will be open to commercial movement as soon as those 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 was a recorder is monitoring developments from beirut in neighboring lebanon live to her in a moment after we speak to rory chalons our correspondent in moscow let's begin with what we know about the conversation that's being held between turkey russia and the united states the turks have come in on this impasse about what to do or what may happen in syria. yeah obviously besides the united states and russia there are two other countries that are currently involved in this syrian conflict which i think are trying to maintain a sort of balancing act between moscow and washington d.c.

those are israel and turkey and of the two it seems that turkey is more concerned with the direction that things are travelling at the moment and russia. has said today that he was very uncomfortable with the way that some countries of turn syria into an arm wrestling match yesterday he spoke to donald trump on the telephone and he says that today he is planning to speak to the mayor putin on the phone as well and the intention as we're being led to believe from his comments are that he will use this phone conversation to persuade to flatter me put in or try to convince him to do something about what he calls the chemical massacres in syria but i think there is also a growing concern here in ankara that this is a situation that risks blowing syria and its conflict into

a totally new spear of regional threats and of course as turkey is just across the border from syria and turkey is currently involved in its own ground offensive in northern syria that has a direct impact on its foreign policy intentions and aims india did it many moving parts to this story rory and of course now we know that dubai has fallen to syria and its allies russia just give us an idea in sort of the intricate details of how this agreement is going to be implemented with russian security officials on the ground ensuring safety of at least the civilians that are there. i mean this deal basically is it is a surrender it's a surrender from jaish al islam who was the main arms group in that rebel enclave essentially of of duma in eastern guta and.

had been taking an absolute pounding it was basically the siege have been taking an absolute pounding over the last few weeks and months and onslaught of of bombs from the russian air force and from the syrian air force and then to cap all that there was this chemical weapons incidents at the weekends now the rebels have said that that actually convince them that they had to leave so just the day after that chemical weapons incident this deal was reached with the russians to essentially give up the duma and to evacuate the rebel fighters and their families to different parts of syria now the deal was basically hashed out so that the russians would send in their military police to look after security and law and order on the ground but of course general control of the area was going to be handed over to the syrian government's and earlier on today we had the information coming from the

russian defense ministry that the syrian government flag was once again flying from buildings in duma of course this has an impact of course on the o.p.c. w. fact finding mission which is supposedly going to be hitting the ground in duma maybe as soon as beginning of next week and what they will find there is a region that is now directly in the control of russian military police and the syrian government and that might have an impact claim of course what they find on the ground when they look for evidence of what happened last weekend in the chemical weapons incident do leave it there for no roy let's cross over to our correspondent in beirut it's a significant move in what's been hugely bloody conflict in syria how does this impact on the government and where or what next will they be focusing on. well the syrian government is declaring victory the pro-government

alliance and there is no doubt that this is a victory because eastern has long been a thorn in the side of the government right at the doorsteps of damascus the capital the government seat of power thousands and thousands of rebel fighters yes they were besieged but they were able to threaten damascus they were ever to launch rockets into neighborhoods and the government controlled the capital so they're declaring victory and these forces according to prover shima media they're already planning their next steps because they feel very comfortable in damascus in the southern suburbs of damascus there are territories or districts under the control of i still and what we understand is that the pro-government alliance is going to focus on those districts to clear those districts from myself fighters in order to consolidate control of the capital because of course we know how important the capital is so the government in a very comfortable really position with the help that it receives from its allies russia and iran of course the apparent chemical the time the weekend is the focus

for many governments certainly in damascus moscow and the u.s. what options are on the table as you might say for the u.s. in terms of where they might strike in syria and how will they affect the government in damascus. well the syrian army has already taken precautionary measures they have move military hardware from arab bases they have moved their assets so basically if those strikes target those military airports or air bases it will do little damage and what option does the united states really have because if they opt for a wider scale offensive a sustained the air campaign and they target iranian or russian assets on the ground it risks direct confrontation between the u.s. and russia and of course there's also the element of iran and israel so the situation is very dangerous and like a war you mentioned there are behind the scenes negotiations to try to deescalate the conflict. of course and come back to the law more developments say to thank you

. well as we just told us a few minutes ago turkey's president has also weighed in on the crisis saying that he's spoken to trump and plans to speak to putin in order to deescalate the situation. we have no intention of giving up on our alliance with the u.s. nor the wide ranging strategic relationship we've established with russia from energy to security nor working with iran to solve the region's problems the relationship we've established with countries like russia iran and china are not an alternative to our relationship with the west on the contrary they're complimentary but this isn't an obstacle to point out the mistakes both sides are making in other areas those supporting the murderous assad regime are making a mistake those supporting the p.y.t. terrorist organizations are making a mistake i will fight until the end against both mistakes we are deeply disturbed by some countries who rely on their military might turning syria into

a virtual wrestling ground. and eastern under siege for years and suffered all this constant bombardment before falling into syria's government and its allies but looks back at the fight for this important territory and a warning to all views that you may find some of the images in her report distressing. duma stood as the last bastion of resistance against syrian president. located in the heart of the once free bill held region of eastern kentucky. just ten kilometers northeast of the capital damascus it was a thorn in the government's side for you is rebel fighters took control of eastern ghouta and july two thousand and twelve. 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 in bountiful projects. aid agencies said syrians

has 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 jude years of a strikes and shelling. the rebels in turn would target the capital with that hillary and rockets the main group in charge was called jaish al islam the enemy 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 syrian government denied it was behind it many thought it would lead to u.s. intervention a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. but that red line came and when there was no intervention by russia brokered deal was to rid assad's government of its chemical weapons and another political deal last my involving russia iran and turkey 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 the tragic individual stories in duma heavy easily been lost as the numbers of the deed have risen eastern 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 the hand al-jazeera. also holds same subject let's go to the united states now as we said a few moments ago president trump has been tweeting on the situation in syria again seemingly contradicting what he said yesterday can believe that joins me now from washington d.c. i'm in less than twenty four hours ago kimberly you and i were talking about the president's endless tweeting and sort of the semi vague indication that he would allow strikes in syria now that's all changed again. right threatening russia saying things like you know you're defending a gas killing animals certainly the latest tweet you said at the start of this

program is quite a stark contrast to the rhetoric we're getting from donald trump u.s. president twenty four hours ago this could have something to do with some of the meetings that he held at the white house just in the last twenty four hours with his defense secretary james mattis as well as the chair of the joint chiefs general dunford there's also the possibility that the sort of threat of mutually assured destruction between the united states and russia maybe factoring into all of this is well in terms of tempering down the rhetoric certainly we've seen that as well from russian leaders but there's also some short term practical concerns money talks and of course we're seeing these markets and concerns by investors particularly in the price of crude oil rising to levels not seen since two thousand and fourteen also perhaps weighing in on all of this but even as we see the rhetoric toning down on the side of the united states we've seen from u.s.

allies a continual sort of preparation in terms of some type of military response we've discussed in the last few moments about french president macron the fact that he says he does have evidence that there is a chemical weapons attack has occurred we also have the british prime minister teresa mayes saying she will be holding an emergency cabinet meeting on thursday so certainly as the united states may be tampering down in terms of rhetoric we see its allies continuing to move forward in terms of some type of person on of course completely you've touched all the points that most probably president trump would want to start to rain when he has to sort of take a step back take a deep breath and realize how close he and his country is to a conflict how much pressure to you think he is in the. moment to act but act with you might say sense and sensibility. well i think that

there's some sobering second thought that is going on right now and in the united states there is the system of government where the executive branch has the equal power of the legislative branch of the u.s. congress and we may be getting some insights into some of those people that are speaking in the president's ear when we hear from the cia director mike pump aoe who will be on the hill as he prepares for confirmation hearings to become the next secretary of state potentially certainly he has talked extensively with the president and he is on record saying when it comes to syria that there is a need for the u.s. to have a high standard in terms of evidence before any action is taken so certainly that is one of the things that we may get some insight into today into why the president may be toning down his rhetoric on social media we may also hear from some of the republican leaders who are meeting with the president the white house on wednesday night so certainly these are all things that we are watching very carefully here in washington as we continue to look at the president who has now passed his

self-imposed deadline of forty eight hours in terms of giving us some indication on a decision of some sort of military response that window has no clothes and we are now seeing a bit of a deescalation by the u.s. commander in chief donald trump can go to a complete stop situation changes can be you know d.c. bureau thank you. plenty more ahead here on the al-jazeera news hour including a u.s. customs video shows its agents trying to force an injured man back into mexico. we didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility and that was a big mistake. facebook c.e.o. mark zuckerberg gets a rougher ride on its second day facing the u.s. congress. and in sport there's no love lost between two baseball's biggest rivals the red sox and the yankees you to be here to explain.

complete just told us president trump's choice for the next secretary of state will begin his confirmation hearing about an hour from now mike compare is the current cia director trump selected him to replace rex tillerson who was fired last month our state department correspondent roslyn shortened possible. confirmation hearing day is at hand for the cia director michael pollan 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 pale 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 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 believe after the say 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. because admitted that his own personal information

has been compromised while taking more questions from u.s. politicians about the breach of the user's privacy. through two days of hearings in washington d.c. and after days of 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 david mccabe is a technology reporter x.

also an online news magazine and 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 you still have some 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 is the appetite for that even in congress let alone at facebook and in silicon valley you know i think our reporting shows from conversations with lawmakers that they're not any closer 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. at least fourteen people are being killed by the taliban in afghanistan gunmen stormed a district government compound in the southeastern province of gardening another

local governor policeman and intelligence officers are amongst the dead in the pre-dawn raid afghan police say forty five fighters have been killed and security forces are back in control of the district a former senior official in china who was once a contender for a leadership position has been guilty to charges of corruption high is one of the most prominent figures charged as part of president xi jinping anti corruption crackdown china correspondent adrian brown has more from beijing like his trial the political downfall of syndrome time was swift state television showed a remorseful son confessing his guilt just a year ago he was talked of as a future chinese leader on thursday the former politburo member pleaded guilty to a range of bribery charges amounting to more than twenty seven million dollars he told the court he seriously violated the law but it received a fair trial. i deserve the punishment i am guilty

i'll accept whatever sentence i receive. soon was dismissed from public office and expelled from the communist party in september that was just a month before the party congress where president xi jinping was reappointed leader for a second term without indicating a successor son had been party chief of chongqing one of china's fastest growing cities replacing an even more flamboyant figure i also once tipped as a future chinese leader. sung's demise comes as president xi jinping intensifies his anti corruption campaign since it began more than five years ago more than a million party officials have been disciplined but certain is one of the most senior figures to have so far been brought down analysts say she's campaign is really about eliminating political rivals since soon had also been accused of

plotting against the leadership a conspiracy said to involve the country's former security chief joe young counsel it was jailed for life three years ago now soon is facing a lengthy imprisonment adrian brown al jazeera beijing the international chemical weapons watchdog has confirmed that a soviet era nerve agent known as novacek was used to poison a russian former spy and his daughter in the u.k. last month the o.p.c. w.'s report echoes british allegations made in the aftermath of the incident in the town of souls free now the poisoning of cigarettes triple and his daughter yulia sparked a global diplomatic crisis with the u.k. and its allies accusing moscow of being behind the attack. two u.s. border agents have been reprimanded for trying to illegally force an injured man across the border into mexico the officers made no attempt to identify him and offered no medical assistance

a violation of international treaties as rob reynolds reports. a new case spotlights the tensions at the border between u.s. and mexican officials a mexican official recorded the cell phone video in march of two thousand and seventeen it shows two uniformed u.s. border protection agents escorting a dish of old and apparently mentally disturbed man in handcuffs up to the border at calexico california until our mexican authorities on the other side challenged them saying if the man is a mexican citizen he should be properly repatriated through the mexican consulate in the u.s. after his identity and nationality have been confirmed what i now know. that i was going to as the u.s. and mexican officials argue the man flails about and lays on the ground one of the u.s. officers says the man looks like he's mexican but they do not attempt to determine

his identity. and. as a mexican official points out that the man has a knee injury the u.s. agent repeatedly tries to make him go over to the mexican side. eventually the man gets up and the u.s. officers allow him to wander away through traffic the man was eventually left in a park on the u.s. side about a month later he was hospitalized for observation and it was determined he was in fact a mexican national at that point he was processed and repatriated to mexico mexican authorities filed an official complaint over the incident after an investigation that two u.s. border agents were reprimanded but not fired a spokesman for the border protection agency says their actions were quote not

consistent with our normal procedures but he. the video merely showed an isolated incident a recent survey by an immigrant advocates organization shows a quarter of migrants interviewed reported abuse or aggressive behavior by u.s. border officials robert oulds al jazeera los angeles well it's time for the weapon of his everton and it seems that while the big european falls causing problems for some here last friday so we waiting all this time for the warm weather to come for it has come through but eastern side of here southwestern parts of russia it has caused a rapid forming of the snow and that's cause flooding so if we take a look at the satellite picture you can see lastly clear skies across the eastern side if your high pressure in charge is settled it's warm the sun has a coast got a decent amount of warmth to is made its way. north we have got this this weather system just making its way across the area of high pressure that red line that is

a warm front and that's where the warmer air has been fading in and in the process it has caused something of a rapid throwing off the snow than he can say in the southwest of russia where temperatures were struggling not too long ago just a few days ago they were struggling to get above freezing and then we saw the temperatures suddenly rise very close to around eighty ninety degrees the sun actually that's cools the rapid thaw and as you can see we have had some problems here it's going to be gradually increasing of the the warmer weather as you go on through the next couple days actually see this plume of warm air into central and eastern parts of the year asked to become more expansive as we go through the next day or two lossie try a little bit of weather you just notice into or germany that's going to ease a little further research as it runs into the high it will begin to weaken we have got temperatures getting up to twenty one celsius in warsaw and berlin and even warming up back home so temperatures in london touching eighty degrees. thanks

upton well still ahead here on al-jazeera why the risk of cancer is pushing communities in ivory coast to change the way they smoke their fish. we'll also take you inside africa's first industrial plant little turned garbage into energy and in sport the longest playoff drought in the n.b.a. is finally over peter we'll have those details and so do stay with us here on al-jazeera. in a country with high youth unemployment one organization helps turn school children into entrepreneurs walk on tell us what i mean by their wide fundraising empowering them to reclaim their futures we teach them how to operate this story in my shoes how to make it back and build more prosperous communities some of them invest the money into other business school for life uganda part of the rebel education series at this time on al-jazeera we're here to jerusalem bureau covered israeli

palestinian affairs we cover this story with a lot of intimate knowledge we covered it with that we don't dip in and out of this story we have a presence here all the time apart from being a cameraman it's also very important to be a journalist to know the story very well before going into the fields covering the united nations and all of the policy for al-jazeera english is pretty incredible this is where talks happen and what happens there matters. of the back you're watching the al-jazeera news hour i'm so whole robin big. top

stories u.s. president donald trump has tweeted that he never said when an attack on syria would take place could be very soon or not so soon at all he said early on monday he also said that he'd be making this a major decisions on syria over the next twenty four to forty eight hours before warning russia that missiles are coming and of course this comes only hours after syrian government forces say they've pushed the last rebel fighters out of the town of duma near the capital damascus russian military police reportedly moved into the town after the last rebel fighters left. and a former senior chinese leader who was one step down as a contender for president has pleaded guilty to charges of corruption chain thai is one of the most prominent figures charged as part of president xi jinping and anti corruption crackdown. tensions are high in garza as a protest against israel at the border enters its third week now thousands of people are trying to get to egypt out of the rafa crossing was opened following

talks with hamas last year it only opened for forty days leaving tens of thousands on a waiting list for a force that has more. than one thousand people here in iraq in the south of the gaza strip for what is a very rare opportunity you can see the desperation to get onto one of these buses they are processed here inside the hall the people who are on the list and whose documents are stanton and ready to go across and then put on these buses they're bussed to the crossing itself and taken across to egypt this is a rare thing the last such crossing took place than two weeks ago in twenty sixteen there were only forty two days of crossings twenty seventeen there were thirty six days so when these things happen there's a real desperation to it to make the most of it the last time there was a crossing again it was meant to be a three day period such as this one which was announced this week in the end only one day of crossings took place so when people get an opportunity. to get out of

gaza something so difficult to do given the israeli i said blockade and the yeah those that have been in place here on the southern russia crossing they try to make the most of that opportunity. it is and then i'm getting on and i've applied for two years but only now i'm on the list i was supposed to go last time i hope this time i can get to jordan to share my first son the shrimp there is no future in gaza if i don't travel my future will be destroyed completely. koran says officials should take care of the people we are the officials to give us chances there are seven in my family and we each supposed to pay four thousand dollars bribe egypt cites the security situation on its sinai peninsula as a reason for the heavy restrictions which continue to be imposed on this border with gaza egypt is also understood to be trying to calm the situation inside gaza and this particular opening should be seen in that context as the humanitarian situation here continues to worsen and the reconsideration that egypt is backing

between picasa led palestinian authority and hamas which continues to control gaza continues to fall to. israel says it has lied at several hamas positions in gaza in response to an explosion which damaged 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 so far been killed by israeli forces since protests began at the border fence two weeks ago. and reports of emerged that the u.s. president used forceful language during a recent phone call with saudi arabia's king syl man when discussing the gulf diplomatic crisis according 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 severed ties and imposed a trade embargo on cut almost

a year ago accusing its government of funding terrorism qatar strongly denies the allegations now the destruction of forceful language is very different from the original white house readout of trump's phone call with king psalm on which was released on april the third in it trump emphasized the importance of resolving the gulf dispute and restoring a united gulf cooperation council to counter iranian the line influence and defeat terrorists and extremists let's get more this with bashar al jazeera is senior political analyst he joins me now from our london new said to me the release of the document makes really for quite interesting reading but is it all sort of too little too late in the biggest scheme of what's been going on for nearly a year now. well yes you could argue it's a year too late but the certainly it's not too late to resolve a crisis that was based on total fabrications for brick ations that the american

president have learned that there were done and use and exploited including by lying to him about what exactly caused the crisis if you remember back in last may and june so d.n.a. minority leaders told the administration that it was cut their support for terror for it but taleban for a soul and so forth that's behind their decision to sever relations with qatar and to blockade it and in fact the american president supported their argument in the beginning however later on the f.b.i. found out that in fact the qatar news agency was hacked into by the m.r.i. fees or someone that they financed and that saudi arabia and the united arab emirates did in fact try to manipulate the american presidents for their own sort of narrow. interests short sighted interests that's for sure and so at this point in time i think the american president i don't want

to say he's upset but i'm sure if the conversation went anything like with the with the saudi king it would have been look we're too old to play games like that young mohammad's the n.b.c. and the us might want to play such games but we can't afford that we need you to mend fences with qatar and of course you know he's mentioned a little this would full stillness towards the saudi king is quite emphatic but it seems that even the fulfill the sponsors falling on deaf ears regardless of what the president wants in the long term. that's true and unfortunately i mean what we've seen over the last several months is much of it is not based in reality certainly not based in truth and not state states like it's not statesmen like that's definitely not the case meaning it's not putting state interests above all it's a lot of it seems to be at the end of the day personal jealousies and personal

vendettas and personal issues by you know the princes and saudi arabia and the united arab emirates as well as by apparently the egyptian regime that's very upset with qatar for taken position up spraying and for a product they are just here are doing its job which is objectively reporting from egypt and elsewhere so i think all in all you know there are there are there are the kind of tensions and bent that there is in the region but nothing that will that should or or or would allow regimes to blockade the country to lie to the united states and then all of you know blows up in their faces of course the timing of the release of this document shouldn't really surprise a small one considering we've had the saudi crown prince and also the amir of qatar visiting what the white house in the last few days. well look i mean certainly the

american media has been more active over the last several months in revealing some of the mysteries behind the crisis and the changes in the american position on the prices just the day before yesterday the new york times reported that basically the united arab emirates have lost and that qatar has won its case in washington but you know after a year of this sort of stuff and after their lies have been revealed for what they are it's apparently very difficult for the iraqis and the saudis to climb down the tree and when you're in the gulf that tree is a palm tree it's very difficult to climb down a tree yes to the oval to try it myself but for the moment turmoil one thank you very much for your insight a sudden stay in the region really because of the by john's president has won a fourth consecutive term in a snap election that was boycotted by the main opposition parties took eighty six

percent of the vote barco reports. he's laid azerbaijan since two thousand and three and now in president for another seven years. there were multiple candidates in the race but only ever one front runner politics in azerbaijan is a family affair and lives wife was made 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 one's crumbling post soviet republic is now one of the world's fastest growing economies balancing relations with azerbaijan's former soviet moscow russia and the west this country is one of the main partner of the repeal in union from the point of fuel energy

security but at the same time this country. between russia and iran these folks in putin the smart foreign policy helps as a bridge on to and to have good relations with only ber's 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 free will he says are either in prison or outside of his or by john well 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 controlled . al-jazeera. now 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 the death penalty and the report highlights how for middle eastern countries resume to capital punishment the team barber 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 notice it been used by a lot of countries malaysia and iran. and indonesia singapore known as other countries and this is contrary to some of the obligations that this country of late a national 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 and regulation is that is 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. smoked fish is a popular food enjoyed in many west africa's coastal communities now the traditional smoking process though produces substances known to cause cancer in ivory coast people are being encouraged to use healthier methods. 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 hosting 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 their catch is smoked the reason it tastes better and last longer but the consequences hang heavy in the year . the part of the fish they're 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 abidjan smoke rises from a fire at the base through layers of fish and out of the vent it can act as

a storage unit requires lease wood and can drive five times more fish than traditional made 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 what. widespread implementation it will be difficult most communities cannot afford the new weapons. the potential is great and. you are likely help them live longer and healthier lives. al-jazeera. new zealand's prime minister says the government won't grant any new permits for offshore oil and gas exploration the move is part of a pledge to help reduce the country's net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by twenty fifty percent at her as the policy won't affect twenty two existing

exploration permits that means oil and gas operations could continue for several decades africa's first industrial plant that converts waste to energy is close to coming online in ethiopia it's been built thanks to a landfill site in the capital that is stephanie decker 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 now waste is of course not just and it's the opium 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 facility this one receives one thousand four hundred tons a day this is equal to almost eighty percent of our waste what currently goes to the land the fields and polluting the environment once this facility starts operating and incinerate in this waste we kind of will to produce one hundred and eighty five hour electricity which is equivalent to light tops our city percent of 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 . tell us about the kind of strike you don't want in. baseball. stolen straight after the break.

welcome back is time for sport has beaten so they very much twelve times european champions real madrid are through to the champions league semifinals but they did so into matic fashion against events on wednesday the italian club with three male down after the first league in two written but to mario men's zouk at strikes gave them a two lead on the night plays mehta we made it three around the hour mark and it was came on in madrid that stunning comeback was reduced to nothing in added time

though cristiana rinaldo stepping up with a penalty to make it four three on aggregate and send the champions from the last two seasons through to the semifinals set in for you they go keeper gen luigi buffon the forty year old was infuriated by their penalty decision and was red carded in a glittering career that includes a world cup win before and has never managed to win the champions league but there 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 had to say which is of course the super committee some did to me i don't think he deserved it not at all but we can't change that either anyway and what happened at the end is not going to change nor raise everything the profound 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 he can play next year maybe this is not as a last match. nowhere near as much drama at the early on serino whereby in munich

played out of the goalless draw against the viola five time european champions had won the first eight to one and thus progressed to the final four for the fourth time in five seasons the draw for the semifinals takes place on friday it just was i've 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 it was a goldstraw on the first leg we made it into the semifinals. we mentioned earlier rebel those late goal to save real madrid in the champions league were carlos tevez also came to the rescue in the south american equivalent the. thought is to team barca juniors in the yellow strip here we're up against resilient how many of us on that wednesday the brazilians need one no thanks to a minute goal but then astonishingly two minutes later tevez popped up for his boyhood club in argentina to level the game for barca half way through the group stage home at us on top of group h.

and parker was. 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 that day in the nuggets on a wednesday the winner would head to the playoffs the loser would be out but the teams still could not be split after four quarter's meaning it went to overtime with the timberwolves finally prevailed one hundred twelve to one hundred and 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 is cleveland cavaliers clash with the indiana pacers the eastern rocket saw the top seed in the western 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 of won the franchise's first ever playoff game in the n.h.l. it continues a remarkable debut season for the team from las vegas who won their division shea fierro scored in the first period as the golden knights beat the l.a. kings one nothing on wednesday. sidney crosby starred as the pittsburgh penguins thrashed the philadelphia flyers in their playoff open up the penguins captain scoring the third playoff have trick of his career as they won seven nothing at home. 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 otani returned to the angel starting line up against the texas rangers on wednesday he had struck home runs in east three previous games as

designated hitter but had to settle for an r.b.i. single as angels won seven to five now one team from thirty of the categories where you. that's why it's really only slams the pats always making the cut i hear because i fisticuffs this was the scene at fenway park of the boston red sox baseball 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 in seven but that was not the only big hit in m l b on wednesday. now that you do. so much talk to zimmerman oh my goodness he's down and he wants to be a lot of. the troy tigers pitcher jordan zimmermann was taken to hospital for x. rays after being hit in the jaw during the game with cleveland post-concussion tests and is expected to be kuching again in five days time. maybe the electric car

racing series formula easy is heading to the streets of rome for the first time and it may just have picked up a new fenway ahead of the race pope francis welcomed the drivers and officials to the vatican and blessed formula e.'s current car he was not tempted to take it for a spin though the inaugural road takes place on saturday. and that's all the sport will have more updates again later on so thanks very much peter you've been watching the al-jazeera news are you back on the other side of the break with another full half hour to tell them from all of the team thanks for your time and your company. the sky should be no borders up here. only horizons. as an airline we don't believe in boundaries we believe in bringing people together the

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ruled for nearly half a century a controversial political figure in the cauldron of the middle east and one who was never far from crisis at home or abroad. in a two part series al-jazeera want to tells the story of cain hussein of jordan. episode one so far on options here. we understand the differences. and the similarities of cultures across the world so no matter how you take it al-jazeera will bring you the news and current affairs that matter to you al-jazeera.