before. one on one east investigates whether history is repeating itself. on al-jazeera. it's impossible to underestimate the size and scale of the economic crisis it's not just about the billion trillion dollars of debt it's not just about the banks it's not just about the government to about real people. he ruled for nearly half a century a controversial political figure in the cold in the middle east and one who was never far from crisis at home or abroad. in a two part series al-jazeera world tells the story of king hussein of jordan. episode one so vital on al-jazeera.

zero. hello there i'm jim donald this is the news hour live from london coming up. president troubles back on his threat of imminent missile strikes on syria over the alleged chemical attack but says a decision will be made soon. this is asimov's forces take full control of duma the last of the rebels who are. new figures show a drop in the number of people being put to death but there's no data from the countries on the mound one step to the future chinese president becomes the latest casualty of president cheez corruption crackdown. i'm joining in doha with

your sport just close a place in the semifinals of the europa league plus could cattles world cup be expanded to forty eight teams football chiefs on trolling it out of that and plenty more coming up in sports. good to have your company a very warm welcome to the news hour u.s. president donald trump says he'll be meeting his top advisors on thursday and promised a decision on military action against syria fairly soon a day after warning russia to get ready trump tweeted that he had never said when an attack on syria would take place adding it could be very soon or not soon a tall where u.s. allies are considering their positions the british prime minister to resign may has held an emergency cabinet meeting invited to help coordinate an international response french president a man well makkal said france needs more information before deciding whether to strike but he's no doubt about the syrian government's killed experts from the

global chemical weapons war still the o.p.c. w are on their way to damascus to investigate the alleged chemical attack on duma and they'll start work on the table alan fischer has been following the twists and turns for washington hi there alan so i guess the question everyone is asking is if president trump does decide to strike when will it happen. well i don't think you're getting advance notice of it certainly the national security council has just wrapped up in the last hour or so that was a meeting where donald trump was listening to his key advisors such as james mattis who is the defense secretary general dunford america's top soldier top military man john bolton his new national security adviser and what we're told is that no decision was reached here and from that meeting we are told that some point probably in the next couple of hours given the time difference president told trump will also speak to president of france and prime minister theresa may in london and

this is all about deciding what is the best way forward there has been some uncertainty and exactly what is likely to happen not least because of the statements coming from donald trump he of course said that wouldn't call that russia was ready to defend itself in syria then missiles would be heading their way nice new smart missiles was the phrase he actually used he also said more than forty eight hours ago that they would make a decision within forty eight hours and speaking on thursday he said that the decision still hadn't been made we're looking very very very closely at the whole situation. we'll see what happens if you what happens if. the world puts us in a position which. was they said this morning we don't agree with those as we have just absolutely decimated isis. now we have to reach them for the decision so there are the major issues and our what's the prevailing sort of temperature an

atmosphere around this in washington ten itself do you people feel that they want the president to take a moment for a pause. well i think james mattis the defense sector gave a clear indication of the difficulty in the american position when he was addressing members of congress on capitol hill in the last few hours this was meant to be just a routine budget meeting but of course it gave lawmakers the chance to delve deeper into the idea of some sort of military action against syria and james mattis said obviously they would like to do something because people are dying in what is believed to be a chemical attack but he said you've got to balance that with accenture what happens next could this go to balance that with accenture what happens next could this lead to a greater conflict and that is obviously something that they're discussing given the russians are saying as well that they would like to deescalate the tension in the area but they will protect any of their troops on the ground to do as much as

was also asked if he would go back to congress and ask for approval before any military strike and he said that was certainly something you'd talk to his lawyers about something that could be considered interestingly enough across capitol hill or might prompt hero who is the cia director was facing senators for his confirmation hearing you remember he's been nominated as the next secretary of state he said look the last strike went without an authorization for the use of military force and donald trump wouldn't need one this time around either so through all that into the mix and you can see why there is such confusion here in washington about what happens next but it's not about just the next step and will there be a military strike or not it's what happens after the next step there's also exercising many people here. live from washington d.c. allan thank you. well president bashar al assad's government has already moved military resources away from possible sites for strikes they know how to reports

from neighboring. syria's military is preparing for possible airstrikes by the united states and its allies it has been hiding aircraft moving its assets and evacuating potential targets including the ministry of defense an army headquarters in damascus western nations are promising a response following the suspected chemical weapons attack in the city of duma syrians living in rebel areas welcome any attempt to punish and weaken the syrian government but many in the opposition believe nothing will change. they already emptied all the military airports before an attack this shows that all sides are conspiring against the syrian people. we're hearing about a possible u.s. strike we don't believe anything the last time they hit nothing happened the even gave the regime advance notice to remove the planes if they hit again it will be limited. it's been several days since u.s. president donald trump promised a swift response for what he called an atrocious attack last year his

administration carried out a one off strike against syria over the use of chemical weapons now the possibilities involve something more forceful but the presence of iranian and russian troops complicates the choice of targets there is a real risk of direct confrontation with the russian military. negotiations on the issue of continuum between your audience and the russian federation i've seen all levels military political and governmental. i. have a conclusion that russia and america fall and themselves in the real deadlock they're facing a dangerous period. begin who are. the so-called de confliction hotline that the u.s. and russian militaries use in syria to prevent a direct clash is being used the kremlin however is not saying what is being

discussed. we understand that turkey and nato member is acting as a communication channel between the western alliance and russia there are behind the scenes efforts to try to deescalate what is being described as a dangerous crisis a crisis that can lead to a confrontation between the united states and russia as well as a showdown between iran and israel. just days after syria russia and iran accused israel of attacking an airbase in the syrian province of homs iran's top advisor to the supreme leader ali akbar will a.f.p. travel to damascus where they are to threatened to expel what he said were occupying u.s. troops in northeast syria saying the area east of the euphrates will be liberated iran lost seven of its military personnel in monday's strike not only did it promise a response its leadership promised to stand by syria if it attacked and would be a limited strike it will be against. military installations air fields

and all of those. things that can be repaired fairly quickly i think the american leadership will insist and the european partners or others will insist that deterrence has to be reestablished. that means that the syrian regime has to pay a price for that price is unlikely to lead to the collapse of the syrian government which is further consolidating its control after its victory in the damascus suburb of eastern huta france has said if a decision is taken to launch a strike the government's chemical capabilities will be targeted and not russian and iranian assets the situation is unpredictable but one thing seems clear significant u.s. led military intervention to tip the balance of the conflict in favor of the opposition is not on the table senator al jazeera beirut or russia's foreign

ministry says law school will not escalate the situation and suggest the u.s. should face consequences for its behavior or i shall and that's the latest from moscow. well the russians been saying for weeks now before the chemical incidents in ghouta in duma over the weekend that it was expecting some sort of as they put it provocation a false flag operation launched by the united states in collaboration with rebels on the ground using chemical weapons to justify punitive strikes against the syrian government and its assets and it's no surprise that that message is being continued by the russian government is now in the aftermath of what happened in duma the foreign ministry said today our position is perfectly clear and precise we are not seeking escalation and we expect our partners to be wise enough to return to the

legal framework and solve the emerging problems i gather the u.n. security council has been holding yet another meeting on syria this time called by russia ally in libya my camera is live at the united nations hi there mike so what came out of that meeting well that meeting was called to discuss what was described as the rising rhetoric around the syrian situation what actually transpired not quite clear it was a meeting that happened behind closed doors however after the meeting the russian ambassador vasoline the benazir emerged and spoke to the media he said that the immediate priority was to a virtual charms of war he was asked whether he meant war between the u.s. and russia and this was his response. we cannot exclude any possibilities unfortunately because we saw with messages that they're coming from washington they were very big because. they know we're hopeful i wish there was

a look at the through proper channels of these. individuals as individuals develop . well they'll be in that another gathering of the security council to discuss the syrian issue friday this meeting has been called by russia and how it's also asked the un secretary general antonio good terrorists to brief the meeting mike hanna there live from the united nations mike thank you well wishes from necessity he's a maze held an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss action over syria she says there was agreement about france use of chemical weapons can't go unchallenged barker reports from westminster after the government ministers assembled at downing street for emergency talks on whether to approve taking part in an attack on syria the prime minister said she believed the syrian regime was to blame for the

poisoning of its people the international community she said must respond over the u.k. that means joining a u.s. led coalition against president assad to reason may suggest that she's willing to make that move without a vote in parliament the government's allowed to take military action without parliamentary backing but in the past fifteen years successive governments of rum major military plans passed the house of commons first in two thousand and thirteen to reason may's previous sesar then prime minister david cameron put his case for intervening in syria in front of parliament where it was defeated a huge blow for him and his government this time to resume a cold risk losing control of her defense of foreign policy plans. but opposition politicians say parliament must be consulted the has to be a proper process of consultation we elected parliament we elect members of parliament they should have a voice in this the cabinet should not be making this decision. to resume a needs

to get this right tony blair's decision to invade iraq in two thousand and three cast a long shadow over british politics the invasion was later found to be based on flawed intelligence its members have to resume a zone policy a worried it might be too late to get involved moments past because five years ago assad was in a weak position and was vulnerable to western bombing the russians weren't there and there were moderates in the syrian opposition there aren't any more the situation has changed. the us president is waging a war on twitter threatening assad and his ally russia the british government will need to calibrate its response in more measured tones and al-jazeera london. well syrian flags and are flying into the government reassert its control all in the departure of the last rebel fighters but russian military place have been deployed

to the tam robertson regime forces under a deal between russia and the armed group josh castillo with boards. a deal to surrender and leave over the last week thousands of opposition fighters and civilians have fled duma to rebel held areas in northern syria about twenty thousand people have gone to the northern province of it live for many the pain of defeat is overwhelming. those on the opposite side of the war celebrated the evacuation the last rebel stronghold in eastern guta now under government control is covered and probabl and i'm up in the field clubs like all the entrances are closed there's mines inside i can't go in i could not to go anywhere you can see the wires and other troubling things they told me to wait a couple of days until the street is cleared for the evacuations out of duma or a major victory for syrian president bashar al assad and his ally russia many of

the city buildings and roads have been destroyed there have been weeks of intense bombings. the takeover may have been driven by an apparent chemical attack in duma about forty people were killed hundreds were treated in hospitals the syrian government says it had nothing to do with it while the russians deny such an attack even happened under the inoculation deal russian military police are now patrolling the streets. a city in transition as the syrian government keeps gaining ground. on al-jazeera coming up this news hour. the u.n. defends its actions after protesters still corpses laid out in protests in central african republic a rare opportunity where at the rough a crossing where desperate palestinians are hoping for their chance to feed gaza and costs into egypt. and just six months on from hurricane irene majola tell us

about the african whose votes fourteen choices the british version of. president trumps nominee for secretary of state mike pompei or has faced tough questions from senate says a confirmation hearing. they. are the current cia director was greeted by protest as accusing him of being a war monger if confirmed by the senate pompei a woman's place breaks to listen he was fired last month after repeatedly clashing with the president on pale denied ever advocating for regime change in north korea was jordan has the latest now from capitol hill. the cia director mike pompei has been trying to sound a conciliatory note during his daylong confirmation hearing on capitol hill this problem pale would replace threats tillerson who never got on the right side of the

u.s. president donald trump and in fact trump when making the nomination said that my comp aoe shared most of his news about how to conduct foreign policy paul pale however has been selling us some cautious notes he did say that he wouldn't tear of the iran nuclear deal short of scale but rather he would propose that if the state department concluded that the deal was not being complied with that the us talked with this allies about drafting and a good seeding a new. new deal to keep their fallen from developing nuclear weapons as for north korea which has already been testing nuclear warheads pompei all said that caution needs to be used as the president gets ready to meet with kim jong il the north korean leader but he did indicate that at the end of the day he believes that if he is confirmed he's going to be looking for every diplomatic fashion possible to avoid using military weapons as

a way of resolving global crises donald trump is considering whether to rejoin a renegotiated trans-pacific trade partnership champus ass's trade an economic advisers to look into whether a better deal could be negotiated it would be a major policy used term for a child who made the drawing from the pact one of his first acts in office a t p p includes eleven other pacific rim countries at least fourteen people have been killed in this hack carried out by the taliban in afghanistan gunmen stormed a district government compound in the south eastern province of gazan a little governess seventy seven five intelligence officers are amongst the victims the district is now under the control of afghan security forces now with tensions high in gaza thousands are trying to get to egypt after the rough a crossing was opened following talks with hamas last year it only opened for thirty six days leaving tens of thousands on

a waiting list harry fossett has more. almost thousands of 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 hole the people who are on the list and whose documents are stamped 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 in up twenty seventeen there were thirty six days so when these things happen 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 periods 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 those that have been in place here on the southern russia crossing they tried to make the

most of that opportunity. even didn't get no one has 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 children to share mothers of the sram there is no future in gaza if i don't travel my future will be destroyed completely. when i marry her koran says officials should take care of the people where are the officials to give us chances there are seven in my family are we supposed to pay four thousand dollars bribe egypt signs 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 that the reconsideration that egypt is backing between the fatah led palestinian authority and hamas which continues to control gaza continues to fall to egypt also understood to be urging. along the

fence between israel and gaza where we've seen protests over the last couple of weeks tens of thousands of people gathering hundreds of the being shot by the israeli live fire when you talk to some of the young people in gold in those protests they talk about the lack of any real hope for the future here inside gaza and the near impossibility of getting out through this barely functioning route in the southern tip of the gaza strip and the palestinians been killed at a protest camp site close to the israeli gaza border health officials say the man was shot dead by israeli forces thirty two palestinians have now been killed and protests began at the border fence two weeks ago earlier israel fired at hamas positions in gaza killing one hamas fighter and leaving another person injured israel said the strikes were in retaliation for a bomb attack in a military vehicle in state which didn't cause any casualties. the embassy international says twenty seven thousand so a drop in the number of people being sentenced to death around the world but it's

figures don't include china said to be the world's biggest executioner and a new report highlights how for middle eastern countries resumed capital punishment last year that in baba explains. 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 in the 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 rights along standards and the fact that some of these countries are actually even out taking steps to reform their own national laws to align it with international laws and regulation is a 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. well lucy graham is the head of amnesty international's death penalty team and she joins me now live and lucy very warm welcome to the program thanks for being with us so just tell me more about the report what kind of trends does show more generally there are three key trends that we're seeing this year the first one is definitely a message of hope and that we are witnessing the end of the death penalty there are two of the messages there and one of those is that there is still cause for concern and the third message is absolutely that's why we need to keep on fighting for abolition and that we can't afford to be complacent which other countries that concern you the most in your what are the kind of stories that we don't see in the press or things that we aren't generally witnessing china is definitely one of the

biggest causes for concern thousands of people were executed in china last year and the information itself about the exact figures is a state secret having said all of that there is reason for hope this yes if you take the example of south sub-saharan africa we've seen a substantial reduction in executions twenty countries are now abolitionist and there have been various legal developments in twenty seventeen and we're also seeing that progress in twenty eighteen as well which is really great news there's also been some cracks in quite storage supporters of the death penalty so if you take iran and malaysia they've passed laws last year that we should hopefully see a reduction in drug related executions in the future as well and in terms of what that means on the ground for the people who face the death penalty if you take the name for example they abolished the death penalty in twenty sixteen but twelve men remained in limbo on death row and just a couple of months ago best sentences were commuted to life in prison and this is do we know any more about why people are sentenced to death is there

a trend there too i think the general trend that we're actually seeing is one definitely that is positive and towards a world that is moving towards abolition for example the year that i was born sixteen country. have a part abolish the death penalty for crimes and that now stands at one hundred six and so we are seeing that real progress is there's a rich mixture of reasons for that local activism a realisation that the death penalty doesn't actually deter crime but in general i think it's just this realisation that we're that we're moving that we're progressing as a world and that we are witnessing the end of the death penalty in terms of why people are sentenced to death whatever sort of main reasons or are their main reasons of fact that somebody would be given a death sentence i think one of the main reasons is this perception that the death penalty does deter crime and that's something that's not really borne out by the evidence there obviously still very big causes for concern in the way that the

death penalty is used and drug related crime for example is one of those and that's one of those crimes that is used because the basis that it actually does deter crime so for example there if you look at the situation in asia which is one of the biggest users of the death penalty for drug related offenses the the levels of drug crime in asia are pretty similar to what you see globally on average pretty similar to what you see in countries that don't actually use the death penalty just to give you an example of how problematic some of that is so fifteen countries use the death penalty for drug related crime last year if you take the example of singapore you can be found with just a small amounts of drugs in your pocket and in some cases you can be presumed to be a drug trafficker and that means that you receive a mandatory death sentence. thanks very much for joining us to cisco further thank you. so to come up with this new international chemical weapons experts say a russian former spy and his. with

a very pure type of. cancer risks our. communities to turn to new technology to make their traditional small fish. and a former heavyweight world champion is set for a return to the ring joe will have details coming up later in sports. however we've got the spring warmth setting in nicely now across much of here were season very warm air filtering into central powers easing across the eastern areas to and pushing right up across ukraine into the southwestern corner of russia or in the process that has led to some flooding this is no melt that has caused the flooding here is the temperatures rose very quickly not so long ago as temperatures well down close to freezing but now we've seen the temperatures lifting some when

there are the high teens the fall of back a little bit but we are going to see some good warm weather just coming back through as we go on through the next few days to moscow it around eleven celsius for thursday afternoon a seventeen there in kiev and see this plume of warm arad wish to become more expansive as we go on through the next couple of days say for friday twenty five celsius there for warsaw glorious sunshine twenty degrees there in kiev further west we have got some wet weather just around germany that'll make its way out of the way in the coming days fourteen celsius in london seventeen there for paris and for zero eight but only thirteen there in madrid it warms up nicely across western europe as we go on into saturday and i'm to get up to eighteen degrees and what weather just around the western side of the med elsewhere that warmth spreading in . water an essential resource for all humankind across europe pressure to recognise

water as a human right and put its management back into public hands is increasing i think that the european commission would be very very good that is was a prophet isaiah should anybody say anything and. those people who see every two years something to invest the profit of a one dollar up to the last drop on al-jazeera and hundred forty twelve on. u.s. and british companies have announced the biggest discovery of natural gas in west africa but what to do with these untapped natural resources is already a source of heated debate nothing much has changed they still spend most of their days looking forward to for the dry river beds like this one five years on the syrians still feel battered or even those who managed to escape their country have been truly unable to escape the war.

i'm reminded of our top stories here on al-jazeera president trump says he'll decide shortly don't buy this a launch attacks against syria after tweeting that they could take place in our soon at all present trouble former leaders of the u.k. and france later on thursday to discuss the situation which is from minnesota reason mais promising a coordinated response with the u.s. so meeting members of her. syrian government's research of control of a gym after the departure of the last rebel fighters russian military place have been deployed to the time on the ridge deal with the i'm going. for more now on the international response to the syria crisis we're joined by jim walsh

he's a senior associate in security studies program at the massachusetts institute of technology jim of a woman welcome to the program what's your view currently on the path that might take well i expect him to follow through on his first tweet which is i expect that we're going to get an attack on syria the only question is when and how big and what the targets are i don't think they'll go after the chemical stockpiles because that risk creating a plume of talks a gas that might float over syria so i presume believe there are go after military targets or political targets possibly the chemical production plant since they can't be moved the syrians can hide the chemical weapons but they can't hide the plants but again there are some risks there but i expect you know we had this happen a year ago and he responded with a very modest attack on airstrips it's hard to imagine that when it happens year later he will not respond so i expect an attack and jim why not wait until the

o.p.c. w. has carried out their investigation till there's kong evidence from them either way . well i certainly think that mr trump will wait until the p.c. w. inspectors leave syria right there on their way they're supposed to be there on saturday to begin their initial inspection certainly not going to launch an attack while they're on the ground. but we have some from his perspective you know that's what i'll take right now from his perspective we already have the world health organization suggesting that the patients that they examined were the victim of some sort of toxic chemical and of course the u.s. and britain france and others have their own intelligence services so there were no doubt satellite imagery signals intelligence human intelligence that may have further substantiated along with the other reporting by locals on the ground that

chemical weapons were used but i think what will delay this if it's to late is more likely to be issues related to diplomacy so for example will france will britain which i think is unlikely will france will others in the region or elsewhere support whatever the president does in this regard and that will take time to work out so i think that's the main thing slowing things down right now and jim what about if a military strike were to happen with this fire there to some degree and have that the u.s. to the rest of the remainder of the conflict in syria would intrench it further. julie it's a great question i would say in principle no but as a practical matter it might it might why do i give that confusing answer here's why the objective the present trump had in syria was very limited and it was to defeat isis at that holy unrelated the chemical weapons and they were using airstrikes and

military advisors on the ground to defeat isis he has concluded that that is objective has been largely reached and so he's talking about pulling those people out the issue of responding to a use of chemical weapons is wholly separate and you can imagine strikes that hit syrian targets and then that's that that's the end that the story the reason why it might not be the end of the story is if the president attacks syria with missiles which is i think the most likely outcome and syria and russia begin targeting those two thousand u.s. troops that are in syria then you have the possibility that maybe you could get in and escalate tory dynamic that you get to for tat that they would hit back and then because they hit u.s. troops the u.s. government would feel compelled to hit back and back and forth you go i don't think that's likely to happen but it's a possibility and it's certainly a possibility that military planners are considering to most joining me live from

watson jim thank you now a bomb blast has hit a packed football stadium in the somalian town of but all way south of the capital mogadishu five people are thought to have been killed with several of us wounded somalia based on group al-shabaab have claimed responsibility for the attack have carried out several other attacks in the town and have a strong presence in the southern region of lowish. the united nations has described a civilian process using dead bodies in the central african republic as propaganda demonstrators play seventeen dead bodies outside the u.n. building in the capital bongi on whipping state they say they were innocent civilians which were killed during classes between clashes between the un an armed goods but the un insists the dead were criminals who opened fire on un peacekeepers killing one un is currently on a mission to restore state authority in the mainly muslim p.k. five area of punky was wrong pierre luck wise the u.n. undersecretary general for peacekeeping operations and he spoke to us from and said

the un's actions were justified and its presence in the p.k. five neighborhood is welcomed by the people there the population first do something about this group you know there are a prissy population there may be legal rights is there. you see male sometime oh there are some. that this has been going on for months and months months and. the u.n. has been trying to get everybody to solve this problem in the recent me but for many months trying. to intervene and the and that's we did it and we were wrong. the arms. who were. harm and. this confrontation resolved that the. on court and

in fact we have one. you know. a very high number and we're going to do the best of our knowledge and of course we will investigate for you what happened there has been no women and children there has been unfortunate the many armed civilians who were killed you know i think it's important not to be many jule aided by those who really want to work on the rebuying the action of all those want to mail the settlements can republic oh no we are here to protect the population we did this at the request of the population the global chemical weapons for stocks as a military grade nerve agent onesies the poison a former russian spy is still say in the vicious town of soulsby last month u.k. government and its allies blame russia for the attack moscow denies any involvement catherine stansell reports it was the first nerve agent deployed in europe since

the second world war the o.p.c. w was ordered to carry out an independent investigation into the poisoning of your young sergey screen last month when they were found slumped in a park in salisbury yulia was released from hospital this week her father is still receiving treatment. well the o.p.c. w. isn't responsible for finding out the source of the chemical it didn't stop the british foreign secretary boris johnson from pointing the finger only russia has the means motive and record the kremlin has to give answers the chemical identified is said to be of high purity suggesting that only a sophisticated laboratory could make it very hard purity is very important it's very difficult to make a highly toxic chemicals to this holy level of purity without a lot of effort don't worry about purities because they don't get in the way is the nature tossed that you're using the chemical for which is to poison something so

you only release the impurities if you try to make it difficult for people to point the finger back at you russia has consistently denied its involvement and the incident such off a diplomatic tit for tat with britain it refuses to accept the findings of the o.p.c. w. unless moscow has access to the test samples itself but that is them not sure if it's saying no we confirm all official position that russia will not blindly accept any conclusions in this case until russian experts are given access to the material of the. investigation and to the full range of real information on this incident which london is in possession of. the foreign secretary has said there is no other alternative about who is responsible for the nerve agent except moscow the british government has requested a special meeting with the o.p.c. w to discuss its findings and the un security council where russia is a permanent member will also hold a meeting next week stansell al jazeera london milar social welfare minister when

my it i on a three day trip to bangladesh to assure ranger refugees that their repatch ration is a top priority tender cherry has more now from coaxes bazaar. myanmar minister for social welfare relief and resettlement visit the could to prolong refugee camp in funk that this is the first time ever a minister visited the growing refugee camp since the influx began now he met with a lot of the representative of the rohingya refugees at some point there was heated discussion and exchange of what even there was a demonstration out outside which was quickly dispersed by the police now we caught up with him at the hotel and requested for an interview which he politely declined and refereed us to talk to one off is sending our delegate members to respond to our question. what was his response to the visit what he saw on the ground in the camps this is what he had to say what we have come to hear from them what are their

concerns and we were able to hear what is being done because what we want to. see is more nation building exercise want to make sure that the do trust efforts that have been done by the time this is what he had to say i want to axiom about the delay on the repaired tradition process i also asked him how does the government intend to resettle the refugees when most of their village homes are destroyed and now occupied by the army so what we have done is really. informed the numbers to ensure that. completely. till the dillies not on our part the deal is they would have to fill the forms and we would be verification as soon as possible. to respond to international criticism and the fact that it's been termed as ethnic cleansing in myanmar this is

how you responded to my question there's no atlanta if there were any and plenty really not have accepted them but the most complex and contentious issues remain the identification and the citizenship papers just decide and example some of the representatives of the refugees brought their parents citizenship papers to show to the minister he responded by saying that your parents might be a citizen but you are not this is how complex and difficult whole process is we have to see how the whole thing works out down the road former senior official in china who was once considered a contender for the presidency has pleaded guilty to corruption charges singeing science one of the most prominent figures to be president anti corruption crackdown china correspondent adrian brown reports from beijing like his trial the political downfall of time was swift state television showed a real. 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. sune 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 soon had been party chief of chongqing one of china's fastest growing cities replacing an even more flamboyant figure bocce ly 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 soon 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 sun had also been accused of plotting against the leadership a conspiracy said to involve the country's former security chief joe young caring who was jailed for life three years ago now soon is facing a lengthy imprisonment adrian brown al jazeera beijing a small fish is a popular fit enjoyed across west africa but the traditional smoking process produces substances known to cause cancer in ivory coast people are being encouraged to use healthier methods seana bellus reports. in a barber do 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 hurting the environment. to lives that it's really difficult but this is my job i live with it i can't stop i pay rent with 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 last longer but the consequences hang heavy in the year. by the time to fish they are 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. and obviously smoke rises from

a fire at the base through layers of fish and out of the vent it cannot to the storage units requires lease would it can drive five times more fish than traditional made us and therefore follow these ovens improve the quality and hygiene of products the health of women fish processes working on the robins and the health of consume ms it also has a positive impact on the prison vaishnav the environment and the misuse of would. widespread implementation will be difficult most communities cannot afford with the new weapons. the potential is great and these fish dry is no new ovens would likely help them live longer and healthier lives. shall not balance al-jazeera. the come here. will take you inside africa's first power plant that turns waste into energy and this war to set playing rivalry heats up in the moral

condesa joe will be here with that in just a sec. business updates brought to you by qatar airways going places together.

business updates brought to you by qatar where we're going to get. africa's first plant the converse waste energy is about to open in ethiopia it's a project that aims to bring elektra's city to thirty percent of homes in the capital it's been built next to a massive landfill site and at a savable where people sift through manton's of garbage trying to make a living steph the hair has the story. 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 in a 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 and i discovered this what you see is the t.p. 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 facilities start operating an incinerator in this waste we can i will to produce one hundred 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 first and of course it remains just a small step in dealing with the vast quantities of waste that we as humans produce now for all the europa league action and the rest of the sport over to joe in doha . julie thank you yes european football has delivered again with another night of drama this time in the europa league just one telling club last series thought they were one foot into the semifinals thanks to a four to aggregate lead over south spoke from the first leg the austrians made them pay scoring four goals in twenty minutes salzburg beat them for one on the night to go through six five pulling off a stunning comeback salzberg the only reigning domestic champions left in the competition. arsenal led four one from their first leg with c.s.k.

and they were put under pressure in moscow with the russians going to no upon the night but danny welbeck from the back of the net for arsenal with fifteen minutes remaining before aaron ramsey sealed the six three aggregate win in injury time it's also first european semi final since two thousand and nine in the other two quarter finals marsay scored five goals to overturn a one l. deficit against light sick and two time you europa league champions atletico madrid lost one nil it's sporting but progress two one on aggregate the draw for the semifinals takes place on friday. the world cup in council in twenty twenty two could be the first to be expanded to forty eight teams if top football officials get their way the ten members of commodore what's the south american confederation well they've written a letter to fee for requesting an additional sixteen teams in the tournament in four years' time as opposed to the current thirty two football's governing body have already planned to have forty eight teams in the twenty twenty six competition

but they need twelve venues to pull it off catherine is currently building eight stadiums an option they could look at is to share the games with other gulf countries but his cancer is under blockade by its neighbors saudi arabia the united arab emirates and bahrain but is unlikely as president though isn't ruling out an expansion. it seems to me a very interesting idea of course we have to study the fuse ability of this proposal if it's possible if it's feasible if the others agree to because it is not a decision that only the president of the four combo make but well of course we are going to study it and i really think that it's something very interesting we have to study it seriously and if it is possible why not former heavyweight champion of the world tyson fieri has announced he will return to the ring in june after an absence of more than two and a half years although he hasn't said yet. the twenty nine year old was suspended for violating anti doping rules in twenty sixteen his last fight was in november twenty fifth when he took three of the recognized world title belts from flat in

the klitschko anthony joshua's now the holder of those fury set his fellow britain would be no match for him. it's going to be an easy easy. just. park road. and you want to you can move. a few. if you want. get the right road without me if you want to try land. that's the only way let along that even on my part from. the british virgin islands is celebrating a historic sporting triumph at the commonwealth games just six months after the tiny caribbean nation was devastated by hurricanes kyron mcmaster stormed to victory in the men's four hundred metres hurdles final on thursday to win the first international model of any color and in any sport for his country the twenty one year old dedicated the wind to his former coach savior samuels who was killed in

her. last september meanwhile there was drama in the men's two hundred metres final england sandel hughes just edged out trinidad and tobago is your dream richards to win also he thought after celebrating hughes was disqualified for impeding richards you can see their arms clashing there as they approached the line the english team appealed but riches was confirmed as the winner. well you might not be competing anymore but you same boat has still been a star attraction at these commonwealth games it's the first time the jamaican has been at a major athletics event as a spectator since retiring last year but the thirty one year old shut down any suggestions he might be about to return to the track instead reiterating his desire to become a professional footballer. very serious about playing football put in work i'm working with dharma not disappoint him to really help me to. figure out in his direction i need to go and what i need to improve to be better if i am really going

to do is just working out there right now i'm not willing to just hopefully in the future. now from the fastest man over one hundred two hundred meters to two of the fastest man in one of the toughest foot rice's in the world moroccan brothers rashid a mohammed omar beatty dominated the marathon des sables holidays stage on wednesday and into thursday which took compresses over eighty six kilometers with two stages left six time champion rashid leads by just over thirty three minutes from his brother who is still looking for his debut victory and that is all the sport for now but to julie in london joe thank you well you can find out much more about the stories we're following going head to our web site there's loads of video on demand and contributions from our people all over the world thanks very much for joining us i'll be back in just a second question. for

you. the street is quiet the signal is given. so it's safe to walk to school. in this community in one month the police say this area is one of several in some

townships and children caught in the crossfire would rival gangs fight so parents and grandparents are what they call a walk to try to. go. there are more than one hundred fifty volunteers working for. teachers say it is working class attendance has improved the volunteers also act as security guards one day. i'm the decider you play god. if you can. assure you. we. all. are in this magnificent. chronicle of the revolution and its aspirations through the prism of its architecture. unfinished spaces.