three times the officially permitted capacity for those who want to able to find a place or who can't afford a ticket there's always the route. travelers have to remain alert a lapse in attention could be fatal. the danger comes not just from above. even if the moderate speed of thirty kilometers an hour on a tree branch can cut like a machete. big stories generate thousands of headlines collaboration with different angles from different perspectives. this is the only evidence that russia was responsible for this separate the spin from the facts that's why i only got. the misinformation from the journalism the issues here go far beyond one data mining company and one election with the listening post on al-jazeera.

early elections for turkey president obama moves the vote up. along down jordan this is live from doha also coming up a flurry of diplomacy as the u.s. confirms its held top level talks and pyongyang with kim jong il. still a no go international monitors are yet to get the green light and to examine the site of a suspected chemical attack. and cuban politicians begin picking a new president signaling the end of the castro. the turkish president has called for early parliamentary and presidential elections russia typer one says a snap poll will be held. on june twenty fourth elections were originally scheduled

for november twenty ninth teens but what about move them up to usher in a new presidential system or turkey switching from a parliamentary system to a presidential one can increase the power of the president with an s. barak ali joins us live now from istanbul he's the director of european studies at the set a foundation how surprised are you by this snap election and why is the turkish president doing this now of course it's early elections and this is a surprise but at the same time since we had this referendum last year and we had an drastic change in the turkish. political system from parliamentary to a presidential system and this is done will be introduced in the in the person elections saw we had two years time and one of years time but this is this is let's say putting the country in an even more you know until and unless the elections and these uncertainty is causing some problems in the in the country

especially in the economy and that's why i think the government now decided to. the election was earlier than expected and then we'll time yeah i know i am says the country urgently needs to switch to an executive type of presidency what do you think he means by that and does that give him more power. i mean of course dick cheney has already approved so it's just a matter of time and as i said it's written in the referendum that these changes will be introduced will be introduced in the in the country in the first early after the first elections saw and i think that's why the country the president and all the other parties they don't want to wait until that time because as i said the country this is causing this is causing some kind of sort in the in the political system and the country needs to warm especially given the challenges the current turkey is facing in its foreign policy in syria all the surrounding regions plus

turkey needs a stable government stable economy which the country has a young population and that's why i think the it's first take a political stability the second issue is the economic stability deaths these are the main reasons for the elections in the country and as just a final thought from you how are the events of the failed coup of twenty sixteen likely to play into the vote do you think can you repeat the question of how are the events of the failed coup of twenty six team likely to play into these elections it had the effect on the turkish people and the psychology of torture people and this has changed the country we can say and many people seeing it as a turning point in the country and it will have an effect effect but it's been almost two years now so we cannot say that it will have a huge impact but some some waters will consider this issue but they in turkey the politics is quite i mean the political life is quite fast things are changing quite

quickly so we cannot say it will have a huge impact but this is also one of the one of the things that will or we can say there are many other issues that will affect elections and asparagus thank you for talking to us. now the u.s. president has confirmed that his nominee for secretary of state made a secret visit to north korea well this is the man himself current cia chief mike pump a.o. donald trump says he met the north korean leader in pyongyang last week when it comes as the groundwork being laid for a possible summit between trump and kim jong hoon and in a separate development south korea says it may pursue a formal postwar peace treaty with the north when its leaders meet next week but donald trump confirmed pumping his visit in a tweet saying my pump am met with kim jong un in north korea last week he said the meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed details of summits being worked out now denuclearization will be a great thing for world but also for north korea should have

a chance he has more now from washington d.c. it was difficult not to notice that the timing of this leak from the administration coincided with news that might be the first secretary of state nominee since one thousand nine hundred twenty five since records began not to get an endorsement from the senate foreign relations committee during the confirmation process so it is very concerned about his positions on a range of issues his islamophobia his position on torture gay rights reproductive rights and then on foreign policy is bellicosity to the boards of those who he feels are the enemies of the u.s. need to be iran and north korea are in the past it was pomp a year it was thought to be the biggest or could be administration against north korea against talks with north korea he was reported to have undermined rex tillerson the secretary of state the former secretary of state attempts to talk to north korea but now he's being reinvented as a piece on voice our diplomats diplomats and that gives his allies in congress

something to work with as he faces confirmation possibly next week. inspectors with the international chemical weapons watchdog have still not entered the site of a suspected gas attack in syria more than a week ago they arrived in the capital damascus on saturday western nations accuse russia delaying the inspectors entry into duma and say they suspect the site has been tampered with moscow says there are conspiracy concerns two days ago journalists were schooled that into duma by the russian military without incident wasn't a joins me live now from the lebanese capital beirut same as still some confusion as to whether or not the inspectors will be allowed in to do most of what's been happening. well yes it's not clear if and when those chemical weapons inspectors will visit united nations official has confirmed. that a u.n. security team that visited on shoes they came under fire so there was gunfire when that team was inside on tuesday it's not clear whether or not this incident is going to affect the. work or this decision whether it will enter duma or not we

have reached out to the. what they're telling us is that they are going to release a statement shortly we are waiting for that statement so really a lot of confusion and who was responsible for that gunfire what we understand is that under the control of the russian military and the syrian government both the military and the syrian government making clear that the area has been quote liberated from terrorists so who was responsible for that shooting now on tuesday both the russian military and syrian state t.v. reported that inspectors were actually in duma of course that is the town where the suspected chemical weapons attack happened at the end they turned out to be false reports now there are also questions being raised then asked on whether or not. you will be able to carry out its mission if indeed it reaches duma because it's been already what twelve days now that suspected chemical weapons attack happening on april the seventh so will the evidence hard evidence still be there or will they be

able to talk to witnesses survivors or doctors freely because there is a new authority on the ground or will these people be intimidated so really a lot of questions are being asked and at the end of the day the o.p.c. mandate is to determine whether or not and then a chemical weapons attack actually happened they will not apportion blame and its fight and findings will not trigger a response because already the western nations carried out their retaliation. well it's not my jollies a former inspector for the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons he says it's unlikely inspectors will find evidence at the site after such a long. it has been a long time since the attack took place not talking about eleven days but the same time actually we are talking about chemicals some of them are one of the tedium so if you are in control of all side with him because for such a long time it's very easy actually to tamper with the place and to change the

facts on the ground. you actually do some what we call it in the. military the business is the decontamination process which is to move all the. evidence is on the ground by using other chemicals to neutralize the can because in the gun also you can temper with the munition itself the bodies of the munition change both had to remove what the body you can do also to prepare or some witnesses order to prepare some medical reports all these to go that actually can add to the facts that i think the the russians and the syrians they are planning to change the idea on the ground now cuba's national assembly has become voting to pick the country's next leader raul castro is stepping down ending almost sixty years of castro dominance and politics national assembly the cost of their votes over the next two days and the man to take over is first vice president miguel diaz

cannell latin america at it's in a c and human joins us live now from havana so the process micio of political transition has started what can we expect to happen. and it has the clock down the countdown has indeed begun at this moment the national assembly has begun voting for the people who will be running that national assembly the president of the assembly they're going to elect the thirty one members of the council of state that's the way the cuban communist system works they do not elect directly the president council of state and then we'll need to lean on thursday to finally then select the next president you know this is uncharted territory governor and it's always been a member of the castro family either fidel castro or raul castro who we now believe will many elected to the council of state but what happens next is really you know

i don't know when or how it is going to work the only thing that seems very clear is that for the first time in nearly sixteen years to vote will not have someone with the name chasse tro alyse as you say many cubans only know life castro ruler so how will ordinary people ordinary cubans be doing this transition of power do you think. could be. done and you made surprising probably more more for people outside of cuba than in to but they don't see this as a major change because what has been said over and over and it's really being drilled into cubans on the media the state run media on the streets everywhere you go everything you hear is that it's simply continuity with the communist party is going to continue to be in charge of cuba raul castro is handing it over to people who he trusts who have been by his side who have been groomed for this position and remember castro is not disappearing altogether he's going to remain as the head of

cuba's all powerful communist party down lissie thank you. all right lots more snow to come here knowledge is there including its independence day in zimbabwe and for the first time a different man is front and center in a celebration. and we'll tell you why the starbucks coffee chain is closing thousands of the stores in the u.s. just for a day more on that stay with us. welcome back we have an area of rain developing across parts of southern china and just get some convergence taking place the winds are all coming together from two different directions so as it moves through to friday will see this area becoming rather cloudy with some outbreaks of rain but the east coast should be fine from shanghai downtown kong about twenty six degrees celsius fine for taiwan to across indochina we've got a few showers around but generally weather conditions aren't looking too bad it

should be bright enough in annoy with highs there are thirty degrees or so now into south asia we've seen some heavy showers affecting parts of bangladesh dhaka coming in a significant rainfall total still more showers are possible here extend into parts of nepal otherwise a few showers across the far south of india and possibly sri lanka certainly more in the way of cloud but really the main thing still is the heat building ahead of the monsoon rain the temperatures into the low forty's there across central areas further north we've got some some rain across on the hill station is turning to snow the himalayas delhi still looking pretty hot at thirty seven degrees here in the arabian peninsula it's all looking fine before i got a fair breeze circuit will be lifted dust around the western side of the potential but temperatures still going up to forty degrees in mecca here into a more manageable thirty three degrees.

the scene for us when they're on line what is american sign in your mind 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 just posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. welcome back a quick reminder of the top stories here this hour the turkish president a school for early parliamentary and presidential elections. will be held on june

twenty fourth elections were originally scheduled for november twenty ninth team but want to move them up in a new presidential system. raul castro is stepping down ending almost sixty years of castro's dominance and cuban politics boating to pick the next leader the man to take over is first vice president miguel diaz coming. from the u.s. president's nominee for secretary of state mike on has made a secret visit to north korea donald trump confirmed the trip on twitter saying it went smoothly the details of a summit with north korean leader kim jong il of being worked out. taiwan's defense ministry has accused china using what it calls cheap verbal intimidation to threaten the island china has conducted live fire drills in the taiwan strait for the first time in two years a chinese state media says it's a warning against any push for independence the area has been on the taiwanese control since nine hundred forty nine and beijing is worried about the u.s. seeking closer ties with taiwan which it says is

a breakaway chinese province where taiwan's president is a government to remain vigilant. now. i also asked our national security team to closely monitor the neighboring area jury my visit abroad and report to me on the first instance for appropriate responses i'm reiterating that maintaining peace stability and prosperity across the taiwan strait is the primary duty of our government it confident and determined to defend our national security and i can assure my people that brown has more now from beijing. beijing has given no official reason as to why this large scale military drill is happening now in the narrow strait of water that separates china from taiwan but of course this military drill comes at a time of heightened trade tensions between washington and beijing as well as deepening concern in china over the growing interaction between taipei and washington in the past few months we've seen

a current gresham delegation visit taiwan we've also seen the house of representatives pass the taiwan travel act if that becomes law it would allow high ranking government officials from taiwan to visit the united states also in may officials from taiwan and the united states a jew to meet in taiwan to discuss arms sales and the united states is also beefing up its trade representative office in taiwan so all these factors a feeding into the deepening frustration and anger here in china now of course this military drill in the straits of taiwan comes just less than a week after china held a large scale a large scale military display in the south china sea involving its new aircraft carrier the leone ng that display was watched over by president xi jinping who warned that now was the time for china to strengthen its military especially its navy zimbabweans are celebrating their first independence day without robert mugabe

as leader garvey had been in power since imbiber broke away from british rule in one thousand nine hundred he was forced to step down after a military intervention last year former vice president emerson non-god worked to charge ahead of general elections scheduled for july in his speech the nation your dress the power change. fellow zimbabweans five months ago the people of zimbabwe took to this. in their busy food revolution their goals for freedom the progress. of doing things like the euros before them. we heard their voices we share their vision we are committed to delivering the. welfare of a toss i was at the celebrations in the capital harare. the need is there to sleep

involving police here at the stadium are here to celebrate independence and it's been a nice seeing the good whites i noted with interest but on the subject appointments and little things it basically comes economies they will be the pain when you told them something positive about the quite revealing thing is going to including one in the link they want to date and the police had invited but it's really been a powerful lot of my financial talk it just seems like the cat and not the ground they want him to tell them when was the cash crisis and when will the country open when the dogs but the place if you think people are for the day to be done they need to go on strike and getting about for what and pay could be since civil servants played a big role in them no it's just like you know you try putting the days in last night the government cannot is that all necessary driving had been prior to going to pass a good many many things obviously i'm not a good people not always equal upcoming election time will be between i say i'm able to understand these things find the positives in one thousand able to go

through the area of something they never used to do a government body was placed in they can add me as well is because i'm a kid stronghold the reports from old and false ideas you know made the incident this whole trial and so on the dogs think he's really making a film that might be explored those reentry lives in its neck of the woods and all of the world had invited him we told the media bloke the world would be allowed to cover he related in some critic of the prison say that the next not even a must do more to just one thing on the ground something according to an expert advice and most importantly particularly around the economy the nice thing britain's media regulator has opened seven new investigations into russian news channel r t off comes looking at whether the broadcaster broke impartiality rules in its coverage of last month's nerve agent attack on the former russian spy so gates cripple the kremlin but service previously known as russia today brought calls from the united kingdom the regulators said it also been monitoring on his coverage of the syrian war. the u.n.

refugee agency says it's alarmed by the horrific conditions faced by newly arrived refugees in yemen the agency says refugees and asylum seekers face abuse physical and sexual violence some of them being kidnapped for ransom while others have been forced back into the sea the u.n. special envoy in yemen is also warned about the humanitarian crisis in the country thousands of people are marching in mania to protest against the election of a former president as prime minister it's the sixth day of demonstrations which began in the capital on friday and they've since spread to other cities demonstrators say surfside to c.n.n. is attempting a power grab at least seventeen dozens of people starbucks in the u.s. says it will give it stop what it calls racial bias education after a public outcry over the arrest of two black men at one of its stores in philadelphia nearly one hundred seventy five thousand staff from more than one thousand stores will get training on how to combat discrimination video released

last week showed the two men being arrested while they prepared for a business meeting the store manager had accused him of trespassing starbucks c.e.o. says he wants to meet and apologize to the man well hilary shelton from the civil rights organization endemol a.c.p. says other companies in the u.s. should follow starbucks example. we've met with airlines and other businesses that had similar kinds of problems with how they've handled racial and ethnic minorities and african-americans very specifically so in essence we know that this form of discrimination happens in our country as a matter of fact we actually have legislation pending in our u.s. congress to address the issue of racial profiling and law enforcement that is that often times and much too often our country people are poured over the wires detained by police because of the presumption that some crime has been committed or in some cases a crime is going to be committed simply because of the race of the person this pored over the end racial profiling the act is

a bill this been pinned in to help actually we train our law enforcement officials and how to carry out their responsibilities without this level of implicit bias as a matter of fact even our f.b.i. utilizes anti racial profiling tactics that were handed down by their executives at the time they were first passed as a matter of fact it was john ashcroft we also give great credit to eric holder one of our former attorney generals under the obama administration for actually improving our anti racial profiling policies to make sure one of the most powerful law enforcement agencies in our country the f.b.i. doesn't practice it along with all the federal law enforcement officials they have police encounter responsibilities engineers for southwest airlines will inspect the company's entire fleet off an engine broke apart mid-flight smashing a window and killing a passenger the forty three year old woman was possibly sucked out of the broken window before a possum just pulled. the u.s.

national transportation safety board says a preliminary examination of the engine showed signs of what it called metal fatigue. well off to seven years of conflict in syria life and many refugees is only getting more difficult and that's pushing some parents to marry off their daughter has a soon as they can attest are going to report some jordan's capital amman where child bars on the rise among syrian refugee goals. but mob is almost fifteen and living in a syrian refugee camp when her parents told her she was engaged she fought with them for days before she agreed to marry she's now sixteen has a five month old daughter and another baby on the way she says she loves her husband but their lives are hard they work ten hours a day every day at a factory people say to me when you are still young you have a baby and you are made at this age i only say this is the normal life for my

situation and i'm ok with that more than seven years into the syrian war life is becoming increasingly difficult for refugees forced to flee to countries such as jordan poverty is the primary reason driving families to marry off their girls. according to statistics from jordan's court system child marriage among syrian refugees primarily girls is on the rise in twenty fourteen fifteen percent of all syrian marriages included a child bride now it's thirty six percent last year jordan's chief justice issued new stipulations allowing girls the right to demand a marriage contract with conditions including completing their education and working but the united nations children's agency unicef says girls need even greater protection and what we would like to do more is the prevention as it really work with courts work with religious leaders and really promoting that

goes to education that we need to break the cycle of poverty and prevent them from dropping out of school and calling into but most says her biggest regret is dropping out of school at the age of ten she hopes early marriage in her family stops with her generation. i wish i could have continued my studies this is my destiny i want to let my daughter gets married young she needs to be twenty five or so it's still much responsibility. when asked about her dreams for the future fatma says she just wants to live in one room independently from her in-laws natasha going to name a man. past and present american presidents are paying tribute to former first lady barbara bush has died at the age of ninety two helen fisher looks back at her life . however bush often dismissed her popularity saying it was simply because she

looked like everybody's grandmother with her signature white here in peril necklace but she will be remembered as one of only two women in u.s. history to be married to a president so help me god and the mother to one officer present united states she was just sixteen years old when she met george h.w. bush at a christmas dance both born to privilege she would later drop out of college in mali the young navy pilot home from world war two they would settle down in texas so he could make his fortune in the oil business but their growing family would soon face tragedy the three year old daughter died after a fight with leukemia she said she clung to her children even more after that four boys and another girl would grow up watching their father's political career which would ultimately lead to the white house leaving heart the role of disciplinary and you're just so you know anything they do is all right. but someone has to be sure the. standards are captain he he leads by example

by denying something. and i am the enforcing there's no question about it. there was no question of our loyalty either anyone who did criticize her children or even more so husband would quickly face her quick wit an icy stare she didn't want her husband or her son george to run for the presidency admits she didn't think they would when she made news when speculation turns to another son jeb. it's the best qualified person to run for president but i help him out. all my enemies all his brothers all and their other family i refuse to accept that this great country isn't raising other wonderful people thank you all for that

warm welcome reluctant mitri arc of a political dynasty the first wife to speak at a political convention but beyond the campaign she wasn't known to give either a husband or son political advice in office she advocated for family literacy but mostly she prided herself on a family that she said was a true legacy i think and i hope if i have a legacy other than being the enforcer that it will be. along with george a great family that will be remembered along with the woman at the center of it now it was a stand that shocked the world fifty years on lympics printers tommy smith and john carlos are being celebrated for their civil rights activism that happened during the one nine hundred sixty eight olympic games in mexico city the two men raised their fists in the air to symbolize the treatment of blacks in the u.s. the protests got them banished from the games and on tuesday. an award for free

expression. part of a quick check of the headlines here the turkish president has called for early parliamentary and presidential elections. be held on june twenty fourth the elections were originally scheduled for november twenty ninth team but i do want to move them up to us in a new presidential system thirty switching from a parliamentary system to a presidential one which will increase the power of the president. cuba's national assembly has been voting to pick the country's next leader raul castro is stepping down ending almost sixty years of castro dominance in cuban politics the man to take over is the first vice president mcgill. the u.s. president's nominee for secretary of state might pompei or has made a secret visit to north korea donald trump confirmed the trip on twitter he said it

went smoothly that details of a summit with the north korean leader kim jong il are now being worked out our diplomatic editor james bays has more from the north korean capital pyongyang the u.s. doesn't have diplomatic relations with north korea there is no embassy here members of the diplomatic community have told me though they are aware that there is a channel of communication of negotiation ongoing between the u.s. and north korea between the cia and the north korean intelligence service they clearly are looking at the possibility of a meeting between the supreme leader kim yong and president trump inspectors with the international chemical weapons watchdog have still not gone to the site of a suspected gas attack in syria the alleged attack happened more than a week ago the inspectors arrived in the capital damascus on saturday western nations accuse russia of delaying their entry into duma and suspect the site has

been tampered with moscow says there are security concerns two days ago journalists were escorted into duma by the russian military without incident. first independence day without robert mugabe has. been in power since zimbabwe broke away from british rule in one thousand nine hundred he was forced to step down after a military intervention last year the former vice president. took charge of elections scheduled for july but those were the headlines the news continues on al-jazeera.