i think the reports see africa as it is. that. we take our time getting to know the people we meet the folgers are in order to convoy the road if they see in the past when i was. reading about telling stories ultimately it's not just about al-jazeera it's about the people who tell the stories about. two one predictable legions i've been working on north korea policy for almost thirty years i can't tell you what the u.s. policy is towards north korea so fine first to know what they want to deter an attack from the united states as the u.s. struggles to define its foreign policy lines examines the potential fallout we don't see really is a strategy designed to get those talks started because if they expect to surrender fire and fury trumps north korea crisis on al-jazeera.

if i think that it's a meeting that is not going to be fruitful we're not going to go. ahead of dissipated talks donald trump steps up the pressure on the north korean leader to end his nuclear program. is a down this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up cuba after the castros. named as the sole candidate to become the next president. health workers a stretched by the injured from the east of alter syria's government accuses them of helping the rebels plus. lift off this new mission begins to find the planet that will support life.

trump has threatened to cancel planned talks with north korea's leader if they're not fruitful the u.s. president and japan's prime minister both insist the pressure will remain on kim jong un to the end his nuclear program committee how to polls from west palm beach . as japanese prime minister shinzo off a wrapped up two days of meetings with u.s. president donald trump the parish reporters their relationship has never been closer. yet their summit held it trumps florida mara lago resort was largely overshadowed by news that trump it once again sidelined america's top asian ally confirming he had said to cia director mike pump ale to secretly lay groundwork for a meeting with the north korean leader kim jong il and in a matter of weeks he just left north korea i think great meeting with kim jong un.

and got along with him really well really really it's an an orthodox move for a nation that's traditionally consulted with japan on both matters involving north korea still as ah they saw security assurances truck made clear there's still the possibility talks with north korea's leader may not happen at all if the meeting when i'm there is not fruitful i will respect for lee leave the meeting abbay implore the international community and the united states not to reward kim just for showing up to direct talks but to demand concrete commitments to denuclearize. just because north korea is responding to dialogue with the should be no reward maximum pressure should be maintained it's a promise trump says he'll keep and will work for the release of three americans currently being held by north korea there's a good chance of doing it we're having very good dialogue we will keep you informed but we are in there and we are working very hard on that. we have come

a long way. with north korea during their summit the two leaders enjoyed a game of golf still trump did not extend exemptions he's granted to other nations on the foreign imports of steel and aluminum but even as trump was highlighting what he believed to be a summit success overshadowing that headline was the news the confirmation of trump's pick for secretary of state was in doubt a growing list of u.s. senators say they will not vote in favor of the confirmation of mike pompei o to be the next u.s. secretary of state it is a concern for the trumpet ministration given it is preparing for historic talks with north korean leader kim jong un in a matter of weeks kimberly helped at al-jazeera west palm beach florida trump has confirmed the u.s. is negotiating with north korea to release three american prisoners the fact is

that they do have three prisoners we have been talking about them we are negotiating now we are doing our very best as you know they've been there a long time and it's harsh treatment we fought very hard to get auto warm beer back and when we came back he was in very. very bad condition was a very sad event we are likewise fighting very diligently to get the three american citizens back i think there's a good chance of doing it we're having very good dialogue we will keep you informed but we are in there and we are working very hard on that. diplomatic carrots a james bays has more on that from north korea's capital pyongyang. remember the trumpet ministration judges many think by the domestic angle in the way that things are seen this would be seen in the u.s. as an important victory early victory guessing these three u.s.

citizens of korean descent two are being held in north korea. it's something and remember these are people and one of them is being in jail since twenty fifteen this is something diplomats would call an easy deliverable which would then. create an atmosphere and to start more detailed process of negotiation on the need clear if you diplomats i've talked to say they think that the north koreans may well be saving these three u.s. citizens for this very moment. kathy novak now joins us live from salter understand the communist party has been meeting in the north how is momentum building over there. well the south korean government for its part is pressing ahead finalizing plans for the upcoming intercourse summit that's to be held between the president in and kim jong un next friday at the demilitarized zone that separates

the two koreas the first time there will be any into korean summit for more than a decade and only the third of its kind it seems to be cautiously optimistic going into this it says a record number of journalists have registered to cover the sonnet almost three thousand in fact and it says that at least portions of the summit are to be televised live interesting that it seems kim jong un has agreed to allow that to happen though of course we don't know how much if any will be shown inside north korea and as you mentioned there the state media in north korea has said that there will be a meeting of the south the north korean rather government on friday we don't have many details of what is to be discussed but the timing is interesting as it comes ahead of this summit with in next week the south korean government says that it primarily wants to discuss denuclearization in north korea and the past has seemed

to not rule that out but that could mean different things for either side sami all right caffein over. being nominated by cuba's national assembly as the sole candidate for president the first from outside the castro family in the early sixty's and piece of voted but the results won't be confirmed until first day that's when the colonel is expected to be sworn in while outgoing president raul castro will stay on as head of the communist party of latin america to lucien newman. talk serious efficient and above all discreet rising of the communist party's ranks from the bottom fifty seven year old. is making history he's done it in part by never ever having tried to outshine or question fidel or raul castro as others once earmarked as their successes learned the hard way and i think he also feels it's true. that he actually genuinely believes her cuban

revolution. as the communist party secretary of his home province of viet lauder the earned a reputation for being open minded. women who here is a hangout for young people including gays lesbians transsexuals and punks d. a scandal was by their side in the one nine hundred ninety s. when alternative lifestyles were severely frowned on. even after he rose to the top every time he came to santa clara one of the first things to do is come see us of the men who he's the same unassuming humble person. maybe so but in most of cuba people know very little about the first man in six decades who will rule the silent whose name is not castro in fact he was the only candidate in the vote by the national assembly on wednesday. we asked this man what he thought of the selection process rather than let my silence speak for itself it's the silence of

many cubans. those who may be expecting a may. shift will clearly be disappointed with. we encouraging reaffirming and consolidating continuity which is very important for the defense of the revolution which today is being threatened and attacked by a relationship with the us deteriorated the truth is that the s. candidate has been chosen not to reform but to improve cuban socialism if he can and does represent a generation younger than that of the castros he will have to answer to a power much higher than his own cuban communist party. al-jazeera than a. government of open fire on a u.n. team in duma in syria forcing their withdrawal they were assessing if it's safe enough for investigators to examine the side of a suspected chemical attack eleven days ago the head of the organization for the prohibit of chemical weapons or o.p.c.

w says it's now unclear when the team will be able to enter duma damascus on saturday will determine if a chemical attack happened but won't assign blame so that a holder has more from beirut. the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons confirming what a u.n. official told us earlier and that is the u.n. security team that entered tomb on tuesday came under small arms fire the o.p.c. w. also confirming that during their visit to one of the sites an explosive device was detonated now there were no injuries but the security team left the duma and right now the o.p.c. w. does not know when they can deploy their chemical weapons inspectors to do more the site says that alleged chemical weapons attack will be c.w. saying any deployment will have to follow a security clearance from the united nations so really raises a lot of question about the fate of of this mission now neither the u.n. nor the o.p.c. w.

blamed any particular side for that shooting incident but tomorrow is under the control of the russian military as well as the syrian government both both of them confirming a few days ago that they quote fully liberated the area from terrorists now both moscow and damascus have been accused by western powers of trying to prevent the inspectors from reaching the site and to delay and hamper their work accusations that both both moscow and damascus have denied but there really concerns about whether or not there is still hard evidence because it's been what twelve days now since that suspected chemical weapons attack will the evidence be still there some western nations even accusing russia of tampering with the evidence and another question is will the witnesses and survivors or doctors that the o.p.c. w. inspectors speak to will they be speaking freely or will they feel intimidated by the new authority on the ground so right now we do not know if and when still p.c. w. inspectors will reach duma. meanwhile syrian government media is accusing health and

emergency workers of helping rebel groups but doctors say their focus is on helping injured civilians in a country where the government has regularly bombed hospitals we saw been surveyed reports. as the buses full of people forced from. their homes left parts of eastern ghouta after five years of siege and bombings government forces and allied militia moved in through assad government t.v. crews rushed to show how the enclave was run by rebel fighters they call terrorists the relentless bombardment force people in the ground into basements such as this one job or frequent attacks on hospitals meant even feet when it was being provided below ground level and the nation says only fighters were allowed in and civilians very prohibitive ferrety supporting health institutions like this denied those claims all of them awful but we don't know what according to syrian media every organization helping the besieged population of almost four hundred thousand people was supporting terrorists but doctors said their oath demands that they treat people who need medical assistance irrespective of political or ideological

affiliations the government says there was no medicine shortage in d.c. to the medics say the boxes of medical supplies brandished in regime propaganda are misleading the situation. was extremely dramatic. the needs were absolutely unique he was in and seeing the situation demi because police that we were supporting him now they were clearly shouting me as we passed the concern of not having enough medical supplies. the influx of tens of thousands to live in aleppo is making things difficult for an already stretched health infrastructure doctors at one hospital in collateral many say five thousand people were dropped off on the first day of the evacuation most of the injured were hit by bombings and some had gunshot wounds to be treated in the hospitals only operation theatre in addition to the hundreds of cases the trauma and injuries they had to deal with pregnant women giving birth in cases of

malnutrition it is dire it is definitely acute and once the arrival of the displaced becomes more of a stable situation still the health system existing in the northwest or concrete when they do the government aid is not. we know you don't have especially as you don't have every in every health facility enough maybe can supplies back and medical workers are calling on un agencies to use the proximity to the capital damascus to rebuild and support the devastated health infrastructure now that the bombs are not falling there's no media attention on the health needs citing previous examples of neglect in aleppo and homs aid workers are warning of an looming health crisis for the tens of thousands of people left behind in east a move to rid the whole population is viewed with suspicion of supporting the opposition probably. in the turkey syria border. well still ahead on al-jazeera snap elections in turkey will present are the ones gamble pay off. i

am. plus independence day celebrations in zimbabwe for the first time without robert mugabe. how the weather still looks a little messy for parts of the united states and eastern areas of canada still some cloud just spilling across the plains moving a further race was just rolling across the prairie and snow is still in the forecast i'm afraid they will make its way into that northeastern corner as we go through stay twelve celsius for new york should be largely dry here but you can see much of new england that eastern canada does still disappointingly cool five celsius for two or three degrees for toronto come further south and west we've got some sunshine around some warmth as well ninety celsius in denver temps just fold

back to running eleven degrees is because through friday you get more snow rolling across the rockies this time with a decent co-direct coming in across oklahoma city go on for the next couple of days because of course we still have some. wildfires burning up hills and all faced it warms up a little force level in new york six degrees and also the snow pushing out of the way at least for the time being for the southeast and refight the warm sunshine and lots of warm sunshine across the caribbean chance of wanted to shout was coming in say a little bit of cloud showing up on the satellite picture some showers possible anywhere across the great run to the next couple days. stories of life. and inspiration. and series of documentaries from around the wilds that celebrate the human spirit against the

arts. al-jazeera cinemax gangs. you're watching out to zero time to recap our headlines now on crumpets threaten to cancel planned talks with north korea's leader kim jong il and if they're not fruitful for the u.s. president says he looks forward to meeting him and hopes the talks will be successful. because there's been nominated by cuba's national assembly as the sole

candidate for president the first from outside the castro family in any sixteen years and peace and voted but the results won't be for the first day that's when the us canal is expected to be sworn in. gunman of on a u.n. team in duma or in syria forcing their withdrawal they were assessing if it's safe enough for international best the case is to examine the side of the suspected chemical attack eleven days ago. returning to our top story now the talks between don trump and kim jong un ko young tong is an international lawyer and professor at harvard law school he says there's a risk that meeting won't go as planned because of unpredictability unpredictability rather of the two leaders that is certainly a glaring handicap on the u.s. side that there is a lack of expertise but other than the lack of expertise i think that there is a lack of diversion views. since we do not understand north korea objectively and

what their hot points may be we need to hear various viewpoints and i'm not too sure that we have gotten a full view of alternatives so that we can be flexible given the unpredictability of. president kim and as well as president trump i think that there is a risk of going of course but i think they have said that they are open to the idea of denuclearization however they have also said that that is contingent on their security and that means that they are looking for concessions from south korea japan and the united states in terms of pulling back our forces and caper forward capabilities in the area britain's house of lords is rebuffed prime minister three's amaze government over its plans to leave the european union voted to amend

the withdrawal bill urging the u.k. to remain in the customs union which allows trading without tariffs the government's expressed disappointment at the vote with bill now goes back to m.p.'s in the house of commons will have to pass legislation to take written out of the e.u. by march next year in a surprise move turkish president of the one has announced there will be early presidential and parliamentary elections on june the twenty fourth the vote was supposed to take place in november two thousand and nineteen constitutional changes were passed last year in the referendum allowing turkey to switch from a parliamentary system to a presidential one. manages the turkey project at chatham house i think tank in the u.k. he says public perception of the decision could decide the outcome of the election . this is the first time that the ruling party since assuming power in two thousand and two if it's the first time that they have gone for voluntarily and actively for an early election usually the they prefer they were against any early elections as

a sign of weakness so given the worsening state of the turkish economy at the government twenty would be present and the ruling party went for an early elections i think that in all likely at least at this stage the likelihood is that the ruling party will maintain its majority in the parliament and. should will probably win the presidential elections however the key question is how will the voters perceive this early election will it will be perceived as a sign of weakness as a sign of panic and therefore try to hurt to the ruling party or will they rally to the president the one as the known quantity in turkish politics qatar has signed a two and a half billion dollar deal with the us for air defense technology military spending is at record levels during carter's ongoing gulf standoff with saudi arabia egypt and the united arab emirates and behind last year finalize arms deals worth at

least twenty billion dollars sudan has filed a complaint against egypt to the un security council accusing it of organizing a vote in a disputed border territory sudan's foreign minister says cairo held part of its presidential vote in the triangle territory claimed by both countries egypt election the gyptian election in march saw president of the for does sisi reelected for a second term zimbabweans have celebrated their first independence day without robert mugabe as their leader the economy and upcoming elections are the big test for a new president. how much us are reports from harare. it's the first independence day celebrations without robert mugabe is about his former president in charge the military forced him to resign in november. the new leader innocent i got one lice independence flame which was first lit thirty eight years ago with the bobby gained independence from britain in one nine hundred eighty. after years of government

corruption and mismanagement and demagogue his role when i go is under pressure to in crippling foreign currency shortages and create jobs. and. when i go is pushing for more direct foreign investment to revive the economy some people warn that will not necessarily create jobs we need to have you know a targeted approach towards it because it's not just going to trickle down once the economy starts growing it must already be factored in to everything that happens in the country and of course then it's not only government's responsibility for job creation you've got to bring in the private sector you've got to bring in the workers. and now the challenge when

a guy goes administration is organizing three day and credible elections later this year the main opposition leader nelson chamisa attended the independence elaborations when mugabe was in charge opposition parties boycotted the event in protest some political analysts say this is a positive development the election would test the country's electoral system after complaints of rigging in previous years if the polls are not credible in its national unity settlements in the investing in zimbabwe again the president's more immediate concern is managing people's expectations and frustrations teachers are threatening to strike if their pay and working conditions don't improve civil servants say they may do the same nesses in public hospitals have been striking for days when a guy goes response was to file all the nurses who refused to report for duty a move that puts more people out of work in a country was one of the highest unemployment rates in the world how to al-jazeera . thousands of demonstrators have swarmed armenia's capital for

a sixth day of anti-government protests. thousands of people were arrested as police tried to clear out of an city center it's been blocked by protesters for days on rallies throughout armenia against the ad being elected prime minister after his two term limit as president and it say it's a power grab. for the first time in a decade global malaria cases are no longer for ling summit in london is looking to have the rates of the disease over the next five years one of the phillips is there the theme of this conference in central london has been very much that malaria is back having been a disease that was in abeyance the fight against malaria appeared to have been going in the right direction in twenty sixteen we saw a very worrying trend more than two hundred and sixteen million cases of malaria worldwide an increase for the first time in many years and the reasons for that

increase of various and they are complex drug resistance is spreading climate change meaning more areas are vulnerable to the malaria mosquito war and conflict making treatment extremely difficult in some particular places especially in africa it is africa that is at the forefront of the fight against malaria more than ninety percent of cases of malaria world wide are in sub-saharan africa earlier i spoke to chimamanda ngozi adichie the celebrated nigerian writer and i asked her whether she thought that malaria does not get the attention it deserves because it is above all a disease of the developing world. where i grew up with malaria and malaria was very familiar to me we had malaria all the time actually if you went to a hospital when i was growing up everybody just assumed you had malaria. and

malaria was the reason you didn't go to school it was the reason people didn't get . it was very much a part of our lives really i think it's a question of power it's a question of resources bots to think that there is some progress and that there are some people who. seem to be. trying making an effort chimamanda ngozi adichie talking to me here at the malaria conference where. the big drug companies as you've been hearing african governments and western governments have been expressing their determination to combat this terrible disease studies found a third of the coral on australia's great barrier reef was cooked to death during a heat wave a team of international researches says increased sea temperatures from march to november in two thousand and sixteen cause what's called bleaching it affects anything that lives off the coral scientists say the focus should now be on protecting the rest of the reef. the search for alien worlds has taken another big

step for the launch of nasa is the latest satellite transiting planet survey satellite all tess is the agency's most ambitious attempt in the search for worlds like our own and the gallacher has the details. lift off the space x. falcon nine carrying tess this isn't the first mission to search for new worlds but it may be nasa is most revealing for the next two years that test sounds like will take over from the kepler space telescope in search of alien planets whilst in orbit this new telescope will observe two hundred thousand of the brightest stars in the sky mission scientists say could discover twenty thousand new worlds now tess is going to dramatically increase the number of planets that we have to study . it's going to more than double the number that have been seen and detected by by kepler and moreover the planets that we're going to find will will span

a much greater range of host star types then was the case for cup or when the kepler space telescope launched in two thousand and nine it transformed our understanding of planets beyond our own solar system based on its observations astronomers now believe the milky way is home to at least two billion potentially habitable planets kepler only observed a fraction of the sky tess is able to see far more the exoplanet community is very enthusiastic a vibrant community and there are a lot of people very eager to get their hands on the data and start doing some great science with it and i think you know i think that over the coming years we're going to see an enormous number of brilliant scientific results coming out of test data from across the entire community i'm really excited for the next sixty days mission scientists will be running tests and ironing out bugs as the satellite begins its orbit. batches of data won't be released for months but if life is out

there test maybe the project that finds it. al-jazeera. is out just here and these are the top stories donald trump has threatened to cancel planned talks with north korean leader kim jong un if they're not fruitful but the u.s. president says he looks forward to meeting kim and hopes the talks will be successful i hope to have a very successful meeting if we don't think it's going to be successful mark we won't have it we want to have it. if i think that it's a meeting that is not going to be fruitful we're not going to go if the meeting when i'm there is not fruitful i will respectfully leave the meeting and will continue what we're doing or whatever it is that will continue but something

will happen so. i like always remaining flexible and will remain flexible here miguel diaz canal has been nominated by cuba's national assembly as the sole candidate for president first from outside the castro family in nearly sixty years m.p.'s have voted but the results won't be confirmed until first day that's when d.s. canal is expected to be sworn in as the six year old role castro will stay on as head of the communist party gunmen have opened fire on a u.n. team in duma in syria forcing their withdrawal they were assessing if it's safe enough for investigators to examine the site of a suspected chemical attack eleven days ago the head of the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons says it's now unclear when the team will enter duma . so he will have presidential and parliamentary elections much earlier on june the twenty fourth initially the vote was scheduled for november next year the polls will be held under a state of emergency. signed a two and

a half billion dollars deal with the u.s. for air defense technology spending is that record levels during carter's ongoing gulf standoff with saudi arabia egypt the u.a.e. and behind rain thousands of demonstrators have swarmed armenia's capital for a sixth day of anti-government protests have been rallies throughout amini against . being elected prime minister following two terms the president. like the u.s. president donald trump has said he will slap new charis on imports of steel and alum in your brand by g.m. will mean faster data transplants time starts and then we bring you the stories that are shaping the economic world we live in counting the cost at this time on al-jazeera.