trees there has been a number of reforms put in crisis since the program was filmed rewind begins with mohammed at the time when i was in libya i was the top of the class and. like any other student i was very fortunate to be awarded another scholarship rewind on al-jazeera and monday put it well 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 from driving this one five years on the syrians still feel battered even those who managed to escape their country have been truly unable to escape the war.

cuba's parliament to braces a new era electing miguel diaz canal as its new president ending almost sixty years of castro family rule. the whole roman you're watching al-jazeera life my headquarters here in doha also coming up u.s. president donald trump leaves open the possibility of bailing on a summit with north korea's leader kim jong un. also laying down their arms and leaving syrian rebels and their families prepared to evacuate a town near damascus after surrendering to government forces. also today the stark new warning that australia's great barrier reef will never fully recover from coral bleaching. back to the program we begin with breaking news coming out of cuba where

a new political chapter is beginning after nearly sixty years of castro's family rule. where i don't say see until today. thanks. to replace six year old the whole castro transition while a historic shift from an era that started with. one nine hundred fifty nine revolution is not expected to hold sweeping changes for latin america editor lucien even joins me now from the cuban capital where the new president has been speaking what were the salient points. hello hello well you just said that this is the beginning of a new chapter but let me tell you that after listening to me again the president made. it clear that this new chapter sounds a lot like the old chapter he in fact and i think this was the most important part of his of his speech he said. are all castro the outgoing president will not only

remain as the secretary of the first secretary not the secretary general the first secretary of the cuban communist party which we already knew but that he will be in charge of all the major decisions taken in this country in other words nothing important will happen or be approved in cuba from now on without the approval and same cell. so in a sense he is one of remains as the not just a as a as a political figure symbolically but also as a decision maker in cuba even after retiring from the presidency d.s. can and also made it very clear that there would be no transition to another type of system the cuban communism and the cuban revolution would remain intact that there would be continuity and that the only changes would be to perfect socialism not to do away with it the. sort of influence they have on policy it's speaking to

a contributor just a little while ago on al-jazeera she suggested that cuba's use of the economy issues that we're all needed very special attention right now. everyone knows that the cuban economy needs attention the question is in which direction is it going to go the cuban communist party and the cuban government which are almost one in the same because they get their guidelines from the party and the party congress have made it clear that they do not want to go into the direction of vietnam or china for example that they have to strengthen on the contrary the state sector which they believe. the country's so it's going to be a major major foreign in the new government side to figure out how they're going to engineer that how rather than moving away from a totally centralized communist system how to make it work without doing that and

that is really the big question but it doesn't seem like there's been any announcement or any sign so far that they plan to move in the direction as i say of these other communist countries in the world the asian ones who have had success more much more success in their economic policies major international announcements in terms of foreign policy especially when it comes to the u.s. but you've been covering cuba for many years lucy i mean what's your take on the certain mood in cuba in the political atmosphere that you have at the moment about the way they want to deal with the united states. yes unfortunately there was a lot of expectation that when barack obama and president raul castro signed the renewal of diplomatic relations trade or trade ties that things were really going to change and that that was going to give this country the boost on the economic front at least that it desperately was one of the reasons why the old castle is in

such a hurry to restore ties with the united states before stepping down as a decision that had already been announced unfortunately they could not they could not predict that donald trump would be elected and he has rolled back on this relationship it's almost back to the cold war era that it was in before so that it . alluded to that saying that q but would never make concessions that it would continue to defend its sovereignty and its revolution so no no olive branch whatsoever into the united states. well we'll leave it there for now or lucien of course we'll get more analysis with you through the day for the moment thank you for joining us from havana. well u.s. president donald trump has more that he'll walk away from planned talks with north korea's leader if they're not fruitful the talks are scheduled to take place next month or even in june now he made the comments during a meeting with japan's prime minister shinzo ave i hope to have

a very successful meeting if we don't think it's going to be successful mark we want to have it we want to have it. 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 am there is not fruitful i will respectfully leave the meeting so let's take a closer look at the efforts to get north korea to give up its nuclear program billions local media say the ruling party will meet on friday to discuss possible changes in its policies the report says it's to meet the demands of what it calls an important period next week the meeting between north korea's leader kim jong un and south korea's leader in officials in seoul say they may seek to find a formal peace treaty and on wednesday donald trump confirmed cia director and secretary of state nominee might pompei i held a secret meeting with kim jong un earlier this month becoming the first senior american official to meet

a north korean leader in more than twenty years well our diplomatic editor james bays is inside north korea and he has this to report. there's clearly plenty for both sides to continue to discuss one of the things they must work out is the venue for this historic summit where are they going to meet could it be here in pyongyang and some diplomats i've spoken to say that might be giving too much to the north korean side for a u.s. president to actually step foot in this country could it be in that the militarized zone where that intra korean summit is taking place in one week's time could it perhaps be in china in beijing again diplomats saying that that would effectively give china a seat at the table something the u.s. may not like there are other countries neutral countries that are offering to be a venue for the talks we have norway we have sweden one in the region that's been

mentioned is the capital of mongolia battle then you get what they might get out of a first summit most observers hope that there would be after a big meeting a process an ongoing process to deal with all the details but both sides would probably want something out of a meeting of this level and certainly the u.s. will be concerned about the three u.s. citizens of korean descent who are being held prisoner here in north korea president trump has already mentioned them and the fact that he's working to get their release fighters in a rebel held area near syria's capital have agreed to lay down their arms in an evacuation deal brokered by russia elsewhere in homs the government is looking to retake more areas from the rebels while opposition activists hope for a long term cease fire then a halt all reports. they surrendered without a fight rebels into may or have agreed to leave accepting an offer from the syrian

and russian militaries for safe passage to rebel areas in northern syria hundreds of fighters are to be evacuated along with a few thousand of their family members. they didn't want to repeat of the pro-government alliances military assault against what was once the rebel enclave of eastern. after the brutal regime displaced that people used to it now wants to do the same here sold to prevent further destruction we accept the surrender this will save the lives of civilians. as part of the deal the rebels handed over their medium sized and heavy weapons the town in the region northeast of damascus has been under siege for years more than one hundred thousand people live there half of them internally displaced the deal avoided a military offensive. the army and its allies are now giving the rebel factions that control the other towns in the enclave twenty four hours to surrender or face

a stepped up bombing campaign the pro-government alliance has been using the threat of military action to force their opponents to lay down their weapons without a fight it has given i still forty eight hours to leave the districts the armed group controls in. or face an all out military offensive those districts are under siege and the army has sent reinforcements to the front lines. and in the past seventy two hours and after months of a relative lull in the fighting the opposition controlled northern countryside of homs was heavily bombarded. they started a military assault on northern homs and neighboring southern hama to pressure the negotiating committee that represents the opposition to surrender these areas are supposed to be deescalation agreed in a star no we're looking for a solution that doesn't involve the military option. the opposition is in talks with the russian military

a cease fire is now in place until negotiations resume on sunday the pro-government alliance wants the enclave returned to state rule the opposition however is hoping for a long term ceasefire agreement. people in the northern countryside of homs don't want their town to be destroyed we don't want war we want peace and we don't want to be displaced that is what we want but if the regime and the russians launch a military assault rebel commanders have said they will fight back rebels are increasingly under pressure their territories are under siege the syrian government and its allies are in a strong position and are clearly pushing ahead with a military solution to crush the rebellion. beirut international inspectors are waiting for approval to go into the site of a suspected chemical weapons attack in syria on chewstick the u.n. team came under fire in the area they were checking if it staged to investigate the scene of the attack more than forty people were killed near the town of duma almost

two weeks ago where the track is next and i am keeping up the pressure france's grip by another strike has unions fight against labor reforms and we'll explore persistent urban inequality in nigeria's capital where pockets of poverty sit next to rich residential district street stimulus. welcome back across southern and eastern china weather conditions split across more western areas we got this area of rain some quite heavy rain as well further towards the east fine away from shanghai down towards hong kong and fine across much of indo china a few showers around but nothing particularly heavy expected to move through into suffering see the area of rain continues to develop a feller thinks there is some heavier bursts of rain and likely but other side of

it should be largely dry and fine so let's head across into south asia quite interesting here because we've had some really severe storms across more eastern parts of india and into bangladesh this is it this time of year yet tornadoes and severe thunderstorms often rossetti dry features not a great deal of rain but can be very damaging indeed and these are resulted in some fatalities so if you look at the subtle imaging see these shows pushing across kabul sharkey's as in the this time of the year meanwhile further south you've got a lot of cloud may want to showers but once you get further north it is looking very hard indeed forty two degrees in one pour heavy rain across from the hill station some snow over the himalayas delhi looking at highs of thirty eight degrees dropping as we move through into saturday to thirty five more manageable be one in pakistan a maximum temperature of thirty six is likely in karate. paint the scene for us where on line what is american sign in yemen that peace is always

possible but it never happens not because the situation is complicated but because no one cares or if you join a sunset there are people 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 you're watching our deserves the whole romney a reminder of our top stories cuba has named its first president onside the castro family in the early sixty years. it will succeed outgoing leader raul castro who

remains the communist party leader. also u.s. president old from past want to walk away from planned talks with north korea's leader if they're not fruitful at a meeting with the japanese prime minister shinzo trump purse confirms cia director mike pompei is secretly went to pyongyang to meet kim jong un. and rebel fighters in demand northeast of syria's capital damascus have agreed to lay down weapons under a deal brokered by russia but to the north groups are still holding out despite government strikes. palestinians in israel are rallying to mark the seventieth anniversary of what they call the neck or the catastrophe may the fifteenth marks the start of the palestinian exodus that led to the first arab israeli war in nineteen forty eight and the establishment of the state of israel hundreds of thousands of palestinians were. forced from their homeland well hurry for cities

following events force in the northern israeli town of at leat a day of mixed emotions really howry i suppose depending on who you talk to and what's happening behind you. here now is something of a celebrate saree atmosphere given the fact that a very famous palestinian singer is now giving a performance but this make no mistake has been a pretty somber occasion for most of the thousands of people who came here as you say may the fifteenth is marked the start of forty eight marks the start of the state of israel marks what palestinians call the not by the catastrophe israel celebrates though according to the hebrew calendar and so it's been celebrating it to day so in counterpoint to that for the last twenty years or so palestinians have been staging on the same day in april a rally such as this one and it is intended to symbolize the displacement of thousands of palestinians in around that period of one thousand nine hundred forty

eight we've been speaking to some of the marches here today they've been saying that this is about reminding israelis that they exist reminding people around the world that for what israel calls in independence palestinians call catastrophe also trying a lot of parents with young children here saying that they had to teach their children of the significance of this day about the what they still feel is their right to return to their original homes and villages and to make sure that memory stays alive in the future and of course leading up to may the fifteenth seen as sort of a very different mood an atmosphere in garza on the border with the israelis and friday again may see more protests very different mood from where you are right now. that's right i mean this this day here is really kind of targeted at palestinians who live inside israel israeli palestinian citizens of whom there are nearly two million but it's also more widely about the issue of the refugees who

were displaced seventy years ago and hundreds of thousands of them of course live inside gaza where we've seen these protests also very much about the right of return. over the last three weeks the fourth of those weekly protests those friday protests to take place tomorrow we've seen some fifteen hundred palestinians shot with live fire and injured more than thirty have been killed and so of course people here have been watching not with a great deal of concern we spoke to one leading palestinian member of the israeli knesset the parliament you saying that what was good to see about this process has been the first time in the last few weeks that such protesters have been subject to sniper fire so that is the content the context against which this is taking place also of course as you say a declaration by the united states recognizing jerusalem as the capital of israel donald trump very clearly trying to align with the moving of the embassy from tel

aviv on may the forty to jerusalem with the seventieth anniversary so people here arriving significance to this year's commemoration because of that fact for them and we'll leave it there thanks very much. for palestinian shot by israeli soldiers on the gaza border say they're unable to get proper medical treatment they say it takes too long to be transferred out of the territory and hospitals inside gaza don't have enough equipment and it's with reports. guys hospitals are full of young men with injuries where the bones have been shattered by israeli bullets and this is mohammed he's twenty four years old and he was injured two weeks ago on a cross the other side of the room is nasser also twenty four with the same injury in one of the problems the hospital has it's running out of these metal rods this operator says that they have to put on the leg to trying to the bone in place while it heals and at the other end of the room is seventeen year old mahmoud he was

injured three weeks ago this poor guy's in he's not in a lot of pain and with me in doctor is doctor takes it all tunnel one of the major surgeons here dr first of all have you got enough equipment to treat these sort of injuries and those of us but not enough because we waited for chance of him that six here to see would shut four of us with our schedule and a patient like and mahmoud what are the chances for him what sorts of what might happen with him who were injured in the pretend artery and vein and they have this thought of the mustn't this act of the born sinner fix it or mom would know we had four amputation above me if this vision dance fear that was fun or does that help me be the c.e.o. of the limb are you ready for tomorrow. i don't know what doctor thank you very much for talking to us the hospitals all of them concerned that they haven't got enough equipment to give the people the treatment they will need when they come in

with those leg injuries. no human rights groups are urging senegal's leaders to peaceful and government protests the capital dhaka officials though insist the plan demonstrations are not authorized amnesty international says protesters rights need to be respected and authorities must ensure security forces don't use excessive force the protest outside parliament has been organized to oppose changes to the electoral code they would require presidential candidates to have a minimum level of support before entering the race. opposition groups believe the proposals violate the constitution will be used to unfairly block candidates from running in next year's presidential election because hackers more from the capital dakar where scuffles broke out in parliament. inside the national assembly are lawmakers debating a law that has brought part of the city center of the capital to a standstill schools are closed roads are shut down i can smell tear gas that was

fired moments ago to disperse an angry crowd of protesters members of the opposition the police have also arrested some of them now what's this law being debated inside well it requires for anyone running for office to have at least sixty seven thousand signatures to be illegible to run a political campaign now why is this important well there are three hundred political parties in senegal if this law passes through the national assembly and that will be the end of it for most of them and some members of the opposition accuse the president of tweaking the constitution ahead of the presidential campaign this would bring more support to his political party human rights organizations accuse the government of heavy handedness of using the security forces to clamp down on the opposition arresting some of them firing tear gas unnecessarily and making protests illegal in a democracy at stake for many this isn't just

a law being passed it's about protecting democracy and the reputation senegal has as a long standing democracy in africa the jury's capital is one of the most modern cities in africa but the original residents of the federal district of a continue to live in homes built of mud where they complain that their fundamental rights are being ignored one hundred val has more from a beach or why should one up close and discussions never see in the village of pico outside the nigerian capital since it was chosen to build a new capital forty years ago they say they have social and economic status has continued to deteriorate. they still live in humble mud homes without basic amenities when i does i have no medical care here and we have no functioning schools the teachers refuse to stay here and don't have electricity but water is our most urgent problem we had a bullhorn that soon broke down we almost never used it. and two other villages are

around this place have up to three thousand people living in them the only source of drinking water they have is this might depend more than it are generously gave it to them for survival but they say the government isn't even considering sanitizing it and pumping it to their homes this spring is only a thin stream it takes time for the point to feel supplying the village with what to me is hard work by these women throughout the day there are more than eight hundred villages such as pico surrounding of which are the area is called federal capital territory. more than one million nigerians live in b.f. city pockets of poverty side by side with posh new residential districts owned mostly by people who came from other regions to go out resent it to nigeria that if it is virgin so you would are now living if you treat people from order to sift it that's where they are calling the eight hundred it village

a settler down here it did villages existed before even and you know what i'm going to now to fourteen does it as a request for comment from the government was declined the other day and his community continue to demand reform but they say their voice is hardly head because they don't have any meaningful representation at the high level the constitution says the president is also a government f. city villagers doubt mohammed will heidi has time to fix their problems. in our own country or do what of the matter that is nurses so far can't ability for the government able to do police. food justice. and democracy was dead it's nowhere in the world that the head of state will become to go one of the delegation is not going away let it go to please look good up with people you don't governors did not have a government you do not have a meal so it is like they are deprived and they believe that it is only by instate

in their people or putting them in this position of authority dudu will be able to make any meaningful impact without an elected mayor governor the local council or minister of city people say they feel powerless which means economic deprivation for them one hundred five i do see a law that would make you queen elizabeth has a couple of heads of state to appoint her son prince charles as the next leader of the association of former british colonies she made the appeal at the formal opening of the commonwealth heads of government meeting or the church at the buckingham palace leaders from fifty three member states representing a one third of the world's population are attending the queen has been head of the commonwealth since one nine hundred fifty two for staying in europe french president manuel micro is facing another day of nationwide protests against his labor reforms now he's faced weeks of demonstrations by railway employees public sector workers and students against his plan laws earlier this week rail workers

resumed their role in the strike. because hari troops have been taking part in military drills in saudi arabia despite an ongoing diplomatic rift saudi arabia the united arab emirates egypt um bahrain cut ties with doha ten months ago accusing it of funding terrorism which qatar has strongly denied the qatari defense ministry says the armed forces chief of staff also attended the events closing ceremony at the invitation of study defense officials cattles participation was not announced beforehand twenty five other nations also took part. australia's great barrier reef is unlikely to recover from the marine heatwave that killed much of its coral in recent years and that's the assessment of research is that the james cook university they say a third of the reef would cook to death as water temperatures rose one degree above the average in twenty sixteen in twenty seventeen due to a combination of climate change and the el nino weather cycle that this coral

bleaching they say has caused radical changes in the mix of life within the reef as only a few tougher species can survive scientists say the focus now needs to be on protecting the remaining corals by curbing climate change and water pollution paul johnson is head of the science unit at greenpeace international he says many people in australia want to do more to save the reef but the government is concerned about the economic cost. australia is on has some respects a country at war with itself you know the one hand you've got conservationists and an environmentalist to a very very concerned about the reef and want a lot of things done in order to maximize its chances of survival on the other hand you've got a government that is propping up the fossil fuel industry in the form of coal production and coal exportation on an international scale so this is really a very very conflicting sort of situation that so i think you know the first thing is the australian government really needs to show an example on the climate change

stage by you know getting out of the fossil fuels market to the extent that it's in it and then other things will follow from that hopefully but they do need to set an example at the very least albeit that what they can do is going to be a contributory thing rather than a resolution in itself broadly speaking i mean what we need to do is make sure that corals remain within that comfort zone i.e. the temperatures don't rise too i will go too low to stop them living and marine reserves actually can play protected areas can play a very very big part in helping to ensure the resilience of corals and suppress one of the things we we have learned globally that you know if you have marine reserve you know take marine reserve is completely off limits to any form of exploitation than this can significant the help marine ecosystems in general just coral reefs.

you want to alter their arms the whole rom of these are all top new story cuba has named its first president outside the castro family and there he thinks he is miguel diaz canal succeed outgoing leader raul castro will remain the communist party leader. u.s. president told trump has warned he'll walk away from planned talks with north korea's leader if they are not fruitful meeting with japanese prime minister shinzo trump has confirmed cia director mike secretly went to pyongyang to meet kim jong un i hope to have a very successful meeting if we don't think it's going to be successful mark we want to 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 am there is not fruitful i will respect for lee leave the meeting

rebel fighters in demand northeast of syria's capital damascus have agreed to lay down weapons under a deal brokered by russia but to the north groups the still holding out despite government strikes international inspectors are waiting for approval to enter the side of a suspected chemical weapons attack in syria on tuesday the u.n. team came under fire in the area they were checking if it saved to investigate the scene of the attack more than forty people were killed near the town of duma almost two weeks ago palestinians in israel are rallying to mark the seventieth anniversary of what they call the nakba or the catastrophe mark maybe fifty marks the start of the palestinian exodus that led to the first arab israeli war in one nine hundred forty eight the establishment of the state of israel hundreds of thousands of palestinians were forced from their homeland. queen elizabeth has urged commonwealth heads of state to appoint her son prince charles

as the next leader of the association of former british colonies she made the appeal of the formal opening of the commonwealth heads of government meeting at buckingham palace and leaders from the fifty three member states representing one third of the world's population are attending the queen has been head of the commonwealth since nineteen fifty two those were the headlines here on sarah will have the al-jazeera news great and thirty minutes next is the stream to stay with us. fifty three member states. one iconic figurehead as leaders of the commonwealth descend on london bridge by in your meeting al-jazeera asks how much does the commonwealth matter in today's world and where does it go after queen elizabeth all of the commonwealth heads of government meeting on al-jazeera.