or if you join us on set there are people that are choosing between buying medication and eating basis is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's an activist and his close to the story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. within the borders of exclusion zone a toxic nuclear wasteland touching any vegetation for a bit. of the right insistence. to finally surviving on the homeland they band together and land contaminated violence postie cultivated unshakable sense of. witness the bush visit. on al-jazeera. new yorkers are very receptive to al-jazeera because it is such an international city they are very interested in that global perspective that al jazeera provides.

north korea says it will suspend its nuclear testing program a move welcomed by the west but some are still cautious. i'm maryam namazie and on the new watching al-jazeera also coming up. chemical weapons inspectors finally visit duma in syria two weeks after an alleged gas attack. india's government approves the death penalty for child rapists off to widespread anger over recent attacks. the. nicaragua's president in damage control mode as protests over controversial changes to state pensions turned deadly.

ever since his rights to power the north korean leader kim jong un has focused solely on the development of his country's nuclear capability but on saturday you know it's going ngs nuclear and missile testing program would be suspended and replaced by a new drive for economic growth and peace or of us it has been welcomed by most western countries including the us president is due to meet with kim jong il and for talks in the coming months but all those being cautious as kathy novak reports . north korea regularly tested increasingly threatening ballistic missiles last year including weapons that could have the range to hit the united states in september it conducted its most powerful nuclear bomb test now north korea says those tests are over thirty. should cheer pictures we will discontinue nuclear testing an intercontinental ballistic rocket test firing from april twenty fifth.

the north and you can attest that the d.p. r. k. will also be dismantled to transparently. the discontinuance of the new. it's welcome news for the u.s. president who's planning to meet north korea's leader kim jong un within weeks donald trump tweeted north korea has agreed to suspend all nuclear tests and close up a major test site this is very good news for north korea and the world big progress look forward to our summit state media says kim jong un made the announcement as he chaired a meeting of the workers' party central committee a gathering to rubberstamp the supreme leader's decisions it was at a similar meeting five years ago that kim unveiled his signature policy to prioritize the development of nuclear weapons and the economy the message from the leader now is that weapons program development is complete and the focus will shift to the economy currently under pressure from a u.s. led sanctions campaign would you call kim jong un clarify that now that the case

position as a wall of level politico ideological and military power has been successfully established it is the strategic line of the workers' party to concentrate all efforts of the whole party and country on the socialist economic construction kim is apparently seeking to cement his position on the world stage following his meeting in beijing last month with china's president xi jinping talks with cia director mike pompei o in pyongyang and ahead of a historic summit with south korea's president monday and on friday. south korea welcomed the announcement calling north korea's decision meaningful progress for the denuclearization of the korean peninsula the president's office said it will contribute to creating a positive environment for the success of the upcoming intercourse and u.s. north korea summits. china has also welcomed the announcement of hans prime

minister it was more cautious. a self-reliance. welcome to pyongyang certainly the cleanest most orderly and probably the most controlled place i've ever visited. rush hour in the city yet the track the roads aquash although all of them a little comfy. doubt this extremely hard working society everyone striving for the good of the state said this is how workers are sent. revolutionary slogans flags and drums. in this city the portraits in the statues tell the story of this isolated nation run by three men all from one family. the

grandfather and the country's founder kim il sung the father kim jong il. and the son the current leader kim jong un who told he's too modest to have mosaics made of him but he's everywhere on the state controlled media on television and in the newspapers. in the center of the city the tallest landmark the jew che tower jew chair your self-reliance is the governing principle of this nation of twenty five million people our guide explained it's not about self-reliance of the individual but instead that individual koreans must do all they can to make then mation self-reliant we are holding bit though. ah potent if there were no they're lying in bed and our nation of death the main point and the nuclear weapons of hers yes we made the nuclear weapon by our own effort bearing technique is

the main point of that attack. for years north koreans have been told the nuclear program is something that will keep their country strong and that the us is their mortal enemy both the messages that will now need modification as talks approach under some of the stiffest international sanctions ever imposed north koreans say jew cherry or self-reliance is the answer. in the subway trains inherited from east germany a growing old handful of new carriages were produced in north korea we were told this seat was designed by kim jong un himself. it seems the leader takes direct interest in many areas of national life he made a visit to the main chute factory at the plant producing the korean national dish kimchi made of pickled vegetables we were told the air conditioning system was supervised by the supreme leader and as an old people's home we were told he was

the architect of this staircase such benevolence is of course matched by total respect kim jong un has never granted an audience to the international media he's never given an interview i got about as close as an outsider can get to him i was attending a performance of a visiting chinese ballet company in pyongyang when supreme leader kim entered the theater the crowd clapped continuously a standing ovation with cries of horror a ray ray it only stopped when he himself signaled with his hands that james frey's al-jazeera pyongyang. inspectors from the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons has collected samples from the syrian town of duma two weeks after an alleged chemical

attack that the inspectors who've been staying in a damascus hotel until now have been repeatedly delayed from visiting the scene by pro-government forces are accused of dropping a kori bomb france has accused russia of obstructing the entry on forty people died from exposure to chemicals off to the attack according to the world health organization meanwhile syrian rebels and civilians in a countryside area northeast of damascus have started to evacuate to the north of the country under a deal brokered with the government state t.v. says over three thousand rebels will leave three towns in eastern kalamunda over the course of the next three days it's the latest in a string of evacuations around the syrian capital that have seen more than sixty thousand displaced as the government takes control to the south of damascus pro-government forces are pressing the offensive against isis fighters in the arm palestinian refugee camps the u.n. agency responsible for refugees says that it's deeply concerned about the safety of civilians that has pitches emerged showing government planes bombarding the area.

well now to india where the government has approved the death penalty for people convicted of raping children under the age of twelve after widespread outrage over a number of recent attacks the order was approved by prime minister narendra modi but it also requires parliamentary approval within six months to become law in the meantime suspects can be prosecuted under the order of been widespread protests in india following a number of high profile rape cases including the killing of an eight year old girl in kashmir. i spoke to care t. saying a lawyer and women's rights activist in new delhi she says she doesn't think that the death penalty will work as a deterrent nineteen persons in india and you learn even when people think that they can act with impunity that they will not get punished and therefore you did this is that you need the certainty of punishment well that other than the

c b a video is not in our country i think their investigation is not very don't broccoli willy's don't collect widely pieces of evidence and he says and then the cases that go on important so on so the serb forces or we judges sponsible all of. the cases conviction not bombing a boat still ahead. at least one dead in madagascar after opposition supporters clash with police over a new election laws and dealing with the destruction south africa clears up after three days of looting and violence in northwest province.

however there are still a few bumbling big showers off the coast of new south wales in queens and for me here on the out breeze thank you because this dancer on the whole the weather's changed the whole the constant to be as you might expect it to be for late april temperatures in the low to maybe hard twenty's or late twenty eight cloud is running through perth on the next developing covertness running through the bye to not hit adelaide not so much on monday but probably eight late monday yearly tuesday knocking temperature back again otherwise enjoy the sunshine of course those curling offshore showers in sydney for example in new zealand not much cloud around between south and you see so i think you're in for a day or so goodish where the temp is down to fourteen in christchurch about ninety norton which should be a little significant change on monday for new zealand we are forecasting near record value temperatures for tokyo twenty eight is about degree off the record for sunday in warm sunshine of wind the clouds building further west on the yellow sea

is significant right on its way through the korean peninsula wet looking day on monday but it will have an effect on the wind direction the cloud cover in tokyo where temperatures come back to a sensible level. inmates learning from other inmates acquiring knowledge that could set them free. through legal education classes and mock tribunals their dedication has led to start growing results. for us. that they were. teaching empowerment. part of the rebel education series at this time on al-jazeera.

and updates the top stories now north korea's decision to hold nuclear and missile tests has been welcomed by leaders around the world including the us president donald trump who says it's good news. international weapons inspectors are finally visited the syrian town of duma two weeks after an alleged chemical attack there. and india's government has approved the death penalty for people convicted of raping children under the age of twelve after widespread outrage over a number of recent attacks. now nicaragua's president daniel ortega says he's open to dialogue as anti-government protests head into the second week the government says nine people have been killed in this on respond by controversial pension

reforms so let's speak to john holman who joins me now from mexico city and john why has it taken so long for the president to speak out and to to break his silence . you're exactly right it's been four days of protests before done yet or take a spoke out and actually what people within the country are saying there. it was not back conciliatory he came out flanks not just by his cabinet but also by the military and by police leaders and what he had to say was that the young people especially in these protests he said they haven't seen the horrors of war that nicaragua's gone through in the past he described them i'm paraphrasing sort of criminals that are being led misled or taken advantage of by shadowy political parties or figures so this wasn't really that much of a speech that reached out to the protestors in the country and we've yet to see how that's going to affect it and how that's going to affect the tensions within the canary so nothing conciliatory from the president can we expect these protests to

escalate further. well definitely there's no sign yet of the baiting and talking to our contacts and people we know in the country they say that the response to that address from the president from people that are protesting predictably was an a good one it's worth pointing out as well that these protests are quite unusual in the could our work both in terms of this scale it's not just in the capital my word but said there are other cities and also the intensity we're talking about at least ten people dead many more the been injured by repeated clashes between protesters and the police and also the youth wing of the ruling party so the spark that really lit this was changes in the social security mechanism that meant the five percent of people's pensions would be set aside instead for medical expenses and people interpreted that as not being taken away from them but really there's

a lot of underlying political tension in the country that's linked to president all take it in the eyes of many analysts and n.g.o.s basically undermining democratic institutions to try and stay in power and also turning government into a bit of a family business for example as vice president is also the first lady his wife and just briefly john does that mean a reversal of these. pension reforms is not going to be enough for the protesters how difficult is it going to be to resolve this. exactly though i think that because that's only part of it the government's also meant to be talking to the private sector which also has been affected by this social security reforms but really as you say this is just part of it now there is why did this constant discontent about the government and the situation with democracy so we've yet to see if this is going to escalate o.-p. able to be resolved thank you very much from mexico city john homeland. now at least three people have been killed and more than fifty injured after

a suspected gas leak caused an explosion at a hospital in chile it happened in the city of concepcion the local mayor is that the hospital had been evacuated earlier because of the gas leak and the gas company had given it the all clear he said the explosion happened as workers were returning to the building. the family of a palestinian engineer in malaysia says he's been killed by the israeli intelligence agency mossad amasses confirm the university lecturer five was a member of the faction but there's been no israeli response. ports. this is to an identified gunman opened fire at. the thirty five year old palestinian engineering lecturer was pushed as he was walking to was in the air by boss in the capital kuala lumpur colleagues of the university a shocked and by the killing so we didn't see any thing dangerous we human or the

door only thing that was the world that we can see he's. the only thing that could be is because of his expertise in his field of electrical engineering. a neighbor told reporters that he saw two european looking man the by shortly before the shooting there. really blame israel for the killing. of. the israeli mossad is to be held responsible for that because the israelis can't tolerate any well educated arab and particularly palestinian mentality israel considers any well educated distinguished arab or particularly palestinian figure as the real big threat for israel hamas which controls gaza said was a member of the palestinian group has repeatedly blamed israel's spy agency mossad for targeting its members including into. a tizzy an expert in jone

technology was shot in his hometown of us in december two busy and police said the killers of one hundred three posed as foreign journalists hamas said he was instrumental in developing drones and was a command of its armed wing. brigades. well in all the developments palestine's ambassador to the united nations is calling for an independent investigation into israel's use of force against protesters four palestinians were killed by israeli gunfire on a fourth consecutive friday of demonstrations on gaza's border they include a fourteen year old boy but it's myth went to meet the relatives. that's right there are you had dreams for her some most mothers a good education marriage children. but a bullet to the head from an israeli sniper means this family now has to bury fourteen year old mohammed ru along with those dreams. while there are no hard

balance says the woman i used to tell him one day are living conditions will improve political divisions will and i had been pushing him to continue his studies despite everything. but how it was protesting near the gaza israel border fence at easter or on friday. if he was throwing stones they probably weren't very big. this family video from last year shows mohammed at the zoo he slight aged just thirteen here it's hard to imagine six months later he posed a serious threat to the israeli military. death prompted an unusually strong reaction from the u.n. special coordinator for the middle east peace process nicholai martin off said it's outrageous to shoot at children how does the killing of a child in gaza today help peace it doesn't it feels anger and breeds more killing a former israeli military spokesman responded please go to gaza engage hamas and

get them to stop sending people to defense stop palestinian incitement and organize riots at the border and donald trump's advisor to the middle east stepped in a full investigation by israel of mohammad are you is underway as we mourn the tragic loss of a young life we must all resolve to avoid causing more suffering by responses to his death. mohammed's father says he couldn't stop his son joining the protest for palestinian rights what doesn't. know there was always smiling always teasing to be his father he was another ticket but the brave the whole neighborhood loved him never said no to anyone he just want to see our original village in israel. the banisters. was buried the day he died the youngest victim so far but the palestinian great march of return bernard smith al jazeera gaza state media in saudi arabia says security forces have shot down a toy drone in riyadh. online

videos showed gunfire in parts of the saudi capital that's home to the royal palace leading to conflicting reports about what was happening there police in riyadh say some on walls into the palace at the time. now at least one person has died in violence between security forces and protesters in madagascar the demonstrators were rallying in the capital against new electoral laws which the opposition say it meant to stop a candidate from running for president the city's hospital says at least sixteen more people have been injured in the violence earlier i spoke to paul malley research over the chatham house africa program he says politicians using the legal system against their opponents is nothing new in madagascar. the former president marc ravalomanana could be excluded because the law will ban people who have a conviction from running for president but the conviction that he has was really

very questionable one he was out of the country having been overthrown in a coup it was a political trial many people don't think it is serious so it really depends on how that's interpreted when reveller manana was president he used the legal system to prevent a challenger running against him roger lane or another key player and potential candidate was the guy installed in the two thousand and nine crew and spent four years procrastinating over the restoration of democracy and hope that he could create conditions that would cute him in power the current president and he has no effect that this legislation is being passed the toll would suggest that he too is equivocating a bit so there are real doubts as to whether the malagasy political elite a totally committed to the top priority which is to make a success or of this next election in twenty thirty in the end of twenty thirty democracy was restored in

a meaningful process that people could expect to accept as legitimate but it really doesn't seem certain that everybody buys into the need to repeat and loud development and recovery to go forward because it is a very poor country we've huge development problems south african presence there around opposers us residents of northwest province to stay calm as he holds more talks with communities to try to end violent protests that erupted this week the protesters are demanding the resignation of a provincial leader who's accused of corruption catherine sawyer reports from mike came. pinky being more cause baby is feverish she inhaled gas when police and protesters clashed but health workers in public hospitals are on strike and con to get help. to her mother's house in the city to give path because life is more difficult in the rural area where she leads a can take measure to buy looters because there are not many and no breaking yeah

there comes the lies and those political things they pose as the things that they did not deliver you understand they didn't go there and get the build their houses and give people jobs when the jobs come from the government they dig people oh my god i have frustrations are shared by many people in this region and that's why they took to the streets and i think they want better public services from the local government houses and shops they also want the probably should be done to step down has failed to do his job now also corruption allegations the presidency rama says he needs time to hold more talks and aggrieved communities and the provision of. life is returning to normal in my hand but many shops remain closed people say they will wait for the outcome of consultations the president asked for but they also tell us that they are in

a sense for answers and won't wait too long. though many of the grievances are generally in the protests time violent rowdy morbus band lies to buildings and looted. little just to come over to traders like a clearly learn torah are devastated everything in his shop was a the stolen or banned this was his home too i don't know what i can do now on that hopeless you can see what. i don't have money to remove it it's not easy to remove. these you cannot replace reason not to some people say politics in targeted revenge attacks got in the way of what we're supposed to be peaceful demonstrations. and have family tallis this is the result of pent up anger casting saw al-jazeera mike kang south africa. american football player calling kappa nick has been announced as the winner of amnesty

international's annual ambassador of conscience award two years ago happening started kneeling jury in the u.s. national anthem played for all n.f.l. matches in response to the disproportionate number of black people killed by police captain exactions polarized opinion in the united states i'm a criticized by president donald trump captain it was presented with the award by amnesty international secretary-general saleel shetty who told us why captain eric and the players who supported him deserve this recognition that immense coverage that they're showing which has been a huge inspiration to many other activists who are anti racism activists black people but not just black people but they crossed the entire spectrum of the us population but as you know anything which happened in the us also has a huge impact across the globe so many brave human rights defenders i think seek inspiration her have gained inspiration from the from the very brave decision or

gotten kaepernick that we reap proud and we're very happy to have given them the best of conscience award today. quick look at the headlines now north korea's announcement that it will immediately stop all nuclear missile tests has been welcomed by western leaders u.s. president donald trump described kim jong un's pledge as very good news while european leaders say it's a good first step but some are being more cautious especially japan alan fischer has more from washington the north koreans have a history before big summits of offering things that we never follow through on so while there is pleasure in the united states there is no daylight because we want to make sure that what the north koreans are promising they will actually follow through on but moving to other top stories this hour inspectors from the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons have collected samples from

the syrian town of duma some two weeks after the alleged chemical attack that inspectors may have been staying in a hotel in the capital damascus until now have been repeatedly delayed from visiting the scene where pro-government forces are accused of dropping a chlorine bomb france has accused russia of obstructing their entry more than forty people died from exposure to chemicals after the attack according to the world health organization. india's government has approved the death penalty for people convicted of raping children under the age of twelve. that the order acquires parliamentary approval within six months to become the have been widespread protests following a number of high profile rape cases which include the killing of an eight year old girl in kashmir. at least one person has died in violence between security forces and protesters in the capital of madagascar

demonstrates a rallying against new electoral rolls which the opposition says a meant to stop a candidate from running for president the city's hospital says at least sixty more people have been injured in the violence. and nicaragua's government says it's willing to negotiate over a controversial social security reforms that have prompted protests nine people have been killed in this unrest new legislation increases pension contributions for workers and employees and reduces the overall benefit of. the headlines that's it for myself in the team here in london there is much more news coming up at the top of the next hour that's in twenty five minutes time techno is next. al jazeera where ever you are.

a story fourteen hundred years in the making. a story of succession and leadership. and jazzy health of the story of a client of venice and the end of an empire. the count of. three at this time on a. this is techno innovations that can change lives the science of fighting wildfires we're going to explore the intersection of hardware and humanity and we're doing it a unique way. this is a show about science. by scientists. tonight. techno in search of the great american prairie where in

the current state yet ironically we have such little of it left farming and over development killed it now get ready for this explosion of color and the return of these native animals how many plants species do you have in here but volunteers trying to bring back one of the planet's most complex ecosystems ran into trouble we just needed something to help to level the playing field why a certain animal from america's past was needed to pull off the end.