first escalation of violence between hamas and israel just the two thousand and fourteen war. israel says it launched dozens of air strikes it hammers targets in the gaza strip in response to palestinian protesters kites or balloons carrying molotov cocktails across its goals offense hamas responded by launching around two hundred rockets mortars and incendiary devices and egyptian brokered cease fire was announced on saturday night israel says fires caused by the coyotes have destroyed more than ten thousand hectares of crops and private land in recent weeks has also put further restrictions on garza's fishing industry reducing the area fishermen can work in from six to within three nautical miles just amazing to at least fifty thousand families are in some way involved in fishing in gaza. has been decreasing our fishing area for years they have killed and injured fishermen and confiscated forty five boats they are trying to get us out of and put

further economic pressure on gaza the ceasefire between hamas and the israeli military is holding but how my says it cannot stop every palestinian from protesting using the crates and balloons israel says it will continue to target them until they stop. that al-jazeera gaza now u.s. president donald trump has been forced into a very public climbdown after politicians across the board criticized his comments about russia trying to now says he accepts the conclusion by his own intelligence agencies that russia data meddle in the twenty sixteen election but two days ago they say is what he told a news conference with vladimir putin in finland. people came to me dan coats came to me and some others they said they think it's russian i have president putin he just said it's not russian i will say this i don't see any reason why it would be

well in a stunning reversal trump says he misspoke of blame to grab a but as a white house correspondent kimberly how could explain the damage seems have already been done. a stunning reversal by u.s. president donald trump to word what incentive would be. faced with nonstop criticism over his press conference with russian president vladimir putin in finland from claims he misspoke and now accepts the conclusion of u.s. intelligence that russia meddled in the twenty sixteen presidential election i have felt very strongly that well russia's actions had no impact at all on the outcome of the election let me be totally clear in saying that and i've said this many times except our intelligence community is conclusion that russia's meddling in the two thousand and six election took place in terms of arc's follow

a barrage of condemnation from members of his own political party for his initial acceptance of putin's denial he just said it's not russian of any election interference by the kremlin i remain as i thought it was shameful i think he needs to fix it morning the republican speaker of the house of representatives equally unequivocal not only did russia interfere in the past it threatens to do so again they're doing it around the world they did it to france they did to moldova they're doing it to the baltics russia is trying to undermine democracy itself democrats are pressuring republicans to reinforce those words with action if donald trump was such an easy mark in helsinki. president putin will realize he's an easy mark elsewhere that's why lawmakers are pushing for further sanctions against russia many are also demanding trump requests the extradition of twelve russians indicted last week on charges of interfering in the twenty sixteen u.s.

vote but like previous administrations my administration has and will continue to move aggressively to repeal and they have friends and we will we will stop if we were. any efforts to get if you're in our election some democrats are calling for legislation to prevent the president from criticizing the f.b.i. and the department of justice as the president has done in the past so that the special counsel robert muller can continue his investigation into russian interference in the u.s. presidential election can really help get al-jazeera the white house. well plenty more ahead here on the al-jazeera news hour including. a promise of new jobs and improved public services does little to stop the widespread protests in iran. also fighting for control the nicaraguan neighborhood at the center of the battle against to the president. and there's

a record setting night in major league baseball's big season all star game joe we'll have those details. let's head to the horn of africa now where passenger flights between ethiopia and eritrea have resumed two decades after they stopped due to conflict between the two countries the first ethiopian airlines flight to outraise capital and smart took off from december the former ethiopian prime minister and the seller is among the passengers on that first flight and it's the latest move aimed at normalizing relations we have to both leaders agreed to open embassies develop ports and restart. well nowadays joins me now from. of course it's not first flight into a smart for almost twenty years and a hugely significant moment in history for both countries.

well yes. this is a very significant day in the history of these two countries and also significant they have a since they parted trying to. bring back relations with publish the grammatically lessons. as you say the kind of dignitaries including former prime minister lang businessman who will be on my investment opportunities at a trail as well as a journalist on the must majority of the hostages people who have been separated from their families by the war and have hired any and many full communication with them for the past twenty years for them this is not just a normal life. a mission of must come. late we spoke to one of them a journalist of the. told us that he had been separated with his wife and two

daughters for twenty years and say that he would only believe that if you smoke a dream one he learns enough money. being achieved in reestablishing these diplomatic relations in what has been a very short space of time so what wonders what's next for the two countries. well i think most of the work to be done in terms of the publishing diplomatic relations between the two countries the embassy of military opened here the flights have begun there already of you know. leading to link the two countries with before they can allow. why again the heart of the whole process remains would you say the border would again mean people who today are living in places in fear. coming back and becoming europeans

the same happens to people who are living in europe because if you have you will have to cede some of the disputed land where we are now that is where many observers say you are going to be a difficult process but the two leaders prime minister. and if i support you say they are committed to this process they will feed to the final. but of course continue to monitor events where you. are staying on the continent south africa's marking the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of nelson mandela the former leader known as the father of the nation a ceremony in johannesburg was held in remembrance of the anti-apartheid icon who try to unite a deeply divided country former u.s. president barack obama paid tribute to south africa's first black leader in his highest profile speech since leaving office on tuesday obama urged people around the world to respect human rights and other values which he said and now under

threat. joins me now live from johannesburg and we saw that huge event on tuesday with obama speaking to kick started the celebrations how are south africans planning to spend the anniversary on wednesday. the same thing yes. life fighting for a better selected the so people in this country are going to spend six to seven minutes a day doing something positive. in their communities especially. across the country it's never going to soup kitchens so i'm going to force the laws of the it is. strong the country has come a long way since ninety nine to the minimum the challenges that the city was not an inequality i. know my share when i say attended the truth and reconciliation commission hearings in south africa shortly after apartheid ended she wanted to find out why government soldiers shot her brother at

a train station in one thousand nine hundred three she was unable really told the truth about why he died and says she can't forgive and forget she's now part of a group with people like me to try and find a way to heal there were three bodies that lay on the side of the tracks they had been shot a week later we were told his remains were at a mortuary i had to go through body bags looking for him. nelson mandela so that because first black democratically elected leader made reconciliation a priority of his presidency one of his biggest achievements was his role in city of the truth and reconciliation commission it investigated crimes committed during apartheid on both sides to try and unify a racially divided nation political analysts say it worked to a certain extent at that time there was uncertainty about the country's future and whether the different races could live together but more than twenty years later south africa still struggles with the race and other challenges factions in the ruling african national congress threaten to defy the continent's oldest liberation

movement millions of black south africans continue to live in shanty towns with little access to running water electricity quality health care nelson mandela's legacy apollo rents and reconciliation has been threatened over the years by social conflict in south africa this country has one of the highest rates of inequality. the world the poor black majority said they want jobs and land some sort africans feel the promises of a better life for all made in one thousand nine hundred four haven't materialized in many areas of the country fifty percent of blacks. are they going to see employment in their lives don it's a question that needs to be all strategically some young people born after apartheid are starting to ask questions about whether mandela spent too much time focusing on reconciliation instead of improving conditions for the poor. and others in her group say they admire mandela's willingness to forgive people even those who

refuse to apologize for the crimes they committed during apartheid she says she still trying to find that strength and hopes today's didas work harder to build a more racially and economically inclusive south africa the kind of country some say mandela would have wanted to see. her really was known for his legacy of trying to make sure that people could forgive and reconcile i mean what else was he known for besides that. education hearing apart say that the right to education to life so when nelson mandela became president his parents it was to make sure boards for the space the four black children received a good education so he pushed for some schools to be filled with first people more people to be educated and single so they carry the chairs the heading back into the classroom they've been given food still nations and in those books they will read all about nelson mandela i'm fine tears from the community we come in sitting with

the children many of them from for that cause some of these children their parents really struggle to make ends meet they struggle to see that they struggle to do the of that and to to say something to the struggle to read and write to see me volunteers coming sitting with his children reading them stories and helping them only. words and to speak it and it is really important that for nelson mandela he thought the o.j. case is a way out of public safety and that's one of those legacy left behind me that people hope that he needs is all over the country to take down that roll tide educate the forest the poor and maybe that would help alleviate poverty labels in the country and leave it there for no highroad of course and follow votes with you through the day thank you. yemen's who the rebel leader has told a french newspaper that he's ready to hand over control of the port of data to the united nations if the saudi and and the rocky coalition ends its offensive there at

sea port has been controlled by the rebel since twenty fourteen it provides a vital lifeline for war ravaged again with seventy percent of food imports passing through it last month the coalition launched an offensive to capture the port in an interview with a live figure if the chief have been malika who also accused france of contributing to the violence by selling arms to saudi arabia and the u.a.e. . well fighting around today to continue as many yemeni teenagers also have high school exams to contend with laura burton manley possible. it's exam season a stressful time for many but these children and her data a studying in the middle of the biggest battle in yemen's three year war. they have little electricity suffer scorching temperatures and are at risk of being killed on their way to school. and yet many is suffering under very difficult conditions it's hard we have power cuts and as

a result many students struggle to study we're nearing the end of the tests but the good news is there's been a large turnout of students. this war has caused huge frustrations for many students only one third of my students are present the other two thirds have fled. about thirty five thousand families have fled who died this war but most internally displaced people are living in such tough conditions many children simply drop out school others have escaped from being recruited by the warring sides so. they sent us to sanaa taking the back roads they captured us in a checkpoint they took us into tunnels and asked us to stay there they gave us weapons told us to say were from my soul and told us to wait for them and come back we stayed one week. yemeni government forces backed by the saudi u.a.e. coalition continue their assault on the rebels in her data which has been taking place for more than

a month. the port handles most of yemen's imports making it's an important area for the coalition to cut off the rebels lifeline but the consequences of this could put millions of lives the risk the united nations says yemen's education system has been devastated by the conflict and since the start of the war about half a million children have dropped out of school. as the war goes on with little sign of ending an entire generation of yemeni children face a difficult future. nor about a manly al-jazeera. well in a few moments we'll have the weather with richard but still ahead here on al-jazeera another sign of a thaw the korean peninsula sort of a fans of the south taken movies from the north plus. jonah hill on board the train to nowhere with allegations of political corruption a misuse of the function tax free media and civil society all the hallmarks of big

bang. of the sport tiger woods gears up for his first open championship in three years we'll hear from the fourteen time major winner later in the program. i know you told. me the weather sponsored by. well. looking at the moment in western areas the shots coming from goodyear out. of rainfall causing flooding across the region again double edged sword causes problems but you need the water for the crops such a vital part of india's economy of course. some significant rainfall totals being reported across. the central northern areas and over in the eastern side as well a lot of rain has been falling so when we look at the forecast. again

getting heavy rain through the west and looks fairly steady rather than particularly heavy. developing. as we get into the latter part of the weekend. still the same sort of phenomena of the. but we have this particular tropical storm systems which is being causing problems across. but is going to continue to cause problems across the whole region as it continues to move towards a vietnam so now it's moving across the gulf of tonkin it will hit northern parts of vietnam and adventure of the next few days will have an impact across. so i think across the whole of indochina some flooding is hardly likely. the weather.

when people need to be had. this been a refugee almost all his life it's not a normal life. and the story needs to be told we do stories that have been passed off as fact. or of law to make sure that the bad guys in fact al-jazeera has teams on the ground to a new documentaries and live news on air and on. welcome

back to the al-jazeera news our arms a whole rob a reminder of our top news stories the time football team has spent eighteen days underground have just been discharged from hospital the twelve teenagers are due to make their first public appearance in the next hour or so there had been in hospital after more than a week of assessments by doctors. also thousands of people are on the move from the to the northwestern syrian towns besieged by opposition fighters for more than four years now the evacuation of foreign affairs part of a deal between the rebel groups and the iranian fighters backing the government in exchange the government is set to release hundreds of detainees. and passenger flights between ethiopia and eritrea regime two decades after they stopped due to conflict between the two countries the first ethiopian airlines flight to eritrea

is capitalist mara took off from a cyber is the latest moved aimed at normalizing relations. no iraq's protests are continuing despite a promise by the prime minister to create jobs and improve public services there dressed began in the oil rich province of last week and spread to several other large cities in the south demonstrators are angry about the government corruption and mismanagement of oil funds. iran carla correspondent joins us now from the iraqi capital i mean let's just big begin with trying to get a sense of what's going on on the ground in the hotspot of the rest of the country . well what we're saying is these protest movements develop into big numbers now it has been a very quiet day for the protest movement hit today but we are expecting as we come closer to friday for those numbers to rise we're also hearing that there may well be protests to take place in baghdad now that's

a nightmare scenario for the government like trying to keep a lid on all of this indeed some of the protest movement leaders have issued a fourteen point list of demands and it's very much an economic list of demands that they put forward to the government they want basic services to be improved they want gasoline electricity they also want job so this is very much about the economy now this is been a very long time coming you have to think since the invasion in two thousand and three by the u.s. was supposed to be the all producing hub of the country but the people in basra say that the money simply goes to the federal government and doesn't come back and that's what's really driven the anger that what we're seeing is this protest movement develop in the southern cities including browser but the faint now is that it could spread as far as baghdad now this means that the government will be under quite a lot of pressure to try and listen to the protests as much what they can do quickly

remains to be seen this is structural problems that the country has there is not only just in the southern districts where the protests are taking place across the country electricity shortages people complain about food prices going up so there is a very big economic problem here but it won't go away overnight and some of the demands from the processes include a timetable give us a timetable where we can see concrete steps being taken let's see whether that happens that see how the protest movement develops but like i say people very concerned that the protest movement may actually spread to the capital city of baghdad it seems that people's patience is running out of calls the recent election which left things up in the everyday doesn't help the situation one wonders how politicians are going to find a way forward whether it be the prime minister all those underneath him. well this is the million dollar question when it comes to iraq who is going to lead the next government now the manual recounts are taking place and that's what's delayed the formation of the new government so simply we have what is in effect

a caretaker government is the caretaker government's hands tied the can they do anything else they are this caretaker government well the government itself says no it's business as usual we can function as an economy but when you are looking at these large structural issues like infrastructure economy energy things like that you do need a government in place that can to put in a plan that will last the next four years and that's not happening because of this political stalemate is going on because of the manual recount that's happening when the election results were. so controversial did we leave it there for now but of course follow vents with you through the day thank you. the u.s. government is trying to defend itself against iranian legal action the international court of justice the iranian same reimposition of u.s. sanctions after donald trump pulled out of the nuclear deal violates a sixty year old treaty the reports. at

a news conference of iran's atomic energy agency more defiant rhetoric from a government that knows it's running out of time in a matter of weeks more crippling u.s. sanctions will hit the already struggling iranian economy of course just some measure of the. eventual. eventually. if. iran has consistently threatened to restart production of nuclear material that is considered weapons grade. and despite its best intentions leaders here believe europe will be unable to meet obligations under the twenty fifty nuclear deal for now iran is still abiding by that agreement but restarting nuclear activities may be inevitable two thousand and eighteen has already been a difficult year for iran's economy and august sanctions won't be the end of it more sanctions take effect in the vendor this time targeting the country's biggest

source of revenue the oil and gas and earlier this month iran's president was in switzerland and austria to secure trade ties a senior adviser to the supreme leader was in russia to discuss investing in iran's oil industry and iranian envoys were in india and pakistan this week to reaffirm cooperation iran also hopes china will continue to be one of its biggest oil buyers even in the face of american threats iranian leaders are even taking america to court on monday foreign minister zarif announced that iran has filed an official complaint with the un's international court of justice to quote hold us accountable for its unlawful re imposition of unilateral sanctions. as the us president met his russian counterpart in helsinki this week he was also recognized at an awards ceremony into iran donald trump is the winner of this year's wet gunpowder award an iranian accolade recognizing the most hated international person of the year trump

has now won two years in a row already attend all. show maher mr trump we know you as someone who pretends to be a human but you have no human features a tall we know you as someone who breaks his promises i'm sorry for the people of america for having such a president he says one thing and the next hour he says something else iran's money has lost half its value in less than a year trying to do damage control iran's government has been cornered at every turn this may seem like a lot of pomp and circumstance to call the american president names but as the deadline for more sanctions gets closer it seems all iranians have left to do is mock the man they hold responsible zain bus ravi old a zero to one. a british media watchdog says it has proof that the united arab emirates tried to influence the b.b.c. news of the arab spring uprising the spin watch group obtained e-mails from a morality lobbying group paul brennan has more from london. two thousand and

eleven arab spring saw a wave of democratic grassroots protests which toppled longtime leaders and offered the hope of a new vision for the middle east the response by some of the kingdoms and emirates of the region was just as dramatic a report by the spin watch group says that in the u.k. the united arab emirates mobilised a narrative against the muslim brotherhood in britain in the highest echelons of government it says the abu dhabi crown prince and the then prime minister david cameron had several undeclared meetings and it says through a combination of persuasion and threats the u.a.e. campaign produced results one threat which was made by the uni to david cameron was if you don't institute an inquiry into the muslim brotherhood we will cancel the typhoon fighter jet deal from bush's space i will stop british petroleum getting an oil concession in the law that was successful in extraordinary effort by the each

actually could jaw bully the british government into pursuing its foreign policy the success or failure of the other u.a.e. lobbying is less clear spin watch says that the u.a.e. put pressure on the b.b.c. over its coverage of the arab spring but the b.b.c. in a statement is flatly denied that it caved in to any political pressure it's been watch also quotes a source suggesting that iraqi donations to the think tank chatham house may have affected that institute research but chatham house is vigorously denied that it could be affected in that way but the u.a.e. foreign minister is known to have had close contacts with selected u.k. journalists meetings which led the u.a.e. piaf quilla to claim that views changed and the report highlights the ways the two thousand and seven. team blockade against cats are sore the intensification of the u.s. p.r. campaign including bitter criticism of catalyst twenty twenty two world cup the lobbying rules woefully inadequate it seems to me and the greater safeguards to

prevent the sort of influence which seems to be exerted on the on the british government in the way in which is has been and of course you know some of the only tender consequences have been the growth of islamophobia in this country and we're seeing the expression of that on the streets of britain the report noted now theresa may is u.k. prime minister abu dhabi's clout has diminished significantly but there seems little to prevent a possible slide backwards the central issue in all of this is one of transparency when does the jetsam at lobbying become undue influence and to quote the report itself promising billions in return for improvements infiltrating the british media buying politicians loyalty donating to think tanks and trying to influence media coverage some would see as a step too far. paul brennan al-jazeera central london google's expected to be hit with another fine by the european union this time for a record five billion dollars e.u.

anti trust agency of been investigating contracts with phone manufacturers forcing them to pre-install google services on android devices the us company used by billions of internet users was fined two and a half billion last year in a separate investigation into monopolies. are hungriest prime minister continues to be dogged by allegations of corruption and nepotism despite securing a historic third term just a few months ago but critics say friends of viktor orban are benefiting from large e.u. funded projects jonah hill reports. in the village with victor all bond was born there's a smart new football stadium it's well known that he's a big football fan and it's just a stone's throw from the prime minister's weekend home the stadium is the first stop on a vintage train ride that also takes in an arboretum and a pleasant ice cream shop the train line and the stadium were built say anticorruption activists using public money with construction contracts awarded to

well connected businessmen part of an elite that's grown rich through its proximity to power the beneficiaries contractors who are actually carried out these this work and all those were people of course he said or by the government. on the day we visit a local tour group arrives to board what's been dubbed the train to nowhere. but here you get a pretty good idea of how a lot of money was spent on not very much if anybody did do well out of this project i'm pretty sure it was in the hunger area public. it's estimated that over eighty percent of public investment in hungary comes from the european union's so-called cushioning from its intended to help poorer members catch up with hungary increasingly in conflict with the e.u. over corruption and migration policies brussels plans to cut those funds by

a quarter in its next budget is the government apparently not much we've seen that part of the blackmailing horizon for the past couple of years in order to have a budget iraq and budget you have to have the causes of all member states. and if there's not going to be consensus which is very likely to happen if the criteria of the south is going to remain then there's not going to be a budget so confident as mr all burn in fact that he's begun exporting his influence supporting like minded politicians in slovenia slovakia poland and the czech republic and their. breath was very successful in hungary and there nothing really happened which was really back far hungary so you know nothing shows you know anything so it was a very. easy thing for farfield ass to do. compound.