and how they report on the stories that matter the most the big fear is someone from the country who guides you to lead you to the story of the bar line road listening post on al-jazeera. un secretary general and nobel peace laureate kofi annan has died at the age of eighty. hello i'm an issue with al-jazeera live from doha also coming up hundreds killed tens of thousands are displaced as the indian state of carola is hit by the worst floods in a century. a new leader at the helm imran khan takes charge of pakistan's prime minister promising a corruption free government. a state funeral in italy as more bodies are recovered

from the size of a bridge that collapsed in genoa. a former u.n. secretary general kofi annan has died at the age of eighty he'd served as the seventh secretary general from the years nine hundred ninety seven to two thousand and six he was the first to rise to the top of the u.n. from within the ranks of the organization he received the nobel peace prize jointly with the united nations in two thousand and one for their work towards a more peaceful world by the current u.n. secretary general antonio he's voices sorry at the news he said in the statement kofi annan was a guiding force for good it is with profound sadness that i learned of his passing in many ways kofi annan was. the united nations now we can speak to stefan de jour

it choose spokesman for the u.n. secretary general and stefan you you actually worked with kofi annan as well what with other united nations secretary generals how do you think kofi annan will be remembered yes sir i had the honor of work. and it. gave me your first thought that. i think cokie will be remembered as the burning of . the church united nations in the new century. the united states you point. you can bet. you with american educated until the very end you know the moment passed away to yield for the next day should bear in war and the stefan of coal he said on multiple occasions that during all of his years at the u.n.

not as a sect in general it must be said that his greatest regret perhaps was nine hundred ninety four and rwanda. yes i think. very personally i think that. is a very much and it's what. i think the. there is how would. the council allow the rwanda. the great. war which a lot of lessons were learned and i think it was an act. or secretary general. stefan i'm going to pass today but the line is very bad indeed can i just try you with one more question and that is about the two thousand and three u.s. and u.k.

invasion of iraq that was a moment when i can recall kofi annan showing visible anger yes he had done worked so hard to avoid conflict you worked hard to avoid that war but i think what needs to be remembered is that once the patient won the war have you made sure that the united nations did not abandon the people of iraq and for the fact we paid a great strike back. just tomorrow aug fifteenth anniversary of the attack of the u.n. headquarters in baghdad during which we lost our job there develop. of start. great parents. i'm sorry this is a very emotional moment for you stefan we really appreciate you taking the time to

talk us through the legacy of coffee and can i maybe just get one more. from you and that and that's about one of his later assignments and that of course was as the first u.n. trade arab league only voy to syria he managed that for only a few months in the before he dumped that that mission as mission impossible if he did and i think it shows you the commitment to the organization and it could be the ideal that he came out of we aren't at the request secretary-general ban ki moon to take on this mission impossible gave it its all and i think he was then very honest as to the reason why he stepped down and why he thought he was unable to boot the process forward in a way that he had wanted now he's often thought of isn't he as that is the first

african descent as u.n. secretary general which of course isn't the case he followed hard on the hills all of the first african beaches beaches golly but he is the first african to have served at two full terms as head of the united nations yet he worked and he worked for obviously the start of africa you will get a lot of you went to work on africa but i think you have to look at his legacy after he. down for the united nations and all the work he has done in africa during the i think you read revolution in africa on. democracy in in africa he was very dedicated to his own thought that stefan de jour at shonky very much indeed for taking time out to talk to us about the legacy of kofi annan. thank you very. all right we can now talk to diplomatic editor james frey's he's joining us live

he's in london and james. you could actually hear some of the emotion in his voice as he was talking to us about this man who was widely loved by many staffers many staffers from the u.n. in new york and indeed from geneva. yes because he came from their ranks he became the secretary general having been her star for himself having worked in the u.n. system having worked as the head of peacekeeping previous roles worked in the humanitarian side of the united nations he knew this organization intimately people who worked with him closely like. feeling a real sense of grief i think at the sudden passing of kofi annan let me read you another account that's just come out in the last few minutes and that's from the high commissioner for human rights prince a rather hussein who is actually about to stand down from his job and he's revealed

in a statement he's just put out that he used to go for walks around geneva with kofi annan and when he was feeling down he said i'm grief stricken stricken of the death of kofi anon he was humanity's best example the epitome of human decency and grace and on those walks he said when i told him once everyone was grumbling about me he looked at me like a father would look at a son and said sternly you're doing the right thing let them grumble and then he says he grinned at him i think that's a story i think of kofi annan the man who will be remembered all across the globe give you one other statement in the last few minutes from another former top u.n. official also the former prime minister of new zealand helen clark deeply saddened by the death of kofi annan outstanding state persons of our time kofi as life was one of service he made a difference tributes pouring in to this man who was the secretary general of the united nations for ten years

a very difficult ten years coinciding with events in afghanistan and iraq and the bush administration's policies in those two countries and as you've already mentioned martine iraq i think is one of the things that his time as secretary general is. going to be known for stuff and mentioned of course the u.n. tried to avoid the war in iraq he had those weapons inspectors there trying to find any weapons of mass destruction the u.n. after the intervention of the americans then went to help out and the verse three coming up of twenty two u.n. workers who were killed there in baghdad but it was also the biggest controversy of his time as secretary general because there was what was known as the oil for food program that certainly was deeply flawed and deeply corrupt and the corruption there were allegations that even reached the door of the secretary general because

his son was working for an oil company that was involved with the program so that i think the biggest controversy during his time as u.n. secretary general and james it's often described i mean the job the position up there on the thirty eighth floor in new york is described as being one either of the general or as a secretary many have pointed out the coffee and i might have started his term as a secretary but became in fact a general particularly after that two thousand and three invasion of iraq. yes he showed real leadership and he had the persona or i think no criticism of his successor banki moon but he had that stature that came accompanied with grace and dignity that very softly spoken voice that i think gave some power to the words of the united nations' always very difficult as it is for the

current secretary general when you have the five permanent members of the security council with different positions opposed to each other they are now opposed on syria while they were opposed on iraq a different a difficult time for a secretary general when his five main marsters all disagree but kofi annan managed to find his voice and the voice of the united nations in that moment as you say a job that is also described as probably the most thankless job in the world and yet won't see gave up his ten year term he continued working continued working as the special envoy of the u.n. arab league trying to resolve the situation in syria his name will still be attached to peace efforts that are still in many ways ongoing the kofi annan plan and commission with regard to myanmar and the real hunger. plan for cyprus these will live on a man who continued his work also was telling you had quite

a sense of humor i last saw him in march and our boss and he was certainly joking there and also worth telling you i think about something at the end of last year every year those of us that are based mainly at the u.n. the u.n. correspondents have an annual garlic dinner to raise money for charity while in december he produced a video at that. dinner making fun of himself and even suggesting that he never actually being secretary general is actually morgan freeman who'd been playing him all along. all right james thank you for that that's a very nice thought on which to leave this sequence where we've been talking about the death of koffi annan the former u.n. secretary general james face thanks. now to some other news because thousands of stranded people are waiting to be rescued in the southern indian state of carola as heavy rain continues to batter the region more than one hundred ninety people have died in just over a week almost all the districts in kerala are on alert with the flooding

potentially affecting most of the state's thirty five million people it's so bad the international airport has been shut down for at least a week and tourists have been told to stay away so far more than three hundred ten thousand people have been displaced by the flooding in most of them and now living in camps that have been set up for them and with more terentia rain forecast for the weekend the government has pledged seventy one million dollars in aid to morgan reports. homes nearly submerged in flood waters. people forced to leave their properties behind in order to avoid the floods or landslides this has been the scene for over a week as the southern indian state of corolla battles heavy rains. the subsequent floods are being described as the worst in nearly one hundred years a model likely going to go water levels are rising since yesterday the rains have been heavy it's still ongoing people are worried. the floodwaters and mudslides

have killed hundreds of people since the start of the monsoon season in june some parts of the state have received nearly double the average annual rainfall. more than three thousand people have been forced out of their homes. and that has not been easy as water's flood access points in many areas leaving air evacuation as the only option for language over. the rainfall has led to massive landslides where chunks of the mountain of come down blocking the entire stretch although the clearance team is working to open the road it's unlikely it will happen people have been shifted to camps in the nearby areas. where the forecasters say heavy rains will continue over the weekend but will ease afterwards but while that is good news for those affected in kerala the rains will likely be drifting to other states in the country people morgan algis there are lots more to come here at al-jazeera including the u.s.

threatens to impose more sanctions on turkey as a country faces further economic pressure. hello again it's good to have you back well starting here across northern parts of asia we did see the remnants of a tropical storm make its way across shanghai you can see all the rain showers right here across the region coming into parts of beijing as we make our way towards sunday the show is going to be just to the south and we think that this area will really stay just stationary not causing too much problems for beijing though you can be out of the rain by the time we get towards monday and the temperatures are going to begin to rise so from twenty five degrees up to about thirty two degrees as we go towards the beginning of the week over here towards japan though looking partly cloudy for most of the country from sapporo at twenty seven down towards of soka with a warm thirty four degrees for you there as we go for

a little bit further down here towards the south well of course we did see a big storm system make its way across from parts of annoyed vietnam over here towards laos and now into thailand you can see that circulation over the bay and the girl will be watching this very carefully over the next few days but here along the coast the southern coast of china we're looking at partly cloudy to mostly cloudy conditions and showers coming into hong kong on sunday and really staying in that area as we go towards monday with a temperature view of about thirty three degrees and then very quickly down here across parts of indonesia we are looking at mostly cloudy conditions the rain really kicking in and up here towards parts of manila rainy conditions for you at about twenty nine. national board is the debate on migration is polarized and. too strident positions are close americans how do you define an indigenous person who they benefit isn't this more about living with difference and you and visas and who do

they contain. the right to live anywhere in the world have every right to leave their country maybe his time goes head to head with a cold coming on al-jazeera. the main stories here at al-jazeera the former u.s. actually general kofi annan has died at the age of eight he said as the seventh secretary general from the as nine hundred ninety seven to two thousand and six he was the first to rise to the top of the un from within the ranks of the organization he received the nobel peace prize jointly with the un itself in two

thousand among. thousands of stranded people waiting to be rescued in the southern indian state of carola as heavy rain continues to batter the region more than one hundred ninety people have died in just over a week and much of the state is partially submerged in what's being described as the worst flooding in a century. all right so our main story this hour is the passing of kofi annan the former secretary general between the years one nine hundred ninety seven and two thousand and six we can speak to tim murray t. who is head of justice and reconciliation in the africa program at the institute of justice and reconciliation he's joining us from cape town thank you for talking to us. kofi annan always maintained that he was a son of africa and africa was his main preoccupation he obviously got involved in all of the worlds of many of the world's outstanding issues but in terms of african issues how will he be best remembered. well i think perhaps one of the most

significant do engines that he led was that mediation during the two thousand and seven two thousand the post-literate violence in kenya and as the leader of that mediation process in forty days he managed to get an agreement between two opposing sides the incumbent government and the opposition which potentially could out of escalated and plunge the country into a major crisis but also i think of the level of this normative intervention in terms of ideas around conflict prevention the responsibility to protect africa as a continent is still operationalizing and then back to drawing insights from some of the a lot of these of these long looms that push on to the international and the continent on african stage it's interesting isn't it because he left the post in two thousand and six and i can remember him well saying when asked what his future plans were he said that he wanted to retire to be a peanut farmer in his native ghana but it was very far from that his retirement

from the u.n. took him on to even greater to vittie in many of the world's conflicts but as you say particularly in kenya what are the what are the principles you think that kofi annan actually stood for that perhaps will outlive him. well i think as a as a as a as a see the senior leader of the united nations secretary general he was very different diplomatic and professional in the way that he handled and dealt with with with his colleagues and and agencies around the world but the ideas that he pushed as soon as he came in the position notably around conflict prevention and the responsibility to protect it was in two thousand and five that the united nations general assembly adopted this notion of responsibility to protect following the summit of the general assembly those are some of the interventions he checked advocated for and draw for and those are we are still

working with those ideas and trying to fact operational wants them on the ground more effectively so he has left a significant. you know set of principles and interventions that that we're still drawing from even up to today tim murray talking to us live from cape town thank you very much thank you. now a state funeral taking place for the victims of the bridge that collapsed in january in northern italy this brings the number of dead to more than forty hundreds more were wounded the remains of a family a husband a wife and their nine year old daughter have now been recovered from the rubble of the bridge that collapsed on tuesday president said jo matter deller is among those attending and has been presided over by the archbishop of genoa but there are some families who blame the government for the disaster and they're staying away saying they'll boycott the ceremony they will change or has more from that ceremony in

general. it's good to remember that there were so many victims from all across the world if i can just tell you a story that we have about one of those people one of the families who have lost their loved ones we spoke to them two brothers who were going on the day of the tragedy to the airport they were saying goodbye to each other one was heading off to columbia the other one headed back into the city he died as the bridge collapse and his brother only got to hear about it when he landed in colombia he actually watched the coverage the first footage and he saw his brother's car amongst the wreckage that just shows you what people are having to deal with here at the moment it's deeply deeply emotional and deeply somber and there are victims not just from general but from all over the world and of all religions and all faiths and this is a time for them at least to share in that grief to try and lessen that grief in some way to know that people understand what they're going through and this might

help them seek what we always now call closure some way to close down get out of the grief and try and start a normal life again but to grieve here without those for those ones who died in the collapse. the former cricketer imran khan has been sworn in as prime minister of pakistan it's taken him more than two decades to get the top job after retiring from sport and turning his attention to politics he was elected prime minister in a vote at the national assembly on friday his p.t.i. party won the most seats in elections last month. as more from islamabad. imran khan take that prime minister of pakistan the order administered by the president of pakistan mr. and. many the presidential palace in islamabad it is. said that he will be big against

corruption in a country where corruption and in. that he will provide employment. in a country where majority of the population. imran khan of course had a go ahead of him the country's economy is in poor shape. were the united states are rock bottom. one is done need to be improved emraan had. honest on extended an olive branch to india a thing that really discussed outstanding issues including the key issue of. the extra step. of young leadership who have replaced the old guard who have ruled this country for several decades. single largest party in

a country but he also has to contend with many challenges both on the internal and external fronts. qatar has accused saudi arabia of blocking its citizens from performing the muslim college pilgrimage the cattery government says its nationals are unable to get the permits necessary to travel to mecca saudi arabia though is denying this saying an unspecified number of categories have a rare arrives for the pilgrimage the u.a.e. saudi arabia bahrain and egypt cut diplomatic ties with cata more than a year ago they accused of supporting terrorism a claim the government strongly denies. turkey's credit rating has been lowered by two financial agencies moody's and standard and polls now say it's become more difficult for turkey to pay its debts the country is already struggling with the financial crisis and sanctions from the united states gabriel elizondo reports from new york. for the turkish lira it was

a week that could not in soon enough he week that started with the lira sliding to a record low of seven point two against the us dollar the currency has lost nearly forty percent of its value against the dollar this year alone as a full fledged economic crisis continues to simmer the trumpet ministration this week threaten to impose additional economic sanctions on turkey over the country's continued house arrest of a u.s. pastor on terrorism charges the diplomatic standoff led trump on friday to again say sanctions are justified turkey has in my opinion acted very very badly so we haven't seen the last of that we are not going to take it sitting down they can take our feet but some analysts say the u.s. is being overly aggressive with the sanctions and use them to march and use them to recklessly if you don't have allies on board when you use the. you erode their effect of this over time however there are some signs of potential relief on

wednesday qatar's emir tahmima bin hamad out funny visited ankara bringing with him promises of an investment package worth fifteen billion dollars that money will mainly be injected into turkey's financial markets and banks turkey also promised to inject more money into the economy here on wall street they're watching the events in turkey very closely but most analysts say they have not seen any significant signs yet that events there are objecting the u.s. stock market but elsewhere that's not the case markets in asia remain mixed and european stocks were mostly down primarily because many european countries remain heavily exposed to turkey's debts while the list of grievances between these two nato allies is substantial this crisis ultimately boils down to a battle of wills between two leader. there's the big question now which one of

them will blink first until then how far will the lire fall in the meantime gabriel is on to i'll just hear your. venezuela's president has confirmed his government is making its crypto currency an official form of payment alongside the boulevard the digital cash is called the petro it's bats by venezuela's crude oil reserves which are the largest in the world the south american nations been battling hyperinflation which has left it on the brink of economic collapse. the asian games is about to get under way in the end of the xeon capital festivities were in full swing on the same in the ceremonial torch arrived in jakarta as one of the world's biggest multi-sport event second only to the olympics so it has the largest event indonesia has ever hosted fourteen thousand athletes

competing for gold has more from. the asian games officially underway here in jakarta very elaborate and long opening ceremonies in the stadium behind me here in central jakarta now the stadium was built fifty six years ago that's when this nation hosted its first asian games now five hours long these opening ceremonies are performances there are examples of the diverse cultures here in indonesia and then there is the marching of the athletes know one thing that's very interesting one team is going to be focused on is a joint korea team north and south korea will be marching together and they did that earlier this year at the winter olympics in south korea they're doing that here again for the asian games and actually there are some joint teams between north korea and south korea basketball kayaking and canoeing so we're going to be watching those in the coming two weeks for these different competitions now there are forty five nations represented here there are more than forty sporting events it's a very big event it's. only second to the olympics when it comes to sports events

in the world now what's going to be very instant a focus on two because you've got a lot of different nations different sizes but the two teams to really focus on and this is where kind of that medal watch goes and that's going to be china and japan because they've usually dominated these asian games so a lot of eyes are going to be on them just to see how many medals they get. you know with al-jazeera and these are the top stories the former u.n. secretary general kofi annan has died at the age of eighty he was the seventh sexy general from the as nine hundred ninety seven to two thousand and. six and he was the first to rise to the top of the un from within the ranks of the organization he received the nobel peace prize jointly with the united nations in two thousand and one. stefan du jour it is a spokesman for the u.n. secretary general and he worked with kofi annan in the past he says although kofi

annan opposed the two thousand and three invasion of iraq he also made sure that the iraqi people could count on the un after the war began. you demand they did until the very end you know the moment passed away to deal. with their war it worked so hard to report card like you've worked so hard to avoid that war but i think what needs to be remembered is that one. should get the war. made sure that the united nations did not a better did the people of iraq. the same funeral is taking place initially for the victims of tuesday's bridge collapse in genoa but some family is boycotting the ceremony the remains of a family a husband wife and their nine year old daughter meanwhile have been recovered from the rubble of a night. the bridge collapsed on tuesday. thousands

of stranded people are waiting to be rescued in the southern indian state of carolina as heavy rain continues to batter the region more than one hundred ninety people have died in just over a week most of the state is submerged in what's being described as the worst flooding in a century. the film a cricketer imran khan has been officially sworn in as prime minister of pakistan it's taken more than two decades to get the top job after retiring from sport and turning to politics he was elected prime minister innovate at the national assembly on friday his p.t.i. party won the most seats in elections last month all right just today those are the very lazy latest headlines from us here at al-jazeera the news continues in thirty minutes after inside story.

as italy comes to terms with the bridge that collapsed killing thirty eight people the government is turning its attention to the aging infrastructure engineers are warning hundreds of bridges and tunnels could be dangerous so what can be done to ensure safety this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program i'm adopted hamid with dozens now dead and the hope of finding any more survivors diminishing by the day the general a bridge collapse has many across to woo.