while everyone has a voice in civil society but i never get listened to by those in the bar is about joining the conversation. on how to zero. in live from studio fourteen headquarters and. welcome to the news grid the death of the man described as the very embodiment of the united nations the former u.n. chief and nobel peace prize laureate has passed away in switzerland leaving behind a mixed legacy our diplomatic editor james bays looks back at life and we'll get the latest reaction from the u.n. in new york also on the grid india deploys thousands more soldiers to rescue people marooned by the worst floods in

a century in the southern state of tara love those trapped without food or water fear of being left without help as their phone batteries run low will live to the flood zone look at how some people are posting how to survive videos online plus what the asian games begin with the opening ceremony has just finished in jakarta for an event involving four thousand athletes including the rival korea's. the rise of what's called the red tide in the u.s. states in florida brings in states of emergency and beaches full of dead fish. how people are taking matters into their own hands demanding environmental action. led air. here with the news good we're live on air we're streaming online through you tube facebook live. dot com the former u.n. . secretary-general kofi annan has died he served as the seventh u.n.

secretary general from one thousand nine hundred seventy two thousand and six and he was the first to rise to the top of the un from within the ranks of organization stuff he received the nobel peace prize jointly with the united nations our diplomatic editor james bays looks at his life and legacy a towering figure on the global stage bringing the peace bell of the united nations a man who did so much in the cause of global peace. u.n. secretary general for ten years a nobel peace laureate. kofi annan was born in ghana joining the un in one thousand nine hundred sixty two rising through the ranks to be the organizations head of peacekeeping at the time of genocide in rwanda eight hundred thousand people were killed he later said it was one of his greatest regrets that

he was not able to do more to halt the bloodshed. i. solemnly swear that when he became the first u.n. staffer to take over the top job he prepared the u.n. for a new millennium. his tenure coincided with the arrival of a new president in the white house is. after nine eleven the u.s. invaded afghanistan. and then dividing the u.n. security council. iraq he had tried to avoid war with tireless diplomacy and by keeping a team of weapons inspectors in the country until the last moment. later the un went back into baghdad after the invasion but its compound was then bombed with twenty two staff killed iraq was also the biggest controversy of his decade in the un job the oil for food program set up to help iraqis lead to massive corruption

with the secretary general's own son kojo implicated. when he stepped down at the u.n. he addressed these remarks to his successor bang ki-moon you to take over the most impossible job and end of quote. while that may be true i would add i would add this is also the best possible job that. he did not choose to go into quote retirement he was the un arab league envoy to syria in two thousand and twelve coming up with a plan that would have ended the war six years ago. but it was ignored by the parties that continued to fight more recently he went to myanmar coming up with proposals that form the basis of the international community's approach to the rohingya crisis the result once again of his own personal style of diplomacy

strong words but softly spoken even if you get into the shouting matches sometimes they have bigger megaphones than you have and it doesn't necessarily get you where you want to go there are times when you have to raise your voice and there are times when that i had to but generally i can get results without shout we will be continuing with our coverage of kofi annan sorely but now we have a live event going on in genoa that's where a bridge collapsed on tuesday killing at least forty people so let's hear from the officials of the company. has been prompted by. closeness to everybody concerned. we have been working hard. to see what we can do. for the rescuers.

and what we can do to alleviate to soon as possible the sufferings of. the victims . speaking of the rescuers because. i would just like to convey what you've seen over the past years thanks we see. a light. our. gratitude for the cohesion of the teamwork which they've shown. we've. seen we look for it. and we have been working very hard over the last five days to. help the process forward. here. i'm aware of the fact though that we haven't been able to. convey that

sympathy to the public. that you know. just needs it but i can assure you that we've been working with doing doing our utmost to be as. collaborative cooperative as possible with all the units is concerned. only. if the people. yeah. my people stand. with you i think that. what everybody but you want to know is that we feel very deep in our responsibility it is something that we have to do we must do. practical help. we worked with the institutions we studied together for

a whole series of proposals of solutions possible which now. will be launched. and if there is any kind of clarification or doubt said to dispell i will be here with the chairman to clarify them and try and present things as clearly as possible. on. the first sort first thoughts obviously go to the families of the victims. and we have set up a fund for them. for immediate emergency. independently obviously. to all. the legal obligations we have here. which we will certainly be.

fine tuning. together with the or thirty's and organizations concerned. and which will be managed by the municipality this is the first thing that we're going to do help to the victims. here. ok. and we will also be. active. in terms of which was getting the situation back to normal as much as quickly as possible because you know. and we have to help people generally to get back on its feet. the first concern we had was to try and understand the news.

why the british collapse and i have to thank italian my company is the best ones which we've been in cooperation with to have worked with us today despite the holiday season. was to. provide a swift response to these whole questions he says. and we have very much to be able to work in parallel on all fronts of. engineering design and song which will allow. me. to concentrate on the main points emerging from the analysis which will be updated on a day by day basis for the reconstruction of the bridge which will be in steel and

. which will not have a major impact on the environment of the area he on the contrary. he. was seen and we believe that the swiftness in terms of. building this bridge will lead to a rapid normalization of the situation in general as a whole. we will obviously proceed to demolition. and we have to remember that the bridge was built in part at least over houses which is really rather particular situation we're also going to get together a fund in order to indemnify all those people who have been forced to leave their houses in order to. we will demolish this.

bridge and to build a steel one over the. course of it a stream. in . the regional legal enactments identify. all the standards which are necessary for people who are evacuated and these have to be property observed. and we will be putting funds. available making available to the region for these people who are affected. then we have been studying we jointly with the municipality we. go home and

you plan for a road system for people and for goods. and we have to also think about the. stream and its outlet into the port. and we are therefore thinking about an alternative way of. alleviating the port of genuine. if we need more through the. bypass unit which must be built as soon as possible in order to make an alternative way. around for heavy goods vehicles he. can be. bought and we have to also make sure that they

bypass to the airport is. included here this is a top priority. in the meantime he's. until. the road system is properly. normalized. yeah yeah. we studied for this. day in. a another bypass game from me in genoa west of the airport. and this. will be set in train as from monday. and here are a lot of other operations which we have also assisted particularly with regard to the public transport but all these things will be done on a day by day basis. we will be working very closely with the municipality to find the

best solutions. to leave a bit of time for questions i don't want to go too much into detail about the. operations which we have not come up with although they will be available on paper . yes but i'd just like to say that we know that we are aware of the fact that we must do the best for genoa and we are intent on doing that. we are a unified team and we are impelled by sense of responsibility. you know we're here . today so this is a press conference here which addresses the motorways of gender. and

i would just like to convey to you the sympathy that we have with everybody who has suffered and that's why we're here today. and we're here to you know so those questions you want to put to us. here. on these c.e.o. and the chair men. that is the company that manages the morandi bridge which collapsed on tuesday killing more than forty people they are giving a press conference as you can see right now live and jenna why they have outlined a few initiatives to support the victims' families david chaytor monitoring the press conference listening and david this is the first time that we hear from

officials from that company since that bridge collapsed. that's right this is the first time they've actually shown themselves to the public of so many days of anger and grief here over that catastrophic tragedy when the span fell on to the river bed and i think there are so many questions that have to be put to them now they weren't very clear on the details they said first of all of course their sympathy was with the families and the victims and with the city of genoa itself now they said the first thing that they would do was that she try and create a fund that didn't say how much but a fund is being created for media dispersal to the families of the victims also they said that because the span of the bridge went over a large number of tar blocks and that's been the extraordinary thing we've seen in the last few days that's hope close that bridge was to the top of those tower

blocks obviously something like six hundred residents maybe more will not be able to go back there because they'd have to start rebuilding the bridge they have to demolish it first of all and those houses will have to demolished so that means that the company has got to come up with the funds to help re house those residents and that is a huge task in itself but they said that they would aim to rebuild the bridge within eight months now the government was pressing for something like five months but obviously there's a huge task involved the fact is that that concrete rubble this fall and on to that little river bed which could flows out into the debate at the port of genoa and that's totally blocked at the moment and that will have to be reopened to have to find some way of reconnecting the apple because this is the airport road. to some sort of a by way they'll have to get other roads to help transport the heavy goods vehicles

from the port it just shows you the complexity of this problem and that's how much traffic that little span of. bridge was taking that was the main problem it was never really constructed in the back in the sixty's to take that sheer volume and weight of traffic and i think most people are realizing now that the concrete that was used it should have lasted one hundred years simply wasn't up to the task it lasted about fifty one in the case of that bridge with this tragedy so there are many other questions that are going to be honest like did they have an engineer's report from last year showing that there were problems with maintenance and with the with the actual bridge the have to answer those questions and i think they're likely to be under huge pressure from the the new italian government to come up with the right answers to come up with a clear plan but they are opening themselves to the public open themselves to the press and they hope to be able to answer those questions and they will be many of those questions now all right david taylor thank you for that update from genoa

let's now return to our coverage of the death of the former u.n. chief kofi anon jordan who is joining us now from the united nations in the you know roland he's one of the world's most celebrated diplomats no surprise we're seeing tributes pouring in from right across the world what about him what made him such a. season what made him have such an impact on the global stage. well what people are saying daryn is that kofi annan came to his work with a real sense of purpose that he was compassionate that he was charismatic and that he truly believed that if people could find the will to change people's behavior that many good things that could result because of their hard work you hear this over and over again in the tributes that are being paid to him i'm looking

a bit at my notes the former u.s. president barack obama voted that he had integrity persistence optimism ed a sense of common humanity the u.s. ambassador to the united nations nikki haley just released a statement saying that kofi annan devoted his life to making the world a more peaceful place through his compassion and his dedication to service and she said that she and others would be praying for kofi annan and for his family in the days i had. heard from people such as never indra modi the indian prime minister from blood mare put in the president of russia who said that he was fortunate to speak personally with kofi annan and that he sincerely at moyer his wisdom and courage as well as his ability to make balance decisions even in the most complicated and critical situations these sorts of attributes have been

pouring out in the past six hours or so since kofi annan family announced that he had died in a diary and what we're really hearing is just a real sense of someone who actually believed in the mission of the united nations someone who came here as a young man and basically spent his entire career trying to get others to do right by each other and even after he left the united nations or rosalind he was still working in the diplomatic spear. yes he was he set up a foundation the kofi annan foundation in two thousand and seven where he really focused on development in a subsaharan africa helping communities across the continents more than thirty countries build not just businesses and develop their their economies but also work on issues such as health care such as education such as increasing opportunity for groups of people who might otherwise have been left behind he also did continue

working here at the united nations he worked trying to convince the syrians and the rebels fighting against the government of president bashar al assad to lay down their weapons however he quit that job after just five months because he said neither side was interested in peace both sides were much more interested in continuing their war in ways and so he was the first special envoy to walk away from that conflict he also was spending time looking at conflicts in me and mar he was a member of the elders this is a group of senior political and diplomatic leaders who would try to bring in their wisdom and their experience to other rather critical global issues he was not a person who was simply enjoying his retirement and his grandchildren although it's probably safe to assume that he did make time for his family ok jordan thanks for

that update from the united nations itself so how does kofi annan as legacy stack up against the two men who had the job before and after him his predecessor egyptian both of us but as a body was the first arab to serve in the role but also the first to serve only one term he face of your criticism for the un's failure to stop the rwanda genocide under his watch and he put the us off side by speaking out against its bombing offensive in bosnia while that earned him praise from some countries. washington blocked his second term as for south korea's banki moon he admitted that by the time he left and twenty sixteen there were many more conflicts around the world than when he started he was well regarded for his efforts to reform the un but world media sometimes branded him a powerless observer who they regarded as absent when he should be intervening let's speak to yon elyas and he's joining us on the phone from stockholm he was a close friend of kofi annan he also served as the deputy a former u.n.

secretary general ban ki moon thank you very much for speaking to us so it seems that that's an odd the view that diplomacy should take place behind closed doors in private not really in the public forum as someone who knows him so well you worked with him you were a friend of his how do you think that demeanor influenced his role as u.n. secretary general what i think he stood for both publicly and privately for a peaceful settlement to disputes. felt that the. developments were a great failure for the world and for the united nations that's going to starting to create something that was called the responsibility to protect which was very innovative idea about people having the responsibility for their own their own population but then also private private diplomacy in quiet diplomacy he was very

active places in kenya between kenya and being as you may recall that he's done a bit very much on the private talk additional basis. and you mention rwanda i mean he did preside over some of the worst scandals at the u.n. the rwanda genocide one thousand nine hundred four the strep in each eye massacre in one thousand nine hundred five and some say his in action when it came to palestinians and their rights at the united nations and you in his later years how do you think he viewed those times and incidents well i think all in all the kofi annan will have a very stellar record but of course both somalia and rwanda were in a way saviors when the united states left after black coal black oak tragedy than myself was response where human agenda affairs we had extremely difficult situation

and then came round where of course he was the ultimate irresponsible of the u.n. it was scully but also we had very little possibility to get. the member states to particular troops to play a role because the genocide has already started but i know that he carries that with him and felt great grief and regrets that's why he took this initiative of responsibility to protect a set set the principle in the words of the u.n. general assembly disrespect that every government every day should has a responsibility for its own population but what can you tell us about how you personally will be remembering kofi annan and perhaps any memories of the last conversation that you had with him. well i have a very warm reflection from the time actually that i saw him. find his wife because my wife and his wife went to school together in sweden he was married

to a swedish lawyer and we had a relationship both on the personal level and professional level all through our life from the middle eighty's remember about him is was his see remain quiet this man i never heard him raise his voice he had this. so authority that radiated from him and he could do it is very soft voice you have to crowd to a group of people to slow down and focus on the most important things he had a strange way to get the best out of people sometimes we had people it was very difficult to get the best out of them that. we felt that his leadership was a leadership which was very harmonious you won't find any one of the u.n. how do you work for kofi annan though is a great admirer of has

a memory of where he's lived for life serving with that we thank you very much for joining us on al-jazeera and speaking to us thank you well for more on and on's life and legacy you can head to al-jazeera dot com home page to read more about him and also we have an opinion piece written by annan himself on how to build africa free from hunger and poverty in it he argues that if the focus were on agriculture as a path to prosperity we can build a strong africa that is able to feed itself and there are condolences coming into us here at the news grid by our viewers on a non of us from amman thailand to somalia kwame saying rest in peace kofi annan ghana where he's from is a proud if you use of saying ghana in africa have lost a great mentor in george saying he was a great man i will remember him for mediating my nation kenya to form a coalition government when things were falling apart rest in peace now the story

that we're following closely here on the news grid and that's a situation in the indian state of carola affected by the worst floods in a century so heavy rain is slowing rescue efforts and relief supplies desperately needed by hundreds of thousands of people who are still stranded in remote areas the indian prime minister narendra modi has promised more than seventy million dollars in aid and deployed forces on the ground more than one hundred one. two people have died in just over a week three hundred ten thousand others have been displaced andrew thomas is in carolina selfies joining us on the phone to tell us exactly where you are what you're seeing in the situation there well i'm in the state capital on one of by a huge collection point here on the street it's absolutely i think you'll see a bit of the out there a little like hundreds of volunteers that are now. bringing bright.

to i. think toss them a call girl i think it's a good choice. to put it into boxes attempted to get. trucks to take to where the. area let students to screw to others so a huge amount of activity here as a slave if you just want to buy. that right across to kara whether. there are still some. but see it's being repeated again and again neighboring state sort of thing and on hold as well some of the tide has also come from other countries despite the odds many many people are to stay in the middle east and those people are starting to run smooth and i actually thought it would be up in court to thank you plus it's one wall than me it's huge there is a huge relief that's in full swing one of the issues that organizations we've been speaking to and you have been telling us is that there are many isolated

communities and it is difficult to reach people who are trapped there what sort of measure their preparations are being put in place to reach them. that's absolutely right there are many many villages that are completely now cut off by the floodwaters and very eloquent might come a little too well because the mobile phone towers that they suspect people can't even get next to their doctors gone as well but this number somewhere north of three hundred people now killed in the last by date is likely to go up every so often very much try on to simply because there is information coming from many of the villages it's just an effort to reach. me here on saturday he tells me but three helicopters have been working on back to try and prop eight to some of those remote villages and the calls to try mountain rescue the web to keep people bruce the brady to make a big helicopter the way to try to get more money. on things here is largely

based efforts truck to try to get some of the biggest sounds that can be driven into if the truck is high enough about the floorboards and if you may answer just give us the latest update on the death toll that you have gotten being on the ground there. do you believe three hundred twenty four is the number that saw before prostrate to the shooter the last. all that three hundred twenty four people will grow number of required back because the big guys are really big in the marriage global ready a few people died but it won't be unexpected remark to the country great you put up with that but oh so far right of reply that lumber is not so bright we come back to andy thomas we'll check in with you later thank you for that update so the floods have knocked out a lot of basic infrastructure in carolina as andrew was saying like phone lines and

transportation so people are getting creative and they're sharing their innovations on lines or hire outs and taking a look at. here all social media has become a crucial safety tool for people in carol and as we heard from andrea india's coast guard an air force have been posting videos like this one showing their rescue efforts as they are in full now they've been scouting carola in boats and they've also been using helicopters to save people stranded on rooftops as you can see just their sons being saved now carol is chief minister has also been using twitter to keep people updated on how they can donate so the rescue mission and what kinds of national help that's coming through for the people there and the best way to contact local coastguards if you need them as well but it's not just officials that are using social media to help deal with the disaster people have been posting for example sinner who says that churches temples mosques i mean up for the flood victims irrespective of their religion and their costs and they've been spreading that message online and there are also how to do posts like this one how to make

this video shows people have a can make their own life jackets with materials found a home and this to tourists is the you can still charge your mobile phone when he's out and how do you do that well you can use batteries paper and a stripped down wire. and this post is about how it's converts muncie flood water into clean drinking water these three are some of the most popular posts that we've been sharing and people have been sharing with the hashtag carola floods and that key word itself has been used almost three hundred thousand times in just the last twenty four hours this is something quite surprisingly upbeat that people are sharing stories also of successful rescues ongoing efforts and praise for those that have been affected now aside from social media there's an online crowdsource map people are using as well if you zoom out like this it really shows the extent of the problem thousands of people are calling for help along india's

western i say and if you keep on creaking you can zoom in on each individual who needs rescue clicking on these pin these you to the name and they cation the person who has requested that help and if you know any of a quick tools that people in kara could be using jury in those phones why don't you share them with us aha strikers aging these grid. or online team have put together some very dramatic pictures off the flooding in carolina on our website as you can see right there this lady fleeing you can head to al-jazeera dot com click on in pictures and you'll get to this page as pakistan's cricket captain imran khan brought together his team to win the world cup but now is the leader of his country the expectations on the firebrand opposition leader or even more so calm formally took the oath as the prime minister or minister of pakistan with promises to tackle corruption and economic crisis to modernize our has more from islamabad.

imran khan take the second prime minister of pakistan the order that ministered by the president of pakistan mr mom known hurricane in a simple as that in many a presidential palace and if. it is important or nord that emraan had already said that he will be big against corruption in a country where corruption and in diffusion a lie. that he will provide employment today young in a country where the majority of the population is below the age of thirty imran khan of course had a huge stock ahead of him the country's economy is in poor shape relations with the united states are rock bottom relations read of one it's done need to be improved emraan had already spoken to the president and the wizard of londonistan he had also extended an olive branch to india thing that gave the indians a really good discussion outstanding issue and including the key issue of that

budget on real take the extra step also important to know diet. consists of young leadership who have replaced the old guard who have ruled this country for several decades. now the single largest party in a country but he also has to contend with many challenges both on the internal and external front while in this opinion piece journalists and rights activists global cari argues that the military which is widely seen as having helltown win the election will likely pose the biggest threat to his premiership you can head to al-jazeera at all call to read her analysis. now staying in asia on the continent's biggest sporting event is getting underway in jos here to tell us more about the absolutely daryn yet is that she also the second largest sporting event in the world behind the olympics indonesia has kicked off the asian games with this spectacular opening ceremony in the capital jakarta fourteen thousand athletes will

take part from forty five countries scott huyler's that very elaborate and long opening ceremonies for the two thousand and eighteen asian games here in jakarta a very big stage in the stadium behind me six hundred ton state had ever kaino a waterfall different singers came out we had different segments we heard from the president we have course saw the national teams march around the stadium inside we saw a unified korea team like we did for the winter olympics earlier in the year so now we have two weeks of sporting activities we have forty five countries here more than forty different events over these two weeks a lot of focus is going to be on the two national powerhouses usually winning most of the medals here in the asian games and that is china and japan so that's where a lot of focus is going to be but obviously a lot of interest in unified korea team as well well the north and south korea combined entry into that opening ceremony was a huge hit online it has many of you talking about how sports is helping bring the

two countries closer together unified korean teams will compete in women's basketball women's lightweight rowing and dragon boat racing and fans are excited to be witnessing such historic cations. yesterday's that unified basketball team was fantastic even though we lost by only one goal it was such a great play that they played our round and good thing called south they actually clobber a really well we felt like it's just one team and me right next door north koreans we all together we cheered out together we talked to sam langauges he seems like they're not foreigners and we are actually one main team so it's an important games for the koreas but also for the host nation in tunisia or for james dorsey is a senior fellow singapore's nanyang technological university and he says it's as much about diplomacy as it is about doing well in the medals table. i think it's

very important obviously countries get down on the urban league. organize well they've got events and it's also a way for countries like india riga which is where we know our goods go not only regionally but also in connecting with you know from those. so it's no longer many coattail important it is we haven't talked we'll together it's called a quokka but with the public diplomacy and companies one of the ways that companies rank is how they perform both in the organisation and the ability to hold they got events and how they perform in the individual board of the boat or it's often the way to try and build a great deal if you think back that we can bring. diplomatic relations with trying to force play to play a role in the. more between north and south korea the problem with that is put

forth in one of the go with the environment goof it could be going to the problem but if there was an environment and the political will to do so then sports you can do well there are several hashtags around the competition asian games twenty eighteen is being used the most with over two hundred and thirty thousand tweets you can see this talk of interest coming from across the continent over the and also some heat out of europe and north america as well when the asian games features some unique sports that rarely get global exposure but a historically important parts of asia like pincheck silat which is making its debut at these games the term cup has hundreds of indonesian combat styles fighters can use weapons like knives and machetes but in competition they tend to stick to punches and kicks legend has it that the ancient martial arts came about after a woman watched a tyga do battle with

a hawk then they. which is another traditional martial arts this time from a spec it's done it's similar to wrestling but the main aim is for one athlete to throw the other to the ground if they land on that back victory is declared if it's on their sides then points are awarded and one of most spectacular. gravity defying form of foot volley play is acrobatically twist their bodies to help them launch a rattan ball over a net using their feet one of the stars of this year's asian games could well be singapore swimmer joseph schooling he shot to fame at the twenty fourteen games in south korea where he won gold in the one hundred meter butterfly and then storm to gold in the same discipline at the rio olympics beating michael phelps of all people in his last race before retirement now schooling says he is ready to defend his title this time in jakarta. yeah i know it's a game so it's very it's i see it's you know up there with what championships.

did under the bigs and so you know it's always nice to come back in greece in the crowd like this and excited to see what i can do i've been feeling good leading up to this and yeah it's it's always a stage from comfortable performing so i don't really think about it which i think about recently or so it's i coming to the speed just trying to race myself kind of these my own expectations and that's all i can focus on and that's the best thing to do of course you can share your thoughts he's in hash tag a.j. news great or tweet me at gerri gosh our scum will sport with pizza and a little while but for now it is back to you to read joe thank you for that update so well take a look at some of the other stories making news right around the world and civilians are fleeing in lib that's in northwest syria ahead of a planned offensive by government forces in the biz one of the last strongholds held by opposition and rebel fighters the un has warned them that a military operation with put three million civilians at risk many are taking

refuge in camps near the turkish border and speaking of turkey the president russell is accusing people of playing games with his country's economy earth made the comments at a meeting of his ruling party a day off there are two major ratings agencies downgraded the country because if it's falling currency a standoff with the u.s. which includes sanctions has become a major factor in the lead as losses are due on says the economic problems are part of a plots against this country. today some people are trying to threaten us through the economy through sanctions foreign exchange interest rates and inflation we are telling them we've seen your games and we are challenging the qatari government is accusing qatar excuse me is accusing saudi arabia of blocking its citizens from performing the muslim has pilgrimage the qatari government says its nationals are unable to get permits to travel to mecca saudi arabia denies this

saying an unspecified number of qatar is have arrived for the pilgrimage the u.a.e. saudi arabia had a in and egypt cut diplomatic ties with cats are more than a year ago they accused of supporting terrorism a claim the qatari government strongly denies venezuela's president has confirmed his government is making its cryptocurrency an official form of payment alongside the body far the digital cast dollar is called the tro and is backed by venezuela's crude oil reserves the largest in the world country has been battling hyperinflation which has left it on the brink of economic collapse. moving to mexico that's where the incoming leftist president is putting the fate of a new thirteen billion dollar airport so the people the october referendum will be a first for the country and it will be held even before and dress money while lopez obrador officially takes power over has already made the projects one of the key

issues of his campaign from mexico city rodriguez reports. almost from the moment the ground was broken struction of the new airport in mexico city has been to focus of controversy accusations of overspending and corruption tainted what is the biggest public works project right now in mexico president elect and with the brotherhood has long threatened to guzzle the project aspect of his pledge to crack down on public waste and improve mexico's finances. on friday with a brother said it will be the mexican people who ultimately will decide on its fate . all mexicans will decide there will be a public consultation transparent and honest to reflect the feelings of most mexicans and that result will be binding. the airport is being built on the lake bed of lake takes to rain prone to sink in and they impact of earthquakes.

a challenge that contractors solved in part after by hades thousands of tons of metal and it broke has been extracted from around one hundred and fifty mines like this one in the state of mexico the material is being used to strengthen the saw the sinking of the new oil but it's been done at a price and resulted in even more controversy as many of the mines are illegal those in towns such as to say you can say they are dealing with the consequences of the over extraction of work when the well you know we didn't go to the mine the mine came to us we're just fifty centimeters from the edge of the sinkhole these are our homes and those are the people threatening us. dispence complaints about the mines have been made to with indifference by the local authorities when we visited the mine we have to leave you know the recipients of to so you go we'll be amongst those making the votes hit at the national level about the future of

a project which many had hoped would become a symbol of a new makes to go. i just mexico city and now to another environmental story but this time it's in florida sorrow yeah that's right because seven counties in florida are under a state of emergency because of something called red tide now this drawing footage will show you they go kacey key two months ago you can see there before severe alligator bloom hit florida shows but then take a look at that because this fits it is from about two weeks ago in the waters turned dark and murky color and this is what's known as red tides now it's not the first time for florida to be hit by the red tide this year it's been unusually lengthy and it's had a devastating impact on the real life it's killed thousands of fish turtles dolphins manatees and even a whale shark now much of those caucuses a washing up on the shores in the r.v. that releases toxins as well when they die and it's a high concentration that was happening now and that becomes very dangerous in fact

there's been a fifty percent spike in hospital visits in florida because of chest area stations caused by alki toxins being blown in and now in all of this there's been a bit of a blame game over what's causing this phenomena we've heard everybody point a finger at big sugar lake okeechobee but also we've got very dense communities along the shoreline there are wanting to put fertilizers on their lawns and things like that we've also had a hurricane event last year hurricane armor that came right through this area hurricanes have a way of dredging up all these nutrients that it settled into the sand. now florida's tourism industry has been affected by this and its port pirie beach is have been left to use well because of the smell of rotting cox's nearby really definitely hurt i mean it's hard our business like i say probably forty percent of our customers don't come because they just don't feel comfortable going out there as you can see now florida's republican governor rick scott has promised one point

five million dollars in emergency aid but he's facing senator bill nelson of the polls this november in a contest for the senate seat but each man has accused the other of failing to tackle the red tides calamity and race scott's announcement came one day off to thousands of locals took part in the green roots action movement vacancy along florida's beaches. those watching guys get job three out of. a job. now the name of that campaign the hashtag being use is hands along the water about two hundred thousand people took part in the event to line up the beaches linking their hands to campaign for more to do by the local government now tony mowery was at the hands along the water event and posted his thoughts on twitter as well. we're in ecommerce out at the north jetty beach. which was my favorite beaches a kid. and they had to cross their water event just ended ordinarily we would

spend the day out here and make a day of it but as you can see the. air quality is so bad because of the red tide and the fish carol that we need to move inland so. we need to do something to address this red tide issue. obviously we're doing. well i have a song going problem if you're watching us from farther than to send us your pictures from that i'm. sorry thank you well coming up in just a moment on the news grid it was going to be knocked down but now this old factory is going to preserve iraq's history we'll explain why it's coming up right after a snapshot of the world by the.

southbound of the economic heartbeat of a thriving brazil but boom times mean rising rents and the lack of public housing isabella is just one of thousands looking for a place to call home was no choice but to occupy one of the city's many vacant buildings facing an uncertain future. he'll find a latin america occupying brazil on al-jazeera. then there's nothing they set sail for gold. but discover there is. dorce worth more than it's want him and be. driven by commerce enabled through politics and religion

and executed with books on it. in episode one slavery roots charts the birth of the rise of the african slave trade mapping the history that has taken to humanity. for all the gold in the world i want to just go. so for thirteen years a tobacco factory in northern iraq les abandoned there was talk of reopening its or demolishing it and someone had a better idea why not turn it into a space to enjoy the arts that's also the name once and had a look and so many since it was founded more than two hundred years ago

so i'm in a northern iraq has been a city devoted to the arts. it's that celebrated legacy that makes it unsurprising that someone looked at this long abandoned and dilapidated tobacco factory and vision a sprawling cultural arts center. that is no doubt there will be a huge impact on the people also the money of all people know that people here are thirsty for aught on culture and they are always spot dissipating in or holding cultural activities people even come here from other cities it has a special history from one nine hundred sixty one to two thousand and five so i'm in a a tobacco factory rolled out carton after carton of cigarettes including the first kurdish brand the government run factory was the second largest industry in the city's history it employed more than fifteen hundred people the former iraqi

president saddam hussein's persecution of the kurds destroyed tobacco farming in northern iraq these machines produced their last cigarette pack thirteen years ago now the hope is this will become an arts hub where movie and television shows are produced musicians can practice and perform and artists create and show their work the cultural art center will pay tribute to its historical roots the plan is to save these machines and create an exhibit devoted to the solomon a yet tobacco factory. and indeed beginning of the cultural center project we agreed that the exterior of the building will be preserved there will only be eight innovation in sight then for the building remains as it was all easily and the next generation will know that previously for more than forty years this was

a debacle factory. the kurdistan regional government has allocated almost six million dollars to the project but no one can say how soon construction will begin in earnest let alone finish. through the now they call it situation is difficult but we hope that it will change and it should be written then we can overcome all the obstacles that we are facing when the cultural art center does open it promises to be a place where the history of industry and the future of the arts are preserved the talks are going to name al-jazeera silliman a northern iraq that'll do it for this newsgroup thanks very much for watching you can keep in touch with us all social media use the hash tag a.j. news grid and all the other ways to connect are right there our coverage continues of kofi anna is life and death in just a moment with difficult pollen from london we'll see you back here in studio

fourteen at fifteen g.m.t. on sunday for the news but see you then bye bye . the philippines is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world. now private corporations are capitalizing on the chaos. one of one east investigates on al jazeera. on counting the cost financial tremors in turkey shake investor sentiment in emerging markets a perfect storm of factors including land reform is hitting south africa's economy

plus why google is tracking your every move counting the cost and i just see it as . al-jazeera. you run for your. on the streets of greece anti immigrant violence is on the rise there or you have to go from all that dungy and this and that this is a plus to something and increasingly migrant farm workers of victims a vicious beatings. a slum is helping the pakistani community to find a voice the stories we don't often hear told by the people who live them

undocumented and under attack this is europe on al-jazeera. he devoted four decades of his life to the united nations and was hailed as a diplomatic rock star former u.n. secretary general and nobel peace laureate kofi annan dies at the age of eighty. l.o.l. come on devika palin this is is there live from london also coming up. a state funeral is held for some of the victims of tuesday's bridge collapse in genoa but some families or the event.