and for you. he's been described as a friend to thousands leader to millions former u.n. secretary general and nobel peace laureate kofi annan dies at the age of eighty. hello i'm difficult holiday watching all is there live from london also coming up. calls for action after evidence suggests the bonds used by the saudi led coalition that killed forty children and yemen as american made. thousands wait to be rescued across india's carola states after the worst floods in

a century and more rain is forecast. and still standing the haitian statues which tell the story of the revolutionary island and all the troubles it's weathered. former united nations secretary general kofi annan has died at the age of eighty born in ghana on rose through the ranks of the organization to service leader for two terms during that time he championed efforts to end conflicts across africa asia and the middle east and even aren't a nobel peace prize along with the u.n. in two thousand and one but he was criticized for failing to stop there wanted genocide and they tear for a corruption scandal involving his son our diplomatic editor james space takes a look at his life. 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. the u.n.

secretary general for ten years a nobel peace know. 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 hold the bloodshed i haave on and i go beyond sullenly says who have suddenly became the first u.n. staff to take over the top job he prepared the un for a new millennium. his ten year coincided with the arrival of a new president in the white house he 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 by jeff. when he stepped down at the u.n. he addressed these remarks to his successor banki moon. you have to take over the most impossible job on and of could. while that may be true i would. i would add this is also the best possible job when. he did not choose to go into quote retirement he was the

u.n. and arab league envoy to syria and twenty twelve coming up with a plan that would have ended the war six years ago. it was ignored by the parties that continue to point. well 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 you 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 shouting well leaders from around the world have been paying tribute to. the president of

ghana tweeted that he brought considerable renown to the country through his conduct and comportment in the global arena french president emmanuel micron wrote that france will never forget his common resolute approach to matters of the strength of his commitments and u.n. secretary general antonio good ted as wrote on was a guiding force for good and that in these turbulent and trying times his legacy as a global champion for peace will remain a true inspiration for us all. ok joining me now live via skype from avignon is edward mortimer he is a distinguished fellow at oxford university i also was the speechwriter for kofi annan as well as the former u.n. director for communications thank you very much for joining us mr mortimer you worked very closely with mr kofi annan what what what was it like working with him and could you describe one of his characteristics that made an impression on you

well i think first thing says he's at an extraordinary nice man and that was true in private as much as in public he was very considerate he was friendly it was generally cheerful it was from working with him and he actually he wanted you to have fun and that might sound a frivolous thing critics region of the united nations but i think it's actually quite important. that we all had to sort of keep a sense of proportion we all liked him we all felt that we had a stake in his success the same general you know you were a speechwriter. and you spent a lot of time with him would you be able to describe or talk about a moment that you were with him that you feel like really defined his character and the person he was. well done and it's difficult to perhaps because one moment but i think and of course it would it went through different phases and in some ways the second term was more difficult than the first two because of some of

the problems alluded to in your report. but i mean one step said i remember from relatively early on was when nato started bombing yugoslavia in one thousand nine hundred nine and this was a very difficult moment for him because he had actually been warning about the problems in kosovo and not wanting to see a repetition of what happened in bosnia with the kosovo i was being massacred or subjected to genocide can but the fact is that there wasn't a resolution of the security council with arising this mandate of course he was also very strong on the need to do things correctly and according to international law and you know we had to support concoct a statement which kind of made both of these points which went rather in opposite directions and i was remember him looking at the draft of the same moment and

saying this is the most difficult statement i've had to make since i've been secretary general well that was in one thousand nine hundred nine and perhaps there were some equally or more difficult ones later but it was it was very honest of him i think to say that you know in front of relatively junior members of staff around one one felt that this was a job he took very very seriously and he really wanted to get it right and he said one of his biggest regrets was not doing enough to ahead of the rwandan genocide later on in his life he he made a lot of moves that may have made a lot of progress towards trying to achieve peace and conflicts do you think he felt that he ever redeemed himself. well i don't know how one would make that judgment i would say yes and i'm alone and i think that he got an unfair amount of the blame for what happened in rwanda.

the main blame i think really should go to a member states who withdrew their peacekeepers at the beginning of the genocide at a time when he was. peaking with governments to keep it out forces there or send or send more think that the criticism of him is may need to do with the response to a cable sent by the force commander general dallaire three months before the genocide in which he said he got information that arms were being stalked and of lists of people to be killed were being drawn up and he wanted to take action but he was there as head of the peacekeeping force and the. people in the secretary at kofi annan and those working with him and the inspector general who trust gali knew that the security council would not allow the force to go beyond that mandate and

get directly involved in a conflict so the cable was sent back to general dallaire with country and signature on it saying. no don't intervene and you must just inform the french and the american and the belgian ambassadors about this. ring hindsight that obviously seems a very inadequate response but i think to suppose that the security council would have authorized a more vigorous one at that time which was just in the aftermath of what happened in somalia and when really the americans were looking for a way to scale down that commitments in africa i think you would have being a completely unrealistic and say i don't actually think it's fair to blame kofi annan to what happened in rwanda edward mortimer after my speechwriter to kofi annan and former u.n. director of communications thank you very much for taking the time to share your thoughts. thank you.

the trumpet ministration is facing mounting pressure over claims a u.s. made bomb was used in a test an attack by the saudi led coalition on a school bus in yemen fifty one people were killed in that attack inside a province earlier this month forty of them children and a gallagher has more from washington. in northern yemen graves who recently dug for the victims of a saudi led coalition bombing that shocked the world on august the ninth a school bus was hit in an attack the coalition called legitimate military action more than fifty people were killed at least forty of them children aged between ten and twelve dozens more were injured. the u.s. has provided support to the saudi led coalition with intelligence and aerial refueling now there are renewed questions about the weapons being used in the war reports suggest the bomb used to attack the bus was made by lockheed martin and

according to c.n.n. supplied by the u.s. government as part of a sanctioned on deal politicians in the united states are demanding answers senator chris murphy who's announced a measure to hold military assistance to the coalition tweeted the following last week the saudi led coalition in yemen bombed a school bus killing forty four innocent kids and they did it with us supplied bombs intelligence support and midair refueling democratic house and senate members are also asking questions about u.s. involvement in a war that's been raging for more than three years the key concern is that the u.s. may not only be culpable but potentially violating international goals in two thousand and sixteen president obama banned the sale of precision guided weapons were to saudi arabia citing human rights concerns that measure was undone when the trumpet ministration came to power the us a since sold to saudi arabia as part of a multi-billion dollar deal and gallacher al-jazeera washington. officials in the indian state of carolina say they need more rescue at quick meant to help save

thousands of people still stranded in remote areas by flooding the relentless one soon rain and floods continue to batter the region with three hundred twenty four people killed in total and more than one hundred sixty six of them in the last ten days under thomas has more details from carolyn. holmes nearly submerged in flood water 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 carolina battles heavy rains. the subsequent floods are being described as the worst in nearly a hundred years. what the 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 to receive nearly double the average annual rainfall. more than three

hundred thousand people have been forced out of their homes. and that is not been easy as water's flood access points in many areas leaving air evacuation is the only option. 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 off the words but while that is good news for those affected in carolina the rains will likely be drifting to other states in the country. we're going but it's for the future though right now the relief effort is in full swing here in the state capital is far enough south of the state the way the lights go far i collect employees like this one each with hundreds of volunteers old sort of thing for donations and putting them on the trucks to send in or. there are biscuits rice medicines and toiletries

and then the irony in carol right now what is needed most is water under thomas al-jazeera to do that on top of the carriage. and still to come on this program families of the victims of italy's bridge disaster attend a state funeral as the company runs it pledges a billion dollars to help. and one of the world's biggest sporting events is officially underway we're in jakarta for the asian games. and the smoke is pouring out of the fires in australia we've got a lot of fires burning in new south wales at the moment to see that smoke there poor ring over those houses it looks like the winds are going to stay strong over

the next few days though that's not good news when it comes to fighting these fires here's why we've got the strong winds we've got this weather front that's making its way across us and behind that is still really quite blustery still warm though we're looking at a maximum temperature of just eleven degrees in melbourne and around fourteen in adelaide towards the west it's a lot warmer here from perth will be at twenty four but the temperatures will be dropping as we head into monday as another weather system works its way towards us so the clouds will be increasing during the day over towards new zealand i'm fine and dry for most of us at the moment but look at this cloud that's the one that was over the southeast impossible strayer and now it's galloping all way so expect the weather to go day. our hill as we head through the next few days sunday won't be too bad actually but the clouds will increase as we head through the day on monday and then we'll see that wet weather some of which will be very very heavy i'm talking of heavy rain we've seen plenty of it over the northern parts of china recently too this is the remains of an old tropical storm is making its way towards the northwest but then takes an about turn and heads its way eastward still giving

heavy downpours as it does so on monday. sound 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 cool. was no choice but to occupy one of the city's many vacant buildings facing an uncertain future. you find a latin america occupying brazil on al-jazeera.

again here is our mind our top stories and al-jazeera former u.n. secretary general kofi annan has died aged eighty he served from one nine hundred ninety seven to two thousand and six and received the nobel peace prize jointly with the organization. the bomb used by the saudi led coalition and an attack on a school bus in yemen last month was supplied by the u.s. that's according to u.s. media reports. and thousands of stranded people are waiting to be rescued in the southern indian state of carola as heavy rain continues to batter the region. of the company which managed a bridge that collapsed in italy on tuesday has begun for the first time since the disaster the c.e.o. said they wouldn't rebuild the bridge and invest half a billion dollars to help with recovery efforts have a chance or has the details from genoa. the whole country shared the grief with the

families of the victims as they join together for a day of mourning in genoa some boycotted the ceremony because they blamed the state for the negligence that led to the tragedy. but for those attending the solemn dignity of the service provided some comfort some relief from the pain as overwhelmed it could. be deployed to collapse of the more underbridge slash the heart of genoa the deep rooted discourse the bugger all by demesne spain for those who lost their lives. and those wounds were everywhere a man with gas lost his brother henry he'd been taken by him to the airport for a flight to columbia when he landed he heard about the bridge collapsing the first pictures from the scene showed his brother's car in the wreckage it was an article about the brick willock he will be remembered for the wonderful person he was he said was brutal tragic but somehow worse and painful because he never realized that

the kiss of death was approaching someone but. the politicians and the dignitaries have now left only their friends and family of the victims are here to give each other support and watch each other and help each other as the victims make their final journey. on the key side of the port they would bid farewell with applause then a sudden downpour of rain came down much like the beginning of a violent storm that brought down the bridge and ended their lives. soon after the senior executives responsible for overseeing it made their first public appearance in the program we have to do what we want to do and we will do whatever we can to alleviate the suffering. the company announced they would rebuild the bridge but this time it will be made of steel the italian president says joe matter dela was

touring the site before the funerals the company said they would spend more than five hundred million dollars to help the families of the victims and find new housing for those who lived under the bridge but there was no apology for them they said apologies came with responsibility and just who was responsible has yet to be established david chaytor al-jazeera general. funerals have been held in sudan for some of the twenty three children who drowned in the nile on wednesday they were travelling to school when their boat capsized with forty people on board some of the bodies are yet to be found heber morgan reports. she was on her way to school along with her four sisters when the boat's transporting them on the capsized. almost daughter drowned along with twenty two other children and their teacher and look up to my of the fellas we were expecting the

accident to happen and we always used to say that there will be an accident they have been using this mode of transport for ten years it's happened in the northern river now state when the boats engine broke down after heavy rains. boats are the only way to cross the river in this area because there are no bridges according to officials forty people were on board. some bodies have been recovered but the search continues for the other is just beginning. when the boat capsized and held onto a tree and found my daughter clinging to me and i was able to save her but i lost my other daughter and son who drowned we live in a modern age our children shouldn't have to go to school using boats heavy rains in several states in sudan have led to the closure of hundreds of schools flash floods have killed at least forty people since the start of sudan's rini season in july it has also caused damage to tens of thousands of home displacing fountains of people

as the rain want to destroy what infrastructure there is many are now questioning with the sudanese government is doing to keep them and their children safe people morgan al-jazeera. turkish president french of typewriter one says he'll challenge those playing with the economy a day after two major ratings agencies downgraded the country's status closer to junk that are due on made those comments as a congress of his ruling ak party turkey's sovereign credit ratings were done weighted on friday night and there are one insists the economic issues are part of a plot against this country sunday gago has more on turkey's economic woes a brisk business that's expanded along with turkey's middle class. act has been selling products made by turkey's largest home appliances company for twenty five years but lately his sales have taken a hit because. we've had to put our prices up because of the current economic situation and that's affected our sales. despite this he is optimistic that he and

the country kind of weather the current economic storm which began as a war of words with turkey's nato ally the us over according to the president donald trump the arrest of an evangelical pastor andrew bronson sparking a trade spat between the two countries is the start of the holiday week. and despite the slump the shopping malls them are all packed with people but prices have shot up in recent days and people are feeling the pinch too good to be are going to affect us a lot of my pensions are already gone because of this i don't know how will afford holiday presents in my family. we need money to be caught to anything without it. this is about the games being played between global policy it's kind of a cold war. the devaluation in the turkish lira may be good for exporters but the uncertainty and continuing antipathy with the us has rattled the economy even as

the current stabilized last week market. of course the terrorists. in another financial times have affected turkey's economy it's borderline economic exploitation by the u.s. as it's affected or seance. president has placed much faith in an agenda of growth at all costs but that has had its own drawbacks billions of dollars have been borrowed and spent particularly in infrastructure and construction projects a tactic that could become unsustainable if there is further instability in turkey's economy. is tumble haiti's new generations are looking to heroes of the past to help define their identities their journeys being aided by the various tattoos which are scattered throughout the island many of which have also weathered the nation's many storms gabriel elizondo has this report from the capital port au prince. he sits quietly overlooking the city his name is andy

krzysztof a former slave who fought to free modern day haiti from the french rule in eighteen zero four a statue honoring him is in one of the main squares of the capital port au prince in many ways it's incredible it's still standing the two thousand and ten earthquake reduced much of haiti to rubble two hundred thousand people killed three hundred thousand homes destroyed after the quake hundreds of thousands of people took refuge in parks and plazas right underneath the very statues that are still standing today through it all they remain unscathed and often overlooked symbol of the country's long history overcoming hardships like the statue of john jock gasolene who helped fend off incursions from the british and spanish before revolting against the french occupation the first ruler of haiti after independence

the haitian national anthem named after him subtle enough that. every time i look at this deafening structure i feel like doing a second revolution to liberate our country a second revolution is needed today if we not but it's this statue that often resonates the most with haitians a runaway slave completed by haitian sculptor in the one nine hundred sixty s. it is one of the most important pieces of art in all of the caribbean it's full of symbolism a broken shackle hard fought freedom a machete to fight a shell of his lips alerting the people to their freedom. the symbols represent the glory of the past generations when we look at them it's a reminder of what they have done for us and what we can accomplish for future generations. the statue's unbreakable a trademark of the haitian people of today gabriel sandow i'll just see it in port

au prince. one of the world's largest sporting events is underway in indonesia that's twenty eighteen asian games opened with a spectacular opening ceremony and the capital jakarta for the next two weeks fourteen thousand athletes from forty five nations are expected to take part in reports i in a stadium purpose built for the asian games fifty six years ago host indonesia officially launched this year's games with a big show in central jakarta i more than forty thousand people watched as performers took to a six hundred tonne stage with a waterfall and paid a. ticket sold out but there was criticism over the price ranging from seventy dollars to three hundred fifty dollars too expensive for most indonesian many gathered outside the stadium to be there when the games began but. everything has been smooth peaceful even dequeue to went to the stadium is very well organized

indonesia is showing. such a big event in the near future i hope indonesia can bid for the only picks. like they did at the winter olympics earlier in the year north and south korea march together under one flag as a sign of unity and they will have joint teams for three of vents but the two powerhouse nations to watch in the middle rankings are china and japan held every four years an estimated three billion dollars was spent putting on the asian games two thousand and eighteen most of that on infrastructure the organizers are optimistic that hosting the games will help elevate indonesia's international stature and could boost its economy and that the money spent is an investment that will see dividends we're not going to have to return like and over like what we're this is a national branding. if we success to have to say should games we believe that they'd festers the trust it will come and the tories fortified future it will comes

by itself so we believe that this is a long term investment. but for now the focus for the next two weeks will be on the athletes as they compete to bring home a victory for each of the forty five countries participating scotland al-jazeera jakarta. and reminder you can always find more in our website address of his era thought kong. hello again these are the top stories and out of his era the former u.n. secretary general kofi annan has died aged eighty he served from one nine hundred ninety seven to two thousand and six and has even about peace prize jointly but the organization his home country ghana has declared a week of national mourning and leaders around the world have been paying their respects to the diplomat roslyn jordan has more we've heard from the former u.s. president barack obama who praised on its integrity persistence optimism and sense

of compassion for humanity we've heard from the russian president vladimir putin he was said that he was fortunate to speak personally with kofi annan quote i sincerely it mired his his wisdom and courage it is ability to make balance decisions even in the face of the most cult like aided and critical situations other persons who have praised kofi annan its life and work include theresa may the british prime minister christine lagarde who was the head of the mouth of the river modi the indian prime minister. the bomb used by the saudi led coalition in an attack on a school bus in yemen was supplied by the us that's according to us media reports fifty one people were killed in the attack inside a province earlier this month forty of them children there are growing calls for the u.s. to explain its role in the conflict thousands of stranded people are waiting to be

rescued in the southern indian state of carola as heavy rain continues to back to the region more than one hundred sixty people have died in the last ten days almost all the states districts are on alert to with the flooding potentially affecting most of its thirty five million people. a state funeral has been held for some of the victims of the bridge collapse disaster in the italian city of genoa more than forty people are believed to have died when the morandi bridge came down on tuesday president said you know what that ad was among those who attended the service some families blame the government for the disaster and boycotted the sarah ceremony. well those are the top stories and that's it from me in london but stay with us the viewfinder latin america's next. on the streets of greece anti immigrant violence is on the rise you have to go from all of.

us ism and increasingly migrant farm workers of victims a vicious beatings. as 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 iraq on al-jazeera viewfinder fresh perspectives through the lens of. around the globe.

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