pro radian form a paramilitary fighters they secured forty eight seats in the election but through an alliance with former prime minister nouri al maliki's group they control a total of seventy two seats there are three hundred twenty nine seats in total in iraq's parliament will not hashmi is a direct is the director of middle east studies at the university of denver he says the stakes are high with the new alliance but iraq has a lot to be positive about. this is a coalition government that is the most inclusive and i would say representative iraqi government since the two thousand and three american invasion it includes both iraqi shia sunni and members of various religious minorities and what's positive about that development is it marks a transition from previous iraqi governments that were very sectarian based most of the key players have a nationalist political agenda that is cured toward developing iraq for all iraqi

citizens not catering to the at ethnic or sectarian interest of one particular group so in that sense there's a lot to be optimistic about whether they can address the immense political social economic and environmental challenges that iraqi society is facing remains to be seen the stakes are are huge you know your rock is a failed state it's. been deeply affected by a sectarian war by the rise of isis which has been you know crushed but not comprehensively i think defeated and some of the you know key challenges. that iraqis are facing are the normal things that developing societies struggle with unemployment corruption the delivering of public services in southern iraq for several months now there have been ongoing protests over the question of access to clean drinking water you know tens of thousands of iraqis have checked themselves

into hospitals over water poisoning. and there's been no one that has been able to really you know stand up and address you know these issues the hope is that this new you know iraqi coalition government being much more inclusive and representative will begin to address these challenges. iraqi police have fired tear gas at anticorruption protesters in the southern city of basra around three thousand people gathered to demand jobs and better public services they say they're not getting a fair share of the wealth generated from passers oil exports similar process going on since july. people smugglers are taking greater risks to ferry refugees to europe leading to a higher percentage of deaths among those who make the risky journey that's according to the un refugee agency which says the voyage is more deadly now though the overall number of crossings and deaths has plunged compared to last year

victoria gate and he reports these images of three year old alan could ease body shocked people around the world it was a reminder of the human cost of the syrian war and the refugee crisis three years on the dangers faced by other refugees trying to get to europe have increased. a report by u.n.h.c.r. shows more than sixteen hundred people have died or gone missing while attempting to reach europe so far this year well the total number of people arriving in europe has fallen the rate of deaths has risen sharply particularly for those crossing by the mediterranean sea in the central mediterranean one person died or went missing for every eighteen people who crossed to europe in the first half of twenty eighteen compared to one death for every forty two people he crossed in the same period last year there isn't the traffic has become more deadly he's the traffickers are ticking more risk because there is more surveillance exists. cause

god's on the air trying to get to coast it does cost them more to keep those people longer in their warehouse and their captivity the drivers of forced migration remain unchanged conflicts in africa and the middle east are forcing people to leave their homes the solution should not just been europe to europe to sort of lead us to be exemplary in its response but it's quite clear that it's already too late when the people in need we need to work downstream in country first in country are forging on that takes time despite information campaigns the more warnings through social media about the dangers they may face refugees feel they have no choice but to risk their lives crossing the mediterranean victoria gate and be out there. this is the news hour from al-jazeera still to come on the program. i'm

adrian brown in beijing where a major summit is underway to discuss china's deepening economic engagement with africa but this is a relationship about more than just try to find out why here on al-jazeera. the farmers struggling to revive land destroyed by a volcanic ash. and ferrari's hopes of winning the war. in italy took something of a nosedive. to explain all a little later. a fire is raging in brazil's two hundred year old national museum in the city of rio de janeiro it started after closing hours and shows no sign of a basic building this one of the country's residence for the portuguese royal family all floors of the building are alight some twenty million items are under

threat including human fossils and ancient egyptian facts. the armed group says that it was behind a car bomb attack in somalia's capital mogadishu at least six people including children were killed after the attack a detonated his car full of explosives near a government building. reports. the loud explosion was heard across the somali capital mogadishu soldiers stationed near the entrance of district headquarters tried to stop the suicide bomber. the attacker tried to enter the compound with an explosive laden car and when the security tried to stop it the car exploded killing three of the soldiers the deputy commissioner for security and politics was also injured in the attack children were among those killed and injured as a nearby school collapsed. i saw bodies scattered on the ground after the explosion

before the ambulances and the paramedics reached there and the whole scene was very out. of the roof was born of a mosque in homes in the area were also damaged. as you can see the explosion caused a lot of destruction there are mosques and islamic schools next to the district compound. by the link hardline group says it was behind the attack a statement says the meeting in the district office was the target. has been carrying out attacks for more than a decade that includes a deadly truck attack last year which can more than five hundred people the un backed government which took charge in twenty twelve has not been able to control much territory beyond look at issue. for mali is devastated health infrastructure to struggle to do the casualties in the past. and as the war which began in the one nine hundred ninety s. goes on somali civilians continue to suffer. other there. china's president is expected to announce

a plan for billions of dollars of investment in african countries later on monday president xi jinping is due to speak at the launch of a two day so. as in beijing he's been welcoming fifty two leaders including his sudanese counterpart omar al bashir and south africa's president civil run opposed she's trillion dollar bills and road infrastructure plan is set to top the agenda but there are concerns that the project is overloading poor countries with debt well here's a look a closer look at the economic ties that exist between china and africa for nine consecutive years china has been africa's largest trading partner in twenty seventeen trade between the two sides went up some fourteen percent to one hundred seventy billion dollars africa is also important to president xi jinping is belt and road initiative a plan to create a vast network of new trade routes connecting china to the rest of the world over the past two decades chinese companies have managed financed africa's most

ambitious infrastructure projects on top of trade and investment beijing opened its first overseas naval base in djibouti last year before let's cross live to beijing al-jazeera search out of corresponded avery and brown is with us live so adrian why is africa so important to china. well adrian africa started to become very important to china really about two decades ago that's when china was scaring the world looking for resources and minerals to help fuel its then growing economy but in many ways africa has now become an important customer for china a customer of chinese loans as you've just outlined in the introduction africa china is now africa's biggest creditor since two thousand it has extended more than one hundred billion dollars worth of loans for a variety of infrastructure projects china has been investing in africa at

a blistering rate but the problem for some of these countries adrian is that these loans come with some pretty tough strings attached and according to the international monetary fund a third of african countries and are struggling to repay their loans now china says actually a lot of these loans are not chinese loans this is money that african countries have borrowed from other lenders but there is a real concern among some economists that more and more countries in africa are becoming indebted to china and the fear is that that's actually going to grow because china is encouraging more of its companies to go to africa to build bridges to build roads to build railways because there's only a limited number of those projects here in china and those sorts of projects are what helps to maintain g.d.p. economic growth here in china so i think you're going to be seeing xi jinping at this conference and out seeing more projects more financing for africa i think

he'll present this as a as a win win for for both sides but there are many people who feel that it's going to be win win very much on china's terms away from the economic reasons are there any other reasons that china perhaps would want to make new friends now. yes of course all the countries who are here adrian are members of the united nations just one country one african country is not present at this summit that is swaziland swaziland of course having diplomatic relations with taiwan the island republic the china regards as part of its territory but juror in the past few years china has been picking off those remaining countries that had diplomatic relations with taiwan so this is an opportunity for china for china to diplomatically you know win friends and also gain more influence it's going to be one of those events

adrian where you will see plenty of smiling faces plenty of gratitude and this is also going to be one of those forums where there be no discordant voices no disagreements there will be just publicly you know a endorsement of what china is doing in africa and of course this summit gives president xi jinping an opportunity to say at a time of a deepening trade war with the united states look there are fifty three countries in africa who like the way the china does trade a very many thanks for china chorus part of the dream brown there live in beijing. hundreds of people have been protesting outside the offices of the united nations agency for palestinian refugees in jordan they're demanding that the u.s. reverses its decision to withdraw funding from the agency run schools hospitals and social services for more than five million palestinian refugees across the middle east two million of them are living in jordan. israel's navy has fired warning

shots towards boats that were attempting to breach the naval blockade on gaza the palestinian vessels planned to sail off the gaza strip as part of an international campaign against the siege on board were students activists and several people who can't get the urgent medical care they need to use the blockade by israel and egypt they were forced back to port by the israeli military. despite the blockade there are still some recreational pursuits in gaza that offer an escape from living under siege to serious carrefour such as found one of them. as the fierce heat of the day starts to ebb it's time to get ready last minute grooming final checks on saddles and stirrups. and then out into the arena here in northern gaza given the territories recent history of conflict blockade and economic crisis it's perhaps a surprise to find young people here competing in what around the world is viewed as an elitist sport. akhmed are zazi is aiming himself to be an elite showjumper

taking advantage of the recent opening of gaza's southern crossing with egypt he traveled to jordan and then germany excelling in two five nation tournaments and i struggled for all of my ambition is to compete internationally in the recent tournaments i won first and second places some competitions allow us to qualify for the world cup but we've missed out on so many because of the siege and the closure of the crossings. this is final training for a gaza wide competition unlike many sports in this conservative society here girls and boys train and compete together the contests a split according to the heights of the jumps not the competitors gender if event. there's no difference we like brothers and sisters and i'm ready to compete in society does ban women from doing a few things that contradict additions but i didn't catch all continue. but the egalitarian ism only goes so far this is an activity reserved for the very few in gaza who can afford it stabling costs about two hundred dollars

a month some of the horses imported from israel even europe are worth thousands. most of gaza's horses are used to heavy labor not sport unemployment stands at forty four percent more than half the population relies on food aid all around the world this is a sport that carries connotations of elite isn't and wealth but here in gaza more than most places the contrast between scenes like this and the realities of daily life for so many is particularly stark. traina mad ramsey says working with horses helps children who no matter their relative wealth have had childhoods marred by conflict and siege but he says the costs are becoming harder to sustain. had. has even well our families are now reducing their expenses including on this port many will send their son to get trained but when they reach a certain level with competition and fees and so on then they stop. well

a few days later and it's competition time relatives friends nervous parents lined the side of the arena star rider are made is finding his horse car the gold a bit hot to handle he places third. i did my best and i trained very well and i hope next time to win a better place it's the kind of attitude required of young athletes around the world but perhaps especially of those growing up in gaza perry forces al-jazeera gaza. we'll get a weather update next here on the news out then from nothing to twenty six million how new york scientists revived the city's dwindling oyster population. and find out what happened when steven gerrard came up against one of his former managers in scottish football's fiercest contest all the sport coming up in around twenty minutes.

from the waves of the south. to the contours of the east. carlow welcomes another look at the international forecast it's looking lossie fine and dry across a good part of central and southern china possibility of still want to rush hours just around hong kong but this is certainly an improving picture and that's the scene as we go on into choose day so much stronger weather coming through maybe want to south a little further north thirty four celsius there for hong kong possibility of want to see showers there into west central and northern parts of the philippines that's where the heaviest downpours are going to be maybe want to see showers there into malaysia looking a little wet so once again though across a good parts of thailand the cloud on the right starting to pack pop here further south a scattering of shastri malaysia billard dry for a good part of indonesia. dry for

a good part of pakistan northwestern parts of india but you push down into the northern plains into the northeast of india and this is going to be the main focus from monsoon rains as we go through the next few days and really heavy downpours coming into be it west bengal maybe up into bangladesh lively shall is continuing to into me and ma western gas will still be a few showers around here a place to say. the carolina sunshine and showers that this from like. the way the sponsored by qatar and nice. optimism has faded. blue counties elected leaders undivided attention as fears that a crackdown is imminent the targets the activists who fought for democracy divide and conquer. hot five of a six part series filmed as a five year. plan china's democracy experiment on al-jazeera.

and hundred forty twelve on. u.s. and british companies have announced the biggest discovery of natural gas in west africa but what to do with these untapped natural resources is already a source of heated debate nothing much has changed they still spend most of their days looking forward to for the dry river beds like this one five years on the syrians still feel battered or even those who managed to escape their country have been truly unable to escape the war. it is good to have you with us adrian for going to hear the news from al-jazeera

our top stories this hour libya's u.n. backed government has declared a state of emergency after five days of fighting in the capital at least forty one people have been killed in the violence more than one hundred others injured several armed groups are battling for territory india tripoli's only functioning airport. in any form on the sufferer iraq's election eleven political groups of come together to make the largest bloc in parliament that includes groups loyal to the ship cleric. and prime minister body parliament will convene on monday in the process of. forming a government will begin. china's president is expected to announce a plan for billions of dollars of aid and investments in african countries later on monday president xi jinping is due to speak at the launch of a two day summit in beijing his trillion dollar belt and road infrastructure plan is set to top the agenda well it's not just trade investment which has been growing between china and african countries hundreds of thousands of people have relocated

in recent years a million chinese now live in africa while the number of africans in china is thought to be around half that they dream brown reports now on the cultural impact that change is having on chinese cities and. only some sandra's from cameroon but her son is chinese because he was born here both appear a lot these days on a popular chinese social media network marriage between a chinese man and an african woman is still a curiosity here so she under husband decided to stream their day to day lives fans send virtual gifts which represent money. little one. china everyone is envious of me everyone likes to see me happy i do i like to see me dancing but like me they're all my friends i'm missing nothing sandra and xhosa and shouldn married a year ago after returning to his village near dandong in northeast china.

life can be harsh here especially in winter when the temperature drops to minus twenty in cameroon it's hot and humid most days. given the tiny kisses and hearts flashing on the screens of their smartphones symbols for virtual gifts it's going to be a profitable day in a good month they can make a thousand dollars china's economic courtship of africa began twenty years ago one of the consequences of that relationship a new generation of mixed race children. forty years ago it was all but impossible for a foreign man or woman to live in china let alone marry a chinese but today marriages like this are no longer exceptional marrying a foreigner is no longer regarded as marrying down in the way perhaps that it once was here. dolly days and there are more and more international married is in china

or some other friend also married foreigners the chinese have become more accepting of intermarriage to begin with those mother was not so accepting. how contain nice marry a black woman she can leave at any time that's why at the beginning both my husband nice they know to this marriage. sandra's had more success making friends on social media having now mastered enough mandarin to thank them in song. adrian brown al jazeera in northeast china. at least eight saudi arabian soldiers have been killed excuse me in fighting with yemen's huth the rebels that's according to saudi news agencies the kingdom's military says that it for old who theah tak along its southern border videos from saudi media show captured who think fighters including what they say is

a high ranking commander yemen's president man so hardy is preparing to travel to the united states for medical treatment how he's been treated for heart conditions since two thousand and eleven he's been living in exile in saudi arabia since iran back to the rebels took control of yemen's capital sana'a in twenty fifteen. pakistan says the three hundred million dollars of military support that the u.s. plans to scrap is reimbursement that it's owed and not aid its foreign minister says that the money is to meet pakistan's expenses in supporting the so-called us war on terror. ratio. he says that he will bring up the issue with secretary of state michael paya when he arrives in islamabad on wednesday the u.s. accuses pakistan of failing to take action against armed groups and providing them with a safe haven pakistan denies the allegations a new commander is taking control of nato forces in afghanistan u.s.

army general scott miller starts as nato and the afghan army are under pressure from a resurgent taliban and a growing i saw threat there's been a string of attacks in recent months. world recognizes that afghanistan cannot be a safe haven for terrorism. the world right now as we. know this is a bit long but it has been generation. ross. we have people i understand who we are fighting i know why we're here and i know terrorists would say very good sport or murder. and attack using revenue everybody's we're going. to get him started we're going to get reacquainted with our afghan partners. the night is doing daughter. one person has been killed and fifteen others injured in a bomb attack in the philippines it happened at an internet cafe in the

predominantly christian city of its own on mindanao island it's the second such attack in a week the government has blamed pro i saw faces. in russia have been more protest against increases to the age at which people can get a state pension the communist party organized rallies across the country the government wants to increase the retired as age from sixty to sixty five for men and from fifty five to sixty eight for women president vladimir putin has made some changes to his original plan but argues the current pension arrangements are not financially sustainable. is a fellow at the washington institute focusing on russia and russia's foreign and domestic policy she says that putin's government didn't expect such a public outcry. the way the government announced these reforms was at the time when russia was still hosting the world cup sort of hoping that the public would notice trying to trying to soften the blow so to speak but more importantly the

larger issue here is that these reforms demonstrate russia's economic decline of the government's inability. to handle development because russia is a system that is not geared towards development of the country rather it's a system built on loyalty to the kremlin where those that are close to the kremlin get rewarded. and that you know there are such things as for example the government had stopped contributing to the pension fund to finance the crimea an extension of the witnesses so it's prioritizing political motives funding foreign adventures over domestic development. never took responsibility when he made these concessions that he sort of presented himself as this fatherly figure that is stepping in at the last minute. farmers in guatemala struggling to make ends meet their crops were destroyed by volcanic eruptions two months ago the fields of blanketed in ash and

rock david muscle reports now from two miles an hour ago. the rich black soil on the side of this volcano in guatemala is normally the stuff of farmers' dreams but knows firsthand that what the volcano can provide in bountiful harvests it can just as quickly take away the deadly eruption in early june dumped tons of rocks an ash onto his field the twenty eight year old was counting on his corn harvest to feed his young family for the coming year but all was destroyed. a few thoughts. to think. there was a layer of ash here thirty centimeters deep that was super hard like cement so. it's off now because we've tried our best to work the ground but this corn won't give us anything like this plant here no cob no nothing. they were upset of killed hundreds of people

a few kilometers north of the scene of the disaster ash and volcanic rocks not only damaged thousands of hectares of corn and beans but also cash crops such as vegetables coffee avocado and fruit trees ronald is just one of fourteen thousand smallholder farmers who lost their crops after june's volcanic eruption these people are already some of the country's most vulnerable and now they say they need help. in the highland town an hour away government help is starting to arrive guatemala's ministry of agriculture is providing shovels machetes and other tools to thousands of farmers official say that those who lost all their subsistence crops will also receive food assistance for up to three months. this is the agriculture ministry is first response but soon will be providing new coffee plants will also be giving away seed so farmers can replant their fields but these are medium term plans it will take two or three years to be able to recover these crops

. in the meantime family is relying on public donations in order to survive their year had begun with such promise his family rented extra land and planted all the seeds that saved from previous year's harvest in the hopes of getting ahead now they have nothing to show for their efforts. paying for corn means buying one hundred to two hundred pounds every month depending on the size of your family so you could be paying around fifty dollars a month for corn but often you only make twenty dollars and we both work on you know. the money doesn't go far enough. despite the setback and his family are determined to get through the year ahead he and other farmers here have faith that the same volcanic ash that killed this year's harvest will help produce a bumper crop next year david mercer al-jazeera and the department of. what i'm all so is come here on the news and sport defending us open champion rough on

a reaches the last eight in your details coming up the tough guy.

well again tokyo celebrates its one hundred fiftieth anniversary this year as the capital of japan for me not as it oh it was read a md in eight hundred sixty eight during the meiji restoration which marked the beginning of rapid modernization and a studio in tokyo we met one photographer hoping to bring the past to life by using

a photographer using photography from the dates back more than one hundred fifty years is tother he don't want oh i'm a photographer. so i think of my studio as a theme park where you can travel back in time i want to show everyone this is what it looked like back then. come into camera lovers come here to see the origin of photography others come looking for something different from digital for us. in london this is the second oldest photographic technique in the world in dates back to the eight hundred fifty s. it's what people used before film and it came here in the eight hundred sixty s. . i just bought the cameras decoration but had examined and repaired. that made me want to shoot with it. but it's so exciting and. this is more of a machine than

a camera i can actually put it to work. this method uses collodion solution which takes a month to prefer.