any electoral issues were any political issues around elections or on the continent and i think this is going to be a very bad for africa in terms of moving forward for this year the african union theme is refugees returning and the internally displaced people on the continent malcolm what is our correspondent there in the capital addis ababa and of course africa is the continent that has the largest number of displaced people in the world. that's right about of the third of the world's displaced people in this continent more than twenty million dollars discussion around refugees and displaced people is the theme for the year ahead so we're not expecting any binding agreement coming out on the topic we are expecting leaders to also talk about the recent disputed election in the democratic republic of congo and also the implementation of an october peace agreement in south sudan

between the government and rebels that was signed in juba over the last year the chair of the african union has been president paul kagame in of rwanda let's take a look at what happened on the his tenure. in rwanda president khatami's governments credited with development success it's also accused of torturing critics and killing opponents allegations it denies that the african union the now this about where he's been chair for the last year he's seen as effective at this meeting he called trim vestment in public health care and medicines. if we work together as a continent for example. we all saw how. during his tenure cammy worked to push through planned reforms of the organization including making

itself funding instead of relying on donors outside the continent but many member countries are still reluctant to contribute he did pull off a plan here trimming of the a year's commission one of the african union's areas of relative success from the last year is the planned african continental free trade area most of the countries whose flags were here signed it last year nineteen of already turned it into domestic law and it needs twenty two to take effect south africa which is the continent's second largest economy is already on board in conflicts and crises he used how to mix. it back to peace deal between rebel groups and the government from central african republic signed last week although it's yet to be implemented. it's also helped to have political crises in madagascar and morris earlier last year. for the backed away from speaking out on december's disputed elections in the

democratic republic of congo has done nothing about the conflict in cameroon so we're seeing a lot of the african states particularly the big players like nigeria algeria south africa you know they're turning inward so unless we see more engagement from these big powers then again i think it's going to be difficult to see the african union really becoming more effective on peace and security as african leaders gather at the a used headquarters they're expected to address the plight of the continent's twenty million displaced people and again discuss how to make them an isolation more effective. so one of those planned reforms is financing of the african union some african members african union member states would like the african union to become so funding now with me is. the special envoy of the african union who's worked on the restructuring of financing. who to date

has been funding the african union and its projects for quite a long time. was so dependent on. the continent very few countries. two years ago at the summit. it was decided that the member states of the african union will fund themselves progressively over five years and i want to say here that the progress of the last year has been incredible coverage now is almost seventy. two found a hundred percent of the operational budget three quarters of all the programs and increasingly a large part of peace and security related expenses and all countries willing or able to contribute. yes yesterday they agreed there are no scheme of how this will

be done it is based on our ability to pay on equity solidarity and obviously a determination of how much can be afforded and so one of the big issues. that it is not simply about raising money how the money is spent as well and that clinton awesome organization of the moment is a big challenge on the issues of governance and so i can say that yesterday they agreed to freeze the budget for the coming years about. something big among international organizations because you raise money on the side you have to be careful to spend be accountable transparent ensure that you don't accumulate areas and when will these changes actually take effect because of the funds to which countries are they getting themselves it is already in place the.

already put in place and beginning the next fiscal year all these decisions will be implemented thank you very much. the special envoy on the financial restructuring of the african union thank you linda. there live in the ethiopian capital. we've got a lot more to come in this al-jazeera news hour including forty years of hostility as iran marks the anniversary of its revolution we look at why relations with the u.s. has so bad plus. i'm going hey in bangkok where the countdown is on to the first election since a coup in two thousand and fourteen we look at whether the new government will be able to reverse a military crackdown on free speech. and installed with joe find out about the goal for entertaining the crowds with a very unique swing at pebble beach in california. now

iran says it's going to expire and its missile program despite warnings from the united states the announcement was timed to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of the islamic revolution that toppled the shah and ushered in decades of hostility between the two powers then i heard a report from tehran. it has been forty years since the revolution that changed the face of this nation iran's pro he policy was reversed little has changed since opposition to the u.s. and israel are still very much part of iran's foreign policy. we shouldn't have a relationship with the us and israel we have a problem with these two countries we are interdependent and that's why they are putting pressure on us. relations between washington and to her on are at an all time low since president donald trump took office and reimposed sanctions after

were drawing from the two thousand and fifteen nuclear deal signed by world powers western sanctions have been a fact of life for decades ever since the storming of the u.s. embassy in tehran in one nine hundred seventy nine and the in suing hostage crisis but iranians are hurting. we need relations with other countries so that people are not unemployed when rouhani came to power he visited many countries if some allowed him to continue everything would be better the iranian leadership did back president hassan rouhani is engagement with the west that led to the nuclear deal it was supposed to usher in a new era in relations until the u.s. withdrew. for years although i told our officials in closed meetings and people publicly that we shouldn't trust american officials promises smiles and signatures. to europeans i'm not saying we should not have relations with them but we shouldn't trust. has been open.

with the united states for many years. that's why. speech talking about resolving issues if the first worked out the problem is that the first. there seems to be little optimism about the future especially because of what iran's supreme leader considers a hostile us administration and its hostile policies towards this country the revolution is about ending western influence in its offers then wanted to be exported. to the world by doing bad. things it is. meddling in the internal affairs of neighboring states and the united states uses the. greatest threats in the middle east. iran is involved in wars across the region where it backs mainly proxies to iran says it is about countering

u.s. and israeli dominance some arab governments see it differently iran's regional ambitions transform the middle east in fact iranian officials don't shy away from boasting about arab capitals now being part of the islamic revolution. or live now to another of our correspondents in the iranian capital and. then of an expansion to the iranian missile program will be nothing to improve relations with washington. this is. true. please so from the islamic revolutionary guard corps which is basically it was about forty years ago. main part of the revolution and still to this day four decades on it's a main part of the defensive and offensive operations of the islamic republic and

what we've heard from them through state media is that it will continue expanding its butt to stick missile program in line with the defense strategy and despite the diabolical dumont's from the united states now that is a reference to this halt all given about un resolution ju-ju three one which dealt with the nuclear issue on the whole up off all the restrictions that iran was agreeing to now iran says that ballistic missiles are nothing to do with that un resolution whereas the u.s. says yes they are not only the ballistic missiles used for ground to ground develop offensives and defenses but also iran space program however iran is steadfast there is going to be no negotiation about this right now it's using this revolutionary guard to come up with a direct of the supremes leda. of the supreme leader directly.

and they. get this message across furthermore they're saying also in this statement that there will be no negotiations with israel whatsoever it will continue its its path against israel and there is no going back no concession now contrast this with a different message going out from the foreign ministry which talks of a multifaceted approach to all countries in the future to move the revolution forward and this is from the foreign ministry it talks about the importance. of independence which is the key factor in the revolution it talks about not being bullied not being pushed and also basically puts a more dove like perspective on the issue but says no way will foreign powers influence decisions made by the islamic republic so there you have it you have the

foreign ministry giving one impression you get then another impression from the supremes leader's main force which is the the revolutionary guards and now the country will start to look back on forty years it will be a cold loss or celebration of modern day but looking forward well there's a hard edge to it. on such your question once more yes things are now worse than ever because of the policy because of that decision to actually turn around them abandon that nuclear deal from twenty fifteen which in may was dispense with and then sanctions reimpose yes this country is used to sanctions but these are painful at a crucial time in the development of a revolution andrew symonds live in toronto. sixteen soldiers have been killed

in western afghanistan in fighting with the taliban four others were injured in the overnight battle with government forces in the state and fire the taliban has kept up attacks on the afghan military despite recent talks aimed at ending the seventeen year conflict that when those in thailand go to the polls next month many of them will be hoping for an outcome that needs to improve human rights and particularly more freedom of speech the military has run the country since a coup in twenty fourteen since then it's been working harder to silence critics of the time on a key jailing hundreds of people when hey reports from bangkok. seeking justice and on says a small group gathered outside the office of the thai prime minister in bangkok everybody they risked a wrist to demand an investigation into the murder of two critics of the military government and monarchy and the disappearance of another they went missing from neighboring laos and in december the bodies of two of them were found in the mekong

river teil authorities say they had nothing to do with the murders all of these cases create a fear among people like people are afraid to express their views and opinions especially about such as the monica. no one dares to do anything even to demand the rights of the dead. some york was arrested before the coup and spent seven years in jail for criticizing the royal family in articles published in his magazine i mean you know he says when he was released last year he found that human rights had to rewrite a dramatically under military rule inspiring him to continue fighting for democracy and free speech the government has used several laws to try to stifle dissent charging people with sedition or violating the computer crimes act to things they're posted online and after the coup there was a surge in the number of people charged with insulting the monarchy if the military has also used less overt tactics like harassment to silence critics for the past

ten years the hosts of this web show have derided thailand's politicians since the coup the being summoned by soldiers and continue to be watched closely. angry. these intimidation and during these time. they still. come in a form like information officer. on my twitter account on my face. my instagram or my wife you know what i'm confident the election and the reintroduction of opposition voices to parliament will help ease restrictions but others on sure anything will change because of a constitution that allows an elected senate is and even an appointed prime minister. in the near future is still hopeless fertile and we should brace for more chaos and conflict because i don't think a truly civilian government will be fooled. until it is those whose voices haven't

been silenced say they'll continue to use de woods and actions to push for change as thailand begins another episode of its to be political story wayne hay al jazeera bangkok. in just a couple of minutes of the ten will have the weather but also coming up on this al-jazeera news hour preserving the memory of a syrian boy whose death moved the wall. changing shapes the new images of a distant object in space altering the view of nasa scientists. and feeling houston's oklahoma city comes back to beat the rockets in the n.b.a. jan will have the action in sports.

the skies are clear across much of south asia but that's not the full story we have some rather lively weather topping entailing india down into the south into sri lanka seems a massive downpours one hundred millimeters of rain here in twenty four hours across that eastern side of the country the northeast monsoon driving those showers in across the region and further north this is into tibet if had a fair old dusting of snow come for more than a dusting while they're dumping ash as you can see huge amounts of snow for here and that has inevitably cause some widespread disruption things will quiet and then as we go through the next couple of days lhasa clear skies again corso senseless as the warm sunshine hydrabad thirty degrees celsius still a few showers there to the east inside a strike a little bit of cloud into nepal into tibet perhaps one or two when few flurries as we go on through the next day or so behind my head just look at that big massive cloud and rain that's making its way out of the middle east has seen

a fair bit of rain pushing in across the levant pushing into iraq has now making its way into iran even here in qatar we could see some want to see spots of rain as we go through the next twenty four thirty six hours or so what's the cloud there is you can say that cloud is making its way further east with some havey rain into iran with the possibility of some flooding too for kuwait and iran. sponsored by the time anyways. recruited. exploited to on the battlefield the call the new regime different on our feet from where you and your peers then abandoned for a lifetime we should be ashamed. for all. over three people in power investigates the plight of imperial britons african troops begin the forgotten heroes of empire. era when the news breaks

a few minutes ago we were able to hear a huge explosion fifty people are still missing when people who need to be heard and the story needs to be told we need to invest in development me to invest in making sure the people of the three hundred al jazeera has teams on the ground join us for this historic shift in american politics to bring you more room moved we need documentaries and life moves on and. part of the top stories here in the al-jazeera news out u.s. and russia have come up with counter proposals that lead us to solve the venezuela

crisis washington is calling for fresh elections while russia warns against using force to remove president one daughter. kurdish led forces backed by the us are trying to push from its last pocket of territory in eastern syria the offensive by syrian democratic forces the s.e.'s is focused on the village of bugaboos near the border with iraq. african leaders are meeting in ethiopia's capital addis ababa for that. annual summit this is. refugees and internally displaced people. and government prosecutors in sudan have admitted for the first time that a protest died in custody after being tortured he was a schoolteacher and he was detained during demonstrations against the government of omar al bashir is death is calls widespread anger and condemnation mohammed deval reports five people in the town of heisman is some sudan came out

like one family for the funeral of their school teacher but the fear he died while being tortured by members of the state security after he took part in our government demonstrations. he died in custody members of security killed him he was in a very good health when he left home. friend who was arrested with him said he saw him while being beaten. he lay on me like this off today knocked him down you continue to move sideways from pain and say are after a while he was completely still the security guard tried to wake him up by tapping his jeans i told him this man is dead he said let all of you die for your revolution but then i uncovered his body and started inspecting his neck because it was swollen i couldn't tell if it was broken but the marks of torture were very

clear on that. for several days so then the security forces continued to hide the truth claiming that had died of an illness. zoe here his family were invited to see his body that they were sure that no violations were committed and that he had not been tortured. but that the count turned out to be a lie officials conducted an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death. the prosecution has found the death of this person to be the result of several wounds inflicted on him and those responsible should face trial according to the law but taking the perpetrators to justice may prove difficult so then security forces usually refuse to let their members be tried in civilian courts and the belated confession has not satisfied family or the protesters is the past turned into a public course and the rallying cry for more protests and anger against the

government of president omar bashir. in his hometown ahmed's family is still trying to make sense of the loss silence dominates the school where he was teaching his students are unable to get over the shock. a video was made to remember his life he talks about the value of the schoolteacher to humanity and denounces ahmed's the as equivalent to the killing of the future of an entire nation. and dizzee a call to. the father of the three year old syrian refugee boy alan curdie his body washed up on turkey's shore and twenty fifteen is now in new york or in spain abdullah could is there to rename a refugee rescue ship which is operating in the mediterranean sea the photograph of his dead toddler sparked a wave of outrage across europe and led to demands that more be done to protect

those making the dangerous journey from north africa to europe we'll go live now to parma in majorca our correspondent there is david chase said david. martine this was this naming ceremony was a very informal intimate and moving experience and of course for the for the father of of the poor that moved so many hearts across the world it was even worse for him he was sitting by the dock as had revived everything all those awful memories which is trying to put behind him and he sat there on his own thinking about that and thinking what his life had come to as a result of him trying to reach freedom and of course it comes at a very difficult time the naming of the ship after his son because so many ports are now closing right across the mediterranean the european union is rejecting any

idea of the ships operating in the waters especially in the north of libya and so it must be very hard for him to realize even though his son's name is now proudly borne by this rescue craft that the situation for so many other families like him is even worse they have absolutely no chance there are countless hundreds . of families who are still dying still drowning and many of them that many of them are not even being mocked i spoke to seen the c.i. charity who who ship this is behind me about the situation that moment. two thousand fifteen was a year where that a lot of arrival since then it's dropped but also there's really how you say a number of cases which are not even known because most ships especially when rescue ships are blocked we don't even know how many ships leave libya and how many

make it or don't make it it's really difficult to see you have an overview but i think that every family and every boy cruelly who lost his life is one too much and it's not even about how many it's there's even one person having to do this journey and drowning and not getting help then that's already too much. that is the point children are still dying out there still being washed up some drowning and the bodies never recovered inside the mediterranean and so at the moment the european union is divided about the policies they can't come to an agreement they haven't come to any sort of coherent policy of what they should do about the situation in the mediterranean so this is a tragic time for the ship behind me to go out to the sea once again bearing the name of the boy who's iconic photograph opened at least for a moment the hearts of europe in the world david chase live in majorca in

spain. though a journalist who's been a vocal critic of pakistan's government has been arrested outside his home in lahore on the rouses son says his father was beaten by officers as they took him away on saturday police say he's being investigated for posting defamatory content on social media journalists in pakistan say they're working in an increasingly hostile climate and the prime minister imran khan the government denies it's unfairly targeting the media. south korea's government decided to short term agreement to increase the amount it pays to keep u.s. troops on the peninsula it follows demands by president trump to solve to pay more towards maintaining the twenty eight thousand military personnel stationed across the country their one year deal will have to be approved by parliament. the parts

of india moon river which flows through new delhi also polluted that environmentalist say it's dead nothing can live in it or the government is spending millions of dollars on treatment projects roll sewage continues to pour into the river every day lower than the reports. at first it seems these fisherman are paddling to snow but the foam resting on the murky black water is sewage parts of the eula river flowing through new delhi had been labelled dead there so polluted very life is able to survive yet many people depend on the river for their livelihood that any bottom of the pollution africa business we are left with nothing the fish used to try for now they cannot survive . the water is dirty because the entire city's waste is being dumped into the yemenite ever the government doesn't do anything to clean it. it's illegal yet

industrial waste rubbish and untreated sewage are dumped into the. overspill hundred million liters of sewage come from new delhi every day and more than half of that is left untreated. prime minister narendra modi's government has been pumping millions of dollars into projects to clean up india's rivers. but environmental experts say it's not working the delhi government has still not find a single case under the water act against any polluter so far as the human is concerned in the whole country was in not more than twenty years that existed under the provisions of the water prevention of pollution act which provides for imprisonment punishment for any person who is actually polluting a river. the hindu community considers through the sacred but it ceremonies carry their own risks the design of the got there. it's people who dirty the river is the

residents who made it impure but for me it's not dirty i drink this water to. bury the river kinds is the spirit but the mix of sewage and pollution is also damaging healthy and destroying livelihoods laura bassett badly al-jazeera. so you may remember the new horizons probe which captured images of the ultimate to lay the most distant celestial objects ever visited in a record breaking flyover that was just last month but now nasa scientists are already revising what they think this actually looks like scientists initially thought it looked like this as you can see to her recall parts that resembled a giant snowman and about new days had just been for more than six billion kilometers away shows the two parts a much flatter that is now describing them as a kid to a pancake and a dented worn out the latest images could offer

a new clues on how all timothy lay and planets were formed something that we can talk to francisco diego about is a senior research fellow at the department of physics and astronomy at university college in london thank you very much indeed for joining us what do these new images actually tell us or are they just new interpretations of old images. no no they are new there are new images we have to remember about just by chance their new horizons approach with them and to live from the front where we see these around shapes but the buses on our one side and as he does the perspective changes so we get the better impression of the three dimensional nature of these objects and this is what we see now they are missing pictures here because what we have is a picture taken from behind who came up through it with the song kind of buckley thing it and we seeing see to it on the shape as being did us by the fact that they

were a lot of stars in the background and this starts with a cult of by the sea to do it and then we can more or less outline the shape of faulty not to live from this perspective there are missing images in the middle between the furnace one that we called for and that we saw from the front on this one that is from behind there will be a sequence of images. new horizons was going around will team up woolly and they will have a bit the perspective of the three dimensional nature of the object and how do these new images improve not mine in particular but certainly your understanding of ultima thule a and that of course what your ultimate objective is is to understand how planets were formed absolutely yes you are right it is a major challenge i mean to see these two objects to start with two objects that are just touching each other they way they for.