well it's known as the land of a thousand hills and over the next few days some of cycling's biggest names will be taken on the mountains of rwanda that sorter wonder has been upgraded by the sport's governing body so that it can now include world seems a new one of the race in africa is in this category that takes place in good bond but rwanda's week long event which started earlier this sunday is now that sufis stage race on the consonance you can follow the a stage race on social media here's the the reigning champion that is local rider samuel mcgee she hill though face a high quality of rival this year has extends a star on a team they're making their debut appearance their riders may well dominates the events of the visiting teams although just enjoying the unique environments of their race this from the israel cycling academy so what do you do if you suddenly get an uncontrolled urge for an energy boost well if you have the trainer wonder it's pretty easy well sports and cycling in particular ways of helping to reunify the country after the genocide of nine hundred ninety four when close to

a million rwandans were killed in a matter of weeks the story of rwandan cycling really accelerated just over a decade ago when former sort of fronts right a job boy are settled in the country and helped establish a national team since then riders from rwanda have earned contracts with pro teams outside of the country and competed at the twenty twelve and twenty sixteen olympics well earlier on i spoke to drop boyer about why cycling has been able to take such a hold in rwanda. rwanda has probably more bicycles per capita than any country in africa only because of the transport that their primary means of transporting goods from the different crops that they have whether that be potatoes or grains or carrots or whatever it is so biking is in their culture but the real racing cycling was not in the culture and after

a couple of years being there and starting up a real national team we started the tour of rwanda alongside of it and that's grown significantly and the the people are just amazing the spectators are peer to non. in africa and it's comparable to you know the alps stages in the tour de france i mean we have millions of spectators every year which is quite the site and quite the exhilarating syrians for any writer specially the foreign european riders that come and experience it the difference between a u.c.i. two point two and two point one primarily is the ability to invite world tour teams and continental pro teams and it also gives an opportunity for the rwandan and the rwandan competitors to see that where they were in the past is not the top of the sport that they have got to see that ok these guys are really good when people see

cycling within a country you can't it's not like running where. pretty much anybody anywhere can get out run you need infrastructure you need roads you need medical you know for crap the sport of cycling as broadcast you know in the upcoming tour of rwanda will really demonstrates where a country is because you can't have that sort of that then nor can you have local teams at that level with out a solid country it is a real. demonstration number one to how far they've come since one thousand and four and where they're gone now a group of u.s. college basketball players are making global headlines after they knelt during the national anthem ahead of a gang member of the. eight

mississippi players made the gesture in response to a confederacy rally that was taking place near the arena for many americans the confederate flag is viewed as a representation of slavery and white supremacy this protest echoing of course the movement led by former n.f.l. quarterback calling kappa nick against racial injustice. or bring tyree was one of the players involved and he made this statement on twitter so the people that fight for this country my teammates and i meant know this respect everything that you do for us but we have to take a stand for the negative things that went on today on our campus hash tag we need change in the direct responses he received to that sweetheart just how divisive an issue this is in the states at the moment i appreciate your position but believe that you'd be better to protest at some time other than when you should be paying

respects your country your flag and vose who fought so that you have that right here's another reaction well just as many backing that decision if he did this two hours after the game on his own time no one would know and no one would hear the message he used his platform to tell people across the country that hateful people were marching in his town they still exist and we need to be aware well let us know what you think i'm on twitter and on the underscore sport or you can use the hash tag a.j. news grid they'll be more sports in the eighteen hundred g.m.t. news hour but for now let's get back to house of thanks and they will look forward to that that will do it for the newsgroup these are all the ways that you can keep it to the two of us we'll see you again fifteen hundred g.m.t. on monday.

where the online the muslims went to the answer for them will not be granted or if you join us on saturday all of us have been colonized in some form or some fashion this is a diet. we are talking about a legal friend to me you have seen what it can do to somebody people using multiple drugs including a funnel and some people are seeking it out everyone has a voice from the fear of boss here twitter and you could be on the street join the global conversation amount is iraq. an army of volunteers has come together to help with the influx of tens of thousands of evacuees. but their retreat to a church shelter has brought new challenges an outbreak of norovirus and other gastrointestinal problems. smoke from the massive wildfires now blankets much of

northern california leading to some of the worst air quality in the world but with more than twelve thousand structures lost in the wildfires concerns remain about long term accommodations jobs and medical care. local officials say there isn't enough housing stock available. i can't bring people back to life i'm sorry. i was little bit. and the others. but. this was my return to kosovo and the little village of book one decade on i've come back to find out what happened to those hopes and dreams we want on al-jazeera.

international pressure grows on president maduro after venezuelan opposition supporters are killed and injured trying to get american aid into the country. alone barbara sorry you're watching al-jazeera live on but also coming up on the program u.n. figures show more civilians were killed in afghanistan last year than at any time since records were kept sent to go vote votes on whether to give back his soule a second term as president after his biggest rivals are banned from running. for black. and white could be a night of firsts at the oscars where i'd bet versts makes of movies are up for best film.

and we begin with the crisis in venezuela opposition leader one why go is calling on the international community to keep all options open following saturday's violent border clashes over american aid efforts to get supplies into the country this and that into violence between forces loyal to president and opposition activists at least two people were killed in clashes near the brazilian border and around three hundred others were injured around sixty of us troops also the fact that to the opposition and the venezuelan leader has cut to diplomatic ties with. let's talk to the son that m.p. who weighs in for us that's the colombian side simone believe our border bridge so i mean we spoke yesterday of course in the sun there are lots of violence then what's happening there now it does look pretty quiet compared to saturday definitely definitely situation back to normal here it seems to be

a rather calm especially since both. when i decided to close the bridges. to shut down all the bridges on the. side for the next two days when it's where. the same definitely so we don't know for how long these bridges will be closed the president of colombia with the vice president toured to this area and the bridge in the rain you know the two bridges that have seen the worst of the violence on saturday they spoke to the various weapons and the colombians who are here they said that they will do everything they can to reopen this bridge we also understand that there are a number of famous well and families right on the other side of the bridge who are claiming for the bridge to reopen because they hope to leave in this way and come here in colombia to travel to the comfortable with or other countries

with. hoping to move to we also know that. there has been an increase in the number of police presence and military along the border on the colombian side but let's get a recap of what happened on saturday from our colleagues and human. opponents of the battled president nicholas model had vowed nothing would stop them from bringing tons of food and medical donations into than israela. on the colombian side of the border four truckloads of supplies tried to breach the heavily fortified symbol of an international bridge into venezuela but they never made it across the national guard was waiting at least two trucks was set on fire. was under than israel inside opposition supporters prepared to continue trying to

open the car door it was the dark i mean they must have that when we planned to walk to the bridge where the humanitarian aid will into and then form an extraordinary human chain to bring it into venezuela. they remained confident earlier three soldiers had commandeered armored vehicles and ran them through the bridge barricades for deserving into columbia dozens more followed throughout the day. were supposed to look up the. was right it. was was was was was was was i was on. the. they nearly made it to the customs building despite the rubber bullets and the tear gas fired by the national guard. that's when the so-called

quality levels or heavily armed pro-government gangs were brought in shooting live ammunition at will. the day ended with hundreds of unarmed protesters injured by the colombian border on venezuela's border with brazil the violence turned deadly as indigenous been one tribesmen tried to get aid in and despite the defections opposition leader flung wide those pleas to the military to defect on mass were not heard librium of someone being done i'm asking the international community to keep all cards on the table i'll be meeting on monday with the lima group and u.s. vice president mike pansy. sounded triumphant president nicolas maduro announced he was cutting diplomatic ties with neighboring colombia. support a tunnel i can't continue putting up with this we can continue putting up with colombia lending itself to an aggression against venezuela that is why i have decided to break all political and diplomatic relations with the fascist government

of colombia and all its ambassadors and general consuls have to leave venezuela within twenty four hours get out of here oligarchy but my voter will unlikely be savoring his victory for very long economic and political pressure from the international community will surely increase as his countrymen watch the images of the food and medicine so many desperately need go up in smoke. you see in human san antonio that should have been his way. let's go back to alison that m.p.t. who is in the colombian side of the border so listen there a bit of a deadlock now what does the opposition plan to do. that's a question here and everything everybody's mind what will the next step be now that they're a big plan to move the. failed we know that there is a very important meeting on monday in the capital. of

the fourteen latin american countries canada who support. the leader of the opposition why. this group of countries are called the lima group. himself will be there on monday and the vice president of the united states mike pence will also be at this meeting and he will also sit down with a white door to discuss what the next steps could be we've heard last night from those saying that he will formally ask the countries the international coalition that support him supports him to leave all the options on the table all the options available. so the question is if we will see hardening of the position in the position of the group put towards a venezuela there's also discussion of more sanctions that the u.s.

could impose in venezuela and people here are worried about the consequences the humanitarian consequences inside of venezuela also consider that with the bridges close with the border closed it makes it more difficult for a lot of people on the other side to survive because they depend on entering into gear to find the food in the medicines that they so desperately need some that amputee there with the latest from the border thank you. thanks. the u.n. says a record number of afghan civilians were killed in two thousand and eighteen due to an increase in suicide bombings and aerial attacks a report shows three thousand eight hundred four civilians died in the conflict last year nine hundred twenty seven seven of them were children that's an eleven

percent increase on two thousand and seventeen and more than any other year since records began now those killed one thousand one hundred eighty five died in operations by pro-government forces there aerial attacks caused four hundred and ninety two child casualties the u.n. says the taliban was responsible for one thousand seven hundred fifty one civilian casualties last year while i saw killed and wounded two thousand one hundred eighty one civilians in two thousand and eighteen the were in afghanistan has taken a terrible toll on civilians and twenty eight witnessed deplorable levels of harm inflicted upon. the us so the highest number of civilians killed in the conflict since the united nations began systemd systematic documentation of the impact of the war on noncombatants an explosive device has killed at least twenty four people

in syria's a central how my province it went off as a van packed with workers passed by syrian state t.v. says the device was one of the many left in the area by isis fighters. the people of senegal are currently voting for their next leader the president seeking a second term and faces four main rivals to his bid since coming to office president develop infrastructure projects is said to be booming but opposition candidates say that ordinary people are suffering with poverty and unemployment rampant pushing many seek a life overseas i was speaking about the election said the senegalese people will be the only winners. i would like to salute citizens for the mobilizing seems dismounting all over the country and abroad to exercise their choice in peace and serenity so i praise god and i hope that by the

end of this day the senate gillies people will be. and that the chosen president also be the president of all the senegalese i hope this president will be myself and i pray for that well. in the capital dhaka for us. it's gone pretty well i mean we're at this point. we're just a stone's throw away from the presidential palace and this is hold of the opposition in this morning six o'clock we've seen people lining up to come and cast their vote despite a call from former president to boycott this election really people came out in numbers to try to express themselves because at stake is not just the future of the future president of this country but the future of senegal itself just recently barbara there was an oil discovery over the next immediate value fifty billion

dollars now this could change the future of this country. well it's interesting also in the campaign of course you have the incumbent.