inform us. the unconventionality of life witness through the lens of the human eye. is what inspires us. witness documentaries on al-jazeera. this is al-jazeera. hello from doha everyone i'm kemal sons of maria and this is the news hour from al-jazeera china's political elite holds its annual congress tax cuts signal that growth in the world's second biggest economy is definitely slowing. also in the news u.s. president donald trump announces new trade measures against india and turkey ending their preferential treatment status.

i love transcript the venezuelan opposition leader on why does he returned home with new demands for president doing to quit the u.n. is calling for. two hundred five to surrender to kurdish forces in the group's last territory in syria but the fighting goes on. it is china's annual event to showcase the strength of the country but the news coming out of the national people's congress is not as strong as china's rulers would like in fact the world's second largest economy is expected to post its slowest growth in almost three decades as it struggles with debt and the trade war with the united states the chinese from china said he expects the economy to grow between six and six and a half percent which is strong by international standards but not by choice.

beijing will cut billions of dollars in corporate taxes that will boost spending in infrastructure to help the economy also it's going to increase its defense budget by seven and a half percent though that too is lower than what it was last year let's check in with katrina you in beijing to get us started or maybe you can just tell us first of all for viewers who don't perhaps know about the national people's congress the importance of this event in chinese politics and society every year. well i mean we're standing right here in tiananmen square and that may seem quite over an area for viewers around the world but this is very rare that the journalists are able to access this area behind me in the great hall of the people three thousand of the country's most powerful powerful leaders all sitting listening to the direction of the country for the next year and this is really one of the few times that this happens in china it's really the premier the primary political event that happens every year now some of the things that you were

mentioning in terms of china's direction one of the the big figures we were really looking for was the g.d.p. now last year china's g.d.p. was six point six percent and that was already the lowest in growth that we've seen since one thousand nine hundred ninety year old this year it's six percent to six point five percent so it is it is slowing now this isn't too surprising for economists many of the congress that we've spoken to here in beijing say this is very much in line with their expectations in recent months we've been seeing some really lowered consumption figures a so the government is definitely a recognizing that this is economy that is slowing down and one of the things that leakage chung said that was also very interesting during his speech is that he also acknowledge that the trade war trade tensions with the united states have been having a negative impact on china's business activity now what china has been trying to do since she chipping came to power is really trying to ban balance oh maintain stable growth while at the same time trying to reduce its reliance on debt in some critics

say that actually they went too far some of those measures were too harsh so right now they're trying to swing in the other direction and really stimulate some growth so some things that we're expecting out of the national people's congress some of the things that you alluded to the lowering of income tax and the lowering of the for example the amount of pensions the amount that employers are expected to pay in terms of pensions to their employees so definitely the government is under pressure to stimulate some growth here in china this year is it all just economic issues that we're looking in for katrina are there other sort of social markers to come out of this people's congress as well which we should keep an eye out for shit. definitely the economy is one of the big things because everyone here is very conscious that times are changing here in china the boom of the last few years it could be over but this definitely some other things to to look at we're expecting here from the national people's congress since she didn't think came to how he's

made public alleviation tackling poverty one of the main. issues that he really wants to tackle during his leadership in this year they're looking at that again they want to lift an additional ten million people out of poverty health care is another big issue that they're really looking at we've had various scandals over the years various concerns that really affected the amount of trust that people have in china's health care system and the government is very aware of that and what they're looking to do is improve quality and improve the access and affordability of medicines and services and lawson one of things that they're looking at as well is sort of trying to balance this aging population china is seeing more and more people age more and more people move out of the workforce and there are some concerns about how that will further affect consumption and growth into the future and talk about ways that they can really balances and tackle that issue going forward and as katrina year live from town and square in beijing outside the great hall of the people as we hear news coming from the national

people's congress. we're moving to other news in the u.s. is to per for until trade status for india and turkey it says india has failed to provide assurances it will allow reasonable access to its markets and the turkey no longer qualifies because its economy is sufficiently developed the u.s. currently allows five point six billion dollars worth of indian exports to enter the united states duty free that is under what is known as the generalized system of preferences program g s p it allows one hundred twenty one countries to export some goods to the u.s. without paying tire of example twenty seventeen turkey exported one point six billion dollars worth of goods under that system. so let's try to understand it more with robert scott who's the senior international condiments that the economic policy institute in the u.s. is with us on skype from maryland so i mean we're used to talking when we're thinking about trade it's all about the u.s. and china but this is showing that donald trump is equally as cane to tackle things

with other countries yes i'm i'm afraid that's right and i think this indicates that the underlying problem with the trump trace gravity and really is a lack of strategy india just does not rise to the level of importance in the united states trade problem it's supported by living country our total trade deficit with china is about two and a half percent of our trade deficit with the world big problems that we have there was not only china but also the big surplus countries including the european union and japan those are the countries that we ought to be trying to solve this problem with so then why do you think donald trump goes off to these two countries in particular is it political is it just another way of showing what he perceives to be his strength that he's taking on anyone else. well in part i think it's the

it's the let's make a deal approach the trump trade strategy i think in part reflects the fact that he's a bully india is a relatively poor country they don't have a lot of resources and he thinks that he can push them around but that doesn't mean it's going to provide any significant jobs here in the united states for working people were not going to rebuild manufacturing by cutting our imports from china from india by five and a half billion dollars we have an eight hundred fifty billion dollars trade deficit is going to go up about ten percent in two thousand and eighteen we'll get the numbers on wednesday of this week that's the problem and and what we need to do to resolve their problems let's not jump promise to do on day one when he took office and that was to name china a currency manipulator we also need as i said to go after japan and europe all of those countries have currencies that are undervalued by thirty excuse me forty five

percent if we raise the value of those of those other currencies and make the u.s. dollar more competitive we can dramatically reduce our trade deficit and rebuilding u.s. manufacturing you would have heard us discussing china just a moment ago the national people's congress the consents that the chinese have about the trade well with the united states what's your view on how that is quote unquote working well or otherwise. well i think the chamber over china is a better example of the failure of the trump strategy he seems to be stretching for any kind of a deal to reassure wall street he's very worried worried the stock markets are going to fall as they did today the dow fell two hundred points i think out of concerns that this deal wasn't with china it was not going to be consummated and what is the a hole through the united states on the one hand china is promising to buy maybe

ten or twenty million tons of grain some some l.n.g. exports that's not going to really have a fundamental effect on u.s. manufacturing and certainly not going to be bring about long term changes our trade on the other hand us pharmaceutical companies want to get more protection to their profits so we're going to raise their profits in china but that's again not going to create jobs in the united states where it's got a pleasure talking to you thanks for your time thank you. canada's prime minister's cold china's detention of a former diplomat and a businessman tree justin trudeau says he's very concerned beijing suspects the canadian nationals of spying they were detained in december just days after the arrest of a top executive of the chinese telecom giant qual way that happened in canada everyone is on to reports on these straining ties between beijing and auto. michael covel a former diplomat and current asia advisor to

a brussels based think tank and michael spade or a businessman based in china two canadians detained in china since december on monday for the first time china said the two men are being held because they are suspected of being spies but the arrest of the two men has been seen possibly as beijing's retaliation for china's arrest of a manga one joe an executive at chinese technology company while away and daughter of the company's founder she was arrested on december first nine days later two canadians are arrested in china. since being released on bail has been required to stay in vancouver on sunday her lawyers filed a lawsuit against the canadian government after her high profile arrest saying she was interrogated before she was told she was even under arrest she was detained in canada at the request of washington allegedly she had broken american sanctions

against iran yep a so it has severely strained relations between canada and china on monday canada's prime minister scolded china for what he called arbitrary detentions we are obviously very concerned with the this position that china has taken the safety and security of canadians is always of first order for this government and that's why we've been engaging in standing up for the two two canadians who've been arbitrarily detained by china from the very beginning but china was infuriated at their arrest and possible extradition of mang something it reaffirmed on monday. the u.s. and canada abuse their bilateral extradition treaty and take compulsory measures freely against chinese citizens so it's a very early violates chinese citizens legitimate rights and interests we once again urge the u.s. to immediately withdraw the arrest warrant an extradition request on this main longo and as for the international crisis group's think tank he works for full time

city has not been allowed to see a lawyer or in denied he's a spy or partook in any activities that threaten to china's security there appears little chance of the situation deescalating anytime soon meng is fighting to avoid extradition to the u.s. where she could face more than twenty years in prison if convicted her next court appearance in canada is on wednesday but the appeals process is long and complicated and could last months or even years. gabriels dando. new york and a second member of canada's cabinet has resigned as prime minister trudeau faces a deepening political crisis the budget minister jane fil part says she's lost confidence in how the government dealt with the corruption inquiry her departure is just days after the resignation of the justice minister jody wilson raybold she had testified she was pressured by government officials to help

a major construction firm avoid its own corruption trial. here is what is coming up on this news hour the protests still going on in algeria against president bush to despite his pledge to step down quickly if he's reelected scouring through what's left behind survivors assessing catastrophic damage by tornadoes in the united states and in sports one rail madrid star had some harsh words about the club's current strike force that's about ten to the hour. now venezuela's opposition leader has asked thousands of his supporters to get back on the streets and step up pressure on president nicolas maduro to resign i thought i got a hero's welcome in caracas after his return from a tour of latin american countries he was there to gather support for his

leadership and after the failed us that attempt to get aid into venezuela president al gore has threatened to arrest quote out for flouting a travel ban but the u.s. warned any action against him would have consequences if you don't believe i will own a trailer i want to ask people of minutes well is that a shred of fear they threatened all of us here they threatened me with jail you saw it and well i'll tell you something it will not be through threats that they will hold us back we are here and we are strong united more than ever you know why. we are here and we are stronger than ever i do you think i was actually i think more now with our correspondent here in kuta never colombia venezuela border. i want to go was greeted by thousands of supporters in that act as these are demonstrations that were convened via a social media broadcast that took place on sunday evening when where one by deal

called on thousands of innocent citizens to take to the streets to fill the streets not only of get access but all of venezuela he was almost mobbed when he arrived in that in that scene of protests were thousands of people were waiting to hear him speak he he said that the fact that he wasn't arrested upon his return from that tour of central several south american countries was evidence that the chain of command in the military had been broken he was also calling on military officers to allow international aid that continues to sit on the colombia venezuela border to be allowed into the country now one way though is also calling for these demonstrations we saw those images of thousands of people on the streets of caracas he's calling on this on this momentum to continue into tuesday tuesday which happens to coincide with the anniversary of the death of former venezuelan leader hugo chavez but it doesn't stop there even though there wasn't an outline of what the next steps are going to be in the process that bill and his international

allies have in mind he is also calling for more protests going into the weekend protests into march ninth on saturday up until now unfortunately we have not heard any sort of official response or declaration made by president nico last month but we are keeping a close eye to see what sort of what sort of response we may expect from the government of nicolas mother to now a u.s. congressional panel investigating alleged abuse of power by donald trump and his administration has demanded documents from dozens of people and organizations close to the president and house judiciary committee has named eighty one people and groups including two of donald trump. also the former attorney general jeff sessions and to the trump campaign kimberly how has more from washington. it's a sweeping and wide ranging demand on monday the judiciary committee from the democratic controlled house of representatives ordered eighty one individuals and entities tied to u.s. president donald trump including the president's son don jr to turn over materials

believed to shine a light on trump's alleged abuse of power and obstruction of justice it's a political hoax. speaking from the white house surrounded by college football champions once again discredited the efforts to investigate his presidency but said he would comply with the committee request it was great all the time with everybody and you know. the document triggers what's expected to be another lengthy investigation in addition to robert muller's probe into potential trunk ties to russia this latest effort is a coordination by more than a half dozen house committees including judiciary committee chair jerry nason are looking into trump's decision to fire former f.b.i. director james comey as well as efforts to protect former national security advisor michael flynn it's very clear that the president should be just as it's very clear

eleven hundred times he referred to the mole investigation as a witch hunt to try to if fired he tried to protect flynn from being investigated by the by the f.b.i. you fired me in order to stop the russian think the committee's efforts will be punctuated by hearings designed to create a record of public testimony and could expose potential presidential conflicts of interest ranging from trump's hotel in washington to possible money laundering by the president's businesses and well impeachment proceedings are possible they aren't a minute no we have to do the investigations and get all this we do not now have. the evidence without before you impeach somebody you. to persuade the american public trust approval numbers have risen in recent weeks up to forty six percent and eighty eight percent of republicans still back the president that's why the investigations by democrats in the house of representatives are designed to be

intentionally slow it's an effort to pick apart donald trump's presidency and illustrate a pattern of behavior that at minimum in the court of public opinion could hurt his chances for re-election can really help at al jazeera washington also we've got the u.s. senate foreign relations committee which met for a closed door briefing on whether sanctions should be imposed over the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi been hearing about what headway the trumpet ministration has made in the investigation into the global magnitsky act with rosen in jordan. the u.s. senate foreign relations committee had a closed door briefing with trumpet ministration officials on monday about the trumpet ministrations compliance with the global magnitsky act that is the law that requires the us to hold accountable governments and individual persons with sanctions for violating the rights of any of that country's citizens the senate

foreign relations committee recently invoked them in a ski act in the case of the washington post columnist. he was murdered in the saudi consulate in istanbul back on october second senators from both parties have been very concerned that the administration doesn't want to jeopardize its relationship with riyadh and isn't doing enough to actively investigate the circumstances surrounding his shows he's murder or to hold accountable those members of the saudi government including perhaps the saudi crown prince mohammed bin sol month for their involvement in kosovo she's murder apparently once this closed door briefing on monday afternoon ended at least one senator lindsey graham of south carolina told reporters that the hearing essentially was a waste of time and that he knew more about the ongoing investigation than the

trumpet ministration official sent to brief him and his fellow senators meantime it was announced by the pentagon also on monday that a two year old contract between the u.s. and saudi arabia is moving ahead lockheed martin one of the u.s. is main military contractors is going to build a fad missile defense system for saudi arabia for nearly nine hundred forty six million dollars the agreement was reached to hear is ago that the u.s. were to provide this technology to saudi arabia in order to deal with what the u.s. has called one. iranian influence across the greater middle east the u.s. in recent times has been stepping up its anti iranian rhetoric and certainly even though the timing is coincidental it seems as if this announcement of this missile defense system sale might engender more criticism of the trumpet ministration more than it might have otherwise expected. un human rights experts say saudi arabia is

using its counter-terrorism laws to silence activists including women they are accusing riyad of violating international law that guarantees freedom of speech the experts were speaking at a panel event on the sidelines of the un human rights council now we're going to talk to our salon have to cut about those who is a human rights lawyer a senior fellow at georgetown university he's with us and skype from virginia so counter terrorism laws is that a case of using vats term as a giant basically to cover whatever they want. well just demolish the short answer is yes and of course the irony is that the way that they're going to be using these counter-terrorism laws is to selectively prosecute people like women's rights activists religious minorities and journalists. who

most american intelligence agencies had found who was murdered by the saudi royal family and so it's important to keep in mind that at a time where saudi arabia is actually supposed to do moving in the right direction towards more transparency and reforms are actually regressing and moving in the wrong direction we talk about female activists we talk about religious minorities journalists what is it that these people are doing which has got the saudi government quite so worried. well they're chanting challenging the kingdom's status quo going to be the irony is that the counterterrorism measures that are being employed. came down are similar to the ones that were employed by the united states after nine eleven and it gets elected most americans asian communities and which has been just really impacting us here in the united states and so i mean for a so-called muslim majority country to use these same sorts of draconian measures

to imprison and you know a convict in kangaroo courts people who challenge the conventional wisdom on the status quo of the kingdom of saudi arabia the d.v.r. irony is pretty astounding. that the juxtaposition interests me because we think about the things you're talking about there i think back to the great imprisonment that happened in the ritz carlton hotel as well last year and then we see pictures of mohamed bin someone who is touted as the great reformer a saudi arabia i mean one can't for one can't full of the other out surely yeah and i think. the important thing to keep in mind is that the international community has a moment again you know we have a moment where you know there is growing international pressure on him and the us and the saudi royal family to change its ways that might. and again these latest laws are against me is the wrong direction and you know national observers call that out. in which way sorry in what way what i mean what what pressure can be

put on a country which is you know inherently closed off to the rest of the world. well i mean you know in the package piece from an interview we talked about there is a nine hundred million dollar you know arms package going from the united states to sell you there other countries billions of dollars and it's money again you know european nations other muslim majority countries western nations really can't put the pressure on the saudi government with the contracts that begin and say listen until we actually see real fungible reforms done in the legal realm where which protect the rights of all people especially minorities and women's rights activists and journalists you know until that happens you know we're not going to send any money any more of our money or what are some of the pleasure talking to you thank you thank you. still ahead for you on al-jazeera after more than five years in an egyptian prison an award winning photojournalist finally returns home and thousands

of people caught up by devastating floods this is in afghanistan and pakistan. and of the rain is gathering again in central and southern china you wouldn't think there was much what you see from the satellite picture except there is clouded any time the cloud on this scale is going to be doing something and that's what has to fast amount of rain is developing from the united front up towards shanghai stretching up through the yangtze and down towards hong kong and that's going to be humid sticky probably wet day on tuesday and the rain itself is gathering trying to move slowly eastward so it's allowing one to come out into the sunshine but it still looks wet in hong kong is caught taiwan by this time shanghai should be

though not warm dry this is looking a little bit early for spring rains but i have to tell you it looks like spring rains there for heavy enough eventually to cause a little flooding bit early yet but we'll watch it for the totals then there's the gap which is familiar from from the philippines back towards the main into southeast asia and through malaysia very few showers but the big tops that are there are quite heavy showers the china trade northwards up through some moderate towards singapore wouldn't make much difference here but jakarta the rest of java and so the way i see that is definitely shower territory and that's been heavy showers recently there's been some flooding in java it wouldn't surprise me if that happened again. the weather sponsored by catherine was. monch on al-jazeera. maggi haasan debates discusses and dissects the big issues of our times and head to heads five years after the revolution voters in

ukraine will have a chance to offer a verdict on what's come since. in a powerful new film residents of occupied east jerusalem share their thoughts on its cost present and future. leaders will gather for the thirtieth arab league summit in china zia join a school coverage and we examine the development of an unusual alliance between radical buddhist monks and the military in min ma ma ch on i'll just sierra. thailand's military government is accused of using repressive laws to silence in general critics. but a new brigade of causes is fighting back what i want a snake's thailand's rebel losses. zero.

this is the news from al-jazeera and these are our top stories thousands of delegates have gathered in beijing for the start of china's annual national people's congress the premier league told the meeting he is expecting the economy to grow at a rate of around six and a half percent which is the lowest in almost three decades as well as opposition leaders calling on his supporters to step up pressure on president nicolas maduro to resign received a hero's welcome and after he returned from a tour of latin american countries and a u.s. congressional panel investigating alleged abuse of power by donald trump and his administration has demanded documents from dozens of people and organizations close to the u.s. president president. also the former attorney general jeff sessions they are among eighty one people and groups have been asked to provide papers. so back to our top

story those announcements made at china's annual parliamentary meeting we've gone out with us now who is the managing director of asia analytic there on skype from hong kong to talk through some of this. six and a half percent growth is what is talking about up to six percent i think there'd be a lot of countries in the world which would be happy with that sort of growth right now but for china this is getting quite serious. yes it is when people talk about six and a half percent growth and how you know with two economies what would kill for that kind of growth what they forget is the lower base on a per capita basis why do you have millions of people living still under the poverty line a sixth of the half percent growth over our you know two dollars a day isn't really very important to talk so for china six and a half percent is really the minimum needed to keep living standards at

a reasonable level at livi said it's at a reasonable level is what gives the ruling communist party its legitimacy so yes six and a half percent is really the minimum for china nowadays because china also talking about tax cuts can you talk us through the significance of those what will the reasoning i guess and what what effect it might have well the tax cut is part of the broader plan for china to stimulate the economy for growth but what is important isn't the the the numbers themselves you know how the tech the actual tax cuts or the g.d.p. target or the overall numbers the more important takeaway coming from the n.p.c. is that the chinese government is giving its people again narrative on

economic policy only last year we were hearing things like. to leverage how we must make sure that the economy is all its bad loans to underwrite pas that still falls this year the best stage isn't timely about did leveraging is good to stand whatever they say officially they are putting in a lot of liquidity into the system they have to texas they are putting in measures to encourage consumption so china is seeing again narrative on economic policy so i think that is those rules so with that domestic focus because this is what china's been trying to do move its economy to a more domestic base one and how significant been is the trade war with the united states politically it could be very damaging and very difficult to negotiate but

doesn't have a huge economic difference going forward. yes it does feel which many people many media reports attribute china's slowing growth in part to the trade war are i disagree with that view to me somehow the chinese growth has been in the making for some years debt that is a three times the size of g.d.p. compared with a hundred forty percent just a decade ago. domestic debt approach going at a fast clip all sorts of indicators are that china's economy is so one balance that it was heading for a slowdown so basically the what the trade war has done is nice to show who's the in swimming naked as it were for the past few years so while the trade wall is important in slowing chinese growth it's the

structural imbalances in china itself right which its own premiers have pointed out over the years that is the cause of the slowdown great talking to you pauline long from hong kong thank you. i know one of the talking points that the annual mazing will also be a declining birthrate where not two years since the end of the one child policy in china and it's really struggling to encourage women to have more children with a shrinking workforce an aging population analysts say china could be heading for a demographic disaster this report from katrina used in beijing. earlier this year ageing based artist who calls himself alan released a controversial online video the personal ad wasn't put out in search of love or a job it was a heartfelt plea for a sperm donor. to work as i grow closer to being thirty years old i still have no

plan of getting married so i was wondering if it's possible to have a child without getting married in china and i realized it was still a very difficult thing. in china unmarried women are denied access to sperm banks and the process of inviter fertilization or i.v.'s the twenty seven year old is writing to delegates attending the upcoming national people's congress asking them to change the law she's hopeful and with good reason. china is facing a demographic crisis in twenty eight its birth rate dropped to its lowest point in more than half a century around fifteen million babies were born last year two million fewer than the year before if the trend continues that could spell trouble for the economy. if we keep having base a very low fertility rate has been a macro sense the whole nation will be doing that economic growth was stagnate even

stopped in the asian investment everything will shrink. china's economic growth miracle of the past forty years was largely powered by its large workforce but many of those workers have now retired and they're not being replaced china's population is aging fast by the twenty thirty about a quarter will be over the age of sixty and analysts are increasingly concerned that over the next few decades the simply won't be enough workers to power the world's second largest economy. china abandoned its four decade long one child policy three years ago but many parents are refusing to have the second child. kathy is one of them so even if. it's a very expensive if we had another kid i'm not sure we could afford it although i know it would be good my son to have a younger brother or sister so he wouldn't be so lonely. desperate to convince

families to have no children local governments are offering tax breaks and subsidies as well as tightening access to abortion and divorce. but experts say it's not enough. they're hoping the communist party would put an end to birth limits altogether but they sing an economic slowdown and a drawn out trade war with the u.s. they do has more pressing concerns still alan is confident the laws will soon change in her favor her quest to become a single mother continues katrina you al-jazeera they jane. syrian democratic forces. nearly two hundred. thousands of people have left the last remaining pocket under the armed groups control. trying to push. a village in eastern syria says hundreds of fighters and civilians could still be inside and

that is slowing down if it's to recapture it. the battle for who is maybe coming to an end fighters that are surrendering doesn't emerge from the armed groups that have territory in syria. outgunned they gave up their tiny enclave along iraq's border there are others who are refusing to give up the u.s. backed syrian democratic forces who launched a final assault on the town on friday said fighters remained in the enclave but the numbers are clear early monday the kurdish led for said it would slow down its advance because i saw fighters were continuing to use civilians as human shields. we are taking into consideration the possible presence of civilians who are with the terrorists who are being used as human shields families of boys who decided to stay with the terrorists. last week thousands of civilians were transported out to

mainly women and children families. the exodus worse than what was already a humanitarian emergency the new arrivals hungry and tired were brought to an overcrowded camp the population of in north east syria is now over fifty five thousand aid agencies are overwhelmed. there are still so many coming in and you know. the best they can but we weren't prepared for the number that are struggling with having it. we have found each other and separated from their parents your. journey so or have been able to reunify several of them but their needs are and eighty one deaths have been registered many from hypothermia almost two thirds of them infants some died on the way to the camp others shortly after reaching it four years ago i still controlled eighty eight thousand square

kilometers of territory from syria to iraq and ruled over eight million people but it was in two thousand and seventeen when the armed group began to lose major cities in both countries in separate offensives by different players losing both lose would be a symbolic blow to the armed group but it will continue to be a security threat many fighters have slipped into iraq and others are in the desert in eastern syria. beirut algerians are continuing to hold antigovernment protests with students boycotting classes and holding demonstrations to remain angry about president bush to flick his decision to run for a fifth term even though he promised to quit early if reelected next month the support is from the book. the biggest demonstrations in algeria in decades continue to spread some shared on social media show protests in multiple towns and cities. the government has reportedly tried to prevent gatherings by shutting down

the country's three g. and four g. networks for the student led protests a gathering pace demanding the eighty two year old president. who's been in power for twenty years withdrawals from next month's election many want the country's constitutional court to intervene. the moment if it is time to leave is old and sick he isn't conscious about what he's doing it is on to raj or ruling not him that's just not enough photoshop and we're saying that this regime has to live with fed up that's all and no to the faith path and no to the system. responding through his campaign manager beautifully made an offer to shorten any term in power or in any of them or some mean one day that i pledged to organize early elections to be set up by the independent national conference i pledged not to be a candidate in that election but the compromise has failed to convince several

presidential candidates have dropped out of the race leaving the election in disarray there are also big demonstrations outside algeria the french capital paris has a large ethnic algerian population people there are demanding who to flicker retires from politics beautifully who was elected president in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine but after suffering a debilitating stroke six years ago he's rarely seen in public and is reportedly in switzerland for medical checks demonstrators say he's too weak to lead. on saturday he sacked his veteran campaign manager seen as a tactic to calm the growing protest movement but there has been anything but calm in recent days all the two hundred people have been injured in clashes but many beautifully is the only leader they've ever known they want reforms to tackle high levels of unemployment that exceeds twenty five percent among those under thirty they wanted a new algeria. al jazeera. egyptian photojournalist mark hurd was better

known as shall come has been released after more than five years in prison he posted this picture to his twitter account with the hash tag hello ashbolt which is used by egypt's political prisoners when they're freed shotgun was arrested in twenty thirteen while taking pictures of protests. in journalism we are told to report this story and not be part of the story and unfortunately what happened with me was i was the story. i am not the first or last journalist to be detained famous journalist were detained and resumed their work when they were released i hope to follow the same path let's not forget there are going to say in has been an indigent prison for more than two years now he's been held without charge trial or conviction mahmoud was detained by egyptian authorities on december twenty of twenty sixteen while on vacation visiting his family egypt accuses him of broadcasting false news to spread chaos both he and al-jazeera deny

these charges and continue to call for his release the courts in turkey are expected to complete trials later this year for thousands of people accused of taking part in the country's failed coup in twenty sixteen many of them allege supporters of the us based business and fatah the goodman is accused of trying to topple the government cynical silja reports from ankara. it's been nearly three years since a field coup in turkey killed two hundred fifty one people and wounded at least two thousand more relatives of the victims attend the trial of those accused of using the ak and to air base as their headquarters during the court sent in the capital on corral in july two thousand and sixteen families say they want to be sure justice is served then at least we're talking to our sons graves instead of them i want those responsible to face life sentences and not see the daylight should not interfere denying their crimes by saying they were plotted by the government inside

the courtroom they insult and threaten us by saying they'll come back the orders to conduct air strikes against parliament and a presidential complex were given from their air base most of the five hundred or so defendants are military personnel from then commissioned officers to high ranking generals the turkish government sais the plotters are linked to the founder of the given movement to luck good men and his supporters turkey listed the group as a terrorist organization after the failed coup. fit their aim was to seize the turkish state government judiciary and the turkish army they controlled fifty percent of the army by two thousand and six by two thousand and sixteen they got full control of all key department. more than seven to seven thousand people have been jailed pending trial since to coup port and the widespread arrests are still vertrees authorities have suspended or sacked one hundred fifty thousand civil servants and military personnel and at least five hundred thousand people have gone through the

court process in fact as the jew to give the government to investigate these crimes what they should be doing is investigating the people who are actually responsible for criminal acts as part of the coup attempt and not persecuting people or purging people who they believe without any evidence to be part of a network of sympathizers for for to look at any other people that they believe to be public over what turkey is western allies have criticized the crackdown with president trichet tape add ons critics accusing him of using the failed coup to dissent based on the testimonies of suspects and informants some supporters offer to lock glenn have you see quick names to hide their identities to infiltrate state institutions that's why the government fears there may still be others who could pose a threat but the spike delegations of the decades long infiltration some here say no hard line supporters of good men in political parties including the ruling party

have been brought to justice so now because al jazeera. floods in southern pakistan and afghanistan have killed at least fifty people heavy rain in the past ten days is cut of tens of thousands of residents and the afghan government is calling the flooding in kandahar the worst in at least seven years this report from charleville us in kabul. the afghan military flying over flooded kandahar province on a mission to rescue one thousand people trapped by floods there's been heavy rain in afghanistan and southern pakistan for more than a week on saturday flash floods swept through towns and villages across the region we didn't just do your part and i would hope that the disaster took place in kandahar as there is no drainage and there is little public awareness which is why so many people were affected most of the affected people were already internally displaced and living on the river banks so they were hit harder than the others the traditional homes constructed from modern clay stood little chance as the flood

waters search through the rose garden. where i'm a poor man at the walls of my house have been damaged my two children were injured i'm asking the government to help me by providing tents it was a scene today and they were distributing emergency aid on the advice of the governor we made a list of three hundred ninety seven families of that two hundred fifty families had their homes fully destroyed the un is sending teams in sitting up shelters to help the displaced i think another issue that we're dealing with is accessibility in some of the more rural areas that we're only just getting to people are quite cut off they are quite vulnerable so obviously an event like this has a big impact on. the destruction extends from kandahar through six different provinces to harass and far in the west for than five hundred homes have been damaged or destroyed as well as schools mosques and bridges in pakistan the southern province of baluchistan has been hardest hit the military rescued hundreds

of families stranded by floodwaters relief camps have been set up for those at high altitudes dealing with heavy snow. back in afghanistan most people were hurt as their homes collapsed around them others was swept away in the waters in kandahar those who could travel maybe away from faraway districts tomorrow i say hospital those who couldn't wait it is half a dozen medical teams tried to reach flooded areas. but we have received in this hospital twelve dead bodies which include six men one woman and five children as well as thirty five injured so far many people were main missing and in such remote areas of afghanistan and pakistan it is going to take some time to assess how many lives and positions having lost charlotte fellow soldiers there are a couple. and rescue workers have been searching for those missing after a tornado swept through the u.s. state of alabama leaving a trail of debris children were among the twenty three people killed. in the county

. i want to give you a real time look at what's going on now that the sun's gone down and you can see police still stationed in some of the hardest hit areas we've seen power crews moving and in out there are power lines down across the region right now and here's a look at why as you move back across you can see what is a tree here that was ripped apart just cut in half by the winds you can see pieces of a roof here as well and debris is scattered for miles right now an e.f. four tornado winds of over two hundred seventy kilometers an hour twenty three people dead at this point dozens injured and still many that are unaccounted for there is concern from authorities that those numbers are going to go up as the search the rescue and recovery effort continues here it will throughout the night into tomorrow and for a look as long as necessary according to officials here just to give you some perspective on how difficult it has been for this close knit region your world

people died in tornado related casualties in one day yesterday then all of tornado season in the u.s. last year it's overwhelming a lot of people here still shocked and trying now to figure out how to move forward from this tragedy time for a look at the sport on the news hour his fara thanks very much athletes from countries within the oceana region will compete at the asian games for the first time in twenty twenty two and china will be hosting the event the asian games is the second largest sports tournaments in the world after the olympic games officials and have been campaigning for decades for inclusion. other moves to include the likes of australia new zealand is geared towards increasing the level of competition at the games the invite is for selected sports to enable qualification for the twenty twenty four paris olympics through asian competition and will include the likes of football basketball and volleyball countries from the

region are already part of football's asian koppen were invited to be part of the asian richer games in two thousand and seventeen. earlier we spoke to berlin based australian sports journalists at the me howard he believes this latest move is great news for athletes from the region do you wish you'd have had it happen sooner it might have happened sooner and why didn't happen sooner that's probably more the question that you ask in relation to this happening it's going to give for instance if you just pick one change is how actually here to get to an olympics is going to be an asian games it and you can make you book your ticket to an olympics by the as you games that's something truly significant to an athlete in the way they prepare the way you view for major is the significance for the athletes coming the other why into these goings that are up to ten thousand participants already but i think that remains to be seen but more competition greater competition out of these whole a right of sport can only be a good thing i think if we use football as

a guide it changed everything in astronomy in that we started to perceive ourselves differently as almost an emotional level as part of asia suddenly in a football sense and certainly worked on our behalf in terms of what it did for getting us into the asian cup and winning the cup. around madrid's a little moderate says the club's forwards have sailed to step up following kris jenner and all those news to you ventus. and last sixteen of the champions league on choose day with a two one lead becoming european champions is their only real chance of silverware they won the tournament last time around with were knowledge of scoring fifteen of his already four goals last season in it or else current attack is far less threatening though gareth bale has only thirteen goals from thirty three games while karim benzema has twenty from forty two. of course we missed christiane when christiane i left the club wanted the other players to make up for he did of course not like him but divided between the strikers and that is

not easy because christiane is schooled fifty goes the nowadays you cannot find someone that scores that much some players had to step up and well not score fifty goes by least what we are missing perhaps twenty goals i'm not going to give names but two or three players should have scored fifteen or twenty goals or ten goes but we don't have that. the president and c.e.o. of a major league baseball team has taken a leave of absence from his position following an altar cation with his wife it was caught on video images of san francisco giants head larry bear pulling his wife to the ground in a public park on friday went viral the sixty one year old has since publicly apologized to his family and his team major league baseball says it's looking into the incident and the giants are said to be cooperate. now one of the biggest cycling events ever to take place in africa has just finished this year's tour de were one was upgraded by the sport's governing bodies so it could include walt's

four teams on sunday the overall title was won by a star rider or how we could us only one other race in africa in this category that takes place and gumbo. felix is the man behind the first globally recognized continental cycling team based in rwanda he sent us this video from take a look you saw the total i wonder has made a lot of progress compared to last year it's a great boost for us as we don't have a lot of pro teams in the country we have told seems competing this time out for example who won the race a local team learnt so much from them the race is growing and becoming ever more popular we had a lot of global t.v. channels covering the events it really is exceptional progress that we had from the european and asian teams was good they were impressed with the organization and the level of competition after the success we had staging this tool. to host the twenty twenty five road world championships that would be good not just for us but cycling globally and it will help the sport expand throughout africa we know we're capable

of staging such a big event rwanda has good infrastructure plenty of hotels and great routes so we will be a fantastic achievement so one day host the world championships. michel has shown the value of persistence and sports after ninety seven top level tournaments the american has finally victory a birdie on the final green at the on a classic in florida us on the twenty seven year old to win the title by a single stroke holding off challenges by brooks and rickie fowler to the things that i have been close and i let my emotions take over and today. it's happened again i want to stick it out or you know. and over the past couple years and i was able to do it i just part great coming down the stretch and that's all your support for now more later all right fara thank you for that and that is it from the new team. that will be with you in just a few moments the news coming out of china on the national people's congress santa

maria thanks for staying with us. the worlds pollinate says are in decline. in this episode of arthritis we meet entomologists on opposite sides of the planet protecting insects of all sizes crucial to preserving food chains. i've come to the u.k. to see how all industrial sites are being turned into bug reserves in an attempt to reverse this worrying trend. fighting insect to get on on al-jazeera. the ultranationalist monks connected with one of the world's worst humanitarian crisis as we doe as illegally maigret joining with the military to impose a deadly political agenda we have to protect our nation is in our religion because

of the politics what has happened to the engine that's one of the biggest stains of one the country has or the military has got in the other. but lots of money an unholy alliance coming soon on al-jazeera. jewing sierra leone civil war nigerian forces were deployed to protect civilians in state some turned on the population in plain sight of a journalist camera but these is a name to be where the supreme peacekeeping force the last of the complete a cheney zone using his harrowing images international lawyers seeking justice for those slaughtered by their guardians of peace kilis on al-jazeera. and monday put it well 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 riverbed like this one five years on the syrians still feel battered or even those who managed to escape their country haven't truly been able to escape the war. as china's political elites holds its annual congress signs that growth in the world's second economy is slowing. and watching all just zero life from a headquarters and. also i had no more special treatment for india and turkey president donald trump plans to exclude them from its oldest and largest trade preference program.