substance. running. mate can be picked up on the beach. on plastic waste. al-jazeera. the algerian government orders the closure of universities as pressure mounts on the ailing elderly president to abandon his plans for a fifth term. launching al-jazeera life from a headquarters and. also ahead electricity is back on in some parts of venezuela after the country suffers one of first worst blackouts but for a number of families the damage has already been done the founder of the private

u.s. military company blackwater admits to al-jazeera that he did meet with donald trump campaign team despite telling congress otherwise women's rights demonstrators in argentina use silence to get their message across. hello colleges and universities in algeria will close their campuses two weeks ahead of their scheduled spring break in an effort to diffuse student protests thousands of people staged what's believed to be the largest anti-government demonstrations the country has seen in nearly thirty years mohamed reports. friday protests for the third successive week nationwide in algeria. and this time they appear to be bigger than their. demonstrators demanding president that because he's with the clique abandon his bid for a fifth term in office in next month. election i just

a day earlier eighty two year old with a fleet who suffered a stroke five years ago and is in switzerland for what are described as routine medical tests urged algerians not to demonstrate and warned about the risk of chaos if they did. protesters didn't listen. to me now most i am here today with my daughters with the country's children to take back our last algeria we want to take it back so that our children find work so that they don't see and drown in the mediterranean sea. yeah and they love the system please leave us look at the people the action is here the people are here from all social classes from the youngest to deal just everyone is saying no church fifth or please leave you won't even be judged. at local media reports say that nine politicians from with a clique is ruling f l m party resigned to join the revolt. train and metro operators halted services to try and stem the tide of protesters

a strategy that clearly didn't work across algeria demonstrations have been staged daily for the past two weeks since beautifully could confirm he would stand for another term in office on april the eighteenth since the protests began opposition groups have been attempting to come up with a viable plan on how to remove with a flicker from office in an open letter on monday the president said if he's reelected he will call for a referendum on a new constitution and another election at some point. our jury is armed forces are under mounting pressure to find a solution but so far the response has been cryptic while alluding to the demonstrations algeria's army chief evoke the civil war of the one nine hundred ninety s. urging protesters to be aware of history but the rallies continue with no signs of abating any time soon i'm a dem doing a jazzy. has come out about who's covered the region for us extensively is joining us here on the set to talk through algeria and next week. could be decisive has the

constitutional committee determines if they're presented candidates are legitimate including. indeed and that could give us an indication about whether the momentum will continue although many candidates have decided last week that they're not going to take part in. in the election saying that this should be no election given the exceptional times now. and that is no longer about fifty for president of the diocese but of a heis now worth about a pretty three problem ocracy movement calling for radical reforms for more transparency for fight against corruption for a new algeria. and given more chances to the young ulterior to be able to have their own feted to their own hands so where does this all take algeria to one certainty algeria has faced some extraordinary moments of uncertainty and ninety sixty five it has come out from the war of independence has high hopes in

the country the brothers in our force about how to move forward and the of the that was the first crisis the second crisis was ninety ninety one when the army had to step in and to cancel the election to pave the way for the islamist to take over and the country went through ten years of civil war which cost alone hundreds of thousands of syrians now they're facing a serious crisis which is about what kind of algeria you want in the near future people are saying that we need more transparency but we need democracy algeria is a country where. it's an extraordinary country in a way that the army is to continues to have a bigger say in political life plus the political and the financial elite people are saying we need a vibrant democracy with the votes will decide who should leave the country and this is where you have. and it seems that in the coming days if the mountain continues the biggest players will definitely have to decide whether they will stay with the other guys with a car or they will ditch him and. for

a new candidate to leave the country and and on the issue of the army it will be interesting what they are to see what the military does specifically whether they abandon think are or they take a more measured approach they are there they are cautiously following the situation and they don't want to make the mistakes they made in the past ninety ninety one they said the reason why we had to interfere because they said that the islamic front of salvation could drag the country into uncertainty and this is why they had to ignore the political process it has devices are serious. about ninety nine one many people would tell you we should have given these limits the right to leave the country because they were voted by the people the army was of the view that this should never happen i think now they are very cautious because they are seeing the momentum which is building up and the two statements made by the. hose the army chief when he said that he warned the algerians against any act that could create more instability backwind people saying you are trying to intimidate us and you're trying to side with the with with

a man who is ill who is sick and therefore he should stay away from this and i think the the gov the last of this explains why security forces along with the army are saying are trying to maintain a very neutral position as we speak but i think if the momentum continues to build up in favor for radical change i think the army will definitely have to step in and side with the protesters ok thank you for that. power has been restored to parts of venezuela after it suffered its worst blackout president maduro has accused the us of sabotage and urged his supporters to march on saturday against what he calls imperialism the opposition leader has also called his backers to take to the streets terrorism reports from us on how the power outages affecting the country is collapsing health system. and he really home a c. seventeen years old and for the last few months he's been involved in a battle with bone cancer. she's already had part of one leg removed because of

a few more to the. right of when and keep her went through the whole day matter. for her scheduled treatment on friday she was told it had been postponed the recent and electricity blackout affecting much of the country to another but. i spent three months waiting to begin make you move because the equipment was in working now because of the blackout again the equipment is not working so i get my chemo. the source of the blackout has been traced to the electric dam in the state of. almost every corner of the country has been impacted by the power cut. but it is in hospitals like this one where the situation becomes critical this is one of the most effective but nobody got i got electricity have been gone already for fifteen hours and initially the hospitals power plants failed and that's why the government was forced to bring in other power plants but we're told that they're only able to

supply some rooms within the hospital. and he is twelve years old and suffers from hydrocephalus she has been in the hospital for a week away in the name only or not anymore there's no electricity and because of that there's no water there are no syringes no goals we were told the power plant failed last night so i'm not sure how the situation here will continue. without electricity most of the capital remain closed on friday the metro railway systems have shut down so have schools and businesses. the political opposition blames the massive power cut on corruption and mismanagement i mean if you don't see me in two thousand and nine they declared an electrical emergency ten years ago they put one hundred billion dollars into the electrical system yet we find ourselves in this disaster today. the president. has blamed the outage on sabotage by the united states government has not provided evidence to support his claim but his backers

including captain one. are convinced he's right that. there are people who are planning to destroy the revolution we're talking about international opposition and donald trump and his puppets are trying to guarantee people get their jobs mostly for hospitals and other sectors. a few minutes later electricity came back in some parts of caracas. government supporters celebrated and chanted that the socialist revolution started by chavis won't be defeated any time soon. but outside the hall they made a hospital there was silence as mothers waited for any update on their children's condition their primary concern is not who's to blame for the blackout it's the whole third child gets the treatment they desperately need. us well the u.s. has ruled out using force to deliver aid into venezuela that's according to

president donald trump special representative plane loads of u.s. relief supplies are sitting in colombia the venezuelan president nicolas maduro refuses to accept blocking convoys at the border by duro says washington's aid effort is a poor way to carry out a coup money well right below is live for us in the colombian city of cookouts on the venezuelan border and that is where more u.s. aid has now arrived at the request of the opposition leader why do. that's correct the eight arrived on thursday along with the deputy director of usa id who said that did united states is confident that these borders will be opened soon and that aid will be allowed to cross we should note that given these increasing tensions in venezuela after these calls for more protests by nicholas motherhood of the president of the country an opposition leader both calling for protests taking place what happens when you get back

a sense to be reflected here on the border and on february twenty third the last time that international aid was attempted to be shipped across the border into venezuela clashes broke out with paramilitary forces loyal to president mother will the first cargo of shipment was set on fire so there there is a concern people that we've spoken to here on the border seem to have a generalized concern that the protests could mean that tensions could be up once again we should note that things are calm we see things are calm but there's a heavy militarized presence on both the colombian side of the border and the venezuela side of the border and with that border the official border crossing closed and diplomatic ties between the two countries people are having to find alternative illicit sometimes risky and perilous routes to get across into colombia children having to cross rivers and in order to attend school people by the thousands crossing into colombia every day in search of food there's no other word

to describe what's happening at the border other than a humanitarian crisis ok emmanuel raw polo with an update from thank you so they had to analogy is there a abuse rejected and humiliated like thousands of others how one nigerian woman became the victim off trafficking. again and welcome back well this i do want to start over here towards china where the last couple days have been extremely wet across much of the country we're going to be seeing over the next few days though is the rain continuing down here across much of the south to the north though things are getting better the reason is we do have this frontal boundary and what is happening is it's beginning to slide a little bit more towards the south we're seeing shanghai actually getting a little bit better but hong kong you are going to remain what here on sunday even

on monday to the north of hong kong no look at all the clear skies so much better conditions there we are getting that northerly flow unfortunate over here towards taipei and most of taiwan it is going to remain wet across much of the area well here across india not a lot of clouds to talk about we do have one storm system that's coming in across parts of iran you can see the rain right there that's going to bring some rain to parts of pakistan afghanistan over the next few days maybe some clouds here towards kharaj temperature wise we are into the mid to high thirty's across much of the area hyderabad at thirty seven degrees coming on down to about thirty five degrees there with maybe a rain shower too across parts of colombo over the next few days and then here cross the gulf we are going to be sings a better conditions for doha here on sunday with a temperature of twenty four degrees in abu dhabi it is going to be a partly cloudy day for you with a temperature of about twenty two degrees. this is a boon for point people right now and technology there is so much going to help people

it's phenomenal thanks for calling i read this is there and what are you looking like today we get to set that wind with their day to day tasks and give them more independence and freedom you know this was our consulate oh yes that sure is it's me to the exploration process was amazing in a way you know we have that technology available to us techno on knowledge is here . hello again the top stories on. colleges and universities in algeria will close their campuses two weeks ahead of a scheduled spring break it's an attempt by the government to diffuse student

protests recent mass demonstrations have been calling for president. to drop his candidacy for a fifth term the u.s. has ruled out using force to deliver aid into venezuela according to president donald trump special representative meanwhile power has been restored to parts of venezuela after it suffered its worst blackouts. erik prince the founder of the private us security company blackwater has admitted to meeting members of the trump presidential campaign in august twenty sixth this is despite him telling congress that he had no connection with trump's team at the time when questioned by maddy haasan on al-jazeera as head to head program the blackwater c.e.o. said the public transcript of the congressional hearing could be wrong what you didn't tell congress is on august twenty sixteen you were at a meeting during the campaign at trump tower with. trump some with steven miller then a company adviser to george nader

a former blackwater colleague of yours who works as a back channel to the saudis the minorities you're supposed to be convicted paedophile and also joel an israeli expert on social media manipulation how come you didn't mention the meeting to congress given it so relevant to their investigation. i did as part of the part of the investigations i certainly disclosed in the any meetings the very new i don't in the congressional testimony you gave to the house we went through you didn't mention anything about august twenty sixth meeting in trump tower i specifically asked you what context you have and you didn't answer that. i don't believe i was asked that question you asked whether any communicate for communications or contact with the campaign you said apart from writing papers putting up yard signs no what you said of the transcript of the conversation here. i mean i might have been i think it was at trump headquarters or the campaign headquarters probably twenty sixteen usable and is really due to a back channel to the emirates even the saudis down in judea and even militant were there to talk about iran policy through that about iran policy do you think that's

something important to disclose to the house intelligence committee while you're under oath you did you didn't we just went through the testimony there's no mention of the trump tower meeting because twenty sixteen were not i don't know if they got the transcript wrong. or they got the transcript wrong so we could i don't know i remember i remember certainly does dismiss is that we didn't get you because we know that robert muller he hasn't been able to establish collusion it but he has got a lot of guys for lying to the authorities and not telling the whole truth is that a problem now even if you accidentally didn't tell them that could come back and haunt you fully cooperated i haven't heard anybody i haven't heard from anybody in more than nine months i mean i mean members of congress after they discover this media have talked about certain witnesses not telling the truth but you believe you told congress about this meeting even if not in the transcript just to be clear i believe. they have a town c has more from washington. members of congress have long expressed that dissatisfaction with erik prince is testimony to

a congressional committee about his connections to the trump campaign not least because donald trump jr's own lawyer has in the past said he recalls the trouble junior recalls that meeting at which erik prince attended a saudi prince also attended the u.a.e. prince attended apparently according to new york times to discuss destabilizing iran through the use of private mercenaries and apparently to show that the saudis of the u.a.e. were happy to help trump in his campaign which would of course be illegal no one is going to jail for collusion or coordination with a foreign power they have gone to jail however for lying to investigators whether congressional or the special counsel if erik prince is is lying then he could be in a certain amount of trouble now well the next screening of that interview with erik prince is on head to head with men he has a one hundred hours g.m.t. on sunday you can also find it online at al jazeera dot com. people traffickers

smuggle tens of thousands of africans every year an armed conflict in some parts of the continents have cost trafficking to increase the united nations estimates women make up half of the total who are trafficked and those from nigeria often go through mali the nigerian government believes there is up to twenty thousand of them the nigerian government started repatriating some of the victims in january and nigeria's national agency fighting human trafficking recently said many of them were tricked with promises of getting jobs in europe but ended up as sex slaves in mali one woman who escaped told us her story. from. so many. that's not very very soon.

or. a look.

this is the kind that. that it's moving that fast i'm talking to you. my motto right i really don't mind they. say they do serve a dream and you know people are led to multi so far but also for. so my parents any time if you truly want to sit in complete if you do moderately good or remove really small point and it's but it's. also it's a matter carrie is the global lead specializing in ending sex trafficking at equality now she explains why human trafficking is still rampant in some parts of africa. what we've seen in africa in the past ten years is is more countries coming up with anti trafficking legislation that is supposed to be addresses sex

trafficking but even taishan of those laws is still very weak they have very low levels of awareness amongst the population that they can actually use these dollars and going for as many offices as well not quite aware of the provisions of magic trafficking legislation so there's a huge call on god means to really step up and ensure that the equity in place and necessary measures resources and capacity of the ongoing force meant to be going after the traffic because we have a lot of the nigerian government for the f. was that the m eighteen and to get the girls back here and but once in nigeria. they need to make sure that they have answers to show and to say this is an approach i read integration programs that actually baked into the s.a.t.'s because what we didn't see that and this is supported this is that put in place the women again it's a risk of being retried feeds so that's ok as annoyed that women go back but

because they don't have the rights and support services in place they did the egg a full the n.c.t. into traffic because you are spot fighters in syria say they'll resume their assault on i souls lost pocket of territory if no more civilians come out by saturday afternoon syrian democratic forces or the as the fs slowed its offensive on about who was to allow thousands of people to leave the u.n. says more than sixty thousand people who have fled the area are now crammed into a nearby camp. and satellite images released in the united states by the news outlets n.p.r. suggest north korea could be preparing for a new missile launch increased activity at the site near pyongyang comes two weeks after talks between leader kim jong un president donald trump ended without an agreement kim had stopped missile launches his relations between the two countries improved these latest reports come just days after different satellite images allegedly shows had started rebuilding sites sudan's president

has released several women detained during recent anti-government protests the demonstrations began in december initially in response to a decision by governments to triple the price of bread sudan's government says thirty one people have died during the violence but human rights watch puts that figure much higher at fifty. morgan has more from heart. following the directives of president bashir thirty eight women have been released from prison according to the door for lawyers association now let's remember we don't know how many women have been arrested in the first place the government has not given a clear figure to how many women were detained since the protests started more than eleven weeks ago in fact the government hasn't given a clear figure to how many people both male and female were arrested but what we do know is that thirty eight women so far have been released that number does not include the women who have been sentenced to jail for their participation in trials and that number does not also include the women who are pending charges because of

their participation in protest over the past few weeks now again we don't know how many women were arrested in the first place but activists say that the number could go as high as one hundred fifty women who have been arrested we've spoken to family members over the past few weeks and they have expressed concerns about the well being of their female relatives who have been detained some of them tweeted out on social media and on facebook that they are very relieved to have their family members back and that they are very happy to know that they are doing well and that they will be taking them for basically medical check up to make sure that everything is ok with them but again this is not mean the end of the process the president has repeatedly said that he wants dialogue and this could be part of his initiative to try to show the protesters and the demonstrators that he's trying to pave way for a dialogue but people are saying that they don't want any talks with them we have spoken to many demonstrators over the past few weeks and they say that is not going to be the solution their calls for more protests tomorrow and in the coming weeks and they say they will not stop until the government steps down something the president said he's not going to do and he's already announced the state of

emergency that especially last for a year and most of the people who've been arrested over the past couple of weeks have been charged have been charged and tried in the courts in something called emergency courts which were set up to make sure that the people who've been protesting have basically are being charged and due process takes its course so it's not clear how long this will go and where it will end but at the moment we have protesters and demonstrators were very determined to. until the president steps down and we have a president and a government that seems to be very defiant and not willing to step down until elections come next year protestors on the streets of paris for the seventeenth successive weekend are wearing a new color pink vests and joined yellow vests fuel tax protestors to march along the best known street in france the show isn't easy following international women's day they're promoting women's rights and protesting government economic policies a woman have also marched and rallied in argentina to mark international women's day voicing their concerns ahead if elections later this year. are reports.

it's a stark image from the pages of margaret atwood's novel the handmaid's tale to the streets of one osiris this silent for this is just one of the many ways women here are being heard telling the world telling men what they want but he made up that are not my first that they stop killing us then there's our right to abortion it's our right because we're talking about our bodies and our decision to be a mother or not then equality in government and in business because in argentina like the rest of the world we earn twenty five percent less just for being women. the messages being relayed in many ways this knitted flag came from guatemala and will be passed to another country in argentina women have added to it. we've come together in the biggest feminist flag in the world as it were becoming more conscious of what it is to be a feminist which is to defend the rights of women. worldwide the women's movement

is growing becoming more visible growing all the time. and they all invent a swale of mexico brazil and chile each with their own particular issues but also with many shared themes. for them fifty women across argentina were killed in the past two months fifty thousand to treated every year for complications resulting from illegal abortions every year this protest grows bigger every year the voice is more powerful there are elections here in seven months time of the issues raised by designed to resonate powerfully in those. history a vibrant social movement as many in the region look to argentina as indeed the way tens of thousands of women representing hundreds of organizations across the country have even read sometimes i never missed out on the states to

make. these kind of things to be speaking out. i hope solo how do i. meet up. with the protesters on the streets today or tomorrow it will be taken to governments to the workplace in schools. is. hello again the headlines on al-jazeera the colleges and universities in algeria will close their campuses two weeks ahead of a scheduled spring break it's an attempt by the government to diffuse student protests recent mass demonstrations have been calling for president. to drop his candidacy for a fifth term the u.s. has ruled out using force to deliver aid into venezuela according to president donald trump special representative meanwhile power has been restored to parts of

venezuela after it suffered its worst blackouts. erik prince the founder of the private us security company blackwater has admitted to meeting members of the trump presidential campaign in august twenty sixth he originally told congress he had no connection with trump's team at the time the revelation came during an interview with the house on al jazeera as head to head program. i don't believe i was asked that question. whether any communique from communications or contact with the campaign you said apart from writing papers putting up yard signs no what you said of the transcript of the conversation here. i mean i might have been i think it was at trump headquarters or the campaign headquarters probably twenty sixteen usable an israeli dude a back channel to the emirates even the saudis. are there to talk about iran policy well u.s. backed fighters in syria say they'll resume their assault on i sold last pocket of territory if no more civilians come out by saturday afternoon the syrian democratic

forces or s.d.s. has slowed its offensive on about who's to allow thousands of people to leave the u.n. says more than sixty thousand people have now fled the area meanwhile in northwestern adlib province turkey and russia have begun joint patrols to safeguard a deescalation zone is the last major rebel stronghold and the ceasefire there has prevented a syrian government offensive satellite images released in the united states by the news outlet n.p.r. suggests north korea could be preparing for a new missile launch increased activity at the site near pyongyang two weeks after talks between leader kim jong un and president donald trump ended without agreement last week different images of allegedly showed pyongyang was rebuilding a rocket launch sites those are the headlines on al-jazeera techno is coming up next they with us. as women's rights and gaining acceptance of the world.

what's the status of global gender equality and how can progress be made executive director of un women. isn't a problem for your child that you may not have a health question but he does have a corruption question mark over it doesn't look good for the image to get a ticket has made it very i'm going to do everywhere knowing better for you to get why there's a lot of disillusionment with the u.n. across the globe. it's called for a break doesn't build confidence it breaks will join me on our front of my guests from around the world and we debate the week's top stories and take issues here and i'll just. living life in partial or total darkness according to the world health organization approximately two hundred fifty three million people globally a vision impaired to protect the blind. today on tech night some

of the latest innovations making it easier to help people the sight problems navigate a complex well if you want to grab a basket they're just there for you. and even enjoy asked again through a gentle touch i think there are so many people that i've met that really are crucial to this and later as populations age and then patents become the president a new study to determine what technology is needed in the future to ensure that people can live independently. thanks and happy we really need to figure out ways to better help people as they age as they develop various chronic conditions and do it in a way that optimizes their quality of life the scientific into the crystal ball. this is techno a show about innovations that can change lives we're going to explore the intersection of heart and humanity.