engines chinese finance yes charles you you wrote something critical of president xi i said this would not be regarded well by the western press. head to head on now just iraq. again you're watching out is there and here's a reminder of our top stories this hour. three hundred nineteen on the clock britain's politicians have rejected prime minister to resumes easy withdrawal deals again and these will votes on wednesday on the possibility of the u.k. leaving the european union without a deal britain is due to leave the e.u.

on the twenty ninth of march. boeing is defending the safety of its seven three seven max aircraft despite a growing list of countries in the airlines grounding the plane this follows the need here be an airline's crash on sunday which killed all hundred fifty seven on board u.s. aviation regulators are standing behind boeing. and saudi women's rights activists have through is due to appear in court chill of the campaign to lift the kingdon's ban on women driving has no access to a lawyer and still thus know the charges against her. former vatican treasurer has been sentenced to six years in prison for sexually abusing two choir boys cardinal george pell is the most senior member of the catholic church to be found guilty of child sex offenses he was convicted by the australian courts in the case which dates back to the one nine hundred ninety s. and thomas has more from melbourne. for some outside court it was emotional

listening as george pell sentence was broadcast from inside life and usually a single television camera was allowed in court but the judge ordered it to be focused on his comments alone not on the cardinal's reaction when the sentence came it was longer than most people had expected i sentence you to a total effective sentence of six years in prison i said hang on for all period of three years and months at the back of the court room standing to hear his fate pelle did not react to that but outside court there were hugs and cheers now allison was a stranger in the sight. of the abuse by people the power like. a six year prison term is the combined sentence of the five crimes against two thirteen year old boys the just spent well over an hour giving the reasons behind the sentences he was about to impose before he actually revealed what they would say it's not about the

gravity of the offenses but also about cardinal pell's age and his ill health and the unprecedented publicists but this case has had a long trial pel have been shouted at each time he'd gone in or out of court in jail he's likely to be kept alone to protect him from other prisoners held was a priest in rural australia who rose to become archbishop of first melbourne and late to sydney as australia's most senior catholic he oversaw the church's response to accusations of child abuse by others when a big inquiry was held looking into that he had to defend what many saw as a cover up but it didn't slow his career bell was made a cardinal at the vatican in charge of the church's spine and says and close to the pope that career ended though when pelle was personally accused of sexual abuse i am innocent of these charges. but the jury disagreed unanimously louise milligan who's written

a book about it called don't know who's one of his victims i would defy anyone to meet this person and not think that he is telling the truth but a significant number of people who do think powell has been wrongly convicted made a scapegoat for the wider sins of the church the truth doesn't sell papers but lawyers sell papers and this is a lawyer powell is appealing his conviction that appeal will be held in june but until then at least he'll remain in jail under thomas al-jazeera meldon the taliban in the us have ended their latest round of talks here in doha both sides say progress has been made and they say the draft agreement has been reached on foreign troop withdrawal and sharon says that the fighters will not be allowed to operate in inside afghanistan our diplomatic editor james bass has the latest. the talks here in doha started sixteen days ago they've come to an end but no

breakdown and yet no breakthrough both sides are saying there has been some progress in fact rather remarkably both the u.s. special envoy zalmay khalilzad and the taliban spokesman put out tweets almost civil taney asli making the same point that there are four issues they've been discussing on two of those issues they've reached a draft agreement one of those is the withdrawal of troops from afghanistan potentially most of the u.s. troops leaving the country in what has for the u.s. been its longest war in history also on another key point what the u.s. calls assurances on counterterrorism we understand that's the taliban making a commitment not to support qaida what will happen to those two draft agreements is the leadership will go back to their respective commanders the taliban to

afghanistan and pakistan the u.s. special envoy zalmay khalilzad back to washington d.c. to brief the secretary of state might pompei or quite possibly the president the u.s. secretary of state just happens to be coming to this region in the next week kurdish led forces in syria say they've killed thirty eight i sell fighters in their final assault on the armed groups lost on play syrian democratic forces from biting buggers for several days where a number of i saw fighters remain on the operation intensified after brief pass to allow civilians to leave yes d.s.s. three of its fighters were killed during the latest operation our correspondent adele has made has more from that that's on the turkey syria border. this is the third night running the bubbles is coming under intense shelling and airstrikes there had been a lull last week allowing fighters to surrender and civilians to be evacuated but earlier in the day spokesperson for the syrian democratic forces

that's the kurdish forces on the ground leading this battle have said that the battle for bubbles is coming to an end and that's probably why we see this intensification of strikes and shelling now in the air strikes also ustream important simply because on the ground a goodish forces have been advancing very slowly they are trying to minimize their loss which could be a cure because of the fire or indeed the land mines and booby traps left behind by the i still fight as they retreat further in side who's a number of fighters are still holed up there considered to be do die hard ones the ones who are willing to fight until the bitter end it's still unclear how many civilians are in there or how many relatives of these eyes of fighters inside this is something that has taken the kurds by surprise over the past few weeks thousands

and thousands of people have streamed out and up to sixty five thousand are now held in one camp alone in the hall where conditions are extremely difficult because no one was expecting such a large number. there are also reports that about one hundred fifty fighters have also surrendered on tuesday during the day now that is the pattern that has been ongoing also. intense shelling that night somehow lighter fighting during the day and allowing those who want to surrender a safe passage. at least three people are believed to have died from an outbreak of pneumonic plague on the border between uganda and the democratic republic of congo that's according to the world health organization which says it's also investigating other deaths in congo suspected from being from the plague pneumonic plague is usually fatal unless detected early and is treated with antibiotics it's

added pressure on health workers in the d.r.s. who are already struggling to get in a major outbreak of ebola. authorities in guinea-bissau seized a consignment of nearly eight hundred kilograms of coke cocaine now it is the biggest drugs haul in the country in over a decade nicholas hawke has this report from the capital b. so. it was a tip off from british intelligence officers that led security forces in guinea bissau to stop this refrigerated truck headed to mali the driver said he was carrying fish but hidden between the cabin in the trailer nearly a ton of cocaine with a market value of twenty five million dollars the consignment is being kept in a secret vault a u.n. peacekeeping force is tasked with keeping a close watch not just on the drugs but don't be so security forces looking after the drugs and there's a good reason for that suspicion among the six men arrested is

a captain from the sounds army the special advisor of new shares national assembly and nationals from other west african countries this is a regional problem it's not exclusive to be so and we're throwing opie's to produce the drug problem but it's not easy we don't have the means to deal with it it's not the first time security forces have been implicated in drug deals six years ago the country's naval chief appeared in a new york federal court room for conspiracy to import cocaine into the united states in an f.b.i. sting operation he was lured off the coast to be so to a luxury yacht where he was hoping to seal a deal involving millions of dollars and tons of cocaine. the united states' drug enforcement agency fears be so has become a norco state for latin american drug traffickers and to. visitors of getting business army close the off this road to allow colombian drug traffickers tell me that plane packed with cocaine and it's on sunday on the same road that law

enforcement agencies intercepted the truck filled with drugs all of it was destined to europe the twenty five million dollars value of this latest haul is more than the national budget for education health care and defense combined for this small fishing nation where most live on less than two dollars a day the figures involved in the illegal drugs trade are staggering number and imagine what we could do with all that money i would rebuild my country build schools for children hospitals and roads to help my fellow fisherman while foreign donors withhold millions of dollars in aid money to encourage the government to deal with the drug trafficking problem and engage in political dialogue drug traffickers continue to bribe politicians and caught in this multi-billion dollar scheme are the people of the south nicholas hawk al-jazeera be so. california's governor six specter to impose a moratorium on the death penalty given you so says the death penalty is

a failure which is discriminated against ethnic minorities the poor and the mentally ill the executive order will impact more than seven hundred inmates on california's death row the state hasn't executed anyone since two thousand and six now the f.b.i. say that uncovered the biggest college cheating scam in the u.s. history on tuesday investigators arrested dozens of people including executives and famous actors and the gallagher has this report. investigators say it's a conspiracy on an unprecedented scale the justice department arrested almost fifty people nationwide in a scheme they say involved cheating on exams bribing coaches and exaggerating athletic ability in return children of the rich and famous gained access to some of the most elite universities in the united states with some parents paying huge sums of money this is a keys where they flaunted their wealth sparing no expense to cheat the system sue

so they could set their children up for success with the best education money could buy literally some spent anywhere from two hundred thousand to six and a half million dollars for guaranteed admission their actions were without a doubt insidious selfish and shameful among those accused of racketeering a charge commonly used for mobsters the act is laurie laughlin and felicity huffman according to court documents parents paid admissions consultant william single millions of dollars he's alleged to have used the money to bribe coaches and administrators between roughly two thousand and eleven and two thousand and eighteen wealthy parents paid singer about twenty five million dollars in total to guarantee their children's admission to elite schools including yale georgetown stanford the university of southern california the university of texas none of the

targeted universities have been accused of breaking the law and assault the students weren't aware of what their parents were doing in a statement the university of southern california said we will be implementing significant process and training enhanced ment's to prevent anything like this from ever happening again investigators say the scheme amounts to deception and fraud on a massive scale with one official stating that for every student admitted through fraud an honest and genuinely talented student was rejected and gallica al-jazeera . hello there you what your knowledge is there and these are main stories britain's parliament has dealt a major blow to prime minister to resume a rejecting of brecht's it would draw deal just sixteen days before the u.k. is due to leave the e.u. so the no no no no no. it is the second time a deal has been voted down by m.p.'s this year and she says she'll not call for

a vote on whether the u.k. should leave the e.u. with or without a deal britain is due to leave the e.u. on the twenty ninth of march. the european union the u.k. china and india have all joined the growing list of countries suspending the flying of the seven three seven max eight aircraft this follows an ethiopian airlines crash on sunday which killed all hundred fifty seven people on board it was the second major accident involving the aircraft in just five months but u.s. aviation regulators are standing behind boeing. saudi women's rights activists. is due to appear in court she let the campaign to lift the kingdom's ban on women driving she has no access to a lawyer and still doesn't know the charges against her the former vatican treasurer has been sentenced to six years in prison for sexually abusing two choirboy spanish trillian cardinal george pell is the most senior catholic to be

held guilty for child sex offenses. kurdish led forces in syria say they've killed thirty eight i so fighters in their final assault on the armed groups last on klav syrians up across the forces have been bombarding by goods for several days now where a number of isel fighters to remain the operation intensified after a brief pause to allow civilians to leave. and at least three people are believed to have died from an outbreak of pneumonic plague on the border between uganda and the democratic republic of congo that's according to the world health organization ridge says it is also investigating other deaths in congo suspected of being from the plague and you want to play the issues so all those other headlines the news continues here after inside story. africa's most populous nation a blah just economy has a youth unemployment problem in a bid to control the internet of the future some say a kind of digital i until today is folding we bring you the stories that are

shaping the economic world we live in. counting the cost on al-jazeera. algeria's president abdulaziz beautifully cust says he'll soon stand down is this a crucial turning point in the country or a ploy by those who hold the real power to protect their interests this is inside story. hello again i'm james by the algerian president abdulaziz beautifully says he's abandoned his bid for a fifth term but the man who's led out syria for twenty years doesn't seem to be leaving his post anytime soon beautifully because announcement came after three weeks of protests against his plans to run for a fifth term in office the president has also postponed next month's presidential

elections indefinitely and appointed a new prime minister he's also said a national conference will be held to reschedule the election and draft a new constitution but that's not going to happen before the end of the year leaving beautifully in power in the meantime algerians who first celebrated his decision are now back on the streets of central is demanding the whole regime goes mohammed june sets up our discussion with this report such luck when i am president i. abandoned his bid for a fifth term in office there were celebrations but they were short lived the. on monday evening the demonstrators were euphoric then the reality set in. outlined a series of steps which he hopes would shape algeria's future he announced that next month's elections would be delayed but beautifully it would remain in power

until further notice. on tuesday protesters were still out on the streets. the former prime minister ali been fully says the government needs to listen to the people well support me so addition to our way to our throttling the president's attempt to run for a fifth term is an achievement made by the algerian people not a favorable grant by email body the people lived up to the expirations lived up to their responsibility especially that the constitution was violated where a president's term runs for five years only the current term has been extended without the people's approval or endorsement and the constitution would have leapt up postpone the elections without consulting parliament as it is mandated by the constitution this video broadcast by algerian state television appears to show up with after his return to the country. among the other announcements made by beautifully is that a national conference would be held by the end of the year in order to schedule an

election and draft a new constitution according to the reuters news agency algerian diplomat law but brahimi will lead the national conference which is also expected to include representatives of demonstrators as well as war veterans beautifully to has reshuffled the government appointed his interior minister noted dean by the way as prime minister and his advisors. as his deputy and the army chief general ahmed gates retains his post but it's unlikely with a plea because decisions will contain the anger of the anti-government movement some opposition figures were either banned by the constitutional council from running against the president or pulled out describing the april election as a farce the protesters insist they will continue their rallies and till their demands are met they want a new president now along with democratic reforms and a government capable of tackling rising unemployment poverty and corruption. disease. well let's bring in

our experts to discuss this further and in algiers we have. she's a research fellow at the paris based school of advanced studies in the social sciences in london a live. gaeta he is managing director of the risk consultancy global strat thank you both for joining us m l let me start with you you're on this program just a few days ago with me i know it's the third time you've been on in three weeks the first time was on march the second let me ask you to go back in your mind to then did you expect that you'd have a moment three weeks song with flicka saying he's standing down. yes yes unfortunately it was expected it was expected jam people it was expected by the point this just that it was expected by vietnamese to have to know about l.g.'s history because that's not the first sad that the regime needs to using the demands for chant the people's demands for chiang chant and using them in order to stay in

power at the so in one thousand sixty two when they imagine the last of the what would you call commandments in favor of the military commandments. so in ninety sixty five when a president submitted to him took over bimbette and then explaining that their country needed reforms their deeds so in ninety nine after the riots of the one nine hundred eighty eight. there are far more freedom and there is no answer of the regime was dead they will have the milk tea party and it's the parts of the stamp. to let. you use data in order to staying power and to have the military command and still in control of the situation ok sure that's not what you're saying is this this is a not so clever ploy that is that your view. snow is not that is not that clay very

it's totally aligned with the regime so. the sheikh's that is and actually did our very to have care find the situation it is now worth accepted and distill it and in that the algae and he's not willing to negotiate any transition for mal where the artery of people they keep on ignoring it has a goal to come back to that's may make them act come to it will still not not not enough snow to move actually and it has also so. the efforts of having clarified the not the point own the on the other cans and their own chains don't want to be in control of the transmission they have stayed so they have shown so out through words of the most traditions that mean the right after katrina cause and once those people were asking each other to join their next friday march so well

we are still in the same logic that their illusion has been used for so long and even after two thousand in two thousand and seven one shit pauwels trying to avoid south carolina and their apps rank or the desire spank when he was also offering reforms and then construct an insult no business as usual actually business as usual a living do you agree with that do you think this is a historic moment or norse. i think that the historical moment is that it took the saw long basically to agree on on bouteflika not being a figure because if you go back even in december there were extremely strong rumors that the election would be delayed that the to figure out would not be the candidate and also that the constitution would be change what is still amazing for me is that if we go back in history is major cardiovascular accident

in two thousand and thirteen and since then it is been more or less a vegetable and the ruling the country is already in two thousand and fourteen it's interesting that the clan behind him couldn't agree on a on a common candidate now they had six years to prepare for what happened yesterday and still as of now we don't know who is going to be the man leading in success seeing a book to figure out from their own ranks i mean the head of the army seventy nine is very close to the regime but if you see is last statements in the past few weeks yeah. sure that the army was viewed as. a position of strength of stability and providing safety and security for the jury and so the main question remains when will the elections be postponed and who will be the

candidate of the auld clan if you will and as you say live the president president bush to flee had a stroke in twenty thirty we keep hearing statements issued in his name but the public haven't heard him a tour he doesn't make speeches they haven't heard his voice he's a silent president. exactly i mean he hasn't spoken in six years and that's what makes it even more ridiculous when when you think about what's happening within the political realm but in the six years if you see what happened the regime got rid of a lot of important figures especially to fit the head of the security services. and also there was a purge of generals so there's been a lot of if you will clean up within the ranks behind but a flick of very few people to him. the army will obviously take the

leading role now the question is will they go. out as in egypt as you will see somebody like sylar take over and be. viewing himself as the messiah if you well and being the man of stability being just a transition there's so many questions but as your guest has mentioned it's all part of of a ploy of the all the guard if you will to to preserve power you talk about the old guard and people disappearing from the scene interesting lee in the last twenty four hours a somewhat familiar figure has reemerged to the sea we can see the pictures of him meeting president beautifully this is lakhdar brahimi interesting the camera is on very wide shots only a couple of very short shots oppress the beautiful himself they don't want to focus on him mr brahimi was once the foreign minister of algeria he's since become

a veteran diplomat in fact all of us have probably seen him mediating various conflicts around the world he was involved in lebanon he was also involved after the fall of the taliban in afghanistan coming up with. karzai government there enough going to start and he was involved in iraq after the fall of saddam hussein he puts the first iraqi government in many ways together again that is the u.n. representative a very well known figure on the international stage is he respected by algerians you know beyond a figure out of the last that i have any yeah i think that this shows that the fear has had all students well now it's. not not made towards our dreams them

servitor they're towards it's our journey and partly it's international partners to show that the other change regime is still in control and indeed using the few you have left that i had me may have have the. d.n.a. more coming down nowhere is of paris and washington but beyond these figures if you ask a young algerian smell about them that i you know whoever i mean even people the asians i've had and alan amberg as well will be members of the transition government are actually the same people that have been linked to betray a car and there is in for the past twenty years or so no new blood here and beyond these figures that i said what is important and what is discussed currently within there within the director of our chances that doesn't seem has signed his and well being ness to come to a transition within the legal framework. means that there where illusion to maybe

there are now well let me go and this is why it's actually. makes a algerians if your mother tends to talk about the poor one percent of the poor one zero zero zero being true or any are one another you know that that's a decision. to conserve the elections for example is not even a cost surely based. the constitution does not a lot of credence to the concept of our postpone the elections in such circumstances into mansions although it's not the president's responsibility to mansions only the possibility can to come some of us upon the elections in times of war so the many important question is how illegal this regime now is according to his illegal this is and for how long do you object and we know a lot of them to just. believe have they where interest in in responsible

as that as as if they have the responsibility of the state how long it will take before the arch and will take back their state and institutions a living will get further in the discussion to more questions about the constitution and the legality but just on the role of ambassador brahimi i've dealt with him i've spoken to him during the syrian peace process he seems to me in my interactions to be an honorable man is he being used as a stooge here in your in your view. it looks like it here is the figure most well known on the international scene is the one that obviously is coming the worries of of the west but as well. from from the population side the east part of the old regime i mean it's not that you're bringing somebody that that has no political history and as an been sources heated with the regime so that's

one point the second point to take on this that the main question is really there's no major opposition figures i mean the regime has been extremely good as all dictatorships are at muting the opposition so when we're talking about a transition we're not even talking to later on free elections and that's where the crux of the issue will come i mean algerians on the street will not stop at just bouteflika not running again because anyway was not the man running the country it was mostly brother saeed and salah and others behind it saw the question remains where do we go from here and how much the regime will have to give in to the pressure of the streets are mel what they're talking about and certainly the statement from president putin flicka talks about a national conference inclusive an independent to be headed by an independent

consensual an experience national figure we're already hearing that pretty me might be that figure it's interesting to me that has sort of historical echoes of actually watching ambassador brahimi in action in afghanistan it looks like you're bringing in a father of the nation it's time for algeria's loya jirgah will people. take part in this national conference and given there were members of the ruling party who have broken away from beautifully might this be an effort to divide the opposition now. well we actually be careful where we've talked about your position in the area because you talked about your close issue in part to this part is have been caught dead more or less by himself through although he is the fourth man dates so they have lost all credibility in being is not missed or whatever they have lost all credibility among the algerian people they spend their time talking

about the wow talking about talking to the who are and not. soaking to the people to not asking the people are not helping their about their their demands are not helping them if they are now to refine their demands a shared and two are the ones themselves in order to work to think about the transition so basically out in southwest a lot of the responsibility to think about their transition and there they are trying to do solar by organizing themselves out of local at a local legal university is a little trying to work think about a new way to participate in your way that you are going to its intentions and foreign just last month to last there will have to do two things they will have two now two different things they will have to steal the pressure on this year or two of those in march and they must ration is in order to force him to negotiate a peaceful way forward because that's really the main question here is the army

going to respect and a peaceful character of their of the demonstrations next try this or that will be one step in the second step will be to work not to disconnect and not to expecting the vision to offer what i think i believe that we are going here we are and this is what we have going to see emerging we are going to see so.