and illegally. i'd return to. i don't think i'd ever go back there to live live there again i don't know so i'm not sure. witness. that matters. maybe. this is the day of the news asia coming up on the program the little red china. it has be chouse the videos and quizzes mostly about president xi jinping an educational tool of propaganda. deadly flash floods hit southern afghanistan officials and. then after a winter of. more to come. how to locate your missing loved ones among the millions. we'll look at the first of all unique lost and found

serviced. by british prodigy welcome to news asia it's good to have you with us we begin in china where for the next fourteen days thousands of communist party members will be in beijing for the two sessions that's the meeting of the country's parliament and its highest political advisory body the so-called national people's congress is essentially the country's parliament and the chinese people's political conservative conference the c.p.p. c c is the country's highest political advisory body there for me to review the government's work and decide on priorities for the coming year to give you an idea of why they matter up last year they removed term limits on president xi jinping meaning he can now do china indefinitely but ahead of the sessions app that

promotes xi jinping speeches and i and ideas has become hugely popular in the country but are people downloading it out of choice because they have to. in this beijing office getting ahead is all about a sing the little red app called sushi ching what it means study to make china stronger winning quizzes reposing propaganda all earn brownie points with the bosses. but it's not all fun and games time spent scanning comments party trivia is a job requirement. so you won't miss out. so we think the launch of new digital tools like this app will greatly improve the development of our company and in particular the political and ideological consciousness of our young employees. more than half a century ago communist china standard mounted on bills his cult of personality

with the little red book. propaganda push that's gone high tech under president seizing ping there been more than forty million downloads sense the apps january launch china's plugged in generation now has z's daily thoughts and videos right in their pockets. would you believe it here i think this after is fantastic i really paid attention to these issues before the app ever since i started using it i can see the change our country is making i can see a lot of things that touch my hearts a lot of positive energy out there which encourages me to do what i can to help others. but critics say the colossi digital digest has a sinister aim. hong kong based a democracy activist joshua long calls it a form of mind control. i feeling this i've just implied the rise off digital offer of power in this in china and it shows how the

communists are if you will foods their digital. occasion true. it propaganda. by the ology. some chinese professionals say off camera they feel pressured to download the app which tracks time spent browsing and now wherever they go the communist party can go with them. for more we're joined by did. cliff conan in the studio clifford thanks very much for coming in where you reported from china for a number of years you've covered the so-called two sessions a number of times as well this app is meant to be for study purposes is that all that is stored well i think there's always a bit of a link between study and propaganda and in this particular case we've been talking with xi jinping thought and how it's it's now the central ethos of the of the congress party and everyone is being encouraged to study it more so it has

a very strong propaganda function very much like the report mentioned a bit like the little red book this is now the little red up in the sixty's you had people waving the literal book and now i think that we're looking at the little red up in the standard looking it up pose that people have so i think it's very much in the tradition i think the choice of technology i'm just not the first time such technology has been used what is behind using these kinds of methods i think that it's a way of getting the message out to as many people as possible just as the little red book. in its own way it was a one hundred portable way of getting around and i think the government is very keen now to shore up support for the party particularly ahead of the of the. way that the two meetings that are taking place this week in beijing's great hold of the people and it's very much in within that kind of mode this increased messaging that you're seeing about xi jinping repeatedly does that indicate some sort of

novice ness in the communist party of china. well i think what we've seen in the last couple of years we've seen she abolishing term limits for example we've seen things with him centering power on himself very much and emphasizing the role of the party in chinese in china's development i think there is certainly a certain amount of nervousness because the economy isn't growing at the double digit growth rate growth rates that it was for many years and there are pressures from external pressures from the u.s. because of the trade war so i think there's there's a few things that i think they don't have it is easy as they used to they're very much trying to shore up support with a view to keeping keeping things on even keel and making sure that the party retains its grip on power briefly through counterfeit extent plus the thinking within the communist baltar with china why does this political thought need to be to be out there amongst bodyguard dozens and dozens well i think it's this is a very much a tradition of the congress party they've been doing it for a long time i think because the changing situation within china because the

increase globalization there's a need to keep getting the message out there among the party faithful that the party is there that the party is the bedrock of support and the party is the way forward for china again in the face of these external pressures they need to keep they need to keep retain their grip on power and this year you think you'll see more of this message and an important air of a try no i think that we i think they will i mean did markets in china have been a little bit rattled by the fact that they seem to be moving much more toward state control maybe a little bit away from the private sector and that's making people nervous so i think for this year we're going to see a lot a lot more stace clifford going on thank you so much for coming into the studio. and reporters covering the two assertions we'll have a new robotic keeping them in line shall dual and after version intelligence powered robot is making its debut its creators say it can answer questions and even predict the hot topics at the upcoming press conferences. why don't you know

joe thank you joe but that's not all it can do shabu can also provide directions and take photos with its facial recognition powers but how many reporters will embrace this new technology we just have to wait and see. to have a son know a devastating flash floods or hit the southern province of kandahar the u.n. says a piece twenty people have been killed by the flood waters at least ten others including children are still missing city and the surrounding districts received almost one hundred millimeters of rain in just thirty yards that's more than half of the region's i know rainfall in a single day the heavy rains swept away homes of eight golds and damaged thousands of houses rescuers struggled to reach the remote mountain areas. afghan army helicopters combing the disaster area. locals say this flooding is the worst they've seen in years. on the ground cold and exhausted flood

victims battling to reach evacuation points. the risk you operations have been hampered by persistent rain and snow. the waters came with little warning flimsy tents of nomadic herders giving no protection to entire families camping out in the open. around four hundred families were airlifted to safety. as the floods recede stun communities are taking stock of their losses. as well as the human toll the floods left at least two thousand homes destroyed or damaged. the roads are no programmer i'm a poor man i wonder where the water has damaged my house my two children are injured i ask the government to help me by providing some tents like you are trying

to actually work for microsoft to work it. kandahar's governor has ordered immediate assistance to flood affected areas. after years of devastating drought heavy snowfall across afghanistan now has the country bracing for more destructive floods in the spring. over in india of the seven week long comes to an end on monday millions of taken the rich warmed up of the confluence of all it ever has but it's not all been smooth sailing in such a vast sea of humanity even getting separated from each other is inevitable. it is the largest religious gathering on earth millions of souls descend on one of hindu isms most sacred sites but for some the pilgrimage is not the experience they had prayed for then you know if your family will come here to find you you can sit here they will find you there's nothing to worry about. this is

a lost and found like no other stuff you are dealing not and possessions button people mostly old mostly poor mostly illiterate separated from their family in the chaos of the crowds some spend days waiting to be fired and to reckon with the life they've been given a lot of their doubt whether they have sons or daughters it's very important to educate daughters my aunt used to tell me come study i should have studied instead of working in the field i got married at the age of twelve or fourteen there were no photos taken back then i'm just sitting here today thinking about it. you know for forty years organizers have relied on good old fashioned methods to help set up where unions. but at the world i mean was laid out over a tunnel system in an endless roll call of the last. but a new digital ice center is aiming to improve the system. no fingerprints and four

tools are being used to connect separated families. and all up in it but the elderly and the children sometimes don't remember phone numbers or addresses of their families such quite a challenge for me to find their families we contact the police station in their district get the head of the villages contact information and arrange for a police escort to take them back to their family this. will be the nikki. she is my aunt he says for some new police escort is next. sorry. the moment of reunion overwhelming. but for the other last pogroms of the law they can do little but wait keep the faith and hope to spot a familiar face. is more our website i did. and you can check us out facebook as well. as all for another year or for two bears

a record breaking two hundred thirty million pilgrims talk of the holy day we leave you with some images from there was your text. from people make fun about the own social economic and political problems. in mozambique we say that you have to laugh so you don't write it's how people call me . as a journalist i often talk about the stocks in that banks are less helpful to me. i actually stack may day by checking all those jokes finding out what people are

talking about what is moving them. my father taught me how to ask uncomfortable questions about my country and about. that is what i keep doing to this day my name's maggie self and i work at. producing electricity is not enough you need to get it to consumers to. great there is a common problem all over africa but in came the other government is tackling the issue with a massive drive to electrified towns and countryside and businesses are beginning to feel the difference. also on the show the clock is ticking for breaks it the business community is waiting for a deal with bated breath and some companies are cashing in on the fear of them and link. this is business africa. as welcome

economic opportunity increases access to energy that's an equation so self-evident that here in europe which take it for granted places like kenya most people have no access to electricity is special in rural areas only a third of the population in kenya is connected to the grid but that percentage has been rising fast thanks to the last mile connectivity project four years ago it started to supply schools in the countryside with electricity then homes are now businesses and farms of following lucent runs a small shop she used to how much on the roof but the yield was not great. once she was connected to the grid she could expand her business. electricity and that. was a.