lake chad. and in part three of our first series we'll look at how drought in northern kenya is affecting pastures and water sources and that is causing conflict in the region she stay on al-jazeera. let's get you up to date on the top stories and russian president vladimir putin has started laying out his plans for his next six years in office hussein has received calls from many world leaders congratulating him on his landslide election victory that will make him the longest serving ruler of russia since joseph stalin lawrence lee has more from moscow on your change message since his where he said on sunday night after he won to the crowds in the square over there that he wants it it was like a big team and he wanted to reach out to his political opponents of the candidates whom he beats and he wanted everybody to be working together and and today he sat with all those candidates and made a series of very very conciliatory observations about things to do with russia's relations with the outsid

and lake chad. in part three of our series on tuesday we look at how drought ravaging northern kenya is leading to deadly conflicts arising from water and pass just scarcity. you're watching al-jazeera i'm still robin these are all top news stories a lot of putin cruised to victory on sunday for another six year presidential term with nearly all of the ballots counted russians overwhelmingly voted for putin but independent monitors have reported dozens of irregularities in polling booths across the country. activists say syrian government forces have arrested hundreds of people as they fled east and over the past few days they say men between the ages of twenty five and forty were targeted the rebel held area has suffered heavy bombing by the government forcing tens of thousands to leave in recent days. also the syrian government has released video of president bashar al assad visiting army positions in eastern guta that soldiers have been part of the offensive to retake the area from the opposition

and lake chad. well in part three of our thirst series on tuesday we look at how drought is ravaging in northern kenya and is leading to the big conflicts arising from water and pasture scarcity that's tuesday here on al-jazeera and you can follow all of the stories that we're covering here on al-jazeera by logging on to our website at w.w.w. to town to zero dot com. you're watching al-jazeera i'm so robin these are all top stories activists say syrian government forces have arrested hundreds of people as they fled eastern guter over the past few days they say men between the ages of twenty five and forty were targeted government forces have been bombing the rebel held area for weeks forcing tens of thousands to leave the syrian government has released video of president bashar al assad visiting positions in eastern guta assad met soldiers who'd been part of the offensive to retake the area from the opposition the main rebel group. and say it's in negotiations with the u.n. about a cease fire first

lake chad. where hundreds of people have fled their homes in australia as bush fires burn across two states in the southeast at least seventy homes are being destroyed in the town of tathra in new south wales and a dozen more in victoria state fire is believed to have been sparked by lightning on saturday were found by dry hot winds. you're watching al-jazeera is a whole robin these are all top news stories lattimer putin has cruised to victory in sunday's election for another six year presidential term and his victory was widely expected as the russians overwhelmingly voted for putin while independent monitors reported hundreds of irregularities electoral officials say none was serious investigators from the world of chemical weapons watchdog have arrived in the united kingdom to independently test the nerve agent used to poison a former russian spy moscow has dismissed you can gauge and that was behind the attack on surrogates crippled and his daughter in the english city of solsbury both side

of lake chad was one of the largest freshwater bodies in the world it straddles the borders between chad cameroon and nigeria. in the mostly dry ice ahead climate the lake remains an exception of necessity for thousands of fish animals and plants species supporting the livelihoods of forty million people living along that. drought in the harsh dusty winds over the last sixty years have turned much of the area into a desert. hundreds of violence began to appear in the middle as the water levels dropped environmental organizations and regional governments have long sounded the alarm bells. villages that were on the shores of the lake years ago are now fifty kilometers away the little studies show the disappearance of the lake is an extremely sad situation within the last twenty five years it's water receded by two thousand five hundred square kilometers and the right of it's shrinking is getting faster now causing a huge disruption in the natural habitat. the climate issues have been compounded by insecurity in recent times the group boko haram used it and its new islands as a hiding place

lake chad was one of the largest freshwater bodies in the world it straddles the borders between chad cameroon and nigeria in the mostly dry ice ahead climate the lake remains an exceptional nursery for thousands of fish animals and plants species supporting the livelihoods of forty million people living along the. route and the harsh dusty winds over the last sixty years have turned much of the area into desert. hundreds of islands began to appear in the middle as the water levels dropped environmental organizations and regional governments have long sounded the alarm bells. villages that were on the shores of the lake years ago are now fifty kilometers away filling the studies show that is appearance of the lake is an extremely sad situation within the last twenty five years it's water receded by two thousand five hundred square kilometers and the right of it's shrinking is getting faster now causing a huge disruption in the natural habitat. the climate issues have been compounded by insecurity in recent times the group boko haram used and its new islands as a hiding place and base

i mohamad followed by the shores of lake chad coming up i have told you why this source of fresh water for millions of people in the region is at the risk of disappearing. their warm welcome to the program russia's president vladimir putin appears to have softened his tone towards the west the day after his security and all the six years in office his victory got a cool reception abroad many internationally distilled to congratulate him but after meeting with the cabinet it's he beat he said russia doesn't want an arms race and will seek to resolve its differences with other countries lawrence lee has more on moscow. the russian president spent monday basking in the warm glow of his record breaking success he had said he wanted to reach out to his opponents and build bridges abroad meeting with all the b.'s and candidates his language could hardly have been more conciliatory. but you know we must vote and we will give necessary attention to further strengthening the country's national defense capability but i wanted to tell you now that no one is going to accelerate any kind of arms ra

how will these solutions be implemented well one place already affected by the water crisis is the lake chad. and central africa the lake provides water for millions of people and for countries but it's drying up the first series mohamad evolve reports from lake chad. for the people of getting village and the lake is life but these fishermen see things changing. different now than when water was abundant on the lake we could fill our boats with fish on one trip so now the water is scarce and we need ten trips to catch half the previous amount. of the lake chad was one of the largest freshwater bodies in the world it straddles the borders between chad cameroon and nigeria in the mostly dry ice ahead climate the lake remains an exceptional no city for thousands of fish animals and plants species supporting the livelihoods of forty million people living along the. drought and the harsh dusty winds over the last sixty years have turned much of the area into a desert. hundreds of islands began to appear in the middle as the water level stopped and vine mental organizations and regional government

take chad, nomadic groups close to lake chad have had to move as 90 percent of it has disappeared.oding hit low lying areas of the city, and many were low income. more than half the lower income families in the city were headed by single mothers. here's the bbc science reporter mary halton giving me more details. quite often the problem with climate change as we struggle to humanise it and the real issue here is that it is affecting women globally so often we estimate is happening in places like lake chad with the effects of climate change are very visible but in the example of new orleans and urban population and places like ja ka rta urban population and places like jakarta and globally woman and would like to be in poverty and socially deprived than men so they will be more impacted when infrastructure is damaged. that is an issue about our societies are constructed rather than being an issue specific to climate change? absolutely, we tend to talk about natural disasters but these events do not impact everybody equally and the impact according to the structures we have in place

advocating a program to expand late jobs and which is their way or bring economic development to the lake chad basin which is now suffering great poverty in the united states and if you look at congressman misstatements recently. saying i have to be an investigation of china's role in africa this is really mindless stupidity china is helping africa it is building where others have been on that building port building energy plant this is what africa needs to build up its economic power is reduced and living and that's an effective way of fighting the brown extreme but do you think then there's a chance that these process i make my main ways concerns over u.s. minute change function in the wider international community. well i think people who seem results in this somehow region. to say hair or it is various military programs we have have been in effect it is not to say it is not a rogue food no theory britain has three military escalation of our forces in africa instead of we're not horribly complementary policy or massive economic development you go to these areas to mali to chart to northern

new jury and its allies have been fighting vocal her arm in the lake chad region for years but brazen kidnapping and drop off of victims indicates that the group is far from being defeated saddam and job eight are there. at least twenty two people most of them children have been killed by a russian air strike in syria zelig province the white helmets say the children died while leaving a school in calf about village further south in eastern ghouta a syrian rebel group has struck a deal with the government to evacuate the town of harasta nearly two thousand people have died in the besieged and clave since the government intensified its attacks a month ago saying the holder has more from beirut. one of the rebel factions in eastern a good hour has decided to surrender out of a sham they control the town of house the eastern who did this besieged enclave of eastern wood has now divided into three pockets three pockets that are surrounded by pro-government forces now one of those pockets. pro syria government media reporting that up to one thousand five hundred fighters and six thousand m

just nigeria and its allies have been fighting boko haram in the lake chad region for years but brazen kidnapping and drop off of victims indicates that the group is far from being defeated solomon job aid are there. at least twenty two people mostly children have been killed by russian as strike in syria as a live province the white helmet say the children died while leaving a school in kafr by village further south and east and a russian brokered deal has reportedly been reached to evacuate a rebel group there is only two thousand people have died in the besieged enclave since the government intensified its attacks a month ago so holder has more from beirut. yes again civilians children are the victims and in this war according to the united nations in two thousand and seventeen one thousand children were killed it was fifty percent higher than the previous year the latest victims killed in a town far bus here in the province of idlib province which is under the control of the opposition rebel controlled areas really are battlegrounds there are no front lines residential areas have b

just nigeria and its allies have been fighting boko haram in the lake chad region for years but brazen kidnapping and drop off of victims indicates that the group is far from being defeated solomon job aid. let's go back to now and speak to our correspondent marianna sanchez about president petro pablo kaczynski often has resignation to congress he has been mired and corruption allegations marianna so will the opposition will congress accept the resignation. well elizabeth the congress has already accepted his resignation. congress was about to impeach him tomorrow in a few hours from now and many called that he would survive this second impeachment proceedings in less in three months however these videos surfaced just forty eight hours ago where you could see members of his. allies of his party apparently negotiating bolt is for try to keep him safe the presidency however this has caused a debacle here in the political is the pattern here because many congressmen and all of the political is. that this has been this that this is a crime and even members of his own party said that they

everything the aspect of our lives and as we just heard there the lake in chad is not the only one where the waters are receding that's happening around the world along with receding glaciers along with lakes drying up the rivers being polluted increasing they should and of course that ever present threat of climate change affecting many aspects of water consumption their appeal to the expert here is going to be one thousand three hundred different presentations going on for several days with a form they have. and every three years the last one was in south korea one of the things going to be looking at is with a number of experts about with the number of themes being tackled is just what is being done a lot of talking going on a lot of reports being produced what actually happens with the implementation all these various projects to ensure that enough people have access to water to clean. the sanitation and that's one of the major issues being looked at here and of course the ever present question with all these schemes being talked about being planned who actually pays for it all so th

>> strategy for isis west africa through the lake chad basin region applying our assistance around cameroon and chad and niger but with the ability to share intelligence to assist them in planning and training. >> in your written testimony the multinational task force in that area doesn't seem to be as interested in dealing with the tuition? so what can we do to convince them otherwise? do they do want to operate those countries that support the multinational joint task force but in most cases they have significant other challenges whether nigeria itself in the coastal area or the central area or like a country like chad who has about their border with libya and niger has issues throughout the countries that you have large military forces to do all these things is difficult so sometimes if it appears over a period of one trendline in a negative way how boko haram is acting they could their assets to other places because their t security light t boko haram may not be on the top of the list with the internal issues with those countries. >> mentioning chad a very dangerous part of the world it

just a theory and its allies have been fighting boko haram in the lake chad region for years but brazen kidnapping and drop off of victims indicates that the group is far from being defeated solomon job aid are there. pressure continues to grow on facebook over revelations that personal data from the social media site was misused by a u.k. analytics company facebook shares have rallied slightly of a volatile few days which cost it fifty billion dollars in market value but a us president is saying it and the u.k. for cambridge analytical for obtaining data without their uses permission well could be the first of many nor suit our correspondent mike hanna is in washington for so why what concerns are there in the u.s. over this. well massive concerns not only with facebook but of course that company rich analytical which used data it had harvested from facebook allegedly to influence the twenty sixteen election well a senate committee on intelligence has been looking at election security in the course of the day but other lawmakers as well are demanding that facebook give some reasons for

nigeria and its allies have been fighting boko haram in the lake chad region for years but brazen kidnapping and drop off of victims indicates that the group is far from being defeated saddam and joey the others there. are police in the u.s. state of texas say the suspect in a series of possible bombings has killed himself they identified him as a twenty five year old white male but says the motive behind the blast is unclear john hendren reports from austin. the confrontation with the main suspect ended as dramatically as it began police cornering ben firing on him in a hotel car park as he tried to drive away then a deadly detonation police say the twenty four year old man set it off killing himself as members of the austin police department swat team approached the vehicle the suspect detonated a bomb inside the vehicle knocking one of our swat officers back and one of our swat officers fired at the suspect as well he had been a person of interest seen on video and mentioned by witnesses police knew his car the bombs had no set patterns some were random some were targeted five hundred fed

>> their strategy for isis west africa is with the lake chad basin region where we apply our assistance to the countries around there like cameroon, chad, and nigeria. we made capacity in our ability to share intelligence, assist in planning and training. >> you mentioned in your written testimony that the multinational task force in that area in the basin doesn't seem to be as interested in dealing with the situation, believe it's a nigeria-centric problem. i gather you don't agree. what can you do to convince them otherwise. based on the testimony today, sounds they want to operate across a broader region? >> well, they do. the countries that support the multinational joint task force, but in foes camost cases, these countries have significant other challenges, whether it be nigeria, itself, in the coastal area or the central area. whether it's a country like chad, for example, with concerns about the border with libya. niger has issues throughout the country. the ability to have large military forces that can do all of these things is difficult for these countries, so sometimes, if i

and in the lake chad basin, we see a similar story, for example, the ambassador in cameroon, he also served in chad and mali, which are areas there. and it just speaks to the great cooperation, i think, at least my own observations, that the military and department of state have. perhaps if our colleagues in the senate would confirm appointments faster, we might be able to alleviate that. i realize that's probably out of the scope of this committee. general waldhauser, can you speak to the impacts that shutdowns have and crs have on the 127 echo program and how they effect partner forces. >> it's not clear on the shutdowns. >> when we shut down the government or when we do very late funding, as we're want to do, can you speak to the impact that has on the 127 echo programs and how that affects our partner forces? >> on the 127 echo programs, really, i would have to say there's no impact on the shutdown. the shutdowns have been relatively few days, hours, et cetera. so i can't see that there's been an impact on it. with regards to equipment, though, i mean, our ability to source equipm

africa are gathering to discuss the escalating hunger crisis of 17 million people who depend on lake chadich is shrinking due to climate change. and finally, i want to ask you about the impact of president trump and his climate to nihilism on global efforts to tackle climate change. -- the nihilism of global efforts to tackle climate change. >> sure. like the loss of arctic sea ice, this is something that is not that big of a surprise. the warming of the continent and the drying of the continent is a long expected pattern of climate change. the north american continent is getting drier. the desert belts are moving north on the african continent we have a drying effect that is for decades. we start to see more and more of the impacts also on combined with nonsustainable farming practices we can of patterns of decertification where drought is compounded, the loss of land -- forcings driving impact on people where they're losing their food and water security and coming more into conflict with each other, conflict over dwindling resources. thistunately, -- well, , climatere migration refugees

cape town south africa and then the second part of our first series mohamed evolve reports from lake chad which is drying up and vanish within the next century the drought in central africa is affecting the lives of the millions of people who live around this disappearing lake that's story in part two of our series first on monday here it out to sara. now it's time for today's weather is richard with the latest on the cold weather that same parts of europe will it not stop there it will actually martini's on its web but i thought i featured i because if it is at its peak in the u.k. is particularly cold moment got a couple of shots which come from up on the up on the hills the cotswold hills in gloucestershire and a snowy scene which is repeated across many parts of northern central southern western england just been looking at some of the weather observations a city of bristol for instance temperatures minus two at the moment and the wind is such that there is a wind chill out there that minus fourteen to minus fifteen degrees celsius where you can see the cold there which penetrates as

their journey and its allies have been fighting boko haram in the lake chad region for years but brazen kidnapping and drop off of victims indicates that the group is far from being defeated solomon job aid there. let's get more on our top story now facebook and the fallout from the latest massive data breach at the social network a central player in the story is cambridge analytical the firm is accused of using improperly obtained facebook datta to manipulate voters in elections around the world mariana home takes a look at what we know so far. cambridge analytic care executive say publicly at least that they helped politicians win elections what the companies accused of is secretly and improperly manipulation voters the famous perhaps best known for its work in the u.s. on donald trump's presidential campaign two years ago it began operating there in two thousand and thirteen when it was formed from its parent company is c.-l. and with the involvement of conservative steve benen but its operations extend well beyond america cambridge analytic has executives have reportedly boasted of

nigeria and its allies have been fighting boko haram in the lake chad region for years but brazen kidnapping and drop off of victims indicates that the group is far from being defeated saddam and job paid out of their. african leaders are meeting in rwanda to sign a new free trade deal it will be the largest since the formation of the world trade organization the continent wide trade agreement is a flagship goal of agenda twenty sixty three that's the african union's long term vision for a wealthy and conflict free african shallop bellus explains. the a.u. is calling it the african continent to free trade area and africa wide trade block mean to allow unrestricted movement of people goods and capital across fifty five countries it's unprecedented and has been fuji is in the making trade on the continent is just sixteen percent the reason africa has dozens of currencies and transport costs twice the world average the continent is also split between seventeen often competing trade blocs the biggest being the common market for eastern and southern africa command and twenty fifteen a landmark de

just nigeria and its allies have been fighting boko haram in the lake chad region for years but brazen kidnapping and drop off of victims indicates that the group is far from being defeated solomon jobby the. so there. let's get more on the story joining me now in the studio is david autor who is a counterterrorism analyst specializing in back of her thanks very much for coming in to speak personally here so how did the government managed to secure the release of these girls from that i mean what we the story we got from the government is that you know these girls were brought up very early in the mornin by a book or i'm fighters it was a triumphant entry and we've seen a lot of celebrations but what we also get is that you know vin brought in the goes in the boat nine s.u.v. trucks and then preached for them for about thirty minutes before even left the goes in various locations to the appearance and perhaps to local officials but we don't really understand why book who could actually drive as you read trucks you know into your bear which is highly fortified and then midway away back

latest girls were released but just nigeria and its allies have been fighting boko haram in the lake chad region for years but brazen kidnapping and drop off of victims indicates that the group is far from being defeated saddam and job aid are there. well now on facebook live soccer star emerging as a force to combat islamophobia in britain and coming up on the newsgroup in just a moment to me unwise and sound suit she loses her right hand man what does it mean as a country faces mounting criticism over the roof crisis. so again we'll look at the weather across the levant and western parts of asia to begin with conditions here actually a pretty good at the moment of the most part so it looking quite warner tashkent then expected stand up at twenty four degrees it's fine around the caspian sea and the eastern side of the maid also plenty of sunshine beirut looking at highs of twenty six degrees in fact as you start to pick up the winds from the south we get up into the thirty's and head on through into friday so a pretty warm start to spring it has to be said here in the arabian peninsula

just the nigerian its allies have been fighting boko haram in the lake chad region for years but brazen kidnapping and drop off of victims indicates that the group is far from being defeated solomon job read out of their. careers president. has offered his resignation ahead of an impeachment vote or a series of corruption allegations several of his allies were filmed allegedly trying to gain the support of a lawmaker so that he would block the leaders ouster because he has lashed out at the opposition accusing them of plotting his overthrow and nationwide address he said the campaign against him a damaged peru's democracy. has more from lima. left the presidential palace and as he was walking down the steps he waved at the camera us he was only flanked by administrative people not ministers not cabinet members or congress men or party allies he walked out alone and left the presidential palace to go home right after that the presidential palace aired a recorded message to the nation where he maintained that he was innocent of the charges that were brought to him buz. i think that the be

atlantic ocean to the red sea, they support national efforts in the western area and the nearby lake chad basin region of west africa. we provide training, advice and assistance to the g5 countries and multinational joint task force in order to help them contain violent extremism and secure their borders. in conclusion, the continued progress on the continent with our partners reflects dedicated commitment by men and women. they have built strong and trusting relationship with the u.s. agency and international community in order to foster the relationship. on behalf of them, civilian employees in african command, thank you for this opportunity to be with you and i look forward to your question. >> thank you. less than a month ago, senators ernst, and sullivan spent quite a bit of time in the south china sea seeing and witnessing firsthand what china is doing there. they talk about reclaiming land and i suggest it's not reclaiming land because there's no land to reclaim. it's creating land. while they been doing this for some time, it's kind of gone unnoticed. there up now to over 3000 acr

insecurity and address other needs resulting from conflict since amalia, south sudan, ethiopia and the lake chadbasin. the alarming levels of hunger in these areas are largely man-made. as the conflict the conflict erd people flee their homes under these conditions people cannot produce crops and ofte often loe access altogether too can become education and healthcare. many lose everything and regrettably, mother nature can still be cruel such as in the horn of africa with a prolongede prolonged drought is contributing to grave food insecurity. these additional funds will provide emergency food, nutrition assistance and other aid including safe drinking water. thousands of tons of food and delivered health programs to help prevent the spread of deadly diseases like cholera to millions of people. this will save lives. the american people as we always have them are there to partner with african countries to ensure the most vulnerable populations receive life-saving assistance. we also call upon others to join us in meeting the growing humanitarian needs in africa. we hope these initial contributio

, spanning from he atlantic ocean to the red sea, we support multinational efforts in the nearby lake chad basin region of west africa. ea, we provide training, advice, and assistance to the g5s countries and multinational joint task force nor to help them contain violent extremism and secure their borders. in conclusion, the continued progress on the continent with our partners reflects dedicated efforts by the men and women of africom. i'm proud to lead these professionals who built strong and trusting relationships with the u.s. interagency and international community in order to foster the security, stability, and prosperity on the african continue innocent. on behalf of the service members, civilian employees, and families of the united states africa command, thank you for the opportunity to be with you this morning and i look forward to your questions. senator inhofe: thank you, general waldhauser. just less than a month ago we spent quite a bit of time in the south china sea seeing, witnessing what china is doing there. they talked about reclaiming land, and i suggest it's not recla