lawrence lee explains. >> watching t. v., hardly a luxury, but in the capitol you can't take anything for granted. >> the blackouts happen all the time, and it isn't just t.v. that is effected. >> light is more expensive you cannot have food, basic food things in the freezer billions have been spent trying to provide basic power in a country that is full of oil. half a world away, the british government has been watching this with interest. it's ministries with responsibility for aid hire add company to help sort out the energy problem. >> but rather than offer aid they proposed that nigeria's sector should be sold off. to private investors. >> the whole series were acquired buttability 100 billion-dollars is required to expand the system, and that can't come from the state even if there were capable of spending it without there being massive corruption, so that only alternative is to bring it in from private investors. the case against it, is that aid has no place in helping big corporations. get their hands on africa. >

lawrence lee, al jazeera london. >> the focus is on connected economy. here is dominic kane. >> every year attracts around 200,000 people all drawn by the technologies on show here in these hauls. this year's partner country is china. because chinese trade with germany represents around 177 billion dollars annually. there are around 300 different chinese exhibitors in this one hall alone. part of around 600 in the is buyer trade fair. to give pefnt perspective how important germany believes this to be, meeting their chinese counterparts to discuss trade relation cemsrelations. they say that the chinese internet and communicates -- communications market is one they want to explore and expand and that is something that the large chinese firms that come here this week want to do equally. >> and asia's leading contemporary art fair has opened in hong kong but as divya gopalan points out some have been left out. >> a long with well-known iconic pieces like this one from pop artist andy warhol. more than $3 billion is expected to change hands at art baz basil.

lawrence lee, al jazerra in central london. >>> fire fighters in south africa are battle to go put outin cape town. strong winds and hot temperatures are challenging effort to contain the bases. the fires are causing widespread damage to thousands of hectares of lands. >>> hundreds of shanties have been destroyed in a fire in the philippines it happened at a compound in the capital of manila. some accuse the fire services of being too slow in their response. >>> in me myanmar police have blocked students protests. in response people in the town staged a sit-in. they want the government to scrap a newly-passed education law that she say curbs academic freedom. police have warned tell take action to restore law and order if the protesters try to bring their rally there. >>> thai airways as been operating a at a loss the government is considering improving a restructuring plan. thousands of jobs are at risk. now more from bangkok. >> reporter: thailand's main international airport seems to be busy as ever, but last year there was an almost 7% drop in the number of travelers. thai airways

lawrence lee al jazeera london. >> well still to come in the second half of this news hour the asian country that according to a new report is now the world's biggest arms importer. plus. >> i'm lucia newman in santiago chile, where a teenage are suffering from an incurable disease has caught world attention by demanding the right to a lethal injection. >> and paying the price for his team's poor form. >> tomorrow on "the stream". >> the annual south by southwest festival has been a breeding ground for some of the biggest tech innovations in the world. we'll take you there, giving you a glimpse into the future. >> "the stream". tomorrow, 1:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america. >> thursday. >> to the apaches, it's an ancestral place. >> sacred lands threatened. >> were the apache consulted on this? >> no. >> a controversial deal. >> we would love to have a mine in the community. at the end of the day, it is an issue of fairness. >> america tonight gets an exclusive interview with a foreign mining company accused of taking native american land. >> people have been very critical of yo

lawrence lee, al jazeera. >> the colombian government and farc rebels agreed to work together to remove land mines. it follows talks to end the 50 year conflict. more than 11,000 people have been killed or injured by land mines in the past 25 years. the government says the agreement is a good start. >> our main objective in these conversations is to put an end to the conflict and avoid further victims in our country. that's why the demining proposal is a first but giant step toward peace. this is proof that we're working in the right direction. >> today we the envoys for each party hand the country a humanitarian agreement that begins the clean up and decontamination of our fields and mines and the remains of more explosives that seek to eliminate the risks that they represent to the physical integrity of the humble people who work the land and of the fighters them receivers that with this gesture we advance the deescalation of the war. we're headed along a good path. >> australian government is keeping up the pressure to spare the lives of two australians facing prosecution on drug smu

donation to see if money end up in the hands of groups the government considers terrorists and lawrence leelains. >> reporter: this is the image of traditional charity shop and second hand cloths and small donations for big problems and no one raises questions where the money end up be in the uk the muslim charities are under the microsoft. one office of a big charity which raises millions every year for victims of the world trouble spots and they like other charities delayed by the banks or blocked completely and can cost lives. >> it's very critical a month delay on a three-month payment can actually bring it to a grinding halt and where you work in emergency zones and the money is destined for parcel and basic medicines, refugee camps what have you can actually cost lives. >> reporter: argument for authorities pushed by much of the british media is the charity they can end up funding terrorism either deliberately or by accident so the banks have to prove they are not channelling money that way or can risk fines and reputational damage. the program is instituting the due diligence checks

the largest is in west london from where lawrence lee has this report. >> for a country that describes itself as a more compassionate. pressure groups have taken to filming inside places like this where the documents with a variety of issues ranging from racial abuse by staff to basic lack of care. this man is said to sufferer an enepileptic fit and then fell down the stairs. what sorts of medical conditions do they have that they want to be treated? >> some have torture from the home they came from. some have the bullets. they have the fire in their bodies, and they still have the it's a pain. painkillers, that's it. one issue of concern to inmates is ever indefinite detention. it remains unclear whether the next government will make it a priority. >> you can never say that legislation is straightforward. but i want to say there is political will from this group of mps and what we want to do now is see party leaders take this up and take it seriously. >> it's a sense detainees have having committed no crime but are being locked up indefinitely which breaks people's will. >> someone sa

lawrence lee reports. >> this is what the new cold war looks like from close up, pictures from the russian defense ministry shot from one of their bear bombers eye to eye with the british royal air force jet near the british coast. the r raf after subpoenaing years to carry fever with president putin the government here appears to have given up trying. >> we're bent not on joining the international space system which keeps the peace between nations but at subverting. president putin's actions illegally annexing crimea and using racial troops to destabilize eastern ukraine fundamentally undermine the security of the sovereign nations of eastern europe. >> president putin has not acknowledged that he believes that crimea belongs to russia implying that he sent soldiers into the eastern ukrainian cities. estonia lies close to russian territory. estonian is the only european nation to meet natos demands so it's easy to read these comments as a warning to the whole nato machine. >> the worst thing that could happen to nato is that we will face another crisis and yet again rather like in ukraine

lawrence lee, al jazeera. >> in africa, much of the continent's food supply is produced by female farmers. they sew the seeds tend the fields and do a lot more, but many don't actually own the land. we have a report on the campaign for equal land rights in south africa. >> in this dry region, these women have teamed up to grow vegetables on a collective farm. they are able to grow enough to feed their own families and also to sell what's left over. >> before, we used to have to buy everything, but now we're able to grow everything, so it's not only beneficial to us and our families, but even the other community members who come and buy from us. >> some estimates suggest up to 70% of all the food eaten across the continent is grown by women, but very few own the land they farm. the disadvantage with unequal laws and tribal traditions favor men, leaving women vulnerable. >> when men take the lead in farming, they take the money and buy alcohol. >> the benefits of giving the women rights to own land and skills to work it are exponential. studies have proven that women are far more likely tha

lawrence lee, al jazerra in central london. >>> thai airways has been operating at a loss no more thanw, they have expected to approve a two yee re instructionyearrestructuring program. >> reporter: thailand's main airport seems to be busy as ever but last year there was a 7% drop in the number of travelers. thai air wares the national carrier is in trouble. not just because of a drop in tourists but also its $6.1 billion debt. it's been reported the airline may be deck klee insolvent with debts out stripping assets. and insufficient debt coverage. so what is the plan? and how did it come to this? the sixth thai airways president since 2000. >> the environment changes. the competitor changes but we did not. on the low cost side which is the domestic and regional we still have a way to go. but it is possible as we have seen our competitors of similar size were doing. >> reporter: thai airway airways is a listed state ends prize that has been operating at a loss for sick quarters. how the government decides to deal with that is a key test at the time when the economy is struggling. alrea

as lawrence lee reports. >> this is what the new cold war looks like from close up, pictures of the ministry shot from one of their bare bombers. eye to eye with the british oil air force jet. they took their own pictures too, there have been several incidents just like, this is the sort of thing they see as an out and out provocation having seen years of carrying favor the government here now appears to have given up trying. owith are now faced with a leader bent not on joining but on sup verting it. president putin's actions illegally an exining cry mere yeah and using troops to destabilize eastern ukraine fundamentally undermine the security of the sovereign nations of eastern europe president putin has now said that he should be returned to russia into ukrainian cities. consequently britain has been helping train soldiers in other countries which lie close to russian territory. these have been going on for some time, so why should this senior diplomate raise them now. >> the biggest cheerleaders will have been the foreign secretary former colleagues here, at the minister of defense in lo

they are funding terrorists the british government to help improve they are acting in good faith lawrence lee reports. >> nobody urinally raises money about where charity money winds up. but in u.k. muslim charities are under the micro scope. which raises millions of dollars every year to victims of the world's trouble spot, they have had donations delayed by the banks or blocked completely, and they that say can cost lives. >> our payments that go out to these countries are very critical a month too late on a three month payment can bring work to a grinding halt and where you work in emergency zones that money is destined for medicines basic medicine, or refugee camps. it can cost lives. >> the argument from the authorities pushed by much of the british media is the charities can end up funding terrorism either deliberately or by accident, so the banks have to prove they are not channeling that money that way, or they can risk fines and damage. >> is the problem is that instituting the due diligence checks demanding by the financial industry, would cripple many charities. they say their requ

detention of asylum seekers after abuse by one over the country's biggest detention centers and lawrence leeve from london and what has been happening at these centers, lawrence? >> well there was a documentary on british television last night where they went under cover in this detention center and secretly filmed some of the guards openly being racist and abusive and a private company that runs it suspended them but this is not the first time this happened and there was a more significant case a few months ago featuring a man who was killed called jimmy, he was put on a plane with two private security guards from a different company, the giant company and bet him double and he died. they were acquitted of his manslaughter but subsequently the police found text messages on one of the guard's phones and i will read it to you, it's full of explitives, go home you kid producing violent non-english speaking and take the harry faced, bomb making smelly rag head with you so there is sort of a sense and it isn't to do with the parliamentary report which is extremely significant and we can talk abo

lawrence lee, al jazeera. >> still to come on the al jazeera news hour, setting sale for a better planet. we report from hawaii. >> when a lack of snow means for this year's dog sled race. >> 40 years ago, has wines launched a replica of a canoe their ancestors used to sale the pacific ocean a thousand years ago. they've been using that canoe to educate young people about their culture and the need to protect the oceans. we have a report. >> marsh eight 1975, a double canoe begins her maiden voyage from oahu. the 19-meter canoe is named after the brightest star in the sky. volunteers with the polynesian voyaging society created it from illustrations. they taught the crew to sale how their ancestors did. >> it's simpler to navigate without instruments because the whole sky's a compass. rather than looking at the little bubble of the compass you look around you to find your bearings. >> last may she and her sister canoe began the three year journey with stops at 85 ports around the world. the trip is called to protect the planet earth. it will have stops in 26 countries with a message of g

. >> thank you for that fred weer let's go to lawrence lee now and speak to you more about these commentsbritish foreign secretary. what prompted that? >> well it was a pretty wide ranging thing and political in tone and talks about the threat of i.s.i.s. i.s.i.l. at home and jahadi and attack in uk people coming back from syria and a difficult job with stretched responses and obviously talks about russia the russia he talks about and combination all of these things being an enormous threat and instances where russian bombers near the english channel and everybody is worried about what they have in store and it's worth bearing in mind what phillip hammond's job is and the language he is using compared to david cameron the prime minister and when the bare bombers were discovered near uk david cameron played it down and said i don't know what the russians are doing and the less said the better because they are a bit weird and phillip hammond today saying they are threats and i think it's worth bearing in mind that right now there are warnings of enormous cuts to british military spending 30

but as lawrence lee reports, hammond's warning may be a bid to boost cash for the u.k.'nse industry. >> reporter: this is what the new cold war looks like from close up. pictures from the russian defense ministry shot from a bomber, eye toe eye with a british royal air force jet somewhere between the british coast. the raf took its own pictures too. is this is exactly the sort of thing that britain sees as an out and out provocation. having spent years trying to carry favor with president putin, they now appear to have given up trying. >> we are faced with a russian federation bent not on joining in keeping peace between nations but on subverting it. president putin's actions, fundamentally undermine the security of the sovereign nations of eastern europe. president putin acknowledged that his decree annexed crimea. consequently be it tan has been helping train solders in other countries which lie close to russian territory. it's easy to read these actions as a warning. >> we will face another crisis and yet again we'll be surprised caught napping and prove to be unable