xi doesn't even need a position.hen he has that and the party continues to run the country. >> is that a good thing? how could it be a good thing for the country when one person has the ultimate power? >> this two issues. one is how it happened, and now the presidential abolition of term limits coordinates the party and military, the three largest positions. they're now coordinated because he already had that power in the government. the other provisions strengthen the party dramatically. now the question is, okay, to what end? what is the result? that's a question only history can resolve. i can tell you what is being said here in beijing. there are two general categories. one is that china is in this so-called new era looking forward to the mid-century, 2050, when china emerges on the center stage of the world. the vision is to be prosperous, strong, culturally advanced, harmonious, beautiful. a large vision. and they say only a very strong person can bring this about, so we need that. second problem is short-term.

jinping and do they see potential parallels between president xi and former chairman mao. so i mean on the perceptions of seizing paying a course is difficult because they're on white opinion polls i mean it's sort of hard to really read but online you can see that the message of china going towards the centenary goal of being a powerful strong country in twenty twenty one cent t.v. of the anniversary of the communist party foundation you know chinese people want their country to be strong and have good status and she jingping being the spokes person for that message that's popular i mean he's popular because the message is popular and it's a nationalistic message but it is a message about china having its justice you know that just moment of these renascence after a tough you know modern history restored so they you know he's on i think secure ground for most people though it will not help that they have a perpetual president if their living standards are impacted this is not the time of mts dong mao zedong was a almost autonomous from the commies party he was able in the

and north korea, and is xi in the driver's seat on those negotiations? >> reporter: it depends on how you look at this. either this was xi jinping calling out to his north korean proxy and saying, hey, before you sit down with the south korean president for the first time which is expected just next month or with president trump, the first-ever meeting between a north korean leader and a u.s. president, you have to come and talk with me. that's one way to look at it. or is this kim jong-un who has leveraged the situation, and after years of frosty relations with beijing has gotten an audience with xi jinping not long after he's been declared a president effectively of china for life, and xi jinping rolled out the red carpet for him and basically gets to reunderscore the alliance between north korea and china and bring that with him to his meetings with the south korean president and with president trump to kind of bolster his argument there. two ways to look at it. hard to tell because everything's so opaque in pyongyang. >> it is indeed. major diplomati

the cost of opposition to mr xi's rule can be high.n papers left behind by xu yan's husband, a lawyer, who recently wrote an open letter calling for democratic elections. he is now being detained for subversion. translation: he did everything within the boundaries of the law, yet it's not allowed here. now, many people are afraid of speaking up. what has been the effect on you and your 13—year—old son? my son loves his father. this situation is a huge blow for him. all public discussion of the constitutional change is being tightly controlled and censored. the two—term limit solved a problem facing all undemocratic authoritarian states. it helped china ensure orderly and regular leadership successions. what has happened here today, then, is highly significant. a choreographed, compliant, rubber—stamped parliament has removed the last limitation on xijinping's power. as the delegates left, they may have glanced at this, chairman mao's portrait, a stark reminder of the risks of lifetime rule. john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. we'rejoined

xi or what kind of label you apply to china.ll we want to look at is the policies president xi has been pursuing or the direction in which china is moving. if you look at the last 25 years for roughly about 10, 15 years china was more or less moving in the right direction. the society was opening up. the economy was becoming more liberalized, and engagement with the west. with the rest of the world was also moving in the right direction. you cannot say this about china for the last ten years or especially for the last five years when chinese society is becoming more closed. politics is much more repressive. foreign policy is creating a lot of tensions with the rest of the world. so if you look at those things then you really have to ask that question. did the west get china wrong? or is the direction china is moving in good for china or the rest of the world? >> you clearly disagree? >> i do think this is a big deal. we need to look at this in a more fine grain manner. people seem to do it very coarse grain in terms of the polit

well, now we have xijinping we have xi jinping who was already so we have xi jinping who was alreadywe have xi jinping who was already so powerful. one and a half million communist party members have been punished in his anti—corruption crackdown and there was the belief that he could not actually afford to stand down as leader because he has made so many enemies in the party. well, certainly, after this vote today, there is no questioning that it would be so difficult for anyone to challenge him. and the old system we had of elected leadership in china with discussions, that has all gone. he is an checkable, powerful leader who is going to be around probably for decades to come. and i know there has been a lot of censorship of comment, or negative comment, about this in the media and social media. what is going to happen to those two people who voted against, or those who abstained, and what is going to happen to all those people who might want on social media to say they don't want a president for life? well, we are told that the vote is a secret one and you would have to hope for

mostll have xi jinping's trusted economic deputy and xi jinping himself. would be dealing with, debt for sure, we are looking to head into some pretty stiff headwinds with u.s.-china relations, uncertainty about policy coming from the u.s. that he is juggling technocratic economics as well as political problems. david: the currency likely comes fully convertible, hopefully under this guys watch. how far do you think we are from that reality and we can talk about a fully convertible renminbi? >> a question like that is a little bit above my pay grade, but let me try to frame it. when we look at the furthering of any sort of liberalization or reform, we need to caveat all of that with a capital s stability. that is what reigns supreme under xi jinping right now. there has been a gut price to a lot of the economic performance, especially since 2015, and moving forward with anything that will bring on additional uncontrolled risks from the party perspective. i always believe in the power magical thinking. but when looking at the party's performance in the last

we have seen a xi jinping's head of the peoples bank of china.nping's name head of the peoples bank of china. we have seen a xi jinping's name and philosophy placed in the country's constitution. it has been a very big conference but really, what everything else has been swamped by, is the power that xi jinping has been able to draw around himself in various ways and it's hard for anything else to cut through. stephen mcdonell in beijing. thank you for the updates. we will have more on that lightspeed shortly. —— live speech. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. uber has suspended all tests of self—driving cars after a woman in arizona was killed in a collision. at the time of the accident, the vehicle was running in autonomous mode with an operator at the wheel. uber described what happened as incredibly sad and said it was fully co—operating with local authorities. our technology correspondent dave lee reports from san francisco. it was late sunday night when, according to police, elaine herzberg was struck by uber‘s self—driving

what this effectively means that xi jinping can stay on as president for so long as he wants. this is just the latest in a series of power grabbing moves that he has engaged in over the last six to eight months. you saw it in late october of last year when the most important power grabbing move took place, that was when the 19th party congress happened here in beijing, you saw xi jinping get reflected as the general secretary of the communist party, but further than that he had xi jinping thought as it's formerly known in china inscribed into the communist party constitution. that fact alone made him the most important chinese political leader since the founder of communist china. the fact that he can now stay on as president for so long as he wants further solidifies his overall power in this country. this is xi jinping's china and at this point absolutely no one is challenging that publicly. >> privately, you know, the people of china weren't asked about this, i guess, and so he's liked by the government there, but what about the people of china? >> reporter: it's really har

xi, and there you have mr. putin and here you have mr. trump. if i were a japanese person sitting in japan looking at the three leaders and the way that they behaved and how the united states is being tested by the scandals and everything else at the leadership, i would wonder if we should keep the same kind of attitude towards china and towards the united states in the long range. i am wondering what you think about that. because you talk as though nothing has changed a few blocks down. >> i do not think that at all. my argument of what your strategy should be has not changed. a lot of people in that category, that's what i am saying, i think that the problem is more complicated and xi is more authoritarian and i would use the word expansionist, in more dimensions than people anticipated so the strategy was right but we have to be better at it. so your second question, if i were tokyo, and i was seeing donald trump, well, yes, the indo pacific strategy is very good. president donald trump's relationship with shinzo abe is very good. they probab

the key particle this is the fact that kidman has met president xi jinping which leads president xi jinping become the first world leader to shake hands and we can jump on this not donald trump but kim president xi jinping so this i think is a reminder that china did not want president from to get all the limelight but he has expected meeting with president clinton in several weeks time and i think it also demonstrates that actually china continued to have sway over north korea. well the u.s. ambassador to the united nations as all members of the security council should be ashamed that the bombing of eastern route of continues despite a cease fire agreement. and syria for what she calls a slaughter but her syrian counterpart struck back saying the area has now been liberated from rebels five people are facing charges related to a fire in a russian shopping center that killed sixty four people forty one of them children the tragedy sparked on the streets of moscow and the siberian city where it happened demanding justice for the victims some are facing a campaign of intimidation and bribes t

xi's father, a senior politician was persecuted and imprisoned.nd like young people from cities across china, xi himself was sent for, quote, re-education in a small village. that's how he ended up here. his family was ripped apart. and yet his belief in the system has held firm, ever since he spent his nights in a cold cave. xi's recent power grab has drawn inevitable comparisons to the perils of the past, with critics saying his clampdown on personal liberties and jailing of political opponents harkens back to a darker time. only a brave few have spoken out in protest. "i have a sense of historical responsibility. when my children look back and ask me how i reacted, i want to be able to tell them i was firmly opposed to it, a former state-run newspaper editor told us. >> yes, that guy is following us. >> reporter: we were followed the entire time even as we took photos with some visitors. they want to make sure that no one criticizes the leader. in the china that once belonged to mao and now to xi jinping, there is no room for dissent, a system

how can the meeting between kim and xi affect the trump sit down, and is xi jinping really in the driver's seat now in the region? >> reporter: depends on how you look at it. the white house has embraced this and actually argued that the meeting is the result of the trump administration's maximum pressure campaign. trying to get other countries to tighten the economic vice around north korea. what is without question is -- incredible transformation. north korea always called the hermit kingdom has gone from incredible isolation a few months ago to now this surprise meeting with the leader of china, and now he's planning to have a summit with the south korean president in april, and sometime after that, what could be an historic meeting face to face with president trump, going from incredible isolation to suddenly a flurry of high-level meetings, arguably with the two most powerful men in the world, xi jinping and president trump. >> just the imagery there alone is just dramatic to see, let alone the diplomatic implications. ivan watson live in seoul, 6:00 p.m. there. thanks. >>> president

tom: president xi jinping wrapping up his comments.s a brief speech by him, in line with what we've seen in former years here. he said he was the servant of the people, they were his ultimate supervisors, of course, unless a -- a caveat cub said, unless you disagree with him. this is now a more awe toretarian regime under president xi jinping. it's worth reminding viewers that in terms of free speech whether in academia or among human rights lawyers and activists, that has been severely curtailed under president xi and will likely continue with steps around internet censorship. it is a less free environment than it was before but you do have those, like brandywine, saying this is a good investment opportunity, particularly around china's equities and bonds. what else he said , he talked about reform. it is the 40th anniversary of the reform and opening and china's policymakers have been great play at that, whether or not they're going to take concrete steps to appease those in washington is another thing to be seen. we'll have to wait

since you mentioned xi jinping, i wanted to pick your brain on the new constitution with xi jinping's new image as the emerging dictator, what kind of impact will that be on the west's point of view on china? for other panelists, we saw more article in the u.s. saying the u.s. has got china wrong for the past 20 decades but there are so many bright people here, how could you get wrong? is that oversimplified or do you have your own explanation? thank you. >> as to the xi jinping question, i encourage you to come again on thursday morning when we will be talking about this. in short, in short, i think one thing we have seen about xi jinping since he arrived on the scene, he puts a lot of stock in keeping the other people in the party off balance and trying to figure out what his next move will be and so on. some of this i think is very consistent with that. some of it i think is consistent with his penchant for what i call putting an exclamation point on his various approaches to things. for example, there's been a lot of murmuring in chinese elite circles after the party congress, wel

china's bottom and abolishes presidential term limits clearing the way first xi jinping to rule for life. ahead of them or a zero live from doha also coming up police detained pro-democracy activists and hong kong during a crucial vote for the lesser of count sold. all the all the death toll rises in syria's east and do so as the government continues to pound the rebel held enclave. on record reported crawl on dog with a group very proud for the rebel group who are both from the remotest waters. trying as national people's congress has voted to remove term limits for the president and the vice president to change the constitution paves the way for xi jinping to remain in office beyond twenty twenty three as a current use strict it's a maximum of two five year. we made the decision to implement the policy of an ending the constitution the members of the standing committee totally agreed to protect the communist party's policy to amend the constitution specially to incorporate the xi jinping thought of the new era of socialism chinese characteristics into the long. brown has more now from

could this backfire for xi jinping7|j international leaders. could this backfire for xi jinping?n. the chinese economy is on a knife edge and is carrying a lot of corporate and local debt. it also has a huge demographic problem. a rapidly ageing society. the government expected to deliver social services for many ageing people and isn't in a position to do so. people and isn't in a position to do so. china has problems. xijinping has tied himself to china's future for way over five years, indefinitely. he could be taking a huge risk with this move. people living near a volcano injapan have been urged to wear hard—hats as its eruptions get more violent. mount shinmodake is ejecting rocks and smoke several kilometres into the air. it's the volcano's fourth eruption this century. andrew plant reports. night—time in south—western japan. high above these houses the red glow of one of the country's most active falque knows. —— volcanos. it is now being watched very carefully as smoke rises more than 3000 metres into the air. high winds growing ash across the town, schoolchildren wearin

leave the russian embassy in london and had back to moscow also coming up china's president xi jinping delivers a fiery nationalist speech at the people's congress in beijing vowing to protect every inch of chinese territory is it a veiled threat to taiwan look at oxford announcing. and a sad day for conservationists the world's last male northern white rhinos dies in kenya only two females remain can anything be done to stop the species from going extinct. i'm serious about going to thank you for joining us diplomats expelled by the u.k. have left russia's london embassy headed back to moscow this as international weapons inspectors have begun analyzing the talks and used to poison a former russian spy and his daughter in the city of solsbury russia has hit back at british allegations that it is behind the attack demanding evidence or an apology. a bitter farewell for russia's expelled diplomats in london followed from the diplomatic standoff as russia demands proof or an apology the british military is carrying out forensic tests on the car used by sergei screwballs daughter upon her

this is al jazeera live from the hall so coming up the vote was unanimous china's parliament confirmed xi jinping as president again two key allies join him in office. political crisis in peru the president faces hours of questioning over corruption investigation day after ph from proceedings begin. and afghanistan season eighty seven percent increase in opium production in one year we meet the thousands struggling with drug addiction. the deputy director of the f.b.i. it's been fired less than two days before he could retire with full pension benefits i'm dreaming been a frequent target of public criticism from donald trump the u.s. president took to twitter to cheer the sacking saying andrew mccabe fired a great day for the hardworking men and women of the f.b.i. a great day for democracy sanctimonious jaynes was his boss and made mccain look like a choir boy he knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the f.b.i. also in jordan has more on the controversial tenure of entre mckay. andrew mccabe was an f.b.i. agent for twenty two years rising to deputy dire

hole so coming up china's national people's congress meets to make changes that could see president xi jinping stay in power for life. a bloc of right wing parties leads the way in italy's election but latest projections show no one will have enough seats to govern alone. and the envelope please we're live in los angeles as hollywood rolls out the red carpet for the oscars. all over the united states has accused russia of killing civilians in syria's eastern huta it says it carried out twenty bombings a day late last month it is the strongest u.s. accusations so far of russia's role in a government offensive on the rebel held area more than six hundred forty people have been killed over the past two weeks syrian president bashar al assad has vowed to continue with the airstrikes at the same time he says troops will open the way for civilians to leave said has also denied using chemical weapons about four hundred thousand people are trapped inside eastern huta with little food and basic supplies assad has called that a ridiculous lie by the west he says the syrian army is making progres

kim and xi have met. the leaders of china and north korea held an unofficial summit this week, but they waited until today to announce it to the world. it was a high-stakes visit shrouded in secrecy. inside beijing's great hall of the people, china's president xi jinping and north korea's leader kim jong-un came face to face for the first time. speculation began monday, when video surfaced of an armoredel green train trg from north korea to china, but ly after the train left on tuesday, did china's state tv broadcast images of kim meeting with xi and other senior officials. north korea made its own annocement. >> ( translated ): an historical event th elevates north korea- chinese relations to a higher level. >> woodruff: this was kim'sfi rst venture abroad since he became north korea's supre11 leader in 20 and, his state-controlled mea hailed it as a milestone. >> ( translated ): dear supreme leader said that he wants to meet president xi jinping and other chinese comrades more often. >> woodruff: china

chairman mao and president xi, says this visitor.ed here for years in the early 70s, transformed recently from an unknown backwater to a shrine for a living president. the smartly dressed tour guide showed us where she slept, an old picture on the wall. we saw a well he helped dig and a sewing shop he set up. old farmers who new xi back then still rome about. the pseudo mascots of this bizarre theme park. three of us including xi and joined the communist party together, says this man. communist cadres flood the village each day, paying homage there is a practical purpose for making this visit if you're an ambitious communist member. its show you want to learn from the experiences of the party's most important person in decades. it's the kind of propaganda push driven by a cult of personality that the country hasn't seen since the days of mao zedong, founder of communist china. not far from xi's village, we see where mao once lived during world war two. similar caves, similar photos. mao held up as a great revolutionary lead were no m

to change the constitution paves the way for xi jinping to remain in office beyond twenty twenty three leaders are currently restricted to serving a maximum of two five year term cisco straits or china correspondent agent bradley joins us live from just outside the national people's congress in beijing's waging the vote in parliament has been held presidential term limits have now officially gone. that's right just in the last few minutes we got the result of that and two thousand nine hundred fifty eight delegates voted to amend the constitution there were three abstentions and two were opposed now we shouldn't probably read too much into that often at occasions like this china likes to give the impression that this is a very transparent exercise so often it orchestrates a little bit of opposition but certainly president xi jinping has got his way the outcome of this vote was never really in doubt his authority is now enhanced remember laura just five months ago at the communist party congress his name was in try and in the constitution making him the most powerful leader since chairm

china says north korea is prepared to abandon its nuclear program after an historic meeting between xi jinping and kim jong. il raman you're watching al-jazeera live from our headquarters here in doha coming up in the next thirty minutes u.n. security council members trade blame and vent frustrations over there and heated demand for a syrian cease fire. there could have been a difference in the referendum. you know had there not being in my view cheap. the man who blew the whistle on the facebook data scandal testifies that dirty tricks were used in the case of brecht's it campaign plus. fishing is still big business here in indonesia a population i declined and the government eighty three. and we parted from an option. on. welcome to the program north korean leader kim jong un has met chinese president xi jinping for the first time during a secretive visit to beijing it's kim's first trip abroad since taking power in two thousand and eleven details of the meeting were only revealed after it had taken place relations between china and north korea of cooled in recent times yet the visit

president xi told me he

first north korean leader kim jong un has been treated to a lavish welcome by the chinese president xi jinping during a secretive visit to. aging and china says pyongyang is prepared to get rid of its nuclear weapons it's kim's first trip abroad since taking power in two at eleven and the first time he has met president xi face to face relations between china and north korea have cooled in recent times and this historic meeting comes at a time of intense diplomatic activity on the korean peninsula as preparations are made for summits between the north and the south as well as between pyongyang and washington let's go live now to our correspondent in beijing adrian brown so the chinese have delivered a very positive the verdict on this first meeting between the two leaders. yes indeed martin so he was here after all despite the attempts by foreign ministry officials to try and deny they had any knowledge of kim jong un in the country of course he was here in fact for three days state media finally confirming that on wednesday morning and ever since then we've had a torrent of images on

china's parliament is expected to approve changes to the country's constitution which will see president xi jinping able to rule indefinitely the national people's congress is holding its annual gathering in beijing u.s. media is reporting special prosecutor robert miller's investigation into russian interference in the twenty six thousand election has widened to include the united arab emirates the new york times says the f.b.i. has been questioning george near the lebanese american businessman who is an advisor to the u.a.e. and gary oldman has just won the best actor oscar for his performance in darkest hour he joins kobe bryant as the winner of the best animated short the six minute film is based on his twenty fifteen retirement letter in the players' tribune also winning was allison janney for best supporting actress for her role in the film i tanya sound wrong well rockwell took away best supporting actor for three billboards those are the headlines the listening post does next. al jazeera. where ever you. like here i want you to go for your child's. play and i'm. afraid you can't. re

the north korean leader kim jong un has been treated to a lavish welcome by chinese president xi jinping during a secretive visit to beijing now this is kim's first known trip abroad since he took power in twenty eleven and the first time he's met she face to face china and north korea are seeking to salvage frayed ties ahead of landmark summit between pyongyang south korea prion yang in the united states it was featured speculation about the meeting as it took place on tuesday both countries so the only confirmed just a few hours ago we have two correspondents on this story we've got kathy novak in seoul and we've got adrian brown in beijing adrian me start with you and very much similar this first encounter between kim and president xi very similar to the kinds of encounters between north korea and china of the past. that's right in this era of political and diplomatic surprises martine here was another as you say in the past north korean leaders have always been given lavis receptions and that was certainly the case this time president xi jinping was you know wearing a sort of western

xi.ose name has been deleted from the minister of finance documents. connections have given here. saying he received a report from the finance minster, saying they were altered. -- ave this is what we have at the moment. >> this calls into the question as well as abbe himself. you can see the market reaction -- he steeply in terms of has been a key proponent looking to collect themselves somewhat iffy will. we are continuing to follow the story which is causing some unfortunate ripples for the governor -- government of japan. >> coming up, talking about all the bricks at relations and how going whentions are it comes to trade as well. ♪ >> this is number of markets asia. is expected to be one of the fastest growing in the european union. fiona, trade negotiations to be had noxious with the british, but also the rest of the world. for foreigninister affairs. let's get the latest. on that, issuing trade with asia. i'm going to talk to you about trade. >> we've had an extraordinary growth st

the chinese president's closest political ally wang chih shang has been voted in as vice president xi jinping has also been confirmed for a second term with unanimous support the national people's congress is rubber stamping a government reshuffle at its annual meeting in beijing the congress approved the removal of ten limits for the president and vice president this week scott had asthma from basic. a saturday session of the national people's congress here in beijing saw the election of some officials but more importantly two top officials the president xi jinping serving another five year term no one voted against him and want to see john now he is going to be the vice president for the next five years there was only one person who voted against him out of the nearly three thousand delegates here for the national people's congress now what's interesting about this now this is mr long first term as vice president first time ever as vice president but he is seen as a very close ally of xi jinping so the role for the vice presidency is being elevated if you were one of the constitutio

parliament passes a constitutional amendment that scraps presidential term limits and hands president xi jinping free reign to rule indefinitely will this mean a return to dictatorship for the asian superpower we go live to our correspondent there jane also coming up japan marks seven years since a tsunami devastated the country's northeast and triggered the worst nuclear disaster since your noble but amid the commemorations are protests we'll hear why. and we've got going to school or in the bundesliga as buyer munich hosted their favorite whipping boys have heard the reigning champions were in no mood to slow down on their way to a record six league title in a row. on michelle henery welcome to the program. there are concerns china could be returning to a one man rule today the country's lawmakers have just passed a series of constitutional amendments that scrap the presidential term limits and allow for president xi jinping to remain in office indefinitely the presidency had previously been limited to two five year terms. the changes also permit she's personal political philosophy to

north korea's leader a lavish welcome in beijing kim jong only reportedly assured china's president xi that he is committed to deep nuclearization and a national day of mourning in russia funerals have begun for the sixty four people who died in a deadly shopping mall fire in siberia many of the dead were children. i'm for golf it's good to have you with us tonight on the streets of paris they are remembering a woman brutally murdered in her apartment last week eighty five year old holocaust survivor marie no thousands took to the streets in her memory and to protest. against a wave of anti-semitic attacks across france there have been reports of isolated scuffles firefighters discovered noles partially burned body after being called to a fire in her apartment in the east of paris she had been stabbed several times police have arrested a neighbor and another suspect. lisa lewis has been following the march for d w she sent us this report that lots of it jewish people here also non jewish people but they are saying you know we feel our country is under attack jews gentleman from the nor

and xi jinping, will he be china's president for life? the chinese national people's congress looks poised to make that possible. how is that being received in china? what does it mean for the rest of the world? two top experts will discuss. also, we were warned about jihadis returning to america from syria. so what happened? we have the answer. then on the eve of the academy awards -- >> mom and dad, my black boyfriend will be coming up this weekend. >> is hollywood finally changing its ways? we will examine diversity in america's biggest soft power industry, the movies. but first, here's my take. amid the usual trump reality show in washington this week, it would be easy to miss what is happening in china. but it is huge and consequential. china is making the most significant change to its political system in 35 years. what impact will this have on china and the world? that's the question every policymaker, business executive, and investor should be asking. in 1982, the chinese communist party wrote its into its constitution that the pr

how powerful has xi become? >> xi's about to have a good month.morrow, the chinese parliament or equivalent kicks off a series of meetings where they are expected to vote on extending president xi's term limit, just started his second, and he could be looking at another ten years in office. at the same time, the parliament is expected to approve a new anti-corruption body. president xi has arrested about a thousand party officials in china over the past several years under the guides of an anti-corruption. there's suspicion he uses the notion of anti-corruption to lock up political rivals. when the parliament votes on the new body, xi probably will have the authority to target people outside of the communism party. i think another 62 million people, so we could see him going into anti-corruption overdrive and target ordinary chinese he does not agree with orments to silence saying they are corrupt and put them in jail. >> i feel so much smarter now, thanks for that. good to see you. >>> for more now analysis, go to cnn.com. in the meantime, we're

why does xi jinping need the title of president any longer?then move behind the curtain? xijinping has had lots of years in the sun, but this is a man who grew up in the isolated compound. he is the son of one of the great ten marshals in china who founded chinese communism. so he grew up with this entitlement that he belongs to that elite, and he sees duty, perhaps his destiny, to rule china and to rule china with absolute power. yet his supporters would say that's not fair, that this is a man with a vision, it's a vision for a huge country, a superpower on the rise, and it will take time and central control to put that vision in place, and that's why he needs to stay on in power longer than his allotted ten years. the problem with personalised leadership is that then you are discounting all the institutions which china doesn't have very many to begin with, and then you create this leadership that would be more risky in terms of policy—making. what was to say, xi jinping could decide to push the red button one day. and it creates, in the long

since the 19th congress of the communist party last october, it was already clear that xi jinping hade is officially confirmed that he will not only not give up power, he will not only not give up power, he will not even give up office. will we notice any difference? if you have one strong man who rules in china not just you have one strong man who rules in china notjust for a you have one strong man who rules in china not just for a decade, you have one strong man who rules in china notjust for a decade, but for a longer, does that make any difference to the future of china? a longer, does that make any difference to the future of china ?|j think it will make a huge difference to china's future. in the previous 25 years, the communist party of china on the whole have a very impressive record in getting most of its major policies right. it is a system that cannotjust muddle through, it has to get policies right. the scope for debate within the party has been widened in the last 25 years. that has now been reversed. the scope for discussion and debate will be narrowed. when that happen

is open to giving up his nuclear weapons china correspondent adrian brown reports from beijing for xi jinping this was a diplomatic triumph he told us president donald trump now the first world leader to beat kim jong un. chinese state controlled media waited until kim was back home before confirming what officials had tried so hard to deny just a day earlier. in the great hall of the people kim and his wife were welcomed like old friends appearance is important at times like this she opted for a business suit whereas kim stuck to the look favored by his father and grandfather the wives of both men were present during most of the photo opportunities. visits like this are all about symbolism for she it served as a reminder that china still holds sway over its neighbor and intends to be at the center of diplomatic efforts to achieve a nuclear free korean peninsula. it's not clear what made him come to beijing or indeed what incentives he may have been offered to do so but china remains north korea's only real friend and ally so it's fair to assume the president xi jinping might want to

the move effectively allows president xi to remain in powerfor life. chancellor rejects calls by labour to announce the end of austerity in his spring statement on tuesday. and have you ever signed an online petition to parliament? the week in parliament will be discussing if they actually make a difference. that's in half an hour. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. up to 500 people in salisbury who went to the same pub and restaurant as a poisoned russian spy and his daughter are being advised to wash their clothes and clean any possessions they handled while there. england's chief medical officer, dame sally davies, stressed the risk from the nerve agent was extremely low. the advice is aimed at those who visited zizzi restaurant and the mill pub in salisbury, as the investigation into the poisoning of sergei and yulia skripal continues. the pair remain critically ill in hospital. i want to reassure the general public the risks to us all from this incident in salisbury has not changed, and remains low based on the evidence we have, as i said on

and you're at the listening post here are some of the stories we're following this week the rise of xi jinping and the part the chinese news media have played in that the coverage of the head tell me the palestinian who doesn't fit the mold the two biggest media companies in the world comcast and disney both want big pieces of rupert murdoch's media empire and celebrity journalism the dark side the indian news media on the death of a hollywood electorate the news release was nondescript bordering on the routine given the kind of news being delivered it came from china's state owned news service and simply said that the communist party proposes to abolish term limits on the presidency paving the way for president xi jinping to stay in office as long as the party is willing to keep him there the reaction online was instant and critical but those posts were quickly censored none of the criticism made it into china's mainstream media state owned outlets which make up the bulk of the news landscape in china swung into propaganda mode singing she's praises stressing the importance of his lea

live from doha also coming up china's people's congress meets to make changes that could see president xi jinping stay in power for life. a bloc of right wing parties leads the way in italy's election but projections say no one will win enough seats to govern the loan. and the investigation into interference in the u.s. presidential election now includes the united arab emirates. hello the united states has accused russia of killing civilians in syria's eastern hooter saying it carried out twenty bombings a day late last month. it is america's strongest accusation yet into russia's role in a syrian government offensive in the rebel held area more than six hundred forty people have been killed over the past two weeks syrian president bashar al assad has vowed to continue with the airstrikes but at same time he says troops will open the way for civilians to leave as said has also denied using chemical weapons about four hundred thousand people are trapped inside eastern huta with little food and basic supplies that are said has dismissed those reports as a ridiculous lie by the west he says

for today, xi jinping was meeting with south korea's national security director. the envoy arriving to beijing to brief president xi and chinese officials on the proposed talks with north korea. he apparently heaped praise on china for backing the dialog to this point, though china has been on the sidelines over the past several days since president trump's hasty decision to accept that offer to talk with kim jong-un by may. south korea will continue on to japan where it will try to get further support for the inter-korean talks that are slated for next month. frances? >> thank you. >>> usually slick ice means slow down but not for these men and women competing in a ice championship in canadas this weekend. the skaters nafb navigate the turns and drops through the city. impressive all the way around to do one of those, but to do the whole thing. >> they make it look so easy. i'm sure it's disaster waiting to happen for anyone else. >> nbc meteorologist bill karins watching another possible nor'easter again. really? >> two big storms on both coasts, northeast going