Africa faces its worst drought in decades. Now we begin in saudi arabia where 2 of the most high profile members of the royal family have been detained they offer him a crown Prince Mohammed bin nayef and prince ahmed bin. The younger brother of the saudi king now according to the wall street journal they have been arrested for processing against king sound and crown Prince Mohammed bin reports suggest they have been accused of treason and could face life imprisonment or the Death Penalty both could have rivaled crown Prince Mohammed bin salman for the throne when king solomon dies saudi gods have also arrested one of mohammed bin nayef brothers well al jazeera Senior Correspondent alex planes just what these detentions mean for the kingdom and the impact on saudi politics. In terms of his significance its huge because were talking about true of the most senior members of the saudi royal family and true that up until now have not been seen as supporters of crown prince may have been someone in the direction that hes been taking the country both domestically and in terms of Foreign Policy whats printed it is very difficult to ascertain needless to say because saudis are very close culture in terms of back of transparency and no Media Freedom there but also whats peculiar about it is that these are 2 figures who have theyve been under house arrest they havent been able to move freely for a very long time so the idea that maybe they were trying to hatch some sort of coup is very far fetched and difficult to see considering the restraints they were under already more likely than not whats a lot of analysts are talking about is that the current king solomon is somebody who has been reportedly suffered from dementia for many years hes unwell his health is very frail so is this a sign that he has either passed or is about to and now for the crown prince needs to ensure that there are no obstacles in his way in terms of succession so now have been some man was able to get the u. S. True ditch its long term ally in if the person hes arrested and supports him and his god unconditional support from this Current Us Administration hes managed to sideline the religious institution either by coopting them onto his side or by arresting many of them including people like some others but the royal courts the royal family he has failed to exert his total control over even after he managed to do things like rounding a lot of senior members of the world family in the ritz carlton that famous case in the end of 2007 there were still those figures like the only other child of the founding King Abdul Aziz that is a human being somebody who didnt support him as well as his cousin and the nephew of the current king hamad bin. Well he is the executive director of arab sent to washington d. C. And he says the detention seemed like an attempt by the crown prince to consolidate his power and in some of who is the most senior of thats 3 and has actually overseas for many years came back couple of years ago to kind of try to calm things down. After b. S. Took over and there were some. Kind of turmoil and within the whole young family. And of course the the previous crown prince and his brother were also involved in these 3 other arrests the accusation of course. Or the implication is that there was an attempt at a coup i dont think the possibility of a coup is even. Hes a mole at this time in terms of where the military is and its potential participation and that i think this is another 10 by moment been some month to kind of exert in a paranoid way his full control over the kingdom that finitely there are some kinds of rumors and innuendoes dead terrorist term or within the family in the form of criticism that doesnt justify 1st of all the accusation itself that day concert you just read in the form of a coup and to justify this type of step you know being arrested like criminals with mass Security Forces coming to their homes and yanking him out of their private residences so this is this is not the saudi arabia we all knew for 56 or definitely 10 or 20 years ago. Now south korea is reporting a 174. 00 new coronavirus cases that brings the total number of infections to more than 6 and a half 1044. 00 people have died from the virus there so far people have been frantically buying mosques and stocks in korea are running low and thats prompted the government to limit sales to 2 pet person each week how correspond rather bright is in seoul for us with more on how that rationing of face masks is working everybody here it seems believes the masks are providing a degree of protection you go into the streets here in seoul and its very difficult to see anybody not wearing them yes there is various advice about when you sure do and shouldnt wear masks but the optimally if you are wearing disposable mask you should be disposing of them every day well south korea simply hasnt got the stock of mass to allow allow that to happen this is why we are now seeing this rationing and the way it works is everybody here has an Identity Card and depending on what the last few digits are of your Identity Card number you will be given a particular day of the week when you can go and visit a pharmacy and at that pharmacy you can then get your 2 masks that are meant to last the week and the government is giving all kinds of advice on just to make those 2 masks last for a full week its also taking other pretty severe action it is stopped completely now the exports of any masks outside of south korea and were also hearing about raids on warehouses and Trading Companies that apparently have been stockpiling millions of marsland the government forcing those marks to be distributed through pharmacies so everybody can at least have access to masks these restrictions of people are going along with it theyre not very happy about it but as we said everybody here believes masks are protecting them and theyre willing to stand in line. Well chinas economy is being hit hard by the current virus as factories are closed and workers told to stay at home new figures show that exports tumbled by 17. 2 percent in the year to january lets go live now to david pollan whos got all the latest for us from Hong Kong David those are some pretty striking numbers that were seeing and there are warnings that this is going to continue. Thats right now chinese exports for february january and february fell nearly 20 percent now i just want to point out this is the 1st time were getting a clearer picture of the impact of coronavirus these numbers usually come out every month but because of the shutdown they did not put out these numbers in january so this is going to be a huge concern for the Chinese Government as you mentioned its mainly because factories have shut down and people can go to work time has been in a massive lockdown as you know people have been stopped from going to work most of industry in china came to a complete halt in china is known as the factory of the world now chinas economy though its not fully export live which is good news for the Chinese Government only its a large number but 20 percent of chinas g. D. P. Relies on exports it will take a huge hit it is a huge blow for the chinese economy and the Chinese Government at this point david weve also been seeing panic in the markets hows that playing out on the streets there. Well the main thing the stars is people are concerned about the long term effects of the panic in the market the markets been reacting in going up and down if you notice is talk markets in recent weeks have slumped massively and then they suddenly shot up when they expected a stimulus to the Different Countries to put in their stimulus measures to try and revive the economy so weve seen a very very volatile market now the main concern for the Chinese Government and its people its the Long Term Health of the economy so were seeing them recover from somewhat from the coronavirus but the question is can its economy make that kind of a turnaround china is already suffering from the u. S. China trade war they had just signed just the ink was just drawing on the phase one trade deal there was some light at the end of the tunnel and then corona virus hit and that shut down industries across the board now people are coming back to work theyre trying to get businesses back online china has given a directive to areas that havent been locked down that people should be. Restarting coming back into the workplace and factories should start running again but theres another problem there arent enough parts because its been such a huge shut down and the other big concern for the chinese economy and for people of china aside from the workforce is daily woes as they come into work and many of them have been laid off is the fact now that the rest the current virus is affecting the rest of the world so will the rest of the world still demond as much from china now or and also during the shutdown have they found alternative sources for what they need rather than relying on china for morse most of their goods and Services David appalling there on the ground for us and hong kong thank you so much given. Well the proportion of people who have died after contracting the corona virus is being disputed the World Health Organization says its around 3. 4 percent but some Health Experts believe that number would be much lower if more people were being tested out of there as katrina you spoke to a resident who was considered asymptomatic he didnt know he was infected until he had the test. Daily mail delivery the other highlight of his day the 100 and has recovered from the current of ours but he has to stay quarantine at this hotel for 2 weeks he says getting infected came as a surprise. I almost had 0 symptoms i studied a few times and it was a few days thats all i always want to sleep but i was never feeling too bad. Jenn is considered a symptomatic displaying few or no specific symptoms his parents also caught the virus his mother had a fever but his father also had very few symptoms after 2 weeks at a makeshift hospital and without undergoing any treatment change and tested negative for the illness former World Health Organization official. Says asymptomatic patients are not unusual. Weve seen that everywhere all over the word these people test positive by showing those symptoms if we group them as patients after the tested positive with have too many patients they are not strictly patients but rather the virus carriers. While the corona virus can cause pneumonia and lead to other Health Complications Health Officials say 80 percent of people who catch the current virus only have mild symptoms experts say this means asymptomatic patients may go untested and can spread the illness without knowing but there is good news the good news is many people who dont show symptoms develop the ability develop people develop this immunity the epidemic eventually will slowly disappear medical experts are still learning about the severity of the virus but those over the age of 60 and with other Underlying Health concerns appear to be the worst affected change says his experience shows theres no need for people to be too alarmed this is a bad thing for the whole society but as individuals we dont all have to panic for me i didnt feel. I had no fever it was a better than a cold with a week left in quarantine hes looking forward to leaving the hotel and daily food deliveries behind. You al jazeera beijing now u. S. Vice president mike pence says 21. 00 people on board a cruise ship off San Francisco have now tested positive for the current virus the grand princess is being held offshore while a 3 and a half 1000 passengers and crew are tested at least 35 people had reported for like symptoms on friday test kits were flown to the grand princess after the ship presented to corona virus cases from an earlier voyage. Now still ahead on aljazeera as eisel fighters take advantage of an uncertain situation in Northern Iraq we meet the villages left alone to defend themselves. A new generation of thai protesters well tell you about the backlash following the ban on the Opposition Party. Hello and welcome to International Weather forecast lets start in europe weve got some mild conditions across eastern areas still moscow up at 12 to greese average this time of year should be about one i care also several degrees above average may want to cross more Western Areas still looking Brown Southall another frontal system pushing towards the u. K. Bringing some heavy rain to parts of southern ireland meanwhile fine conditions across much of spain the wind having died down as well very windy here places over the last few days as a move the forecast through into sunday and see that rain sweeping on through the u. K. Into the channel coastline the fronts. Scenarios seeing some fine weather conditions vienna the sunshine and 9 rome should be generally fine with a mix of 15 but it still remains on settle around some of these balkan states with the risk of places snow lets move into north and central parts of africa so iran the gulf of guinea region lots of showers coming through over the next few days to 16 all the way from Lagos Nigeria to freetown in sierra leone but also notice the winds pretty much cooler conditions along the coast of north africa weve seen a big drop in temperatures for tonight for tripoli and that is going to extend in towards benghazi as we head through sunday with highs of just 19. Hours that sees for the blinds and a robotic arm for the disabled. Young australian engineers inventing tools to help people gain independence. And. Also. Women make Science Group of gals episode 4 on aljazeera. Hello again im just. A reminder of our top stories this hour 2 high profile members of the royal family have been detained in saudi arabia they a former crown Prince Mohammed bin nayef and prince of made bin saudi the younger brother of the saudi king. South korea is reporting a 174. 00 new coronavirus cases bringing the total number of infections to more than 6 and a half 1000 people there have been frantically by mosques and thats prompted the government to limit sales to 2 person a week. The corona Virus Outbreak has hit chinas exports and imports cause causing severe disruption to manufacturing while white customers days are shows exports shrunk by more than 17 percent in january and february compared to the same period last year. Now turkeys defense minister says the ceasefire is Holding Around it to province in the old and syria the agreement brokered by turkey and russia has ended as strikes for the 1st time in months but there have been reports of some fighting in southern parts of the province between Syrian Government forces and a section of the opposition now many syrians believe the truce may not last for long. And the union is how much supposed to believe theres a truce if im listening to the sound of jets and theres no real truce well im out of it by the fed what im not a too hopeful regarding the agreement im not expecting anything from it those people dont respect any commitments. Regarding the agreement we dont feel at all reassured they didnt meet our aspirations and desires it wont hold because there have been many agreements and that the regime hasnt respected and it wont respect this one either well turkey and russia say theyll establish a 12 kilometer wide Security Card all along syrias m 4 highway that cuts across rebel strongholds but there are doubts about just how far they can cooperate and syria has them all bar reports from hot say in the attack u. S. Border with syria. The rebels were hoping that. With the backing of turkey they would be able to regain those areas hold mothers and moment more work and the strategic city of that didnt happen in this explains their frustration over the terms of the agreement signed between turkey and russia but look it says in general this is this was a good agreement because it will protect the borders it will protect the turkish Army Operating in the it will pave the way for those resettlement of the hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced since the start of the Syrian Government offensive in december and it will also pave the way for more cooperation with the joint patrols between the russians and the turks in the in 2 weeks from now on both sides of the highway in for. But then we have to wait and see to what to what level can the turks and the russians bring their cooperation as far as live is concerned that would be indicative of whether this is fire will continue to hold or will collapse of the 2 parties have signed deals with the bass of those deals collapse with the syrian army decided it was about time to move forward to retake the strategic city of because it is the rebels the last major stronghold in syria well migrants attempting to cross the border from turkey into greece have been hit with tear gas as riot police from both sides tried to keep them away tens of thousands of people have been trying to cross into police since last week when turkey declared its borders with the European Union and greece has been trying to repel them saying there is trying to enter are doing so illegally. Now there are growing reports of attacks by eisel fighters on towns in iraq as the group takes advantage of an uncertain security situation there in january Iraqs Parliament called for foreign troops to be expelled after iranian general custom sort of money was killed in a u. S. Airstrike simona fault and met with villages in Northern Iraq who have been left alone to defend themselves. Overlooking the tigris river iraqs mccoll mountain seemed peaceful at least on 1st glance but the crevices and caves up above have become a refuge for islip fighters and the villages below the target for their complaint of terror last month members of isis set up a fake checkpoint and opened fire to people. When they were returning home from work i saw and they attacked them one of them was badly hurt and the other suffered light injuries. Well the. Villagers stay up at night to keep watch they say its the only way to protect themselves theres no army no police only on the main road this land is open all the way to syria so anyone who wants to come can come. Until late last year at the u. S. Led coalition and their iraqi partners conducted regular air raids in this area forcing eisel into hiding but since tensions between the u. S. And iran escalated on iraqi soil earlier this year those operations have largely stopped and i saw has taken advantage its areas like these honeycombed with river beds and surrounded by mountains that offer ideal terrain for eisel to operate in during the day but at night they emerge from their hideouts to terrorize the population villagers here say they have noticed an uptick in iceland citing since coalition activities came to hold in january as a result of growing u. S. Iran tensions. Useless family survived in iceland tak last month they are now staying in their relatives home in the nearby town for the moment going back is not safe they were targeted because her husband the our village chief an arabic cooperates with Security Forces has suffered a broken jaw and serious injuries to his stomach had not in months the incident was very terrifying theres no security in our area its finished from dinner time until the morning were watching you never sleep i swear the families arent sleeping. You start daughter the ha was shot in the leg during the attack. The army is trying to do their duty but they dont manage to contain the security situation we want more support for them because the army cant control the villages at all support that until recently came from the u. S. Led coalition minnesota there mark when we heard the sound of the american airplanes we know its safe. Its unclear when or if correlation activities will fully resume this climate of uncertainty office Fertile Ground for eisel with iraq civilians once again paying the price see want to fall to an al jazeera in the than iraq. Thailand could be facing another round of place and rest with a band Opposition Party calling for more protests and its widespread rallies from students that may be more concerning for the government which critics say is not democratically elected when he reports. When University Campuses around thailand there is a political awakening underway students representing a new generation of thai protest is a coming out to call for the removal of a government still largely run by military generals who staged a coup in 2014 when it took them on and it got that woman this is just the beginning at that moment students have come out to express that awesome concern we just started to show our strength in numbers and. They have many concerns but the catalyst for the protests was a Court Decision 2 weeks ago to ban a popular Opposition Party a decision widely seen as politically motivated as. Well large scale student protests are rare in thailand so not towards university has a history of political activism and was the scene of one of the countrys darkest days in 1976 dozens of students were gunned down and murdered on the campus of tom assad university theyd been protesting against the return to thailand of a former military ruler whod been overthrown 3 years earlier it was here that the Security Forces began their assault on thomas a university more than 43 years ago firing through the fence at students the message is still a sensitive subject in thailand today which is why the government may be particularly concerned about students from this university playing a leading role in the current protests protests which are again to an extent about an army general the current Prime Minister who led the 2014 coup got the award earlier this week. Said he wouldnt answer the medias questions about politics or protests and instead chose to warn protest is about coronavirus. Any protester Public Assembly if you can please perspire in it if you insist on holding your protest please make sure you take all the necessary precautions thats just a scare tactic say critics like this film a student whos been supporting the protests through art designing stick is to handouts he says other problems like thailand stuttering economy will see the protests grow way beyond the universities now sport is getting bigger from the student but we have to have. People to come to to support them. At the protests some have also risked long jail terms by expressing even subtle disapproval of thailands powerful royal family the introduction of those sensitive messages adds another potentially provocative and dangerous element to a protest movement thats just getting underway wayne hay al jazeera bangkok ah now u. S. President omar trump has announced the appointment of a new white house chief of staff republican representative mark meadows will take over from Mick Mulvaney who has been acting in the position for the past year of any will now be washingtons special envoy to northern ireland. Amnesty international is calling for the Immediate Release of Peaceful Protesters in algeria after a new wave of demonstrations there thousands rallied in the capital algiers on friday continuing a yearlong protest calling for the removal of the ruling elite and sweeping reforms amnesty says more than 70 people have been arbitrarily arrested. Now Southern Africa is suffering its worst drought in decades zimbabwe is one of the countrys worst affected many families there are struggling with almost daily water shortages and thats adding to the hardships theyre facing as the country deals with rampant inflation and the shrinking economy reports where. In zimbabwe 2nd city the supply of piped water from the city council is unreliable that means they sometimes have to use untreated water these women uses for washing and flushing toilets if they have to drink it they will boil it 1st in some suburbs supplies are often cut off for days at a time when the supply is turned on with lindsay make several trips to the communal tap to stock up she says a neighborhood can sometimes go a whole week without water and she doesnt want to use any thats not clean and safe getting water in the holes doesnt make us feel cold because that water is not here at the lake this person to reach so many people is suffering from still much so i believe it. Was some of the people they drink that water some they use it for. Saw it is a big challenge that were living in cold to. Like other parts of Southern Africa zimbabwe is experiencing its worst drought in years city Authorities Say rationing is necessary it. Is implemented. In program to try and have. Digital that we have straight to receive enough as we all need. Say myriad region where we receive very little rain from this year its really critical we havent received the referee fals grateful for it. Some dams have stopped operating since the water fell below pumping levels the remaining still functional a critically low the rainy season started late this year and even then has been erratic a new dam is being built about 100 kilometers from away or Authorities Say it will draw water directly from this and the z. River but its still a long way from being completed part of the problem is a source of foreign currency and have always worsening economic crisis zimbabwes already grappling with shortages of fuel medicines electricity and some basic commodities many here say corruption and mismanagement in government and opposition one minister pellet hes is also to blame the few who can afford it buy a water privately or drill boreholes but for millions of others that is not an option. Aljazeera. Says al jazeera and these are the headlines 2 of the most high profile members of the saudi royal family have been detained they are former crown Prince Mohammed bin nayef and prince ahmed been under as is our saudi the younger brother of the saudi king now according to the wall street journal they have been arrested for plotting against and crown Prince Mohammed bin salam reports suggest theyve been accused of treason and could face life imprisonment or the Death Penalty berth could have rivaled crown Prince Mohammed bin solomon from the throne when king dies saudi guards of also arrested one of mohammed bin nayef brothers jamal explains why the reported arrests are so significant. Its huge because of the positioning of these 2 figures within the royal family their seniority both in terms of lineage but also in terms of positions held some form of benign have been the former crown prince being head of the intelligence before he was somebody that had Great Respect and commanded a lot of respect both domestically within the royal family within the religious institutions but also internationally with the United States and other countries and obviously not lizzies being the only other son of the late king faisal and being a significant figure with respect south korea is reporting a 174. 00 new coronavirus cases bringing the total number of infections to more than 6 and a half 1044. 00 people have died from the virus there so far people have been frantically buying mosques and stocks are running low and thats prompted the government to limit sales to 2 per person per week while the corona Virus Outbreak has hit chinas exports and imports hard causing severe disruption to manufacturing worldwide customs daters exports by about 17 percent in january and february analysts predict the situation were only get worse in the coming months. Turkeys defense minister says the ceasefire is Holding Around in the province in Northern Syria the agreement brokered by turkey and russia has ended as strikes for the 1st time in months but there have been reports of some fighting in southern parts of the province between Syrian Government forces and the opposition. Well those are the headlines do stay with us on aljazeera next up its inside story. Americans live side by side in 2 parallel universes the trouble parts of america are getting trampy are there is a poll out a few weeks ago that you had almost 30 percent of americans believing they were on the cusp of civil war both sides accuse each other of doing things that are so blatantly wrong the bottom line on u. S. Politics and policies and their effect on the world. Investigating war crimes in afghanistan the i. C. C. Has now cleared the way for an inquiry into the allegations and the u. S. Is angry so can justice be done in this war torn country and the politics at play this is inside story. Hello and welcome to the program im peter davi the International Criminal court has authorized an investigation into possible war crimes committed in afghanistan an appeal by the i. C. C. As chief prosecutor to open sudha was approved after being rejected last year hes ations of atrocities committed by u. S. Soldiers the taliban
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