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

because xi jinping is all-powerful at this point. the state is all-powerful, and there is no room for dissent. i guarantee right now the cnn signal here in china is being blacked out, if you were staying in a hotel in china, it would be black because any time there is an open and honest conversation about whether xi jinping staying in power for life is actually a good thing for the world's second-most-important country, the government here doesn't want to see that. >> they don't hesitate to black out media coverage, that certainly doesn't look like something that will change under xi jinping as he continues here. what about the region? does this have the region concern the? concerned? >> i think what other countries are going to be looking at this situation is perhaps a good thing and a bad thing. the good thing, you know who you're dealing with and there is stable leadership. if you're planning to be talking about china in 2025, you can pretty much bet xi jinping is still going to be in power barring some unforeseen circumstance, th

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

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

way for xi jinping to get rid of his political opponents. but there is certainly going a lot of dissent with this move in the country, a fear of returning to one man rule. the years under mall sanung in this country, the cultural revolution in the mid '60s, going into the '70s, those were horrific years for china. that was a brutal dictatorship. the country was run by the whims of one man that led to dire consequences. no one is arguing that xi jinping is like that, but people here have long memories and remember what those days were like and there is a fear that a return to one-man rule could have serious consequences not only right now but also when xi jinping begins to leave office, who will succeed him, what will that process look like, that has a lot of people nervous here in china. >> matt rivers for us there. thank you, matt. >>> a u.s. president donald trump visited the state of pennsylvania to try to help a republican candidate in a tight congressional race. >> but that speech quickly turned into a campaign stop with mr. trump on a

well, now we have xijinping we have xi jinping who was already so we have xi jinping who was already so powerful. 0ne we 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 wou

we have seen a xi jinping's head of the peoples bank of china. we have seen a xijinping'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 st

chinese president's close political ally wang chih chandler's been voted in as vice president xi jinping also being 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. opium production in afghanistan has been on the rise since the us invasion in two thousand and one last year nine thousand tons were produced an increase of eighty seven per cent tony birthday reports from kabul where record numbers of people are turning to drugs in desperation. in afghanistan there is a level below rock bottom it's where these lifeless expressionist drug addicts exist men who lost dignity a long time ago they've been rounded up and herded into one of the country's biggest drug rehabilitation units in kabul. these are the other victims of this never ending war collateral damage if you like people who have lost loved ones lost jobs lost hope and their numbers are growing in afghanistan every day the forty five day program of this former military warehouse complex is basic and caters for nine hundred pat

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

when it appears kind of a stand in for xi jinping i guess it's because she likes short and pudgy we saw means of winnie the pooh being crowned king winnie the pooh holding a honey pot with the message if you find something you better stick with it so kind of funny but they're also subversive and they were censored pretty quickly but it's important to note that chinese internet users are not for the general population because people who use social media tend to be more educated they tend to be urban and so that is not really representative of the population at large. so within chinese society has become quite diversified different people have different opinions it's a sign of a sophisticated society with waves and we chat being so advanced these days you hear many different voices and there's nothing wrong with that however in traditional chinese culture there is a need for a guiding voice a leading will so the official press has to convey the significance behind the amendments to. constitution. the chinese media space has a recent history of opening up slightly only to close again based

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 diplomatic developments. great reporting there. thank you. >>> president trump securing a trade deal with south koreay with moving a divisive detail after the trade talks. the revised talks, many key changes help u.s. car companies like new rules on emissions standards and doubling the number of cars they can export to south korea to 50,000 per year. no u.s. automaker exported more than 11,000 cars last year, mainly due to consumer taste, not trade barriers. south korean drivers prefer smaller fuel-efficient cars. it exempts south korea from trump's steel tariffs but limits how much it can export. south korea is the third biggest supplier

xi jinping has huge projects which he wants to push. the party has been saying this will allow our strong leader to go ahead and really keep going and to achieve success with these big projects. term limits come with problems for any government. they create a lame duck out of a leader inafinalterm. create a lame duck out of a leader in a final term. this would allow him to escape that. he's done away with a lot of his opponents. they are ina with a lot of his opponents. they are in a weak position. he felt he was in the power position right now and could push this through. we haven't heard anything really in terms of criticism from other international leaders. could this backfire for xijinping? international leaders. could this backfire for xi jinping7|j international leaders. could this backfire for xi jinping? i think so. i think he is in a tricky position. 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

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 progress against what he calls terroris

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

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

the chinese president's close political ally wangi shang has been voted in as vice president xi jinping is also being confirmed for a second term with unanimous support the national people's congress approves a government reshuffle at its annual meeting in beijing. dozens of people have been killed in their strikes in two areas of syria in rebel held east and go to a market was hit leaving more than seventy people dead and activists say fifteen others died when turkish forces bombed the only functioning hospital in kurdish controlled a free. egyptians living abroad are casting their votes for who they want as president but the elections being dismissed as a fix by some in the opposition after several candidates were arrested or intimidated into putting out some experts say they're not going to bother voting jibber towns he reports from washington d.c. . not everyone who came to vote in washington d.c. as a gyptian embassy were aware of the opposition boycott of the presidential election but all of those we spoke to were strong supporters of incumbent president abdel fattah el-sisi what

absolutely right so this is a real diplomatic triumph for president xi jinping he has pulled off a coup on the world stage just weeks after he was cemented his position as china's most powerful leader in more than four decades because it is he and not president donald trump who has become the first world leader to meet kim jong un and remember this was not just kim jong un's first visit to china it was his first visit outside of the country since becoming that country's leader more than six years ago the two leaders talked and that talking is going to continue china is hopeful now that the momentum from this visit will continue. so he was here after all chinese state controlled media waited until kim jong un 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 jong un and his wife were welcomed like old friends by president xi jinping a brief greeting in korean was the only time kim's voice was heard. appearance is important at times like this kim looked like an old style communist leader where is she opted for a

the amendment allows president xi jinping to punch day in office for life why this cold around she. well he has been very clever in strengthening of his power by creating this cult of personality at the time time and on to corruption campaign has allowed him to get rid of his opponent oco image within the party. allowing him a lot of the most power and he'd had in the past forty years i think this cause of course nies here around him that we might many people off mullets of don't is his way to ensure his is position them his leadership with his fold small included in the constitution that's another major amendment anybody who criticizes him criticizes the party so his position is now very very strong. and these decisions that since i've been taken today to strengthen the government that strengthen the party what do they say about the direction that china is taking. what i think anybody was expecting met with growing whether china would become more liberal should live on the standby knowledge base hope is over that's very clear we are seeing we are going to be seeing more also retire

mostll have xi jinping's trusted economic deputy and xi jinping himself. course ofhe normal problems the pboc 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 a

jinping in beijing. they're all conflicting reports over who is in control of the northern syrian city of tal or if as turkish troops close in on it ten days after taking the kurdish enclave of a frame. and a french police officer killed off to trading places with a hostage has been posthumously awarded the legion dollar the city's highest and. but it isn't a chip have just a few hours left to cast their ballots in the presidential election with a fine it's the third and final day of voting but authorities are concerned turnout has been low president abdel fattah el-sisi is expected to win a second four year term is only opponent. is a supporter who's made no effort to campaign against him all of the serious challenges were forced to pull out of the race or were arrested with several international rights groups calling the election a fungus a lost senior political analyst mo and bashar and joins me now live in the studio to talk about this thanks for coming in and why all this half it really by the presi

since taking power seven years ago ken met with chinese president xi jinping jaring a surprise visit to beijing chinese state media described the talks as a success with kim saying he's open to giving up his nuclear weapons china correspondent jim brown reports from beijing for xi jinping this was a diplomatic triumph he not u.s. president donald trump now the first world leader to meet kim jong un the 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 bei

making him the most powerful leader since chairman mao president xi jinping has one priority right now and that is to overhaul china's communist party to make it fit for purpose but what we are also seeing is not so much a one party state as one man rule president xi jinping is not just president he's also head of the military as well as party chief but a lot of people are asking why the president is doing this now because he's only just into the second term of his presidency he perhaps wants to send a warning to his rivals that isn't to be around for a long time critics argue that president xi jinping is now building a personality called indoctrinating the people with his political philosophy just as chairman mao did but his supporters argue the china faces many challenges right now and to confront those challenges china needs a strong leader and a united party. syrian government and russian air strikes have killed at least forty people on sas and injured dozens in rebel held eastern ghouta women and children are among the latest victims of the offensive to take the last remaining reb

the ambitious project was launched by chinese president xi jinping during a visit to kazakhstan in two thousand and thirteen. greenish only arc of what's being. shown will cause all. father and. jaguar whore well known kay young trunks in the throes of march. well you can change your search hole gentle back. it's all for you and. the void to me that. the new silk road planned by xi jinping runs for ten thousand kilometers on road and on rail it crosses western china kazakhstan russia and will run all the way to europe it's a huge construction site. but what are china's true intentions behind this mega project. the minivan and in my opinion this project will change the development of the economy and society but it will definitely have long term geopolitical implications to g.m. . the new silk road crosses central asia the russian sphere of influence. bloody near putin and xi jinping regularly affirm their geo strategic alliance but this new chinese project could have a massive impact on the relationship between the two countries and in the long term it could do the same to the power bal

making him the most powerful leader since chairman mao president xi jinping has one priority right now and that is to overhaul china's communist party to make it that the purpose of what we're also seeing is not so much a one party state as one man rule president xi jinping is not just president he's also head of the military as well as party chief but a lot of people are asking why the president is doing this now because he's only just into the second term of his presidency he perhaps wants to send a warning to his rivals that he's not be around for a long time critics argue that president xi jinping is now building a personality called indoctrinating the people with his political philosophy just as chairman mao did but his supporters argue the china faces many challenges right now and to confront those challenges china needs a strong leader and a united party syrian government and russian air strikes has killed at least forty people on saturday and injured dozens in rebel held. women and children are among the latest victims in the offensive to take the last remaining rebel stronghol

our top stories: all eyes on china's president xi jinping, as he wraps up the annual national people's congress and gets ready for his second term at the top. police in austin, texas hunt a serial bomber for the attacks in their city. four parcel bombs have gone off in recent days. investigators widen their search in the spy poisoning case, as international chemical weapons experts arrive in the uk. china's president xijinping is delivering a speech to close the annual session of the national people's congress. it's been a significant people's congress with the presidential term limits being lifted, in effect making xijingping ‘president for life', should he choose to. our correspondent stephen mcdonell is following the people's congress for us in beijing. as we began to weeks ago, we have finally reached the end. —— two weeks. absolutely. we have seen this historic congress come to an end, with an already powerful xi jinping in an even stronger position with the abolition of the two term limit on the president. he can now effectively stay on as leader for as long as he chooses.

china's national people's congress meets to make changes that could see president xi jinping stay in power for life. this may very well be the most sensitive asset ever to be housed in this facility and the winner is hollywood crowns its best picture of the year at the oscars. hello 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 but the same time he says troops will open the way for civilians to leave as that has also denied using chemical weapons. about four hundred thousand people are trapped inside eastern hooter with little food and basic supplies said has called those reports a ridiculous lie by the west he says his army is making progress against what he calls terrorists closure to you for there is no contradiction between our

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

why does xi jinping need the title of president any longer? can't he have his years in the spotlight and 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

hello china has released pictures of its president xi jinping holding a face to face meeting with the north korean leader kim jong il in beijing pyongyang state media is also reporting that chinese president has accepted an invitation from kim to visit north korea there had been widespread media speculation about the meeting on tuesday well beijing says kim is quote committed to getting rid of his country's nuclear weapons. we have two correspondents following the story we'll go to kathy novak in seoul shortly but first let's speak to adrian brown in beijing who will tell us why it took so long to confirm this meeting adrian. i think it's fair to assume this was down to security reasons really when kim jong un's father and grandfather came to china their visits were only ever confirmed after they had left the country so i think it was mainly for security reasons in this era of political and diplomatic surprises we now have another xi jinping has demonstrated that like president trump he too is capable of surprises we have to remember that kim jong un and president xi jinping have not

china says north korea is prepared to abandon its nuclear program after a meeting between xi jinping and kim jong. il and so robin you're watching al-jazeera live my headquarters here in doha also coming up u.n. security council members trade blame and event frustrations over there and he did demand for a syrian cease fire. but there could be a difference in the referendum. you know had there not being in my view. the man who blew the whistle on the facebook data scandal testifies that dirty tricks were used in the u.k. so breaks it campaign plus. shark fishing is still big business here in indonesia i thought relations i declining and the government any increase its protection and that reporting from the french are making off. welcome to the program north korea's leader has met china's president on his first foreign trip since taking power seven years ago kim jong un's secretive meeting for the first time with xi jinping was revealed after it happened here's our china correspondent adrian brown with the latest from beijing. and so he was here after all chinese state controlled media

the vote was unanimous china's parliament confirmed xi jinping as president for a second term to allies to join him in office. frosty welcome for me and miles leader in australia the new legal push to have a prosecuted over the crisis while she's away from home. russia says thousands of civilians have left the eastern holter on the northern african region in the past few hours these are pictures from the russian department of defense which appears to. show the evacuations from eastern water thousands of people have left the rebel enclave as well as the northern city of a three in it comes after dozens of people were killed in intense airstrikes in both areas more than seventy people were killed at a market in eastern halter while activists say fifteen died in a turkish strike on a friend's only working hospital. the command of the syrian army urges all civilians to leave the areas under control of the extremist organizations through the safe corridor we affirm that we will continue to fulfill our national and constitutional duty to defend the nation until the return of security and stab

it allows president xi jinping to effectively remain as president for life. the paper says it's the first amendment to china's constitution in 1a years and won the almost unanimous support of lawmakers. and the straits times also features the story with this photograph of the chinese president casting his vote on the proposal that included the amendment to abolish the two—term limit to his the presidency. now, sharanjit, what stories are sparking discussions on line? 0ne one of my favourite films. yes, let's looks at what is trending right now. as we've been reporting, marvel‘s superhero film black panther has taken more than a billion us dollars at cinemas worldwide. the film has been widely praised as game—changing by many, including the likes of michelle 0bama, for having a largely black cast and a black director, ryan coogler. that story is popular on bbc.com. the first openly gay member of india's royalty is opening up his royal property to the lgbt community. gays in india are notjust discriminated against, homosexuality is also a criminal offence

this will allow president xi jinping to stay in power indefinitely. now on bbc news, it's dateline london.

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

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

this is detail to you news live from berlin and historic vote china's parliament hands president xi jinping free reign to rule indefinitely will the constitutional amendment mean a return to dictatorship for the asian superpower we go live to our correspondent in beijing also coming up. seven years since the fukushima nuclear disaster as people across japan to mark the anniversary to speak to those still coming to terms with the trauma. by michelle henery welcome to the program and historic vote in china today as the country's parliament amends the constitution to allow president xi jinping to rule indefinitely so far the presidency has been limited to two five year terms the amendment also calls for inserting she's personal political philosophy into the preamble of the constitution joining us now is the correspondent matteis bolinger in beijing. matthias the constitutional. amendment allows president xi jinping to remain in office forever is he becoming a new mouse a dog. not to something a lot of observers as a comparison a lot of observers have been drawn and the mill of chinese presiden

jinping to remain in office forever is he on his way to becoming the new now zad on. a lot of service have drawn some have see are seeing a lot of similarities between the two leaders what we can say is that. is the most powerful chinese president chinese leader since mouths that don't there's also a cult of personality evolving around him he has been given names by the by the propaganda that are very similar to the titles malo had at his time so there is a clear reference that she didn't ping is using to the great hams man as mao was called there is however a very big difference in style and personality between these two leaders mao was. chaotic leader who was very impulsive who used the masses called the masses to spontaneous protest against his adverse or is within the party where is she is it is a party leader he relies heavily on the party security apparent his he is a very cautious leader building a power center around himself eliminating his adverse series by using the organization the party itself and his anti graft body. and why did the communist party decide

one key meeting that xi jinping will have today is with envoys from south korea. they've arrived in beijing to brief the chinese leader on the proposed talks with north korea. china has long pushed negotiations between all sides. but they have been side lined in these latest developments. so they'll be selling the talks to the allies. >> certainly a difficult relationship to navigate. >> some dramatic foot an shows peta protesters. they ran on to the center stage of the dog show in birmingham, england. just as the best in show was being announced on live tv of the they were holding up posters to draw attention to the kennel club's breed standards which the animal rights group believes are harmful to the dogs. the winner was a whippet female dog. >> pretty chaos. storms turning deadly in the u.s. strong winds ripping across eastern texas, killing at least two people. one person died when that weather system hate camp ground. in another one, a tree came crashing down a mobile home. >>> wow. some unrest there weatherwise. good morning. >> we're about to have our thir

tom: president xi jinping wrapping up his comments. it was 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

jinping. that shows a tremendous amount of clout on the part of the chinese president doesn't it yes absolutely and it's very important that all involved actors now act responsibly and try to build trust and this shuttle diplomacy also between south korea and all the involved russia china japan and the u.s. was therefore very important and that's very important now that china also talks directly with the u.s. and look at these talks what do you think is the biggest risk right now to these talks. very bad coincidence that for example in the u.s. administration all of a sudden the hotline is take the seat and the whole process or that within north korea something happens that would have a bad result but that makes it so important that the people talk to each other and that the whole process is very transparent we heard also today from japan. there was this concern that. the talk is just being presented for the sake of talking and denuclearization is not the real goal do you think there's credibi