Exile. Two French Olympians are among ten day after a helicopter collision while filming a Reality Tv Show in argentina. Hundreds of police have been involved in violent confrontations with student protesters in myanmar. Students marching were hit with batons and some were dragged into police trucks. They were calling for more education and more freedom. Florence lee has more from myanmar. Reporter a tense standoff between protesters and police turns into a confrontation. For more than a week the protesters have been camping here a town 3 hours drive north. They are unhappy with the newly elected education law, which they say restricts Academic Freedom and bans them from forming unions. On tuesday local officials said they would allow students to march, but when the activists found out they wouldnt be allowed to hold banners and chant slow gansz along the way, they became angry. They tried to Breach Police lines, and dismantel a tent. It doesnt take long for the situation to descend into violence. Pro testers are dragged into police trucks. Police also attack a vehicle used by the demonstrators. Police have responded to some of the protests some held in solidarity with students with force. Last week several people were arrested. Officials admitted using a vigilante force. But it is seen as a tactic used by the former military government, to break up peaceful protests. Tuesdays crackdown comes as the u. N. Representative on human rights in myanmar says the country is sliding back. And it has got many questioning whether the transition from military to civilian rule is genuine. Joining us now to discuss the situation in myanmar is Gwen Robinson senior asian editor of the asia review from bang kong. Thank you so much for being with us. This new government was supposed to be more open. Why are we sees such a brutal crackdown on these protesters . Thats right. One very clear thing is there is a disconnect i think, between yanggon and what is coming out of the capitol. I notice that being used to help break up the protests were a form of paramilitary being reported as vigilante forces. It is a very negative development. Some pledges to be more aggressive. On the other hand ironically i would say this is one of the most negative aspects of what has been a genuine opening, which has allowed various groups including land holders, squatters, and also indeed religious extremists to get out there and campaign for their own issues. Are you suggesting sorry to interrupt you are you suggesting that the Central Government isnt control of the Security Forces that were watching right now beat these protesters . Well frankly i think there is an element of disconnect, but it is negative on both sides. Its the go the Central Government does know about what is going on and has power to stop this really excessive action on these students and thats a negative as well. If it is in control and ordering place to go in and break up what were relatively peaceful protests thats also a negative. So there is nothing positive one can say about this it is going to add immensely to the perception of backsliding and rolling back on earlier pledges of reform. Indeed. Sorry, go on. Of Course International community is watching this closely. Tell us about some of the reform if any at all, any changes since the end of outright military rule in myanmar is 2011. Were you saying are there any changes . Any changes, any major reforms taken by this new government . That is what is so baffling about what is going on right now, because this is not in this governments interest perfectly separate from any issues about basic human rights its not in this governments interest in the last six to seven months of its term but many positive things have happened. They have come a long way. Lets not forget that four years ago there was no parliament in the country, the leader was locked up under house arrest. She ran for parliament. She is in parliament. She is a force. One might say in this debate over the education reform proposals that are at the heart of these student protests we have not heard a great deal from her or her party, although one would expect something to be said after the events we have seen this week and some of the really disturbing video of police just beating unarmed students with sticks. I mean possibly ten to 15 years ago, thesing students would have been shot under previous previous military regime. That said previous military regimes never promised openness and reform whereas this particular administration of the president has lead people to believe that they would take a different approach, they were different. And that still does not detract from how far they have come from the really dark days i would say. As i said we have got parliament, but the government itself has implemented many reforms released Political Prisoners and so on. You mentioned the leader and of course she has been criticized for not speaking out on issues relating to minorities and so on. Would she speak out today after this brutal crackdown or is she under pressure somehow not to . Yes, she is under pressure and she has suffered quite a lot of criticism internationally recently for showing herself to be perhaps more of a cynical politician than people ever expected her to be. I mean my think view is frankly a lot of people around the world as well in myanmar idol idolized her, wanted her to make a big push to if not be president , at least be influential in the politics in myanmar. But to be elected she has to be a bit of a cynical politician. That said in these tense negotiations between student groups and the government over the education reform proposals there was one very prominent nld member, member of her party, who was a key negotiator on the student side to represent students about the reforms they had 11 demands, including things like teaching in ethnic languages, and he was actually silenced by her. She did order him to either either desist or accept trait himself from the nld. Okay. Thank you very much. Now on to other word news now. The iraqi forces and shia militia are selling suspected isil hideouts in tikrit and preparing to attack the city. They have also gained ground on the outskirts of fallujah. Kurdish Peshmerga Forces have blown up a heavily armored truck today to be driven by isil fighters. It was apparently being driven towards kurdish lines on a suicide mission. [ explosion ] [ shouting ] but instead it exploded after an tack by kurd forces. The fighting was part of an offensive against kirkuk. In syria more people have killed by government barrel bomb attacks two civilians died and many more were injured in id lib. Also in syria, a camp for Palestinian Refugees have been hit by government shelling. The area has been under siege by assad forces for more than two years. Now to yemen where former president has accused the current government of destroying the country. He said president hadi who has fled from the capitol to aden should leave the country and go into exile. Mohammed some very strong words there. He seems to be back in the political scene, how significant are his comments today . Reporter yeah, its very significant even though when you ask people here in yemen, they tell you he has never been away from the scenes he has been behind the scenes pulling the strings. He has been accused of being behind the houthi take over of sanaa. And he has facilitated the houthi takeover of sanaa. Now he wants to show that he is still here but because the houthis seem to have taken everything for themselves, we have heard of frictions between him and his houthi allies behind the scenes and probably he is coming out to show he is still very strong. We have seen him attacking hadi describing him as an inefficient man, a man who destroyed yemen, telling him you can leave and we have better people to rule yemen. We have seen demonstrations asking the son to actually present his candidacy for the next election. So lots of things. And also his Army Generals in several parts of the country showing their might, trying to gain ground. So lots of preparations for saleh, so prove he will have a say in the next political talks. Thank you very much mohammed for the update. Theres much more ahead on the al jazeera news hour a relationship that has gone from bad to much worse. The u. S. Declares venezuela a security threat. Plus hidden sometimes in plain site. And india bid for a fifth straight win at cricket world cup. First ivory coasters former first lady has been sentenced to 20 years for her role in post election violence. Fore than 3,000 people died when her husband refused to step down in 2010. Dominic kane reports. Reporter she sits in court. She was once first lady of ivory coast, but in this trial, she was described as having undermined state security. [ explosion ] reporter prosecutors argued when her husband lost the president ial election of 2010, she organized armed gangs after he rejected the result. In the violence that followed more than 3,000 people were killed. She and her husband were arrested in 2011 by french and u. N. Peacekeeping troops. Her husband is awaiting trial at the International Criminal court in the hague accused of crimes against humanity. At the court here on tuesday his wife was found guilty. The verdict was welcomed by groups representing the victims. [ applause ] translator we are really satisfied that this trial took place. As for us it is a vic rim of criminal justice over impunity over promotion of those who have committed crimes random executions and the forced disappearances that have become the way to govern under this leader. Reporter but the legal team called the judgment political. Translator given the courts decision and sentences, and given the absence of fact and proof against her, this is nothing more than purely political decision to keep her out of the political game. Reporter ivory coast is due to hold a president ial election this year. With simon now contemplating a 20year prison sentence her involvement may be limited. Nigerian forces are gaining ground in the fight against boko haram. In giant offensive by chad and niger they are also making progress in neighboring borno state. Reporter there is fear that this group, if left unchecked will spread its tenty calls throughout the region. And thats why were seeing deployment in the northeast of nigeria. And it will be a very big political score for president Goodluck Jonathan . Maybe and maybe not. He promised before the elections will area will be cleared of boko haram to enable elections to be held. Now it will also be a big minus for him, because nigerians are beginning to ask questions. Why does it have to be smaller countries like chad and niger and cameroon who are here to help out . Now people are also asking why has the boko haram been allowed to fester for such a long time before nigeria woke up to the possibility that this is indeed a very big threat . Time now for the World Weather update. Everton what is the latest on the Tropical Storm . It has now gone through. But still lots of rain to come over the next couple of days so were not out of the woods just yet. You can see the swirl of clouds going eastward. And still a possibility of some damaging winds coming through. Thats the position of the storm at the moment to the east and it will continue to pull away over the next couple of days but it has brought huge amounts of rainfall across the area over the last three days, 406 millimeters of rain coming down. So it has caused widespread flooding. There are still showers as we go on through wednesday. There will still be showers in place for thursday. Not as heavy as they have been recently im pleased to say. And by the time we come to thursday those showers should increase significantly. But we do have flooding problems in madagascar at the moment. We also have flooding problems across central peru. That has made to major problems in and around city central and southern parts of the country. And that sketches down towards rio, making its way northwards over the next couple of days foley. Thank you very much indeed. Venezuelans president says he is going to ask for more powers to fight what he calls imperialism. He says the u. S. Wants to topple his government. The u. S. Has called the government a National Security threat. Despite strong economic ties in the Energy Sector the two countries have had spats in recent years. Last month the venezuelan president accused joe biden of plotting a coup to renovember him. Two weeks ago, venezuela demanded that the u. S. Slash its diplomatic presence in caracas by 20 . Last year the u. S. Targeted 24 highranking officials with a travel ban. And the u. S. Gave president obama the power to freeze the assets of officials involved in a crackdown of opponents to maduro. The social leader accused the u. S. Of plotting a failed coup attempt in 2002. Lets bring in virginia lopez now. This is the third time that the u. S. Has passed sanctions, but branding the government as a threat to interNational Security is a pretty serious event, isnt it . Reporter yes definitely. It is seen here by many as the worst of the spats between the two countries. Even since president chavez was in government the aggressions towards the u. S. Were constant. But this is certainly definitely taking those tensions one step above. And they also come accompanied by sanctions to some of the top officials. How will those sanctions work precisely . Reporter well these are targeted sanctions and the u. S. Government has been very clear they are not directed at the venezuelan people and they wont be affecting the economic ties between both countries. Venezuela is one of the top suppliers to the u. S. And that seems to still be in place. They will be targeted officials that are accused of quashing decent Human Rights Violations and even corruption. Venezuela is already struggling, virginia with the falling oil prices. How will these new sanctions impact it . Is it going to be even more difficult now for this country . Reporter to be perfectly honest, several of the political analysts we spoke to yesterday thought these sanctions could actually serve the opposite purpose, in that they would be given the venezuelan government the perfect distraction away from the economic woes that the country faces. The u. S. Has constantly asked venezuela to concentrate on the countrys rampant inflation, and chronic shortages instead of accusing the u. S. Of being behind a soft coup. But this seems to be giving venezuela a perfect distraction, and were expecting to see more antiimpeerist messages and less talk of the economy. Okay. Thank you virginia. Heroin is one of the biggest problems facing the u. S. Mexican drug cartels are now believed to control all heroin smuggling into the u. S. Seizures have almost tripled in the last five years. Border agents have told al jazeera that a tiny fraction of what gets passed is unpredicted. And heroin is can be smuggled in smaller amounts. Adam raney reports from the u. S. Mexico border. You can put a lot of heroin in here. Reporter they call it the trophy room where veteran border officers teach new recruits how to spot drugs. Look at the extent they went through. Reporter soft drink bottles, gas tanks, even firewood is used to stash heroin. On the job, officers have only a few minutes to decide if a vehicle should be searched. Its clear that heroin coming from mexico is their biggest challenge right now. We have seized double the amount of heroin that we did the entire year last year. And were only what maybe six months into the fiscal year . Reporter alerted to another drug seizure, this time on the road into the united states. Were rolling on to the scene this is a special agent with Homeland Security his task to dismantle smuggling rings. He has seen the same pattern with heroin. In 2012 we had 5 kilos. In 2014 we had over 200. Had a weapon and narcotics reporter his team intercepts drugs every day. But it doesnt stop the flood of heroin that top u. S. Officials say has swamped american towns and cities feeding a boom in addiction. With so much money in play the cartels are watching too. So that is mexico . That is motionco separated by the border fence. But as you can see those buildings, the houses the residences have a direct line of site right into the operations of the port of entry. And they can see what is going on, who is coming in who is leaving . Reporter and smugglers told us there are many ways to get their drugs past the wall. Sometimes tunnelling under it. Sometimes walking right across. Heroin is so valuable even in small amounts, more and more officials are seeing people walk it from here over to the united states. Sometimes they are seeing it strapped to old peoples bodies and young children. There are a dozen agencies tasked with tackling the flow of narcotics. But some say the trafficking cannot be stopped. Forever pound that we stop theres probably a hundred more that we dont stop. Reporter this deputy says he is one of those on the last line of defense before drugs get past the border area and out on to u. S. Highways. Adam raney, al jazeera, arizona, on the u. S. Mexico border. Three french athletes are among ten People Killed when two helicopters collided in argentina. They were among the dead five others were French Nationals and two were argentine pilots. Jo is here to tell us more about the athletes. What more do we know about the accident . What we do know is it happened in a remote part of argentina, about 110 1,100 kilometers away from bean necessary baun necessary aries. Among the ten dead were the three french athletes. We do know the names of the athletes the 2012 olympic gold medal swimming champion, she was 25 years old. She also won the silver medal and bronze. Also killed in that accident this man. He was 28. He was the 2008 bronze medalist boxer in the weight welterweight division. And a sailor, who was 57 years old, and perhaps best known for winning the transatlantic solo yacht race in 1990. The french president hollande spoke of his immense sadness, and the president of the International AthleteCommittee Said they were great athletes and wonderful people as well. Indeed. There is a plenty more ahead on the al jazeera news hour. Its spend spend spend in berlin. And the force standing up for womens