africa at this time on al-jazeera. facing realities growing up when to do you realize that you were living in a special place the so-called secret city getting to the heart of the matter while activists to live in jail just because she expressed herself hear their story on the talk to al-jazeera at this time. frame magnitude six point four earthquake rocks the east coast of taiwan two people have been killed and more than a hundred others injured. alone suter and this is al jazeera line from london also coming up syrian forces pound

eastern a so-called deescalation zone one hundred thirty eight people are killed in just forty eight hours. i lift off in florida the world's most powerful rocket with a car as its payload takes off from cape canaveral a billion a long mask. and it's pretty basic but it's saving lives in mogadishu where on the road to somalia is only three ambulance. to taiwan where a six point four magnitude earthquake has hit the east of the islands killing at least two people and injuring more than one hundred of those the quake has brought down a hotel and at least three other buildings the united states geological survey says it struck near the northern northeastern port city of wiley and several people are

thought to be trapped inside the hotel is the latest in a string of quakes to hit the region in recent days joyce wang is a time when he's journalist based in top pay she spoke to us about the impact of the earthquake. according to the latest confirmation from the national far agency under the ministry of interior that a total of four buildings have collapsed one of which is a hotel and downtown c.t. in downtown. holly and and up to twenty nine people how was strapped. trapped inside a hotel by a local rescue worker have tried to get them out and so far it's hard to confirm or so for local media saying that a total of three people are still trapped in the rubble and another building has also told to do in the earthquake also some roads in the city were all

a damage and we've seeing. pictures of gapping holes and cracks and hopefully local governments are trying to get the traffic back on track it's not a very densely populated area as alone that is to eastern coast of taiwan as a fish and many fish in an agricultural based county and at this time of year as near the chinese new year so there are tourists there the hotel as one of their one of the building that many true is would choose to stay. the syrian government backed by its key ally russia has been pounding rebel held areas in syria rescue workers are scrambling to keep up with the onslaught in the

damascus suburb of east at least one hundred thirty eight people have been killed in the last forty eight hours activists say most of them a civilians but it's been reports far this is supposed to be a deescalation part of the russian life true story of the territory held by anti-government forces and syria. but if anything the bombing is escalating here in eastern guta. the un's head of the international commission of inquiry on syria says the government siege of the area involves the international crimes of indiscriminate bombing and deliberate starvation of the civilian population. there are reports that at least three hospitals have been hit with the help of the russian air force on the iranian backed groups syria's president is pursuing the last major pockets of territory held by his opponents in western syria. the offensive intensified after

fighters from one rebel group shot down a russian aircraft and killed its pilot on saturday. now the syrian army says it's deployed add offenses and anti aircraft missiles to its front lines in aleppo and it led to cover northern airspace i had the authority of the us four hundred or russian and they are controlled by the russian intelligence not the syrian regime so this is russia we need to understand there is an direct confrontation between the u.s. and russia it's dangerous because at the same time turkey is trying to force its presence in the area northwestern syria is where turkey is carrying out an operation to push kurdish forces out of afrin it's using syrian airspace and it's got russia's agreement to do so but at the same time the syrian government has threatened to shoot down turkish jets turkey also wants to wipe e.g. out of another northern syrian town bam bitch but there are u.s. forces there too much to the irritation of the turkish president. begin your

producer now that you can why are you there go ahead and leave who did you bring these are the y.p. g o p k k you took them there and you are still telling us not to come to military we will come to malaysia to deliver the land to its true owners. as ever across syria it's civilians who are caught in the middle the un wants fighting across the country to be suspended for a month to allow the sick and wounded to get out and aid to get in bernard smith al-jazeera a man tensions between turkey and kurdish militia inside syria are escalating kurdish why p.g. rockets have struck tech is soil engineering and killing civilians jamal are shy al has been meeting some of the the victims whose lives have been affected by the violence there are on our receivers mourners outside his home and

his mind is elsewhere he's still trying to process the death of his daughter for mom who was killed last week she had just turned seventeen. here's some bill daley was injured in the same attack when a rocket fired by the kurdish militia the wipe e.g. hit their home in the early hours of the morning. resumed your look because we were sleeping a lot sun woke me up i couldn't see anything for a second it was pitch black when i looked up there was a hole in the ceiling the wall next to me had collapsed i felt incredible pain on my ankle. doctors say that while bill k. will be able to walk again his leg will never fully recover he won't be able to run or jump again. the mourners here don't want to share feelings of sorrow they're united in their opposition to the kurdish militia who they consider to be terrorists takes me to see his house it's around ten kilometers away from the border with syria the destruction calls does extensive not only has he lost his

daughter he's also lost his home this is the room where falk must spend her last night in this world she was sleeping when the rocket landed came through the ceiling and it killed her instantly blood still stains the place where she lay on that fateful morning. as far as her father is concerned he has no doubts he's very clear as to who is responsible for the killing of his young daughter and what needs to be done in order to ensure that other parents don't suffer the same as him but of course i'm an old woman than the p.k. k n y p g a responsible for the death of my daughter they're attacking us from across the border it's their rockets and bombs that have killed our children the turkish army must kill them all despite his loss and evident grief or maybe is a direct result of it a comet is defiant there is another woman if the nation in our army need us and we are ready to join the war even if there are one hundred or thousand martyrs we will

carry on the fight. turkey says it's fighting the why p.g. is part of its war against terrorism the y.p. genie accuses the turkish military of killing kurdish civilians in its bid to control parts of syria the undeniable fact however is that nothing will bring back this man's young girl and the sad truth is that more parents will see it's clinging on to photos of their their children as this war continues to monitor. their handley on the turkey syria border a palestinian man has been killed during raids by the israeli army in the occupied west bank city of nablus thirty people were wounded as israeli forces fired tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets in the city earlier on tuesday five of them are in a critical condition on monday an israeli settler was stabbed and killed in the illegal settlement of ariel and the israeli army says it's killed a palestinian man who was wanted over the death of a settler last month the army shot dead twenty one year old act right. in geneva in

the occupied west bank general was accused of killing rabbi razi l h in an illegal israeli outpost on genuine lines. supreme court of the mall the has an old it's own order for the government to release a number of imprisoned opposition leaders this after the president accuses of engineering a coup presidential mean abdel guy you refused to comply with the order instead he imposed a fifteen day state of emergency and arrested two senior judges and the former president his half brother assam a binge of it has no. just hours after a state of emergency was declared in the island nation of maldives this board carries a prominent opposition leader to the country's main jail on a remote island the. moment of the un was arrested on charges of bribery which the opposition says this politically motivated. his family released

a video earlier in which he urged his supporters not to lose hope. police the police came to arrest me i'm going with them i don't even know why they are arresting me i've done nothing wrong or unlawful i urge the people to be strong and stand with us we will win. with the arrested but two judges for the deepening the political crisis. it all began on thursday when the supreme court called for the retrial of nine opposition politicians including exiled former president mohamed nasheed just also reinstated twelve m.p.'s who had lost their seats for supporting the opposition but president of the yemeni refused to comply with the ruling and celebrations turned into protests i mean yeah i mean also declared a fifteen day state of emergency and ordered the military to secure the parliament building for an indefinite period any effort. by me and. i would not function

and this is being. in addition to the two judges police raided the house of the administrative head of the supreme. court the court says police didn't have enough evidence to arrest the judicial executive president yummy who happens to be the half brother of arrested leader abdul gayoom came to power in two thousand and thirteen that was a year after multibillion police and army overthrew president mohamed nasheed but in the shaky democracy president jiang mean has faced similar allegations of becoming authoritarian and being corrupt his government insists that despite the state of emergency nonfunctioning supreme court and military posted outside parliament it's business as usual for citizens and tourists that the supreme court was expected to do favorably on a petition to impeach i mean opposition leaders allege the president's loyalists made it clear that they would not comply with such a verdict and launched a crackdown. for now the country best known for its tranquil beaches is struggling

to deal with yet another round of political turmoil some of the job i was there such a calm on the program abducted detained and forced to fight a report that says both sides of south sudan's conflict a calling up children and seles thirty. hello there we're seeing quite a few outbreaks of rain over the northern parts of australia in fact the satellite picture is showing up the showers quite nicely ever parts of queensland and across the northern territory as well some of these showers a very heavy giving over two hundred millimeters of rain and this is what that sort of rainfall can do this camper van was parked at night when it was dry and then jaring the night we had one of those downpours and then the people inside had to

climb on to the roofs and wait to be rescued now there's a chance we could see some overall the shop showers as we head through the next few days but for queens of this mostly in the very far north that we're seeing those showers now for the south we've still got a problem with hate is generally common settled adelaide will be warm right up at fifty eight degrees further west we've got a little weather system here that's edging its way eastwards still giving some showers here as we head through the day on thursday but for perfect think it will be dry on thursday with a top temperature of thirty two out towards the east for say we've just got a bit of cloud across the far northern parts of the north island of new zealand elsewhere largely fine and dry but no doubt warm at the moment we're looking at a maximum temperature in christchurch of around nineteen degrees in force in oakland will get to around twenty one japan of course is far colder than that and we've still got quite a bit of snow around more wintery weather still to come. for

the nomadic john cartwright survival is about reaching their destination if we don't hurry never be able to get the time but the storm we follow the mongolian herdsmen on a treacherous migration. based dangerous to the ice and then as they strive to preserve their traditional way of life. sometimes luser cattle they were diving for because of the storm risking you don't want go here at this time on al-jazeera. welcome back a reminder of the top stories here in algiers there are at least two people have been killed and one hundred forty four injured after

a six point four magnitude quake struck eastern taiwan a number of buildings have collapsed in the city of wiley and. the u.n. has called for a month long truce in syria to get aid to civilians trapped by financing at least seventy one people have been killed on tuesday alone in their strikes on the rebel held eastern. and a palestinian man has been killed during raids by the israeli army in the occupied west bank city of nablus. have been violent protests in south sudan after friday's decision by the u.s. to impose a unilateral arms embargo the same department said it was appalled by the brutal violence in the five year civil war human rights watch has also called for a weapons ban and warned that south sudan's warring parties are continuing to recruit child soldiers have a morgan has the latest from juba. this is not the first report that has been put out by human rights watch on child recruitment in south sudan it says that children

as young as thirteen has been have have been recruited to fight in the conflict which is now in its fifth year unicef also put out a report in late ten fifteen saying that there are sixteen thousand children who are recruited by armed groups now that report has changed into late in twenty seven to reflect new figures which says that more than one nine hundred thousand children have been recruited by armed groups in the conflict this is a this is a problem that has been going on since south sudan sort of fighting in september twenty third team and rights groups and children's organizations have called for a halt to this activity of recruiting child soldiers now a lot of things make it easier to recruit child soldiers in south sudan first thing is the displacement with sixty five percent of the people who are displaced in the conflict are mostly are mainly women and children now the figures of displacement right now stands at four million people disclose displaced not just within the country but in neighboring countries as well it's sixty five percent of that are children making them easier to be targeted by armed groups to to be recruited within their ranks and there's also the issue of being separated from their

families as well as schools being targeted to try to recruit children mainly boys to to fight in the ranks of armed groups now the human rights watch report has accused both government and opposition forces of being involved in child recruitment of calls for halted operation of recruiting child soldiers as well as an arms embargo by the un and the e.u. and also for hybrid court to try every single person who's been responsible for uprooting charge children throughout the conflict but since the conflict is still ongoing it's very hard to see that actually happening and there are concerns that more children will be recruited until peace comes south sudan. lawyers for the kenyan opposition politician. of so large is there that he's been deported to canada after being charged with treason he was arrested after saying taking part in a controversial swearing in ceremony for opposition leader rather would begin seen here on the left was next door during the last week when he declared himself the few people's president rejects in kenya as reelection holds both canadian and

kenya and possible. the u.s. led coalition and now it's that it's expanded its bombing campaign in northern afghanistan and of course missions have been growing in number under the trump administration and taliban targets near the afghan border with china was hit in recent days how tickell had reports. the supposedly secure part of kabul the scene of mass casualties. a luxury hotel targeted and now in the u.s. capital new questions about whether president donald trump's strategy in afghanistan is working the attacks last month were a real shock that's a state department official touting the new policy and hearing these kinds of criticisms maybe it stop we have a frank discussion congress whether or not there is a military solution in afghanistan we're spending fifty billion dollars a year that could be better spent why do the taliban want political settlement they

now control more territory than they controlled since two thousand and one they're gaining ground. they're creating chaos that was the big question here what is the long term strategy the administration has long said they want to negotiate a settlement with the taliban that is until president trump said the opposite there's no talking to the taliban we don't want to talk to the taliban we're going to finish what we have to finish what nobody else has been able to finish we're going to be able to do it the explanation now he was simply upset i think what president president trump was expressing was a reaction to. the terrorist activities of the horrible terrorist activities last month in kabul significant elements of the taliban are not prepared to negotiate and it may take a long time before they are willing to negotiate. to get them there the administration says they need to turn the tide on the battlefield the coalition just announced that they've expanded the bombing campaign to the north in just over

the last four days dropping twenty four bombs on what they say were taliban targets the most ever from a b. fifty two bomber the air campaign has dramatically increased under president trump according to data from the u.s. military they dropped more than forty three hundred bombs in two thousand and seventeen that's up from around thirteen hundred the year before secretary of defense james mattis was also asked to defend the strategy on capitol hill in fact what we're doing to earn the trust of the american people are doing sure another nine eleven at out of there does not happen during our watch. making it clear recent events will not change the strategy after more than sixteen years more troops more bombing with the hope it eventually leads to peace paddy calling out zero washington. the un's top envoy to somalia has appealed for more support for volunteer ambulance services at the forefront of saving lives in mogadishu the

somali capital has experienced numerous deadly bombings and the government's medical services struggle to help those injured in the attacks for minimal has more from mogadishu. it's ten am and the seventh emergency call of the morning comes through you know it's from this call center in mogadishu that the only free ambulance service in the city is run it's not a huge operation but the staff are kept busy of the shallow end of the. we are very busy when explosions happen and when they do i have to do more than just drive i have to help the nurses with patients twelve years ago up to carter had them used all these savings to buy his first ambulance today he has a fleet of ten they may be old and some on their last legs but they get the job done oh actually when i came to somalia in two thousand and six there was a war going on when the turban vision come into somalia and there was

a lot of people was dying in front of my clinic i was half in a clinic because the market and that's the nice of people was dying and getting injured then i asked myself how can i help my people workers are not well trained but they have the basic skills they can start bleeding and give patients painkillers but that's about all but transporting patients to hospitals quickly and safely is often the difference between life and death the ambulance service needs more equipment and its staff better troll more training it's often the leading emergency. of its most recently when two blasts went off last october killing more than five hundred people and injuring hundreds of others for years many people were brought into hospitals using wooden wheelbarrows often being pushed as far as five kilometers to get help many wouldn't make the journey i mean ambulances are helping

to improve market issues health services especially as the few were available ambulances are an affordable for most people this is mogadishu's largest hospital its director mohamed use of hassen says while they are able to do more surgeries than ever before they can treat everyone some of them you need some sophisticated investigation that you can do because you don't have that. in imaging scorpius all this is needed but. we are not helpless we have many promises from outside now that help is increasingly coming from within the somalia adam runs the service using his own money and donations he says he dreams of one day having ambulances helping people not just in mogadishu but across somalia for me to al-jazeera mogadishu space x.

has successfully launched its new falcon heavy spacecraft making it the world's most powerful rockets. three. the twenty three story falcon heavy blasted off from the kennedy space center in cape canaveral in florida on tuesday is a key turning point for billionaire entrepreneur musk's privately owned space exploration technologies. and heavy is carrying a long musk tesla roadster convertible as a mock payload loaded these pictures to his twitter feed a short time ago and these are the very latest is just a few seconds ago live as the test or the tell me at least driving past. an extraordinary almost live shot there are plenty of razzmatazz on this particular space flight the falcon heavy is propelled by twenty seven rocket engines giving us a thrust the sequel to eighteen boeing seven four seven jets means it can take

incredibly heavy payloads of up to sixty three thousand kilos second only to the rocket nasa used for its moon missions its cost cutting really usable boosters also gives space x. an edge over other companies competing for lucrative contracts with nasa satellite companies and the u.s. military and it's a kind of technology that musk hopes will eventually send people to mars and build a colony there well i'm joined by space author tim fernholz from the kennedy space center in cape canaveral florida thanks very much for coming on to algiers or on what is an extraordinary day that i am sure we're seeing these amazing pictures really of the sports car that's the payload for this rocket so lots of crowd pleasing elements to this space flight but is it more or is it indeed a pioneering flight a sub. it is

a pioneering flight not so much because of what they accomplished but because of who they are this is the first time that a private company has built a rocket vehicle this big that can carry this much weight into space previously it's all been governments and that's the big revolution that iran must is bringing to the commercial space industry isn't unusual in the table is he one of several of the want to get in on this extraordinary space race now. it's absolutely a private space race and he is one of the many contenders besides mr musk you have jeff bezos the founder of amazon who has a space company called blue origin that has a huge factory just a few miles from here you have richard branson from the u.k. whose company virgin galactic and virgin orbital are trying to take advantage of this and even paul allen the former microsoft founder is pouring money into a new space launch vehicle so it's the twenty first century it's time for billionaires to get rockets and you know musk mission in the very far future i

suppose is talking about being able to get to mars so maybe even building a colony i mean how much is science fiction oh how much could that actually be seen sometime in the future if you talk to scientists at nasa ville say it is technically feasible the question is getting enough money together to make it happen and that's why i must get all of these other billionaires are focused on lowering the cost of access to space so that you can have the resources to bring people to a martian colony you know musk in space x. say they're trying to launch their first missions by two thousand and twenty four that's probably really ambitious but within our lifetimes could we see people on mars or certainly the moon again i think so. when all this is going on tame obviously facing them and watching what's going on and thinking how they got a rock in the pipeline that's going to do something similar.

didn't does nasa have a rocket in the pipeline yes indeed they are they shape thing up to compete with this yes. well it's a very interesting relationship because space x. has been a sort of a workhorse for nasa but now that space x. has launched this big new rocket they could be a competitor nasa as you mentioned is building a rocket called the space launch system or s.l.s. that's almost twice as big as the rocket we saw launch today the only problem is that it's ten times more expensive and it's not going to fly for another four or five years so if we have the falcon heavy now it's going to put executives at nasa officials in the top administration in a bit of a tight spot figuring out what they're going to do to achieve their dreams of returning to the moon and expanding the u.s. is power in space and time you know obviously a serious space you written books on this we're seeing pictures of the dumb a on the test. with don't panic on the dashboard this is slightly detracting from the

importance that this flight. i don't think so i think it's getting more people interested and excited most rocket companies would have sent a concrete block into space for their first test this is a lot more thought and i think it's a lot more interesting i think there is a generation of young kids who are watching this on you tube and saying oh my god this is crazy i want to do this so i think it's only for the best you know almost i think a million people watched the live stream of this launch today it's a new energy in the u.s. space program and indeed the space program around the world and even if it seems silly it's exciting and it's something new indeed thank you so much for joining us tim fernholz live from the kennedy space center in cape can now. the top stories on al-jazeera a six point four magnitude earthquake has hit eastern taiwan killing at least two

people and injuring more than a hundred others the quake has brought down a hotel and at least three other buildings in the city of wiley and several people are thought to be trapped inside the hotel the u.n. has called for an immediate month long ceasefire in syria to allow humanitarian and medical aid to civilians at least seventy one people have been killed in as strikes in eastern grew into and around ten others in a syrian government forces and their russian allies have ramped up attacks in both rebel held areas which are supposed to be the escalations jamal al shell has more from have ties in southeast. unfortunately despite maybe a reduction in the number of free toiletries over the past few months of the stand up process in the build up to the sochi talks took place the fact that those have failed to establish these save zones that these governments are most boring koran iran and to run have said that they want to establish now we're seeing a spike in the violence and something that's not looking very good at all for the

civilians who continue to suffer on a daily basis. a palestinian man has been killed during raids by the israeli army in the occupied west bank city of nablus thirty people were wounded as israeli forces fired tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets in the city earlier on tuesday on monday an israeli settler was stabbed and killed in the illegal settlement of ariel and the israeli army says it's killed a palestinian man who was wanted over the death of a set the last month the amish are dead twenty one year old ahmed nasser general engineering in the occupied west bank he was accused of killing a rabbi last month the supreme court of the multi has an old its own order to release a number of imprisoned opposition leaders after the president accuse it of engineering a coup president you mean abdul guy you also imposed a fifteen day state of emergency and arrested two senior judges coming up

al-jazeera follows the mongolian no bads guiding their cattle across frozen ribbons on two thousand meter high mountain passes without risking it all that's ahead of the september twenty fourth national election survey showed job and a satisfied with the state of the economy this is easily the start news biggest tech success story the company was bought by microsoft in two thousand and eleven we bring you the stories that are shaping the economic world we live in counting the cost at this time on al-jazeera.