a tree branch can cost like a machete. more than seven decades ago a country was split into really big good. to me and now i'm. going to be my bitch all it took was a pan a mop and the collapsing empire when the british had to draw a line they pulled in six seven two had never been to india before al-jazeera examines the violence of india and pakistan and asks what the future holds for these neighbors partition is of blood at this time. the human cost of war almost two hundred syrians are killed in just three days as the government and its russian backers increase their attacks from the.

hello broken to al-jazeera live from doha i'm latina and it's also coming up weak and ineffective the verdict on the world's response to the ethnic cleansing of mammals range of people plus. many of you asked what will happen so i want to reassure you there will be nothing. made growing allegations of corruption the israeli prime minister is confident that he won't be charged. the un's human rights chief challenges indonesia on its plans to criminalize same sex and sex outside marriage. but first the syrian government backed by russia is continuing to bomb and to shell the two parts of the country that remain in rebel hands in the three day period

almost two hundred people have been killed in eastern guta. that's close to the capital damascus and in the northeastern province of italy thirty four people were killed on wednesday in eastern guta that's where four hundred thousand people are trapped without food and medicine for the government has laid siege to this area since twenty thirteen and it's a similar story for it live were at least four people died in the ongoing government offensive which is backed by russia russian bombing of in libya in fact has increased since one of its planes was shot down in the pilot killed by rebels on saturday and the irony is that both italy and goods are supposed to be so-called deescalation zones where violence was supposed to be much reduced than a harder reports from beirut. civil defense volunteers look for survivors but instead they're pulling out the dead from the rubble of what was once homes children women men dozens of them have been killed in air strikes that are leveling

residential buildings. this man just lost his son. god bless you he says clearly still in a state of shock. it's day three of an intensified military campaign. multiple areas of the rebel held damascus suburb of eastern who are coming under fire people there are saying russian and syrian government aircraft have been carried out one strike after another. people here believe russia is taking revenge after his plane was shot down by the rebels and its pilot was killed it is intense bombardment at least eight hundred people are wounded some of them very seriously and they can't be treated here. there is a lack of medical supplies and doctors eastern huta has been besieged by pro-government forces for years it is both home and the traffic for some four hundred thousand people doctors have put up makeshift health centers but they too

are being hit the top of a center is now out of service it was hit by the planes it was the only medical center in this town and fifteen thousand people the united nations is calling for the fighting throughout syria to stop for a month to allow aid deliveries and evacuations of the sick and wounded at least five hundred are in. the enclave just outside the capital has been heavily bombarded since mid december but the past few days have been the worst many believe pro-government forces are pushing for a decisive outcome. they want. not fight them. it's ready now to fight. and the north. hold the northwestern province of idlib which is also under the control of the opposition has been hit by dozens of strikes in recent days there are two residential neighborhoods and hospitals are being targeted pro syrian government

forces have taken ground in the southern edges of it live in recent weeks recapturing the whole province will not be easy but many believe the immediate goals involve us securing the north to south highway and lifting the siege on to loyalist towns. in the pro-government forces have been struggling to bring eastern huta under their control for years and now that russia appears to be honing in on rebel areas syria is once again in the midst of a major escalation especially with no progress on the diplomatic side this will only bring more suffering senekal their neighbors. rescue crews in taiwan are going into buildings that are on the brink of collapse as powerful aftershocks from the earthquake continue to hit the region this is the scene live from quali and that's the port city where the earthquake struck they are hoping to find survivors have been reports of noises coming from inside many of these

buildings that as you can see have a pretty much devastated those that aren't on the point of collapse so far we know that nine people have been killed there are suggestions that more than two hundred fifty people have been injured and dozens of people remain unaccounted for more now from our correspondent who's there rob mcbride. teetering on its side this one building is now the focus of this search and rescue operation as rescue teams are back inside now looking for any survivors but as each hour goes by inevitably hopes begin to dim of finding more survivors the problem the rescue teams are facing is not only the weather here but also there have been continuing aftershocks since the initial quake they continued through wednesday now thankfully here thursday in taiwan to the ask the sharks do seem to have abated and rescue teams are back in

there a small city has grown up around this building of media rescue teams that have been brought in from all different parts of taiwan to help in this rescue operation and the teams are also being assisted by putting up more metal trucks to try to support this building that have been fears at times of the building collapsing completely now it seems that they have put in place the props to allow the rescue operation to continue and the report from amnesty international says the ethnic cleansing of the ranger continues unabated in me m r amnesty interviewed nineteen of the thousands of refugees arrived in bangladesh in december and january. almost all of them describe how meum our security forces are denying them access to their fields and their crops confiscating their livestock and setting markets of and the seas

calling this as forced starvation those interviewed said the abduction of girls and young women is commonplace and amnesty warns that these abductions raise serious concerns about rape and sexual slavery refugees also described how security forces set up checkpoints along the escape routes to bangladesh where they robbed them of their valuables and subjected women to humiliating body searches and the sea concludes that the continued assault on the dignity of the rangers shows that the international response has been weak and ineffective and that the agreed repatriation of refugees from bangladesh back to me amar is premature well matt wells is a senior crisis advisor at amnesty and he's the author of the report. you know what we've seen is condemnation after condemnation from the international

community but there has been a real failure to act to impose real consequences on the me and our military for what is now been more than five months of a campaign of ethnic cleansing and so we think that there needs to be an arms embargo targeted financial sanctions against senior officials in the military who are who have committed this this these horrific human rights violations over the last five months in the last couple months to me and more government has said that it's ready to start repatriation their returns and what our report today shows is that the military hasn't even stopped committing horrific human rights violations against the rango who remain in northern rakhine state consistently from people who arrived in bangladesh and the last month or two you know we had reports of starvation of people who've been denied access going out to the rice fields who've seen their markets burned hers or blocks from from access to have watched as humanitarian aid has been severely restricted throughout northern rakhine state all of this is led to

a situation in which people are struggling to find food which is forcing these new arrivals to bangladesh and this represents really you know the final blow after months of a horrific ethnic cleansing campaign in which we and others have consistently documented widespread killings sexual violence against rango women and girls and the targeted burning overhang of villages across northern rakhine state. holes in israeli media say the police will recommend that prime minister benjamin netanyahu be indicted on corruption charges the prime minister and his wife are suspected of receiving illicit gifts from billionaire benefactors including a hollywood producer he's also alleged to have been involved in a deal with a leading newspaper which would have weakened the rival daily in return for favorable coverage the prime minister denies the allegations and says he's confident the attorney general will not pursue the case and run come center small

from west jerusalem prime minister benjamin netanyahu has long been defined of all of these accusations he said they are political in nature and he's used various different platforms to talk about how this is a political witch hunt against him now what he's normally done is take to his facebook page there is a facebook page has been very active of late talking about the operations going on in the west bank but what he's done is say to the israeli public that what is going on with them is a witch hunt against him but more importantly that the attorney general will rule on the rule will rule on the state of the law itself is confident that he can beat anything that's thrown against it let's take a listen to what he had to say religion short are you. many of you ask what will happen so i want to reassure you they'll be nothing because i know the truth the state of israel is a state of law the law says that the one to determine whether there is evidence

against the prime minister is the attorney general and he consults with the state attorney and the state prosecutor recently said in the knesset that about half of the police's recommendations and with nothing was going to happen next is likely the prime minister benjamin netanyahu will find any kind of recommendation that the police make against him both publicly in the court of public opinion and if it gets legal in any kind of legal case let's see what happens if the attorney general decides to take case against the prime minister nine pro-democracy supporters in the thai capital bangkok due to report to police after having been charged by the military genter following protests last month dozens of other demonstrators are also due to appear at the police station they've been calling for elections and for an end to military rule wayne hayes our correspondent in bangkok. this case stems

from a small but symbolic protest that was staged in bangkok late last month by a group of protesters calling for the military government in thailand to return the country to democracy to hold an election in november this year something that seems increasingly increasingly unlikely the nine people who led that protest who organized the gathering in the heart of the capital city have now been charged with sedition so that carries a maximum jail term of seven years there were at least thirty other people who have been charged because they attended that protest now being charged with illegal essentially which carries a jail term of up to six months and a fine there's been a noticeable change in thailand so far this year was several small protests popping up in the capital city and in other parts of the country by people calling for the military government to return the country to democracy symbolic and noticeable because over the past four years since the military staged that coup they have been

quite effective at stamping out any just sand so there are signs that perhaps people are becoming tired of the constant postponements to elections again the latest is that the government says the election will be held in november this year but already there are indications that they could be yet another delay and the election won't be held until two thousand and nineteen. we are going to love more to come here about declaring clued in why don't trump is facing a backlash to the higher her military her a. and innovative approach to hong kong's housing crisis we look at the new solutions emerging in the area to see. from dusky sunsets over the sprawling savannah. to sunrise atop invasion metropolis. hello if you look down from space by satellite you see

quite a lot of activity in iran in particular more streaks of clark ervin through the eastern med would actually all that you see here is just cloud high in the sky it's not actually doing very much not dropping very much it's indicating just motion up there and actually the weather is a little unusual baghdad twenty four degrees is pretty high for this time of the turnarounds it's about where it should be the case turned out to be snow a little bit further east and we still subzero in our marty amounts ten but the event is quite warm as the cloud comes across in the breeze is still more or less from the sas for each it will stay warm but it's turning right to more of a northerly or northwest and that runs down through the gulf temps haven't yet changed but the dust is now gathering and that will come more apparent if you're in bahrain kuwait qatar than votes how we get to friday that breeze will be strong enough that even twenty five twenty six degrees it'll feel maybe a little children will certainly be dust in the air that's true for eastern saudi as well it's settled and quite warm in mecca thirty four degrees. throughout

southern africa we've been waiting for raining cape time it fell not much more to come most of the showers do develop in south africa but a long way to the east to cli jo'burg. the weather sponsored by qatar raise. the scene for us whether online what is american sign in yemen that peace is possible but it never happens not because the situation is complicated but because no one cares or if you join us on sat there are people that choosing between buying medication and eating basis is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's an activist and she's posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera.

time to take a look at the top stories here it is there are almost two hundred people have been killed in the past three days in rebel held parts of syria after an intense air and ground offensive by government forces and their russian allies thirty four people died just on wednesday in eastern guta that's near the capital damascus and four other people at least four other people died in italy profit and amnesty international report says the ethnic cleansing campaign against the rain just continues unabated to me a mock refugees of recently arrived in bangladesh of told of systemic campaigns of full starvation kidnappings and sexual wagner. israeli media says police will recommend the prime minister benjamin netanyahu to be indicted on corruption

charges mr netanyahu and his wife are suspected of receiving illicit gifts for a billionaire benefactors. in indonesia propose. to criminalize same sex relations and sex outside of marriage have been criticised by the un human rights she was a drugged out her saying he said that he had raised the issue with president joker would hurt during a three day visit to the world's largest muslim majority country that vesa report there were large protests on the streets of jakarta one year ago held by conservative groups accusing the city's christian governor of blasphemy as okeechobee hierarchal nam i was sentenced to two years in prison and lost his reelection bid during a news conference in jakarta the un high commissioner for human rights act this case shows strains of intolerance have made inroads into indonesia's once liberal culture. oh. yes it's not.

sure. if. this is a religious belief or this is wrong. this is. the high commissioner has urged indonesians to not move backwards on human rights and resist at times to introduce new forms of discriminatory laws parliament is discussing a new proposal that outlaws gay relationships or any other forms of consensual sex between unmarried couples he condemned the raid in late january where a police chief detained twelve people he suspected of being transgender women. he was filmed scolding them in front of an angry crowd having them stripped of their shirts and having their hear scott while the police chief is under

investigation for possible abuses antigay protesters in archie came out in his defense i choose indonesia's only province that enforces islamic law. some we are more and more eroding our own constitution our constitution guarantees that all citizens from whatever religion that make group or any other difference are entitled to the same treatment but if one group in society becomes a victim it means we have failed as a nation but. the high commissioner was invited by the government to witness the progress the country has made in protecting people's rights but human rights groups say there has been no of the movement and indonesia's human rights situation remains critical it is seen as a bold move by indonesia to invite the un high commissioner for human rights at a time when intolerance against minorities is a growing president joe credo has campaigned on

a platform for diversity has been criticized for not speaking up in defense of all citizens of the country heading into elections next year many here fear that hostilities against minorities well only increase. government says the high commissioner praised indonesia for coming a long way in a short time and for being an example to other countries in the region but it minutes more needs to be done to stop france and al-jazeera jack after the leader of south africa's governing party the a.n.c. says he is in direct discussions with president zuma over a possible transition of leadership cyril ramaphosa has vowed for a speedy resolution and says the talks will be concluded in the coming days the negotiations prompted the african national congress to perspire in a special executive committee meeting on whether to force summa from office he's been under mounting pressure to resign over corruption allegations for me to miller has more from johannesburg. this certainly is

a lot of confusion and uncertainty especially after the national executive meeting which was to discuss jacob zuma future was cancelled late and choose day now this is after talks between the president of the in cecil rama post and president jacob zuma now rome of course as office has described this discussion as fruitful and constructive and it would appear that the a.n.c. is closer than ever to removing jacob zuma as president we know zuma met with the top six leadership of the party on sunday and reports indicate that at that time he refused to resign but this latest indication from the a.n.c. is that progress has been made since then opposition parties say though i have criticized the a.n.c. leadership saying that rome of course is not strong enough to push jacob zuma out there demanding decisive action from the a n c this is a party split between support for jacob zuma and demands for him to step down now

south africans are looking for clarity from a party that throughout these difficulties president zuma has constantly insisted that a solution will come from within the party and nowhere else protests have again broken out in the movies after the newly appointed police chief announced that two supreme court judges have been arrested took millions of dollars in bribes he alleges it was in return for ordering the release of jailed opposition leaders president jemini. ordered the arrest of the judges on monday he also declared a state of emergency accusing the court of supporting on tuesday the three remaining judges on the supreme court reversed its decision. hong kong has one of the most expensive real estate markets in the world probably prices have been soaring annually and salaries are struggling to keep up and that means many people are forced out of their homes by others dear god pollen explains new solutions are

emerging to help tackle the housing crisis. in the summer and in the winter and i spots that's how this mother describes the room she shares with her teenage daughters the sixteen square metre shack is perched on top of a twenty two story building there are. tiny screw the ceiling while it rings one of the windows cracked during the thai food and we could only cover it with tape and paper. t.v. she moved into this illegal structure ten years ago after her husband died they live under the constant threat of eviction and now the landlord wants to raise the rent from the current five hundred dollars a month we don't have any rent control recitation or any can see so that's why for the poor people it's very human rights advocacy groups say more than a quarter of a million people in hong kong live in illegal structures or squalid conditions and every year that number rises by twenty percent. private housing prices have gone up

four hundred thirty percent since two thousand and thirteen while the average household income has only increased forty five percent in the past decade which means fewer people can afford property in the city and with the average wage for public housing at around five years there has been a call for a more innovative approach to the crisis this is one suggestion the zero point two pausing is made from readily available concrete pipes its creators say they can be stacked up and squeezed into vacant spaces in urban areas to provide starter homes another idea being discussed is container homes shipping containers are already used as offices or shops in some areas but these architects say there is another solution one that addresses the fact that only seven percent of the city's land is used for residential purposes industrial uses it is changing no you don't need so many factory buildings it's

a big stock of them if you convert that to residential that's going to bring on straw. a lot of area for residential very quickly experts say the problem is not a lack of space but government policy unlike other cities here the government owns all the land and leases a limited amount to developers and so if property prices drop so does the government's revenue which means there's little incentive to bring down the sky high prices if you go pollan al-jazeera hong kong with just over twenty four hours left to avoid another government shutdown the u.s. senate has agreed to projects for the next two years the plan would lift caps on military and domestic spending now the deal has to be ratified by the house of representatives the contentious issue of protecting undocumented migrants who came to the u.s. illegally as children so-called dream is is not politics the deal and that was the issue that led to a brief government shutdown last month democratic house leader nancy pelosi has

delivered an eight hour dress in protest at the absence of an immigration policy bill schneider is professor of public policy at george mason university he says the budget will face strong opposition in the house it will at least keep the government from shutting down once again it looks like a classic washington compromise but these days compromises are not easy to achieve this will probably pass the senate but in the house it's meeting with opposition from a lot of very conservative republicans who are deficit hawks and object to the fact that this deal will add half a trillion dollars to the federal budget deficit even though they're happy that increases military spending and democrats are angry led by nancy pelosi because it doesn't do anything to protect the so-called dreamers young illegal immigrants were brought to the united states as children it doesn't do anything to protect them from deportation so what you're saying is opposition from the two ends of the spectrum. and u.s.

politicians are pushing back against president trump's request for a military parade in washington there was an unusual request in the u.s. and critics say there are a far better ways to spend the money kimberly how could triple. it's the kind of parade authoritarian leaders have long loved colorful uniforms marching bands and the latest military hardware all on display now u.s. president donald trump wants his own reportedly inspired by the french celebrations he attended last year in paris to mark best steel day. so preparations for a similar grand display in washington are underway we're all aware in this country of the president's affection and respect for the military we've been putting together some option will send them up to the white house for. however such an event is rare in the united states outside of presidential inaugurations

the last one was held nearly thirty years ago in washington to mark the end of the first gulf war the president watches one thousand nine hundred sixty one president john f. kennedy held one for his inauguration in washington at the height of the cold war with the soviet union he used it to showcase the u.s. army's first anti-ballistic missiles formal parades may be intermittent but displays of force in the united states have in recent years become more commonplace sporting of beds and american independence day often reverberate with the sound of a fighter jet flying overhead but parades are cheap the last u.s. military parade cost more than eight million dollars back in one nine hundred ninety one that's a lot of money translated into today's dollars i see it it's a fantastic waste of money to amuse the present it. many americans will view

a lack of support for a military parade as unpatriotic charge trump is used against athletes protesting racism and police brutality who refused to stand during the national anthem. more recently he had this to say about lawmakers who refused to clap for him at his recent state of the union address on america somebody is a treasonous i mean. the idea of a military parade is yet another example of the political divide that exists in the united states will million see it as nothing more than a flag waving display of patriotism millions more see it as yet another troubling sign of president trump's authoritarian tendencies kimberly helped get al-jazeera washington.

times take a look at the top stories here it out almost two hundred people have been killed in the polls three days alone in rebel held parts of syria following him an intense and ground offensive by government forces and their russian allies thirty four people died in the most recent attack in. the capital damascus and four others died in a province anomalously international report says the ethnic cleansing campaign against the ranger in miramar continues unabated refugees who derived in bangladesh in recent months describe a systemic campaign of force starvation kidnapping and sexual violence. israeli media is reporting police will recommend that benjamin netanyahu be indicted on corruption charges the prime minister and his wife are suspected of receiving illicit gifts from billionaire benefactors including a major hollywood producer netanyahu denies the allegations and says he's confident

the attorney general won't see the case. many of you asked what will happen so i want to reassure you there will be nothing because i know the truth the state of israel is a state of law the law says of the one to determine whether there is evidence against the prime minister is the attorney general and he consults with the state attorney the state prosecutor said recently in knesset that about half of the police's recommendations and with nothing. rescue crews in the earthquake struck city of juarez and in taiwan are entering buildings on the brink of collapse as powerful aftershocks continue to hit the region hoping to find more survivors in the rubble of the magnitude six point four earthquake that hit the eastern coast of the island on tuesday firefighters in who say they can hear several people trapped in buildings that are on the brink of collapse the leader of south africa's governing party says he is in direct discussions with president jacob zuma over

a possible transition of leadership so rehman posed a valve to a speedy resolution and says the talks will be concluded in the coming days right you have today those are the latest headlines coming up next it's a stream. as the world's best athletes prepare for the winter olympics the north and south koreans will march under unified flag and compete on a joint women's hockey team will bring you the results and the excitement of the seventeen day games of young chang twenty eighteen which are olympic on al-jazeera . hi i'm having a k. and i'm willing to be the roma people are the largest ethnic minority group in europe but they often experience hate and social exclusion however many roam artists especially women are using the work to fight sexism racism and discrimination today we speak with a few including the co-founder of

a feminist theatre group to learn how the challenging stereotypes about.