al jazeera. every us. this is al jazeera. hello i'm rob matheson this is the news our live from doha coming up in the next sixty minutes more than two hundred fifty killed in forty eight hours in a syrian forces continue to bombard rebel held eastern guta activists say it's the

bloodiest onslaught in five years and. syrian government backed fighters enter our freend provoking a response by turkish troops besieging the kurdish enclave plus. the negotiators are sitting right behind me ready to talk but we will not chase after a heated words at the u.n. after the palestinian president calls for an international summit to resolve the conflict with israel also. we have to do more to protect our children days after the fall of the shootings president proposes a ban on devices that turn semi automatic weapons into machine guns. there's been no letup in the syrian government's assault on eastern despite

a growing international outcry syrian forces are backed by their allies russia bombs rockets and shells have killed at least two hundred fifty people since sunday and the last rebel stronghold near damascus activists are describing the death toll in the last forty eight hours as a massacre and they say it's the highest since a twenty thirteen chemical attack on the area east of the hotel has been besieged by the government since twenty thirteen. four hundred thousand people are estimated to be trapped in the rubble held on klav eastern go so it's only a few kilometers away from the government center of power the presidential palace there are fears the bombardment could lead to to a larger ground operation so in a lot of reports from beirut. panic in the streets i. didn't see. fear in people's faces. the. neighborhoods

flattened the airstrikes are almost continuous. towns across eastern who are coming under intense fire i survived emerge in shock children traumatized. there's been no wonder some four hundred thousand people are trapped in this besieged syrian opposition enclave nowhere is safe. the sound of fighter jets in the skies frightens the population. and muhammad and her son the same say they can only hope the walls in their home will save them if a shell or an airstrike hit nearby i didn't we have no choice but to stay in our hearts despite the instruments and shelling outbuilding and those in the street said i don't have underground shelter. the u.n.

says the humanitarian situation is spiraling out of control because of what it calls an extreme escalation of hostilities scores of civilians have been killed since sunday and the number continues to rise. there are hundreds of injuries as well doctors are appealing to the international community to force the government to allow supplies in. some of us for we have shortages in medicine and medical supplies because the regime has been hitting this area for weeks we've had to deal with many injuries imagine we know how to longer have blood bags. the un is demanding an end to the targeting of civilians but for the syrian government and its allies this is a military tactic. they hope that by inflicting suffering on the population they will turn against the rebels and force them to surrender. eastern as the last remaining opposition stronghold around damascus comments made by

russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov about what he calls using the experience in a free and there are causing concern the syrian government regain full control of the city of aleppo and lifeless thousand after months and a full blown military assault that. the main opposition body the syrian national coalition is calling the latest wave of violence a war of extermination it is also condemning what it calls the international silence. this is not the first bombing campaign in eastern. hundreds of civilians were killed in weeks of bombardment earlier this year many believe the renewed bombardment could be the final assault senator. children inside these and of course i have used social media to plead for help everyone who can see on me we are hearing that as a vision has brought much tougher for this is just

a good if i can give them phelps. and the child out in there is one of the arctic that the children would pack before direct. i'm not from the fish which unicef says it's so outrageous what's happening in the hotel it's released a blank statement with a footnote saying we no longer have the words to describe children suffering and our outrage to those inflicting the suffering still have words to justify their barbaric acts topple had a his unicef's regional director for the middle east and north africa we have been issuing in the seventy s. many different day statements expressing more sadness but that doesn't seem to be rare at the same time our this morning didn't know any more how much

through or i could express my sadness unicef's deep sadness about the reality we dare for decided who issue a blank statement that inviting go everybody responsible for what is going on in syria inviting with the simple question do you want out there responsible for these barbarians acts you still have the words to justify what you are doing these millions of boys and girls. and pro syrian government forces have entered the northwestern african region to help kurdish fighters there fend off a turkish assault by. syrian state t.v. showed pictures of their forces celebrating but as they did so turkish forces reportedly targeted them with shell fire turkey's president says his soldiers have now forced fighters backed by the assad government to leave the kurdish controlled

parts of africa and there's a lot of on his votes to capture the area within days some of it i've read has more from gaza on top on turkey's border with syria a group of fighters loyal to president bashar assad's government has retreated from the city of our free these fighters were trying to get close to the city after kurdish fighters had asked for help from the syrian government and it said that it would not send its regular forces but would provide them with irregular militias and that should cause a popular for since this happened after turkish artillery hit these areas when it saw that these forces were going in it happened only a couple of hours after the turkish president they had a gun announced that he and his forces are in another phase of the operation because we know ongoing since last month and he promised his cabinet members that the city of offering is going to be captured by to forces and their allies these

arab f.s.a. fighters in a matter of days this operation has been ongoing since january the twentieth and it has come at a heavy toll to the turkish government as well i need to kill the saga at the same time it takes to make certain perforations in the field the seeding of the effort city will start rapidly in the coming days. military sources on the ground have been telling us that it is easier said than done to capture the city of offering because it's very tough terrain and these dry p.g. kurdish fighters are locals to this area so the advance of the turkish government as well as the f.s.a. fighters who say they've captured a number of villages around the city of offering which will help them encircled and besieged have been very very slow their advance according to them has been slow not only because of the tough terrain but also because they want to avoid civilian casualties but as we've seen in the syrian conflict as more forces arrive as a bigger of powers come to take areas that they had they want to control it's the

civilians who suffered the most. but nothing is the latest flashpoint in syria's complex civil war on groups in the region including kodesh fighters eisel and turkey's backed fighters are tangled in a web of disputes and alliances with the united states russia and iran the cut is why p.g. holds the a.t.o. here in yellow which includes areas around freeing the green part shows land controlled by the fighters that took he supports it advancing on a train under the turkish operation called all of branch president bashar al assad's government controls the area to the south now he's had a complex relationship with the white p.g. assad has said he wants to take back control of the whole country while the kurds want an autonomy region in northern syria i'm going to says why p.g. is linked to the p.k. k. the kurdistan workers party it's been fighting for more kurdish autonomy in turkey and other parts of the region but why p.g. has been one of the u.s.

led coalition's most important allies in the fight against eisel in syria but turkey has been pressuring washington to stop backing the kurds michael page insofar lower the hudson institute who specializes in middle eastern affairs and he's joining us live via skype from virginia thank you very much indeed for your time what's this conflict in never trouble as soon as turkish troops cross the border into syria. turkey said they were going to come in and they said they were orses. so what we're seeing now is. they're going to actually do it. with the exception of actually fighting. the last four years so this is we just need to get attention when turkey is also saying as you mentioned they're telling us to start working with the white p.g. and we seem to differentiate between white b.g. west of the euphrates when p.g. city of creditors early want to start and that could be an issue especially as one

says it might be just sex. the consequences of this fighting between militias and turkey could be very severe why is it in president assad's interests to do this why did he's being forced to do it another way p.j. again they're looking for a guarantor they don't see one of the united states and they were betrayed by russia and iran and often when turkey started moving conducting its military operation so now they're hedging their bets they're trying to leverage captured territory in iraq and they're resorting other places with damascus in order to get down to thomas ridge you talk to so this is a this is quite an unseen dynamic was interesting also as these are arabian backed militias these are iraqi shia militias this is a lot they're moving into her and they're not going to be able to do much absent russia's help and russia's going to always stay out of this war so this should be a they just say to turkey shoot for turkish military operations in iraq from when

it comes to what to start trying to do with these these paramilitary forces otherwise known as are just sit back to malicious michael say with me for a moment because russia's foreign minister says the syrian conflict can only be resolved of all interest parties respect each other's territorial integrity to second level as a hold on turkey and syria to settle the offing crisis through direct talks the old vision still i'm convinced that turkish interests with regards to ensuring security can be fulfilled and satisfied through direct dialogue with the syrian government i really hope that we will all continue to firmly stand against any attempts to untwist the kurdish problem for the sake of interests which lie in preserving and deepening chaos in the region and in crushing and destroying countries located so that. michael given what's happening in africa is there any possibility that talks can happen to read between turkey and the assad regime. well i think what turkey is

able to show now is based on your earlier story what asses are doing. you know that's that's where you hear the russian message since you say why would you ask to stop doing things often when you're doing the same thing. and just very briefly michael what is the tipping point do you think at which russia and the u.s. have to get involved in this particular conflict and obviously the possible wider consequences of that well i think i think we're partitioning decisions i mean if it happens west of the euphrates we allow turkey to decide what happens if secretary tell us and said something that i thought was very. i didn't like the language and i don't like we have sounded to our u.s. advisors working with white b.g. on the ground he said to turkey just be specific just try to be specific meaning

try to try to be absolutely your target you know the why p.g. and s. deaths concern him because he's basically saying to turkey just make sure you get y.p. g. forces and try not to kill a bunch of us that doesn't send a good message i think that that because everything seems to be divided u.s. policy was the euphrates is different than u.s. policy he's in the euphrates and and russia i think just wants to stay out of this war and it's i don't like to say complex because it's over use but it is a very complicated situation michael i was going to get your opinion on this michael thank you very much indeed michael pridgen there. plenty more ahead on the news hour including a lawyer linked to u.s. president donald trump pleads guilty to lying to the f.b.i. . dire warnings from the u.n. refugee agency about a humanitarian disaster in the democratic republic of congo. in sports france's greatest ever a limpy and wins another gold at the winter games in pyongyang china.

palestinian leader mahmoud abbas has proposed a new international peace summit with israel one that rules out the united states as the chief broker in an address to the un security council abbas said palestinians had lost faith in the u.s. government's ability to mediate abandoning a twenty five year long policy diplomatic editor james bays reports from un headquarters on what was a tense session president abbas is presence here was rare and carefully calculated normally his ambassador attends this monthly meeting he came himself to express his displeasure at the trumpet ministration he suggested its decision to recognize jerusalem as israel's capital and to cut funding to the un agency that helps palestinians disqualified it from leading peace efforts instead

he proposed a new approach for any out of grammar digicam i would call for the convening of an international peace conference by mid two thousand and nineteen based on international law and relevant un resolutions with broad international participation including the two concerned parties and regional and international stakeholders. president abbas left immediately after his speech nothing unusual there in terms of u.n. protocol he was the only head of state in a room full of ambassadors and had another engagement to attend it didn't stop the israeli ambassador using it to score a point i expect that means that our battle stay with us and have a dialogue unfortunately is once again running away. the u.s. ambassador came to the meeting accompanied by the two men president trump has tasked with leading negotiations jason greenblatt and his own son in law jared

cushion she said president abbas had a choice the united states stands ready to work with the palestinian leadership our negotiators are sitting right behind me ready to talk but we will not chase after you the choice mr president is yours it was a security council session full of drama and theatrical but the reality is depressingly familiar this meeting in no way brings any closer to a resolution to a conflict that's already lasted over seventy years james zero of the united nations israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is remaining defiant despite being a broiled in two more bribery scandals on top of an ongoing corruption investigation police gnowledge one of his closest advisers tried to bribe a judge into dropping a criminal case involving netting news wife back in twenty fifteen yeah efforts is

accused of using a middleman to offer the judge help in being elected attorney general if she closed a case against sarah netanyahu is excessive household spending on tuesday police also revealed that her fence was one of several of neff and that's an yahoo's confidence to be arrested over a separate probe into allegations of corruption at israel's biggest telecoms company basic last week investigators recommended the prime minister should be indicted in two corruption cases involving bribery and fraud and netanyahu says he's the victim of a witch hunt i should google. what's happened in recent days is simply total madness scandalous they bring to crazy fabricated claims as part of a witch hunt against me and my family that has gone on for years but any claim that i acted on the benefit of basic at the expense of road. considerations as she found it to its core. the second client concerned in the appointment of the attorney

general is no less crazy militia's to a never consulted his on this matter you never proposed anything to me on this issue and you know what i don't believe that he suggested this possibility with anyone. u.s. president donald trump is recommending a ban on devices that can turn firearms into machine guns it would include so-called stocks which were used in the las vegas mass shooting in october where fifty eight people died it's unclear whether the bomb stalks were used in last week's shooting in florida which killed seventeen people heidi joe castro's joining us live from washington d.c. heidi this is a move that we wouldn't really expect from a republican president is this an indication do you think that the trumpet ministration is feeling the pressure over gun control i think it certainly is raw but you know a poll that was just done in recent days following the florida school shooting had the result that the majority of americans who responded said that trump and congress have not done enough to prevent these mass shootings from repeating now

the issue of the bomb stocks that actually dates back to four months ago to as you mentioned the las vegas massacre in which fifty eight people were killed members of the republican party at that time said they were moving to ban these devices it did take four months to the point of taking decisive action today issuing a memorandum to the justice department to indeed go ahead and ban these bomb stocks and gun control advocates while saying this is a move in the right direction it is also the least that the president can do they have long called for universal background checks as more risk as well as more restrictions on who can purchase assault rifles that topic was asked to the white house press secretary earlier today. there are currently laws in place in certain states that restrict that in terms of whether or not we make that federal policy that hasn't yet been determined but that's something that is something that i think

that's certainly something that's on the table for us to discuss and that we expect to come up over the next. while the answer was short it really is significant because as you alluded to rob the fact that the republican party and the white house press secretary for donald trump is even entertaining this idea is quite remarkable so what is making the difference many are saying that it is because the survivors of this florida high school shooting children themselves teenagers have now become the media and compelling voices for this call for more gun control in these days since last wednesday when the shooting occurred we've seen coordinated campaign by these students in the form of media interviews protests across the country and now tomorrow a scheduled meeting with donald trump inside the white house and many are seeing the announcement today by trying to ban bomb stocks as an effort for him to get ahead of this meeting improve the optics in

a very tense time for the white house heidi thanks very much indeed. a lawyer who allegedly works with an aide to u.s. president donald trump has pleaded guilty to lying to the f.b.i. . has the son in law of ukrainian russian all agog the latest focus on the f.b.i.'s investigation into how russia meddled in the twenty sixteen u.s. election of white house correspondent kimberly hawker does that holds. the impact of the investigation into alleged russian interference in the twenty six thousand us election by special counsel robert muller and whether there was collusion between donald trump's campaign and russia is being felt by more people on tuesday the u.s. justice department again made headlines and now saying the latest person to be criminally charged in the probe alex vander swan a lawyer is accused of lying to f.b.i. agents about conversations between himself and

a former trump advisor regain. gates made news last year when he was indicted along with president former campaign chair paul mad afford for acting as a registered agent of the ukrainian government allegedly laundering millions of payments from ukraine and abating u.s. taxes both pled not guilty to the charges the latest indictment alleges vendors was also work for the ukrainians and that he deleted and otherwise did not produce e-mail sought by the special counsel's office at least one e-mail involved gates while he was working for the trump campaign according to the court documents these latest charges follow an indictment by the u.s. justice department against thirteen russian nationals accused of interfering and undermining the twenty six thousand election cording to the justice department russian's organized rallies in support of trump and paid for ads online backing him

there is no allegation in this indictment. that any american was a knowing participant in this illegal activity trump has repeatedly denied a link between his campaign and russia but his frustration with the probe is increasingly evident over the weekend fired off more than a dozen tweets about miller's investigation blaming his political opponents and once again declaring his innocence but despite acknowledging russia did interfere in the twenty sixteen u.s. election more than a year later the troubled ministration has done little to prevent that meddling from happening again kimberly help al-jazeera washington lots more still ahead on al-jazeera and the city destroyed by ice all that's being rebuilt with love we need the volunteers taking matters into their own hands plus. i'm wayne hay with a rare look at the second day being constructed on the lower mekong river as laos

pushes ahead with its goal of becoming the battery of southeast asia and in sport find out why german football fans turned on monday night game into a tennis match. hello there were some heavy downpours over parts of north america or at the moment is this area of cloud here that's giving us the wettest of the weather and that's really the border between the very cold air towards the northwest and the very warm air down in the southeast this mild air will continue to feed up towards the eastern coast as we head through wednesday so a maximum temperature of twenty one or twenty two in new york and force in washington d.c. will get to around twenty five which is seventy seven in fahrenheit things will change those this weather system gradually edges its way eastwards on thursday this

time new york no higher than around eight whereas washington d.c. will go to around twelve the southeast corner though still very mild here with around twenty six in atlanta and to twenty seven in miami i mean further towards the south in general it's quite quiet across the central americas at the moment a lot of fine weather to be found most of the showers as usual are over parts of costa rica and feeding up a further north maybe one or two making their way through the temp an inch on wednesday but even here it looks like it should be dry as we come into thursday the further towards the south and there's been plenty of showers here particularly over parts of french guyana and into syria that's all stretching down through rio more rain to come here doesn't dry room one is always there twenty six. a unique poor trait of a small gulf nation living under siege but maybe this friend was a target sent that pain to be forced to leave would just be all and then

gains by the celeb it has given us the desire to carry on with our lives and be creative maybe other turndowns it's not a marriage barbara business. has become more united. beyond the blockade at this time on al-jazeera. and monday put it well on i j z the u.s. and british companies have announced the biggest discovery of natural gas in west africa but what to do with these untapped natural resources is already a source of heated debate nothing much has changed they still spend most of their days looking forward to for the dry river beds like this one five years on the syrians still feel battered or even those who managed to escape their country have been truly unable to escape the war.

you're watching all the syria a reminder of our top stories this hour one of syria's lost rebel held areas these in eastern huta has been under heavy bombardment by government and russian forces more than two hundred fifty people are reported dead since sunday. turkish forces have reports of a push by syrian pro-government fighters from out for fighters loyal to president bashar al assad and to the area to help kurdish fighters there fend off a turkish assault. and u.s. president donald trump is recommending a ban on devices that can turn firearms into machine guns that would include so-called bomb stocks which were used in the. vegas mass shooting in october where fifty eight people died. the un's refugee agency is warning an upsurge of violence in the democratic republic of congo could cause

a humanitarian disaster of extraordinary proportions according to the u.n. h.c.r. more than six hundred thousand people have been displaced by fighting in the south eastern province it says new armed groups are emerging in a region already rife with fighting between armed forces and militia agencies documented about eight hundred human rights abuses including killings abduction and rape in the first two weeks of this month and two aide workers have been killed by armed gunman and another has been taken hostage also in the country's east this happened in the village of moshe kid in north keep in the province the u.n. says poor security conditions in the region are hindering efforts to help thousands of people in need. while let's take a closer look at the conflict in the d.r. see the violence by militia spiked since president joseph kabila refused to step down when his term expires in twenty sixteen fighting is largely taking place along the eastern borders with uganda rwanda and burundi i think violence between the

bantu and top group has intensified since mid two thousand and sixteen the recent conflict in technique a province is thought to be mainly between the two and other ethnic groups unrest in the east has forced almost two million people to flee their homes last year alone or michael is president of the association for development and democracy in congo and he's joining us from leicester in the u.k. via skype thank you very much indeed for your time so is the bulk of this about president joseph kabila refusing to step down or are there wider issues at play here now. you know who they are why that is. what example the central government is very weak i've been to has been for the past seventeen years unfortunately has been has not been able to build up a nominee can actually provide security for the people so what we end up having is local people community they're forming self-defense groups and then fighting

amongst each other and on top of that now going to have a political crisis where justice coming up is out of tune this time expired in two thousand and sixteen but unfortunately it's to empower to have illegitimacy problem and this is for making the situation worse it was seventeen he had filled and now the political crisis so the country is becoming weak and crisis almost in most of the country the problem is probably in the center of the country you know here. and now we have in this country is going to area that palace has got actually getting worse and they say do you know any more about these new armed groups that the un has been referring to who have been joining the fighting that has been going on over generally. well this newsgroup's to use due to come to self my might is our local people local so that if a crop. obviously it is insecurity and the government is absent so the local people having to come with different militia groups and then to fight the fight

amongst themselves and then in the causing people to flee and a lot of suffering a lot of violence actually going in that part of the country that raped children being killed villages. a lot of atrocity have been committed in that part of the country given the way that you're describing what's been happening in the country and it sounds appalling how bad could this get. it wasn't things can get even you worst we we're seeing the nature of the problem is actually it is just an believable killing the. woman the web taken didn't take the baby out well. and the little things that are happening i just i don't know how to describe them and we seeing that it is actually getting worse because i get with it important that help they think about strategy to stop this from getting further otherwise i don't know how they're going to cope because the number of people that

are displaced as a result of the conflict it is just so out of the power of the homes of other people having to leave the village and to go elsewhere and they don't have all done that shelters and they're exposed to. christian and other diseases given that this has expanded from the issues surrounding president joseph kabila and has now expanded to wider issues is that possible do you think for the country itself to solve this problem or are we going to reach a tipping point where external forces may have to come in to try to contain the fighting unfortunately the country itself cannot solve the problem because the central government is when you have a leader that is illegitimate i mean that is also part of poland because with me is the probably they also commit atrocities so you have militias that are killing the i mean that is not getting the population but we have a human of you with a mission india see we believe perhaps the humans should be more forceful and intervene and protect the population because they are having something that has in

the government but they are also suffering at the hands of the local militias present or buying i was president of the association for development and democracy in congo thank you very much indeed for your time sir thank you. cutout and chad have signed an agreement to restore diplomatic ties african nation had ordered the closure of qatar's embassy last august after the gulf diplomatic crisis began that's when suddenly a bill buckley in the u.a.e. and egypt cut all ties with doha accusing it of supporting terrorism a claim qatar denies. as iraq's government looks abroad for the billions of dollars it will take to rebuild the country after its campaign against eisel some of its younger citizens are getting a head start many of them feel cities like mosul will not see the promised funds any time soon and as such a lot as already on reports they've been taking matters into their own hands. it will take years to undo the damage in mosul neighborhoods. volunteers

like omar aren't wasting any time he drives through the iraqi cities narrow streets clearing out what's left of destroyed structures or with rock more than ever i want to there's a lot of rubble you see large pieces all over the streets and alleys we're doing our best with what we have we've been doing this for about two weeks now the price of every truck averages about two dollars. it's part of a campaign called lifting the debris an initiative launched by local young woman tears who've lost hope the government's ability to rebuild the city other vehicle would do that job well thought what's left of him mechanics home is a constant reminder of the nearly four year fight with eisel she's surrounded by shadows of war air strikes and loss we are already in the destroyed old area of mosul there are no services no electricity no water it's miserable the country needs money lots of it to rebuild its towns and cities last week donors pledged thirty billion dollars in loans and investments the iraqi government says it needs

more than eighty eight billion a lack of trust is a major concern last year the country ranked one hundred sixty six out of one hundred seventy six nations that were found to be corrupt you have high rates of all. those areas because they are neglected by the iraqi government by the local government because of their actions insult says accountability within the private sector could be part of the solution the activate the private sector. and how we can use the private sector to make confidences to make trust with the international community these young volunteers don't want to rely solely on the government's plans they say they want to start now and revitalize their city was an analogy doubted that as volunteer painters were trying to show the civilized face of a model we drew monuments that were blown up by ice all to show that the negative effects of the war will eventually fade rebuilding could take decades now the

process has a head start. so the young al-jazeera senior management of the charity oxfam have been answering questions by british m.p.'s and london that follows allegations that it stuff paid women in haiti for sex in the wake of the twenty ten quake oxfam's chief executive has told a parliamentary committee it's now investigating a further twenty six cases of sexual abuse one of a. senior official into parliament they were bringing. aftermath quake docs fam have. to take advantage of people when it found out why didn't it tell them. my coach of the time may decide to do so as to how to. organize asians choose to go public at all with hindsight they made. they should if we were going

to culpable which we were. they should have been completely transparent everybody knew that the aid sector was pretty rotten because if i thought all these people who were abusing women and girls regularly in all countries but knew would not one organization was actually tracking it and doing nothing about it. that shocking they were supposed to be part of people trying to help the world but it would appear not as good he should be indeed some people in toto and see similar didn't share our values their views to the trust of oxfam the power of books one in their hands the abuse the trust of the british public haunted. and and turned on the people who were supposed to protect them it's true the most but he'll be deeply sorry for that going to bring members of parliament were told that seven

thousand people have cancelled their regular donations to oxfam since the scandal broke but other british aid organizations acknowledge there is nothing unique about oxfam's failings the head of save the children told the same committee that sexual abuses in the aid world not just a few bad apples it's a systemic problem it's laws we have to fix the youth. is is probably the most effective in the world it's worse accountable to the world we cannot afford to allow this issue to pollute the wider discussion about the role of the youth in leadership. if the aid dries up charities argue then people in disaster and war zones will pay the highest price that makes the aid industry's credibility crisis all the more tragic barnaby phillips al-jazeera london. but as well as opposition says it will not put forward a candidate for

a post presidential election calling the vote a trap set by president nicolas maduro the exiled opposition leader tony a little says the election will be rigged in favor of would do it all no one will probably tell you if you we're not going to participate in the presidential elections because it would be suicide it's not an election it's a trap and it would be absurd for the democratic opposition which represents the vast majority of venezuelans who want real change in the country to know and a regime by far more frequent fraudulent elections free protesters in the brazilian city of rio de janeiro are calling for president michelle ten to reverse an order to deploy military personnel the government says they're needed to combat gang violence but many people fear having soldiers on the streets could lead to more high handed tactics used by the police. the number of venezuelans escaping to neighboring colombia is rising at an alarming rate despite tighter border controls

alessandra ramp yet reports from cook on the colombian venezuelan border. in this central plaza and hundreds of venezuelans stand in line for up to seven hours they wait for a wire transfer that will help them and were the economic crisis back home cattlemen travels to this colombian border town every month she needs the money her son sends from the children to buy medicine i don't think that he might think that we are happy to come here he receives a little money but instead it's very sad that we can't afford the basic things we need it's painful to be here but it's a sacrifice we have to make it's an excruciating but essential wait in a swell and scam to receive remittances at home due to the exchange controls imposed by the government of president nicolas maduro they used the money to buy basic items for ever more often bus tickets to reach those who already left in search of a better life. oh if they would leave us i'm here to go to korea with my son my

husband is already there he saved for fifteen months to pay for our chickens we wanted to stay in venezuela but it's becoming impossible with the upcoming presidential elections and will be worried they'll shut the corridor so we decided it was time to go oh my goodness well an immigration experts say a fifth of the population has left the country in the last two years something colombia but increasing numbers continue to other south american countries where it might be easier to find work the number of buses leaving this station for the ecuadorian border the next stop on these migrants journey has passed from six or seven a week to more than seventy every single day but even that is not enough and some people after wake up to four days for a ticket i families struggle to save enough for just one bus ticket but when it's time to separate the heartache is palpable. that i mean this sold all they could to

get their eldest son a passport in a bus fare to argentina. what i make is not enough to feed us it's sad because we used to have food in jobs but not me more that's why my son is leaving and my heart is broken no one can resist forever that's why he must go to a scene that repeats itself with painful regularity as each bus takes off and more families are torn apart by necessity leaving behind a sad trail of trauma in tears at least and i'm just you know. we have bangladesh have agreed to resettle more than six thousand range of muslims stranded between the two countries refugees were stuck at the tambu border point who are trying to flee violence in their native meum are authorities in me and more reportedly began building bunkers and forced them to leave more than seven hundred thousand range of muslims have fled to bangladesh. the first dam on the lower me

kong river may start generating electricity earlier than expected the controversial shell is in laos and the communist government says it needs the project to improve its economy when haye has been given rare access to the site. this is one of the most unique places on the mekong river just before it flows from laos into cambodia it disperses becoming eleven kilometers wide and creating thousands of channels and islands the mekong was the largest inland fishery in the world but in this part of the river those who rely on it for food and income say something is changing because the number of fish is decreasing to each year it seems like they might be staying deep or for some reason i think there is too much noise in the reef or. something part of the answer could lie a short distance from where fish is in one of the channels a dam is being built as the lao government works towards its goal of becoming the battery of southeast asia while china operates six dams on the upper make on the

dawn so hong is just the second being built on the lower reaches both are in laos and the government has plans for at least seven more this is a relatively small project but is attracted some of the strongest criticism downstream from laos cambodia and vietnam both of which had been calling for a moratorium on the construction of dams on the main stream of the mekong river well seeing what laos is doing cambodia has given up on that now and is forging ahead with its own plans to build at least two dams on the make kong one of which will be in the province just across the border from here. neighboring countries had criticized last for not being transparent enough about dawn song and the potential trends boundary impacts it's being built on one of the only channels in the area that fish can migrate up and downstream year around seventy percent. then make their terrific sell abstracting my question now would me. and give up

their foot stuck in the whole region. the developers and the government say they're widely and deepening other channels to allow fish to swim through they're also conducting daily surveys of fish stocks in the area which they say aren't being adversely affected now in. international. company to study and. it's a race that knowledge. and can only hope to slow it down. it's

time for the sports his son. i had to be at their very best to pick i asked us title their friend tribals of. death and. then set

a new world record to end the event but the canadian pair were able to respond with an even better performance and it is an open. four years on from announcing their retirements canada's tessa virtue and scott moir were back at the olympics and in world record breaking four they became ice dance champions for a second time having decided to return to competition two years ago the pair had already helped candidate win gold in the team event last week. but. it definitely feels like we. were just proud of accomplishments this these games the goal was to win to. canada also took gold in the women's ski haul by kasey short securing the best school in each of the first two rounds of the final francis morton for cold further cemented his status as an all time olympic great he guided his country to gold in the biathlon mixed relay

it's his third gold of these games and fifth overall making him from says most successful olympian. and korea's unified women's hockey team signed off from these games with another defeat their fifth straight loss came against sweden this combined north and south korean team of scored many diplomatic points but finished dead last in the competition and the richardson al-jazeera. still top of the medal table is seven gold medals and to be won a wednesday include in the women's downhill american lindsey vonn will be aiming for a second title in that event. russian limpid bosses say a criminal investigation has begun into how the bronze medal winning curler failed a dope test on a second sample has confirmed alexander crucial in its case a positive test for minutes on your man who rushes sports minister claims the

curler didn't take the substance deliberately was lavinia's mins ice hockey player. has also tested positive for a banned substance the court of arbitration for sport has ordered him to leave the games you scored the winning goal against slovakia on saturday in his absence that the team lost to norway and went out of the competition but will now five time champions by munich are as good as through to the quarterfinals of the european champions league by him beating. turkey five nil in the first leg of their last sixteen tie is their fourteenth straight win in all competitions choose their other game at chelsea in barcelona drew one one in london while having hit the post twice in the first half a million eventually gave chelsea the lead in the second half needed on a c. scored the equaliser then crucial away goal for barsa the return leg in spain is

coming up in three weeks time. in football fans briefly turned a monday night game into a tennis match into frank four to supporters are i'm happy that t.v. schedules that have resulted in games being moved from their traditional saturday slot to tennis ball protest delayed the start of both cost of the magic is rb leipsic. but as the writer paddy higgs that told us that why monday night football is such a big issue in germany. football fans in germany are certainly a very traditional bunch particularly in fact frankfurt and they are very much against the globalization of the monetisation of football as they see it as it's happening in germany at the moment so i think we're going to see quite a bit of this in the bundesliga very much have a push to globalize the brand to bring the gang to places where hasn't necessarily

been popular before german football certainly you know those itself on the tradition of the of the game and of the clubs and we look at saturdays when they have you know up to five games on simultaneously which you can argue is not the best use of t.v. spots and that instead i think this this move to modern art is at least a toe in the water to see the reaction the reaction from inside of germany and potentially the reaction from around the world in the end is the decision between the d. of p. and the d.f.l. dear fellow of course represent the top clubs in germany and they in some way sanction this move they represent the clubs so in essence they represent this decision in some way to serve despite the fact that we're going to see i think quite a few more protests particularly from some of the more traditional clubs dortmund shugart i'm struck frankfurt as we saw last night and i do believe that this is going to change things in a hurry and i think we saw last night with the with the scenes that happened and what happened with the frankfurt fans everyone junoon and in the end it was

a i guess at least from a out from a view as you point to deal with success from under not hopeful brazil's aleksandr patter scored a crucial goal for his tiny's team in the agent champions league title came off the bend to forty and quietly and to score the equaliser in the one before that to see what they thought the result with teams and they to start the competition. brazilians were also central to shanghai's ass ip g.'s at form one that win over the melbourne victory former chelsea midfielder all scar scored twice off the whole had given as i.p.g. that he did the chinese side are now two points clear at the top of their group. and this is full form we will have more later on. a television station led mostly by a woman has officially launched in gaza despite efforts by hamas authorities to block it. says it's the first channel of its kind in the palestinian territory and it

aims to highlight the role of women in building society how the faucet went to its knowledge of. gaza has a new broadcaster and permitted title sequence its unique selling point is clear we will make up the heart of its content and its intended audience it's called type t.v. tuesday is launch day and a big movement for its volunteer presenters that i have in my ad and we're going to start discussing women's issues and try to find solutions for their problems and we will also celebrate their successes. type is going out on facebook twitter you tube and telegram so a local production company provides its facilities free of charge the plan is for programming on issues like inequality and violence but also fashion of makeup and comedy down the corridor or the next pair of presenters are running through their lines more student a teller says she's braced for criticism said he and i remember as

a society is too conservative they say i should cover my hair and i'm using too much makeup and i shouldn't wear short skirts we need to increase awareness to change this after we launched our first primer i received a lot of negative comments on facebook a few minutes later it's time for her debut just getting to this point hasn't been easy the production company behind this project had its launch party cancelled on sunday by hamas police said they didn't have the licenses necessary for a new channel they are challenging that saying they are operating legally and they go to press ahead. in gaza women have to contend with life under the israeli blockade and within a conservative restrictive society female unemployment stands at seventy one percent women with jobs on average about a quarter less than men one recent study suggests more than ten percent. females have suffered physical abuse. a woman isn't free to make her own decisions to choose her education the husband she wants or how to plan her family we see the

steering our work men a dominant political decision making despite the fact that there are lots of well educated intellectual women in the public arena. it's a picture those that type t.v. want to help change by talking directly and frankly to go as those women are it will suit al-jazeera gaza. in goods a lot more as background and all these stories on about side al jazeera dot com that's it for me right about this and for this news hour i'm going to be back in a moment with more of the day's news and.

arts. with bureaus spawning six continents across the globe. to. al-jazeera has correspondents live in green the stories they tell. us about it. al-jazeera fluent in world news. discover

a willful would winning programming from around the world. come to make it challenge your perceptions if you were to design a propaganda system you could not build a better platform than facebook paul form documenters debate and discussion this country that was once that the wealthiest in the region what went wrong how did we get to this point al-jazeera. more than two hundred fifty killed in forty eight hours a syrian forces continue to bombard a rebel held eastern ghouta activists say it's the bloodiest onslaught in five years.