in the heart of the amazon believe me in families but then law is imperiled to harvest brazil nuts to. the. cancer in the congo to the capital is an even more dangerous challenge the police. risk a new tool to believe you know. at this time on al jazeera. more than two hundred fifty people killed and forty eight hours of eastern ghouta activists say it's the bloodiest onslaught by syrian forces in five years.

i'm richelle carey this is al-jazeera life and also coming up our negotiators are sitting right behind me ready to talk but we will not chase after heated words at the u.n. after the palestinian president calls for an international summit to resolve the conflict with israel also. last minute cancellation the u.s. says north korea called off the meeting with vice president mike pence during his visit to the winter olympics plus. in bangkok where the buddhist leadership some nine decades ago banned female monks there's no movement going around the system and they're gaining support. 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 say it's the highest since a two thousand and thirteen chemical attack in that area eastern gooda has been besieged by the government since two thousand and thirteen four hundred thousand people are estimated to be trapped in that rebel held enclave eastern good is only a few kilometers away from the government center of power of the presidential palace and central damascus there are fears the bombardment could lead to a larger ground operation as in a hotel reports in beirut. panic in the streets. as you mentioned. fear in people's faces. around. the neighborhoods flattened the airstrikes are almost continuous. towns

across eastern who are coming under intense fire. on the twenty three survivors emerge in shock children traumatized. her two month old son doing 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 harm's despite be in strikes and shelling out building and those in the street that 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 several cars food 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 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 . eastern libya 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 then of what their. children. have the social media to plead for help everyone can see on me. as a vision has booked for this is just a good if you can give them phelps.

as a child on. march fifth the children. before. i'm not from decision. unicef says it's so outraged at what's happening and that it's released a blank statement with the footnote saying we are we no longer have the words to describe children suffering at our outrage and those inflicting the suffering still have words to justify their barbaric acts compel the pope pellerin a is unicef's regional director for the middle east north africa he says he did not know how to express unicef sadness about what's going on in syria we have been issuing in the seventy years many difference day statements expressing more sadness. but that doesn't seem to be we're now at the same time on this morning didn't know when the more how much through or i could express ma and sadness

unicef's deep sadness about the reality the rebels for decided if you were blanks they involved didn't go everybody responsible for what is going on in syria inviting with this simple question do you want out there responsible for these barbarian acts you still have the words to justify what you are doing these millions will always be. palestinian leader mahmoud abbas has proposed a new international peace summit with israel that rules out the united states as the chief broker an address to the u.n. security council about the palestinians had lost faith in the u.s. government's ability to mediate abandoning a policy which has lasted for twenty five years i was arrested magic editor james space of course in the headquarters of the un. president abbas's 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 very early on. i would call for the convening of an international peace conference by mid two thousand and eighteen based on international law and relevant un resolutions with broad international participation including the two concerned parties and regional and international stakeholders present a bias left immediately after his speech nothing unusual there in terms of un 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 expected news that a bass to 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 green glass and his own son in law gerald 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 tricks but the reality is depressingly familiar this meeting in no way brings any close a resolution to a conflict that's already lost that over seventy years james zero of the united

nations israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is remaining defiant despite being embroiled in two more bribery scandals on top of a corruption investigation place now led to one of his closest advisers tried to bribe a judge into dropping a criminal case in two thousand and fifteen and valving netanyahu is why. accused of using a middleman to offer the judge help to become attorney general if he closed the case against that now his excessive household spending on tuesday police revealed that a face was one of several netanyahu confidants arrested over a separate probe into allegations of corruption at israel's biggest telecom company last week and investigators recommended the prime minister be indicted in two corruption cases involving bribery and fraud that yahoo says he's the victim of a witch i should believe. 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 relevant considerations is simply unbounded to its core. the second quite concerned in the appointment of the attorney general is no less crazy and malicious 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. the u.s. state department says north korean officials decided at the last minute not to meet vice president mike pence during his visit to south korea you can see when he was there he sat right in front of north korean leader kim jong un sr washington said that pensive been willing to hold a meeting with her and other officials from pyongyang they were in the south korean city of chain for the opening ceremony of the winter olympics the meeting would have been the first between senior officials from the two countries natasha game has more from seoul this aborted meeting was two weeks in the making the cia got

word that the north koreans wanted to meet the south koreans were to be the intermediary we do know that vice president mike pence attended the v.i.p. reception for the opening ceremonies sat within an arm's length of kim jong un sister kim you know jiang and the ceremonial head of state and there was much comments made about the. lack of interaction between the two sides but in any event this meeting was supposed to take place the following day in seoul at the presidential blue house only the united states and north koreans were expected to be in the room and the hope was according to the pence team that the united states with use this as an opportunity to convey a face to face to kim jong sr the quote maximum pressure kind of policy that the united states plans to continue exerting on north korea unless it denuclearize is bear in mind north korea likely cancel about meeting because it was

upset that earlier that week pence had said that the toughest round of economic sanctions sanctions were coming to north korea said that he wouldn't allow the north korean propaganda to whitewash their murderous regime and he met with north korean defectors still ahead on al-jazeera. we have to do more to protect our children and they wake up for the florida school shooting us president response of the proposal on gun control. has families torn apart venezuelans make desperate choices for order to survive a deepening economic crisis. by the sky knowing the range and harbor or off the coast of the italian riviera. hello there we've seen some heavy rain over parts of the middle east recently the

latest system is edging its way eastwards now taking away that wet weather with it we've also seen some snow over the mountains but as we head through into wednesday we'll see that wet weather working away from tajikistan in kurdistan a making its way through our marty so if you outbreaks of rain and snow will likely here but even there it will dry up as we head into thursday then the temperatures will begin to recover for us in touch again we get to around thirteen degrees meanwhile for the west a good deal of cloud hair that is bringing us a few outbreaks of rain stretching down through parts of iraq and down towards q eight but i think for kuwait mostly here we'll just see a good deal of cloud rather than too much in the way of rain that cloud there where you can see it on our chart for wednesday stretching through parts of saudi arabia and across the gulf towards iran that gradually edges its way eastwards there as we head into thursday but it's also sinking a little bit further south so we could see more in the way of cloud here in doha on thursday and it could just give us the old shower as we head down to the southern parts of africa there's plenty of wet weather here that stretching from angola all

the way down into the eastern parts of south africa we're also seeing more showers through parts is involved way as well the side there we get more wet weather as well over the northern half of madagascar the southern half is looking a lot drier. there with sponsored by qatar and greece. the scene for us where there are online which is a very new site in yemen that peace is always 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 this is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's an activist and he's posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera.

watching out is here let's recap the top stories for you this hour one of syria's last rebel held areas eastern gooda has been under heavy bombardment by government russian forces more than two hundred fifty people have been killed since sunday palestinian leader mahmoud abbas has proposed a new international peace summit with israel with you and one that rolls out the united states as the chief broker the u.s. says it remains ready to talk but won't chase after the palestinians. u.s. says north korean officials decided at the last minute not to meet vice president mike pence during his visit to south korea you can see he said right in front of the sister of north korean leader kim jong il in washington said he was willing to hold a meeting which would have been the first between those two countries u.s. president donald trump has called for a ban on stocks a device that allows

a semiautomatic rifle to fire at the rate of a machine gun last week's florida school shooting sparked renewed debate on gun control that gun safety advocates say it's only the bare minimum of what the government should do to prevent masha tings castro has more. the bomb stocks of deadly threat was witnessed in october when a gunman used them to rain down bullets on a crowd in las vegas killing fifty eight people the call to bamba stocks was swift . but it took until now four months later for president donald trump to take action . after the deadly shooting in las vegas i directed the attorney general. to clarify whether certain bob stock devices like the one used in las vegas are illegal under current law that process began in december and just a few moments ago i signed a memorandum directing the attorney general to propose regulations to ban all

devices that turn illegal weapons into machine guns drums announcement came six days after yet another mass shooting dominated the headlines seventeen people mostly students were killed in a florida high school there's no indication the shooter also used a bomb stock in the attack but trump's move to ban the devices now appears to be the president bending to growing pressure polling shows the majority of americans think trump in congress haven't done enough to stop mass shootings while gun safety advocates say banning bomb stops is good they say there's still much more that needs to be done and. that is to say. there's a. shot thank you. the young survivors of

the florida shooting are expected to meet with trump on wednesday for what the white house calls a listening session expected to join them are survivors of past school shootings sandy hook elementary columbine high school and many others. heidi joe castro al-jazeera washington survivors of the florida school shooting are taking their message to florida's capital after legislators there are checked at a ban on assault rifles and a gallagher has more. last wednesday's school shooting in parklane florida was one of the worst in this country's history seventeen people died when former student nicholas cruz walked into a school with an a r fifteen assault rifle but despite the fact that many of the students from that school are still going through the grieving process they're on their way here to florida state capital tallahassee where they'll meet with lawmakers on wednesday but a bill that would have banned assault rifles has already been overwhelmingly voted down in the state legislature giving us some idea of the challenges they will face

but these teenagers have been praised for their eloquence and they're determined to keep the momentum going we've opened doors that i feel like haven't been opened but . finally our lawmakers are talking we're on the national stage right now international stage action and. you know it's the first time that i've ever seen people survive a shooting and then directly after demand change which is i think something that should have happened in this country a long time ago but it's taking kids fifteen years. on tuesday fifteen year old peter wang was laid to rest he'd been holding the door open for his classmates when he died in a hail of bullets a military cadet he's now being posthumously accepted into west point military academy on tuesday also president trump is now pushing legislation that would ban bump stocks a modification that was used in the last vegas shooting but the students no matter how determined they are will face an uphill battle convincing politicians in this state and across the nation to change gun laws will be extremely difficult but they

are determined to carry on with their campaign and plan another protest in march in washington d.c. they'll gather here by the hundreds on wednesday their voices will be heard but where the change comes will be another thing. violence has reached a new level and the democratic republic of congo the congolese aid worker has been freed by kidnappers but two of his colleagues were killed in north kivu aid workers say the eastern border is increasingly dangerous witchhunt with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing violence in tanganyika province charlotte belle us has more. the eastern border of the democratic republic of congo is and to morrow reports of violence to reach one thousand kilometers north to south. clashes between a ugandan rebel group and seize military in the north east has pushed civilians to make the dangerous crossing into and some are attempting to roll across lake albert

one of africa's great lakes and the tale of petals and you know some died of hunger some drowned and the like there's no one to help you there's nothing to eat we surviving in the bush like animals. now the south east is reaching a tipping point where humanitarian disaster extraordinary proportions is about to hit the southeastern part of the democratic republic of the congress the province of plunges further into violence triggering spiralling displacement and human rights abuses the southeast has been plagued by ethnic violence but new armed groups of popping up and congolese in the area traps fighters don't know who is on whose side so civilians are targeted murders abductions and rape a common good i know they be heated people they can't open their stomachs full moved the guts and left them to die that's how they killing people. in twenty seven

tane in eastern mated one hundred twenty thousand people fled into neighboring countries this latest violence has displaced five times that in just two months. the u.n. thinks the number of refugees is probably much higher but they are in areas two or more years and dangerous to reach those that make it to tame pre-campaign tell stories of their escape while among women oh i know. i had to take all my clothes off and jump into the river i was completely soaked but i didn't have a choice i was running for my life. the head of the norwegian refugee council says aid agencies are overwhelmed and underfunded the situation is worse now because more armed groups are doing more attacks than ever before. just outside of town here in been the where several massacres in recent days and therefore more people have fled into town violence began to increase and

a some do you see when president joseph kabila refused to step down at the end of his mandate in twenty sixteen now it's reached a new level ballasts al-jazeera venezuela has become the first government to launch its own crypto currency it's called the petro president nicolas maduro is hoping it'll ease a deepening financial crisis and offset a collapse in venezuela's currency the petrus price is tied to the cost of a barrel of oil and it's backed by more than five billion barrels and the country's national reserves. now the number of venezuelans escaping to neighboring colombia is rising at an alarming rate despite tighter border controls and reports on the colombian venezuelan border. in this central plaza hundreds of business welland stand in line for up to seven hours they wait for a wire transfer that will help them and where the economic crisis back home

cattlemen d.s. 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 so that he might think that we're happy to come here and receive 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 where the 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 some say in colombia but increasing numbers continue to other south american countries where it might be easier to find work the number of buses leaving the 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 wait up to four days for a ticket. families struggle to save enough for just one bus ticket but when it's time to separate the heartache is palpable. that i mean it's 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 a school food and jobs but not need more that's why my son is leaving and my heart is broken no one can resist forever that's why he must go

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 i was in that i'm just you know. bangladesh have agreed to resettle more than six thousand or hens are stranded between the two countries refugees were stuck at the time for border point while trying to escape violence in their native land maher said neymar reportedly began building bunkers and forced them to leave more than seven hundred thousand one hundred muslims have fled to bangladesh. i mean in thailand cannot be ordained as buddhist monks the religious leadership made the declaration nineteen years ago some women are defying that ban and their action is gaining popularity scott reports from bangkok it's a common site with an uncommon twist buddhist monks collecting all names during the

pre-dawn hours in rural thailand but beneath these robes are women female monks are not recognised by thailand's buddhist leadership or by the government in one nine hundred twenty eight the thai buddhist supreme patriarch banned them even though the constitution guarantees religious freedom the government has always supported the ninety year old declaration. despite this the number of female monks is growing when. was the first to be your day she had to go to sri lanka because it's the only affair of a buddhist country that allows it she runs a temple for female monks sixty kilometers from bangkok. we have not done anything against the law so that that's why right now after seventeen years of my ordination now you have more than two hundred seventy women or. one top ranking male monk in bangkok yes these types of temples for women called me should be shut down. they

refer to the constitution says they are allowed a religion is not known nor can be amended any time between. this is wrong and cannot be pickaninny a member of the thai human rights commission says that the government's approach that people need issue is done with one eye closed the monks have made several failed attempts to become officially recognized herself an ordained novice mikko legal gone thinks the issue of female monks needs to be properly revisited a system is come from that they already. referred to as supreme. in one nine hundred twenty eight despite the growing number of piccoli there is a difference of opinion among todd's. people nature where would be his dad and sells carefully and respectfully he would just rest by them and the picu

need to behave well and respect the mob. as i see it the temple should be shut down because it's not right it looks inappropriate to when not only r.p. could be helping the community and setting an example for all monks in thailand. but as women they are better equipped to deal with the contemporary social issues that have not been addressed by either the government nor the buddhist leadership it's got harder al-jazeera bangkok. our web site is very easy to find when you get a moment take a look at al-jazeera dot com al-jazeera dot com keep it here. i'm richelle carey let's recap the headlines on al-jazeera one of syria's last rebel held areas has been under heavy bombardment by government and russian forces more than two hundred fifty people have been killed in eastern go to since sunday

activists are describing the death toll as a massacre and say it's the highest since a two thousand and thirteen chemical attack on that area children are turning to social media for help everyone who can be on me we are hearing that as a vision has brought much stuff toward this is just really good if you can get them phelps. and the children out and there's. more to it that the children are going to be for on it. from decision. palestinian leader mahmoud abbas has proposed a new international peace summit with israel at the u.n. one that rolls out the united states as the chief broker on the u.s. says it remains ready to talk but won't chase after the palestinians the u.s. says north korean officials decided at the last minute not to meet vice president mike pence during his visit to south korea earlier this month as you can see he sat

right in front of growth korean leader kim jong un sr washington said he had been willing to hold a meeting with her and other officials from pyongyang. u.s. president donald trump is recommending a ban on devices that can turn semiautomatic firearms and machine guns it includes so-called bomb stocks which were used in the last vegas smashing in october were fifty eight people were killed and the white house says it's open to raising the minimum age for people buying the type of rifle that was used in last week's school shooting in florida that killed seventeen people the u.n. refugee agency is warning an upsurge of violence in the democratic republic of congo could cause a humanitarian disaster. says more than six hundred thousand people have been displaced by fighting in the southeastern province. bangladesh have agreed to resettle more than six thousand rohingya muslims stranded between the two countries refugees were stuck at the top or

a border point trying to escape violence in their native are those are the headlines the news continues on al-jazeera the stream is next to better ahead of the september twenty fourth national election survey showed job in the census divide to the stage of their 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 to the shaping the economic world we live in counting the cost of this time zero. high as having ok and your in the stream today we're looking at the situation in the country facing economic collapse so we have a new austerity budget political tensions and many citizens are unhappy right now we are live on you tube you can send us your questions comments and be part of the show and imo they could be street protests in sudan have mostly been quads and

there's been a virtual.