buses but even at the hands of taxi drivers the conversation starts with do you have a boyfriend you're very pretty and young you feel unsafe threatened think about how to react what do i do if this gets worse know mahdi army uses a new service it's called learn droit it's for women passages only and drawn by women drivers. to some extra features like a panic button and twenty four seven drivers. more deaths in the syrian rebel held districts of eastern goes away government forces have been pounding the area with air strikes.

in this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up a warning from the u.n. democratic republic of congo faces a disaster of extraordinary proportions of ethnic violence in the east. survivors of the high school shooting in florida take their demand for gun reform to the state capitol as chunk proposes banning some modified guns. and scientists and a warning that artificial intelligence may not always be a smart idea. we begin in syria where the rebel held enclave of east and go to continues to come under heavy bombardment by russian and syrian forces more than two hundred fifty people have been killed in intense bombing since sunday it's the highest death toll in the area since a chemical attack in twenty thirteen the bombing has damaged or destroyed six

medical facilities has more from beirut. the targeting of civilians is a military tactic their aim is to bomb people into submission to force them to surrender more than two hundred people killed at least sixty of them children in the past three days intense bombardment intense artillery strikes the government wants the rebel and claims to surrender they want the thousands of rebels in eastern who've had to lay down their arms and agree to leave to move to other rebel held areas in the north of the country and this has happened in the past in other rebel controlled territories so far the rebels and the people of eastern are remaining defiant but how long will be it will they be able to continue to endure this suffering hospitals are being hurt there's very few medical supplies the area has been under siege there's no food there's a lack of a lack of medicine now the government is sending troops to reinforce the reinforcements to the edges of eastern and it is promising

a ground offensive that ground offensive has still not begun it will be very costly for the government they've tried to storm in the past on numerous occasions but they were not able to take any land so all the reinforcements the bombing campaign all just the way to put pressure on the rebels to surrender so this is the aim of the bombing campaign but there is no doubt that the suffering that has been causing those international outrage international organizations saying this is unacceptable the opposition saying this is a war of extermination but as of yet there's you know nothing is stopping the syrian government and its allies from continuing this assault. the un's refugee agency is warning of a humanitarian disaster of extraordinary proportions an eastern democratic republic of congo u.n.h.c.r. says poor security and province is hindering efforts to help thousands of people in need challenge bellus has. the eastern border of the democratic

republic of congo isn't who 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 south east has been plagued by ethnic violence but new armed

groups of popping up in congo leads 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 the stomachs full moved the guts and left them to die that's how they killing people. in twenty seven tane an estimated one hundred twenty thousand people fled into neighboring countries this latest violence has displaced five times that in just two months but the u.n. thinks the number of refugees is probably much higher but they're 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 where several massacres in recent days and therefore more people have fled into town violence began to increase in eastern d r c when president joseph kabila refused to step down at the end of his mandate in twenty sixteen now it's reached a new level shallop ballasts al jazeera an aid worker has been freed by kidnappers who killed two of his colleagues in the democratic republic of congo it happened in the eastern province of north kivu the congolese aid workers were working for a french charity specializing in water purification. around a hundred survivors of the florida school shooting have arrived in the state capital to push for better gun control is said to hold talks with state legislators

and call for a ban on assault style rifles after florida's house of representatives earlier rejected a proposal to make them illegal seven hundred students and staff were killed in the attack in park and last week and again it 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 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 international 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 couldn't 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 modification that was used in the last vegas shooting but these 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. now the u.s. president has agreed more needs to be done to protect america's children in the wake of last week's shooting donald trump is recommending

a ban on devices that help semiautomatic guns fire faster chum's indicated that he is open to supporting better background checks on people buying weapons he's due to speak to survivors of several mass shootings late on wednesday and what's being called a listening session. 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 i expect that these critical regulations will be finalized jeff very soon the key in all of these efforts as i said in my remarks the day after the shooting is that we cannot merely take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference we must actually make a difference we must move past is entirely debates and focus on evidence based

solutions and security measures that actually work and that make it easier for men and women of law enforcement to protect our children and to protect our safety the u.s. says north korean officials decided at the last minute not to meet vice president mike pence during the winter olympics the state department says pence seen here sitting in front of north korean leader kim jong un sr was willing to see her and other officials from pyongyang they were in south korea for the opening ceremony of the pyong chang games the meeting would have been the first between senior officials from the two countries a task an aim as well from seoul. this aborted meeting was two weeks in the making the cia learned that the north koreans wanted to meet with u.s. vice president mike pence while he was attending the opening ceremony of the pyong chang olympics it was slated to take place in seoul the following day at the

presidential blue house the south koreans would act as an intermediary but only the united states and north koreans would be present two hours before that scheduled meeting the north koreans backed out they were apparently angry because earlier that week pence had said that the toughest round of economic sanctions has yet to come and that the united states would continue exerting maximum pressure on north korea to denuclearize he also said that he wouldn't allow quote north korean propaganda to conceal its human rights abuses north korea was also said to be angry because pence met with north korean defectors now the intent by the united states in having this meeting was not to negotiate or deescalate in fact it was to send it face to face a message to the north koreans that the united states plan to continue its policy of maximum pressure this comes as the north korean leader has invited the south

korean president in to come to pyongyang for a meeting moon says that any way that the relationship between the two koreas improves must involve dialogue between the united states and north korea the north koreans are saying they have no desire publicly at least to engage in dialogue with the united states new zealand is cleaning up of to being hit by the remnants of cyclon gaita mudslides and floods have trapped about five thousand people in one small town that the top of the south island dozens of schools were closed and the power still off in thousands of homes and gets a rift through the pacific island nation of tona last week causing widespread destruction. still ahead on al-jazeera. our negotiators are sitting right behind me ready to talk but we will not chase after you

a warning from the u.s. about the peace plan that palestine's president put to the u.n. class. by mr butler in southeastern france is the french government revealed his new plans for an immigration law the mayor of this city cannot says the state should be doing more to protect refugees. from flowing the island winds to an enchanting desert breeze the. hello and welcome to international weather forecast now as we take a look at weather conditions across europe we've got a rather messy setup across the central southern parts of the region with low pressure centers here further towards the north it's high pressure and what we'll find as we head through a lot of part the weekend into next week is cold air sinking its way southwards and pushing further towards the west but in the meantime we have got this area of snow

across the eastern side of the alps through into parts of the balkans but some heavy rain across italy further towards the west where the conditions not too bad for the u.k. largely dry paris some brightness temperature just five degrees madrid into double figures heading on into thursday you can see the snow still very much in place so slow moving situation this one just really cold across more easterners a mix of minus eleven in moscow on the other side the mediterranean the satellite imagery looks quite interesting to see this area of cloud i think is juice of the jet stream but you will see quite a bit of cloud around even southern parts of libya with a chance maybe of the old shower otherwise this low pressure center is giving the risk of some heavy showers for coastal parts of all cheery and sheena's year for central parts of africa we've got some heavy showers affecting uganda moment across towards upon the real ssion for too badly and it should be largely bright in accra . the weather sponsored by qatar and greece. paid the scene

for us where they're on line what is american sign in yemen that peace is almost 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 there are choosing between buying medication eating this is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who is an activist and has posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. is there a mind of our top stories this hour the rebel held area of east and go to is under more heavy bombardment by russian and syrian forces at least two hundred fifty

people have been killed in the bombing attacks since sunday eastern goods has been the scene just by the government since twenty thirty. the un's refugee agency is warning of a humanitarian disaster of extraordinary proportions in eastern democratic republic of congo thousands of people in tonga province have been forced from their homes because of fighting u.n.h.c.r. says put security is hindering attempts to help those in the. survivors of the florida school shooting over arrived in the state capital to read politicians over banning assault style rifle the us president has already called for a ban on devices that allow a semi automatic rifle to fire much faster. and pro-government forces in syria have been pushed back from northwestern african region by heavy shelling. by the church's military kurdish fighters had asked the syrian government to help fend off attacks assaults president reject type everyone has vowed to

capture the area his words within days is controlled by the kurdish y p g which ankara regards as terrorists some of binge of eight joins us live from gaza and top assad talk us through what's happening on the ground. rather than fluff like we've heard from turkish state media that fighters belonging to the free syrian army have successfully separated and created a buffer between the turkish and finian border to the city of operation would be to make it effectively effectively cut off from the pokers border about the fight is belonging to proof syrian regime some of them tried to enter the city of our freedom from from these two villages liberal and. moved to our feet when they were met with some heavy shelling from the city from the turkish government most of them turned back but let's not like some of these fighters needed to be amply needed

inside the city of our city and making it for the first time very brutal syrian government militias have entered the city of our green this is the place where turkey has been carrying out attacks and trying to take control from kurdish kurdish fighters who were called the people's protection unit although by p.g. they feel they are continuing to fight the turkish advance and they're being held by the syrian government now and any idea what we can expect from a humanitarian point of view the civilians who might be caught up in all of this. absolutely according to the kurdish media. media they've been saying that the shelling that has been happening inside the city of our screen the airstrikes have caused a number of civilian casualties which of course is denied by the turkish government saying that their advance the. very cautious they're not moving in with all guns blazing they want to be they want to take their time in going into the city of

offing because they didn't have any input into and then from populated area but we've been having report hearing reports from hospital then various sources in five the y.p. the health city of offering but there's a number of civilians who have been killed. thank you for that to some. that the u.s. says it is ready to talk peace with the palestinians but won't chase after them their reaction at the u.n. comes after palestine's leader mahmoud abbas proposed an international peace summit with israel but he wants one that rules out donald trump's government as the chief broker a diplomatic editor james bays reports 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 didn't go 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 means that our best 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 was

tasked with leading negotiations jason greenblatt and his own son in law jared coercion or 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 very close a resolution to a conflict that's already lasted over seventy years james bros outages era of the united nations cattle and chad are restoring diplomatic ties the african nation ordered the closure of qatar as embassy in august there was two months after the start of the gulf crisis when saudi arabia bahrain the u.a.e. and egypt cut ties with doha qatar denies their claim that it supports terrorism. a

lawyer who worked with an a us prison donald trump has pleaded guilty to lie to the f.b.i. alex fine is one is a son in law of a ukrainian russian oligarch the latest focus in the investigation into whether russia middled in the twenty sixteen years election are white house correspondent kareen as the details. the impact of the investigation into alleged russian interference in the twenty six thousand u.s. 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 stopped by the special counsel's office at least one e-mail involved gates well 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 mahler'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. venezuela's opposition says it won't put forward a candidate for april's presidential election calling the vote a trap set by president nicolas maduro the exiled opposition leader anton your desmo says the poll will be rigged in favor of. more one more popular you know 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 a regime before bar frequent fraudulent elections brazil senate has approved a presidential decree allowing the military to take over policing in rio de janeiro soldiers began patrolling the streets on friday the government said the move is needed to combat rising gang violence but it's prompted protests with some saying it could lead to the use of excessive force. the french government is reviewing a new immigration bill that's expected to streamline the asylum process but make it harder for people seeking jobs some m.p.'s in the president's own party say the proposals betray france's humanitarian tradition others say the bill's not tough enough to touch about the reports from grenoble. a nineteenth century fort

overlooks the french so. it was built to defend the city that is close to the swiss and italian borders and tucked into the foothills of the alps these days the town council is doing its best to welcome people who arrive here it provides emergency shelter for refugees many from africa kosovo or albania people are coming from squats settlements in the thirty's and this is a first possibility for them to get a stable life. with more refugees arriving in france each year the government's decided to change the country's immigration policy the government's proposed immigration speed up asylum procedures it would also provide more refugee housing at the same time it would mean longer periods in detention for the reason for their asylum requests rejected and it would increase deportation the french president says it's all about france continuing to welcome what he calls genuine asylum

seekers cracking down on so-called economic migrants critics of the proposed law say it's too tough mayor says the city seen an increasing number of refugees and the state has a duty to protect them in the ground and decide to have a very strong and armed. police iraq. but actually this policy doesn't work at all don't these citrus you know the immigration plans of also created re divisions in the president's own party some n.p.c. french values are being forgotten they sought how dare they toss your deviancy detention centers are becoming prisons which are unworthy of our republic. in last year's presidential election emanuel mccall's main rival was the anti immigration candidate marine le pen for some analysts the planned law is an attempt by the centrist president to stop a resurgence of the far right the voters of haven't vanished haven't disappeared

and when you see what happened in germany were chancellor merkel agreed to a million refugees and migrants and then had ninety two far right m.p.'s elected in the fall in the next elections i think this has been seen as a lesson for the neighboring countries of germany and particularly france where the far right is very powerful for mccall it's a political gamble he may please some on the political right and far right but he risks alienating many on the left who supported him until now in the meantime refugees like these will continue to try and reach france in the hope of a better life natasha butler al-jazeera. a warning now on the threat of artificial intelligence twenty six world experts in emerging technologies say cyber crime will grow and drones will be misused in the next decade and the hayward reports from cambridge in the united kingdom. it is the stuff of science fiction or at least it

used to be a computer able to master and a chinese boardgame without human help to win every time and a truck drives to sell computers in big holes powered by artificial intelligence now leading a demick so warning not to put the brakes on ai but that the technology is increasingly being used for malicious purposes for political or financial gain to extort and to gain influence cyber attacks on infrastructure as we've seen in ukraine attacks on computers in hospitals manipulation people for example we've seen some. attempts to manipulate political elections in the us and in europe recently now those are being varying degrees of effectiveness with the techniques we have today but artificial intelligence will allow new types of cyber attacks

that might be more capable than we had before very safe. from health care to walk their machine based thinking is revolutionizing the way we live exposing us to the benefits and the risks the robot here has been designed to pick up these little bricks and put them back on the green mats now this is just a laboratory setting but in five or ten years time it could be developed to work on a construction site or support in the design or wouldn't want the technology hijacked the report's authors a calling on governments and the industry itself to do more to protect us from all the pitfalls experts warned of the serious consequences it's absolutely right that we issue warnings with ai because the capabilities and the possibilities for it going wrong are absolutely they could be absolutely tragic we need to be able to get to grips with this now ai is clearly here to stay and staying one step ahead of

those who were. to abuse it will be a constant challenge and he would al-jazeera cambridge. again the top stories on al-jazeera the rebel held enclave of eastern go to the more heavy bombardment by russian and syrian forces since sunday at least two hundred fifty people have died in the bombing attacks and has more from beirut. they are bombing the rebels and the people of eastern huta into submission more than two hundred people killed among them sixty children in three days there was intense bombardment intense airstrikes almost continuous really what they were trying to do is make the rebels say enough is enough fine we will lay down our arms we will leave the area this is what the government wants to do this is a military tactic it has happened in the past that has happened in other areas so far the rebels and the people of eastern huta are remaining defiant saying that no

we will not leave our homes the un's refugee agency is warning of a humanitarian disaster of extraordinary proportions in the southeastern part of the democratic republic of congo the u.n. h.c.r. says put security and province is hindering attempts to help the thousands of people who've been displaced by violence survivors of the florida school shooting have arrived in the state capital to push for better gun control the u.s. president has already called for a ban on devices that allow a semi automatic rifle to fire much faster donald trump is due to hold a listening session with survivors of several mass shootings later on wednesday. the u.s. says north korean officials decided at the last minute not to meet vice president mike pence during the winter olympics the state department says pence seen here sitting in front of the north korean leader kim jong un sr was willing to see her

and other officials from pyongyang the meeting would have been the first between senior officials from the two countries those are the headlines the news continues on al-jazeera after the stream. news has never been more available but the message is simplistic and misinformation is rife the listening post provides a critical counterpoint trying to bring mainstream when you do narrative at this time on al-jazeera. having ok and your in the stream today we're looking at the situation. the country facing economic collapse so we have a new austerity budget political tensions and many citizens are happy right now we are live on you tube you can send us your questions or comments and be part of the show too and imo they could be a lot of street protests in sudan have mostly been quiet and there's been a virtual.