to give deputies the hope of walking again at this time on al-jazeera the head of the september twenty fourth national election survey showed germans satisfied with the state of their economy this is easily a slow 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 at this time zero. the pounding goes on in syria the number of dead in east and go to is now more than two hundred fifty people.

in this is there a live from coming up it's one thing to promise a million jobs but it's another to actually say how he's going to do that in south africa's new president prepares to tell the country how he'll repair their struggling economy also. a warning from the u.n. democratic republic of congo faces a crisis of extraordinary proportions over ethnic violence in the east plus. i'm scott high there in bangkok where the buddhist leadership some nine decades ago female monks there's now a movement going around the system and they're gaining support their story coming up. we begin in syria where the rebel held enclave of eastern go to is under more heavy bombardment by russian and syrian forces at least two hundred fifty p. . killed in intense bombing since sunday the highest casualty figure in the area

since a chemical attack in twenty thirteen the bombing has damaged or destroyed six medical facilities xenophobia has the story from beirut. the targeting of civilians is a military tactic the 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 reinforced 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. isn't going to was designated as a so-called deescalation zone to make civilians safer but the besieged area continues to be a target several rebel factions operate in the enclave said to possess

a heavy arsenal including tanks machine guns and anti aircraft weaponry east and go to is only a few kilometers away from the syrian capital its proximity to damascus international airport and other military sites has made it an important focus for the government and its allies punishment as is the un's regional humanitarian coordinator for syria he says the bombing has been relentless and stopped humanitarian help getting at the situation inside this. extreme and we've seen a dramatic escalation during that forty eight hours close to four hundred thousand civilians who are living really through an extreme situation with a heavy bombardment that is that you place people describe to their bombs falling really just minutes apart a lot of civilians are in basements id women and children people who are really in fear of their lives because they're so indeed high number of casualties no health

facilities no water no electricity very little food available in an area which is besieging us as many terrorists will not be able to. not further north to africa where turkey is warning of serious consequences if prosser in government militia try to enter the region again on tuesday turkish forces pushed back an attempt by the fighters who would answer the call for help from the kurds turkish backed rebels say they close to an circling the enclave which is mainly under kurdish control and chris sees the carnage why p.g. as terrorists take as president has vowed to capture the area within days some avenge of it as more from gaza into. free syrian army fighters backed by the turkish government into this military say they have effectively separated the city of off from the turkish border and surrounded it from the front they say they have in control of about ninety sites around the city of offering pushing them closer to inserting the whole city this comes off the back of the latest developments in the

last twenty four hours there rula syrian government fighters have made it inside the city of a free and for the first time after the kurdish fighters asked for the help a number of these fighters tried to enter the city of offering but after heavy shelling by the turkish government they turned back but some of these fighters have made it inside the city this would be this would make it the first force wind that has arrived in the city of often enough with asked for help they are saying that they have been facing heavy bombardment and shelling by the turkish government and called on the syrian government to provide help the syrian government said that it will not send its regular forces but what we are forces or militias loyal to president bashar al assad will be entering the city and some of these fighters have finally made it the turkish president says that they are also moving ahead in trying to capture the city of offering and they're pushing closer and closer to the words the city center and in his words it is only

a matter of days israeli media are reporting that one of prime minister benjamin netanyahu his closest confidantes is set to testify against him of allegations of corruption they say the former director of the communications ministry shlomo filter will get a lighter sentence in its in relation to the investigation into government benefits offered to a telecom giant israeli police have announced there is sufficient evidence to indict netanyahu for bribery fraud and breach of trust in two separate cases netanyahu denies all allegations. a prominent rights activist has been jailed and behind for five. bill raj was a leading figure in the twenty eleven pro-democracy protests he's been sentenced for tweets criticizing back rains intervention in the yemen civil war and the prison authorities use of torture was already serving a two year sentence for accusing the government of torturing political prisoners.

as it africans are bracing for a tough budget under a new president with a strong business background so rahm opposer is promising to turn the economy around after it slid into recession two years ago but the government needs to raise about two point six billion dollars this year to implement budget spending including free university education for poorest students we want stability not a commie i think it's a first and foremost we haven't had that stability we haven't known which way are actually markets going from one day to the next one day down the next or currency week one minute strong the next or bond markets week one minute strong the next we haven't had any sort of stability and it's very difficult to plan as a businessman or as an individual. you always go up they don't go down. let's go over to for me to she's in johannesburg tell us more for me about the main financial challenges that south africa is facing. well jane south africa

really suffered under the administration of jacob zuma the economy specifically which went from bad to worse unemployment rose by between three and four percent in that period it's now sitting at just over twenty six percent of government debt has also increased in the past five years the debt to g.d.p. ratio is at fifty percent of there's also a revenue shortfall of about five billion dollars not africa also had difficulties with its investment rating that was downgraded mais only based mostly excuse me due to uncertain policies and also adjustments in the finance department where one point in twenty sixteen south africa had about three finance ministers in the space of about four days of africa now would have to deal with trying to boost investor as well as business confidence jane and ok talking of finance ministers one of the

main points we can expect to come out of his speech. well malusi gigaba will be giving that address in just over an hour's time and i think the greatest concern is for government to outline plans to plug that revenue gap and also narrow the country's budget adit budget deficit the main challenge will be to increase revenue and reduce its expenditures or analysts are saying that in order to do that they're looking at a possible increase in value added tax as well as income tax and if that happens it's most likely the poor and the working class will be hardest hit and we're also expecting some sort of detailed information perhaps around land redistribution specifically land expropriation without compensation we exactly that land will come from who and where it will be redistributed as well as more information on education just how free education at universities and colleges will

be provided for in a sustainable manner. it is also facing some difficulties it's widely speculated that he could be replaced as the finance minister he's not a minister who has been in this portfolio in terms of history and credibility there's been some criticism and so it's thought that he could be removed especially after the resignation of jacob zuma last week and coming into office saying that they would be cleaning up house and this is a minister who did have some links to this issue around state capture so we are waiting to see if more comes of that anytime soon aren't we refer to this into our screen serve thanks from either. an aid worker has been freed by kidnappers who killed two of his colleagues in democratic republic of congo it's happened in the eastern province of north kivu the congolese aid workers were working for

a french charity specializing in water purification looking in more detail at the conflict in d r c militia violence has spiked since president joseph kabila refused to step down when his term expired in twenty sixteen the fighting is largely along the eastern borders with uganda rwanda and burundi ethnic violence between the bantu and twelve group has intensified since mid twenty's sixteen the recent conflict in time when you could province is thought to be mainly between the two and other ethnic groups unrest in the east forced almost two million people to flee their homes last year alone the un refugee agency is warning of a humanitarian crisis of extraordinary proportions in the eastern part of the d.r. see each other better says more on that. the eastern border of the democratic republic of congo isn't whom world 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 surviving in the bush like animals. now at 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 their stomachs were moved to 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're in areas two or more years and dangerous to reach those that make it to tame pre-campaign tell stories of their escape was among one in no 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 and a some do ya 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 shallop ballasts al jazeera. coming up on al-jazeera why just today emphasizing canada's stand on a one a united india plus. we have to do more to protect our children the u.s. president's plan to ban devices that turn some weapons into machine guns. hello

again we'll take a look at the weather across asia northeastern areas we've got cold fronts clearing away from japan but behind them still some relatively chilly air moving in so we like to see temperatures struggling for support of there minus one is among some some snow showers around to otherwise across much of japan where the conditions are generally quiet pleasant enough in a cycle with highs of ten a bit of brightness rowsley warm across the korean peninsula soul looking at seven degrees beijing to come in with nine degrees celsius to move the forecast on we see more in the way of snow showers developing during the course of friday but tokyo should be bright with highs of twelve and double figures again for beijing now heading across more central and southern parts of china it's looking quite wet at the moment you see this large area of right nothing particularly heavy and temperatures nothing special just eighteen for hong kong thirteen for food and then as we head into friday much that rain will begin to die away we have got some showers affecting more northern parts of vietnam had no we may see wanted to show us at times last is looking where it's much of b.m.r.

though should remain dry as you head down southeastern parts of asia looking fine across much of the philippines some heavy showers across the island of borneo across java valley but up through that may play into it should be fine with highs of thirty four in k.l. . mine would have been. the most. loose. on the nineteenth of december twenty sixth mahmoud hussein was detained by the egyptian authorities he remains behind bars without a trial al-jazeera world investigates his case and media repression in egypt journalism is not a crime this time on al-jazeera. for

you watching al-jazeera mine of our top stories the rebel held area of eastern go to is under more heavy bombardment by russian and syrian forces at least two hundred fifty people have been killed since sunday eastern go to has been besieged by the government since twenty thirteen. so that is new president is promising to turn the economy around he announces his budget within the next hour the country slid into recession two years ago the government needs to raise about two point six billion dollars this year to implement budget spending including free university education for poorer students the un's refugee agency is warning of a humanitarian crisis of extraordinary proportions in eastern democratic republic

of congo thousands of people attacking weaker province have been forced from their homes because of fighting u.n.h.c.r. says poor security is hindering attends to help those in need. canada's prime minister has reiterated that he supports a one united india during his first visit to the country justin trudeau and. family on an eight day tour some in india have accused members of his cabinet of supporting six separatists four canadian cabinet members are sikh today has met the chief minister of punjab and visited the sikh golden temple let's take a closer look at the indian community in canada according to the latest figures indians are one of the largest immigrant communities in canada six accounts roughly one point four percent of canada's population of thirty six million seventeen are members of parliament and four are in the cabinet of the us president has agreed more needs to be done to protect children in the wake of last week's school

shooting in florida donald trump called for a ban on so-called bumper stocks devices that allow a semiautomatic rifle to fire at the speed of a machine gun he's expected to speak to survivors of several mass shootings in the coming hours how did jocasta reports from washington. the bomb starts a 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 bam-bam 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 a legal weapons into machine guns 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 stalk in the attack but trams 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 i'm sure this is the same way. they. think. 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 but these one hundred survivors of the florida school shooting have arrived in the state capital of tallahassee to push for gun control they said to hold talks with state legislators and call for a ban on assault rifles after florida's house represents is rejected a proposal to make them illegal seventeen students and staff were killed in the attack in parks and last week we knew that they were that they were going to hear a city just a state one in the park in florida we have to go to that me and we have to you know show them how loud our boys you know usually don't know how they're going to listen to us and 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 coup that he's now being posthumously accepted into west point military

academy on tuesday also president trump is now pushing legislation that would ban bump stock 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. the u.s. says vice president mike pence was scheduled to meet north korean officials at the winter olympics but pyongyang canceled at the last minute 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 young chang games tashkin aim has more 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 the state of qatar and chad of restoring diplomatic ties chad's government ordered the closure of catch us embassy in august it was two months after the start of the gulf crisis in which saudi arabia of a crane the u.a.e. and egypt imposed a blockade on cats are they accused of supporting terrorism a challenge the government has strongly denied. details of

a deal aimed at cutting trade barriers in some of asia pacific fastest growing economies have been unveiled the deal known as the t.p. p eleven will be signed next month trade in the say it will eliminate more than ninety eight percent of tariffs in a trade zone that accounts for about thirteen point five percent of the world economy the original pact was thrown into limbo last year when president of trump withdrew the u.s. from the agreement. minimize agreed to take back more than six thousand muslim rangar stranded along its border with bangladesh they were among the first to flee myanmar's military crackdown in rakhine state last august the refugees are refusing to return home without guarantees of citizenship and security for the seven hundred thousand have fled to bangladesh. now to the woman in thailand who are defying a ninety year old ban they want to be ordained as buddhist monks and their actions

are gaining popularity it's got higher reports from bangkok it's a common site with an uncommon twist buddhist monks collecting all means during the pre-dawn hours and world toilet but beneath these from 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 taiwo meant to be your day she had to go to sri lanka because it's the only a theravada 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. one top ranking male monk in bangkok you know these types of temples for women called pickney should be shut down that they refer to the constitution says they are allowed the religion is not like no one 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 suit mikko legal gone thinks the issue of female monks needs to be properly revisited is a racist in this conflict it already. referred to a d n a supreme patrick made in one thousand nine hundred twenty eight despite the

growing number of piccoli there is a difference of opinion among thais. it's time people nature whoever behaves cells carefully and respectfully 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 where. 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 not harder al-jazeera banco. the top stories on al-jazeera the rebel held area of eastern goods is under more heavy bombardment by russian and syrian forces at least two hundred fifty people

have been killed since sunday eason good has been besieged by the government for five years. south africans are awaiting the first budget from the new president ram oppose it's due to be delivered within an hour he's promising to turn the struggling economy around but it's expected to be a tough budget including tax increases and spending cuts we want stability in order cami i think is the first and foremost we haven't had that stability we haven't known which way are actually markets are going from one day to the next one day down the next aisle currency weak one minute strong the next or bond markets week one minute strong the next we haven't had any sort of stability and it's very difficult to plan as a businessman or as an individual the un's refugee agency is warning of a humanitarian crisis of extraordinary proportions in eastern democratic republic of congo thousands of people entangled province have been forced from their homes because of fighting u.n.h.c.r.

says poor security is hindering attempts to help those. in need. israeli media are reporting that one of prime minister benjamin netanyahu is closest confidantes is set to testify against him over allegations of corruption they say shlomo filled will get a lighter sentence in return it's in relation to an investigation into government benefits offered to a telecom giant and it's on yahoo denies all allegations a prominent rights activist has been jailed in bahrain for five years an appeal rajab was a leading figure in twenty eleven pro-democracy protests he's been sentenced for tweets criticizing bahrain's intervention in the yemen civil war and the prison authorities use of torture rajab was a ready seventy two year sentence for cues in the government of torturing political presence kind of his prime minister has reiterated that he supports a one united india during his first visit to the country justin trudeau and his family are on an eight day. those are the headlines the news will continue on

al-jazeera but first it's time to look at inside story. the world is feeling its newborns that's the warning today from unicef in a report that says the death of babies globally is alarmingly high so can child mortality be reduced and if so how this is inside story.