once held in one of australia's toughest detention centers now a world renowned surgeon when he's follows dr moon. as returns to his hometown baghdad to give amputees the hope of walking in here at this time on al-jazeera i mean this is different not just whether someone thing for some of the favorites but that's going to be me true i think it's how you approach an official and not that it is a certain way of doing it you can't just inject a story in fly out. a chorus of international condemnation but it's fall in on deaf ears syria's government continues to pound the rebel held this streak of eastern huta.

hello i'm barbara starr you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up . your. students from the florida school were seventeen people were gunned down last week head to the state capital to them and to gun reform stories of horrific killings a population living in fear the u.n. warns of a humanitarian disaster in the democratic republic of congo and the charismatic preacher whose message reached millions us about angelus to billy graham dies at the age of ninety nine. syrian government bombs are continuing to rain down on the rebel held district of eastern hooten near damascus nearly three hundred people have been killed since sunday and all indications are this is just the beginning the bombardment involves airstrikes rockets shelling and barrel bombs there were crude unguided the vice

filled with explosives and sometimes shrapnel and oil according to medical sources eight hospitals were attacked on tuesday alone other civilian buildings have also been attacked like bakeries their targets have to cut off food sources and syria's government seems intent on a bigger operation zain harder now reports all indications are that a ground offensive is next. there is no frontline in eastern. residential neighborhoods have become battlegrounds the syrian government under to allies are bombing the besieged rebel enclave into submission i look at the suburb of damascus is under attack well look there was. we heard a plane overhead the myside landed people were torn into pieces i was with my nephew and we were both injured or i heard was the sound of an ambulance and i

found myself here hundreds killed hundreds more injured the united nations says makeshift hospitals are being hit some are now out of service there is a humanitarian crisis and there is nowhere to hide. there is no safe place i tried to convince my parents to same the first floor of our building thinking it would be safer but they told me there's no difference because buildings are being flattened in the strikes. the government said military reinforcements to the frontlines around the besieged enclave the pro-government newspaper says the bombing campaign comes ahead of what it said will be a vast operation which may start on the ground at any time. the thousands of rebels there are promising to repel any advance a ground offensive will not be easy the government and its allies have repeatedly tried to storm eastern in the past the rebels have strong defenses and an

underground tunnel network that they use to their advantage. for the syrian government and its allies of victory in eastern. threats to the capital. apologies for the loss of audience in a holder is reported there but now we can actually go straight live to easton who can speak to more add more years dean he's a civil activist living in eastern who joins us live now via skype sir thank you so much for joining us here on al-jazeera we've seen some of the images and seen a little bit about what the situation is in eastern who tell us how you and your family managed to survive these days. thank you my friend barbara for having me in your especially the channel it's a very hard to raise a family here in eastern despite this asian that and bulldozed on this area

since two thousand south thirteen. despite all of that there was a campaign on eastern good. for the bust seventy two hours the shelling and bombing raids. are not stopping. this moment. there's a lot of dead people here there's a lot of injuries medical going south of service it's very hard to raise a family in this area. obviously there is the danger of the bombardments but what about food because you have two small children for example how are you managing to get food when we hear that even bakeries are being bombed. here in eastern good afraid very. like you said there's.

bombing and shelling and the city i'm struck by which concern of the economy an economic a city in history and what i was burned out today. and there was the big careers and the factors that may be. good i was with a small amount of goods and food saw. people here are so afraid they cannot provide their families when the beds or are meant for their babies it's really hard what do you think or what would you like to see from the international community because there have been some very strong words about the situation in eastern huta coming out of the u.n. for example but what action would you like to see and how frustrated are you that

basically it's not happening. my friend it's really frustrating that we feel like betrayed really from the international community. that was the good hours the bart of the escalation zones and southern clear there's bombing and the brutal campaign on on the area it's really we are we feel like you betrayed what we need from the international community to stop this must stop this shelling stop the madness here in eastern. we hope to. make this into this area it's really hard. it's really miserable situation here and we were hearing in that report before coming to you by our correspondents that are harder who are saying that syria's government may be planning

a bigger operation maybe planning a ground offensive how do you feel about that. maybe . that is just for scare us but. my dear it's it's really. balmy gang chilling day today early in the morning there was a mass car in kfar about an hour with the to enter battles the through the helicopters ten bears at then their son from the same family was that where. through this barrel and what may regime do more than that in the ground maybe brahmas to. campaign but really. must go as for the civilians is very. devastating and it obviously is

a terrifying situation for anyone for the adults it must be even more terrifying for the children what do you say to your own children to try to reassure them to try to calm them down. really i ally i light i'm a children unfortunately for one year or all daughter when i see or heard the bomb being chilling i say it to her it's fine i'm lying to her but what i can't do but as i tell dual earlier it's so hard very. impossible to raise that children with this environment moir the civil activist living in eastern good has surfaced thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us here in al-jazeera thank you you thank. thank you well our diplomatic editor james bass is at the united nations for a said james i think you heard that interview or that we were just holding out moya

had leuer been speaking to us from istanbul with us saying that effectively the people he said with her feel like the been abandoned by the international community tell us a little bit about what's going on of the united nations because strong words are being said but not backed up by action no action just strong words as you say there is an all day set piece debate going on in the u.n. security council talking about the charter of the united nations it means that we have on this particular day not one secretary general the two secretaries general we have the former secretary general ban ki-moon who has been talking about the situation in syria and condemning the american of the u.n. security council and we also have the current secretary general antonio good terrorists who have these strong words i am deeply saddened by the terrible suffering of the civilian population. is them good to

four hundred thousand people that leave. in hell on earth my appeal to all those involved is ford immediate suspension of all war activities in is that good. so a call for a suspension of all military activities a sation a cease fire from the secretary general now that's been backed up by other developments the two countries that take the lead on syria on the humanitarian follow on syria the security council are sweden and kuwait which is the current president of the security council they've come up with a new draft resolution that they want to put to a vote here's the swedish ambassador. we're asking for a cessation of hostilities for thirty days throughout syria throughout syria forty

or forty eight hours after that access for weekly u.n. humanitarian and convoys aid aid convoys to. areas in need particularly urgent busy each area for forty or forty eight hours after that emergency medical evacuations from areas that un currently cannot access lifting of sieges or for specific locations the situation of course in eastern part of that which is completely alarming. so that's what he wants he says that he's hoping that a vote will take place before the end of the week in fact he said a vote could possibly take place on thursday the problem of course is that the sort of resolution has been proposed before russia has said it's unrealistic it's possible that if this is put to a vote that russia will as it has done a number of times before veto the resolution so it's far from certain that asus a sion will come into being it's worth telling you that the security council has

a say with two secretary general here is discussing the charter of the united nations the constitution of this world body that has been in place for more than seventy years a document barbara that starts we the peoples of the united nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war listen to those words and then watch those awful pictures from eastern guta the united nations is clearly failing james of a diplomatic editor speaking to us from the u.n. james thank you. super activists are from the florida high school where seventeen people were killed last week are rallying in the state capital tallahassee they're calling for a ban on assault style weapons and stricter controls on firearms will either gallagher is at that rally in tallahassee for us you know i mean this is just the

latest school shooting in the u.s. to have been around eight hundred since the start of the year countless in decades past so are the students demonstrating their own optimistic that actually their demand will be metal partially met. well they have a lot of momentum they have a lot of energy the world is listening to them right now remember these are students that over the past seven days have been attending friends' funerals going through a grieving process themselves and having covered mass shootings over the last fifteen years it does feel like this has the potential to be a tipping point but i say that with a huge dose of skepticism because of course five years ago after the sandy hook shooting in which someone walked into a school of six year olds and killed them with a nail fifteen assault rifle nothing changed however at the moment these students are determined that they will carry on you can probably see them over my shoulder there i've good few hundred chanting we want change no more guns but even if they

achieve some very incremental changes to this country's gun laws it will be hugely significant there's already talk about raising the minimum age for buying assault rifles to twenty one remember nicholas cruz was nineteen years old and had at least ten weapons if that is achieved it will be monumental nothing like that has ever happened in the past they're also calling for tougher background checks and both incidentally of those things are overwhelmingly supported by the american public people are clamoring for some kind of change any kind of change and at the moment these students are meeting with lawmakers they're making a lot of noise they're making very eloquent and emotional speeches so they have the world's attention but whether u.s. politicians and both houses that are controlled by the republican party will even listen to them is an entirely different thing but they are determined to carry on carry on speaking of carry on joining up with other groups who've been through

similar atrocities they're not going to give up and really they're laying the mantle of any change now at the president's doorstep with florida politicians who incidentally yesterday on tuesday voted down a bill that would have banned assault rifles giving you some idea of the the challenges. actually face and the president himself of course he is a well known strong supporter of gun rights and yet on wednesday he is going to be meeting with parents students and teachers victims of gun violence including some of the survivors of the valentine's day shootings in florida a do you get the sense that perhaps the president himself is softening a little on this issue. i do get that sense at this point in time that this may be a tipping point where change my doubt chile a president jump in the past of course has been to the national rifle association addressed the crowds and said he will stand by the second amendment no matter what

but there is a change in public opinion here people are simply sick of seeing individuals walking to school with warlike weapons and killed children but all the children here are doing is what no adult in this country has been able to achieve in decades they're pushing for change they've got momentum their voices are being heard really now it's up to the politicians the next move is on them but as i said even if there's incremental change here it will be huge it will be monumental and they'll go from there but certainly the individuals i've met who've been attending funerals and going through the grieving process are energized determined and they won't give up on the gallery or the latest there that rally in tallahassee florida thank you. much more to come on the program including a friend turned cold with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is former confidant agrees to testify against him in a graft. hello

again across central southern parts of china it's looking fairly wet during the course of thursday temperatures nothing special but hong kong just eighteen degrees for noise should be may need to arrive with a mix of twenty two but i think the risk of showers will continue across parts of vietnam through into laos as we head into friday but the rain across much of china will be on its way out of the stage hot and humid across much of me and my yang on there thirty four degrees into south asia looking largely fine but we have got an area of cloud developing pushing some rain indeed a higher elevation snow across parts of afghanistan into pakistan over they said they are so but for much of the region plenty of sunshine thirty is a high in delhi well in the way of clover shrank up but it should stay largely dry in colombo and then heading into friday you see that khloe pushing across pakistan with some patchy rain across more northern areas so let's across into the arabian

peninsula and we've got a weather system just moving south was across the region so cloud is going to be somewhat variable over the next couple of days so certain sure in the course of friday here in qatar it should be fairly bright highs of twenty seven in doha but i think we'll find more the way of cloud spilling down as we head on through into the latter part of the weekend and across the levant we've still got some rain effect in northern parts of iraq. the benefit of people. who witness documentaries that open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera.

a reminder of the top stories on al-jazeera syrian government bombs continue to fall on the rebel held this strict of eastern food nearly three hundred people have been killed since sunday the u.n. secretary general on a good pair just called for the immediate suspensions of attacks on saying civilians there are living in hell on earth student activists from the florida high school where seventeen people were killed last week are rallying in the state capital calling for tighter gun controls. hundreds of villages have been destroyed and more than six hundred thirty thousand people forced to leave their homes after

a surge in violence in the democratic republic of congo the un's refugee agency has warned that fighting in southeastern province could lead to a humanitarian disaster of extraordinary proportions bellis reports. the eastern border of the democratic republic of congo isn't who more 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 uganda some are attempting to roll across lake albert one of africa's great lakes and a tale of pedal 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 south eastern 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 that new armed groups are popping up in congolese in the area traps fighters don't know who is on whose side so civilians are targeted murders abductions and rape a common i know they be heated people they cast open their stomachs removed the guts and lift 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. 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 who are not ones that 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 this situation is worse now because more armed groups are doing more attacks than ever before. just outside of town here and been there where several massacres in recent days and therefore more people have fled into town violence began to increase in eastham 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. more than one thousand nine. hundred missing after boko haram fighters attacked

a village in the northeast of the country are all call of the girls' school and that she on monday night showed that ninety one students were missing however nigerian police have denied any abductions have taken place israeli media is reporting that a former confidant of prime minister benjamin netanyahu will testify against him over corruption allegations shlomo filbert former director of the communications ministry was arrested on sunday it's thought he'll get a lighter sentence in return for his cooperation bernard smith is a western muslim with the details until now benjamin netanyahu is in a circle of friends confidants and colleagues has kept a tight circle around the prime minister if shlomo filbert gives evidence against netanyahu then this really is the first fish or the first crack in the tight circle filbert who's the former head of the communications ministry he was put there by netanyahu he's been arrested along with executives from bezerk telecom the largest

telecommunications company in israel and the police suspect that bezerk got regulatory favors from netanyahu is government and in return and then yahoo got favorable coverage on one of the most popular news websites in israel that was controlled by a former chairman of basic so it is prepared to say this in evidence against netanyahu then he is in serious trouble there are two other corruption allegations of corruption cases against netanyahu the police believe there's enough evidence to prosecute him on those with israel's attorney general it up to the internally general to make the final decision on whether that will be prosecuted on those cases. the u.s. says north korea canceled the meeting between vice president mike pence officials at the winter olympics and us chief of staff says the encounter which would have included kim jong un's sr was scrapped at the last minute the paschal name 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 pyung 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. us of angeles the billy graham who preached his christian message around the world for more than six decades has died at the age of ninety nine through broadcasts and mass rallies graham was credited with delivering sermons to more individuals than anyone else in history looks back at his life.

and ever erected. billy graham came to national prominence as a thirty year old when he attracted thousands of people to a three month long prayer rally in a tent pitched in downtown los angeles i do not believe that any man. that any man can solve the problems of life without jesus christ. or are you or whatever it was a message that the charismatic southern baptist minister continued to spread by harnessing the power of radio and then television i'm praying that this hour will be really on our decision for you and i me to consecrate it can do any good am by the mid one nine hundred fifty s. graham had expanded his range to europe where he conducted mass rallies in sports stadiums even if they want to leave as good a price you have to come short and often or i should leave graham's appeal was to some measure due to his focus on more moderate religious doctrines and never

seeking to convert people to a sectarian christian faith but he spoke out strongly against communism bringing his ministry to the soviet union a decade before its fall we were certain that it would open future doors for claiming the gospel not only in the soviet union but throughout the eastern world at home graham broke with his own church's tradition and held racially mixed rallies in the legally segregated south carolina no i am alive down to as well as in apartheid south africa billy graham welcomes president johnson to his crusade for christ a confidant of ten u.s. presidents and graham only endorsed one in the campaign richard nixon he later called it a mistake and in two thousand and two his reputation for tolerance was marred with the release of secret white house audiotapes recording graham agreeing with nixon's critical comments about jews early. on by a thirty. five.

year i don't know that already deleted out. graham apologized for those remarks saying he was never an anti semite in his old age graham was asked what about those like. the jews the muslims who don't believe in god. you don't judge them you know all four years ago jesus a country preacher whose mastery of modern communication set an example for other men and women of religion to follow. tom ackerman al-jazeera. time after reminder of the top stories on al-jazeera syrian government bombs continue to fall on the rebel held district of eastern junta nearly three hundred people have been killed since sunday medical sources say that eight hospitals were

attacked on tuesday a load of other civilian buildings have also been targeted the u.n. secretary general and tonic with has made his strongest statement yet on the assault. i am deeply saddened by gerry boyle suffering of the civilian population. used in ghouta for under thousand people that leave. in hell on earth my appeal to all those involved is for any immediate suspension of all war activities in eastern guta student activists from the florida high school where seventeen people were killed last week are rallying in the state capital tallahassee they're calling for a ban on assault style weapons and stricter controls on firearms present on trump is meeting parents students and teachers who've been victims of gun violence later on wednesday at the white house. a surge in violence in the democratic republic of

congo has the story of hundreds of villages and forced more than six hundred thirty thousand people from their homes the un's refugee agency has warned that fighting in southeastern province could lead to a humanitarian disaster of extraordinary proportions. israeli media is reporting that a former confidant of prime minister benjamin netanyahu will testify against him over corruption allegations shlomo felber a former director of the communications ministry was arrested on sunday it's thought he'll get a lighter sentence in return for his corporation brazil's senate has passed the decree which puts the military in charge of security in rio de janeiro the measure allows the army to take command of police forces in the crime plagued state where violence has spiked by eight percent in the last year well those are the top stories i'm going to have more news for you in just under half an hour do stay with

us coming up next on al-jazeera its witness thank you for watching by.