monitored truck quantified value received data be the new car for. your data your identity is a commodity and we have to understand where i'm from or come from our sleep it is time to reclaim our cyber so we have to put in them a something that cannot be so we are creators we are our lives we are. our data this time on a zero. a chorus of international condemnation but it's fallen on deaf ears syria's government continues to pound the rebel held district of eastern.

hello i'm sorry you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up. students from the florida school were seventeen people were gunned down last week head to the state capital to demand the gun reform stories of horrific killings of population living in fear the u.n. warns of a humanitarian disaster in the democratic republic of congo plus. i'm scott hardliner in bangkok where the buddhist leadership some nine decades ago banned female monks there's now a movement going around the system and they're gaining support their story coming up. hello thank you for joining us syrian government bombs are continuing to rain down on the rebel held this streak of eastern kuta. near damascus nearly three hundred

people have been killed since sunday and all indications are this is just the beginning the bombardment involves airstrikes struck it's shelling and barrel bombs a crude unguided device filled with explosives and sometimes shrapnel and oil now according to medical sources eight hospitals were attacked on tuesday alone other civilian buildings have also been attacked like bakeries their target has to cut health food supplies and syria's government seems intent on an even bigger operation is that a harder now reports all indications are that a ground offensive is next. there is no frontline in eastern huta. residential neighborhoods have become battlegrounds the syrian government and its allies are bombing the besieged rebel enclave into submission. the suburb of damascus is under attack. was going on and

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. yeah. there is no safe place i tried to convince my parents the same the first floor of our building thinking it would be safer but they told me there's no difference because buildings are being used 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 a victory in history. to the capital able to fire mortars into damascus at times causing casualties russia is now justifying the bombing campaign even though . it is pointing to the presence of fighters belonging to a group previously. accusing them of using civilians as human shields and of what it calls armed provocations. many including the un are warning the battle for eastern could turn into a repeat of the battle for aleppo. the battle for aleppo lasted for months there was so much suffering among the civilian population before

a ceasefire deal was reached that involved a mass evacuation the people of eastern fear they could face the same fate. beirut. the civil activist living in spoke to me a little while ago and he said the world has turned its back on syria. bust seventy two hours shelling and bombing air raids. are not stopping. this moment. there's a lot of dead people here there's a lot of injuries medical wants out of service we feel like it betrayed really from the international community. that was there was part of the escalation zones and suddenly there's being a brutal campaign on on the area it's really we we feel like it betrayed

these coming out of eastern huta there was a un human rights chief has accused the syria's government of conducting a monstrous campaign of their lives and their nation our diplomatic editor james bay says that the united nations our forests are strong words coming out of the u.n. again i mean no one can ever accuse them of not having their hearts in the right place if you will in this conflict but unfortunate when it comes to actions the security council has its hands tied no action at all the security council actually debating the document that governs the u.n. says work the main document to scald the u.n. charter it's the constitution of the united nations and it gives the security council the power but the ultimate power to deal with peace and security in the world but clearly that document was come up with some seventy years ago in the last

seven years in syria they have failed quite miserably on that effort and certainly the latest developments in syria were the first thing that was mentioned by the secretary general antonio terrace i am deeply saddened by the terrible suffering of the civilian population. eastern ghouta four and a thousand people that believe. in hell on earth my appeal to all those involved is for any immediate suspension of all war d.v.d.'s in eastern guta to try and make that happen a number of nations have been working hard to security council members sweden and kuwait kuwait's the current president of the security council been drafting a new resolution they want to put towards the un security council to

a vote possibly by the end of the week the swedish ambassador said possibly in the next twenty four hours he described to reporters what the resolution would say 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 areas for forty out of forty eight hours after that emergency medical evacuations from areas that un currently cannot access lifting of sieges or for specific locations to situation of course in eastern part of that which is completely alarming. well the high commissioner for human rights of the united nations has added his voice for the need for such

a resolution prince zaid issued a statement in the last hour saying how much cruelty will it take before the international community can speak with one voice to avoid this to bring to an end this monstrous campaign of annihilation the latest comment from a u.n. official calling for action that resolution is going to be put we think to a vote in the coming days the big question is what russia will do because of course that u.n. charter they're discussing today gives five members of the security council the power of veto russia has that power and until now russia has stopped efforts to try and bring a cease fire in eastern guta things baze with the latest from the u.n. james thank you. 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 well some of those students are actually speaking it right now at that demonstration let's listen it was an america we've had a mass shootings in the first six weeks of this year we will decide that record of one mass shooting per week for the past five years nonstop one mash reading every single week. some say that a ban on assault weapons is not the solution because people kill people not guns let me tell you that this criminal shooter had a handgun maybe many of our friends and teachers would be alive today was a pick up ban on assault weapons to save one more life it would make a massive difference to our friends their family and their community every match a ban on assault weapons save wormer life it would be worth it.

was we also hear that mental health is a real issue maybe this is true but before we also know how to cure mental health isn't that common sense to ensure that people suffering from mental health don't have access to these legal weapon was the way stricter background tracks means that one more person would be saved. this would make a huge difference in that our community if we had stricter gun controls we would not have lost seventeen lives of our classmates teachers and staff members we would not have destroyed the innocence of three thousand high school students and damage a whole community and park on in coral springs if we had super gun control measures in florida. seventeen families would be having dinner tonight together and said a mourning for the loss of their loved ones. was

today instead of returning to our studies and said are preparing for exams and instead of the grieving for a guy classmates and teachers we're out here advocating for change was we're out here advocating for change because of this capital's failure to do our primary job by keeping us safe somebody said it's too soon to talk about gun control no it is not too soon no this is not the wrong time there's no better time than now to talk about gun control. was thank you if if we wait then someone else might become of that until your children might become the victims to. thank you. to congress you are directly responsible for every community has lost its a gun violence and you have the power to change this and if you don't then we will change you. all right we

may be too young to vote but soon we will be able to vote and we will value ours. thanks. we will be able to run for office and we will take your place and many since you have the country can't wait to go boo can't wait to go run for office and to make a change to make a safer world you adults have failed us by not creating a safer place for children to go to school so we have the next generation will not fail or own kids we was. if not today then tomorrow and if not tomorrow next year take it from us he created enough for us but we will make this world safer for our children. god the children and the students and all around the world are watching you the people of syria are watching you this in a sense and my beloved united states of america are watching you if you do not take

action now then we the future leaders of america well was next i would like to announce representative mcghee who sponsored the bill that bans assault weapons i was. i. was just listening to one of the students of parkland parkland high school in crore and where just last week one of the pharmaceutics their national screws and killed. several people and their seventeen students and the educators killed last week at that school and gallagher is at that rally in tallahassee a rally organized by the former students are calling forgotten that restrictions what is the atmosphere like there and.

well over the last fifteen years i've covered a lot of my shootings in this country i've never felt energy or momentum quite like what you can see and hear behind me here the capitol building in tallahassee these students are eloquent that it's him and this is a voice of a new generation that are calling for change and they won't stop but let's inject to reduce of reality last night in the legislature here within three minutes or even under two minutes they voted down a bill that would have been to assault rifles giving you some idea of the challenges they face but let's bring in ryan price who's a local student who has family in pa and ryan why did you come today i came today because i think there's a change in america and there needs to be a reform i don't control. take japan for causes reading an article the other day about how there's only a few single deaths a year into. and i do think it will take time in america for such deaths in america to reduce the amount of guns that kill people but you know it's just sad to see all these young striving americans just get their life taken away by guns and being in

high school just a few years ago it's just sad to me just to imagine all those kids that lost their lives at the high school and you know being in college right now for this day it's scary to just imagine someone coming there and shooting up the school and i really think there does need to be change throughout america so that's why i'm here to present my cause to be a pretty realistic about you know that this is not going to happen overnight assault weapons won't be banned but you're in for the long haul i am in for the long haul and again i think it's going to take a lot of time and i still think there will be shootings throughout america won't just go away but i think we're passing bills on assault rifles and that cetera i think they will reduce and over time it will reduce a lot to the point where we will be able to stand out here and show our cause because it will be proven thank you very much ryan said just a sense there of how determined people here are calling for change at the voices of these young teenagers these children that over the past week have been attending funerals of their friends and grieving themselves it is really amazing it's like

something i've never seen before but they're laying the responsibility for any change now firmly on the doorsteps of politicians and that's the real reality check here how likely is it that politicians in this country will change gun laws but even if they change something like making the minimum age to buy an assault rifle to twenty one that would be monumental in this country because even after sandy hook five years ago when somebody walked into a school with an a r fifteen assault rifle and killed six year old children nothing changed so the big question here is is this a tipping point is this the momentum that will force politicians to look at this country's gun laws and finally make some changes but you can hear the atmosphere here you can hear the rules in the crowd going up these people are determined to keep their campaign going to keep their protest going they're going to march in. in d.c. next month they're not going anywhere anytime soon and the alligator from tallahassee in florida and they thank you. 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 macwrite ic republic of congo the un's refugee agency has warned that fighting in southeastern province could lead to a humanitarian disaster of extraordinary proportions charlotte bellis reports. the eastern border of the democratic republic of congo is and 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 attain a pedal when you know some died of hunger some drowned and the like there's no one to help you there's nothing to eight 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 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 goodbye now they be heated people they can't open this stomachs removed the guts and lift them to die that's how they killing people. in twenty seven tane in mr mated one hundred twenty thousand people fled into neighboring countries this latest violence has displaced five times that in just two months that 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 this 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 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 ballasts al jazeera more than one thousand nine.

hundred fighters attacked a village in the north east of the country are all call it the girls' school in 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 that he'll get a lighter sentence in return for his cooperation israeli police say there is sufficient evidence to indict him now for bribery fraud and breach of trust over an investigation into government benefits offered to a telecoms giant that denies the allegations south africa's opposition is calling the latest budget an assault on the poor value added tax will go up to fifteen percent for the first time in more than twenty years but the

government insists tough measures are necessary to repair the economy after years of mismanagement of the former president jacob zuma for me tim miller has more now from johannesburg. it was months of protests like these that often turned violent and put free education on the government's agenda. when i took part in protests that began in twenty fifteen and continued last year part of the reason the protest happened that the people who get into the system are themselves condemned in condemned to whether or not they finish because if you can't pay them the first year you can finish your degree because in the sure degree you can get a job now the government to set aside five billion dollars to fund free education phasing in free also ups or dies education over five years the plan announced in the budget speech targets poor and working class households free education is one of the main priorities this year some africa has an unemployment rate of more than

twenty six percent there has been a slight improvement in the past year but what is of most concern to many here is that more than a third of people under the age of thirty five don't have jobs. the budget speech didn't however say much about job creation instead focusing on increasing government revenue by hiking value added tax and cutting spending by eight billion dollars over three years government has made significant changes to the fiscal framework for this. new text messages raise than it does not in the d.c. and into the eighteen nineteen may lead to a higher vet rate and below inflation adjustments to personal income tax brackets. the government is facing a balancing act of trying to raise money cut spending all the while protecting the poor it's promising to raise social grants but also increase the fuel that he makes

transportable it's been said cost more here is getting intense now we've seen this country rise to the highest level of inequality for wealth and income in the world and the world economic forum rates our workers the angriest pricewaterhouse coopers regularly rates our businesses as the most corrupt they have the fifth highest profit rate in the world as about africa works to further improve its economy it is however battling some uncertainty within its finance department is much speculation that the finance minister may be on his way out after last week's resignation of president jacob zuma malusi gigaba too has been accused of corruption and outside influence in government decisions for me to al-jazeera janice berg. zimbabwe's ousted leader robert mugabe has marked his ninety fourth birthday at a private party in his her our intention it's a far cry from the lavish ceremonies that marked the occasion during his nearly

four decades raul has been quiet since he left office in november he hasn't made any public appearances and skipped the funeral of former opposition leader morgan tsvangirai on tuesday sending russian condolences instead. let's go to thailand now with a number of women getting more dangerous but a small box has grown massively despite a nineteen year ban prohibiting the move while many leading male monks have denied the women recognition they're becoming increasingly popular with the public scott hider reports from bangkok. it's a common sight with an uncommon twist buddhist monks collecting all names during the pre-dawn hours and rural thailand but beneath these saffron 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 or days 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 one and two hundred seventy women or did. one top ranking male monk in bangkok you know these types of temples for women called the kony should be shut down that they refer to the constitution says they are allowed the religion is not known nor can be amended any time but. 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. legal gone thinks the issue of female monks needs to be properly revisited is a racist in this conflict it. referred to a d n a supreme. in one thousand nine hundred twenty eight despite the growing number of piccoli there's a difference of opinion among thais. it's tied people nature behaves 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 shot 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 experts on emerging technologies a warning about the threat posed by artificial intelligence twenty six scientists say the next decade could see growing misuse of drones for criminal purposes as well as a dramatic increase in cyber crime in the hayward reports now from cambridge the u k. it is the stuff of science fiction or at least it used to be a computer able to master an ancient chinese board game without human help to win every time and a truck that drives to itself computers umberto's 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 have been 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 mass now this is just a laboratory setting but in five or ten years time it could be developed to work in

a construction site or support in the design or wouldn't want the technology hijacked the report's authors are 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 of 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 emma haywood al-jazeera cambridge. and now a reminder of the top stories russia's un envoy has called for a u.n. security council meeting to discuss the situation in eastern huta in syria syrian government bombs continue to fall on the rebel held this trick with nearly three

hundred people killed there since sunday medical sources say eight hospitals were attacked on tuesday alone they are secretary-general and tonic with terror has made a stronger statement yet on the assault. i am deeply saddened by gerry boyle suffering of the civilian population. in eastern guta 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 he needs them good. 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 president donald 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 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 the un's refugee agency has warned that fighting in southeastern province could lead to a humanitarian disaster over 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 that he will get a lighter sentence in return for his cooperation. more than nineteen a jury and schoolgirls are feared missing after boko haram fighters attacked a village in the northeast of the country a roll call of the girl's school on monday night showed that ninety one students were missing nigerian police however deny that any abductions have taken place

we're going to have more on that story and all of the day's other news on the al-jazeera news hour that's coming up in less than half an hour coming up next though it's inside story. running out of water they're calling it day zero cities like cape town and nairobi assumed drawing and first years of drugs and bad planning so why haven't governments done more to prevent this catastrophe is the golden age of water now this is inside story.