with media trends consummate changing listening post analyzes how the news has been covered. and there's more people around the world struggle to find clean drinking leaders and research as governor in brazil to address. the march on al-jazeera. where every. diplomatic disagreement at the u.n. prolongs the agony of hundreds of thousands of people in syria's eastern ghouta.

oh i'm. also coming up three separate suicide attacks in afghanistan target the security forces as well as couples diplomatic area. the u.s. imposes the biggest package of sanctions on north korea over its nuclear program plus. russia the centenary of the red army find out how the military is being rebuilt to become one of the strongest in the world. hundreds of thousands of people are trapped in a rebel held on clay this syria's capital and they're being bombed seventh day efforts to establish a ceasefire have been delayed at the u.n. three more people have been killed in recent hours more than four hundred four. he

has been killed. since sunday we can talk to our correspondent binge of aid now who is in gassy untap that's along the turkish syrian border and the people who are in particular a continuing to be bombarded by i asked strikes do we know specifically his carrying out these airstrikes. martin according to activists on the ground it is both the syrian and the russian air force as well as artillery being used by the syrian government and its allies but we've heard from russia that it denies completely that in staking any part in the operation in syria last night we heard at the united nations condemnations as well as word saying that the people cannot wait but wait is all that they can do with the grim reality is that nearly four hundred thousand of them are trapped in days in this and besieged in this area where they cannot leave and they're not they're not getting enough

food and medical supplies nearly five hundred of them in have been killed since sunday that's the saturday marks seven days since this onslaught began and more than two thousand medics have been telling us have been injured doctors have been describing the situation as chaotic there fast running out of places to treat people because at least twenty four medical facilities have been targeted one medical charity says at least twelve hospitals are completely out of commission so it is a desperate situation on the ground between seeing the number of dead in the last forty eight hours dropping in there not as significant as people were dying in the dozens and in their hundreds for the last couple of days that is because a lot of people have now been living underground they're living in these small bunkers i spoke to an activist last night who was telling me that there are fifteen families in one bunker there are only two w.c.s. one for the men and one for the women they don't have enough food it's very damp and very cold and they just don't know what else to do. every day of

these jebediah they call out for deals left on another floor but in the dense dust and debris it's hard to see who's left. the upper floor is on fire. the doctor tells me to open his eyes so he can wash medical workers in eastern who are calling for urgent assistance because of the continuous heavy bombardment. incendiary bombs are now appearing in the night skies weapons intended to start large fires when they hit the ground people in bodies are pulled out from crevices between buildings the nearly four hundred thousand people in the besieged enclave are dying in their hundreds how to be what's taken place in eastern is a genocide and a crime against humanity in violation of international and humanitarian law and the perpetrators should be held liable accountable and cannot escape punishment under

any circumstances russia is to blame for directly being involved in the military campaign and the. graphic videos we've chosen not to show you contain body parts scattered in the aftermath of the latest onslaught by the assad government and its allies. the opposition holds russia and iran responsible. when the dust settles the destruction is clear people have been forced to live in underground shelters. and message to the security council is for a cease fire or truce for days as strikes and bombardments of forced families and children into underground shelters we can't do anything we can't even go outside to get food but when the outside looks like this there aren't many places people can go to. and that is what the situation on the ground has been since two thousand and twelve since two thousand and thirteen this enclave has been under siege there been very limited supplies of whatever has been

allowed to come in even aid that the united nations was bringing in was subject to scrutiny by the syrian government and medical consumables by doctors were being taken out so it is a grim situation very time is fast running out for hundreds and hundreds of people who are wounded and they just don't know what to do all right some a binge of a then only continuing suffering of the people in syria meanwhile back in new york it's the russians that are objecting and those objections are blocking the efforts to establish a cease fire passing a resolution members of the security council so far unable to agree on terms for this cease fire a vote won't take place for at least another eight hours here's a diplomatic and said james pain. old a frantic negotiations here at the united nations to try and get a security council resolution passed a great deal of the pressure on the russian ambassador vasoline who has problems

with some of the language in the draft resolution drawn up by kuwait and sweden at one point the kuwaiti ambassador the president of the security council appeared with the other nonpermanent members of the so-called elected ten and he sounded upbeat we're still working on. the language on some of the but i get asked but we are almost there and we would like you know as a been holder as a president of the council to thank actually the eaton for their support to a lot of votes and hopefully you are so close to adopt this is illusion today throughout the day votes were scheduled then perspire owned meetings were delayed towards the end of the day the u.s. ambassador nikki haley tweeted unbelievable that russia is stalling a vote on a ceasefire allowing humanitarian access in syria how many more people will die before the security council agrees to take up this vote let's do this tonight the

syrian people can't wait but in the end the security council decided to postpone its vote until saturday this was the comment from the swedish ambassador i'm trying to facilitate a meaningful outcome of this security council so i can only protect what we're trying to do and that is to have a resolution adopted yesterday and now we have not achieved i find that extremely frustrating given what we are faced with on the ground at the end of the day the russian ambassador was chatting with his syrian colleague basher i'll jaffrey it's still unclear whether any vote will actually take place and whether a vote will pass what is certain is that the syrian government bombardment for now will continue. now there been three separate attacks across afghanistan our correspondent tony badly is live for us in the capital kabul tony take us through

the attacks that we know of today. three suicide bombings in afghanistan today another bloody start in this terrible tragedy is going on in afghanistan the first one was eight thirty this morning in the diplomatic area of cardboard when a afghan military intelligence unit was targeted by a suicide bomber one person killed and six wounded in helmand province in lashkar gah another intelligence unit was attacked by a suicide bomber one person killed and eight wounded and there's been one in a western district in ninety early where two afghan soldiers were killed there because all attack has been claimed by the islamic states and the other attacks by the taliban but we're also hearing about another large scale attack in western afghanistan in far a province where a military base has been tacked been attacked by

a large taliban force and we understand according to the minister of defense here that eighteen soldiers a minimum of eighteen soldiers have been killed and so tony this underlines isn't it the the state of insecurity in afghanistan and indeed that it's. many more than just one group we associate many of these sorts of attacks with the taliban but there are others that were. yes i think this attack in kabul especially shows that islamic state is still active it's still capable of launching attacks i think that was the message they wanted to put out there the taliban is getting stronger as we understand it every day they control something like seventy percent of the country we're told specially in rural areas of course the civilians are bearing the brunt usually of all these attacks the u.n. of just published a report which shows that last year ten thousand civilians were killed and injured

a lot of them by suicide bombings we've seen an increase in those in the last year and we're also seeing an increase by the americans in aerial bombings they're using aerial firepower now with a renewed attack on the taliban and especially islamic state so this situation is going from going from worse to worse and every day there's a new story about bloodshed and death and dying here i tell you betty live in kabul a u.s. president donald trump says washington is imposing its largest ever set of sanctions on north korea they aim to isolate and increase the pressure on pyongyang to give up its nuclear program the measure specifically target maritime activity sixteen north korean shipping companies have been sanctioned along with several based in hong kong mainland china and taiwan twenty eight ships are on the less again mostly at most of the north korean but two of them are from panama and one from the camara us and another from tanzania and there's one individual on the list as well a taiwanese national that africa name now has the latest from gang known in

south korea. an official with the south korean foreign ministry says this is a reaffirmation of the united states' desire to move towards a peaceful diplomatic resolution of the korean issue and that these additional sanctions are in keeping with the policy of trying to exert maximum pressure through sanctions to get north korea to denuclearize the official also says that he hopes that this latest round of sanctions will inspire the international community to continue imposing that is clearly an illusion to russia and china who've got only been accused of not doing their part to impose current saying but perhaps helping north korea evade them during the latest round of sanctions announced chinese shipping companies and vessels are on the blacklist this is what south

koreans are saying that they looked as if it had gotten even if we pursue sanctions we need to have the room for dialogue over the severe sanctions concerned me as a south korean because something worse can happen. people to the. north korean sanctions should continue unless they keep up their nuclear weapons i think more than thirty percent of the south korean population agrees with me on social media some are saying that the united states is not acting in a considerate manner that it's putting its allies south korea in an awkward position one person saying that perhaps the united states just wants to solve the korean problem on its own another person wondering if the continued isolation of north korea will inspire a quote preemptive strike scenario the big question is how will north korea react. are we can see to see the name he now his associate professor of politics and international studies at international christian university in tokyo thank you very

much indeed for joining us what do you think what do you make of the timing of this quote unquote largest set of sanctions ever according to mr trump only north korea at the same time as yvonne. trunk is in trump is in south korea and indeed a quite a high powered north korean delegation is due in south korea what do you make of that. well i think the united states under this idea maximum pressure is trying to put more money and more pressure on the north korean regime in the aftermath of this this could it time terms of limpid diplomacy the north koreans have maximized fractures in the relationship within the region the united states and south korea now are looking at north korean a very different way under the moon administration there is a reach out in the patient president to visit pyongyang in north korea there is some talk been a decrease in tensions on the peninsula and allowing for athletes to come and

participate in the in the pics and again this is a win win situation for the north koreans gives them at least a month maybe six. months a time to consolidate their missiles and in nuclear technology and in the north this is very very important the united states wants to push back against this political space that in the developed they want to send a message to north korea that. they're open to negotiation but denuclearize ation is a must in terms of. how that negotiation in a can push forward so do you think that there were so i guess i just wanted to get your opinion as to whether you think this is an effective strategy a kind of carrot and stick at the same time type of a page to north korea on the one hand and rapprochement with the south koreans but the then the americans keeping up the pressure in fact tightening the screws even more. well what we've seen is over the past twenty five years the idea of carrots

and carrots hasn't worked with the north korea stance and nor another neither is sanctions north korea the most sanctioned state on this on the planet and they've still been able to strengthen their economy relatively and they've been able to develop a quite an impressive set of missile and nuclear capabilities. is sanctions the right approach i'm not sure i would say that we do need to move forward in terms of more carrots but we also need to change our strategy and bring more stakeholders into the region and into this north korean equation or how do we how do we get the russians involved how to get the chinese and japanese involved and it's to this concert of nations that we can put more pressure on the north koreans but also move down a path forward give them those carrots that they can understand that they can write their regime they can keep economic development and this is going to say to interrupt because we are running out of time but this this latest round of. sanctions seemed designed to ensure compliance to existing sanctions do you think

they're going to work no i don't the north koreans have been adept at baiting sanctions and they found new ways to bring in hard currency to their into their country including cryptocurrency mining cryptocurrency so they've been affected and evading sanctions and i could expect to continue to update so they can consolidate the could. see the navy thank you very much indeed. thank you. those who are to come here at al-jazeera including the u.s. confirms his embassy will be moved from television to jerusalem by may and that's much earlier than expected. from the waves of the sounds. to the contours of the east.

and are there it's turning colder across many parts of europe now the temperature chart shows the dark blue colors of the coldest weather and that's all gradually pushing its way towards the west as we head into sunday and the temperatures will start to tumble but that's not the only story down towards the south there's been a lot of cloud a lot of rain for many of us in the mediterranean and this is croatia that rain hit the cold air and we saw an awful lot of very deep snow now that wintery weather will stay in the northern edge of this system as we head through the next few days so to the south it is going to be rain will see plenty of weather through many parts of italy and down through greece and into turkey but the northern edge will see some wintry weather during the day today they don't thunder they will see more of that turn to snow and that's because that cold air is coming through here it is working its way steadily towards the west minus eight to the maximum in warsaw minus two in but and for berlin don't expect the temperatures to get above freezing for a good few days now and that cold air will continue its journey towards the west the temperatures in london will be tumbling as well but for the towards the south we've

seen some of the wet weather that's over the mediterranean just scared its way across the northern parts of africa the main system there is beginning to pull away but there'll be more cloud developing there on sunday so more outbreaks of rain are likely during the day there with sponsored by qatar airways. news has never been more available it's a constant barrage of it with every day but the message is simplistic you have to for brains. good logical rational person is crazy monsters and misinformation is rice dismissal and does not hold well documented accusations and evidence is part of genocide the listening post provides a critical counterpoint challenging mainstream media narratives at this time on al-jazeera.

covers a take a look at the top stories here at al-jazeera hundreds of thousands of people are trapped in a rebel held only syria's capital and they're being bombed for a seventh consecutive day efforts to establish a cease fire has been delayed at the u.n. activists on the ground say government helicopters are dropping tyrell bombs on residential neighborhoods. even three separate attacks in afghanistan with at least eighteen soldiers killed in a taliban attack on an army outpost in the west of the country that in separate attacks in lashkar gah and kabul in which one person was killed in the. us president donald trump says washington is imposing its largest set a set of sanctions on north korea they're aimed at isolating and increasing the

pressure on killing young to give up its nuclear program the latest measures specifically target the north's shipping activity. the u.s. has confirmed it will open its new embassy in jerusalem this may that's much area than expected and palestinians have condemned the announcement calling it provocative roseland reports. the news the u.s. embassy would move from television to jerusalem on may fourteenth king not in a communique but in a tweet from israel's intelligence minister i would like to congratulate donald trump on his decision to transfer the u.s. embassy on israel's seventieth independence day no greater gift than that. a short time later the u.s. president donald trump confirmed the news in the speech i was hit by more countries and more pressure and more people calling begging me don't do it don't do it don't do it. i said we have to do it it's the right thing to do it wasn't december trump

announced he was moving the embassy to jerusalem. and the anger of those who said the u.s. was basically giving jerusalem to israel outside of final status talks with the palestinians the palestinian president mahmoud abbas was among those who condemned truff but at the u.n. security council this week it was clear abbas had moved on he told him the era of the u.s. as an honest broker is over and that it's time to try something new for any on a grammar 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 one house standing in politician says the embassy is an affront to his community. and this presents a very serious provocation to the palestinian side besides the fact that moving the

embassy to jerusalem is by its participation in violation. a us based analyst called the move in date very bad foreign policy rather than just giving jerusalem away to the israelis what he could have done it said we will acknowledge jerusalem as the capital of israel if you dismantle all the illegal settlements and so what he stand now it seems given away very big valuable check and essentially gotten nothing in return the ambassador david friedman and a few aides will join current consulate staff at their office in jerusalem a new building won't be built for several years there's no denying the embassy move will affect any and all peace talks going forward rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington. some catholics in the philippines would be marching in protest against president deter taste and drugs campaign three thousand alleged drug users have been killed since the war on drugs began after president deterred he took office in

twenty six scene in this is the scene live in manila and as you can see there are many difficult to say exactly how many but there are many protesters out protesting against what they consider to be extra judicial killings and an abuse of human rights so that's a scene live of course police officers have been accused of involvement in many of the deaths in church leaders are calling on the president to end his campaign. of perjury case governor has been visiting mainland u.s. looking for financial support for his island that was battered by a hurricane last year but many puerto rican sphere it will be big business not the residents who benefit from rebuilding she however tons explains. ricco there rosales as investors who take advantage of puerto rico's opportunities. and enjoy. the benefits of what.

the government plans to prioritize put a rico's electricity grid there how shareholders will make a profit even as they invest in a reliable electricity source for all hasn't been explained put a rico's history as cautionary in the ninety's governor rosales further privatized the water system when he was governor a failure that polluted the environment and raised prices authorities eventually reap took control have been paid to french multinational companies hundreds of millions of dollars if this whole idea that their public utilities are meant man it's because they're public and you just sell them off and then everything is going to be great for everyone even though there's this clear example off privatized water services and things just got a lot of wires so why do you think it's not mentioned because all the people and involved in this privatization process and the banks and the advisors they all get paid out of the fees there is a suspicion that what's being attempted is

a classic case of what's known as disaster capitalism the use of the of a natural disaster to push through the privatization of essential services something wall street always wants but can't always get you the democratic popular opposition. to new orleans is cited as an example public housing was sold off to private developers who coverage of the land and schools were privatized resulting in a decline in educational performance amid a rise in private profits and governor a say has already said he intends to privatise put a rico schools now in some millions of dollars of our public that are not invested in our school are not invested in our health one want it and then by this financial institution alternatives to the neo liberal street. for puerto rico is reconstruction has been offered as i who look at the proposal it is really putting on in big us priority one how much can we squeeze out of the island.

and i think that's morally wrong noble economic laureates joseph stiglitz for example says austerity and privatization will make matters worse growth will only be achieved through government investment but that's made little dems in america of will inevitably privatized future for puerto rico she ever turns the washington now the european council president donald tusk has warned the u.k.'s approach to the next stage of corrective negotiations is based on what he called pure illusion he was speaking at an e.u. summit in brussels and he said that britain was still trying to cherry pick its future relationship with the block come this fall as reports that to resume a the british prime minister's cabinet has finally reached a common position the reports are suggesting that senior ministers in the cabinet and now backing a plan that they're calling managed divergence now this apparently means that the u.k. would accept some form of regulation after bret's it well donald tusk ravish

the plan. and russia has been celebrating as annual defender of the fatherland holiday it's a century since its red army was founded the day celebrate servicemen and more recently the resurgence of russia's armed forces journal how many polls are from moscow. it's a hundred years since the first volunteers signed up to serve in the brand new red army almost immediately that was to defend the october revolution in a civil war against anti communist forces. the red army would later succeed in fighting back hitler's invading nazis at a cost to the soviet union of millions of lost lives. these days the founding of the red army is much more broadly as a tribute to old military veterans in president vladimir putin's russia the

achievements of the revolution to play down the occasion is an excuse for displays of communist nostalgia ownership really small scale those non-mental not for none of the red flag is all flag it's the flag of victory in the great patriotic war children of the victors. so the red army then they began to transform and also. extend this integrate especially in the beginning of the nine i then there were several waves of different kind of reform and now actually they're more or less back where they began and increasingly resembling a kind of you know projection of the red army which is that under stand because right now the russian army has more or less the same enemies as the red army did during the cold war and i mean enemies the united states and its allies where in the cold war number two russia's modern military has been rebuilt at vast expense

both to counter the expansion of western alliances like nato and the european union and also to advance russia's own geo political ambitions since then that successful war of wars were georgia. and crimea and now syria right now yes. but russia and. army is good and maybe the. best in the world but some with long memories place less stock in military hardware your voice gone after it's all got on our sleeves our bodies our soldiers have always been stronger and had the best command is there are no americans who can come here and threaten. the world has once again come to respect russia's military might for many that is a welcome you chapter in the country's history channel al-jazeera moscow.

traverses take a look at the top stories here at al-jazeera hundreds of thousands of people trapped in a rebel held on glave this serious capital being bombed for a seventh consecutive day ever suicide is a cease fire at the u.n. have been delayed three more people have been killed in in the recent hours activists on the ground say government helicopters are dropping barrel bombs on residential neighborhoods more than four hundred forty people have been killed in these and since sunday. they've been three separate attacks in afghanistan live at least eighteen soldiers killed in a taliban attack on an army outpost in the west of the country a separate attack targeted security forces in alaska killing one and i saw has claimed responsibility for an attack in the capital kabul turney badly is following developments from kabul. this attack in kabul especially shows that islamic state is still active it's still capable of launching attacks i think that was the

message they wanted to put out there the taliban is getting stronger as we understand it every day they control something like seventy percent of the country we're told specially in rural areas of course the civilians are bearing the brunt usually of all these attacks the u.n. of just published a report which shows that last year ten thousand civilians were killed and injured a lot of them by suicide bombings. u.s. president donald trump says washington is imposing its largest set of sanctions on north korea there aimed at isolating and increasing pressure on pyongyang to give up its nuclear program the latest measures specifically target north korea's shipping activity the united states has confirmed it will open its new embassy in jerusalem this may that's much earlier than expected palestinians have condemned the announcement saying it's a provocation the decision in december to move the embassy from tel aviv to

jerusalem sparked protests around the world ok there is now the latest headlines from us here at al-jazeera back in about thirty minutes or so with more of the day's news but that's after listening peste. it's impossible to underestimate the size and scale of the economic crisis it's not just about the billions trillions of dollars of debt it's not just about the banks it's not just about the government to my real people. elections are coming president sisi to look to our real problem as. an amateur hold. on with a return for terry and securities to say ok let's see if tapping in. the bust the problem in the past. hello richard gives birth in europe the listening post here are some of the media stories we've been tracking this week elections are coming up in egypt and hungary given what.