the most little. one is. 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. more deaths in syria as the bombardment every single take continues despite the u.n. call for a cease fire. some of them chilling with all of this is al jazeera live from london also coming up a controversial north korean general indicates says the winter olympics close that

his country is willing to talk to the u.s. . church leaders protesting against tax pound shop the site where christ is said to have been buried in occupied east jerusalem. and the former italian prime minister silvio berlusconi is back in the limelight as his party bids for power in next weekend's elections. they're here long welcome to the program at least twenty seven people have been killed in syria russian air strikes and he said hello to on sunday the new a or a grand offensive has taken place despite the u.n. security council adopting a resolution demanding a cease fire a warning this report from osama bin just a contains some distressing images look. this is what the united nations the green house to stop. the. hours into the u.n.

security council has thirty day cease fire declaration forms kept dropping on eastern. medical dozen of the dead and indeed from more than a hundred years strikes barrel bombs and artillery bombardments all of which was supposed to and continues in the rebel held area home to four hundred thousand syrians what experiences from b.b.'s and. don't give us heights for station it's the. what's. the. start as soon as possible one of this possible we don't know we don't we don't know. and then here this is a big number of population it wants to be a solution that three bring them one all doable voice and one be the solution that we evacuated one thousand or two thousand of them to be to develop of withdraw as feared government forces try to enter eastern huta from three sides attempting to seize as much land as possible before the cease fire is implemented reinforcements

from the syrian army's fourth intended brigades have been circling east and the for days special forces and troops from the in the tiger battalion are also on the front lines i. bulldozers and tanks are deployed to breach several defenses iran and syria maintain that the security council resolution allows the targeting of what they call terrorists do with this by creating large a few numbers and heavy firepower levels in a day of how the front lines so far killing and capturing some soldiers thank you not how we welcome the security council's decision regarding a ceasefire because of the burden on our families and he said this suffering must be lifted them to the decision to stop the bloodshed caused by the regime in a single day as usual we didn't find any commitment by the syrian regime in its russian allies east and. north west and go to southern wist and almost. we front

and go to has been stored by the regime on sunday in order to achieve some advance but they haven't succeeded. many besieged people have been stranded in underground shelters for days and fear the worst to come. you know we can't eat because there's nothing to eat our sons have no work my son has five children and he doesn't know how to feed them we will die hungry without food we've been targeted no homes have been destroyed we have done nothing to be treated and targeted like this but eastern good has been intensity targeted for the past week the u.n. called it hell on earth. the pope calls the victims in syria martyrs that have been conversations between the leaders of france germany and russia to draw and persuade the assad government to stop attacks and allow in humanitarian aid that's when the people will continue to face what they see is annihilation. of the turkey syria border well let's get more now on those attacks in. our

correspondent mohammed al jazeera he has the latest from the front like. now. we're now at the edge of duma and eastern parts of the regime forces have launched many attacks here today this is one of the front lines. they were trying to advance towards duma and control the land and farms leading towards the vehicle department and harassed. their goal here is to separate harassed from east and there have also been various attacks from the east and the south the regime forces are trying to divide guta into smaller besieged enclaves. some sources within the opposition say iranian jets have also been taking part in the attacks there's also been artillery shelling. a controversial north korean general who attended the closing ceremony of the winter olympics in south korea has indicated his country is welling to open talks with the united states and ceremony he said just me system u.s.

president donald trump still say if the dutch a game reports now from cole no. from protesters at the border and the stadium to uncomfortable questions asked by reporters oh no it was a controversial arrival at the closing ceremony of the winter olympics for the north korean delegation. some south koreans are angry about the delegation leader general kimmitt young chore is thought to be behind attacks against the south including the sinking of a warship in twenty ten that killed forty six sailors know. president of korea is almost zero zero zero zero zero zero zero you're a little korea hero. your. role in a protest. no president and the north korean dictator this

is. south korean president moon j. in use the games to reboot intercooler ian relations the so-called peace olympics included a joint women's hockey team athlete celebrating korean nationalism by marching under a unified flag as well as a visit by kim yo jiang the sister of the north korean leader she arrived with an invite for moon to visit pyongyang. it's a two hour test it was a good olympics didn't we were so concerned about it last year but when so well many north koreans came in i wish this could lead to unification i thought it was interesting it was an honor for us to host it i really enjoyed it and. even the choice of olympic venues was symbolic gang one province is divided between the north and south. if the tension continues with us tourists don't come so peace is very important to our economy north korea participated in the olympics and this has

become a basis for establishing a base here and that means a lot to us. for the russians the games and did as they began marching without their flag two of their athletes were disqualified after testing positive for banned drugs four years on from the sochi doping scandal russians were only allowed to compete under an olympic flag as all athletes return home the question here is what happens after the olympics. the u.s. announced its toughest package of sanctions against north korea on friday with the hope it will pressure the country to denuclearize whether that will work when other sanctions have failed remains to be seen and there's no word yet on when president moon might travel to the north if he does he'll become the first south korean president to meet kim jong un since he became leader seven years ago natasha going

to al-jazeera south korea well dion estabrook has more from washington on the possibility of talks between north korea and the u.s. . well the united states the white house specifically said the same afternoon that any talks with north korea would have to lead to that country dismantling its nuclear program it said it's really unclear at this point whether these proposed talks are a step in that direction and the state department essentially said the same thing and washington is seems to be taking a wait and see attitude about this because north korea hasn't yet said if there are any preconditions to these talks whether it's putting anything on the table specifically its nuclear program the timing of this is also curious as well north korea is proposing this just a couple of days after the u.s. slapped these additional sanctions on the country making it more difficult for them

to trade oil and coal in north korea is calling that an act of war and there are some conservatives here in washington who think that these sanctions might finally be having an impact on north korea and maybe they're using these proposed talks as a way of getting some economic relief from these sanctions certainly the optics are there as far as a thawing of relations we saw vice president pence at the opening ceremonies at the olympics saying that potentially there could be talks if the north koreans would talk about potentially dismantling their nuclear program we saw the president's daughter at the closing ceremonies in the same general area as representatives from the north and south korea's but again these are two countries north korea and the united states who have had a very very icy very tense relations for a half a century so it remains to be seen whether anything will happen from these talks

after the glow of the olympics. church leaders in occupy these tourists have closed the holiest site in christianity in response to what they call discrimination by the israeli government maladjusted of the church of the holy circle curve believed to be the crucifixion and resurrection site of jesus christ are angry at proposed tax plan sorry for said her story. the chance to experience sunday mass at the place where they believe christ rose from the dead draws pilgrims from around the world to the church of the holy sepulcher but this sunday the greek orthodox armenian and catholic churches which jointly run the site announced its abrupt closure protesting against measures which they say would constrain the rights of the church property is the demand. of

laws of a similar way to which were in that. hearing. in europe. this is the back the and britain then did that back against christians in their holy land. levi on a most basic. and serve the right the church leaders say they face a twin attack first in the shape of a demand by jerusalem city government what it says is more than one hundred eighty million dollars in back taxes and secondly from proposed legislation which would seize retroactively for the state church land sold to private companies or sundays in the square outside the church of the holy sepulcher always thronged with tourists and christian pilgrims many of whom are travelled a long way to see this most important holy site it's always an atmosphere of emotion today the chief atmosphere though is one of disappointment the belief that jesus christ died and if you was buried here would have liked just to go there and

have the instrument point is you you know that would we be able to understand it better you know i don't know of the sides of the parties involved but you know it certainly is going to get the public attention to do this and hopefully it drives a quicker conclusion the christian patriarchates over large areas of often prime real estate in and around jerusalem much of it at least to the state palestinians have criticised the greek orthodox patriarch the selling property inside the old city the jewish settler groups and others jerusalem's municipal leaders say only properties being used for religious activities should be tax exempt not those rented commercially they've already frozen about nine million dollars in assets of the greek orthodox church we're talking about other places that the church own fact has hotel and they have been exempt wrongly from paying city taxes for years and years and years and the mare at the moment is trying to correct a wrong that was done that affects us from residents every single day and

ministerial discussion on the bill to allow seizure of already sold church land has been postponed to next week the author of the propose. law says it's designed to protect the rights of those living on the land from off an anonymous offshore entities church leaders say their long established rights are being trampled in what they call an attempt to weaken the christian presence in jerusalem are a force that al-jazeera occupied east jerusalem. still to come on al-jazeera oh my god the only heard one person is killed and others are injured in anti government protests in the democratic republic of congo. battered by hurricane maria and facing an economic decline sizes of young brits are we to head to the u.s. mainland in search of opportunity to. god .

hello there are some of us in australia it's been pretty stormy recently in canberra we're seeing some pretty violent storms and also over perth as well those in perth of ripped the roof from homes and have also brought down some trees as well now the storms here are easing just the outside chance of the old showers as we head through monday and a maximum there of twenty two degrees there is going to be some more wet weather further east than most of that around the coast of new south wales and just nudging its way into queensland this rain is fairly useful we haven't seen a great deal during february and that's now going to be nudging its way northward as we head into tuesday so for new south wales tuesday does look drier ira to wards new zealand and here we're seeing some persistent rain across the south island that's gradually just nudging its way a little bit further towards the north and so we'll see more in the way of wet weather here but as that system eases we've got another one that's galloping its way towards us as it works its way towards us it looks like late on tuesday we're

going to see some pretty strong winds and some or all the heavy rain as well further towards the north and for many of us here it's draw and find the snow has fortunately eased is just in the east there's going to be more cloud maybe a few showers that clears away there as we head into tuesday and it looks like tokyo will get to eleven degrees. i am doing this on the benefit of saddam people. so bad they see the importance of the our guys. who witness documentaries that open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera.

in light of the top stories here on al-jazeera syrian government forces have launched a new grandin era fence of against rebel held. despite the u.n. security council calling for a cease fire. as the winter olympics and then come china envoy for north korea has said this country is ready to hold talks with the u.s. about its nuclear program. christian leaders in east jerusalem avoided the closure of the church of the holy separate start where christians believe jesus was crucified and buried they say it's a protest and israeli attacks and policies which they're calling an unprecedented attack christians from the holy. security forces in the democratic republic of

congo have shot dead in anti-government protests and injured several all this in the latest in the series of church fred marches calling on president joseph kabila to step down peter shop reports. the catholic church has been at the forefront of demonstrations calling on the congress president joseph kabila to stand down. enough to morning service on sunday protesters took to the streets again. since december more than a dozen people have been killed by security forces and protests like these and today there was an all too familiar response by police. to gas quickly followed by gunfire the birth certificate for the local candy was shot dead before the march started. his body taken to a nearby hospital that. two others were seriously injured one of them a student a church move. they washed each enjoy i'm not protesting by accident or anybody and

not because i don't know why and protesting so but protesting today i was just claiming my rights and this is what happened to me she said. organizers said the protesters. no longer believed in the political will of current leaders to ensure a peaceful transition of power the campaign is forced to stand down let me just get there is killing and here is kabila condemning them and he's not treat them in the toilet and we will not enter this protest and we maintain our fight and we will go up to the end of it with this fight. as with previous protest marches internet data and messaging services were cut across the congo offering for you whatever you want . to give me but the opposition message is getting out. and the shooting by the security forces is for the stoking up anger peter shop al jazeera president xi jinping could be reelected as china's leader in twenty twenty three on their proposal the ruling party is putting forward the communist party wants to

change the constitution to remove term limits for chinese leaders and the vice president would also be allowed to serve for longer than the current two term limit when the party elected president xi jinping as its head for another five years last october. that was the philippines marks thirty two years since the overthrow of the dictator for it and then marcos there have been protests against the current president if we go to targeting those demonstrating say his policies are endangering the democracy that was one back in one nine hundred eighty six and just shapiro reports. thirty two years filipinos have come together to celebrate a watershed moment in their history when a revolution forced president ferdinand marcos from power but. in recent years that unity has been tainted by partisan politics between political dynasties and concerns of the current leader rodriguez deter take his tuna style joke of the

markets tara it's important to stand up now especially since last year we saw that this administration blatantly disregarded our history that they buried the dictate our marcos and now we are dying but she's from the current regime of the current government after twenty years in power marcos was toppled in an army back to revolt after he was accused of cheating in the presidential election when filipinos flooded at a main road in manila demanding an end to corruption and human rights abuses thousands were killed for voicing opposition to his rule two territories were on drugs reminds many of the darker time because thousands more filipinos have been killed. despite that and opposition from these protesters and others such as the roman catholic church deterred say remains popular able to withstand whatever criticism he gets from rights groups the media and his political opponents and several new sean we are celebrating decades more than three decades there with

being used to define what we are as a nation which is a democratic society a republican government where there is a lot about the man but the problem with that he's after that's all we all the web . deter to wish the protesters well calling the anniversary a time for unity in the name of democracy but unlike his predecessors he wasn't there to deliver his message or hear how polarized his policies have made these filipinos feel and. former italian prime minister silvio berlusconi has addressed and a thousand supporters at a rally in milan ahead of next weekend's elections he's hoping his party forza italia can win enough to form a right wing coalition government and even though he's banned from holding public office but discone will play a pivotal role in the makeup of the next government suddenly gave reports.

this is not an operation of elections past but the return of the great survivor of italian politics despite the scandals the humiliating political defeats and a conviction for tax fraud anyone who gambled on never seeing cvo but again might feel shortchanged but not the process faithful in a theater in midland to hear his message. yesterday i read a quote from former u.s. president reagan which says they told me that politics is historically the second activity of man and i thought it was very very close to the first activity with therefore need to be respectable in politics. for his supporters it was the one and only chance to see him campaigning and. even if it's for what he's already done for us he has my support then you know he's a miracle of the tour he has so much energy it comes from his desire to see her reece kountry maybe eighty one years old she may have only just had open heart

surgery last year but it seems no better schooling is back and in. volatile political stage he is being seen as a safe pair of. but is barred from political office because of his tax fraud conviction but in the event of a less. victory he would have the power to nominate a substitute while the veteran politician has a colorful past in comparison to today's politicians ranging from the populist to the neo fascist is relatively a less controversial figure he remains pro european union a reassuring quality for brussels. despite the fact that one of his political allies is the anti immigrant anti e.u. leg up party for so italia is seen as a force to keep the far right in check this could be better to scorn his final comeback his political career has been declared dead several times before but so far that hasn't stopped him hanging on to power so he al-jazeera milan

hundreds of kaplan independent supporters are protesting against a visit by the spanish king to barcelona it's king philippe's first trip to the capital on capital since last october secession vote has been central government to solve the regional government after the referendum well tensions rose again last week when the prime minister suggested reintroducing spanish as the main language in schools an explosion at an electrical substation has left much of northern puerto rico without power it's a setback for the u.s. territories efforts to fix the power grid five months after it was battered by hurricane maria as the island struggles to recover many college students are heading to the mainland kristensen to me reports. nineteen year old crystal medina prefers the weather back home but says she's thankful to be here despite the cold attending new york university going to school in puerto rico has been difficult since hurricane maria a lot of the buildings were being really badly damaged we had in our classroom so

we had to take classes and tents. there was no electricity for like the first two months there was no water for months after the category four storm a third of the island remains without power even before maria hit the government there cut funding to the university of puerto rico. prompting a student strike that shut it down for a month chrystal is one of about sixty puerto rican students attending n.y.u. free of charge dozens of other schools on the mainland are offering free or reduced to wish it but such programs aren't without controversy as many as thirty two thousand college aged puerto ricans are expected to leave the island in the coming year continuing a trend that started with an economic crisis in two thousand and six as they leave in search of better opportunities the worry is that universities like this are luring away the best in the brightest researchers at the hunter college center for

puerto rican studies say the deep population of puerto rico is one of the most significant hurdles to its economic recovery the reality. is the long term parole in the now is being intensely for. those your people even after you train them which is part of what's up to me then the economy if lacking the skills base to live battle you know new products new combine these are enterprises that have actually promoted you're going to be brought home and why you require students to continue paying tuition to their schools at home to lessen the impact on their already strapped budgets still christian cruz has mixed feelings about being in new york as an. element of like guilt too because i'm over here and i'm pretty much getting a free ride just paying my sin university back home and i'm getting all these benefits and they're not. but the longer it takes puerto rico to recover the

stronger the pull to leave christian silly me out jazeera new york. rates of obesity have soared in mexico over the last twenty five years with diabetes now killing more people there than any other disease some experts argue that the roots of the problem is nothing that's the free trade agreement that donald trump's threatening to pull out from mexico city david marceau reports. that. like many mexicans these days beyond a what does for stop on her way to work is here a convenience store workers are sweet and yogurt cookies and a jello cup make for a breakfast on the go it's a trend the thirty year old teacher says is impacting her health and that of her colleagues and students. there are more children who are overweight who have diabetes and hypertension i see too many students too many families with were nutrition we don't know how to eat properly. mexicans are hocked on junk food and

the impact has been devastating over the past twenty five years obesity rates have tripled and diabetes is now the leading cause of death in the country eating habits in mexico began to change in the one nine hundred eighty s. because of an increase in foreign investment but this transformation really took off ten years later with the signing of nafta the north american free trade agreement i must that is health experts say mexico became a dumping ground for cheap low nutrient highly processed foods from the united states causing diets here to mirror those of their northern neighbors those that use all the most of all the damage we see in our society is caused by the consumption of high fructose corn syrup process. it's all connected with the industrialized nation and. the money route explains the causes of the beastly.

days mother. has witnessed this change firsthand she says persuading her family to eat traditional food like tortillas is an up. will battle in lead alida these days most young women don't like to cook it for the ease of buying the kentucky fried chicken instead of making rice and beans instead of making lemonade they buy coke or another soft drink the changes have been bad without government intervention mexico's health crisis is expected to get worse advocates say future trade agreements should take health into account protecting the very people they're supposed to help david mercer al-jazeera mexico city. a quick quick mind and i have our top stories here on al-jazeera at least twenty seven people have been killed in syria and russian airstrikes in the rebel held area of eastern this video is said to show the aftermath of one of the strikes in

the town of duma syrian government troops launched a new grand an air offensive just hours after the u.n. security council adopted a resolution demanding a ceasefire al-jazeera correspondent mohamed al jazeera is in east to on the edge of. regime forces have launched many attacks here today this is one of the front lines. they were trying to advance towards duma and control the land and farms leading towards the vehicle department and harassed. their goal here is to separate harassed from east and there have also been various attacks from the east and the south the. regime forces are trying to divide goods into smaller besieged enclaves . some sources within the opposition say iranian jets have also been taking part in the attacks. controversial north korean general who attended the winter olympics in south korea has indicated his country is willing to open talks with the united

states at the closing ceremony of the games general came young cho was stamped just meet is away from the daughter of the u.s. president he told south korea that his country is willing to open talks with the u.s. about its nuclear program wants to improve relations but his presence in south korea also sparked protest u.s. says it will back down on sanctions against pyongyang christian leaders in east jerusalem have ordered the closure of the church of the holy settle clear where christians believe jesus was crucified and buried they say it's in protest at new israeli attacks and land policies which they call unprecedented attack on christians in the holy land. president xi jinping could continue as china's the day of beyond twenty twenty three under a proposal the ruling party has put forward the communist party wants to change the constitution to remove term limits for chinese leaders the party elected president xi jinping as its head for another five years last october witness is coming next

thanks but by. 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 deputies the whole of walking again at this time on al-jazeera. god. causes.