to address a critical issue march on al-jazeera facing realities growing up when did you realize that you were living in a special place the so-called secret city getting to the heart of the matter why ease activists to live in jail just because he expressed himself he had a story on talk to al-jazeera at this time. have any civilians left eastern ghouta nad transport or wait spots there's no way out of the reality of the partial pause in fighting in syria's eastern kota.

i'm not matheson this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up a leading human rights group says egypt's army is using banned cluster bombs in a military operation in the northern sinai. another of the u.s. president's closest advisers steps down plus. going to stop this nonsense and. donald trump back some gun control measures at a meeting with members of congress. but still no escape for syrians in the besieged rebel held on klav of eastern the second day of a partial pause in the fighting was expected to allow the sick and the injured to leave an aid to get in but it hasn't happened syrian government troops are reportedly planning a ground assault and sporadic bombings are continuing asama binge of it reports from gaza on top in turkey you know the border with syria. digging graves is how

some spend a five hour pause in the daily bombardment of eastern guta with many deaths every day the local council arranges for mass burials on the syrian government side of the buffer deemed crossing buses and ambulances waited for civilians to cross but people deny a claim by the russian president that some civilians crossed over on the second day of the pause in fighting and we have managed to get out quite a big group of those who wanted to leave but the second group could not leave because the militants just did not give them an opportunity to do so people in eastern called a five hour daily pause in hostilities a joke they ask how can anyone expect them to want to cross to the same people who bomb them for the other nineteen hours of the day not much has changed for the nearly four hundred thousand in besieged east and many have been stranded in basements like this one and this woman says her family has survived on pieces of radish for the last three days. there is human flesh everywhere says this man who

also tells how he has been disabled by his injuries there are similar tales of despair in other shelters and i have the situation here is just hunger and sickness no showers the children sleep hungry here. activists say the price of bread is one hundred times more than just a few kilometers away in the syrian capital damascus and very expensive rice is rarely available this woman says she found some spinach near the river and that's going to be their meal. medical supplies are limited and many hospitals have been destroyed doctors in eastern hold to have recent a list of eighty five people to the united nations who are mostly women and children among the more than one thousand people who are gently need medical evacuation but in east of water no aid has come in and then on the people who are sick or wounded have been able to go out osama bin dhabi and others era. on the turkey syria border russia's own ambassador to the u.n. has contradicted of law to be a person's claim that large numbers of people have been moved out of his own hota

diplomatic editor james bays reports from the united nations area approved just days after these ambassadors unanimously demanded a ceasefire their resolution continues to be ignored and repeatedly violated the un under-secretary general mark local crystal world's most senior humanitarian official you know the told them he would answer some of the question is he's received in recent days have there been any medical evacuations. have any civilians left eastern ghouta. is there any actual improvement in the humanitarian situation in eastern guta since the passage of the resolution demanding is it de unimpeded access. he ended his briefing with one last question for the ambassadors when will your resolution be implemented. the u.s. and the u.k.

put the blame squarely on russia since we adopted resolution twenty four zero one russia has announced a daily five hour humanitarian cause in the it's in the aerial bombing of civilians in eastern good. this is senekal callous and in flagrant defiance of the demands of twenty four hour winds. the russian ambassador didn't repeat earlier claims by his boss president putin that a large number of people had been evacuated but he said some medical help had been provided to eastern ghouta underscores the need for the parties to agree on human ukrainian pauses these of binocular he read part of the resolution passed on saturday before giving his explanation why it was not yet halting the violence yes there's a new stooge attorney. did you read the resolution the whole resolution we stated that any enduring pulls must be preceded by agreement by the parties for deescalation demanding an overnight and immediate halt toss deliveries suggests

either a failure to understand realities on the ground or a deliberate exploitation of human tragedy. the three main opposition fighting groups in eastern cooter of written a letter to the president of the security council in it they pledged to kick out the group the council still refers to by its former name. they also say they will give the un resolution their full support the syrian government's representative ambassador bashar al jeffrey was in the council chamber he gave a typically rambling nineteen minutes speech but he made no such commitment james days out of the united nations egypt's army is being accused of using banned cluster bombs and its big military operation in north sinai the rights group amnesty international has analyzed this video released by egypt's armed forces it says the munitions the serial number circled here to prove what it says is beyond

doubt a cluster bomb while egypt's military claimed the weapons were improvised explosive devices planted by what it called terrorist elements honesty's says the u.s. made cluster bomb could only have been dropped by the egyptian air force. donald trump's white house communications director is stepping down the third to leave the post since the us president came to office hope picks as one of trump's longest serving advisers and previously worked for the trump organization she was also his press secretary during the twenty sixteen election campaign resignation comes a day after she testified before a congressional panel investigating alleged russian interference in that campaign alan fischer has more from washington d.c. . topics twenty one year old former fashion p.r. who joined the trunk campaign very early on right on day one and followed donald trump around the country during that campaign was the main point person for a great deal of the media was recently appointed to be communications director

after several people either left or resigned and so is very close to the president regarded as one of the people who would be a chump whisperer someone who is able to understand them who's able to parse what he's thinking to the media and someone who is able to calm them down when some of the media coverage doesn't exactly meet what he wants now she gave evidence to the house intelligence committee on choose the joining that evidence we are told she refused to answer questions about the transition and also about her time in the white house and that could well lead to her being subpoenaed to appear in front of the committee at some future date but we did find out that she said that she also tells little white lies for the president and she was talking about going into meetings and saying oh he's been delayed or perhaps he's caught up in traffic when the president simply didn't want to take the meeting the difficulty is the very next day as the white house communications director the media asking you for courts asking you questions and for responses and hoping that you're telling them the

truth but you yourself have just put this in their head no the white house says it has nothing to do with her her testimony on tuesday that this had been planned for a while and she goes with the president's very best wishes but there's also another difficulty for her it involves the the russia investigation no it has been reported that when the white house counsel was talking to donald trump about e-mails that donald jr had sent about communications with the russians she had replied i don't want to those e-mails will never see the light of day and that police are very much in the crosshairs of someone who is investigating obstruction of justice but she will leave in the next few weeks she will help perhaps groom her success. but it's going to be very important for donald trump to get someone he can trust because many of the people that were with him during the campaign have no left and also someone who can do such an important job which is the communications director that is a big job in any white house while the u.s.

president's former campaign chairman has denied the charges related to the investigation into alleged russian meddling in the twenty sixteen election campaign the charges against paul manifold include accusations of money laundering conspiracy and making false statements about lobbying work he did on behalf of a pro russian party in ukraine is trial set to begin september the us president trumpeted america first threw out his election campaign now he's considering rejoining the trans-pacific partnership trade deal that's according to u.s. treasury secretary steve motion who says high level discussions are now taking place trump repeatedly attacked the deal and pulled the u.s. out of the pact last year japan's led efforts to keep the deal alive among the remaining eleven members and says it's no longer up for renegotiation donald trump's been meeting party leaders to discuss options for gun law reform is told

politicians to seriously consider raising the age limit for purchasing assault style rifles like they are fifteen used in the florida school shooting two weeks ago trump accused senators of being afraid to take on the national rifle association lobby group and says it's time to end the nonsense you have to keep the guns out of the hands of those that oppose the threat and this really includes background checks and i know senator that you're working on things joe i know you're working and. i mean i'm looking at a number of the folks around the table you're working in different bills we have to get in we have to get and. them together and. and they have to be strong the background check taylor. i'm the biggest fan of the second amendment many of you are i'm a big fan of the n.r.a. but i'll bet i had lunch with them with wayne and chris and david on sunday and said it's time they. were going to stop this nonsense and start. well one of the

largest retailers in the u.s. is now raising the age limit for gun sales wal-mart will no longer sell firearms and bullets to people under twenty one years old it says it will remove assault style rifles replica and toy guns from its website it follows a similar announcement by a major sporting goods chain on weapon state. well students from the florida high a school where seventeen people were shot dead have returned to classes for the first time since the attack the principals called it a day of healing it's been two weeks since the alleged shooter nicholas cruz walked into the school in parkland with an assault rifle that opened fire on the gallacher reports. despite the fears and despite the trauma these students have been through they came back to marjorie stillman douglass high school just two weeks after losing so many local police on hand to greet them many wearing the school's colors hung shakes and hugs were

plentiful the act of walking through these gates hard to imagine i'm a little nervous a bank like me feel safe aronsen handed so much security getting to speak back to my friends and imprinted except it's be back at school. a little bit nervous to see how different everything feels but i think that it's an example. that it was. over the past two weeks the students have become a force for change the calls for gun reform a fueled a national debate they're rallying call of never again echoed by parents who lost children is see me here i don't want to do this but you guys look at me i want to be the last fall there of a murdered kid that's ever. in this country that's it this is me i'm the last father everyone's going to say yep that's the last that was his daughter that died that was the last one from protesting at the state capitol to social media

campaigns many here plan to keep pressure on politicians next month many of these students will march in washington d.c. with the hope their voices will be heard i lost one of my really close friends in this massacre and. so never again is just we refuse to be sophistic we refuse to let anything else happen we're going to actually advocate for gun control for the students of marjorie stoneman douglas high school this has been a traumatic but important day many were keen to be reunited with friends and teachers in what was a day of healing going forward students will only attend half days the building where seventeen lives were lost is likely to be demolished and turned into a memorial and gallacher al-jazeera parkland florida the chief executive of the u.s. olympic committee has resigned citing health problems scott blackmun had been under fire following the committee's response to a series of sexual abuse scandals in january former u.s.

gymnastics team doctor laurie nasr was jailed for life for molesting hundreds of girls many victims criticize the olympic committee for not doing more to keep safe still ahead on al-jazeera let's build afghanistan together president offers amnesty to the taliban in a bid to end sixteen years of conflict. plus separate and unequal and the report warns of a deepening racial divide in the united states. from the clear blue sky of the doha. to the fresh autumn breeze in the city of love. and i once again as you look at the weather across eastern and southern parts of china weather conditions in many areas are fine hong kong sunshine twenty five for the north fuzhou they're looking at twenty three is also fine across

indochina way across vietnam laos through towards me and mark as i move the forecast on no changes expected here southerly flow will get temperatures up to twenty seven and annoy but you will see some rain extending towards shanghai during the course of friday so from there let's head down into southeastern parts of asia we've still got a few showers the philippines are in northerners looking somewhat a jury in the course of thursday but central and southern areas not looking too bad at all some showers still on the on in the body are looking pretty wet across parts of java and some thunderstorms are highly likely in jakarta there with highs of thirty one as we head up through them in a pinch herbalists showers for singapore possibly and kuala lumpur but as you head northward through into southern parts of town across cambodia weather conditions generally are looking fairly quiet so into south asia here we've got some heavy rain across northern parts of india some snow in a sleeping actually stands up through into the himalayas for delhi could be cloudy at times with temperatures in the low thirty's elsewhere falling conditions but

still a chance of one and two showers affecting the island of sri lanka. the weather sponsored by cat time race. to be displaced by their governments in one nine hundred twenty three. it was a very bad greek and turkish villagers returning to their own a century later. and reconnect with the past they thought they'd lost forever. people shouldn't be forced to move from the land where they were born which are. the great population exchange at this time.

you're watching al-jazeera a reminder of our top stories this hour there's been no letup in attacks on syria's the same quarter despite a russia's pause in history that its activists reported government shelling and fighting on three fronts and during the five hour truce syrian troops have reportedly launched our ground assault on the edge of the damascus suburbs. donald thomas white house communications director is stepping down the third to leave the post since the us president came to office poll picks as one of tom's longest serving advisers. amnesty international says egypt's army is using banned cluster bombs and its military operation in north sinai the rights group made the accusation after analyzing video released by the egyptian military. afghanistan's president is offering to recognize the taliban as a legitimate political party. made the announcement during a couple peace conference where twenty five countries have met for talks aimed at ending the sixteen year long war tony but reports from kabul it was

a warm and far reaching speech in which the afghan president offered the taliban a peace deal without precondition he also promised official political recognition and an office in kabul if the armed group joins the peace process of the taliban a machine. i call on the taliban and the leadership today the decision is in your hands accept peace a dignified peace will come together to safeguard this country which has been the results of our sacrifices and struggle. they were his most conciliatory words as president ghani has previously described the taliban as terrorists and rebels but now he says he'll not prejudge any group he even went as far as to say taliban fighters and officials could be removed from international blacklists delegates representing twenty five regional and international countries have come together in the afghan capital to try and devise

a peace strategy aimed at ending sixteen years of conflict it comes at a time when all sides are showing they are willing to talk the door is still open and they have shown softness in their stand. not just the taliban but the afghan government and its international counterparts as well and i think it's the perfect time maybe maybe not for the peace deal to be struck a distinct but probably for a temporary ceasefire which could then pave the path for is sustainable peace in the long term the taliban previously insisted on changes to the afghan constitution and the removal of the u.s. military from the country as a precondition to peace talks but it has always refused to talk directly to the afghan government which it describes as american puppets the group no longer mentions withdrawal all the constitutional changes on top of this the americans are said the door to peace is still open to the taliban and they have put much pressure

on pakistan to help in this regard the u.s. military has been increasing its bombing missions from the air while the taliban has been stepping up its suicide attacks on the ground but everyone agrees that this war cannot be won militarily even as president ghani was delivering his speech news came through about how thirty people were abducted by the taliban near kandahar nineteen of them policeman is their fate is uncertain and it shows that the violence in afghanistan is continuing as normal. no one is suggesting that peace is about to break out in afghanistan but the encouraging signs and language which are coming from all parties raising hopes here that maybe the first tentative steps of ending this brutal war being taken tony berkeley al-jazeera kabul ok let me just take you back to one of our top stories those allegations by amnesty international that egypt's army has been using the bond cluster bombs in its

military operation in the north sinai jeffrey marks the egypt country specialist to amnesty international usa he's joining us now from donna north carolina via skype thank you very much indeed for your time first of all give us some indication of how your analysts were able to decipher the video that was released by the egyptian army to determine whether or not these were cluster bombs well as you said the gyptian army provided the evidence they posted this on an official twitter twitter site for the military claiming that this was a weapon an i.e.d. weapon done by what they call terrorist elements we analyzed the video that the video and showed that it was in fact a u.s. may cluster munitions of the type that we know the egyptians whom i've received from the u.s. and can be used in only and that egypt in airplanes are the only types of.

equipment that could deposit bomb in egypt so that the claim that it was from a terrorist elements was totally false i want to ask you about the bomb in a second but does it strike you as old that the egyptian military which is very experienced would release video like this which is so open to interpretation. but they've done it before just earlier in the months. indeed ships in military officer posted to his twitter account when we indicated another us type cluster munition being used by loaded onto any gyptian plane and in plane that had gyptian airforce slags on it so seem to be quite proud of us. just give us some description for those of us who are not aware of the destructive power of a cluster bomb these cluster bombs are so dangerous and so

deadly because they're indiscriminate the they cannot be used with precision they excel in harming maiming and killing civilians it is this danger that his will for an international treaty to ban and their sale in use egypt is not a party to that but hundreds of countries are they go ahead i was just going to just going to ask you that now that you have raised awareness of the situation and if the analysis is correct what kind of pressure can be brought on egypt to stop using these things and who can bring pressure if it's the us for example which has been supplying the bombs in the first place we need the u.s. to step up on this they. we have we will laws here that prevent the use of us munitions in what is in war crimes are human rights

violations we think the quest for bombs are de facto human rights violations we made the connection between the us and the use of these plaster bombs it's time for the u.s. government to step up jeffery malk of honest international usa thank you very much for your time. thank you for having me. at least twelve people have been killed in a train crash in northern egypt thirty nine others were injured when a cargo train and a passenger train collided in behala province egypt's health ministry says both trains were bound for cairo president abdel fattah el-sisi recently said the railway system needs upgrading due to its poor safety record. for united nations peacekeepers were killed in mali when their vehicle hit a landmine for all the troops were seriously injured in the explosion in the mop the region the un vehicles being blown up on a road linking the tons. and boney six million soldiers were killed in

a similar incident on tuesday lebanon's prime minister saad hariri is back in saudi arabia three months after he suddenly resigned to joining a trip to riyadh had really met king solomon and is expected to hold talks with crime prince muhammad bin. one of christianity's holiest sites in jerusalem has reopened three days after its leaders closed it in protest against israeli tax measures the church of the holy sceptical is believed by many to be the site of the crucifixion and resurrection of jesus christ is reopened after the local mayor suspended a plan to make churches pay substantial back taxes on their assets some of amsterdam's iconic canals have frozen over as cold temperatures grip much of europe the city's banned boats on the canals so people can skate on the frozen waterways snow and freezing conditions for my siberian cold stuff are causing traffic and flight delays in many parts of mainland europe and britain has more

from london. there be many more disruptions up and down the country is the so-called peace from the east cruising much more arctic and a must more slew dumping it up and down the u.k. and across the continent at launch here at heathrow airport dozens of flights had to be counsel reshape mainly to other parts of the u.k. all to the republic of ireland a small airport struggled with a deluge of snow there. is a fact for you it takes roughly four thousand lorry loads to shift only ten centimeters of snow from this entire strip and given the amount of so that we've seen here recently is pretty much a twenty four hour endeavor cold weather in winter the whole of the a surprise she may be asking but what's worrying the climatologists is that for the past few days it's been consistently colder here in europe than it has been in the arctic and they are blaming manmade global warming for causing all of this they say

the warm air is being drawn up north over the arctic displacing colder air and pushing it down south over siberia and here first into eastern europe and then into western europe here in the u.k. and over in ireland they know we have to be much more research to find out whether or not all of this freak weather is the shape of things to come. it's half a century since the release of a landmark u.s. report on race and poverty now a new studies examines how far it's coming since the findings in one thousand nine hundred sixty eight and says the issue of racial equality equality still remains and child poverty has worsened john hendren reports. it was an era that rattled american complacency in one thousand nine hundred sixty eight assassins it violently cut off calming voices of peace martin luther king robert kennedy the vietnam war was growing more intense and for americans worse an african-american

uprising had left detroit in flames so president lyndon johnson appointed a group headed by illinois governor auto kerner to study what caused the detroit riots the landmark report found the crisis in america was based on poverty and race a nation profoundly split between black and white rich and poor it was a shock to people in the nation. it was describing what many had seen two nations divided one black one white this week fifty years later an update to the kerner commission report says by many standards the rifts in american society have grown worse child poverty is up fourteen percent then twenty two percent now school segregation has returned in one nine hundred sixty eight levels a yawning education gap between the number of blacks whites and hispanics who go to college has widened i would oversimplify to say it's a governmental i think it's a societal far right i think each of us have a responsibility on that if our government is in a reflective of what we need to make sure that we be them and that we explain to

them that the important and urgency in doing the work so i think in may is part and parcel of the issue is absolutely the government in the way they are in an inability to really provide us with this in sports the report blames budget cuts since the one nine hundred eighty s. to poverty programs desegregation mental health housing in schools we haven't gotten there yet but the goal of us to push as the heir to center this event to really talk about racism and classism in this in this space is we have a number forty five in office it is it is our obligation to make sure we do that we have and we can no longer say that that's something we'll talk about five years from now i don't want to be here fifty years from now talking about this again that is a wake up call to. reports authors conclude that has largely gone unanswered for half a century john hendry. this is all just zero these are the top stories there's been no letup in attacks

and syria's eastern huta despite russia's polls and has teletubbies activists reported government shelling and fighting on three fronts during the five hour truce syrian troops have reported it launched a ground assault on the edge of the damascus suburb. stanton national says egypt's army is using banned cluster bombs in its military operation in north sinai the rights group made the accusation after analyzing video released by the egyptian military. donald trump's white house communications director is stepping down the third to leave the post since the us president came to office hope picks as one of trump's longest serving advisers and previously worked for the trump organization she was also his press secretary during the twenty sixteen election campaign donald trump has been meeting party leaders to discuss options for gun law reform he told politicians to seriously consider raising the age limit for purchasing assault style rifles like they are fifteen used in the florida school shooting two weeks

ago trumps accuse senators of being afraid to take on the national rifle association lobby group and says it's time to end the known since we have to keep the guns out of the hands of those that post the threat. and this really includes background checks and i know senator that you're working on things joe i know you're working and. i mean i'm looking at a number of the folks around the table you're working in different bills we have to get and we have to get to. the chief executive of the u.s. olympic committee has resigned citing health problems scott blackman has been under fire following the committee's response to a series of sexual abuse scandals in january former u.s. gymnastics team doctor lobby nasa was jailed for life for molesting hundreds of girls some of amsterdam's can hours have frozen over as cold temperatures gripping much of europe snow and freezing conditions for a siberian cold snap are causing traffic and flight delays in many parts of

mainland europe and britain those are the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after inside story i'll see in about twenty five minutes behind. as the united nations human rights council continues its conference in geneva there are often discrepancies between what officials tell the u.n. and what happens on the glans so how committed are governments in respecting human rights this is inside story.