too often on the streets. are victims but a new force. this is al jazeera. and this is the news our live from doha coming up on the next sixty minutes intermittent bombings and plans of a ground assault the reality of the partial pause in fighting in syria's eastern.

stoking the fire a un report blames regional powers of on meanwhile factions in libya defying un embargo. going to stop this nonsense it's time. the u.s. president voices support for some gun control measures at a meeting with members of congress. no end to the torture shoreline because minority tunnels continue to face prosecution at the hands of the government we have an exclusive report. although still no escape for syrians in the besieged rebel held on klav of eastern the second day of a partial pause in fighting was expected to allow the sick and the injured to leave an aid to get in but that hasn't happened syrian government troops are reportedly planning a ground assault and sporadic bombings are continuing osama bin chivvied reports

from guys in tap in turkey near the border with syria digging more graves is how some spend the five hour pause in the daily bodman of east ghouta but many deaths every day the local council arranges for mosque burials. on the syrian government side of the buffer been 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. 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 bombed 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. 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 however if the situation here is just hunger and sickness no showers the children sleep hungry. 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 not 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 iraq. and the

turkey syria border all russia's own ambassador to the u.n. has contradicted vladimir putin's claim the large numbers of people are being moved out of eastern 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 at civilians in eastern good. this is senekal callous and in flagrant defiance of the demands of twenty four a one. 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 u.s. president donald trump has been meeting party leaders to discuss options for gun law reform it's all politicians to seriously consider raising the age limit for

purchasing assault style rifles like they are fifteen used in the photo to school shooting two weeks ago trump accused senators are being afraid to take on the national rifle association lobby group and says it's time to end the non-sense. we have to keep the guns out of the hands of those that posed a 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 look at a number of the folks around the table you're working in different bills we have to get them we have to get it done. him to get it and. and they have to be strong the background checks say look. 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 bet i had lunch with them with wayne and chris and david on sunday and said it's time i. am 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 whedon's state police in the us state of georgia have arrested a teacher for about a kidding himself in a classroom with a handgun they say the man fired a shot when the principal tried to force the door open no one was injured in the incident can tell is a board member of texas gun sense which campaigns for what it calls sensible gun law reforms he's joining us live from austin texas thank you very much indeed for being with us i was listening to that meeting that the president held earlier on and only one voice in that meeting seemed to be talking about changing the gun control legislation everybody else was talking about the issues of school safety

and mental health issues and raising the age limits is it possible to deal with the situation about gun control in the u.s. and not talk about gun control itself. no it just simply isn't. a cry of white frankly it's it is a gun issue and it's one that we definitely need to address and there are numerous ways we can address that the gun control the gun violence issue in america given the fact that we've seen as we were talking about stores like wal-mart and other stores changing their policy in terms of certain types of weaponry and also and wal-mart's times changing the age limit that they were prepared to sell certain types of weapons do you think that that is actually a sign that there's an external force here there's an external push outside the trumpet ministration outside the white house to move things forward and do you

think that's going to actually push the trump administration to do more oh absolutely this time it's the children we haven't kept them safe and they know it and so they're standing up in the now it's the children that are pushing this agenda they want to feel safe in school they want to feel safe at the grocery store in the movie theater at concerts so this this time it does feel different i'm a mom of two grade school kids and they're talking to me about it they we die this is it senseless we need to address this issue and i think people are finally coming onboard when they when you have children same please keep us safe i don't know how you deny them that one of the issues that the president did raise during that meeting was the fight to that there is a black market in weaponry in the united states which is of course by its very nature unregulated how do those of people like yourself who want to control why do

a controlled of weapons in the u.s. do with the black market side of weaponry in the u.s. . well. there's always been a black market for it in the us for guns as long as guns have been sold and regulated by any means but but over the last twenty years the regulations of guns have been decreasing because of the n.r.a. and the enter a's influence over our government and our elected officials and so what we know with tighter gun control laws on the books we're safer we know when we had an assault weapons ban that. mass killings shootings were were down in the united states we know if you point to any other country in the world that has sensible gun laws on the books they have significantly less gun violence and we do here in the united states as you know but united states is number one in gun

violence. of this out of this magnitude so i i think that that you can you can address straw purchasers you can limit the number of weapons that anyone person can buy in any one time. so there are a number of things that you can put in place universal background checks anyone that poses a threat to the community because of a mental health crisis or has a serious a dangerous criminal background they should have access to a weapon it's that simple as a mother when your children all ask you about gun violence in the united states gun control laws and everything else how do you approach that topic given the fact that they have a right under the constitution to be able to bear arms how do you deal with the responsible approach to gun control. what i say to them is that as their mom it's my job to keep them safe and i am

doing all that i can do to keep them safe and part of that is making. reasonable arguments for sensible gun laws. i take them i actually take them to the rallies i i talk to them about the issue often because they're scared they they know what's out there they're they're saying what's happening and so. really they go i have an uncle who has a ranch and we go hunting i don't go hunting and my children are too young to hunt yet but his their cousins hunt their uncle hunts and so they talk about that they know that there's a there's a there's an age limit as to when they're going to be able to hunt if they want to . but. i don't i'm not saying ban guns that's not what we're saying at all what we're saying is that there are certain people who are dangerous to society that should not have access to to assault style weapons let alone guns so.

a lot of guns let alone assault weapons so we we have that conversation but it's really i mean what can i say until we truly have some sensible gun reform in this country. i almost feel as if i'm not being truthful with my kids because i don't know that there's it can turn a really interesting to get your point of view in this thank you very much indeed for joining us on al-jazeera. students from the floor of the high school have returned to classes for the first time since the attack there but 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 and opened fire on the gallacher reports. scheid. 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 acts of walking through these gates hard to imagine i'm a little nervous a bank and i definitely feel safe parents and kind of so much security getting to speak back to my friends and kind of exerted to be back at school. a little bit nervous to see how different everything feels but i think that it's ok that. that is what. over the past two weeks the students have become a force for change the calls for gun reform a fueled a national debate there rallying call of never again echoed by parents who lost children you 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 fall that everyone is 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 it's 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 the gallacher al-jazeera parkland florida the 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 donald trump's longest serving advisors previously worked for the trump organization she also served as press

secretary during the twenty sixteen election campaign it comes a day after hicks testified before a congressional panel investigating alleged russian interference in that campaign alan fischer has more from washington d.c. . picks 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 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 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 the u.s. president's former campaign chairman has pleaded not guilty to charges related to the investigation into alleged russian meddling in the twenty sixteen election campaign the charges against paul manifold include allegations of money laundering conspiracy and making false statements about lobbying what he did on behalf of a pro russian party in ukraine his trial is set to begin september. plenty more ahead in the news hour including egypt's army is accused of using banned cluster

bombs in a military operation in northern sinai. the u.s. olympics chief resigns following pressure from a sex abuse scandal. and russia is officially reinstated to the olympic movement sleeze going to all the details in sport. nations report is highlighting violations of the arms embargo in libya by nations aiming to influence the conflict the united arab emirates was previously accused of supplying libyan forces with attack helicopters and military aircraft the un has banned the sale of weapons and military support groups in the area since twenty eleven about james dossiers a senior fellow at the essar rajaratnam school of international studies he's joining us now from singapore via skype thank you very much indeed for being with us this appears to have been going on for several years why is it so hard to stop.

pleasure to be with you i think we're dealing with two issues one is you have countries in the gulf as well as egypt who see their foreign policy not only as directed towards intergovernmental relations but as putting governments or in place in various countries or imposing policies that are in line with their definition of national security and their geo political designs and on the other hand you have countries that see a business opportunity here and our group willing to exploit that is there any evidence from past experience of methods by which this kind of action can be either stopped or diverted or the countries involved being given a different alternative if you like to carrying on this kind of supply on hand i think you would need international governance that can actually impose its will and

impose international law on states and that is at this point a utopia and on the other hand you would need to have policies that are designed to take into account not just the interests of foreign governments but also those of. the population on the ground is it anything that can be done within libya itself by any outside agency be it an engine your be it the u.n. itself for example to try to create change on the ground that would not allow this kind of influence to happen for left to happen you would really need to have the willingness of the various parties including those foreign countries that are supplying arms and those foreign countries that are intervening to support one group or another to be willing to participate in such a process that is not the case at the moment. this seems to be simply

a recurring incidence of it the same reports coming out time and time again and the u.n. and the rest of the world wringing their hands and saying this is terrible but it isn't look as though we can do anything is there any way of actually fixing this we've got to dysfunctional if you wish international governance the security council is not capable of taking decisions because of various veto rights individual states realize that they can do things without being called called to account and as long as you don't you're going to feel very fundamental problems i don't see how you're going to change things on the ground very interesting getting your point of view on this james dorsey thank you very much indeed for your time lugar 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 this egyptian military video and says the munitions serial number circled

here proves beyond doubt that it's a u.s. made cluster bomb which could only have been dropped by the egyptian air force the military says the weapons were improvised explosive devices planted by so-called terrorist elements jeffrey mock is an egyptian egypt country specialist at amnesty international usa and he says it's not the first time egypt has used the banned bombs. 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 flags on it so they seem to be quite proud of this these custom bombs are so dangerous and so deadly because they're indiscriminate they cannot be used with precision they excel in

harming maiming and killing civilians it is this danger that his lead for an international treaty to ban and their sale in use egypt is not a party to that but hundreds of countries are we need the us 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 or 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 plus the bombs it's time for the us government to step up that's more than three years since president a matter of policy to send i came to power in sri lanka they replaced a government which was accused of human rights abuses during the war against thomas separatists but al jazeera has seen disturbing evidence of the continued use of

torture as a u.k. correspondent bonamy phillips reports. cigarette burns lash marks still visible many months on but there was worse than ever that i needed that i would lower my head it was something into the water but. they poured petrol spray politician back over my head you made me suffer. and i was made to lie facing down on my bench then they beat me a bit but on soles off my feet and sexually abuse me and weigh me it was cruel to believe acting. in reality they squeeze my penis and i find it difficult to talk about what happened to me in terms of sex we were taught because it affected me a lot mentally. maybe if he's not alone this support group has helped seventy six

times with english lessons in art therapy who all say they've been tortured in the past three years since shoreline because new government came to power long after the end of the civil war and you see a separate team abducting a separate team interrogating and torturing another team releasing you see a very systematic pattern of violations across the country and it's the same in the last three years as it was in the previous years under the rajapaksa regime so i'm not saying that the prime minister or the president is ordering this but clearly this is very systematic within the security forces the police and the army still was at the sri lankan embassy in london tamils protest against human rights abuses by the government that was very carried the flag of the l t t which itself carried out many abuses during the civil war there is clearly distrust between at least parts of the tamil community in this country and the sri lankan

authorities we put the allegations in our report to the sri lankan government it says it takes root violations of human rights extremely seriously it argues that the situation in sri lanka is improving it says it will investigate and prosecute all alleged cases of torture and is working with the un and human rights groups to this and a different man whom we met through different contacts but the story is depressingly similar they use some kind. of routes and just one of my legs is so upside down and to just pulling for a minute with the police. i totally believed. he too was accused of supporting the l t t he too says he was tortured by the police's criminal investigation department and he too paid a bribe and fled sure lanka he's been refused asylum in britain but he's appealing

so many at the support group after also being refused although the british government told us there are credible reports of ongoing tortured sri lanka and it says it has updated its asylum policy accordingly bobbie phillips al jazeera london still had an al-jazeera. u.k. prime minister could ever agree to air. the u.k. fires back at the european union solution to a major sticking point and brags that negotiations. plus separate ime to an equal a new report warns of a deepening racial divide in the united states. and in sports the world champion surfer who once fought a shark is hanging up is what's. beneath pink skies by the taj mahal. or as the sun sets in the city of angels.

and i once again as we 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 ma as i move the forecast on no changes expected here southerly flow will get temperatures up to twenty seven and annoying 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 certainly know the national somewhat adjourn the course of thursday but central and southern areas not looking too bad at all some showers still in the on of 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 had northwards through into southern parts of town and 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 times for temperatures in the low thirty's elsewhere falling conditions but still a chance of wanted to showers affecting the island of sri lanka. the weather sponsored by qatar airways. on the benefit of saddam. so a bad day see the importance of these. witnesses documentaries that open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera. bring. good to me.

and this still needs to be to be just largest catholic countries would be seeing a dramatic rise in teenage pregnancy al-jazeera has teams on the ground to bring the mood winning documentaries. and nine news on. watching all busy are a reminder of our top stories this hour there's been no less of an attacks in syria's eastern despite what russia's paul's interest and its means activists reported government shelling and fighting on three fronts during the five hour

truce syrian troops have reportedly launched a ground assault on the edge of the damascus suburbs. u.s. president don't trump is urging members of congress to seriously consider raising the age limit for buying assault style rifles he's been missing party leaders to discuss options for gun law reform. a mystery international 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. u.s. senators are attempting to force a vote on the country's involvement in the war in yemen and overrule the president's military authorization members of congress say that if successful it would be the first ever vote in the senate to withdraw u.s. armed forces from what they call an unauthorized war the united states has provided weapons and intelligence for the saudi led coalition targeting iran backed fighters in yemen since twenty fifteen. u.s.

military support of the saudi coalition must end without congressional authorization our engagement in this war should be restricted to providing desperately needed humanitarian aid and diplomatic efforts to resolve it that is why today so little league and i. are introducing a joint resolution pursuant to the one nine hundred seventy three wars power war powers resolution calling for an end to u.s. support for the saudi war in yemen south korea's president and when jay in is urging his people to work towards peace and prosperity with the north winds been speaking at an event to mark in one thousand nine years since a korea rose up against colonial rule by japan he says the south should build an economic community with an author but he hasn't elaborated both nations have held several rounds of talks recently to try to defuse tension from pyongyang's nuclear program but more bright is joining us live from seoul robin janes in

a tough position isn't he because he might want better relations with the north but in order to make that work successfully he really needs support from japan as well and south korea's relationship with japan hasn't been that great recently. absolutely i mean this his comments of come on a day that is full of symbolism this as you mentioned is a national holiday in south korea it commemorates a failed uprising by koreans against japanese colonial rule and interestingly the event itself took place it's a former colonial era prison that was used by japan mainly to house korean independence fighters moon referred extensively to the suffering that the hands of the japanese and also in particular the plight of the so-called comfort women now these were women who were forced into sexual slavery in the service of the japanese army it is a highly emotive issue here still in south korea with many people moon among them believing that japan hasn't really come to terms with its crimes of the past

concerning these women so his comments will definitely open up old wounds it will irk many people in japan who as you say is meant to be an ally in the face of facing off against these missile tests from north korea interestingly though also referred to building on the recent improving relations with specific projects he referred to building communities dedicated to peace and economic progress now he didn't say exactly what he meant by this but it could be something along the lines of the case on the industrial complex this was a special industrial zone of south korean companies just inside the north korean border employing north korean workers it was a collaborative project that has been a victim of the recent downturn in relations it is being closed a couple of years ago remain shuttered now if he is suggesting that something like that be restarted then that would be a very tangible sign of improving relations rob thanks very much indeed.

afghanistan's president is offering to recognize the taliban as a legitimate political party ashraf ghani maybe announcement during the coble peace conference where twenty five countries have been meeting for talks aimed at ending the sixteen year long war tony brooklier 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 their 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 and 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 in maybe not for the peace deal to be struck at this date 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 us military from the country as

a precondition to peace talks but it has always refused to talk directly to the afghan government which he 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 policemen 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 are raising hopes here that may be the first tentative

steps of ending this brutal war of being taken tony berkely al jazeera kabul three about peace prize winners samian mars a military campaign against the hinder is genocide and they've been visiting a range of refugees in bangladesh they're urging fellow a lot of it and myanmar's leader aung san suu kyi to speak out against the crisis u.s. president donald trump has invited the amir of qatar to visit the united states in error prone sect allen bin hama dattani is said to have received the phone offer during a phone call with the u.s. president on wednesday both nations say their king to strengthen cooperation. four united nations peacekeepers have been killed in mali when their vehicle hit a landmine four other troops have been seriously injured in the explosion in the mopti region the un vehicles being blown up on a road linking the towns of joints and boney six million soldiers were killed in

a similar incident on tuesday. 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 behind it a province egypt's health ministry says both trains were bound for cairo president abdel fattah el-sisi recently said the railway system needs upgrading because of its poor safety record. britain's prime minister theresa may has criticised in eve you proposal that would see northern ireland remain within the blocks customs union after bragg's it this is justin has been revealed in a draft one hundred twenty page document it would resolve the need for a hard border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland but may says northern ireland remaining inside the customs union would betray the braggs it vote the u.k. has been asking for the transition period after it leaves the european union the e.u. is chief negotiator ones this is not guaranteed

a significant issues like the status of e.u. citizens in the u.k. have not been resolved that involve reports. just over a year before brits it's due to happen brussels and britain still seem far apart european union chief negotiator michele bunny a says one of the main points in the new draft withdrawal treaty is how to avoid a hard border on the island of ireland and controversially it contains as a solution of last resort a common regulator e area in effect keeping northern ireland in a customs union with the you separate to the rest of the u.k. if. i simply say to prepare dispatch and we'll discuss it with our british counterparts out of precaution so that there is a solution to preserve the good friday agreement to future relationship brings a better solution will replace it but will suppress just political it's as simple as that. if the whole of britain is no longer in a customs union with the e.u. after breaks it many experts warn that means border checks between northern ireland

and the republic of ireland as an e.u. member and that could endanger the good friday agreement which brought peace and power sharing to the north. on wednesday to resume a told parliament no prime minister could accept what the u. draft text was proposing but she remained committed to avoiding a hard border the foreign secretary and i and i'm absolutely committed to ensuring that we deliver on no hard border between northern ireland and i that's the position of the u.k. government it's the position of the parties in northern ireland it's the position of the irish government and it was what we agreed in the december agreement at that joint report it comes as a letter to the british media suggests foreign secretary boris johnson downplayed the dangers of a hard border something he's rubbished if i may respectfully say so i think the the particular problems around the irish border are being used politically to draw even the whole brics it argument and effectively to try to frustrate bricks it is the

opposition labor party has just committed itself to keeping britain in some sort of customs union avoiding the problem of the irish border and on wednesday they went on the attack remember when we had bricks it means brakes it. and then we had red white and blue bricks it which presumably appealed to the members are present then we had liberal breaks eight and now we have and the show has managed divergence the government is so divided the prime minister is incapable of delivering a coherent and decisive plan for rex it next week michelle will be meeting the leaders of the parties in northern ireland's power sharing government including arlene foster's d u p was staunchly progress it the new text could still be changed significantly but it's acted as a reminder of how much progress needs to be achieved between now and march next year the al-jazeera. a supermarket in amsterdam is taking action to stop plastic

polluting the world's oceans the equal plaza store has opened the world's first plastic frame more than seven hundred projects including meat dairy fruit and vegetables are available in packaging made from materials which can dissolve as compost some of on saddam's canals a frozen over as cold temperatures gripping much of europe the city's banned boats in the canals so people can skate on the frozen waterways snow and freezing conditions for my siberian cold snap are causing traffic and flight delays in many parts of mainland europe and britain they've bachar 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 most new 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 trip and given the amount of so that we've seen here recently is pretty much a twenty four hour endeavor cold weather in winter hardly a surprise you 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 in 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 do 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 report from race and poverty in the u.s. now a new study has examined how far things have come since the findings in one thousand nine hundred sixty eight it says the issue of racial inequality still remains and child poverty has got worse 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 aisle though 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 it made it part and parcel of the issue is absolutely the government in the way they're 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 this there to center this event to

really talk about racism and classism in this in this space as we have a number forty five in office it is it is our obligation to make sure we do that we have a 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. that his. big freeze puts the brakes on formula one.

the head of the u.s. olympic committee has resigned after a series of sex abuse scandals such a low price order young has the story really no different the fall out continues the head of the u.s. olympic committee scott blackmun says he's stepping down citing health concerns related to prostate cancer the announcement comes amid pressure for him to leave for reportedly mishandling the sex abuse scandal involving the u.s. gymnastics team black men lead the u.s. o.c. for eight years he drew praise for helping off angeles when the twenty twenty eight olympic bid but these accomplishments were overshadowed you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth under penalty of perjury according to reports he may have known about allegations against former gymnastics doctor larry messer as early as september two thousand and fifteen despite complaints critics say he did not properly intervene. before he was sentenced to one hundred seventy

five years in prison nasser's victims addressed him in court the accounts echoed the me too movement reflecting widespread abuse of power as a you say. i feel you know this even standing in front of you. before her usa gymnastics team doctor was convicted for sexually abusing more than two hundred sixty female athletes who were the abuse spanned decades and included his employment at michigan state university parents and athletes say they complained to top officials yet the abuse continued and now as are remain employed. as details of abuse were made public the entire board of usa to man six resigned in january mr blackman is the latest official in broiled in the scandal to step down but he may not be the last bipartisan group of u.s. senators has called for a further investigation katia llopis of the young now dizzier well for the rest of

the sport here's lee wellings thank you russia is officially back as parts of the olympic movement way and stated with immediate effect this national epic committee had banned russia from competing as a team for the winter olympics in south korea following state sponsored diving in the previous winter games which they hosted in sochi russians how to watch their athletes compete as neutrals in the fridge finished on sunday one hundred sixty eight of them competed as olympic athletes from russia winning seventeen medals and rising criticism that this was effectively russia only the flag and the missing there were two more failed drug tests by russian athletes of the gangs the i.o.c. said all that other tests came back negative than the last ten years and she wouldn't reassuring yeah today's decision from the i.o.c. is incredibly important for us because the version of olympic committee has once

again completely reinstated its rights and is now completely full fledged member of the olympic family that you wish to remove those three months from december the fifth or last year with some of the most difficult in the history of russian sports on the olympic movement in russia serene your pocket. but unfortunately our relationship with the world anti-doping agency and i mean the complete reinstatement of the russian anti doping agency is not complete some serious work needs to be done only smarter it will be difficult but it has to be done and it has to be done as soon as possible. well for one drivers used to dealing with wet weather but not usually snog the third day of pre-season testing in barcelona was ruined by the bad weather that's sweeping across europe the truck was eventually cleared of snow but only a few drivers made it on to the circuit only the current fernando alonso managed to complete a timed lab with red bulls daddy ricardo and sal because marcus our exit always are braving the conditions the site is voting bought us have been unsurprisingly quit

before the snow but even he admits his team's domination hasn't necessarily been good for the sport. i think the group would be would be nice to have competition close competition but of course we in the other hand we would prefer to be miles away from everyone that's because well all we want to do is win but it is true that to win this challenge when there is hard but also it makes you appreciate more the good results of how it goes with with everything so for for us to keep us developing for everyone a formal one i think it will be better to have a close call competition in football at authors of the quarter finals of the english f.a. cup after an instant packed match against thirty a side watched while they wanted six one mfon and ireland say scoring a hat trick at a snarly wembley stadium but it was levelled at one goal the pace at half time in the match was marred by a number of controversial video referee incidents roger city manager pep

guardiola says he will continue to wear a yellow ribbon in support of imprisoned politicians in catalonia despite being charged by the english football association he is allowed to wear it out of sight it was only jumper under a coat for the league cup final against arsenal on sunday he said he doesn't want any dispute with us i. know but of course we're going to i'm going to write the letter and we're due for player a position by the thing i am available hood. if you. absolutely so there's no problem or got in his team put more pressure on astro manage arson vanga by baiting him three million that caught fire not wembley the two sides meet again in the premier league on thursday with angrily denying he's ready to walk away i am just amazed with i have all raced to answer. di exactly the same i'm here for twenty one years i turned the whole world down to

respect my contract so i'm still amazed would i still have to answer these kind of questions in tennis while numbered so rough on a dollars pulled out of the next five when just the day before his opening round match the sixteen time grand slam champion is often the hip injury that also forced him to withdraw from the australian open but i want to hide what i do recall as soon as possible now for me is ian is it possible to them out or to say something realistic about if i want to be in the wells are not them my goal is to be there and i want to work to try to be there but of course i can't say yes' or no. i hope that there will be as positive as possible on and then let's. finally the professional suffer in from the state attacked by a shark has announced his retirement very telmo champion mick fanning says next month will be his last on the circuit nearly twenty years since his debut in thirty fifteen funny has an encounter with a great white shark joining an event in south africa and punched the shark as it

tried to bite through his lace their stride and survive to return to competition but his world title days were over now his top level surfing time is up and that's all the sport back here elizabeth brown is up next i'm rob matheson but for them. the scene for us where on line what is american sign in yemen that peace is always possible but it never happens not because the situation is complicated but because no one cares or if you join a sunset there are people that there are choosing between buying medication or eating basis is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's been out to this is close to the story joined the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera.

with bureaus spawning six continents across the globe. to. al-jazeera has correspondents live in green the stories they tell. me are fluent in world news the story of one of the most successful p.r. campaigns in the u.s. . study after study has demonstrated that israeli perspectives dominate american media coverage what part of this case you get through your thick head is hamas a terrorist organization the only thing that you're going to say is what we want and if you don't say it we're not to let you speak it would be very hard for ordinary americans to know that they're being deceived the occupation of the american mind at this time on al-jazeera true confessions might never be cleaned up

or many but not all right senekal example of communist propaganda and i wanted to put it up a bit here i want to walk bare all i want to do with our poll in twenty ten al-jazeera access to north korea to investigate be on ledged use of biological warfare by the u.s. during the korean war rewind revisits dirty little secrets at this time on al-jazeera. have any civilians left. transport away there's no way the reality of the fighting in syria is.