of the american mind at this time on al jazeera true confessions might never be clean up the clinic but not or a cynical example of communist propaganda and to put it in the paper here one bear oh i wouldn't do it. in twenty ten al-jazeera access to north korea to investigate the alleged use of biological warfare by the us during the korean war rewind revisits dirty little secrets at this time on al-jazeera. have any civilian. trials. there's no way the reality of the.

random ahead. steps down we have. people to push for. a u.n. report blames. arming rival factions of libya. for syrians in the. east and the second day of a pool was expected to allow the sick and injured to leave and aid to get in but that hasn't happened. a ground assault and sporadic bombings continue.

in turkey near the border with syria. digging more 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. 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 the 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 however 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 he 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 the 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. on

the turkey syria border. or russia's ambassador to the u.n. has contradicted very many persians claim that large numbers of people have been moved out of the east and go into a diplomatic editor james bays reports from the united nations very approved just days after these ambassadors unanimously demanded a ceasefire their resolution continues to be ignored and repeatedly violated the u.n. undersecretary general mark local crystal world's most senior humanitarian official you never 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 as it did 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 poz in the it's in the aerial bombing of civilians in eastern guta 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 opinion 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 when you when you are 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 al nasra they also say they will give the un resolution their full support. the syrian government's representative ambassador bashar jeffery was in the council chamber he gave a typically rambling ninety minute speech but he made no such commitment. at the united nations let's move on to other news now and two more turbulent times within the u.s. president's inner circle john trump's white house communications director is

resigning the third to leave the post since he came into office just thirteen months ago hope is one of travis' longest serving advisers she previously worked for the trump organization and was his press secretary in the election campaign her resignation comes a day after she testified before a congressional panel investigating accusations of russian interference in the two thousand and sixteen campaign. well as the latest in a series of high profile departures since trump took office in january last year soon after his national security adviser mike flynn quit in may the president fired f.b.i. director james comey for his handling of the bureau's investigation into the two thousand and sixteen election campaign more close advisers resigned two months later white house press secretary sean spicer and chief of staff ryan's priebus also in july anthony scarlett she was appointed white house communications director but lasted ten days in the job

a month later trying to smith's close aide and chief strategist steve baton. and in another development trump's former campaign chairman has denied charges relating to the investigation into russian meddling in the two thousand and sixteen election the charges against poor man of fortune include money laundering conspiracy and making false statements about lobbying work he did for pro russia party in ukraine his trial due to begin in september and on top of all of this you may remember the president's america first promises throughout the election campaign well now he's looking at rejoining a multi now. ashville trade deal u.s. treasury secretary stephen says high level discussions are taking place on what's known as the transpacific partnership repeatedly attacked the day while campaigning and one of his first acts as president was to pull us out of the pact japan has led efforts to keep the data live among the remaining eleven members and says it's not in longer up for renegotiation let's get more on all of this now we're joined by

bill schneider a political analyst at george mason university and he's joining us live from washington d.c. mr schneider always a pleasure to have you with us on al-jazeera it's been a very busy day in the united states let's start with perhaps what's the biggest story hope picks one resignation after the next the latest the woman said to be so close to the president and just the day after testifying i mean it doesn't look good does it her timing could have been better she testified before congress she didn't answer a lot of the questions in fact she acknowledged that in her tenure as the white house communications director she had told some white lies meaning not spoken the truth but it was an innocent decision he didn't do any damage or harm we don't know what they were and she was a very valuable person to president trump she was known to be the one in the white house who understood him best and who was able she was called trump's translator namely she understood what he wanted better than anyone else and she could explain

that to the white house staff she will be missed and it said that you know trump wasn't happy about the white lies comment and that during that hearing and if that wasn't you know enough drama and one day was within the president's administration and his in a circle we have him once again insulting attorney general jeff sessions on twitter calling him disgraceful. that is a very damaging charge this is not the first time he's gone after mr sessions it turns out that this president turns on a dime he can be your best friend one minute and the next day he wants to dump you want to get rid of you that's why those positions in the white house circulate so much they're not very secure and the staff doesn't stay very long he's a very temperamental person one day he loves you the next they want to get rid of you it's a very difficult person to work for apparently and one day. they transpacific

partnership and pulling the u.s. out of it and now we're hearing hearing from the treasury secretary steven miller that the u.s. is looking at rejoining the t p p i mean why would they do that given all of trump's talk about just what a bad deal it was for the us. yes well trump has two different constituencies he's trying to balance his populist constituency does not like trade deals they see free trade as a real threat to their livelihoods and that's one of the reasons why he got so much support from working class voters white working class voters on the other hand there's the business community which love the president's tax bill and which is inclined to support this president well they are very much in favor of free trade deal and they're concerned over the fact that without the united states participation china could become the most powerful trading influence in the world and they could set the rules of world trade i think they're getting through to the president with their complaints that we better be part of this deal we're going to

lose our influence in the world it is great as always to get your thoughts thank you for your time bill schneider joining us live in washington d.c. thank you. to south korea now where president says japan has not resolved the issue of so-called comfort woman who was speaking at an event to mark the line to nine years since korea rose up against colonial rule by japan thousands of korean women were forced into sexual slavery for japanese soldiers during world war two has raised that issue recently despite japan apologizing and offering to compensate victims and separately urge south koreans to work towards peace with the north rob mcbride has the latest from salt. jane's comments come on a day that is full of symbolism it is a national holiday commemorating the failed uprising by koreans against japanese rule and the events also took place at a former colonial era prison that was used by japan mainly to house korean

independence fighters moon referred extensively to the suffering of the korean people at the hands of the japanese colonialists and in particular to the plight of the so-called comfort women this women who were forced into sexual slavery in the service of the japanese military moon amongst many others here in south korea believe that japan has still not properly come to terms with its crimes of the past regarding the comfort women so his comments will definitely irk many people in japan who are meant to be allies of south korea in the face off against north korea's missile tests when it came to north korea moon seem to suggest that the recent improvements in relations should be built upon with collaborative efforts to build specific community projects you know of course. we should complete

a piece community and an economic community on the korean peninsula we have to make sure that the division does not hinder peace and prosperity today i suggest to my fellow south koreans to achieve the subject if together moon didn't elaborate on what he meant but he could be referring to something along the lines of the case on industrial zone this is a special economic zone of south korean companies just inside the north korean border employing north korean workers which was closed during the recent downturn in relations and remained shuttered but if he's suggesting that a similar project like that be restarted then that would be a very tangible sign of improving relations. still ahead on the policy. going to stop this nonsense it's. the u.s. president was a supporter for some gun control measures at a meeting with members of congress and transporters disruption across europe as to

whether also some people to find new ways to get around. welcome to look at the weather across the americas in north america we've got more rain across southeastern arizona the state with their higher river for instance we could really well do without this but nervous there's some heavy rain to come some snow on the northern edge of the system there's another area of low pressure bringing a brace of rain indeed over the rockies and that is the cascades some snow for other parts the west area not too bad denver colorado bright with sunshine highs there of ten degrees moving the forecast on we've got about to area of snow extending further towards the east the rain eventually pushing away further towards the south temperatures up of fifteen for dallas but as the wind continues to blow in from the north will find those temperatures falling away atlanta just fourteen

but miami hangs on to the woman twenty nine is the high here into the caribbean has been looking good over the last couple of weeks and they should stay that way largely fine conditions same really goes for the isthmus as well showers a very few and far between yucatan peninsula lots of sunshine mexico city looking bright with highs of twenty four down into south america it is much as you'd expect really with plenty of showers across the amazon basin some showers into northern parts of argentina pose a bit of a problem we've got some heavy rain across parts of paraguayan but for bonus areas should be fine for rio still a chance of showers heise here of thirty. still navigating dangerous rapids from the time we depart. to the fisherman dicing with death. i'm afraid of falling i'm afraid to. go i can't feel my family meet the man who go to the extreme just to make a living. you have to be

a school surely otherwise and certainly risking it all vietnam at this time on al-jazeera. tatty with us on al-jazeera these are our top stories there's been no letup in attacks on syria's eastern group that despite russia's porson hostilities activists reported government shelling and fighting on three fronts during the five hour truce on wednesday. south korea's president says japan has not resolved the issue of so-called comfort women who were forced into sexual slavery during world war two

only speaking at an event to mock ninety nine years since korea rose up against colonial rule by japan and donald trump's white house communications director is stepping down the third to the post since he came to palace thirteen months ago. one of the president's longest serving life has. been meeting party leaders to discuss reform and gun laws he told politicians to seriously consider raising the age limit for buying assault style rifles like the alpha fifteen used in the florida school shoes in two weeks ago trump accused senators of being afraid to take on the national rifle association saying 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'm looking at a number of the folks who are on the table you're working in different bills we

have to get them we have to get to. them to get them done. they have to be strong for background checks they look. the biggest failure of the second amendment many of you are i'm a big fan of the n.r.a. but i bet i have lunch with them with wayne and chris and david one served day and said it's time they. are going to stop this nonsense and start. now 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 it says it will remove assault style vi false replica and toy guns from its website and it follows a similar announcement if i made a sporting goods chain on wednesday. police in the us state of georgia have arrested a teacher for barricaded himself in a classroom with a handgun they say the man fired a shot when the principal tried to force the door open and no one was injured. and

students from the florida high school shooting have returned to coffins for the first time since the attack it's been two weeks and a ledge sure to nicholas cruz walked into the school in parkland with an assault rifle and opened fire and gallagher reports. shied. 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 on shakes and hugs were plentiful the act of walking through these gates hard to imagine i'm a little nervous a ballet got me feel safe areas and under so much security here and to speak back to my friends and peers i'm kind of exerted to be back at school. a little bit nervous to see how different everything feels but i think that if in fact. 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 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 this is me i'm the last father everyone's going to say yep that's the way 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 friends in this massacre and. so never again we refuse to be. 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 is

a good 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 parkland florida a leaked united nations report is highlighting violations of the arms embargo in libya by nations able to influence the conflict the united arab emirates and egypt and named in the report last year the u.a.e. was accused in another un report of supplying libyan forces with attack helicopters and military aircraft the un has banned the sale of weapons and military support of groups in libya since two thousand and eleven well james dorsey is acing a fellow at the. school of international studies and he says the problem is the lack of international governance. 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 geopolitical designs and on the other hand you have countries that see a business opportunity here and a group willing to exploit that we've got the 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 address those very fundamental problems i don't see how you're going to change things on the ground honest international says ajax army is using banned cluster bombs in its military operation and north sinai the writes quote made the accusation after analyzing the egyptian military video it says the munitions serial number could hear proves

beyond doubt that it's a u.s. made cost a 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 well jeffrey mall has the 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 it cannot be used with precision they excel in

harming maiming and killing civilians it is this danger that his will or 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've made the connection between the us and the use of these parts for bombs it's time for the u.s. government to step up now it's more than three essence president city cena came to power and sri lanka has placed a government which was accused of him invites abuses during the war against tamil separatists but al jazeera has seen disturbing evidence of the continued use of

torture as bonamy philip simple. cigarette burns lash marks still visible many months on but there was worse than ever that i laid it out that i would lower my head it was into the water but. they poured petrol spray polluting back over my head you made me suffer. and i was made to lie facing down on my bench then they beat me with bet on soles of my feet and sexually abuse me and weigh me it was cruel and 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 who i thought 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 that many 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 rods and just one of my legs is so upside down and did just pulling from my knee with a pulley. 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 sri lanka he's been refused asylum in britain but is appealing so were 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 barnaby phillips al-jazeera london now out of amsterdam's canals have frozen over as cold temperatures go up much of europe the city has banned people can skate on the frozen water has snow and freezing conditions from the siberian cold snap records and traffic and flight delays and many parts of europe and russian made barker has more from london. there be many more disruptions up and down the country as the so-called peace from the east draws in much more arctic and a much more smooth dumping it up and down the u.k. and across the continent at large here at heathrow airport dozens of flights had to be counted. mainly to other parts of the u.k. or 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 and 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 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 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 do much more research to find out whether or not all of this freak weather is the shape of things to come.

in again as a product of the headlines on al-jazeera and there's been no letup in attacks on something as east and go through despite russia's palls and hostilities activists reported on the shelling and fighting on three fronts during the five hour truce on wednesday donald trump's white house communications director as stepping down the first to leave the post since he came to power thirteen months ago hard picks was one of the u.s. president's longest serving advices. meanwhile the president has been meeting party leaders to discuss reforming gun laws trump told politicians to seriously consider raising the age limit for purchasing assault style rifles like the one used in the florida school shooting two weeks ago he accused senators of being afraid to take on the national rifle association saying it's time to end the nonsense we have to keep the goes over the heads of those who oppose this so. this really includes background checks and i know senator you're working on your i know you work you

know. i mean i'm looking at a number of the folks who are on the table you're working in different bills we have to get them we have to go. and this international says egypt's army is using banned cluster bombs on its military operation in north sinai the rights group made the accusation after analyzing the video released by the egyptian military the army says the weapons were improvised explosive devices planted by so-called terrorist elements a leaked united nations report is highlighting violations of the arms embargo in libya by countries trying to influence the conflict the united arab emirates and egypt named in the report the u.n. has banned weapons sales and military support from groups in libya since two thousand and eleven. south korea's president says japan has not resolved the issue of so-called comfort women who were forced into sexual slavery during world war two women were speaking at an event to mark lund hundred years since korea rose up

against colonial rule by japan and separately urged south koreans to work towards peace with the north so the headlines on al-jazeera of risking it all is coming up next. all the benefit of saddam people so bad they see the importance of the our. witness documentaries that open your eyes at this time on al-jazeera.