we did extend this stage to serious debate. up front at this time on al-jazeera. and the latest violence in central african republic has brought even more than a million people to meet after. all this is their race on the ground to bring you back for a report on how people are struggling to carry on with our lives a medium ongoing constant. russia calls it a daily pause but in syria it barely allows enough time to bury the dead.

load james up and this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up stoking the fire a u.n. report blames regional powers for defying an embargo by arming rival factions in libya. south korea's president says japan must do more to acknowledge its role in world war two sex slavery. was a busy day in washington as a top trump aide resigns and the president seems to change direction on god it's. the third day of a five hour humanitarian pauses on the way in syria's east and go to that follows the deaths of at least fourteen civilians on wednesday from russian and syrian government raids the u.n. estimates more than five hundred eighty people have been killed and well over a thousand injured since an upsurge in fighting in february eighteenth a deliveries an evacuation. take place despite the russian troops.

in the past ten days there was a lot of pressure on medical care and we have large numbers of were injured and now seem to as there are thousands of wounded and more than five hundred martyrs there is a shortage of medical supplies we have been in a besieged area for more than five years the regime perhaps its medical care for the wounded it is extremely hard to work with the medical supplies we have we did everything in our power but we have an extreme shortage of medical supplies a lot of supplies are not even available we cannot ensure any medical supplies some that we are only supposed to use once we use twice some specialist care is not even available and go to for example we only have one nurse doctor and it is impossible for him to treat all the wounded emergency rooms are limited and they were full from the first day. despite the humanitarian poison there have been government. reports from gaza into turkey near the syrian border digging more graves is how

some spend the 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 beam crossing buses an ambulance has 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 for 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 manager 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 having left 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 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 job. on the turkey syria border russia's

ambassador to the u.n. has contradicted president vladimir putin's claim that large numbers of people have been moved out of diplomatic editor james bays reports from the united nations area of proof just days after these ambassadors unanimously demanded a ceasefire their resolution continues to be ignored and repeatedly violated the u.n. undersecretary general mark low called this the world's most senior humanitarian official told them he would answer some of the questions 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 when 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 in the aerial bombing of civilians in eastern. this is senekal callous and 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 have 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 because there's a new stooge attorney. did you read the resolution the whole resolution we stated

that any enduring pause 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 they pledged to kick out the group the council still refers to by its formal 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. at the united nations. al-jazeera has obtained a leaked u.n. report which has once again highlighted violations of the arms embargo in libya the report says the united arab emirates and egypt supplied weapons and military

support groups then that's against a u.n. ban that's been in place since twenty eleven. reports. armed groups in libya are continuing to receive foreign support from nations aiming to influence who will control the oil rich nation that's according to a panel of united nations experts. after the fall of moammar gadhafi in two thousand and eleven during the arab spring libya spiraled into civil war between rival political factions international sanctions were imposed in reaction to gross and systematic violations of human rights the latest report highlights countries that have both directly and indirectly fueled the ongoing conflict in libya it mentions the repeated air raids by the egyptian air force on the oil areas to support the forces of renegade general khalifa haftar. countries in the gulf as well as you see there are foreign policy not only as directed towards

intergovernmental relations but as governments are 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 i agree willing to exploit that. the u.n. panel reported last june that the united arab emirates violated international law by supplying half their forces with attack helicopters and other military aircraft pro half the groups have been accused of kidnapping and torturing journalists activists and religious figures in eastern libya some of whom faced extrajudicial executions this latest report is said to be submitted to the un security council for further action in hopes that it can counter foreign influence in the war torn nation hammered by d.c. al jazeera. south korea's president says japan hasn't resolved the issue of the so-called comfort women men spoke at an event to mark ninety nine years since korea

rose up against japanese rule thousands of korean women were forced into sexual slavery for japanese soldiers during world war two the government of japan has apologized and offered to compensate victims. not. resolving the comfort women issue the government of japan as the perpetrator should not say it is over the inhumane crimes against humanity cannot be covered up by saying it is over the unfortunate history should be remembered even more and learning from such a history is the real resolution to be issue japan's chief cabinet secretary has criticized president moon speech. well president million citizens against japan south korea agreement it is totally unacceptable and extremely regrettable we immediately logic and likely to sell to a green government the greenman is an irreversible solution to the issue when japan has conducted all of the obligations based on the agreement and now which is south

korea to do the same. donald trump's white house communications director is resigning as the third person to leave the role since the us president came into office thirteen months ago hope hicks is one of trump's longest serving advisers she previously worked for his business organization was press secretary during the election campaign their resignation comes one day after she testified before a congressional panel investigating accusations of russian interference in the twenty eight sixteen campaign ellen fisher has more from washington d.c. . topix is a 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 trump 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 or 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 puts a 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. still ahead on out is there amnesty international accuses egypt of using cluster bombs as part of its offensive in sinai. and i'm

lawrence lee in sicily where concerns over the way which europe is dealing with the refugee reception crisis helping set the tone of this weekend's italian elections. by the springtime flowering of a mountain lake. to the finest smoke full on a winter's day. we've got yet more wintry weather in the forecast across a good parts of europe but not so subtle change is now taking place across the southwest this area clouds spinning its way across spain and portugal very wet very windy weather save like pressure is what is known as storm amma it will bring moderate rain and there's that moderate that western iraq comes into the cold air we're going to see a fair amount of snow pushing up across france southern parts of into the ready starting to see some of that wintry weather it was the same in

a london on whether to stay or to send a good covering of snow here and there's yet more in the forecast as we go on through the next twenty four hours or so the system will make its way farther north woods and westward splashing up across a good parts of southern england into wells speech of the heaviest snowfall down across the southwest approaches they will gradually make its way further northwards and westwards as we go on through thursday and on into friday law in a snow stretching across a good parts of france down across the low countries back into the al says that model west to talk is way behind ten celsius the formatter a snow that extending its way down is in all the possibly some very wet weather to central areas of italy of a sort of the a drastic yeah most know in the forecast for the north still cold in moscow minus eleven degrees. there with sponsored by cat time and place. paint the scene for us where there are online what is american sign in yemen the peace is almost possible but it never happens not because the situation is

complicated but because no one cares or if you join us on set there are people the little choosing between buying medication eating basis is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's an activist and has posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. what you know is there a mind of top stories this hour the said day of a five hour humanitarian pauses underway in syria's eastern goods or a wednesday fourteen civilians were killed in russian and syrian government air raids on the rebel on the u.n.

estimates more than five hundred eighty people have been killed and well of a thousand injured since every that eight thousand. south korea's president says japan hasn't resolved the issue of so-called comfort women thousands of korean women were forced into sexual slavery for japanese soldiers during world war two japan has described millions comments as extremely regrettable. don trump's white house communications director is resigning hope picks made the announcement today after she testified before a congressional panel that's investigating accusations of russian interference in the twenty sixth election. saying the u.s. president trumps broke away from the traditional republican party stance on gun signaling he wants to see tougher legislation brought in during a bipartisan meeting on gun violence chum called for expanded background checks and told politicians to seriously consider raising the age limit for purchasing some file. 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 in we have to get them done between them to get them done. and they have to be strong the background check 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'm going to stop this nonsense and start the latest debate on gun control the sparked by the florida school shooting earlier this month seventeen people killed when a former student walked onto the campus with an assault rifle and opened fire at students have returned to class for the first time since the shooting as andy

gallagher reports from park and. 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 maybank but i definitely feel safe areas and kind of so much security here to just be back on my friends here i'm kind of excited to be back at school. a little bit nervous to see how different everything here but i am excited that. that is what a lot. 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 go 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 there 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 on the gallacher al-jazeera parkland florida teenagers are walking out of class a protest action action against in action against gun control the grassroots movement has been sweeping the country and individual states now considering their own legislative changes can help to triple. since the deadly florida school shooting two weeks ago teenagers across the united states have been making their voices heard i pray that there is listening and that this passes on to the next because we're tomorrow's leaders. would be a shame if we couldn't do it ourselves the educator school safety network reports threats against schools have been increasing since the florida shooting approximately fifty threats of violence a day most recently in washington state students this week were locked in their classrooms after a gun was fired on campus and missouri students say they've had enough of the

threats dozens of students walked out of the classroom carrying signs with the names of students killed in the florida school massacre in stockton calif. gornja hundreds of students from five high schools walked out of their class in protest of gun violence this is important to every school no matter where we are this could happen it doesn't matter if you're informed of the matter for instructing no matter where we are there could be a gun on campus and someone could get hurt president trump says he also wants change and is still holding school safety listening sessions you feel right. but some of trump's proposals such as arming teachers are being rejected according to a representative of the national education association who vetted the idea with public school teachers she represents they didn't want more guns in their schools they didn't want their schools to be turned into prisons and their teachers and other educators to be turned into prison in prison guards armed prison guards in

the absence of new federal gun laws one top u.s. sporting goods retailer has announced it will take corporate action to curtail the sale of firearms ending sales of assault rifles and banning gun sales to customers younger than age twenty one good afternoon and state prosecutors or attorney generals an individual states are also considering their own action this is a movement moment in our country and it is being led by these young boys. and it's time for politicians to listen new polls show roughly two in three americans now say gun control laws should be made stricter it's a wake up call for the nation's lawmakers typically reticent to restrict gun ownership now under pressure by a growing grassroots movement of anti-gun you can really help get al-jazeera washington. u.s. senators are trying to have

a rule of the president's military authorization by forcing a vote on the country's involvement in the war in yemen and members of congress are using a nine hundred seventy three little war to try to force the withdrawal of american forces from what they call an authorized war the united states has provided weapons and intelligence for the saudi led coalition targeting iran backed fighters in yemen since twenty fifty 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 leeway annoyance and the murphy 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. i missed international says egypt's army is

using banned cast of bombs in its military operation in north sinai the human rights group made the accusation after analyzing this egyptian military video it says the munition serial number circled of a head proves beyond doubt that it is a u.s. made cast of on which could have only been dropped by the egyptian air force the military argue the weapons were improvised explosive devices planted by so-called terrorist elements jeffrey mark is the egypt country specialist at amnesty international usa he says it's not the first time egypt has used banned bombs they've done it before just earlier in the month. indeed ships in military officer posted to his twitter account what we indicated another u.s. type cluster munition being used by loaded onto any gyptian plane an employee that had ships in airforce swags on it so they seem to be quite

proud of these questor 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 or an international treaty you banned their sale in use egypt is not a party to that but hundreds of countries are we need the u.s. to step up on. a. we have we go was here then use us. in what war crimes or human rights violations we think bombs are. human rights violations we made the connection between the us use of these bombs the us government. and

independent israeli human rights group has released c.c.t.v. footage showing soldiers mistreating a palestinian man in the hours before he died yes in saturday appears to charge israeli soldiers with a metal rod during protests in the city of jericho before being shot then beaten by the group the video shows the thirty three year old being dragged into an alley where it's reported he spent twenty five minutes without medical aid he was pronounced dead later that night israeli media are reporting the soldiers insisted they went away had been shot his body has been withheld from his family. italians will head to the polls on sunday to vote in a hotly contested general election immigration the economy and social reform have polarized the nation with no clear outcome in sight in the first of three reports our correspondents lead travels to sicily where rightwing parties are trying to capitalize on the refugee crisis. sicily loves fishing in the town of

massara is in the perfect sports it's right in the southwest corner of the island across the mediterranean tunisia is just two hundred kilometers away the old town is a warren of narrow streets there's been a north african cows by here for twelve centuries the tunisian population group about fifty years ago a sicilian ins emigrated themselves. and as the mayor proudly points out that immigration has proved hugely valuable for the economy. we needed sailors and they worked on our fishing boats we need to farmers and they worked in our fields for generations later their children as distinguishing themselves in our schools field on the jobs market. but the africans making the journey to italy in the twenty first century of finding things far harder accuse a sicilian a vague a bit racist and you really won't like what they say back to you because this place

prides itself on having an entire history of being welcoming and hospitable to everybody but the problem is that the european union has so badly mismanaged the refugee reception crisis and put so much pressure on sicily but even here attitudes are shifting. head north up the coast to palermo and you can see how sicily has suffered the economy bled dry by the math and ignored or insulted by political parties that regard southern italians as stupid peasants one of those very parties used to be called the northern league now is taken northern out of its name and is actively campaigning in sicily having spent years being rude about sicilians being poor it's now trying to convince them that refugees are causing their poverty effectively. but so if you look at hundreds of thousands of people and you can't absorb them secondly who you really letting in criminals it could be anyone. there

is no analysis the refugees are damaging this is syrian economy the mafia and political corruption did all that for those who try to offer opportunities to these new migrants the shifting of blame is a cynical attempt by national politicians to divert attention in sicily away from problems that they created the. now days they were a political party to which are racist and they using fear in suggesting that someone might steal what we have they promise to protect the bald facts is that the total failure of the european union to share refugees across the continent has placed enormous strain on one of the poorest parts of italy and given the hard right wing a huge opportunity in this election mazhar a and it's happy to new zealand lave is now the exception largely al-jazeera sicily .

take a look at the top stories on al-jazeera the third day of a five hour humanitarian pauses on the way in syria's president called the russian made a joke with a deliveries and medical evacuations yet to begin on wednesday fourteen civilians were killed in russian and syrian government air raids on the rebel enclave the u.n. estimates more than five hundred eighty people have been killed and well of us thousand injured since february the eighteenth. un report is highlighting violations of the arms embargo in libya by nations aiming to influence the conflict the united arab emirates and egypt are 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 to armed groups in libya since twenty eleven. south korea's president mean jane says japan hasn't resolved the issue of so-called comfort women japan has described men's comments as

extremely regrettable thousands of korean women were forced into sexual slavery for japanese soldiers during world war two. no. resolving the comfort women issue the government of japan as the perpetrator should not say it is over the inhuman crimes against humanity cannot be covered up by saying it is over the unfortunate history should be remembered even more and learning from such a history is the real resolution to be issue dollar terms white house communications director is resigning her picks made the announcement today after she testified before a congressional panel that's investigating accusations of russian interference in the twenty sixteen election she is the third person to leave the role since trump came into office thirteen months ago. the us president has broken away from the traditional republican party stance on guns signaling he wants to see tougher legislation brought in during

a bipartisan meeting on gun violence trump called for expanded background checks those are the headlines the news continues on after the stream. just. saying. some journalists decided to sacrifice their integrity for our own in the media opinion the listening post at this time on al-jazeera. from the ok and i'm really could be today we are crisscrossing the globe to discuss a few stories that have a lot of people talking online so join the conversation tweet us using the hash tag a.j. stream and if you happen to be watching us live on you tube you can leave your thoughts in the comments section we have the stream team in the comments section they will talk back at you as well and that's another way that you can also tweet in the story.