violence and discrimination are all too familiar to many women in india a reality too often reinforced by bollywood. but its leading star is throwing his weight behind the cause. of the barbarity and using his celebrity to advocate for gender equality. the snake charmers. witness at this time on a. vladimir putin unveils a new array of nuclear weapons claiming they're invincible and one cruise missile can reach anywhere in the world. are you watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up the devastation in

eastern huta six hundred people are said to have died since the upsurge in violence in the rebel held syria. what's been allowed to go on for decades is disgraceful. pronounces big increases in tariffs on steel and. major producers like china and canada. and storms from siberia course travel chaos across europe trapping motorists and canceling flights. russian president vladimir putin has provoked fears of a new arms race with the west after unveiling an a ray of nuclear weapons which he claims are invincible speaking to the russian parliament ahead of the forthcoming presidential election mr putin said the weapons include a cruise missile which could reach anywhere in the world john holl reports from

moscow. and the speech that it seemed relentlessly domestic took an explosive. no one expected. he will address to parliament to involve advanced missile systems and strategic weapons job creation a bit of. it was a response he said two years of unchecked advances by the united states missile defense. russia has always been a big states you know wanted to speak constructively with us in the past you know wanted to listen. well listen to us now one missile in development putin explained could travel the globe with unlimited range and entirely undetected by radar defense systems but those three weeks before the presidential election it was all greeted with ecstatic applause by russia's political elite president putin made

a strong message to. russian audience which can be spelled out as the fall of any of this a geisha in the world this prevents reus surrounded by aggressors but you'll have to be rest assured that till the country is run by a person whose name is of light given to putin. you will have nothing to worry about as well as showcasing these extraordinary new defense capabilities let me a putin speech was full of inspiring promises of investment lifting people out of poverty improving their lives in what was expected to be his last major speech before the election this was putin presented to the russian people as a pillar of political stability economic stability and perhaps above all security its full impact may have been intended for a domestic audience but there was more than a hint of menace in putin's warning that any outside threat would be met with annihilation russia's current defense spending is only about one tenth of that of

the united states and obviously combined nato defense spending is even much larger than that of the u.s. the trumpet mistress announced plans to increase defense spending. and russia with its economic conditions is unlikely to be able to spend much more than it currently does. i don't think there will be a real arms race after eighteen years in power this was a mere putin reminding russians that their country is a world power once again the. drink of its conventional military on full display in syria he said its nuclear capabilities now soon to be more than a match for us might join a home al jazeera moscow. well the u.s. says downplayed putin's announcement with the pentagon saying moscow's nuclear development had already been factored into assessments that ickle him as the latest

from washington d.c. . a very different scene as the u.s. reacts to those comments from russian president vladimir putin if you think about the difference who made these announcements a huge stage and enormous a room with really impressive slick looking graphics well the u.s. response at first came from just the pentagon briefing room it wasn't the president wasn't even a cabinet secretary was simply the pentagon spokesperson dana white during her weekly press briefing and she really dismissed the significance saying we've been watching russia she was asked is this a response to president trump's recent nuclear posture review she said no russia knows that is mostly directed at rogue countries and they basically said the messages they could handle whatever russia has now she would even confirm that these weapons do exist but she hinted at it we're not surprised by the statements and the american people should rest assured that we are fully prepared these

weapons that that that are discussed have been in development a very long time so now are our nuclear posture review takes all of this into account and so we are planning because our nuclear posture review is about ensuring that we are are true forces are relevant so how does this stack up against the u.s. nuclear arsenal while president much like the president before him is that he wants to modernize the nuclear arsenal but it's going to be expensive as students say it'll cost between one to one point two trillion dollars over thirty years and that was before president made additional suggestions so far it doesn't seem likely because this is going to step up and fund that enormous project. at least nine hundred. and syrian government their strikes on the rebel held enclave of eastern as they say the u.n.

says the international community is failing to help syrian civilians who are desperately in need aid groups say more than six hundred people have been killed and well over a thousand injured since an upsurge in violence in the area began nearly three weeks ago say in a harder has this report from beirut in neighboring lebanon. eastern hooter's the last major rebel stronghold around the capital damascus un satellite assessment of sixty two point five square kilometers of the enclave shows major damage in most areas the offensive is the latest in a series of attempts by the government to recapture eastern huta but it has been described as the deadliest the opposition controlled area has been under siege since two thousand and thirteen. this is a checkpoint through which civilians have been told to leave eastern it's day three of the five hours humanitarian pause no aid has entered no medical cases evacuated

and those civilians have left the besieged enclave apart from an elderly pakistani couple and the residents say they don't trust the truce. we will never leave our homes i hope god will take revenge against them we will die under. the open the crossings but you cannot trust them they open them and then they bomb them they want to displace us now russia is calling its daily humanitarian pause a failure president vladimir putin is blaming the rebels for preventing civilians from leaving and the russian officer is warning the truce may not last if there are no results the russian government could be sending a message that the relentless bombardment on eastern during the first week of the military campaign could resume civilians are dying even with the pause in the fighting but before the temporary truce took effect dozens were killed on a daily basis. doctors say the medical situation is desperate even before the

latest bombing campaign began the un repeatedly requested permission from the government to evacuate hundreds of patients who needed medical care now the list includes one thousand names people who were wounded in the assault. on loved it in the past ten days there was a lot of pressure on medical care and we have large numbers of the wounded and now seem to there are thousands of wounded and more than five hundred matters there is a shortage of medical supplies eastern hooter's three main rebel factions are proposing taking out fighters linked to the former al qaida affiliate affront as a way to stop the government assault the pro-government alliance wants. to leave. we will be ready to discuss our repeat any options which will neutralize the terrorists stop their activity. if they could be taken out somewhere we will not bad but this all must be discussed we will be ready to discuss any options which best of all help to save people's lives. there has been limited advances in ground

fighting but the frontlines are not just on the edges of the enclave residential neighborhoods are also under fire the syrian government and its allies don't seem willing to compromise for them this is the final battle for eastern huta sen there was his ido boot. well a spokeswoman for the us state department said that there are serious reservations about russia's humanitarian corridor in eastern. this idea of a so-called humanitarian corridor which is a narrow little banner that if you look at the video that you see on t.v. people aren't using that why are people not using that well it didn't work in aleppo very well did it people are afraid to use it they are afraid if they try to leave eastern ghouta that they could be conscripted into into working with bashar al assad that they someday may not be able to go home or they could be

killed people are fearful of that that does not go far enough the idea that russia is calling for a so-called humanitarian corridor i want to be clear is a joke. well elsewhere in syria eight turkish soldiers have been killed in the a freend countryside turkey has been carrying out an offensive against kurdish white b.g. fighters there since january the fighting has left at least fifty thousand people displaced on thursday a truck convoy carrying aid supplies arrived in the region it was the first since the offensive began the convoy contained four hundred thirty metric tons of humanitarian aid including food daily essentials water purification materials and crucially medical supplies. u.s. president donald trump says he'll impose a steep he of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports he announced a twenty five percent tariff for steel imports and a ten percent one on imported alumium at

a meeting with industry officials at the white house trump is vowing to rebuild the american steel and aluminum industries saying other countries have treated them unfairly for decades u.s. stocks though tumbled on fears of a trade war with the dow down one point seven percent krisna salumi has more from new york. president trump's decision to raise tariffs was not unexpected and not without criticism this is an issue that he talked about on the campaign trail when he. promised to bring back business from china and rip up what he considered bad trade deals he met earlier on thursday with representatives of the steel industry who complained that imports in their business have flooded the market and lowered prices for what was unexpected in this announcement however when the specific details that the president let slide as the meeting was coming to an and the twenty five percent increase for steel tariffs and ten percent for aluminum this seemed to

catch his staff off guard sarah huckabee sanders said she didn't have details in terms of whether or not those increases would apply to all steel imports or just chinese ones and canada for one has expressed its concern saying that any increase would be unacceptable the european union also other trading partners worried about the impact this will have an even members of the president's own party have expressed their disapproval worrying that this move could spark a trade war but the president his own administration is still in battled with a a russia investigation and the departure of his communications director took this move to which has been promised to some of his strongest supporters and appears to be an attempt to appeal to some of the strongest supporters they've been very unfairly treated by bad policy by bad trade deals by other countries they've been horribly treated by other countries. they have not been properly represented more

importantly because of that our workers in our country have not been properly represented the president's announcement sent steelmakers stock prices soaring but was bad for the markets overall the dow jones industrial average closed down more than four hundred points and more than one point seven percent on the day the president said a formal announcement will be coming in a week presumably will get more details about the tariffs at that time as well. still ahead here on al-jazeera we travel with venezuelans at seeking food and jobs across the brazilian border where the government has declared an emergency and italians prepare to head to the polls in one of the most polarized general elections in the u.s. . the a.

hello there we've had heavy rain over australia for the last day or so and there's plenty more still to come here is that system that's given us the wettest of the weather over the last twelve hours or so when that system still with us on friday if anything as we had three saturday looks like it might be spreading this time of it further towards the south so some of us towards the western parts of queensland are expecting some very heavy rain that could give us a few problems with flooding for the south but largely quiet forests here that he won in melbourne twenty seven in adelaide you can see that area of cloud stretching it's way of a parts of western australia that could give us one of two showers perth they should stay dry and fine or temperature up to thirty degrees over towards news even quite different have very unsettled lots of clouds lots of rain and that system's going to stick around over the next day or so so yet more unsettled weather on friday more cloudy wet weather to b.c. even as we head into saturday twenty three degrees will be the maximum temperature in clones and force in christchurch will be up at twenty four as we head further

north for many of us in japan it's been pretty stormy recently thanks to this weather system here that is trying to pull away now but we're still expected says to see some heavy snow there in the northern parts of japan that will clear away as we head into saturday it will be drier quieter and brighter thirty in tokyo. the i. the only news should ever hit by an atomic bomb once again braces for the worst. want to use explores life in japan under three years nuclear threat at this time on al jazeera. al-jazeera. and for you.

welcome back here's a reminder of the top stories on al-jazeera president vladimir putin has used his annual address to reveal russia has developed a new line of nuclear weapons that he says would be immune to enemy intercept at least nineteen civilians have been killed by russian and syrian government airstrikes on the rebel held on clay will be stern who stay with this a u.n. footage showing some of the damage caused in eastern huta since the start. and u.s. president donald trump has announced a twenty five percent tariff on all steel imports and ten percent on alumium raising fears over trade war with china. venezuela's

presidential election has been delayed by a month it was set to be held on april twenty second but is being pushed back to the second half of may it comes amid a worsening economic crisis the u.n. said the u.n. says it's seen an increase in the number of venezuelans leaving their country over the past two weeks many are going to brazil which is now declared an emergency because of the influx gabrielle is on the met one family as they cross the border says even a swell in mother and son on a remote highway they hope leads them to a better life the lady basket is forty six years old and her twenty two year old son ken a reese they crossed the border into brazil and are now trying to reach bolivia stuff the nearest city it is one hundred eighty kilometers away they could not afford a bus ticket so for the past three days they have been walking and still have one

hundred sixty kilometers to go. it was a hard choice to make when they told us it was so far away we were surprised but we said let's do it will help is. the trip is remote there are no services around them only asphalt and it's dangerous i. as they walk the mother tells me she said it's come to this but hopeful brazil will be a place they can find work in the meantime canner collects aluminum cans he hopes he can then sell. just to have an estimated one thousand venezuelans in the past couple weeks have gathered along the northern brazil border outpost to come into the country they want to avoid what they say is a lack of food medicine and good jobs their homeland as the situation deteriorates in tennis wella more coming every day these menace wailings are desperate most arrive with little or no money so when they finally cross the. border into brazil

they're faced with a very difficult decision what to do next. we're going to try and find a bus to take us to both to get resident status and then find a job and hopefully a place to stay. i have a career but i can now if i have to clean bathrooms of the floor i'll do what ever it takes to survive the united nations has a team here and says the nearly two billion venice will instead of pledge the country in the past two years are refugees this is thousand of people who are crossing every day the border into the gulf and on its own protection and humanitarian assistance this is definitely much apprises. as for the encounter there is no time to wait they keep walking one foot in front of the other mother and son alone hoping the road ends in a better place. on

a highway in northern brazil the u.s. ambassador to mexico has announced her resignation amid strained relations between the two countries in a note to embassy staff roberta jacobson said she will leave her post this spring she didn't detail why she was stepping down but said that the situation was difficult because now is a crucial moment in the u.s. mexico relationship france's far right leader marine le pen has been placed on the formal investigation for posting violent images of i saw atrocities online the investigation relates to three graphic images of isolate secu shuns the ship posted on twitter in two thousand and fifteen they were traitorous more from paris . a judge in non-tenured just outside paris decided charges could be formally brought against marine le pen after years stripped of her parliamentary immunity by the national assembly last november the charges will be of disseminating violent

images and she could face three years in prison or a large fine seventy five thousand euros if she's found guilty she has self has reacted to the whole affair as saying this amounts to a political persecution of her and the actual event was that in twenty fifteen she tweets she tweeted three pictures from i still the so-called islamic state one of them showed the headless to capitated body of an american freelance journalist another showed. a captured jordanian pilot being burnt alive in a cage and the third one showed a tank driving over a victim a prisoner so these were very powerful very awful images and of course it

was removed from her account when the reactions started building but now she says that this doesn't mount to persecution by her political enemies and those pictures were removed and she doesn't intend to put them back but they had a huge impact of course in the run up to the election which of course she lost substantially to present a manual macro. 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 correspondent lawrence lee travels to sicily where rightwing parties are trying to capitalize on the refugee crisis. cicely loves fishing in the town of mazar a 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 counts by here for twelve centuries the tunisian population group about fifty years ago a sicilian emigrated themselves. and as the mayor proudly points out that immigration has proved hugely valuable for the economy. we needed say listen they worked on our fishing boats we need to farmers and they worked in our fields for generations later their children are distinguishing themselves in our schools yield 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 the 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. so if you let hundreds of thousands of people in 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 silly an economy the math 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 oh gee. now days they were a political party to which are racist and they're using fear and suggesting that someone might steal what we have they promise to protect us the bald fact is that the total failure of the european union to share refugees across the continents has placed enormous strain on one of the poorest parts of italy and given the hard right swing a huge opportunity in this election mazhar a and it's happy to new zealand lave is now the exception largely al-jazeera sicily . the president of the european council has challenge britain's prime minister to reason may to come up with a better idea if she doesn't support the plans to prevent a hard border in northern ireland one of the possible negative consequences of this

kind of breakthrough the harder border on the island of ireland. to prevent this. if no other solution is found the proposal to establish a common regulatory comprising the union and the united kingdom in respect of law the island until no low one has come up with and they think wiser than that slovakian police have detained several italian businessmen who were named by murdered journalist yan quick check in a report on high level corruption the twenty seven year old journalist and his fiance were shot dead at their home on sunday on thursday police conducted a series of raids and the rest said several people that could check alleged had mafia connections in a post humorously published investigative report. blizzards

continue to batter the u.k. in mainland europe causing widespread the struction for a third day red alerts have been issued meaning risk to life and the storms have already claimed at least forty lives the latest a seven year old girl in cornwall in southwest england sunday april reports. if the first day of march is supposed to him to spring to come there's little evidence of it here after a visit from the beast from the east the worst storm to hit britain in seventeen years even chaos in its wake many train services ground to a halt in scotland more than three hundred people were stranded on this highway some for up to twenty hours in their cars all before. the overall market. conditions so bad that the first minister nicholas sturgeon even urge people not to travel. schools in the worst affected areas have to close some make the most of it

. others gave up fighting against the conditions i phoned in to work so hard in the draft. already i think we're going to be. through. right through and i write this for britain's meteorological office has issued red warnings throughout the country meaning a risk to life as the siberian storefront is set to collide with storm heading north from the atlantic snowstorms of this a very are highly unusual in europe at this time of the year and it affected countries all the way from the far north down to the mediterranean it may look pretty but these storms have been highly disruptive and dangerous all over the continent flights were cancelled and airports closed from switzerland to island

with thousands of homes were left without electricity and people were advised to stay at home dozens of people mainly rough sleepers have been reported dead across europe even venice the city of canals didn't escape the big freeze its historic buildings and monuments blanketed in white the waterways still flowing just about. and in parts of croatia a road maintenance team even used explosives. to remove piles of snow. with more gales of blizzards expected over the next couple of days the worst may not be over yet. al-jazeera london. quick look now at the top stories on al-jazeera russian president vladimir putin says his country has developed a new a ray of nuclear weapons that would be in new in the enemy intercept who can use

this annual address to boast about the missiles raising concerns about a new arms race with the west he said the new weapons can pierce through nato u.s. led missile defense systems rendering them useless. russia has developed a new effective and modestly priced missile we're also testing a new intercontinental ballistic missile the new system would carry up to two hundred tons and would be difficult to intercept it can reach much farther and will have a number of nuclear warheads it will be able to penetrate america's missile defense well the pentagon downplayed the announcement saying moscow's nuclear development had already been factored into u.s. assessments. were not surprised by the statement and the american people should rest assured that we are fully prepared at least nineteen. girl have been killed in the latest russian and syrian government to air raids in the rebel

held on klav of eastern who the united nations has released this footage which shows new widespread damage in eastern huta more than six hundred people have now been killed and well over a thousand injured since an upsurge in violence in the area began nearly three weeks ago. elsewhere in syria meanwhile a truck convoy carrying aid has arrived in the northern a free region the international committee of the red cross says it's the first time a humanitarian convoy has been allowed into the area since the turkish offensive against kurdish fighters began in january the turkish military says eight of its soldiers were killed in fighting on thursday. u.s. president donald trump has announced a twenty five percent tariff on all steel imports and ten percent all our minium trump says unfair trade practices are destroying american companies and jobs and he's vowing to rebuild the industries. well those are your top stories here on

al-jazeera my colleagues and the how we'll have more news for you in half an hour coming up next one of. the benefit of saddam people so bad to see him of our cards witness documentaries that open your eyes at this time on al-jazeera. for the first time in decades he's accountable fear a new you leave egypt. with north korean missiles landing close to japan's shores relations between the two countries are called you didn't ever. really can you is feeling rich.