al jazeera. where every. body is still. surviving syria's war people in eastern future longing for the safety and basic necessities. sourav this is obvious there are life well headquarters here in doha also coming up

polls open in italy in two hours time in the country's general election but the party is expected to win enough votes to form a majority government. also and i just wait for german chancellor angela merkel as her rival parties membership coalition which could decide her political future plus what you want i thought it would be just for communicating with our family i never anticipated that it would have so many followers well what started as a daily instagram message to the grandchildren has turned this grandfather into an internet sensation. welcome to the program syrian government forces continue to bombard the rebel held on clay east and kootenay damascus these latest pictures published by syrian state news agency appear to show night operations by government fine. since activists say

government forces have taken almost complete control of the town of shady food media in the last two weeks and more than six hundred people have been killed syrian planes have been dropping leaflets telling people to leave the area but residents say that's just not an option they will hold a reporter from beirut and they bring the level. up through or is desperate he is just one of about four hundred thousand people trapped in eastern huta which is under attack he is very ill and poor living in a besieged enclave means medicine and food are hard to find i remember quite a lot of the roads here are i am crying my children are cried because i am unable to buy anything for them my situation is very bad we have no money and for the past two weeks this is what the people have been facing. airstrikes artillery shelling more than six hundred civilians have already been killed. syrian

aircraft are dropping leaflets over the besieged rebel held eastern huta some provide information and what they call safe exit out of the enclave others urge rebels to lay down their arms promising amnesty if they turn themselves in the pro-government alliance has been calling on civilians to leave and blame rebels for using them as human shields. for many especially those involved in opposition activities crossing into government territory is not an option there are no security guarantees and people don't want to leave their homes the only one of the year russia is a terrorist state and it has carried out massacres against the people of eastern water the humanitarian corridor they talk about is aimed at displacing the people and changing the demography of this region. there are voices of defiance from inside the war zone but the suffering is immense it's not clear how long they will be able to ensure the syrian national coalition the main opposition party in exile

is calling on the united states to enforce a cease fire that was recently adopted by the un security council it also wants washington to stop what it calls russia's monopoly of decision making in syria the us president donald trump discussed syria with germany's chancellor angela merkel and france's president and manuel mccraw they all called on russia to stop bombing eastern and to force the syrian government to stop offensive operations against civilian areas. destroying civilian infrastructure and making the lives of civilians unbearable are part of a military strategy that has worked in the past it's now being applied in eastern huta. beirut. eastern ghouta has been under siege since twenty thirteen residents have been forced to find creative ways to survive when all supply lines have been blocked or that now from osama bin shove it in gaza interpol the turkey

syria border these are alien mushrooms non-native species to east and go to an area just a few kilometers from syria's capital damascus when the siege tightened in two thousand and thirteen food supplies were exhausted quickly one of the answers for growing protein needs was mushrooms after testing they were in poisonous biologists grew spores in the labs they taught people how to up cycle dam better kitchen waste and shot from green so everyone with a small dark room could become a farmer. by last year charity workers say they were producing close to two tons of mushrooms every day i want to hazard you need the right environment and tools after we succeeded in production it became an independent project to provide the spores for a good time it was difficult for people to go from the staple red rice and meat to mushrooms but when a kilo of salt costs thirty three dollars a kilo of flour costs six dollars and a kilo rice is that eleven dollars

a kilo hungry people don't have much choice another problem with fuel because who hasn't had electricity for nearly five years they really used all glass to make solar panels as sources of heat and to generate electricity those with a little advance scientific knowledge built a bio gas plant which became a continuous cost effective source for clean energy. well there is an agricultural region east of damascus so people also grew some food but at the risk of ongoing airstrikes and shelling from the syrian government side however these were small projects which couldn't get into the needs of almost four hundred thousand residents of east good for most of the supplies through a lucrative war trade via tunnels and government checkpoints this war economy and extortion like tax pushed prices multiple times to what they are on the other side of damascus. we have seen misses his home. after escaping the siege he runs a charity which helped to fund training and set up new projects he feels abandoned

by the un and others who he says should be doing more than just advocacy they are calling they are begging they are wishing but they don't do any serious things to do to have been in this area. which is maybe the worst the worst season in the last one hundred eighty of. since the one thousand february onslaught many of the projects have been destroyed in the relentless bombardment people say it's been a tough life under siege but they will not give up their lands to what this is an army of iranian militias and russian soldiers and if given the chance they want to rebuild what's been destroyed with or without any outside help some of the job it does is iraq as the on top of the turkey syria border. now the polls open in italy's general election in just under two hours time but it could be some time before we know the political outcome with no party forecast to win the forty

percent needed to form a majority government the five star movement has topped opinion polls but is vowing not to go into coalition with any of its rivals lawrence lee reports now from rome . it says much about the state of politics here the party making all the running is the anti politician party it's thirty one year old leader held several part time jobs before entering politics five stars entire proposal is to create a citizens' block in opposition to the corrupt excesses of the political. but five star vowed not to do a coalition deal with anyone else in a country in which you can't do government without a coalition it leads many to wonder if they would prefer not to gain the government . they want. probably be can defer political parties to transform into influencing transformation in their be configuration of we need to go to them we doubt government responsibility.

the political bloc with the best chance is this group led by the it's home for silvio berlusconi the eighty one year old appears to hold a magnetic attraction for his far right allies who campaigned entirely around identity politics blaming the european union for what they see as an invasion of black people and muslims over the mediterranean. for if they gain power they claim they would deport four hundred thousand people to libya hardly a ringing endorsement of the european union's suppose liberals or. anyone who arrives here illegally must be sent back if we keep welcoming them and look after them the state will. it doesn't work economically or socially. but if the polls are accurate the far right might not get enough votes for a stable government many italians are revolted at the idea of berlusconi choosing

the next prime minister so what then it's hardly unusual for italian politicians to promise one thing and then change their minds and even though silvio berlusconi insists his right wing coalition is the only one and many suspect that in the events of political stacey's he and the center left might do a deal for a sort of grand coalition supposedly for the good of italy but even that would only be a temporary measure with a view to even more elections. all of it reflects a bigger malays in european politics from rome to london and berlin there's a lack of confidence no clear direction bardsley al-jazeera wrote. at least seventy nine people have died in the latest into ethnic violence in the democratic republic of congo dozens of people were killed in the village of mass a in the province to me on friday more attacks are being reported in three nearby villages

on saturday at least two hundred thousand people have fled the area in recent months to escape the violence paul brennan reports witnesses said the ethnic lendu militia went from house to house hacking people to death with machetes and burning the buildings afterwards the victims came from the majority ethnic haim a group and the number of fatalities makes this the most deadly attack in the recent uptick in violence between them. footage from as a shows some villages looking shocked others appearing vengeful and angry the a cheery region was already blighted by food shortages and now this. people are dying here and there is nobody to bury the bodies and the children are also dying of hunger and there is no supervision we're worried we want peace to return among the population so that everyone can go back to their homes and we can be safe. but soldiers are thin on the ground despite the reassurances of the army or something you will see why we are here with official instructions from the president to see

what is going on and see how to resolve the situation encouraging. the violence in the province of a tory has forced two hundred thousand people to flee their homes and the town a visit by the provincial governor did little to reassure some of them to him and lendu a longstanding enemies that outbreaks of low level violence have been common but not on such a scale is this paul brennan al-jazeera palestine's health ministry says a farmer has been shot dead by israeli troops there the gaza border i died while working on his land or close to the border fence on saturday according to the israeli military the man was approaching a restricted area and warning shots were first fired into the air the military claims that when the farmer did not stop soldiers shot him. now it operating a military commander says the islamic republic will not negotiate its missile program unless you're a pattern the u.s. dismantle their nuclear weapons to iran says the missile program is called terence

and it is a related to the twenty fifteen player deal which led to the lifting of sanctions ranging officials have previously warned that talks on the soles are off the table after u.s. president donald trump tried to link the defense program to the nuclear agreement. well still ahead here on al-jazeera putin's promises for russia during a rally with thousands of supporters ahead of the upcoming presidential elections and police clash with french activists protesting plans to vary nuclear waste in underground those stories. by the skyline of an asian harbor or off the coast of the italian riviera. welcome back look at weather conditions across the levant and western parts of asia first of all all looking pretty good for this time of year are marty there in

kazakhstan and nine degrees tashkent was back stan my sort of twelve is fine around the caspian sea but we've got this area of low pressure moving through turkey into the caucasus and that's giving some heavy rain and these some snow higher elevations but without southwesterly flow behind it we're actually getting some very warm air coming up from parts of north africa so twenty four as a high in beirut we're looking very good twenty nine in bangkok you'll notice here the arabian prince has a pretty static the moment all looking fine twenty eight degrees. fine weather conditions light winds excellent news move the forecast on twenty four hours but more the way of cloud across the potential jury monday but again also sunshine i'm looking at highs of thirty four degrees in mecca into southern portions of africa we have tropical cycle threatening the east coast of madagascar so some large rainfall totals but the really strong winds should remain out in the southern indian ocean otherwise you're looking fine conditions across much of south africa but once you get further north into coastal parts of mozambique's through zimbabwe

into zambia but it's really picking up some really heavy showers a wet one in lusaka as we come into maybe a fine with sunshine highs of thirty two expected in winter. the weather sponsored by cattle peace. what makes this moment this era we're living for so unique this is really an attack on truth itself is a lot of misunderstanding a distortion of what free speech is supposed to be about the context it's hugely important. to publish it. to be offensive or provocative or demonize people do. this stage for a serious debate up front at this time on al-jazeera. welcome

back you're watching al-jazeera i'm so robin a reminder of our top news stories syrian government forces continue to bombard the rebel held on eastern near damascus they just pictures from syria's state news agency appear to show that night operations by government troops activists say government forces have taken almost complete control of the town of. also at least seventy nine people are being killed in the latest into ethnic violence in the democratic republic of congo dozens of people were killed in the village friday more attacks were reported in three nearby villages on saturday. the polls opened in the general election in just under two hours it could be some time before the country's leadership is decided no single party appears to be on track to gain the required forty percent to form a majority government. now though to get under way in germany in

a ballot of social democratic party members to decide for or against entering a new coalition led by chance that angle of merkel hundreds of thousands of s.p.d. members cast their ballots on the saturday five months after the country's general election and painstaking talks about forgive government a no vote by party members might force you definitely elections and could spell big political difficulties for merkel the ease with powerful politician that cain has more from. thursday night in leipzig and for the social democrats the hot topic is coalition across germany the party members are deciding if they want to work with anger medical's christian democrats again young members like a benyamin girl or are clear. because of the. there's no grand vision in this grand coalition and i think we can only develop as an opposition party i think it's

not logical that the election losers build the new government contrast that with the views of older members like christoph yaps he's proud of his fifty years as a social democrat and says pragmatism is important i was also. realist i think i'm a realist i don't want germany to become insignificant in europe we need to contribute in a way that makes our continent grow together and we can only do that with a government here that has a stable majority. certainly that's the view of the party machine reaching this point has already cost the leader martin shirts his job his designated successor and they are nihilists has tried hard to gain support for the deal which many members feel is one of the head not the heart kevin out has led the campaign against another grand coalition and has encouraged thousands of people to join the party to vote it down the very edge that's pretty high and of course we've been in a grand coalition for four years and our election performances keep getting weaker

so when we've just had our worst ever result it's time to ask if this is the right way to make our party strong again. the only opinion poll taken of the party membership so far suggests a small yes vote at the same time the party's popularity is lower now than in september's election of the party is torn in the membership is torn people are in secure what actually would help the s.p.d. to survive all of which brings us back to sunday's vote a yes will mean angle america remains as chancellor but with leading social democrats in important cabinet posts and know will mean she probably remains as chancellor but with no majority in parliament no social democrats in cabinet and facing the possibility of new elections down the line dominic cain al-jazeera berlin. it's actually

a season in russia too but with more that come in store that italy or germany president vladimir putin addressed thousands of supporters at a rally in moscow for an it actually is expected to easily win giving him a fourth term in the kremlin journal reports from the russian capital. people have turned up two weeks before the presidential election in support of just one man hoping to see him here in fact it is of course blood in me uprooted. those who want to support a president who votes for him that's payment. for vicious feature. such sports it's like a sport there is one theater and then there are a outsiders the chillun just like that said you can compare it with a sports race and here we are at the olympic stadium was the. after eighteen years in power putin is going for another six year term constitutionally possibly his last but the result isn't really much doubt there is

a field of seven candidates running against him but it's more about a picture of democracy just as his critics might say this is a picture of his support and here he is now president putin making his way into a state. legislator who you want to make a country brought forward looking into the future because ancestors lived here we live here our children live here and our children unlike grandchildren will live here. the opinion polls presumably don't lie president putin's popularity ratings consistently have them i would get around that seventy five percent had turned out of straw mrs he made in his speech to parliament a few days ago not just economic growth but faster technological advances in the years to come and keep promise to restore russia to its rightful place as a nuclear and military superpower right our eyes with the united states after going to played extremely well with people in far corners of this country moving many people can simply not imagine another leader who are able to achieve all that we're

going to hold down to zero by law school. police in france have used tear gas on environmentalists protesting against plans to store nuclear waste there a town in the northeast from. david chaytor reports. the anti nuclear protesters found their progress blocked by the police as they approached the forest site where high level radioactive waste to be buried in underground bunkers nuclear power supplies seventy nine percent of the energy to the french grid more than any other country in the world most of the demonstrators were wearing face masks to hide their identities but their message was clear. it's a fight that needs because nuclear waste comes from all over france from all over europe. we are just starting a long battle against the nuclear trash and the ward it represents. the

protesters moved into the surrounding fields to try and escape the police blockade but they were driven back repeatedly by volleys of tear gas. the radioactive waste would be very five hundred meters underneath these fields in a complex stretching for fifteen square kilometers. the first trains carrying their highly hazardous cargo won't start arriving here till twenty twenty five by then it's estimated the project will have cost the french taxpayer around forty billion dollars so far the police tactics have proved very successful they've pushed the demonstrators off the field they are almost on the brink of the forest but the use of tear gas has driven them back on to the road and now they're surrounded by the police. scientists have been testing the safety of the rock where the waste will be buried for the last ten years it dates back one hundred sixty million years it's

hard to almost impermeable iraq which allows us to store radioactive waste in a safe manner for at least one hundred thousand years some you know the police are also trying to make the area impermeable to demonstrators last month they cleared a protest camp set up in the hoods above the area. i sit here in front of you very clearly that the state would come back as many times as needed and that was certainly the message being delivered to the demonstrators forced to retreat in the face of overwhelming police power but they promise they will be back. chaytor al-jazeera. editors of nepal's largest newspaper to appear in court in a case widely condemned as an attack on press freedom in the country bore daily faces contempt of court charges for articles that allegedly said nepal's chief justice lied about his date of birth and official documents should be more from

kathmandu. i'm standing outside the fifty three court where the power of the largest newspaper. is expected to go on trial on the contempt of court case the newspaper published this week of fighting and the chief justice to use fake documents posted by this data which allows him to extend his term beyond the mandatory retirement age of sixty five chief justice but he says the story i'm tired i'm going to resist. objectionable language and imaginary facts now that justice is the judge in his oh case and court of people including the proprietor the editor and newspaper can be up to one year jail term if found guilty to defend it and many other people agree and say that this is

a clear case of muzzling freedom of expression which is guaranteed under the constitution the case was on a friday what was your til sunday morning for the world's most famous dog sled tracy it's a rod is underway in alaska. and courage on a nine day race north to the bering sea community of gnome is the forty six running of the race and its most controversial yet. the. sled dogs and their drivers are off on the i just wrote the sixteen hundred kilometers ahead of them and came to distance themselves from dog door ping and davis. this is the world's most famous dog sled race and for the first time in its history dogs failed drug tests for animals belonging to last year's runner up bella c.v. tested positive for

a bad painkiller tramadol cv who has won the race four times denied doping his dogs he wasn't on the start line and protest i'm one who believes we've got will go another forty three years before the next doping scandal and this will be remembered as the year that. anomaly happened. organizers have their own obstacles to navigate beyond the last a major sponsor and are under pressure from animal rights advocates following the death of five dogs last year there's always going to be and i did arrive. we have i consider this more of. a growing process than anything else this year's race starts alaska's biggest city encourage and will take the southern route thanks to heavy snow passing through twenty three checkpoints including the races namesake i did her road to end in the remote bering sea community of norm it's expected to take the winner nine days.

sixty seven mushes will drive about one thousand dogs to the finish line going all night through all weather determined to leave this year's scandals behind them charlotte ballasts zero. now it's a story that shows it's never too late to get started on social media when seventy five year old lead change a with living in brazil you started using instagram to keep in touch with his grandsons who lived in south korea and the united states did as a small family project but after less than three years he now has more than three hundred thousand followers around the world we caught up with him. when he turned him in my name is lieutenant i draw pictures from my grandchildren and post them on instagram every day. when we lived in brazil i used to drive my grand kids to and from school then move to south korea all of

a sudden my grandkids were gone and so was my daily driving job i felt very lonely without much to do. when i visited my son who lives in new york i told him about this my son suggested i draw pictures for the grandkids and post them on something called instagram. i dabbled a bit in our high school but trying was just a hobby. i had only use a mobile phone to make calls i was at a bit of a loss and put off by social media such as facebook and instagram. my son explained over and over again how to use it but because i'm old i kept forgetting it was a very difficult process for me but eventually i was able to draw a picture photograph it and posted on instagram. i draw a picture of my wife writes a story in korean to go along with him. my son translated into english. my daughter

translates it into portuguese. because it's in three different languages a lot of people around the world can read it. through this project my wife son daughter and i communicate every day and it has had a positive influence on our family by doing just. that at first i only thought about what to draw from my grandkids but as i continued lots of people started leaving comments to. my youngest grandson is too young to understand but my two grandkids in middle school feel grateful for the pictures that people know their grandfather draws for them. i thought he would be just for communicating within our family. i never anticipated that he would have so many followers. under even more pressure to draw good pictures.

you want to have is there this are our news stories syrian government forces continue to bombard the rebel held on klav eastern damascus these latest pictures published by syrian state television agency appear to show ninety operations by government fighters activists saying government forces have taken almost complete control of the town of. polls open in general election in just two hours time it could be some time though before the country's leadership is decided no single party appears to be on track to gain the required forty percent to form a majority government at least seventy nine people have been killed in the latest into ethnic violence in the democratic republic of congo dozens of people were killed in the village of ma say on friday more attacks were reported in three nearby villages on saturday. stein's health ministry says the farmer has been shot

dead by israeli troops near the gaza border he died while working on islam close to the border fence on saturday according to the israeli military the man was approaching a restricted area warning shots were first fired into the. operating military command says the islamic republic will not negotiate its missile program unless europe and the us dismantle their nuclear weapons to iran says the missile program is for the terrorists and that it is unrelated to the twenty fifteen nuclear deal but counting is underway in germany and the balance of social democratic party members to decide for war against entering a new coalition with chancellor angela merkel if they approve the union the new coalition would take office in about four months. the us president donald trump has stepped up his rhetoric in the growing global trade fight with a threat to increase taxes on european cars it comes after the european union warned it would oppose to protect tariffs on american products if trump went

through the plan to put it twenty five percent on steel imports those were the headlines of back with more news in half an hour to stay with us more than forty thousand africans are facing deportation from israel in the world more than ninety percent of. the way in is very european one with your point one percent of the revenue two of those in danger of being thrown out of the country in which they sold refuge talks al-jazeera at this time it's coming up to nearly six months ago was battered by hurricane maria yet nearly half a million americans there are still without power and reported suicides have jumped more than fifty percent has president donald trump abandon the island i'll ask one of his biggest critics mayor of someone comment nearly cruise also on the show jacob zuma was forced to stand down as president of south africa last month i'll talk to his nemesis the anti corruptions are. about his fall from power and the future of the a n c.