we just don't know yet where the lines when drawn between what can be said and what cannot. some journalists decided to sacrifice their integrity for our polling the media opinion the listening branstad base time on al-jazeera the only news you never hear by an atomic bomb once again braces for the worst. one of the nice explores life in japan under not three years nuclear threat at this time on al jazeera. is still. surviving syria's war people in eastern guta longing for the safety and basic necessities. at arsenal rather this is after their allies were headquarters here in doha also

coming up peace envoy to pyongyang a new initiative launched by south korea to ease tension with the north we're live in seoul with those details also polls open in italy at an hour in the country's general election but no party is expected to win enough votes to form a majority government and an anxious wait for german chancellor angela merkel as her rival parties membership votes on a coalition which could decide her political future. good to have you company syrian government forces continue to bombard the rebel held eastern ghouta near damascus now these latest pictures published by syria state news agency appear to show night operations by government fighters activists say government forces have taken almost control of the town of shame. for the year

in the past two weeks more than six hundred people have been killed that syrian airplanes have been dropping leaflets telling people to leave the area but residents say that's just not an option they know how to reports off beirut and neighboring lebanon. oh. sure 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 what 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 exits 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 the massacre as against the people of eastern 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 body 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 is stone 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 been applied in eastern huta. beirut and our strike appears to have targeted aid workers in eastern guta in this video loaded to social media a rescue team can be seen helping an injured man into the back of an ambulance than an airstrike hits the vehicle doctors without borders has previously voiced

concerns about the so-called practice of double tapping whereby an area was hit and then targeted again aid workers arrived to help the. well eastern ghouta has been under siege since twenty thirteen residents have been forced to find creative ways to survive when all supply lines are being blocked or that now from osama bin job it in garcia to bomb the turkey syria border these are alien mushrooms non-native species to eastern good to an area just a few kilometers from syria's capital damascus when the seizure type in two thousand and thirteen food supplies were exhausted quickly one of the answers for growing protein needs was mushrooms after death think they were in poisonous biologists grew spores in the labs they've taught people how to up cycle dam bed of 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. 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 it 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. 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 it to 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 in the good after escaping the siege he runs a charity which helped to fund training and set up new projects. he feels abandoned by the u.n. 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 to you. since the one nine hundred 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 a job it does era you know the turkey syria border. polls open in italy in just under an hour from now but it could be some time before we know the political outcome none of the parties are expected to win the forty percent needed to form a majority government the anti establishment firestar view the town's top opinion polls but is vowing not to go into coalition with any of its rivals lawrence lee reports from rome. it says much about the state of politics here the party making all the running is the anti politician party its thirty one year old leader held several part time jobs before entering politics five stars entire proposal is to create a citizens' bloc in opposition to the corrupt excesses of the political us. 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 give the government . they want. probably begam or defer political parties to transform into influencing transformation in their be configuration of them without 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 earlier ringing indorsements of the european union's supposed liberals hours. anyone

who arrives here illegally must be sent back if we keep welcoming them and look after them. state will collapse 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 on offer 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 hoarsely al-jazeera wrote. well results from another ballot this time in germany are expected early on sunday in a poll which could have big implications for the e.u.'s most powerful nation and its leader chancellor angela merkel hundreds of thousands of s.p.d. members voted it internal ballot on saturday of whether their party should enter into a coalition and to back up that comes five months after the country called clue six general election painstaking talks about forgive you government an overt by party members might force of another national election that could spell big political difficulties for. governor kaine has more for ballin. 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 binyamin girl are clear.

because of this. there's no grand vision in the scrum 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 will. list i think i'm a realist i don't want germany to become significant 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 short 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 there is that's pretty high and of course we've been in the 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 elections of the parties 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. palestine's health ministry says a farmer has been shot dead by israeli troops near the gaza border he died while working on his land close to the border fence on saturday according to the israeli military the man was approaching a restricted area and warning shots were fired into the air when the farmer did not stop soldiers shot him. still ahead here on al-jazeera u.s. president donald trump heightens the threat of a trade war with europe. and to putin's promises for russia during a rally with thousands of supporters ahead of the upcoming presidential election those stories after the break.

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 classic stand nine degrees tashkent was back stan my some 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 and by that you'll notice here the arabian prince is a pretty static the moment all looking fine twenty eight degrees. fine weather conditions light winds excellent as move the forecast on twenty four hours but more the way of cloud across the potential jury monday but again lots of sunshine and we're looking at highs of thirty four degrees in mecca into southern portions of africa with a tropical cyclone 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 looking fine conditions across much of south africa but once you get further north into coastal parts of mozambique through zimbabwe into zambia but it's really peculiar 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. but they can also lead in less than one generation to developing countries one of the most developed countries in the world we have to be one point you brazil and feel very rough men singapore's founding father created a nation of political dynasty family disputes undermining that make you see what's happened to their family and what's happened in singapore's institutions i just don't know what would have cost them more grief people in power investigates the house that leave at this time on al-jazeera.

welcome back you're watching out as their arms the whole romney a reminder of our top news stories syrian government forces continue to bombard the rebel held on play by the eastern ghouta near damascus latest pictures from syria's state use agency appear to show nine topper a sions by government troops activists say government forces have taken almost complete control of the town of schafer mia. also 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 la salle friday will return to reported in three nearby villages on saturday. and the polls open in italy is general election in less than an hour from now but it could be some time before the

country's leadership is decided no single party appears to be on track to gain the forty percent required to form a majority government. to asian our way special envoy from the south korean president will visit pyongyang for two days beginning on monday it's in response to an invitation presented by kim jong un sr joining her visit to pyongyang chang olympics let's go live now to robert bride in seoul a really strong indications rob that a significant announcement would be made regarding the relationship of the two koreas as they move forward we now have some more clarity. that's right the decision has come the details of come within the last few minutes with an announcement from the government here on the makeup of this delegation it will be a ten member delegation led by two senior ministry level intelligence officials now one of those officials who was involved in previous into korean summits back in two

thousand and two thousand and seven so is well versed in the difficult to diplomatic negotiations that go ahead of these dealings between north and south korea and it seems as though their mission will be twofold one to explore the kind of the kind of situation that you need before you can have dialogue between say pyongyang and washington but also more immediately as you mentioned their sale to investigate the possibility of moon j. and south korea's president visiting north korea as you said after the invitation delivered by kim jong un sr at the start of the olympics now this delegation is will be leaving for pyongyang tomorrow monday from south korea and we don't know exactly when moon jane's visit will take place but things do seem to be moving a pace so maybe we could see a visit by moon sooner rather than later and of course it all comes off the back of

a very successful winter olympics for both countries sportingly and now diplomatically where there was hope that the event would be a conduit for talks about the issues that you've just raised tensions on the peninsula and a geo political relationship with neighboring countries. that's right and the good will and the smiles do continue yes we've had the end of the lympics but the paralympics are due to start within the next week there will be another team although a much smaller team but still a team from the north the taking part so you do get a sense that both careers want to build on this momentum to keep keep it moving forward towards closer dialogue but of course that does point up the difference in approach is that south korea seems to be having with its ally the united states the u.s. position is remains that the dialogue should only be got into with north korea if

north korea first commits itself to denuclearize ation the south korean position increasingly seems to be far more pragmatic that the position seems to be let's start talks let's try to deescalate tensions and see where that leads there is speculation that from the north position north korea is being forced round to taking this friendlier approach because the sanctions are now working are beginning to bite but then that does lead to further speculations and concerns from more hawkish conservative elements here in south korea and from the united states that the north might be using this as a way of trying to use south korea to get around some of those sanctions so undermining this position of maximum pressure or see what comes out of those talks that begin on monday and come back to when we get more news of course rob thank you . operating military commanders says the islamic republic will not negotiate its

missile program unless europe and the us dismantle their nuclear weapons so iran says the missile program is forward to terence and that it is unrelated to the twenty fifteen nuclear deal which led to the lifting of sanctions iranian officials have previously warned that talks on missiles are off the table that u.s. president donald trump tried to link the defense program to the nuclear agreement. to africa now 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 musée in the province of eid turi 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 him 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 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 would have figured out why we are here with official instructions from the president to see what is going on and see how to resolve the situation encourage me . the violence in the province of atory 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 hima and lendu

a longstanding enemies and outbreaks of low level violence have been common but not on such a scale is this paul brennan al jazeera. u.s. present donald trump has stepped up his rhetoric in a growing global trade fight with the threat to increase taxes on european cars now it comes after the european union warned it would impose tit for tat tariffs on american products if some went through the plan to put a twenty five percent duty on steel imports australia and canada have also made retaliatory threats rob reynolds has more from los angeles. trump's tweet storm began saturday with a claim that the current multihull national trade agreements the united states observes are quote very stupid unquote and the president said other countries laugh at what fools u.s. leaders have been no more he tweeted adding an exclamation point then he threatened to increase taxes on a key european import to the united states saying if the e.u.

wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers we will simply apply a tax on their cars the european union and exports approximately six billion dollars worth of automobiles to the united states on an annual basis drops plans to increase tariffs on steel and aluminum were announced earlier this week but have not yet been made formal it has the idea that is has been denounced by leaders around the world in the e.u. in canada and elsewhere and also by members of president from own party which is generally in favor of free and open trade as well as economists in the united states and corporate heads economists say that if this trade war does proceed as a trump has indicated it will lead to higher prices for american consumers price

increases that will slow the u.s. economy and add to inflationary pressure and further more risks undermining the entire edifice of multinational trade agreements the globalization agreements that have been negotiated very painstakingly over the past several decades. now it's election season in russia too but with more certainty in the outcome in terms of italy and germany present light of a putin address thousands of supporters at a rally in moscow for an election he's expected to easily win giving him a fourth term but the kremlin journal reports now 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 a payment. for bishop future. such sports

it's like a sport there is one leader 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 is 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 of them i would not around at seventy five percent had turned out of promises he made in his speech to parliament

a few days ago not just economic growth but fossil 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 play big stream really well with people in far corners of this country moving many can simply not imagine another leader who are able to achieve all our group who are so to hold down to zero by law school. now the world's most famous dog sled race the idea is underway in alaska mushers and their dogs have left anchorage on a nine day race north to the bering sea community of nome is the forty six the running of the race and its most controversial yet charlotte bellis reports. please please meet. sled dogs and their drivers are off on the i just wrote they've got sixteen hundred kilometers ahead of them and came to distance themselves from dog door ping and depths. 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 della c.v. tested positive for a bad painkiller tramadol c.v. 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 dopping 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 a ride. we've like i consider this more of 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 ideas are old 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. what you all just there i'm so robyn these are all top news stories syrian government forces continue to be bombed by. the rebel held on the eastern ghouta near damascus these latest pictures published by syria's state news agency appear to show night operations by government fighters to say government forces have taken almost complete control of the town of schafer near in the last two weeks more than

six hundred people have been killed. two special envoys from the south korean president see will visit pyongyang for two days beginning on monday their mission follows an invitation presented by the sister of the north's leader kim jong il during her visit to the chiang olympics polls open in italy's general election in just under an hour but it could be for some time before the country's leadership is decided this single party appears on trying to gain the required forty percent to form a majority government. the result is expected early on sunday of the ballot of social democratic party members to decide for again center of a new coalition with chancellor angela merkel if they approve the union the new coalition would take office in about four months and no vote will mean continued political uncertainty for the u.s. most powerful country. palestine's health ministry says a farmer has been shot dead by israeli troops in the gaza border he died while

working on his land 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 air. and top arabian military commander says the islamic republic will not negotiate its missile program and lets europe around the u.s. dismantle their nuclear weapons to iran says the missile program is for to terence and that it is unrelated to the twenty fifteen nuclear deal which led to the lifting of sanctions. also the us president donald trump has stepped up his rhetoric in the growing global trade fight with the threat to increase taxes on european cars that comes after the european union award it would oppose to protect tariffs on american products of truck went through with a plan to put a twenty five percent duty on steel imports australia and canada have also made retaliatory threats. well those were the headlines on. all of the stories that we're covering here. at al-jazeera dot com. news

minutes next it's people in power do stay with us. too often on the streets of. our victims but a new force. female police officer are combative sexual assault and domestic abuse. but changing society is a challenge and so is life behind the bags. at this time. twenty fifteen. widespread respect is the city state's prosperity.