this story we have a presence here all the time apart from being a cameraman it's also very important to be a journalist to know the story very well before going into the fields covering the united nations and global diplomacy for al-jazeera english is pretty incredible this is where talks happen and what happens here matters. president bashar al assad says the syrian bombardment of eastern huta will continue . as i'm sick of this is al jazeera live from the hole so coming up china's national people's congress meets to make changes that could see president xi jinping stay in power for life. a bloc of right wing parties leads the way in italy's election but

latest projections show no one will have enough seats to govern alone. and the envelope please we're live in los angeles as hollywood rolls out the red carpet for the oscars. all over the united states has accused russia of killing civilians in syria's eastern huta it says it carried out twenty bombings a day late last month it is the strongest u.s. accusations so far of russia's role in a government offensive on the rebel held area more than six hundred forty people have been killed over the past two weeks syrian president bashar al assad has vowed to continue with the airstrikes at the same time he says troops will open the way for civilians to leave said has also denied using chemical weapons about four hundred thousand people are trapped inside eastern huta with little food and basic

supplies assad has called that a ridiculous lie by the west he says the syrian army is making progress against what he calls terrorists. closure to you for there is no contradiction between our troops and the combat operations the advancement of yesterday and the day before by the arab syrian army took place in the midst of this troops that's why when we speak about the resolutions there are some positives that allow for the achievement of humanitarian gold at the same time as allowing us to get the terrorists this is why we have to continue with our operation while at the same time allowing civilians to leave in the thumb of the rebels say they have made some gains against assets forces. today we regained control of some territory after fierce battles the regime used scorched earth policy after failing for four months to achieve any progress through ground fighting russian and syrian airliners bombs the area intensively using helicopters so we count attacked with rates and. the

u.n. is sounding the alarm saying the collective punishment of civilians is in their words simply unacceptable they know hala reports from beirut in neighboring lebanon. pro-government forces are advancing inside eastern since friday they've seized at least ten percent of the one hundred ten square kilometer enclave they are moving in from the eastern side forcing people to pack whatever they can and move to other areas away from the front lines people are seeking shelter in towns closer to the center displacement is adding to their suffering. the ground offensive began just over a week ago the territory taken is not heavily populated it's mainly farmlands which are hard to defend pro-government forces want to control the do mushy phony out road which would cut rebel supply lines cut off the main town of duma and split the

opposition held pocket in half. the assault is not just from the ground airstrikes and shelling are targeting towns throughout the besieged rebel stronghold the bombing may have lessened since the five hour daily pause in the fighting ordered by the russian government came into effect on tuesday but civilians continue to be killed. it's one of the deadliest offensives in the almost eight year conflict the death toll is now more than six hundred fifty rebels have been retaliated by firing mortars into the syrian capital killing almost thirty people in the past two weeks the ability of the opposition to threaten damascus is one of the reasons why the pro-government alliance wants to recapture eastern huta it is the last major opposition controlled area close to the government seat of power if pro-government forces take it then there will be only one small pocket of territory south of the capital out of the government's control and the

pro-government alliance is making it clear not only in its words but in its actions that it is not ready to compromise and it is pushing for a military victory. despite pleas from humanitarian organizations aid hasn't reached the almost four hundred thousand people believed to be in eastern huta the united nations was hoping to deliver food and medical supplies on sunday now it says that won't happen this isn't the first time restricting humanitarian access to a besieged population has been used as a weapon of war. beirut china's parliament is expected to approve changes to the country's constitution which will see president xi jinping able to rule indefinitely the national people's congress is holding its annual gathering in beijing the ruling communist party needing its support to remove the current two term presidential limit she didn't think was elected to his second five

year term last october a.g.m. brown is covering the story for us from beijing so what have been the the big headlines so far there. well i think you have to say that overshadowing this national people's congress has been that proposal to amend the constitution so that president xi jinping could effectively rule for life but before that voters happen the premier league has been delivering his annual work report outlining in detail the government's achievements during the past year as well as the past five years it's interesting because of course president xi jinping has been president for the past five years he's also been setting targets for the year ahead saying he wants to achieve economic growth of around about six point five percent that's slightly lower than the growth that china achieved in two thousand and seventeen which was about six point nine percent he's also announced there's going to be a big increase in military spending up by eight point one percent that is fairly

sizeable last year china's military spending grew by seven percent now it's going to be up to more than eight percent and of course china recently announced plans to build a second aircraft carrier there's also talk of a third underway and china's been investing a lot more money in things like stealth fighter technology so beefing up the military is obviously a key government strategy it was also in the premiers report details about how china wants to reduce imports on cars and consumer goods that's interesting because of course president trump last week was announcing he was going to impose tariffs on steel and alan many m so this report was clearly written a long time before president from made that announcement other sort of items that really caught my eye of the fact that you know the chinese government says it plans to lift ten million more people out of poverty in the year ahead it lifted about

the same number out of poverty in two thousand and seventeen poverty alleviation really as a core government policy right now but certainly the you know the real talking point here at this m.p.c. has been this proposal to amend the constitution we actually try to talk. to some of the delegates as they were arriving saying what do you think about this idea and most of them simply brushed aside they didn't want to answer the question that's because it is so sensitive those people who did said they thought it was a good thing for the development of china and how significant is this change then. for china given that for most of the past couple of decades the chinese chinese presidents have have have ruled under they said two term limit. yes you're absolutely right this limit was really introduced by china's paramount leader dunk sharping in one thousand nine hundred eighty two and the reason for

that was that he wanted to avoid a repeat of the chaotic final years of mao tse tung's life when we had the cultural revolution and that was when we saw this sort of slavish devotion to chairman mao and he wants to he wanted to prevent a repeat of that well a lot of chinese people today i think have a deep sense of unease about this change to the constitution a feeling that perhaps that china is going backwards and also a realisation the now there is so much power in the hands of one man because president xi is not just president he's chairman of the military commission and also general secretary of the communist party and core leader and you know throughout the premier speech today it was quite interesting there were repeated references to thought so on the one hand we had this outline of a sort of modern china that the premier wanted to see develop but on the other we

had this sort of clunky language that harks back to to to another era a g m a jim brown live for us there in beijing. now in italy the anti establishment five star movement is projected to win the most votes in the general election but with ballots still being counted projections suggest a bloc of right wing parties will emerge with the most seats but no one group will win enough to form a government again barbara reports from rome. just five years after they first got into parliament the firestorm movement the anti-politics poncy say there are clear winners in italy's general elections after a campaign that sort of promise to guarantee universal basic income of a thousand dollars a month while cutting taxes they insist nobody can afford to ignore them also exceeding expectations leggo formally the northern league led by matteo salvini firmly anti migration and euro skeptic they're vying to be the biggest player in

the center right coalition led by silvio berlusconi herself beneath the results prove that italians are third up with the status quo. one of the clearest outcomes after five years in power the center left democratic party to take a look big hit and then there's this man the peter pan of italian politics silvio berlusconi couldn't stand as a candidate because of a tax fraud conviction but he's hoping his force a tally of party and their allies on the far right can get first pick at trying to form a ruling coalition if this election has proved anything it's that many italians wanted a clean break from the traditional ruling parties but what kind of government emerges is hard to say that could take many days if not weeks that the barber al jazeera rome. but germany finally has a government after months of political uncertainty chancellor angela merkel will secure a fourth term in office after clinching a coalition agreement with the social democrats the s.p.d.

membership approve the deal by a two thirds majority on sunday it was claimed more than five months after an inconclusive election. a former n.b.a. star kobe bryant has won an oscar for his animated short film. six minute film is based on his twenty fifteen retirement letter in the plainest tribune he joins allison janney who won best supporting actress for her role in the film i tanya sam rocks what rockwell took away best supporting actor for three billboards and revelations of sexual harassment in the movie industry and demands for greater representation for women have dominated the past year in hollywood let's go live now to rob reynolds in los angeles who is covering this force is so rob we were into the big awards now towards the and the end of the night but who have been the big winners so far. well it's

a big night for coco the pixar animated movie that won best animated feature and also best song writing a very popular film another winner in the best foreign language movie category a fantastic woman which is a transgender drama from she lay and jordan peele who is up for best director for his film get out also was earlier a winner in the category of best writer and he's the first african-american ever to win that honor now there hasn't been a great deal of overt speechifying about the harvey weinstein affair or the me to move but there have been some mentions jimmy kimmel who is the master of ceremonies here at the oscars did say that what happened to weinstein being thrown out of the academy and generally disgraced was long overdue and he said the entire

world is watching the film industry to make sure that it makes good on some of the promises to reform itself. in the wake of this very widespread sex scandal. so some rob what's that the main takeaway of the night sat sun fog and i mean we had to have they didn't film what there has thirteen now that nominations the shape of water as want to as one of the top contender assess so far how they've done. well it so far they have leave we've not her had the final report of the night or the final big four really the best female act or the best male actor or the best director and the best picture those come a natural at the end of a long long series of awards musical numbers and comedy routines but

it is considered likely by hollywood insiders that in unless there's an upset that shape of water which is a kind of an interesting drama about a mute a cleaning lady in the early one nine hundred sixty s. who falls in love with a strange humanoid amphibian creature at the center of a cold war weapons program that's a mouthful will win for best picture and that its director yellow del toro of mexico will likely win best director but we have to see and of course it's very going to be very interesting also in this case to see who wins the best female actor award it's a. it's cut sort of vying between frances mcdormand for three billboards outside being reserved possibly source a roland from lady bird and another very strong performance from from margot

robbie from tonja so all this remains to be seen and hopefully we will get some conclusions on that without too much further delay thanks so much for that rob and just. in the time that we've been talking to you where we can report that. has in fact one best director oscar for the shape of water but of course we'll have the latest on all of those awards. in the next out thanks for that. are still ahead on al-jazeera south korea prepares to send a senior delegation to north korea for two days of talks the investigation into interference in the u.s. presidential election extending to the united arab emirates for say an adviser to the crown prince is being questioned. from a fresh breeze. to watching the sunset on the australian outback. welcome

back as we look at weather conditions across the levant and western parts of asia where it's looking fine actually for much of stan through back to stan and away towards the caspian sea too and on the southern side there we're looking at tehran with twenty degrees in the sunshine pretty well for baghdad at twenty nine degrees celsius meanwhile we still have some snow pushing across parts of the caucasus and preventing turkey seen highs of just a fourteen degrees become southwards it's looking pretty warm still not southwesterly flow beirut in lebanon there are a maximum of twenty four degrees celsius here in the arabian peninsula also looking fine much as we would expect thirty three is a high in mecca little bit of cloud around northern parts of saudi arabia chance of a show about here in qatar it should be fine with a maximum of twenty eight degrees pretty light winds in the thirty degrees as they head through into chews day pretty warm around the rest of the gulf states too we don't suit of how the winter here quite frankly as we head down into southern

portions of africa it's looking fine for much of south africa there cape town at twenty four as a tropical psycho's still giving some very heavy rain across the eastern part of madagascar now. well we've got some heavy showers across parts of through into his likely to see quite a few don't push through in the die hards here twenty four. the weather sponsored by cattle race. when the winning the will of the people hinges on the mass media. machine it's going to overdrive. just he's been feeling. we just don't know yet where the lines will be drawn between what can be said and what comes after that. some journalists decided to sacrifice their integrity for our polling the media they're listening post at this time on al-jazeera.

and again you're watching al-jazeera mind of our top stories this hour the u.s. has accused russia of killing civilians in serious eastern says it carried out twenty bombings a day last month it is the strongest u.s. accusation so far of russia's role in the government offensive on the rebel held areas. china's parliament is expected to approve changes to the country's constitution which will see president xi jinping able to rule indefinitely the national people's congress is holding its annual gathering in beijing it's also announced an eight percent increase in defense spending. in italy the n.t. establishment five star movement is claiming

a triumph in the general election with votes still being counted so far no group looks like they'll have enough seats to form a majority government prime minister silvio berlusconi's center right coalition is also in a strong. south korea will send a senior delegation to north korea for two days of talks on monday that's in response to an invitation delivered by kim yong sr during her visit to the young chang winter olympics the delegation will include the chief of south korea's national intelligence service of rob mcbride is following the story for us from seoul so rob what else are we expecting today. that's right this delegation leaves within about an hour from now on a specially commissioned flight from seoul to pyongyang it's not very often we have any kind of direct flights between the two cities it will be led by jungle young the head negotiator who gave a brief statement

a short while ago setting out the mission that these delegates are on this is as we know a reciprocal visit in return for the high level delegation that came down from the north korea to the winter olympics chung was keen to stress that they will be taking very much a strong message from jay in the president of south korea about moon's resolve that this whole dialogue process will ultimately lead to the denuclearization of the korean peninsula and to permanent peace of course north korea is going into this dialogue process without giving any such guarantee or commitment also they will be looking at ways of furthering the into korean dialogue that we've seen started over these lympics and more importantly and obviously a far more difficult prospect is trying to jumpstart somehow the dialogue negotiations between north korea and the united states the team will be there for

two days it is hoped that during this time they will be meeting with north korean leader kim jong un although that is by no means guaranteed at this stage and we might not get a full explanation on the progress that has or has not been made until they return has him at about two days' time. rob how is this trip being seen in south korea and at. it really depends on your politics here it is a very divisive issue here there are many people who believe that building on the good will that we've seen during the olympics that this has to be a good thing especially given the kind of hostility and rhetoric that we have seen in the past year or so that any kind of dialogue really has to be good and it has to be borne in mind that kim jong un for example if indeed they do get to meet kim it will be the first time that kim has met south korean officials since taking

office in twenty eleven so that has to be good certainly put according to right wing conservative elements the more hawkish parties and politicians here in south korea they are very skeptical about this whole process very critical they says this simply rewards north korea for its belligerence and its nuclear program describing this delegation more or less as cheerleaders for north korea's nuclear ambitions and so people are very divided certainly they are covering this very widely in the south korean media it has to be said it's also being covered in north korean media which is not surprisingly taking this very positive action taking a very positive view a positive spin on this visit has them all right robin pride life for us there in seoul now u.s. media reporting the investigation into russian interference in the twenty six

thousand election has widened to include the influence of the united arab emirates the new york times says the f.b.i. has been questioning george netter and lebanese american businessman who is an advisor to the crown prince of the u.a.e. a special counsel robert muller's original focus was on contacts between donald trump's campaign and russia diane estabrook has more on that story. so it appears that robert muller's investigation is not just now focused on russia and whether or not it influenced the campaign in the election of two thousand and sixteen and potentially the white house but whether other countries might be trying to buy access to the trumpet ministration as well and that brings us to this lebanese american businessman george nader and jared cushion or nader is this advisor to the u.a.e. he's been a frequent visitor to the white house and has in fact met with jared cushion or which is raising some eyebrows this past week it's cushion or was stripped of his

top secret security clearance as an investigation into his background continues and one of the things that's raising a red flag is question are spam lee's extensive business ties around the globe and whether or not he is susceptible to influence by outsiders like a george nader and in fact on one of the sunday talk shows a senator mentioned that he's very concerned about gerald cushion or now there were media reports last week that president trump was looking to have his chief of staff john kelly oust gerald cushion or and his wife volga the president's daughter from the oval office so if these reports are true this could potentially pave the way for that. well after months without reports of revenge of fleeing violence in myanmar eighty families have been recorded crossing the border into bangladesh the videos were taken on a mobile phone in booty dong in a man muscle hind state in dawn on sunday.

homes in booty dong were torched on saturday night before hundreds of ranger fled some forty kilometers to bangladesh really seven thousand seven hundred thousand have left me and more from bangladesh since august they reported sexual abuse and mash mass killings by the military. reports. this sprawling coupal on camp near the bangladesh meum our border home to nearly six hundred thousand range or refugees the majority have arrived since august. one refugee who witnessed the influx is kemal hussein has lived here since he was two his parents also fled violence in myanmar in the ninety's. the concern was people are coming to bangladesh who'd never been here before they don't know the place they don't know anyone they don't know the roads where to go

what to eat where to sleep i want i want them for all we have first mc in october after he says up a missing persons birth in the scramble for survival into bangladesh many refugees became separated and disoriented hearing some seven hundred families in the first two months. to come out has closed the bush it's no longer needed no longer stream over the border they sit looking into cooper long camp as hard just like he did some twenty years ago. my concern is i've been living here since one thousand nine hundred ninety eight i came from burma when i was only a child now i'm twenty eight i'm still here what will happen to those who are coming now i believe they'll suffer more. in the emma and bangladesh governments have been negotiating over a petrie ation deal that would return more than seven hundred thousand russian jets but critics say is not an honest broker the government has deflected accusations of

ethnic cleansing and even genocide and cannot be trusted to re home the very people it pushed out they say the latest troop build up on the border is a hostile message for the revenger the whole purpose of forcibly eventing and destroying the communities over rangers across the northern arc on is to make sure that like you know burma. no longer a ranger as a group and so why would. take the you know nearly one million rangers back. in just say they wouldn't return anyway not until they have a guarantee of safety compensation for the destroyed villages and citizenship something they've been denied for thirty five years. bangladesh remained settled in one million revenger entirely dependent on handouts from low income making crucial long kemp their home. and he's here in london thousands of people

celebrated international women's day in a march led by the city's mayor. say the politicians musicians and activists join the march which started at the houses of parliament and ended at trafalgar square they're calling for gender equality a century after a million pancoast helped british women gain the right to vote a great granddaughter who was at the march said there's a long way to go before women share the same rights as men. it's a hundred years since some women got the vote i think evelyn pankhurst my great grandmother and sylvia pankhurst my grandmother would be saying look let's celebrate the achievements there are some fantastic games that we do need to be aware of and highlight but they would be forward looking and they'd be saying you know come on hundred years and you're still fighting equal pay you still not have equal representation in parliament violence massaging the the treatment that women

get it sounds too similar to the type of world that we lived in and come on keep going i'm sure they'd be urging us on. an investigation has found british cycling star bradley wiggins took a banned drug before winning the two thousand and twelve tour de france the report by a parliamentary sports committee says wiggins used powerful substance to prepare for the race it says the team sky who wiggins was riding with crossed an ethical line but wiggins says he took the drug to treat his atha asthma and denies using substances without medical need wiggins is credited for bringing integrity back to cycling after the seven time tour de france champion lance armstrong was banned for doping. this is al jazeera this these are the top stories the u.s. has accused russia of killing civilians in syria's eastern huta they say carried

out twenty bombings a day late last month it is the strongest u.s. accusations so far of russia's role in the syrian government offensive on the rebel held area more than six hundred forty people have been killed in the past two weeks syrian president bashar assad says the airstrikes will continue but his troops will allow civilians to leave closer to you for there is no contradiction between a truce and the combat operations the advancement of jeev yesterday and the day before by the arab syrian army took place in the midst of this truce that's why when we speak about the resolution there are some positives that allow for the achievement of humanitarian goals at the same time as allowing us to get the terrorists this is why we have to continue with our operation while at the same time allowance of billions to leave with them in italy the anti establishment five star movement is claiming a triumph in the general election with votes still being counted none of the

parties look like getting enough though to use enough seats though to form a majority government. china's parliament is expected to approve changes to the country's constitution which will see president xi jinping able to rule indefinitely the national people's congress is holding its annual gathering in beijing u.s. media is reporting special prosecutor robert manas investigation into russian interference in the twenty six thousand election has widened to include the united arab emirates the new york times says the f.b.i. has been questioning george near the lebanese american businessman who is an advisor to the u.a.e. and gary oldman has just won the best actor oscar face before months in darkest hour he joins kobe bryant as the one of the best animated short the six minute film is based on his twenty fifteen retirement letter in the play is tribune also winning was allison janney for best supporting actress for her role in the film i taught sound wrong well rockwell took away best supporting actor for three billboards those are the headlines the listening post is next.

with and for you. right here i want you to go forth your child on my way right now my friend of. mine just. got to push you further. thanks china has absolutely no doubt about. the law richard gives birth in europe the listening post here are some of the stories we're following this week the rise of xi jinping and the part the chinese news media have played in.