we headed to jerusalem bureau covered israeli air force we covered this story rebel lot of internet normal to recover including that. in all the stories we have presence here all the time apart from being a cameraman it's also very important to get journalists 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 then and what happens here matters. leaders of north and south korea agreed to hold talks next month raising hopes of a breakthrough in relations so. a lot again i'm peter w. watching al-jazeera live from our headquarters here and also coming up russia

office safe passage of besieged eastham kuta for antigovernment fighters and their families. sri lanka declares a nationwide state of emergency after violence between muslims and buddhists. and a cold war style mystery as a former russian spy lies critically ill in a british hospital. the leaders of north and south korea have agreed to hold an historic summit in april those hopes build for a breakthrough on the peninsula that follows a high level meeting between a south korean delegation and the north korean leader kim jong il in pyongyang they've agreed to install a hotline between the two leaders to deescalate military tensions and north korea to freeze nuclear and missile tests during the dialogue the south says pyongyang is willing to talk to the u.s. to discuss giving up its weapons it said it wouldn't need them if it's a. curity was guaranteed the u.s.

has previously said it would only hold talks if those talks lead to north korea's denuclearization washington has given it a cautious reaction was donald trump tweeting we'll see what happens rob right now from so. the delegation arrived back in seoul clearly delighted the mission had achieved all its objectives and more most importantly an apparent commitment from north korea to denuclearize under the right conditions that. north korea made it clear that there will be no reason to possess nuclear capability is if there is no military threat and also north korea's regime security is guaranteed the two sides have agreed to a summit between president moon j.n. of south korea and north korean leader kim jong un tam and john inside the demilitarized zone separating the two koreas where

a truce was signed to end the korean war in one nine hundred fifty three and for the first time a hotline will be set up between the two leaders to diffuse any future crises south korea says the north has also agreed not to hold any provocative new clear or ballistic missile tests while these talks are ongoing and has shown its willingness to discuss denuclearization with the u.s. washington has always insisted the north commits to giving up its nuclear arsenal as a precondition to talks but it's far from clear this agreement gives that commitment . greenman follows an extraordinary visit lasting little more than twenty four hours with a banquet and smiles at the invitation of kim jong il on north korea's state run media giving the visit extensive coverage. president moon's government will hail this as a landmark achievement of his policy of engagement early

a choose day he was attending a graduation ceremony at a military academy he clearly believes in his mission of long term peace through dialogue but this was a reminder to his critics that south korea should remain militarily strong if the initiative falters you know how. we must talk to north korea in order to denuclearize the korean share his will but at the same time as we must put our necks my efforts into establishing effective measures against north korea's nuclear and missile capability. south korea's envoys now travel to the united states to fill in the allies on the details of the agreement that will be a far tougher sell. macbride al-jazeera so. russia's military has offered a guarantee of safe passage to syrian rebels and their families if they leave eastern but the rebels are accusing russia of a military escalation and imposing force displacement russian air strikes killed

ten people on tuesday as the latest now from beirut in lebanon. the latest bombing campaign in eastern into its third week i believe. the number of civilians killed is climbing within the hour like. civil defense volunteers are overwhelmed now russia is offering a way to stop the war russian military commanders say they will guarantee safe passage out of the besieged enclave for rebel fighters and their families this. immunity for all fighters who choose to leave personal weapons and with their families is guaranteed by the russian center we call upon the leaders of all the illegal armed groups to make everything possible to what is the civilians from suffering and secure unobstructed delivery of humanitarian aid to.

the hundreds of thousands of people in eastern who are trapped in a war zone many refusing to cross into government controlled territory because of the lack of security guarantees the pro-government alliance blames the rebels for preventing civilians from leaving and holding them as human shields the rebel factions deny that and accuse russia of insisting on military escalation and force displacement what is known as the revolutionary leadership announced general mobilization to defend the cities and towns of eastern who. well you know. hold on to that this unite and forget the differences of the past the world with your steadfastness and perseverance with all your sacrifices during these hard victories near many many requests to join divided so we've opened many recruiting centers for volunteers and the should be the opposition has lost ground in recent days rebel defenses collapsed in the eastern side of the enclave the fighting

hasn't yet reached heavily populated areas but pro-government forces seem to want to avoid direct combat the strategy appears to involve surrounding the main towns and cutting rebel supply lines to force a surrender. that is what they did in the battle for aleppo they laid siege to the rebel controlled east of the city for months and then they launched an all out military campaign it was only when the rebels found themselves trapped in a small pocket of territory that they agreed to leave with their families many others left with them particularly those involved in opposition activities the people of eastern huta fear the same fate doctors civil defense volunteers media activists are all considered terrorists by the government they don't want to be forced from their homes but the likelihood is increasing dozens are killed every day the suffering is only getting worse. beirut.

ok let's talk to such a huge the u.n. xers country representative in syria he joins us on skype from damascus can you just get us right up to date with the latest information from where you've either had people on the ground in this eastern. area or you have people on the ground there. well i was in the convoy yesterday to duma to see that which we tried to bring assistance in for some twenty seven thousand people it was just a very positive step in the right direction to start bringing assistance in in there it's yes desperate population in there there's destruction there's display spent overcrowding people are moved from nearby villages now are living in basements fifteen to twenty per room there's hardly any space mothers were telling me that. children sleep and only then say because there's not enough leg room for them to do to be able to be in those basements and i see any conditions. knowing to

lation no place to pull but there's also a shortage of water shortage many cents short of your food generally very bad conditions and people are desperate to come out of this situation you were trying to get in forty six trucks of a food and medical supplies how many trucks of a did you manage to get in and how many trucks do you need to get back in again assuming that there is some sort of lessening in what's going on there right now. well we went in with forty seven trucks yesterday with food with nutritional items with medicine supplies and we had asked for a total of those during this period that we would be able to go in and offload these trucks and also do some kind of assessments on the ground we stayed in there for almost nine hours late in the evening in the dark but there was also intermittent shelling we're not sure who did that but there was constant shelling around the areas and we had to then in the end late in the evening and to return

back to base we were sure that we would be able to come back we want to come back and deliberate we have plans to bring three on wars per week just continue bringing assistance to people and they want peace they want to make sure that they can come out in safety i met children i met mothers children are dreaming of the. lights that they see of damascus they want to come out they want to play in the parks they want to have pizza very simple claims that they have but for them it's huge and they want this piece they want to make sure that they come out and be in safety on the other side from a tactical point of view there are claims today that in effect what the government forces are trying to do is split this area into two is that a fair interpretation of what's happening. on the ground and if it is what would that do to your ability to follow through on this operation. i would not be able to comment on the military operations there on the ground but we need to make sure

that people do get assistance wherever the first thing is there's safety now inside duma there were people who just want to come out and to be we're told by these mothers and children on the street that they are stopped from going up this is one narrative there's also a very strong narrative in there from this the elders in the council that they would like to see him and they would not like to quote for us it's important that those who have freedom of choice to go out and be in safety the big given to all men so that while these two exits if it's with a cord or only also have snipers on the side on the inside almost say but also safety be on the second is that they would like to get it from the situation improve that they would be able to return call such a manic there in damascus thank you. a new u.n. report has highlighted the suffering of tens of thousands of people trapped in the conflict in syria it says civilians are being deliberately targeted the report

phone government forces and their allies are using chemical weapons and cluster bombs in eastern guta now on monday thirty people were treated for the effects of what activists say was a chlorine gas attack and also sent civilians are being denied life saving assistance with humanitarian aid used as a weapon of war to flush out fighters and force communities into surrendering the un says crimes are being committed by all sides is pushing for justice and accountability to be a focal part of any negotiated settlement to ensure lasting peace the u.n. war crimes investigators say they want the u.s. to look into a u.s. led coalition air strike last march that killed one hundred fifty civilians the u.s. said at the time that i saw fighters were inside the school but the investigators say there is no support for that claim. somewhere there was a failure the coalition really ought to have known that school was being used to shelter i.d.p.'s they say they did not know. you know when

when the place was was shelled was was hit out of the two hundred eighty pieces there are one hundred fifty were killed. twelve survived the remainder are still it's not clear whether they're still buried under the rubble or what happened to them the russian transport plane has crashed in syria killing all thirty two people on board that's according to the russian defense ministry says the aircraft went down at the base in the taqiyya province early information suggesting there may have been a technical fault. in other news anchors declared a ten day state of emergency to stop the spread of violence against muslims the military has been deployed to the city of candy and the curfew has now been imposed after muslim homes and businesses were damaged in white on rice began after a truck driver for the majority buddhist community died days after an altercation

with four muslims mel fernandes has the latest now from candy profits. a heavy blanket of security around the affected areas of beginner and candy in central sri lanka the authorities very keen to make sure that there's no room for any further flare ups any more confrontations the muslim community and the singh haley's know what had started off as a fluke vaguely small scale argument or an altercation about drug ways all right of way. has basically taken on a communal proportion it never start of this way and this is what the government is urging people not to give in to sort of hate rhetoric or any of this hate crime and violence but ensure that they work together the government has pointed towards the violence this country has seen for almost thirty years reminding people that they can't afford to go back to that era now basically the muslim community burying

one of its own a youth who was caught in a house that was born down by an unruly mob last afternoon he couldn't get out on time and basically his funeral happening on tuesday afternoon now the single is community also sort of hurting after a truck driver forty one year old truck driver basically was assaulted to death a few days ago which formed the sort of catalyst for this tension for this country hoping very much that they don't return to this kind of communal clash because the country simply cannot afford it. still to come here on al-jazeera trapped inside a church the people seeking safety and one of the most dangerous jobs and central african republic will have an exclusive report from benghazi. and china encourages the four to move to the cities but not to beijing.

however got some pretty wet weather pushing into central parts of china at the moment that rain making its way over towards shanghai you can see how it goes all the way back down toward the southwest it'll stay dry i generally find in hong kong twenty three cells just but cooler as we go on into day normally away in the spring in those temperatures back at the station pushing that wet weather down towards the gulf of tonkin will see some rather heavy showers to add to the fog north of vietnam hanoi at around twenty one degrees not too much in the way of what weather across india at present here is fine and dry as you can see the heat really starting to ramp up a little more clout up towards the northwest easing through up pakistan getting up to thirty one celsius in new delhi you notice as i said it is lousy dry at a sloppy sunday that is the case across a good part of south asia is a similar picture as we go on into thursday karate by the state getting up to

thirty three degrees we're not far behind here in qatar actually we're getting up to thirty one celsius over the next couple of days he started to push through the the spring warmth showing its hand quite nicely abu dhabi at around twenty seven celsius and again a similar picture as we go on through thursday jan so when syfy pleasantly warm with pretty good as we head towards the weekend. the scene for us where on line what is american sign in yemen that peace is always possible but it never happens not because the situation is complicated but because no one cares or if you join us on sat there are people there are choosing between buying medication or eating this is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's an activist just posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera.

ok lesser a couple the top stories for you so far this hour the leaders of north and south korea have agreed to meet in april it follows a high level meeting between a south korean delegation and the north korean leader kim jong il in pyongyang that agreed to install the hotline between the two leaders while the north has vowed to freeze nuclear tests while those talks get underway russia's military has offered a guarantee of safe passage to syrian rebel fighters and their families if they leave eastern ghouta rebels are accusing russia of a military escalation and imposing force displacement sri lanka has declared a ten day state of emergency to stop the spread of violence against muslims in the

trees being deployed to the city candy and a curfew has been imposed after muslim owned homes and businesses were damaged in riots. britain's foreign secretary says the u.k. will respond robustly if moscow is behind the suspected poisoning of a former russian spy surrogates clip and his daughter in hospital in intensive care after exposure to an unknown substance the kremlin has denied any involvement in the buck. a police cordon surrounds the scene where surrogates good powell and his daughter yulia visiting from moscow were found fighting for their lives the bench where they've been sitting it's covered by a forensic tent nearby police have set up an investigation unit both victims of critically ill and in intensive care forensic teams combs the area sealing off the shopping precinct where they were found in the hospital where they were

rushed alongside our partner agencies we are conducting some extensive inquiries to determine exactly what led to these two people for whom conscious and to clarify whether or not and you criminal activity has taken place police say they're being treated for suspected exposure to an unknown substance but say there is no known risk to public health the possible by who called the emergency services so the two were in a semi paralyze state boerma thing and foaming from the mouth before passing out yulia scribble was then airlifted to hospital a father surrogate followed by road sixty six year old surrogate strip our was a retired military intelligence colonel this is the moment he was arrested by russian security services he was jailed for thirteen years by moscow for passing the identities of russian agents working in europe to british intelligence. it was released during a high profile spy swap in two thousand and ten one of four prisoners released in

exchange for ten russian sleeper agents planted in the u.s. the mystery poisonings led to comparisons with the two thousand and six killing of former russian agent alexander litvinenko he died in agony twenty three days after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium one of his suspected killers and look of oil is now a russian m.p. immune from prosecution an inquiry into the death concluded the president vladimir putin probably approved the killing police say they're keeping an open mind over what happened here the life of a russian double agent is fraught with danger needs barker al-jazeera solved. to central african republic where a nine month long ordeal for hundreds of muslim shows no sign of ending they're trapped inside a catholic church compound after the town of bangor soon was overrun by a christian armed group last name is catherine sewing. friday prayers for muslims in a compound of the largest catholic church in bangor around fifteen hundred people

have been trapped since last may when fighters from a christian group stormed into the town leaving the compound can be fatal for muslims and the last i do shows is where his brother was abducted then killed two weeks ago as he looked for firewood. on these gunmen are always waiting and waiting for us it is an issue at the compound one bullet went through my tent where i was with my children. the world food program supplies a comp every ten days u.n. peacekeepers guide them either aid agencies help but getting medical supplies is a major problem. is just over a year old she's sick but it's too dangerous to take her to the hospital in town even the roads are not possible because they are controlled by the armed groups therefore we are as humanitarians have to fly the assistance from benghazi to this

location and sometimes the transportation cost is very expensive than the food or the we have to provide these people they were forced to flee their neighborhood after which is just about two kilometers away their homes and the mosque they first took refuge in are destroyed the area is now an operational base for the mainly christian group which now calls itself the fans and is a vigilante group that was formed in twenty thirteen to fight against the mostly muslim seleka group with coming here at a time when there is a lot of tension fighters from their group in control of bankers who are quite nervous after what that another rival group is planning an attack. this is one of the most dangerous towns in central african republic people are always on edge they say the other group which is just outside town wants to come in to rescue the muslims taking refuge in the charts compound guns they don't comprehend the church

because they say that the church is the one who is keeping the most muslim people so they also against as you see and also the muslim people also they don't understand us because for them. like i don't know. the godfather of the people want guns so the church easy in the middle. the u.n. is leading efforts to return the displaced to their homes it's a delicate process that involves talks with the communities and gunmen people in this camp are a prehensile have but hopeful that maybe they may have their lives back some catching sight al-jazeera banga soup central african republic. joining us live from is let me amend here a spokesman for the u.n. mission in central african republic let me montero how can this possibly have gone on for so long. well in fact in bangor through the situation it's

a little be critical any of her new peacekeepers thought of being targeted today our convoy was targeted by us we had to return fire whether the same time we are doing. some of the projects one called started the beginning of march reduction of violence and some people are giving up their weapons and we are very much confident on this project but at the same time we are putting pressure we have to be putting pressure on the untied by lifeguards and also to green could do the turn and security forces that because at this precise moment we don't we only have peacekeepers and not the national force which is extremely important to do spirit says but we are working on on these as we are doing also in other parts of the of the country so if you have to get increased security for the security personnel and we're talking about peacekeepers here does that mean that the original mandate from

an administrative point of view has got to be changed and then you get more people with guns and then the situation will ease off. no in fact it is the. project of community violence you duction. communities some are. already started giving up their weapons last week and we'll continue next week by the same time we are putting pressure on on the guard but also some elements which are inside the i.d.p. camps we want to isolate all the spoilers and continue because as you know. was one of the. city of the central african republic but since july last year this huge regime is getting worse we are. ok mr mansour i'm going to stop you there sir which i apologize we're losing the line

to you but we did get a chance to get a good sense of where you think this crisis might go in the coming weeks we move on china's leaders are trying to further reduce the level of poverty enjoyed by millions of people in rural areas by getting them to move to city areas here's our china correspondent brought. you the song you is having a good afternoon he reckons he'll have made around ten dollars by the end of it he collects discarded clothes plastic and scrap metal anything he can sell to recyclers. you shows me his home a room measuring just over five square metres in the rent one hundred dollars a month to economize the electric heater stays off which means it's as cold inside as out a dangerous mash of exposed wiring loops around the room he washes outside where there's also a public toilet. the one my father had to share this bet was me last the sama

my children also visited all five of us have to live in this tiny room some of us have to sleep on the floor can you imagine five people squeeze in this room. he came to beijing almost ten years ago because there was no work in his home province of chandon his wife two daughters and a son all in other cities he sees them just once a year. so i first daughter and my second daughter a both in college now the reason i'm working here is to save money for their education and last the chinese new year i didn't go home because i didn't have enough money. he's not bitter about his life and accept it's his choice to live this way poverty in china is defined as anyone living on around three hundred sixty

u.s. dollars a year you makes twelve times that but in beijing costs are much higher than elsewhere. his future though is now uncertain in recent weeks the homes of tens of thousands of migrant workers have been demolished on the grounds they violated safety codes for years china's rural poor have been encouraged to move into the big cities but here in beijing officials now want to cap the population of twenty three million and that's why so many migrant workers are being forced to leave kneel on the i don't have any pension or medical care when i have to look after myself or with no one really cares about you to be honest i never thought about my future. china's economic transformation has for now passed him by down the road there's a new shopping mall and apartment complex aimed at beijing's permanent residence

a world that you is unlikely to ever know adrian brown al jazeera beijing. and from urban poverty to rural poverty in the second of two special reports from that series adrian brown to more reporting from shang she province in the northwest of china for some farmers are surviving by their own burrowing into the clay hillsides that's wednesday from seven hours g.m.t. here on al-jazeera. updating the top stories for you so far today north and south korea have agreed to hold an into korean summit at the end of april the first in eleven years it follows a meeting between a south korean delegation and north korea's leader kim jong il and in pyongyang the south special envoy says the north is willing to give up nuclear weapons if it feels its security is not being threatened our correspondent rob mcbride has the latest now from the south korean capital seoul. well they have issued this

statement that north korea has apparently agreed that if it faces no threat if its security as a regime if it's future is secured then it does not see why it should hold any nuclear weapons now that it is open to war sorts of interpretation of a guarantee that it is prepared to give up nuclear weapons with that is something that people will be looking into in the coming minutes and hours the russian military has offered a guarantee of safe passage to syrian rebel fighters and their families if they leave eastern pooter but the rebels are accusing russia of a military escalation and imposing force displacement russian air strikes killed ten people on tuesday and at least eighty people on monday a russian transport airplane has crashed in syria killing all thirty two people on board that's according to the russian defense ministry and says the plane went down at the base in latakia province early information suggests there may have been

a technical fault sri lanka has declared a ten day state of emergency to stop the spread of violence against muslims the military has been deployed to the city of candy and a curfew has also been imposed after muslim owned homes and businesses were damaged in riots. britain's foreign secretary boris johnson today saying the u.k. will respond quote robustly if moscow is behind the suspected poisoning of a former russian spy he's surrogates cripple his daughter is also in intensive care after the couple of earth exposed to an unknown substance the kremlin has denied any involvement sixty six year old scribble has been living in the u.k. for the past eight years after being freed from prison in a russian spy swap. hundreds of muslims are trapped inside a catholic compound in the central african republic they're under attack from a christian group in the town the banga soup around fifteen hundred muslims risk being killed if they leave the protection of u.n. peacekeepers up next it's the stream. until then.

we understand the differences. and the similarities of cultures across the world so no matter how you take it. will bring in the news and current affairs that matter to you. and you're in the stream today a wave of african-americans are choosing to move to the african continent but why and what happens when they get there join the conversation you think. or if you're watching live on you tube you'll eventually. leave your comments in the chat box and you too could be in the stream.