the smoking alternative known as favorite i enjoy the taste of the harmful effects of what smoking does between two thousand and thirteen and two thousand and fourteen alone we start tripling in use among us high school students and head to head. first is conventional. do you think it's healthy my opinion i think they're both dangerous take no at this time and else is that. when you are prepared to kill your own people. is easy to. the u.n. rejects syria's justification for the offensive on the eastern of all does more troops is sent to the rebel long. i'm sam is a damn this is al jazeera live from the hall so coming up too early to be optimistic

south korea's president says sanctions against the north won't be eased for the sake of next month's summit. sierra leone chooses a new president with sixteen candidates vying for the top job. the saudi crown prince heads to the u.k. supported by a massive p.r. campaign. united nations high commissioner for human rights says the syrian government's offensive in the besieged rebel held enclave of east and can't be justified. saying he says civilians are facing a catastrophe as government forces targeted a few hundred fighters the u.k. based syrian observatory for human rights says president bashar al asad has sent in another seven hundred fighters to the front lines the un human rights chief though wants the syrian government to be referred to the international criminal court.

claims by the government of syria that it is taking every measure to protect its civilian population are frankly ridiculous this month it is eastern which is in the words of the secretary general hello nurse next month or the month after it will be somewhere else where people face an apocalypse an apocalypse intended planned and executed by individuals within the government apparently with the full backing of some of the foreign supporters it is urgent to reverse this catastrophic course and to refer syria to the international criminal court was in a holder joins us live from beirut in neighboring lebanon there's some very strong words from the u.n. is it having any impact on the behavior of pro regime forces. well the pro-government alliance really is bent on recapturing eastern at whatever price

and whatever cost what we understand is that reinforcements have been sent to the front lines hundreds of fighters they've already taken a lot of territory particularly in the eastern side of the besieged enclave and now their next target is the town of misrata and this town really is key because it is in the center of water and government forces are approaching the town from the east in the west and if they capture this area then they will split the enclave into half which means that rebel supply lines will be severed and the government will encircled really the main population centers the government doesn't want to engage in active combat that it will lose a lot of men it would be too costly so what does that mean they see just to these population centers to pressure the rebels and to pressure the civilians to surrender so this bombing campaign continues not just on the ground but air strikes and go bargeman to now the toll over eight hundred civilians killed and now this bombing campaign in its third week. and when we look at the calls those very strong

calls from the u.n. and earlier we had that call from the secretary general when it comes to humanitarian situation on the ground is it making it any easier for at least arrangements to be put in place for the resumption of aid convoys. well you know the situation is very precarious an aid convoy entered eastern with on monday but they weren't able to offload all the supplies because of the shelling because of the bombardment and the united nations is hoping to send another aid convoy on thursday tomorrow to deliver the remaining supplies the united nations has permission from the syrian government to deliver supplies for seventy thousand people but. populated by approximately four hundred thousand people so that is not enough and the government is not allowing surgical supplies and trauma kits in because they say that rebels use them who are wounded in attacks but it is the people who need them because a few thousand civilians have been injured in this ongoing bombing campaign

something mandatory in situation desperate the rebels saying they're refusing a russian amnesty offer saying that they're going to defend their land and they're not in any negotiations with the russian government to leave and to surrender all right thanks so much and a whole. trump says north korea seems sincere in willingness to negotiate with the united states on abandoning nuclear weapons but south korea's president says it's too early to be optimistic than jay and says he has no plans to ease sanctions before next month's summit with kim jong un mcbride has more from seoul there's widespread optimism in south korea at what many believe is a landmark agreement but conservative opposition parties still suspect north korea of playing a game of deception to buy time for its nuclear and missile development. there's been similar caution from japan which has accused north korea of renee going on

previous agreements made in here or past discussions with north korea have not resulted in the nuclear a cation so our response should be based on lessons learned from their talks for the sake of talks are meaningless in china one of north korea's few allies and a possible partner in brokering future negotiations has been more welcoming and a cautious welcome from u.s. president donald trump hopefully will go in the very very peaceful beautiful pair we're prepared to go whichever path is necessary i think we're having very good dialogue south korea's envoys now travel to the u.s. to sell the merits of the deal the question for officials there is whether there is sufficient substance to get them involved this is a huge opportunity lost if we can't get some talks going with north korea to prolong this reduction in tension because what's the alternative to talks is what

winston churchill said if you don't jar jar you're going to be in war war south korea's desire to avoid conflict at all costs may have started this push for dialogue it is now for others it seems to take it up for it to work if americans decide that it's a time to stop talking to the north koreans and it's like if they're making business here right now they will do it again there's not any inference of north south communication all sides no previous talks on the north korean crisis have been plagued by mistrust and failure. supporters of the initiative say the difference this time is a sincerity too weak to deal but unlike previous attempts the north east so close to achieving its nuclear ambitions the united states is so determined to stop it one way or another the price of failure could be far higher robert bride al jazeera so. the head of the un says him and rights commission is accusing me of trying to

cover up evidence of crimes against humanity against muslims is a rather hussein says he's concerned the mass graves are being bulldozed the un is warning that ethnic cleansing is continuing saying tactics have changed from mass killings and rape to force starvation only seven hundred thousand have been seeking refuge in bangladesh since may announce military launched a crackdown in august victims have reported killings reap torture and abductions by the security forces local militia as well as apparently deliberate attempts to force the injured to leave the area through starvation with officials blocking their access to crops and food supplies this council is aware that my office has strong suspicions that acts of genocide may have taken place in rakhine state since august i am therefore not surprised by reports that

villages which were attacked in recent years i'm allergic to mass graves of the victims are being bulldozed adjoined report released by human rights watch and justice project pakistan has documented rampant violations by the criminal justice system in saudi arabia the report says pakistani defendants are held for prolonged periods without charge or trial and no access to legal assistance they are also accused of forcing detainees to sign confessions. the report was released the saudi arabia's crown prince arrives in the u.k. for a three day visit human rights groups are urging the british prime minister to deliver a tough message though mr mouth explains. mohamed bin son man is visiting london and he wants everyone to know about it adverts like these have been placed across the capital portraying the crown prince as a friend of britain a reformist who's changing his kingdom for the better. the british government is

rolling out the red carpet for m.b.a.'s as he's known in what's the thirty two year old's first official visit to the u.k. since being appointed heir apparent. britain is saudi second most important partner for arms sales and security with british companies selling billions of dollars worth of military equipment so the saudis the u.k. government which is preparing for post breaks its economy means to boost the amount of trade in other centers to. its why prime minister to raise a may in foreign secretary boris johnson have both visited the saudi capital recently may's government sees it's in the u.k. has interests to do more business with the saudis and to have an even closer relationship with riyadh critics all opposed to gotten this major opposition job in some months visits as well as how britain has cozied up to the saudis opponents accuse the saudis of killing thousands of civilians in yemen as well as committing widespread human rights abuses at home the leader of the opposition labor party

germy corben has called for a halt on all weapon sales with several other members of parliament also against m.b.'s his visit i think most people in this country and many following terry's probably majority of voluntary and do not welcome this this despeaux in this country and in a good mistake there's a lot is to get an audience with our head of state i think sends all the wrong signals it's legitimizing an illegitimate regime a despotic regime and we need to do better britain needs to do better. at a media conference by the stop the war coalition organizers announced a protest outside the prime minister's home in downing street they want to send the message to been said man and his hosts that this by the p.r. campaign patrolling him as a reformist they believe the saudi regime is an oppressive one the argument about reform management being salmond is a reformer is a spin and the most superficial spin at that i mean it is one of the most backward one of the most undemocratic one of the most brutal regimes in the whole world and

at that level there's a very strong argument for saying that he shouldn't leak he shouldn't be coming anywhere near britain aside from meeting britain's queen elizabeth and political leaders the crown prince and his delegation which includes several government ministers is due to meet the head of the bank of england and business leaders as well current saudi trade with the u.k. has estimated that's around eight billion dollars a year the british government is expecting the saudis to increase that took ten billion dollars annually mohamed bin so man will receive a warm welcome at downing street by a british prime minister in need of money as she struggles with briggs it negotiations but across the road protesters will gather among them several members of parliament to denounce the visit they believe the ideals and principles of freedom and human rights should not be forsaken no matter how much the saudis are willing to invest in the u.k.'s economy. and i just you know run them. for team

abraham is a campaign that was an organization that promotes activism on issues like human rights and conflict joins us now live from london good to have you with us so we could start with some of the the abuses or miscarriages of justice in this report are we talking about isolated instances or something else. no for the duration of this war saudi arabia has been engaging in the want can only be called violations of international law they have been indiscriminately bombing schools and hospitals but they've also been using starvation as a tactic of war where we're seeing a country that's really on the edge of famine eighty percent of the population require emergency medical aid and humanitarian aid and that just isn't getting in because the saudi led coalition is blockading the country or i think you're talking about yemen if i could bring you back to the report. about the abuses in the

justice criminal justice system how people are held in saudi arabia pakistani nationals in particular referred to in this report for prolonged periods without charge without trial i mean how common is that sort of issue so i was about there's a lot of issues that we work on right now actually for this visit we are focusing on young men and the british public calling on the u.k. government to stop selling arms that doubted that there are other human rights abuses that happen in saudi arabia but our campaign is primarily focused today on yemen what do you think or do you expect the british prime minister the message should be somehow been summoned when he comes to the u.k. so in a post britain we're actually in the wonderful position to use the leverage that we have over saudi arabia and our relationship with them to call them to lift the block blockade. to put forward a cease fire and also engage in peace talks so that's what we want to resume made

to do is to use our leverage to bring peace to yemen and save the lives of the children that are dying there all right thank you very much for your thoughts on that. still ahead an al-jazeera trying to declares a state of emergency after violence between buddhists and muslims. and on trans top economic aide quits as the controversy over proposed ties grows. hello we seem to be sweeping away the winter fairly quickly from japan there is still cold air around but increasingly more of the stuff from the south is being cooperative so that cloud you can see will build into circulation a significant rain for southern japan but back edge snow briefly sunny for the high

ground for south korea and up inventive astarte we are subzero in the snow still here so the northeast china and more particular parts of eastern siberia they will still be snow which might make itself make his way across to carter for a time but you see that's the snowy bit this is just package snow so it'll be too warm office gone through it will not stick for long eighty degrees in tokyo and a wet one of that beyond that well behind that but still around ten in beijing the air is moving cautiously so called is not bad for the south or has been rain but look at the wind direction shanghai is down to eleven degrees and you think well that's going to chase the cloud and the rain further south and offshore and you know we're you'd be spot on you'll be right the sun comes out the temperature around about twenty one mark in hong kong which surprisingly isn't that high for this time the given the northerly breeze humidity will drop so it might feel much the a bit more chilly in the you're used to that from the point of view of sunshine it's fairly universal.

a man who's decided to break with tradition and train to sail competitively maybe not that he want to present a positive image and choose to steer a typical expectation of money for them it's about more than just racing yes you can still be a good i'm only a woman and also a very talented sailor going off around the world showing everybody how strong omani people are al-jazeera world meets the first female same crew in the gulf a man's sailing stars at this time on al-jazeera. all come back you're watching out zero time to recap the headlines the u.n.

human rights chief says the syrian government's offensive in rebel held east and also cannot be justified as a been saying says civilians are facing a catastrophe on its reporting the government sent in reinforcements. south korea's president says it's too early to be optimistic about progress for the north when jane says he has no plans to ease sanctions against pyongyang ahead of a storage summit with the leader kim jong un next month. ahead of the un human rights commission is accusing me and maher of trying to cover up evidence of crimes against humanity against writing that muslims say that rather for saying it says he's concerned mass graves of being bulldozed. voters in sierra leone are choosing a new president. by koroma stepping down after ten years and the leaders of sixteen political parties a vying to succeed him three million voters are registered for the third election since the end of the civil war the dress is at one of those polling stations in the

capital freetown. well there is so much enthusiasm in this election eager to select a successor to president and it's by koroma so many of them hundreds and thousands of them have queued up at polling stations like this some have been here even before five o'clock local time that's five g.m.t. and they're all eager to cast their ballots in this election basically the president will be elected members of parliament chairmen of local councils as well as councillors so when they queue up on lines like this they get accredited and then they come to this particular station there are in fact twelve of them in this location then they'll be casting ballots this particular box is for councillors. the next one is for mail or chairman and then over there there is a box for presidential candidates and members of parliament now as you can see over

there that is an election official issuing voters card or other voting card. for this particular voter who will go and stump and market men drop it inside now he's here marking his buy a lot after this he will drop it in each of the boxes slated for president member of parliament chairman of council or a mayor so basically that shows how enthusiastic these voters are but of course there are at the back of their mind there is fear this is a country emerging from a brutal war a civil war it ended fifteen years ago but of course that a few years lingering for years of outbreak of violence the police officers here in this country assuring the voters that they will be out in full force to protect and we sold their deployment in large numbers on the streets of towns and cities in seventy or so voting here is expected to end at five o'clock in the evening local

time and from then the coalition of results will start. with representatives of the candidates as well as officials and international local observers of serving how the process goes on then results are expected to be announced later trying to has ordered the blocking of social media sites including facebook to stop the spread of religious tension the president's declared a state of emergency across the island to try and stop violence between but this and the most the minority the latest on rest began when a buddhist driver died following a fight for muslims their friend is reported in the city of candy. a heavy military presence deployed to keep the peace witnesses say organize mobs from the single majority targeted mosques muslim homes and businesses on monday afternoon mohamed first brother abdul died in their home one of many set alight early morning today i came to inside the house check with my parents. that time i

saw my brother he was down in the. bottom. the attacks were sparked by the death of this man. the forty one year old driver was beaten by four reportedly drunk was lim utes for not allowing them to overtake his vehicle days later he was dead muslims were attacked on the day of his funeral after thirty years of brutal conflict lankans don't want more violence but have made increasing nationalist sentiment promoted by hardliners minorities are feeling vulnerable the president might be powerless serious in acted to address those concerns imposing a state of emergency. press my deepest regret and pain to every family and relative who suffered the loss of life and property and i strongly condemn all acts of violence i have also asked the police to strictly enforce the law against whatever

group individual or organization that was behind the unrest sri lanka has had a violent past helping for many theories on why and what is happening today boils down to in a way. the believe that the minority has that beyond the country and. some observers say police and special task force personnel couldn't control the mobs that ran riot in bigger and on monday and the state of emergency is aimed at preventing similar incidents cd a minister mungle a summer of leader has said enough is enough calling for inciting racial violence to be made in non-bailable offense and politicians who lead such violence to be stripped of their civic rights been left and then there's. the sri lanka. financial markets in the u.s.

open in a few hours time and early indications are they're going to tell expected to drop as a reaction to the latest announcement of a high profile departure from the trumpet administration chief economic advisor gary cohn was a critic of the president's controversial tariffs on steel imports one of the few seamy a trump aides with top level wall street experience is the latest in a series of high profile resignations within the white house president jordan has more from washington d.c. certainly the terror of issue is much more serious because that goes to the very heart of the u.s. economy its ability to trade goods with other countries in a way that doesn't cost the u.s. economy too much money and of course there's now fear that is going to be the case we don't know when gary coleman is leaving but certainly it's been a lot of discussion here in washington today this is the u.s. president the white house has a tremendous energy and we have tremendous talent here they'll be people i'm not

going to be specific but they'll be people the change they always change sometimes they want to go out and do something else but they all want to be in the world so many people want to come and i have a choice of anybody i could take any position in the white house and i'll have a choice of the ten top people having to do with that position everybody wants to be there and they love this white house because we have energy like rarely before now later this evening the u.s. president did tweet out that apparently he does have someone in mind superfly a scary column he's not dropping and he has about. that who that person might be it could be a noted economist it could be a noted businessman or investor we'll just have to wait to see but again gary condit will be leaving the white house after a little more than a year on the job at least he can say that he helped push through a big tax cut plan even though the plan itself is still very controversial. and the

advisor to the united arab emirates with ties to the u.s. president has a reportedly given evidence to the probe on alleged foreign meddling in the two thousand and sixteen election the new york times reports george nadar is cooperating with special counsel mahler's investigation and testified last week to a grand jury it says nadar attended secret meetings between them around the officials and trump associates during the presidential transition. at least eighteen people have died in the largest aftershock after last week's earthquake in papua new guinea the magnitude six point seven tremor struck early on wednesday the strongest since the seven point five quake ten days ago aid workers fear the death toll could rise to more than one hundred aftershocks and rugged terrain have made it difficult for rescuers to reach them one hundred fifty thousand people eight. senior british ministers are set to meet over the suspected poisoning of a former double agent in the u.k. counter-terrorism police are investigating why former russian intelligence officers

scrip hour and his daughter were found unconscious on sunday they remain in critical condition in hospital the u.k. says it will respond robustly russia is behind the incident moscow denies any involvement so no gago has more from solsbury. as the investigation enters into its fourth day it's been now taken over by counterterrorism police why they haven't declared this to be a terrorist incident they are saying that they are keeping an open mind taking into consideration the situation in which said basically paul and his daughter you were found since then there has been an extension of the cordon of the area where they were found which is the bench that's covered by the tents there samples from their surroundings have been sent to a facility known as porton down that's a government defense facility which has the equipment to be able to conduct the

relevant scientific investigations into exactly what was in their surroundings and if any such poison did contribute to their illnesses both said gay and you are said to be fighting for their lives in hospital but what is also another development is that the deaths of gays wife you'd miller who died of cancer in twenty twelve and his son alexander who died last year while on a visit in some petersburg apparently of liver failure. they're also being considered part of the investigation to see if there was anything untoward that occurred or contributed to their deaths meanwhile there is going to be a government cross departmental emergency committee meeting occurring known as cobra that's going to be chaired by the home secretary rod that will determine also what the government is going to be doing with all the information that they will be

receiving from the investigators but the pressure is on certainly diplomatically although the foreign minister boris johnson on tuesday did put out did go out quite strong on the offensive saying that if indeed russia had been involved in any such. activity then britain would come after this of course he also reminded people it contained echoes of the death of alexander litvinenko who was killed by poisoning almost twelve years ago if it does turn out that there was any state sponsorship of these poisonings that they were apparently poisonings then there is going to be another a diplomatic pressure on the u.k. which has already come out strongly against russia saying that they have to strengthen their own resources into fighting russia's electronic army as it

were but this will put the prime minister to reason may in a delicate position diplomatically as well forget also she was criticized when she was home secretary for not apparently doing enough on russia a lot coming down strongly enough on russia over the lip in young case this is already going to be putting further pressure on what is already a delicate relationship you can find much more on all the stories we're following if you head over to our web site see the address there now just sirrah dot com. let's take you through some of the stories then the u.n. human rights chief says the syrian government's offensive in rebel held eastern alter cannot be justified in the rather say that hussein he says civilians are facing a catastrophe as government forces target a few hundred fighters monitors are reporting the government sent in reinforcements

now this month it is easter which is in the words of the secretary general hell on earth next month or the month after it will be some one ounce we're people face an apocalypse. an apocalypse and planned and executed by individuals within the government apparently were for backing out of some of their foreign support. when there are a sane is accusing me in march of trying to cover up evidence of crimes against humanity against muslims he says he's concerned mass graves are being bulldozed for you and warns ethnic cleansing tactics of change from mass killings and rapes to force starvation south korea's president says it's too early to be optimistic about progress with the north when jane says he's no plans to ease sanctions against pyongyang ahead of a store examine if leader kim jong il next month

a joint report released by human rights watch and justice project pakistan has documented a rampant violations by the criminal justice system in saudi arabia the report says pakistani defendants are held for prolonged periods without charge or trial and no access to legal assistance voters in sierra leone are choosing a new president koroma stepping down after ten years the leaders of sixteen political parties all vying to succeed him sure lanka's ordered the blocking of social media sites to stop the spread of religious tension the president's declared a state of emergency across the island trying to stop violence between bodice attacking the muslim minority senior british ministers are set to discuss the suspected poisoning of a former double agent in the u.k. counter-terrorism police are investigating why former russian intelligence officers cripple and his daughter were found unconscious on sunday it's inside story now.

he's been in office for one hundred days in bobby's new president. is under pressure to improve the economy and corruption but is there any change from the robert mugabe and his men up to the challenge this is inside story.