i am doing this on the benefit of people. so they see the importance of the outcry. witness documentaries that open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera. the syrians and rebel held eastern ghouta with colds for an end to the fighting and asteroids have gone unheeded. along down jordan the sound as they arrive live from doha also coming up saudi

arabia's crown prince gets the world treatment on his first official trip to britain but also a cool reception from protesters. a case of attempted murder british police believe a former russian spy and his daughter poisoned with a nerve agent. and ready for a fight the e.u. wants the u.s. it may retaliate and washington imposes tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. so why not of us are police video of what they say appears to be phosphorous bombs being dropped on the rebel held area of eastern ghouta to happen in a residential area in the town of how maria syrian's civil defense also stressed there's been a gas attack on the town separately eighty eight people were killed of wednesday in another day of aerial bombardment well government forces appear to have seized more territory of the eastern good test up close to being split into a warning you may find some images and so. report to study. civil defense

volunteers are appealing to the u.n. security council to make this stop they are calling what is happening in eastern huta a bloodbath. the rescuers are responding to cries from underneath the rubble in this case from a child. the. young mother something that you get me out of here this boy says. he survived. oh. well. it was but at least eight hundred syrians many of them women and children have already been killed in almost three weeks of relentless airstrikes and bartman throughout the besieged and claim. but anyhow we are the free people of eastern little we want to freedom and the downfall of this murderous regimes which has committed crimes against the people there are extremists and terrorists here they are the ones who

are killing children and god willing we will remain steadfast. pro-government alliance is pushing ahead with its air and ground assault they have reportedly sent reinforcements hundreds of soldiers to join the battle rebels have lost territory but remain defiant. one of the main factions. says the people and the fighters in eastern will defend their land. the faction is also denying negotiating a withdrawal proposed by the russian military the russian defense ministry says some groups in eastern are ready to accept the amnesty offer and leave with their families the ministry did not name those groups and so far none have expressed readiness to leave even eastern civilians have not taken up the russian offer to evacuate many of them are afraid to cross into government controlled territory and many are afraid of permanent displacement western new. have criticised the attacks

on the densely populated opposition held territory but they have done little to stop them the united nations yet again using strong words against the syrian government and its backers russia this month it is eastern which is in the words of the secretary general hell on earth next month so 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 to refer syria to the international criminal court hundreds of thousands of syrians are trapped in a war zone many are on the move as pro-government units advance further into the enclave the central town of misrata is the next target government forces are approaching the town from the east and the west just

a few kilometers of territory is separating those forces capturing mr obama will cut the enclave in half making it more difficult for rebels to defend their territory. beirut. turkey is calling on the u.s. to stop kurdish fighters traveling to a free in northern syria members of the u.s. backed syrian democratic forces are heading there to help fight off a turkish offensive against their fellow kurds says the operation is necessary to tackle terrorism alan fischer reports from on the turkey syria border. it's not just in eastern guta we're fighting scars the syrian landscape north of a green the syrian free army backed by the talks continue operations the intention to take the momentum near the city a strategic military target. all the villages and towns controlled by the kurdish people's protection units a very strategic for us we need to clean up this whole area of these terrorists who want syria to be divided syria must always be united and unified with the help of

almighty and the heroes of the free syrian army the fighting in and around our friend provides a snapshot of how complicated the civil war in syria has become so why p.g. the kurdish militia enjoys american support when they're taking on i saw in other parts of the country they're now moving seven hundred fighters away from that battle to the front lines in our friend there they will confront turkish forces normally a u.s. ally the turkish government has told the u.s. it must use its influence to stop that troop movement. u.s. says the fighting in a friend is not its concern. that we expect the u.s. to certainly step in and halt the shifting of why p.g.p. y.-t. forces from man bitch to affray they are forces under u.s. control this is almost natural rights whether they would do this or not is another matter but we took all measures necessary on the ground. in the border turn of jobless a car bomb killed several people it's still not clear who carried out the attack in

an area which has been relatively peaceful for the past several months the turks are calling the operation after in all the bright even to pushing a group they describe as terrorists the y.p. g five away from the border you salt and afghan city itself may start in the coming days all the world's been focus remains on eastern ghouta and the fighting there. alan fischer al jazeera in the truck you syrian border al-jazeera has obtained exclusive video from the sinai peninsula showing the aftermath of an egyptian military operation that soldiers moved in a month ago targeting eisel and other armed groups of residents in the area say they're under siege in their homes have been destroyed. the british prime minister to resign may has defended the red carpet welcome given to saudi arabia's crown prince it's a first day of lama been three day trip to the u.k. aimed at developing economic ties between both countries but critics say the british government's turning

a blind eye to human rights abuses in saudi arabia. reports from london. been some man started off as you can trip with a visit to the queen who hosted the young prince of buckingham palace a sign of just how eager the u.k. used to bolster its ties with the saudi kingdom children from the saudi king crab academy work busking to cheer on the palm prince a continuation of the massive p.r. campaign that included huge adverts across london announcing been sandman's visits human rights groups however chose to focus on children by highlighting the killing of thousands in yemen by the saudi military an army under the direct command of m.p.'s as he's known but eleven million children in yemen who are dependent on humanitarian aid that's the entire population of belgian this is the world's worst humanitarian disaster so the trade deals for the niceties we have to remember that saudi arabia is a key player in this conflict the crown prince's visit is a very controversial one in parliament the leader of the main opposition party

question the prime minister what message he would become bringing to the americans and tomorrow is international women's day a chance to both celebrate how far we've come on equality for women but also to reflect on how far we have to go not just in this country but around the world later today mr speaker the prime minister is due to meet crown prince mohammed bin solomon as she makes her arms sales pitch will she also call on the crown prince to hold the shocking abuse of human rights in saudi arabia her response to the link that we have with saudi arabia is historic it is an important one and it's saved it has saved. lives of potentially hundreds of people. and i will be raising concerns about human rights with the crown prince when i meet him can i just say is the right honorable gentleman started on the issue of

international women's day i welcome the fact that the crown prince will be sitting down with as the guest of a female prime minister to be able not relationship prime minister left parliament to meet with m.p.'s at downing street prince muhammad when will you stop bombing innocent civilians in yemen when will you stop killing innocent civilians in yemen bridge behind me. as you can see this trip is not just a high profile one but it's also very controlled trade with the both the british government and the saudis not wanting to have clear access there is no press conference that took place this is the closest we've had to access to the crown prince and the big reason behind that is the widespread opposition and criticism that has been accompanying this trip. part of the opposition was demonstrated in this protest outside downing street organizers here say the u.k.

government should not be turning a blind eye to saudi human rights abuses no matter how much the crown prince pledges to invest they want their politicians to demand real change and reform in saudi arabia and not to cheer on what they consider to be propaganda aimed at punishing the image of a man who's knocked up many of his political opponents. al jazeera london. iraq's on farm and family on his electorate and politics and the university of cambridge she says tourism a will be hoping to cement the u.k. saudi relationship. well this is a very important trip for both of them and it's highly controlled because saudi arabia itself is trying to promote a reformed face he is the image of this dynamic new view that they're taking in the wake of the fiasco of the moguls that were all seized in the ritz as an anti corruption move on his part there apparently has been quite a bit of capital flight outside of saudi arabia so that's very important for him to

be here and showing that he can command british investment and of course for post-breakfast britain he represents very much an opportunity to show that theresa may can truly make a deal this amount of trade promising is emblematic of that so she is very much. invested in making the relationship cemented and seeing that it does provide a future but as a result of the very moral ambivalence that a great number of people and we see it in the newspapers here as well have shown about the human rights issues and the yemen war she must press somehow and has certainly. said that one can only do so if one is at the table and in the room . has signed an agreement with count azza cooperate on military and security issues

can't i was in there was in belgium for talks with the alliance and the european union just to me been hammered out that any was welcome by e.u. foreign affairs chief federica mockery news his visit to brussels follows continuing tensions in the gulf nine months ago saudi arabia the u.a.e. bucklin and egypt all cut ties with counsel and cut off from ministers also in brussels demanding some of the reasons behind the saudi the blockade. actually i thought that has supported the kuwaiti mediation from the beginning and we were calling for the escalation and inviting all the parties for a dialogue and we never went and use the same methods they have using and skill ation against our country right now that we have achieved nothing within the last nine months unfortunately the efforts of the emir of course being undermined by those countries mainly the blockading states and now there is an air force also from the us president and we hope that if it will result something that they come

to the table at least and come and face us with whatever they have in terms of accuse issues they've been accusing qatar for more than not nine months and they provide nothing until now for for anyone and we have the right now to understand what justified their blockade. how barra has more now from brussels. qatari officials say they are expanding their partnership with key international institutions like nato to and the e.u. with the e.u. chief the qatari emir shift to me but how much of that he has been talking about the latest developments on the g.c.c. crisis but also about regional issues as you know qatar and the key players in the conflict of syria for example on the share similar views about how to move forward and what kind of well sure the opposite syrian opposition play in the future with nato the tallies have signed an agreement paving the way for nato to pass nail to. get into qatar used a qatari military base of date will for nato as operations in afghanistan but also

in their. push against i self in the region and that's quite significant because as you remember back in june when sandy arabia these are lies start of the embargo on. the accused qatar for sponsoring extremism accusations strongly denied by qatar had now this partnership with no don't have a qatari perspective is clear indication they are able not only to break the embargo but also to break any attempt by the saudis to put more isolation. or qatar now this comes against the backdrop warning crees tension in the region and rising rhetoric particular from saudi arabia with which suggest that we might not see any political way out of the crisis in the g.c.c. and it's i'm sure although president trump has been putting more pressure recently

on all the g.c.c. leaders to try to meet him in in washington d.c. and find a way out of this crisis but i don't think the environment as we speak is conducive to any settlement and it's time soon. time for a short break here now to syria when we come back the revenge of refugees who fled their homes now myanmar's military is being accused of a cover up plus. i am lobbying that's the value in el salvador tens of engineers are drawn out in huge numbers a president preparing to hundred the power but it may be some time before his successor is found more that stings. by the skyline of asian harbor or off the coast of the italian riviera. welcome back across southern and eastern parts of china we've got some rain to

contend with a flow coming in from the north so it's cooler roughly speaking than it has been and for her knowing vietnam is light be pretty wet at times and temp to strong at twenty one but probably feeling somewhat colder than that as a move the forecast of the twenty four hours system tends to push on through there was still some heavy showers for central parts of vietnam but really for eastern parts of china it should be fine there foods you at seventeen shanghai should be quite bright across the rest of indo china some showers likely for parts of laos and maybe into southern parts of me a moderate young gone should be generally fine with temperatures in the low thirty's as we had done southeastern parts of asia here we've got scattered showers across the philippines i think for teaching in borneo we could see wanted to downpours java looking pretty west at moment some storms are likely here you may see some showers affecting singapore in kuala lumpur but northwards into thailand where the conditions generally ok nischelle but they head into friday certainly quite a few showers around the gulf of thailand but over in southern vietnam minh city

should be dry and fine for south asia it's looking fine across much of the region for the still a chance one or two showers affect in sri lanka with highs of thirty in colombia. the weather sponsored by cattle and race. has decided to break with tradition and training to sail competitively will be not that we want to present a positive image continues to steer a typical expectation. for them it's about more than just racing yachts you can still be good on lonely woman and also a very talented sailor going off around the world showing everybody how strong armani people are al jazeera world meets the first female sailing crew in the gulf sailing stop at this time on al-jazeera.

welcome back a quick recap of the top stories this hour syrian activists are released video of what they say appears to be phosphorous bombs being dropped on eastern but apparently happened in the town of how morea eighty eight people were killed in the region the wednesday another day of aerial bombardment. british prime minister tourism a has defended a red carpet welcome given to saudi arabia's crown prince. is on a three day trip and developing economic ties between both countries. and nato a signed agreement with qatar to cooperate on military and security issues. in belgium for talks with the alliance and the european union. now some news just in out of florida where state politicians have passed a bill to raise the legal age for buying rifles to twenty one it comes three weeks after seventeen people died in

a school shooting in the city of parkland legislation also introduces a program to arm some teachers let's get more now from the gallagher he joins us live now from tallahassee and so what more can you tell us about this bill and how significant is it. well daryn it is hugely significant for the state of florida after eight hours of debate much of it emotional they finally passed the marjorie stoneman douglas public safety high school act which includes as you said raising the minimum age for buying rifles to twenty one that is a fairly historic move on their part also increasing funding for mental health programs putting in a three day wait for anyone that wants to buy a rifle and qualifies and arming some school staff now all of this is being grudgingly accepted by the survivors of the parkland shooting in which seventeen people died it wasn't quite what many of them wanted they wanted to see an outright ban on assault rifles but nevertheless this action this bill will now go to the

governor's desk on friday that's governor rick scott someone who has an a plus rating with the national rifle association and he's not expected to really change things he did say that he didn't want to arm teaches he said that he thinks that teachers should teach but in this proposal they're not talking about arming teachers they are talking about arming some staff and this will be a voluntary basis county by county so some people don't want to do that in their school districts they will not take part but other than that in washington d.c. we have seen no movement at all on addressing gun reforms here in florida it's a very different picture it's not as i said what the park one survivors wanted but they will grudgingly accept this as a historic step forward because in this state nothing like this is ever happened before and certainly the politicians who are very aware of what happened in part run three weeks ago voted it seems by their conscience because a few dozen at least republicans crossed the aisle and voted along none along party

lines but voted to do things like rage the age limit to twenty one so i think part one survivor's something of a victory tainted with disappointment all right and getting out there in tallahassee and we thank you. now u.s. president donald trump is refusing to back down on plans to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports he is due to sign off on the measure on thursday several countries are threatened to retaliate warning the move could start a global trade war the white house says some countries may be exempt from the new tariffs. we expect that the president will signs of the by the end of the week and there are potential carve outs for mexico and canada based on national security and possibly other countries as well based on that process as. a idea and that would be case by case and country by country basis but it would be determined whether or not there is a national security exemption such as police say

a nerve agent was used to try and murder a former russian double agent and his daughter surrogate a new u.s. cripple remain critically ill in hospital after they were found slumped on a bench in southern england on sunday so nigger reports from seoul's break. away in a small city thrust into the global spotlight no one could have guessed that salt spray in southern england would be at the center of the attempted assassination of a former russian spy and his daughter anything unusual is treated with caution as investigators trace all known movements of the victims those probably at least forty people for him and stood outside of cordoned off the the front of the role of those where the i believe it's come out from the door to go in not sure they would get out but they were how do all these like buckets there were those four guards is dressed up in hazmat suit go inside retrieving stuff in these boxes and put him outside in the cold area. yeah that's all that they didn't tell us anything these

images show the former russian military intelligence colonel just days ago buying sausages and lottery scratchcards from a shop close to his home investigators are also looking into the deaths of scrip ause family members his wife passed away in two thousand and twelve of cancer his son alexander died while on the trip in st petersburg last year a stent simply of live a failure the fast moving investigation has indicated that both set against people and his daughter yulia were attacked with a nerve agent. no detail as to which one but they are highly toxic in summary this is being treated as a major incidents involving attempted murder by administration over nerve agents. as you know these two people remain critically ill in hospital. sadly in addition i police officer he was one of the first to attend the scene to respond to the incident he's now also in

a serious condition in hospital investigators have for an open mind as to who was behind this attack in seoul spree but already there have been murmuring accusations pointed towards more scope and if indeed it is proven that this was a state sponsored attack and that would have deep diplomatic consequences the russian government has denied any involvement but the incident bears striking similarities to the two thousand and six death of russian dissident alexander litvinenko who was poisoned by radioactive material police are refusing to reveal further details in this case but suspicions persist as to who's to blame sonny there you go out zero souls free. votes are being counted in sierra leone's hotly contested presidential election sixteen candidates are vying for the top job hoping to lead the country out of its economic crisis well the result won't be known for days but a runoff is widely expected advantage of supports from the capital freetown. the.

president and us by arrives a polling station to vote. after ten years in power his quitting the political stage. like three million other city leoni and his chosen his successor i am happy to have worked at i am happy that's the real you know what's in civilian hands of turn out in huge numbers and the process is peaceful and at the end of the day the best man will emerge and civilian will continue supporting the new president there's been much enthusiasm for this election voters started queuing accent just before dawn to choose a new president legislators and municipal officials my region is ninety four years old and i was among the early voters. many of my contemporaries on to live i voted for everything to be as they used to paste in people to afford

the basic things of life. vote organizers say the election was largely peaceful except for a few hitches in some constituent service the ballot with. many of your kind in the elections did not come with a hug and we did not notice on the when all of the problem by. the election results are expected within the next week. the election data center is ready for the outcome the results of the presidential election will be correlated and announced here there will be a runoff if no candidates win fifty five percent of the vote something many sort of loony and say it's looking increasingly likely if that happens it's not clear if voters will again come out in large numbers as a first time around. al-jazeera frito. when miles military is being accused of deliberately destroying evidence of possible

crimes against humanity the un's human rights chief says he strongly suspects acts of genocide may have been committed against muslim or hindu in rakhine state and just reports. life first on what a begum and her young children is a struggle to survive for months they have been sheltering in this refugee camp in a no man's land between the border with bangladesh and me and more the mother says she lost nearly everything when she escaped the military crackdown in her home state of. we were all running away from me on march trying to save our lives we had no chance to look back my son died along the way he died crying the only way for refugees in the camp to get access to aid is to cross this river into bangladesh. to get out. we don't want to stay here because we don't feel safe the myanmar army fire shots at us they have taken people from here day and night we can't sleep and we're scared for our lives

nearly seven hundred thousand rows are seeking refuge in bangladesh many have described killings rape and arson by me and maher security forces the united nations human rights commissions has issued several condemnations of myanmar's treatment of the road into it is warning the ethnic cleansing is continuing and says the tactics have changed from mass killings and rape to force starvation 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 ruins of villages which were attacked in recent years and alleged mass graves of the victims are being bulldozed. at the same time a bangladesh government ministers accusing me of obstructing efforts to repatriate refugees finance minister and they moved in said despite

a repatriation deal signed between myanmar and bangladesh in november it's unlikely that this place muslims would ever return to their homeland but repatriation plan has been controversial from the outset rights groups and the un have warned that the conditions for real hinge are to return are nowhere near refugees the camps in southeastern bangladesh are also resisting the idea fearing they won't be safe if they return to their homes and al-jazeera all the news of course on our website there is on your screen there dress al jazeera dot com that's al-jazeera dot com. a picture of the headlines here an al-jazeera syrian activists are released video of what they say appears to be phosphorous bombs being dropped on eastern ghouta what i found to happen in the town of how morea eighty eight people were killed in the region on wednesday another day of aerial bombardment politicians in the u.s.

state of florida passed a bill to raise the legal age for buying rifles to twenty one it comes three weeks after seventeen people died in a school shooting in the city of pottle and families of the victims of last month's shooting are back in the measures and the gallagher has more from tallahassee is hugely significant for the state of florida after eight hours of debate much of it emotional they finally passed at the marjorie stoneman douglas public safety high school act which includes as you said raising the minimum age for buying rifles to twenty one that is a fairly historic move on their part also increasing funding for mental health programs putting in a three day wait for anyone that wants to buy a rifle and qualifies and some school staff. british prime minister to resign may has defended a red carpet welcome given to saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed bin sound man is

on a three day trip aimed at developing economic ties between both countries british police say a nerve agent was used to try to murder a former russian double agent and his daughter sergei and your script all were found slumped on a park bench in salzburg on sunday both critically ill in the hospital. al-jazeera has obtained exclusive video from the sinai peninsula showing the aftermath of an egyptian military operation soldiers moved in a month ago targeting eisel and other armed groups but residents in the area say they're under siege and their homes have been destroyed plato has signed an agreement with qatar to cooperate on military and security issues catalyzing me is in belgium for talks with the alliance and the european union. votes are being counted in sierra leone's hotly contested presidential election sixteen candidates out vying for the top job hoping to lead the country out of its economic crisis that was old well be known for days but a runoff is one of the expected well those were the headlines the news continues

here on the al-jazeera after inside story watching. what is triggering violence and. some say they're being systematically targeted by the sinhalese buddhists majority the government's declared a state of emergency but what will it take to end the recurrent the latest friction long term this is inside story.