our biggest strength is that we talk to normal everyday people we get them to tell their stories and doing that really reveals the truth people are still gathered outside these gates waiting for any information most of them don't know whether their loved ones are alive or dead or miami really is a place where two worlds meet we can get to washington d.c. in two hours we can get set on jurists in the rest of central america about the same time but more importantly is where those two cultures north and south america needs us to teach it's a very important place for al-jazeera to be. at least fifty civilians including children and parents have been injured in a gas attack in syria. number shall carry this is obvious here a life of doha also coming up short of politicians approved new restrictions on

rifle sales in response to a school shooting that killed seventeen people. saudi arabia's crown prince gets the world treatment on his first official trip to britain but also a cold reception from protesters plus. i'm side of planets and when it's a recycling plant in doha and all the funny why the gulf crisis has been helping businesses like this one turn a new page. there's a video of what activists say appear to be phosphorous bombs being dropped on a rebel held on klav in syria the pictures emerged after eighty eight people were killed in another aerial assault on eastern ghouta that's one of the highest number of casualties and a twenty four hour period since paul's and fighting began ten days ago syrian activists released in a video of the phosphorus bombs they say it happened in a residential area and the town of her maria syrian civil defense says there has

been a gas attack in a marina and the town of saka at least fifty civilians including children and infants have been affected. government forces appear to have seized more territory with a step closer to being split into. report disturbing. civil defense volunteers are appealing to the un security council to make this stop they are calling what is happening in eastern 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 was oh. my god but at least eight hundred syrians many of them women and children have

already been killed in almost three weeks of relentless airstrikes and men throughout the besieged and claim. any of 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 in the 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. evacuated many of them are afraid to cross into government controlled territory and many are afraid of permanent displacement western nations 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 backer russia this month it is eastern which is in the words of the sector general hell on earth 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 for the backing of some of the foreign supporters it is urgent to reverse this catastrophic course and 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 senator bayh wrote politicians in the u.s. state of florida have passed laws raising the minimum age for buying rifles to twenty one comes after seventeen people were killed and a high school shooting in that state last month and allegorize more from tallahassee. in florida state capitol building student staged a die in this was a last ditch effort to persuade florida's politicians to ban assault rifles and not school staff on the chamber floor emotions run high representative jared moskovitz

is from parkland he was seventeen people were killed you don't need to stand with me i don't need you to stand with me. i need you to stand with the families push the green button the bill bans bump stocks raises the minimum age to buy rifle to twenty one and imposes a three day waiting period for all gun sales such measures were unthinkable in the republican controlled legislature before the park and school shooting controversially the bill proposes that some teachers and school staff who carry out the required training can now carry firearms the concept is to for those schools and those communities that opt to do this as they have in texas and have the as they haven't pulled county in other places around the country to have people who are expert in being able to defend and having lots and lots of training in order to do so in part when students return for their first full day since their classmates and teachers were killed the alleged shooter nicholas cruz was formally charged

with seventeen murders but for many the proposals don't go far enough we wait to see what happens and angie gallo is a legislative chair for florida's parents teachers association and says the bill potentially puts children's lives at risk if we lost you know seventeen and park one seventeen people which never of last we lost forty nine impulse that we shouldn't have lost and we didn't act after that we've had that nashua thing in las vegas where we've seen too much carnage and i think we'll continue to see unless we come up with some common sense gun law the bill also provides almost four hundred million dollars in funding for increased security in schools mental health counseling and child welfare investigations the bill will now go to florida's governor rick scott if he signs it the proposals will become law within fifteen days for the survivors of the park one school shooting there's a grudging acceptance that this is a step in the right direction but ultimately they're disappointed that assault rifles weren't banned and that some teachers will be armed and gallacher tele has

a florida. british prime minister theresa may has defended the red carpet welcome given to saudi arabia's crown prince at the forestay abraham events on three day trip to the u.k. aimed at developing economic ties between the two countries but critics say the british government is turning a blind eye to human rights abuses in saudi arabia reports in london. been some man started off if 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 ten months 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 for 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 term you've been question the prime minister what message he would become bringing to the chemicals and tomorrow is international women's day a chance to both celebrate how far we've come on equality for women but it will said 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 arm 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 the law i. the 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 the prime minister left parliament to meet with m.p.'s at downing street prince my mother when will you stop bombing innocent civilians in yemen when will you stop killing innocent civilians in yemen prince but i must. as you can see this trip is not just a high profile one but it's also a very controlled trip 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. nato has signed an agreement with qatar to cooperate on military and security issues qatar's emirs in belgium for talks with the alliance and the european union seek to maintain her mouth fanny was welcomed by e.u. foreign affairs chief and reka more bahraini is this it to brussels polish continuing tension in the gulf nine months ago saudi arabia the u.a.e.

bahrain and aged cut ties with qatar. has more from brussels qatar officials say they are expanding their partnership with key international institutions like nato to and the you with the e.u. to choose 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 role should the opposite syrian opposition play in the future with nato the qataris have signed an agreement paving the way for nato a personnel to. get into qatar used a qatari military base of date rule for nato is operations enough guy but also in their. push against i still in the region and that's quite significant because

as you remember back in june when saudi arabia these lies start of the embargo on. the accused qatar for. sponsoring extremism accusation is strongly denied by qatar and now this partnership with no doha qatar the perspective is clear indication of the able not only to break the embargo but also to break any attempt by the saudis to put more isolation. or. still ahead on al-jazeera and the shocking pictures of pollution there had environmentalist demanding action at a summit in mexico. i'm wayne hay reporting from vietnam where we look at how this country has in just a few decades emerged from economic isolation and how it stands to benefit from a new multilateral trade deal.

from the clear blue sky of the doha. to the french autumn breeze in the city of love. welcome back look at the weather across the levant and western parts of asia this time from a cloud across some of these eastern areas but turning weather conditions are drawing fairly benign stana there in kazakhstan highs of nine degrees fine around the caspian sea sunshine for tehran and back and then run the eastern side of the mediterranean more unsettled across turkey we've got some a brace of rain the snow at higher elevations elsewhere the flows still coming in from the south are quite warm but as we move the forecast through to friday more westerly so getting the wind coming off a cooler sea so nineteen degrees as a high in beirut at that stage and you see the area of snow developing across the caucasus and the circulation here for back resulting in temperatures of just eleven degrees celsius having tenth arabian pynchon not much to say that the weather is fantastic here thank you very much thirty one degrees in tow on the other side the

french is warming up really has been very mild all way through this winter and into the spring temperatures rising quickly thirty eight is the high in mecca on thursday as we start our weekend still up at thirty five degrees celsius down into southern portions of africa we've got some showers for the eastern cape of south africa cape town south looking dry and fine geria draw a picture across much of zimbabwe with sunshine expected in harare and a maximum temperature here of twenty eight. the winds are sponsored by qatar to use . the scene for us when they're online which is a very nice sign in yemen that peace is possible but not what happens not because the situation is complicated but because no one cares or if you join us on sat there people the little choosing between buying medication eating this is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's been out to this has posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. you're

watching al-jazeera these are the top stories this hour syrian activists have released video of what they say appears to be phosphorous bombs being dropped on eastern canada it apparently happened in the town upon maria eighty eight people were killed in the region on wednesday and another day of aerial bombardment the minimum age for buying rifles will be raised to twenty one in the u.s. state of florida that's part of a package of gun safety reforms approved by politicians after seventeen people were killed last month in a school shooting. u.k. prime minister theresa may has defended a red carpet welcome given to saudi arabia's crown prince but then salma is on

a three day trip and that developing economic ties between the two countries. trump is refusing to back down on plans to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports is due to sign off on the measure on thursday the white house says some countries may be exempt from the new tariffs several countries have threatened to retaliate warning the move could start a global trade war. we expect that the president will sign something 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 is there any idea and that would be case by case in country by country basis but it would be determined whether or not there is a national security exemption or revamp transpacific partnership trade deal will be signed on thursday and chile its future has been endowed after the fall of the u.s.

last year the remaining eleven countries have forged ahead with the pack where the biggest winner is expected to be vietnam is when he reports from hay is a long the oldest porcelain factory in vietnam hasn't changed much since it was opened in one thousand nine hundred sixty back then it was operated by the communist government of the north vietnam when the country was divided today it's united under communist rule but the government has embraced capitalism like most state owned enterprises this factory has been privatized and will soon move to a new purpose built industrial park will be moving to a new factory will help us develop you can see all the machines out so it will invest in more modern production lines more than twenty years vietnam was torn apart by war it ended in one thousand nine hundred seventy five with the north defeating the south which was backed by the united states communism emerged victorious but the leaders soon realized that the centralized economic system had

to change economy clearly was your best. the government embarked on a series of reforms to open the country up and allow market forces that now has one of the best performing economies in the world when vietnam began reforming in one nine hundred eighty six its total trade was worth only six hundred forty million dollars a year it was really only doing business with the likes of china and the former soviet union just over thirty years on as its economic borders have opened that's to get hazlitt to more than four hundred and twenty billion dollars but some believe it could do even better and say the government must continue evolving to combat problems like rising inequality it coes by corruption. in an informal economy and vietnam must try to reduce it and now that now might create new into the to modernize it going to me the process is ongoing and reforms like

increasing efficiency and breaking down bureaucracy may be pushed along by trade deals like the trans-pacific partnership some may question the pace but certainly there were direction of the reform is very welcome but some of that will need to be accelerated for for the domestic private sector to be able to grow more that it has been so far that certainly the goal of this company which used to import its clay and export the finished products price fluctuations mentored eventually became a domestic supply are only c.p.p. and a new modern factory male aout to realize its goal of returning to the international markets wayne hay al-jazeera has a long vietnam china's foreign minister has called on the u.s. and north korea to hold talks as soon as possible made the comments during the annual meeting of china's parliament in beijing said diplomacy between north and south korea which has raised the possibility of talks between young and washington . but you make sure that we call on the parties particularly the u.s.

and north korea to engage in dialogue sooner rather than later we encourage them to follow a jewel track approach of remaining committed to the goal of do nuthin and working actively to establish a peace mechanism on the peninsula this is china's longstanding position and the vision will set forth by the u.n. security council resolutions the real playing floor house of congress has voted to impeach the country's top judge mail orders serino is accused of corruption those against the move say she's being targeted for criticizing president reagan or territories policies the house miss passed the case to the senate where sprint is expected to stand trial in october leadership of afghan president under growing strain still waiting for an answer from the taliban days after offering a whole peace talks with the armed group they would eventually pave the way for them to be recognized as a political party but as tony brooklier reports from kabul not all afghans are happy for connie to pursue peace at any price. it's the eight opening of parliament

the third under his presidency it comes at a time of pressure as well as increase hopes for peace but after afghanis popularity rating is at its lowest since taking office three years ago in a recent survey more than half of afghans said they were dissatisfied with him and the government gunnies accused of breaking election promises unemployment has increased so has poppy cultivation people are less well off and he's argued that the country is more divided than when he was elected there's also been a mixed reaction to his surprising offer to the taliban last week of peace talks without precondition is offer welcomed by the international community but not by all afghans the people of afghanistan who serve our should be consulted as such should know that their part of the process the taliban has been using suicide bombings to devastating effect especially in kabul attacks including the killing of more than one hundred people when an ambulance was blown up doublet twenty six year

old son juma was killed in that attack in january. whoever has blood on their hands cannot come and negotiate pace they should be held accountable enough blood has been shed there are tens of thousands of people who have lost loved ones at the hands of the taliban not all are ready to forgive for peace at any cost and not all are happy with what his government has achieved. the people have been expecting much more not even one percent of those expectations have been met and the taliban has taken more towns and territory. it's almost a case of heads they win tails i lose for gummi pressure is building internally and from international allies being president of afghanistan requires a delicate balancing act obviously you cannot make everybody happy especially when you have so many parties involved internally and externally into the african conflict but looking at. the african situation i think this is the best of one is

on has got. when we speak about alternatives we really don't have one at the moment the next presidential election isn't due for two years but hopes of building that before then parties including the taliban will have come to the negotiating table it's not just about peace most people here believe that will come eventually it's more about what that peace will cost in terms of concessions how they can hear the wounds of this terrible conflict and how afghanistan can achieve true reconciliation tony blair three zero kabul. has imposed a curfew on that central district after days of violence that is miles have been sweeping through towns and villages burning muslim homes and businesses and that's prompted the government to declare a week long state of emergency police say they smash one of europe's biggest smuggling rings of illegal migrants they've raided homes at hotels in romania and germany grants are said to pay five to six thousand dollars to go from turkey to

germany authorities say the smugglers trafficked two thousand people to the romanian city of timisoara it's become a hub for migrants state of emergency spending clear after an earthquake opened up huge cracks in a town in southern peru a two kilometer long landslide covered parts talent and chris kyle region and tire houses and roads were swallowed up there's been no word on casualties so far. the fifth world ocean summit is underway in mexico the three day conference brings together scientists business leaders and policy makers with the aim of balancing the needs of human activity with the well being of our oceans among the key issues will be how to prevent overfishing which threatens a third of the world's fish stocks delegates will also focus on plastic pollution and how a plan to reduce it might work eight million tonnes of plastic are dumped in the ocean every year climate change is close also rather on the agenda and how ocean

resilient businesses can respond and adapt to rising sea levels. cason is a campaigner for the environmental campaign group greenpeace she says reducing the amount of single use plastic must now be a priority for the nation is one of the greatest threats facing our nation with rubbish trucks worth of plastic entering our oceans every single minute but equally we are seeing this huge wave of public momentum of political appetite to be tackling this threat at source i mean where we really need to see action is reducing the actual production. single use plastic that packaging things like bottles food containers even things like straws and just cutlery is a single use plastic items that are designed simply to be used for about five minutes and then thrown away that risk of getting into our oceans so everyone can make a difference in reducing that plastic footprint but also calling on governments calling on businesses by their customers to say actually we need to be moving away from

single use plastic we need to be ditching throw away packaging and we need to be exploring these reuse it will tentative that won't and so much harm. international monetary fund says the economic impact of the nine month blockade on qatar is easing its latest figures show the gulf crisis has acted as a catalyst for countries self-reliance a country has kickstarted its twenty thirty vision of self-sufficiency in response to the blockade imposed by saudi arabia bahrain last june. reports from doha. but then out of a crisis comes opportunity and for twenty three year old abdullah it's this a new machine to make it cottons made from recycled paper it can produce as many as one hundred thousand of them a day meeting abdullah low be able to meet a boom in local egg production since the blockade after the gulf crisis with most of all our main costs almost because they are mainly from saudi arabia

bahrain and u.a.e. but we never gave up on our business and we continued searching another new way to run our factory also weighed he owns the only paper recycling factory in costa which has four times as many customers since the blockade started in june and the factory exports eighty percent of its recycled paper to the likes of china sri lanka and amman and plans on expanding world series added to this and it turned into a home and simplified and dried on this machine here the home prices say thirty seconds to end up with recycled paper for the want to use is also a recycled which means a very different way to save costs are reduced and you see that it takes means the company can deliver in this in order to supply case of this on time. more than three thousand new businesses have opened in carthage since the gulf crisis spurred

on by a sense of national pride and a need to rely less on imports the emir of qatar is keen to implement self-sufficiency as soon as possible we do them actually feel the. accept the higher prices. of some materials. the challenges of the blockade are continuing but development bank says it has enough resources to support startups and entrepreneurs to take it from the idea stage access to the funding and investment access to markets and how we can take them globally little back in the paper recycling factory owner says a lack of trees in qatar helps teach the younger generation the importance of recycling and how the gulf crisis has helped him turn the wheel of fortune from one man's trash to another man's treasure saga hideouts al-jazeera on. acid attack survivors in india have now taken part in

a fashion show event near broome bias part of a campaign aimed at stopping the sale of acid in the country true hundred fifty and three hundred acid attacks are reported in india every year a law was introduced in two thousand and thirteen making it an offense with a prison sentence of up to ten years. roloson marking international women's day a celebration of the movement for women's rights and the male achievement and female drivers and russia are certainly feeling alive to mark the occasion police stopped cars not to check documents but to hand out flowers to women behind the wheel i mean as far as one of the most popular holidays and russia. is our top stories on al jazeera syrian activists have released video of what they say appears to be phosphorous bombs being dropped on eastern ghouta that happened in a residential area in the town of how maria eighty eight people were killed in the

region on wednesday and another day of aerial bombardment politicians in the u.s. state of florida have passed laws raising the minimum age for buying rifles to twenty one comes after seventeen people were killed in a high school shooting in the state last month the legislation forces a three day waiting period for all gun sales and allows for the arming of some school staff and gallagher has more from tallahassee for those survivors of the park one shooting of course seventeen people died three weeks ago there was a grudging acceptance that is this is a step forward and better than nothing of course what they wanted more than anything else was a complete ban on assault rifles that didn't happen this is a house controlled by the republicans but this bill will now go before the state's governor rick scott on friday he's not expected to put up any changes his so i think for the paul survivors this is a step in the right direction to change with a little bit of disappointment the e.u. has warned it's ready to counter the u.s.

president's proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports the head of the european trade commission says it's prepared to take the case to the world trade organization with donald trump is refusing to back down it's expected to sign off on the measure on thursday. china's foreign minister has called on the u.s. and north korea to hold talks as soon as possible when you made the comments during the annual meeting of china's parliament in beijing follows weeks of diplomacy between north and south korea has raised the possibility of talks between pyongyang and washington british prime minister theresa may has defended her bread carpet welcome given to saudi arabia's crown prince solomon is on a three day trip and the economic ties between the two countries the philippines lower house of congress has voted to impeach the country's top judge real or a serrano is accused of corruption her supporters say she's being targeted for criticizing president ivory go to territory policies those are the headlines the

news continues here on al-jazeera the stream is next. facing the realities of growing up when did you realize that you were living in a special place a so-called secret city getting to the heart of the matter while you activists to live in jail just because she expressed herself hear their story on and talk to al-jazeera at this time. i ask i mean ok and you're in the stream today we look at how passions across pakistan are rallying to end discrimination against that people we'll hear from activists taking part in the past in long march a movement aiming to improve the rights of one of pakistan's most marginalized groups.