at this time on al-jazeera the continent of antarctica is facing multiple threats from climate change to overfishing tourism but now a campaign is underway to create the largest protected area on the remote waters of the world don't see stay with al-jazeera for a series of special reports from the greenpeace expedition antarctica. reports of more chemical attacks the syrian government forces step up aerial assaults on rebel held eastern of all. i'm sam is a dam this is al jazeera live from also coming up china promises to respond to any

potential trade war as the u.s. president plans to hike tariffs on steel and imports. daylong with spite from a curfew and central banker situation remains tense after a wave of anti muslim violence. the u.s. state of florida proves new restrictions on rifle sales in response to a school shooting that killed seventeen people. activists have released new video they say is phosphorous bombs being dropped on a rebel held enclave in syria people struggle to breathe after the attack in a residential area in the town of. pictures emerged after eighty eight people were killed in another aerial assault on the eastern that's one of the highest number of casualties in a twenty four hour period since pauses in fighting began ten days ago syrian civil

defense says there's also been a gas attack in the town of stockwell east of damascus at least fifty people have been affected. suzanne although now joins us live from beirut in neighboring lebanon so we got those reports of gas attacks and the young klav being split into what are you hearing about that. well according to the civil defense as well as activists on the ground the people were suffering and breathing problems suffocation symptoms of a chlorine gas attack they said that this happened in the suburbs of the sun and. now this won't be the first time the activists on the ground to blame the government for using chlorine as a weapon of war since the latest bombing campaign began just over just three weeks ago really rather we don't have any independent confirmation the syrian government denying this saying that this is all fabrication and lies and that the rebels are so desperate and they're making up these claims but we have heard from the french

foreign ministry just a short while ago saying that if we know that chemical weapons were used we are ready to take action now whether they're just words it is still not clear but the government really using extreme shelling extreme bombardment over recent days as ground forces push into the enclave they use this extreme shelling to push people back to make it easier for the ground forces to enter eastern that they've taken a lot of territory according to the syrian observatory for human rights more than fifty percent of the enclave is now in the government's hands and they're very close to splitting the enclave into two which means they're going to sever the rebel supply lines and make it very difficult for the rebels to control and defend their territory. thursday is supposed to be a day of aid deliveries is that off the table now. well the united nations is hoping to enter the besieged enclave later today they entered for the first time since this bombing campaign began on monday but they were not able to

offload all the supplies on those trucks because of heavy shelling now the u.n. humanitarian coordinator in syria yesterday said he is hoping that the government will commit to a cease fire to allow the aid convoy to enter and commit to that cease fire to allow the aid convoy to deliver the goods to the people who are trapped inside the humanitarian coordinator also hoping that the government will allow. supplies in because on monday the government removed surgical kits trauma kits from the aid convoy because they don't want rebels to be able to use that wounded rebels in the conflict but it is the people who need these supplies because they are you know being injured in this ongoing bombing campaign so it's still too early to say whether or not that aid convoy can make it inside eastern whatever the united nations is hoping to do that all right thanks so much zain a holder there. china says it will make a quote justified and necessary response in the event of a trade war with the u.s. foreign minister one yes' says china has no intention of displacing the u.s.

and such a war would only harm all sides he added the two countries should strive to be partners and not rivals president all of trump is expected to impose a twenty five percent tariff on imported steel and ten percent on our mini i'm adrian brown has more from beijing. well once a year china's foreign minister meets the chinese and foreign media this is a carefully choreographed affair questions are submitted and screened in advance to avoid any embarrassing questions as expected the dominant theme of his talk to the media was north korea he said that china wanted the united states and north korea to hold talks as soon as possible he said that china would be unremitting in its efforts to bring peace to the korean peninsula but he wouldn't define what he thought china's role would be in that effort but his message was very clear the time for talking was now 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 the nuclear and working actively to establish a peace mechanism on the peninsula that is china's longstanding position and the vision will set forth by the u.n. security council resolutions well as you might expect relations with the united states was also raised he said that china did not want to displace united states as the world's number one economy and he said such conclusions were fundamentally wrong he said that china and the united states should learn to be partners rather than just competitors he also said that in a globalized world a trade war would be very unhelpful because it would harm not just the united states and china but also countries right around the world and he said if it came to a trade war the response from china would be justified and necessary throughout his press conference the phrase xi jinping thought came up time and again it came up in

questions from chinese journalists it came up in his answers and it was a reminder if you like the chinese foreign policy is now very much she jingping policy. dog trump is refusing to back down on those planned tariffs on steel in polls though he's due to sign off on the measure by the end of the week can really help it explains. the u.s. stock market did not respond well to news donald trump's top economic advisor is leaving it opened rattled over fears of losing gary cohn's moderating influence in the white house cohn was the chief architect of trump's business friendly tax cuts but investors are nervous about the president's protectionist tariffs plan for for an aluminum and steel at a meeting of the world trade organization america's trade partners expressed displeasure the european union has also announced plans to retaliate with tariffs

on products like american tobacco and orange juice follows through with his threat if it does happen we would have to take measures to protect european jobs and workers thank you very much at a white house press conference on tuesday was sweden's prime minister trump was undeterred and lashed back at the e.u. threat but the european union has been particularly tough on the united states. they make it almost impossible for us to do business with them and yet they send their cars and everything else back into the united states and they can do whatever they'd like but if they do that then we put a big tax of twenty five percent in their cars and believe me they will be doing it very long the position of trumps commerce secretary who clashed with cone trade policies with the e.u. our out of date concessions made to rebuild a post-war europe don't make sense in the context of a strong modern european economy concessions that were perfectly reasonable to make

to germany in one nine hundred forty five or trying to nineteen forty five don't like certain surname or those in the very mature big strong economies and wednesday in social media trump continued to deflect fears of a global trade war arguing the us has lost more than fifty five thousand factories six million manufacturing jobs and accumulated trade deficit of more than twelve trillion dollars the white house says donald trump will make his announcement on steel and aluminum tariffs official by the end of the week just in time for a planned visit this weekend to the u.s. state of pennsylvania it is a key steel manufacturing state trying one in two thousand and sixteen and the republicans need to win again this year's congressional elections can really help it al-jazeera washington curfew on sri lanka's central district of candy has been

temporarily lifted off the police managed to contain anti muslim violence the government declared a nationwide state of emergency earlier this week and block several social media sites but this group swept through towns and villages targeting muslim homes and businesses but it smith is in this rankin city of candies how common things this morning. well i think because of that sort of rigorously enforced curfew then it was a comparatively calm night two homes of two muslim families were destroyed overnight but otherwise elsewhere in kandy it was quiet so the police decided to lift the curfew several hours earlier it will be back on though at six o'clock this evening local time look at the challenge all fargas have is to try and enforce the peace while allowing the economy here to keep functioning this is a very tourist reliant city they need to and they don't want to put tourists off

they need to keep the tourists coming here there are plenty of them out today so that was the challenge for the all parties nevertheless facebook nationwide still not accessible other methods of contacting over social media whatsapp and other systems they're either not working or they greatly slow down so there is a concern that they need to try and maintain the peace and the state of emergency remains in force schools are closed indefinitely or on day three of a planned seven day national state of emergency so there is still concerns that they need to keep and forcing this peace summit and understand the parliament there is issued an apology just what has this violence done to community relations religious service stations and ethnic relations. well i think for a long time in sri lanka not long after the civil war not long after the end of the the civil war there's been this simmering resentment by some in the sinhalese

majority is a majority buddhist sinhalese island simmering resentment that the muslim minority is about nine percent muslims here and they have that too powerful in business they have too many businesses they own too much and there's been this simmering resentment and nationalist forces have fuel that resentment nationally supported courses of use that resentment to to to to with part attacks on muslim communities there very simple easily sparked off this was a road rage incident last week that sparked off this latest wave of attacks the challenge for the all forit sees the government as this very precarious coalition in power and it's been accused of not doing enough to it to clamp down on this nationalist sentiment for fear of losing losing its control of parliament so there is pressure on the government to do more to try and pacify. the nationalist sentiment on the island some vernon smith there from kandy politicians in florida

have passed laws raising the minimum age for buying rifles from eighteen to twenty one comes after seventeen people were killed in a high school shooting in the u.s. state last month and a guy who has more from tallahassee. i 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 on school staff on the chamber floor emotions run high representative jarrett moskovitz is from parkland where 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 parklane seventeen people wish never watched 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 laws 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 you go across tallahassee florida. all still ahead on al jazeera attempted murder british police believe a former russian spy was poisoned with a nerve agent. and a fourteen hundred year old tradition gets a mob make over in taiwan. hello

and welcome to international weather forecast as we take a look at weather conditions across europe certainly seen a significant change of last few days much milder air pushing in across central parts of europe nowhere near as cold has been across eastern areas temperatures week or so ago look at most ten manas fifteen there from moscow and then we got low pressure moving in across the u.k. brings a wet and windy weather with it before another area of low pressure starts to push in from the west a movie in across the iberian peninsula through into the bay of biscay region see temperatures well up across much of france whitson through into germany at that stage across the mediterranean region weather conditions not looking too bad there roma fifteen athens at seventeen on the other side of the mediterranean also looks largely fine though for coastal parts of algeria maybe to be rather cloudy at times the chance of want to showers and real on the coast the clouds should gradually clear ways and through friday with karo seen highs of twenty seven degrees heading into central parts of africa we have some showers for kenya tanzania up into uganda

some showers still for bone otherwise shows towards parts of west africa cherry few and far between a famine a shower expected akron ghana sunshine and highs of thirty one for southern portion of the continent some heavy showers lightly across eastern cape twenty seven into.

you're watching our. headlines now syrian opposition activists have released video they say shows phosphorus bombs being dropped on a rebel held enclave eighty eight people were killed in another aerial saul's on instant promises promises to respond to those approved chemical weapons use. a curfew in sri lanka central districts of candy's been temporarily lifted off the police to contain violence against muslims the government declared a nationwide state of emergency after the fighting began. the minimum age for buying rifles in the u.s. state of florida will be raised from eighteen to twenty one part of a package of gun safety reforms approved by politicians follows

a school shooting in the state last month which killed seventeen people. britain's prime minister to reason may is defended the red carpet welcome given to saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed bin sound man is on a three day trip to the u.k. aimed at developing economic ties but critics say the british government is ignoring rights abuses in saudi arabia demolish l. reports from london. mohamed bin 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 of person 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 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 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 salman 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 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 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. and nato has signed an agreement with carter's cooperate on military and security issues because a real leader is in belgium for talks with the alliance and the european union shake to mean been hammered and he was welcomed by e.u. foreign affairs chief for the weekend morgan any his visit to brussels comes as the gulf crisis enters its ninth month saudi arabia the u.a.e.

behind and egypt imposed a blockade on carter in june of last year. well police in the u.k. say a nerve agent was used to try and murder a former russian double agent and his daughter so gay and yulia script pollak critically ill in hospital after they were found slumped on a bench in southern england on sunday saw the guy go reports from salisbury. 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 there was probably at least forty people for him and stood outside of cordoned off the the front of the. doors where the i believe it's come out from on the door to go in not sure they would get out but they were how do these light boxes they will see those four guards dressed

up in hazmat suit go inside retrieving stuff in these boxes and put them 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 owl's 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 liver failure the fast moving investigation has indicated that by a set of a ski pole and his daughter you were attacked with a nerve agent no detail as to which one but they are highly toxic in surgery this is being treated as a major incidents involving attempted murder by administration of a nerve agents. as you know these three people remain critically ill in hospital.

sadly in addition by police officer he was one of the first to attend the scene to respond to the incident. he's now serving a serious condition in hospital investigators have for an open mind as to who was behind this attack in salt sprit 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 sony diagonal. police say they've smashed one of europe's biggest migrant smuggling rings they've raided homes and hotels in romania and germany migrants are said to

have paid around five thousand dollars to go from turkey to germany authorities say the smugglers trafficked two thousand people through the remaining city of to me swara state of emergency has been declared after an earthquake opened up huge cracks in a town in southern peru two kilometer long landslide covered parts of the town in this region houses and roads were swallowed up there's been no word on casualties so far. politicians in the philippine house of representatives voted to impeach the country's first female chief justice maria lo there are said n.-o. is accused of corruption but those against the move say she's being targeted for criticizing president roh the bigger the target is policies the house must pass the case to the senate is expected to stand trial in october. pakistan has elected a woman from its hindu minority to the senate for the first time krishna komati cawley is

a member of the pakistan people's party of former prime minister benazir bhutto the party nominated her for a seat reserved for minority candidates from the sindh province where it holds a majority she comes from the so-called untouchables the lowest level of the caste system still practiced in pakistan and neighboring india six asian cities are displaying their creations at this year's sky lantern festival in the district of pink she sneered taipei in taiwan the event attracts millions of visitors from around the world this is celebrations are a mix of tradition and technology as this report rising up the night sky this year's sky lantern festival theme is a celebration of the chinese zodiac year of the dark the main display lanterns a child from the local soup tribe with a taiwanese dog to wish everyone a prosperous year ahead and on how the festival dates back to tenderness fourteen

hundred years ago back in the tradition marked the end of the lunar new year break when students return to school with lanterns to be left out by the teaches as a symbol of oppression future. the festival features tech inspired elements that allow for more visitor interaction this smartphone app helps with festival navigation and provides displaying information along with the details of their design concept. digital temple lanterns can be lit for good fortune or digital lanterns can be released into a virtual sky. but the traditional style lantern is still being kept alive first invented by a military strategist in china around eight hundred years ago it was brought to taiwan by immigrants and at one time miners in pink sea used the lanterns to warn of bandits seventy one year old lingual he wants to attract tourists with his craft

following in his father's footsteps he's been making sky lantern's the old fashioned way for almost thirty years. if we don't pass on our traditions many of those early days cultural heritage and darts will be forgotten this is what keeps me going. lynches historical stories and shows visitors how to float the creations written hope how well love and success slowly rise of. the kerosene so rice paper is expected to last a year but as technology changes learn hopes his engine craft lasts a lifetime so here's a guy for al-jazeera. thousands of south koreans are marking international women's day by rallying against sexual abuse and harassment. in march to a square in seoul carrying signs of the global need to movement south korea's

government says it plans to toughen the punishment for employers who failed to address sexual abuse and in paris the eiffel tower was the top to celebrate international women's day the phrase now we act is shown to promote the french version of the times up movement it's raising money to help women fight cases of sexual harassment more than one hundred sixty french actresses have joined the movement. above all our message is a message to men to all of society because our fight is not a fight against before each time there is some progress for women each time our society is moving to more pacification more equality less sexism doesn't look to less violence at the end every will benefit. and let's take you through some of the headlines now syrian opposition activists have released a video they say shows phosphorus bombs being dropped on

a rebel held on klav eighty eight people were killed in another aerial soltani. france is promising to respond if there's proof chemical weapons were used as a holder has more from beirut in neighboring lebanon. it's not the first time the opposition has accused the government of using chlorine gas as a weapon of war since the latest bombing campaign began almost three weeks ago there have been cases of suffocation civilians with breathing problems in the towns and how now the reports of a chlorine gas attack coinciding with extreme shelling and bombardment throughout eastern as government forces try to advance on the ground china says it will make a quote justified and necessary response in the event of a trade war with the u.s. foreign minister one use says china has no intention of displacing the u.s. in such a war would only harm all sides president donald trump is expected to impose a twenty five percent tariff on imported steel and ten percent on alum in the i'm

a curfew on trying because central district of candy has been temporarily lifted after police managed to contain anti muslim violence the government declared a nationwide state of emergency after the fighting began some social media sites have been blocked. the minimum age for buying rifles in the u.s. state of florida will be raised from eighteen to twenty one controversially some teachers can be trained and it follows a school shooting in the state last month in which seventeen people were killed british police say a nerve agent was used to try to murder a former russian double agent and his daughter so again you were found slumped on a park bench and soles free on sunday they were both critically ill in hospital politicians in the philippines house of representatives voted to impeach the country's first female chief justice. of corruption critics say she's being targeted for criticizing the president of the policies.

headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after inside story stay with us bigger and potentially more dangerous that's the best way to describe what's happening with the smoking alternative known as favorite i enjoy. 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 this conventional cigarette do you think it's helped my opinion i think they're both dangerous take no at this time on al-jazeera. what is triggering violence in sri lanka. they're being systematically targeted by the majority the government declared a state of emergency but what will it take to end the recurrent the latest friction long term.