the nature news as it breaks it's estimated ten million children of school age are still roaming the streets. with detailed coverage children what amar face and number of serious problems from chronic child malnutrition to extreme poverty from around the world trade money is lost us lawsuit in two thousand and ten by then he'd spent more than twenty million dollars in legal fees. gasping for air reports of more chemical attacks as syrian government forces step up aerial assaults on rebel held east of all talk.

down this is al jazeera live from coming up china promises to respond to any potential trade war as the u.s. president plans to hike tariffs on steel and alum in the. british police say a nerve agent was deliberately used to poison a former russian spy. a day long response from a curfew in central sri lanka but the situation still tense after a wave of violence against muslims. 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 homs the pictures emerged after eighty eight people were killed in another aerial assault on eastern that's one of the highest number of casualties in the. twenty four hour period since pauses and fighting

began ten days ago syrian civil defense says there's also been a gas attack in the town of south east of damascus at least fifty people have been affected france is promising to respond if there's proof chemical weapons were used so the holder has more from beirut in neighboring lebanon. cases of suffocation and breathing problems are being reported by activists and medics on the ground in eastern civil defense accusing the syrian government of using chlorine gas it won't be the first time they've accused the syrian government is using chlorine gas as a weapon of war since the latest military operation against the besieged and playful eastern would have began almost three weeks ago the shelling really has been extreme relentless airstrikes the government stepping up its efforts to bring about a rebel defeat on the ground the pro-government alliance taking yet more territory at least fifty percent of the enclave now in its hands so the rebels now defending

their territory an aid convoy that was supposed to have reached the main town of duma on thursday but the international committee of the red cross confirming that this aid convoy has now been postponed late yesterday the united nations has been appealing to the syrian government to make sure that the cease fire is in place to allow supplies to reach those in need it is still not clear whether or not that aid convoy will enter eastern tomorrow or the day after but people inside really in a very desperate situation the suffering is immense now there are some reports of behind the scenes negotiations between the russian government and the rebels concerning some sort of a withdrawal and no side is publicly confirming this but the russian defense ministry did say that some rebels are ready to accept the amnesty offer china is promising what it calls a justify the necessary response if there is a trade war with the u.s. foreign minister says china has no intention of displacing the u.s. and such a war would only harm all sides president donald trump is expected to impose steep

tariffs on steel and imports he says cheap imports from china and other countries around the mining american jobs are china correspondent adrian brown has more from beijing. this is one of those rare occasions when china's foreign minister faces both the international as well as the chinese media the news conference happened on the sidelines of the national people's congress to avoid embarrassment questions are submitted and screened in advance but clearly the foreign minister had expected to be asked questions about the prospect of a trade war with the united states he said that china wanted to avoid that but if one happened the response from china would be both necessary and justified he said that in a trade war it's not just the target country that gets hurt but also the initiator and he also said that china and the united states have to be wary of the impact a trade war would have on other countries his language was measured but the warning

was implicit lucia cheer. history tells us that a treat or is never the correct solution which is specially in the era of globalization you choosing a tree or definitely a wrong remedy the result will hurt yourself which and others and china would take the necessary response for sure. the foreign minister spoke a lot about china's role in the world he said china had no intention of displacing united states as the world's number one economy but he also said that china's rejuvenation was unstoppable but that its rise would be peaceful and throughout the news conference there were repeated references to xi jinping thought it is a reminder the chinese foreign policy is also very much she jingping policy. dog trump is refusing to back down on those planned tariffs on steel in polls he's

due to sign off on the measure by the end of the week can buy health care reports. the u.s. stock market did not respond well to news donald trump's top economic adviser 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 trying 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 with 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 won't be doing it very long the position of trumps commerce secretary who clashed with cone trade policies with the e.u. are 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 buy existence anymore those in the very mature big strong economies and winced 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 kimberly help al-jazeera washington politicians in florida have pos laws raising the minimum age for buying rifles from eighteen to twenty one comes off the seventeen people were killed in a high school shooting in the us state last month and the guy has more from tallahassee. in florida state capitol building students 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 a 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 the 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 wish never 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 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 some teachers will be armed and you go across tallahassee florida. now britain's home secretary says a police officer who was harmed by a nerve agent is still in serious condition bart able to talk the officer was at the scene when former russian spies go screw polonaise daughter were found on conscious on sunday investigators confirmed a rare poison was used to try and kill them so we're going to go now joins us from solsbury in the u.k. so the fact that this officer is now able to talk is that taking the investigation forward. absolutely and any movement is welcome in that respect but the home secretary did underline the fact that he was still in a serious condition he was able to engage her words to with police officers

. the situation regarding mr script problem his daughter yulia is still very much in a serious situation now she refused to be botched only old drawn into exactly what the nerve agent that was used to poison the two that were found slumped on the bench sharon salzberg was there had been speculation all certainly too that have come into mind what the x. famously used last year to kill the half brother of came john in malaysia also serin gas was another possibility used with devastating effect in syria both of those neither of those have been confirmed the only thing that is being confirmed at this point here is that it was indeed a very rare substance and with that investigators can then go back on to that as they are being now as they are testing substances at

a nearby government facility here at porton down. with facts they are able they will be able to trace it not just exactly what the substance is but also the laboratory in which it was manufactured sammy. i don't want to speculate of course but the fact that a nerve agent is being confirmed as part of the story is surely going to raise suspicions of russian involvement one options in the u.k. looking at this point. from the get go that was always a consideration and while they have been urging absolute caution in terms of pointing fingers of course behind the scenes russia has been the one that has. when coming up as potentially be one. of the to this still certainly an element to this riddle however there has already been talk of exactly what the next step would be just last year the u.k.

put a further. developments in its criminal finances bill if it is indeed proven it's a big huge if at this stage because nothing is confirmed then that would be used against any state sponsor or any individuals that that mean that would mean sanctions on any financial resources that they would have in this country of course don't forget that the u.k. has attracted an awful lot of russian money russian investment jew to the fact of the way that the u.k. has certain legal and financial services that were in the village to be able to set up shell companies. any kind of financial activities to to be disguised as it were that has drawn a lot of money from from russia and certainly this is one way that they think that if if there are any individuals who are connected to russia then dumping down on their own their resources on their financial. issues there then that would be one

way of going about it all right sunny going to go there thanks so much from salzburg. still ahead on al-jazeera the u.s. secretary of state begins a tour of africa with a strong message on china's trade ambitions on the continent. and a fourteen hundred year old tradition gets a modern make over in taiwan. and has been raining significantly guinea west papuans sort of way see something born here and didn't like it has a job for us with a white top lads on the give you a selection of shower titles fifty to one hundred millimeters be fairly typical in any one day we have seen shadows fall north of bangkok and suddenly lilly for that of course they started to get in the full crustal focus is the further size but

singapore is definitely not for you shall southern thailand looks increasingly potentially wet that's what the green blobs tend to mean if we jump to northern australia has the bulk of the right in australia they'll circulations that suggest pretty big slow moving thunderstorms that is still true two hundred millimeters this time mornington island innisfail rather less than was the case yesterday so the showers are quite as vicious here in fact the whole lot is tending to shed westward so we have the fairly typical annual picture of what falls on the roof this is this green again it's showers in the middle of australia reaching out to springs nice and hot like sunshine late summer sunshine thirty one to thirty three in melbourne up to adelaide in perth you doing pretty well today at twenty nine.

a suspected money laundering operation but this time was different. an accidental discovery the wharfs initial suspicions and unraveled some unprecedented scale of the systemic international corruption people in power investigates a racket of such magnitude that it threatens governments and redefining the rules of impunity. the power war. at this time doesn't. welcome back you're watching al-jazeera time to recap the 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 assault on the eastern front is promising to respond if there's proof chemical weapons were used. britain's home secretary says a police officer who was harmed by a nerve agent is still in serious condition he was at the scene when former russian spies surrogates for paul and his daughter were found unconscious on sunday best to gates confirm the red poison was used to try and kill them. china is promising what it calls a justified a necessary response if there's a trade war with the u.s. the u.s. president is expected to approve stink tariffs on steel and aluminum imports saying they need it to protect american jobs. the u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson is in ethiopia as part of his first official visit to africa to listen is hoping to improve relations after president donald trump reportedly used foul language to describe some african countries earlier this year

ahead of the trip to listen announced a five hundred thirty three million dollars humanitarian african aid plan he also criticized china's economic engagement in the continent saying beijing encourages corruption. we are not in any way attempting to keep chinese investment dollars out of africa they're badly needed however we think it's important that african countries carefully consider the terms of those investments and we witness the model that the chinese follow follow. very they do not bring significant job creation locally they don't bring significant training programs that enable our for . and citizens to participate more fully in the future and oftentimes the financing models are structured in a way that the country when it gets into trouble financially loses control of its

own infrastructure or its own resources through default. stephanie decker is in the korean capital above us so he's got a bit of a will to get over in terms of those comments by the u.s. president about african countries are going to impact perhaps the discussions on the table. when i think radio's it is never really singled out i think there are more pressing issues now we do know that the authorities there are not happy with the statement that the u.s. embassy issued shortly after the state of emergency was announced here in february because of the sensitive political situation that's happening here right now the u.s. embassy basically saying that they strongly disagreed with this measure that does this and should be having more right not right taken away from them and urging them to reconsider so i think this will be something that is going to be discussed of course ethiopia and the united states our closest allies the u.s. relied on its heels. to do to fight their so-called war on terror in the horn of

africa bordered somalia south don it has bought them out of peacekeepers troops on the ground in these areas and certainly it relies on this country for stability it doesn't want to see any sort of you know of this country falling into chaos because that the entire horn of africa is at risk so i think at this point in time it is a crucial point is the o.p.'s history standing in the next couple of days all to the ruling party will be meeting to discuss lou could be the next prime minister you have to there's that meeting with the foreign minister today with the outgoing prime minister all these things will be discussed so we are expecting a press conference in about an hour from now so let's wait and see what's going to come out of that. russian farmers also in the neighborhood are you going to meet. it is going to be a busy time there was talk this from the russian suggesting that possibly to

listen elaborate could be meeting here in the capital of a buy now to return. i was on a very short trip you're going to be leaving soon and the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov he's in zimbabwe at the moment when exactly he's going to be landing here whether that's later today or early tomorrow morning we don't know at the moment for security reasons but i spoke to the american some of the sources they didn't seem to indicate that a meeting was on the cards between the two men of course they have a lot to discuss when it comes to issues like syria i think the americans very keen to stress that this first trip to africa by the u.s. secretary of state is focusing on africa on the issues with the particular countries on bilateral relations and not with meeting with the russian foreign minister stephanie decker from. the investigation into alleged collusion between the u.s. president donald trump's election campaign and russia has reportedly widened to include the united arab emirates u.s. media say an american businessman linked to trump and the u.a.e.

is cooperating with federal investigators and has more. george nader has ties with the trump campaign and leaders of the united arab emirates and now robert mueller the special counsel investigating potential russian collusion with the trump campaign according to the new york times f.b.i. agents picked him up in january at dulles airport and since then he's been cooperating giving important details about a meeting at a fancy hotel in the seychelles where he allegedly met with this man karylle dimitri of who just after the election told the american media he was excited about trump's when they're very impressed with president elect prompts position is that he wants to have good cooperation with russia also at the meeting erik prince the founder of blackwater and big backer of the trim campaign prince dismissed the meeting in testimony to a congressional committee saying under oath that he was summoned to the seychelles to meet with iraqi leader mohammed bin zayed and they just happened to mention

there was an interesting russian he should meet he testified that he met demitra at a bar after he googled his picture testifying he didn't realize the fund he ran was under u.s. sanctions or that he was close to the russian president because he said that would have used a lot of data on his phone and that would have been expensive prince testified that quote there were no other u.s. officials there he said he and dmitri have just talked about general business things over beer and prince complained to congress saying quote if there's all this rightful concern if there was actual collusion between the campaign and the russian government this meeting didn't happen until almost two months more than two months after the election so if there was all this collusion why would there even need to be any other follow up meetings so i don't get that timeline wise attorney melanie sloan believes pence lied to congress a crime in the u.s. and she disputes his claim that the whole reason russians wanted trump to win because they wanted to get things it wasn't just to see trump installed so they

could walk away and go on their merry way it was because they were a looking to. russia's relationship with the united states and probably probably have very ambitious goals adam added so they would continue to make efforts to work with the trump folks to get what they want muller is also looking into a meeting after the election bin ziad apparently broke protocol by not informing the obama administration before heading to a meeting at trump tower the new york times says muller has been asking witnesses about the possibility that through nader the u.a.e. funneled money from the to the president's campaign that would be a serious crime for those who give or receive it all involved have denied wrongdoing political gain al-jazeera washington the leader and deputy leader of a british far right group have been jailed for hate crimes franson and paul golding of britain first were convicted of religiously aggravated harassment they were arrested last year for distributing leaflets and posting online videos during

a gang rape trial involving three muslim men and the teenager fronts and was handed a thirty six week sentence and golding received eighteen weeks a curfew on sri lanka's central district of candy has been temporarily lifted off the police managed to contain them to muslim violence the government declared a nationwide state of emergency earlier this week and block several social media sites but it's groups are accused of targeting muslim homes and businesses in several towns and villages further smith has more from candy. with the early lifting of the curfew in cannes the business life is beginning to return to normal but what should be a very very busy time of the day is still much quieter many of the shops were closed since four o'clock last night still shuttered but it was we understand a relatively peaceful night to muslim homes were a time when compared with the previous nights this curfew has been much more

rigorously and heavily enforced by a strong police and military presence so they are keeping a lid for now on the trouble have also slowed down whatsapp they've also closed access to facebook and nationwide and the curfew will return at six o'clock am do you see the underlying challenges this area faces the simmering resentment that some sinhalese groups have to what they perceive to be the muslim minority that owns too many businesses of a lot of businesses very powerful those simmering resentment fueled by nationalist sinhalese those issues remain to be resolved. however and have marched in new delhi to demand better rights and protection to mark international women's day india has one of the world's highest rates of crimes against females rape and cruelty by husbands or relatives towards women account for nearly half of the crimes. and the world's largest fast food chain is celebrating international

women's day upside down literally for the first time one hundred mcdonald's restaurants in the u.s. will flip its iconic gold arch to mark the occasion the inverted m. can also be seen on staff uniforms and packaging. six asian cities are displaying their creations at this year's sky lantern festival in taiwan the event attracts millions of visitors from around the world well this year's celebrations are a mix of traditions and technology as shutters are got for reports lighting 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. the festival dates back to tenderness to 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 let out by the teaches as a symbol of oppression future. the festival features tech inspired elements that allow for more visitor interaction the 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 mine is in ping c. use 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 cultural heritage and doubts will be forgotten this is what keeps me going. lynches historical stories and shows visitors how to float the creations written hokus how we roll love and success slowly rising. with kerosene so rice paper is expected to last a year but as technology changes lin hopes his ancient craft last a lifetime. go for al-jazeera. and let's take you through some of the headlines here in al-jazeera now syrian opposition activists have released video they say shows phosphorus bombs being dropped on a rebel held on klav eighty eight people were killed in another aerial assault on

used in the quarter promises promises to respond if there is proof and local weapons were used then to hold it has more from beirut in neighboring lebanon. cases of suffocation and breathing problems are being reported by activists and medics on the ground in eastern the civil defense accusing the syrian government of using chlorine gas it won't be the first time they've accused the syrian government of using chlorine gas as a weapon of war since the latest military operation against the besieged enclave of eastern would have began almost three weeks ago. china is promising what it calls a justified and necessary response if there's a trade war with the us foreign minister wang says china has no intention of displacing the u.s. and such a war would only harm all sides president donald trump is expected to approve steep terrace on steel and aluminum imports saying they're needed to protect american jobs u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson is an ethiopian his first official visit to africa

is helping to build bridges following president on transfer portly foul language to describe this for lanka's central district of candy has been temporarily lifted after police managed to contain anti muslim violence the government declared as a nation mind 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 controversially some teachers can be trained now and armed it follows a school shooting in the state last month which killed seventeen people britain's home secretary says a police officer who was harmed by a nerve agent is still in serious condition but able to talk he was at the scene when the former russian spies and his daughter were found unconscious on sunday vertigo it is confirmed the rare poison was used to try and kill them they remain in critical condition in hospital posy headlines the news continues after people in power. 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 earth the remote waters of the web that sea stay with al-jazeera for a series of special reports from the greenpeace expedition in antarctica. provoking one of the largest corruption investigations in south american history the cold war scandal has left its mark on countries from brazil peru. business leaders multinational corporations and politicians have been caught up in allegations ranging from bribery and money to going to distorting the democratic.