maybe because when the people. begin to. rebel beaks. the spine. 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 off the i don't see stay with al-jazeera for a series of special reports from the greenpeace expedition antarctica. the aftermath of all experts say was a chemical attack syrian government forces step up their assault on eastern.

and this is al jazeera live from coming up the u.s. secretary of state visits ethiopia hoping to improve relations after dong drums reportedly derogatory remarks about some african countries china promises to respond to any potential trade war as the u.s. president plans to impose tariffs on steel an alum in the i'm. a british police officer apparently poisoned by a nerve agent used to attack a former russian spy shows signs of improvement. activists have released new video they say is phosphorous bombs being dropped on the rebel held enclave in syria people struggled to breathe the attack in a residential area in the town where. the pictures emerged after eighty eight people were killed in another aerial assault on east and that's one of the highest number of casualties in

a 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 sucker east of damascus at least fifty people have been affected france is promising to respond if there's proof chemical weapons were used it was in a 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 the 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 the u.s. secretary of state is in ethiopia as part of his first official visit to africa rex tillerson is hoping to improve relations after the president reportedly used foul

language to describe some african countries earlier this year when the head of the trip to listen announced a five hundred thirty three million dollars humanitarian aid for africa it's also criticized china's economic engagement in the conference 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 african citizens to participate more fully in the future and often times 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 the fault of the us is now they only nation courting closer relations with the african continent russian foreign minister sergey lavrov is there and zimbabwe is part of a five nation tour like the u.s. moscow is also looking to forge closer economic and security ties on the continent and particularly with the african union let's go now to stephanie decker she joins us now live from our this ad of us so first of all tell us is visit comes at a quite a pivotal time in ethiopia's transition how is that coming up in the things. absolutely well he's meeting with the foreign minister as we speak we are expecting to hear from them both in a press conference a little later on that they will of course be addressing the issues you mentioned it really is a crucial time here in ethiopia the prime minister stood down last month remains in place until a new one is elected that is being delayed

a state of emergency has been imposed and that's something that the americans are ready have been very vocal about that they do not agree with in fact strongly disagree with the wording that the u.s. embassy used to hear the americans i think you've been very close allies of the americans when it comes to security coordination the u.s. doesn't want to see this country you know for into chaos they depend on ethiopia for picture things like fighting al shabaab in somalia border to model the borders to dart out to don and don but really want to make sure that this transition as you mentioned is one that goes largely without incident but there are many many questions you know there are complications or factions within the ruling party who's going to be the next prime minister going to be a major question about how things will unfold so i think a lot of strong words will be exchanged i think both from these europeans are not happy with the public almost golding that the americans have given them on the state of emergency and trying to figure out what the best way is to move forward.

it's quite a busy time in africa we've got the russian foreign minister making it or as well as his u.s. counterpart and a lot of talk from the american side about chinese influence on the continent is this about countering of apollo's infiltration shall we say. the lot of activity here are course china is heavily invested in africa it's not a new thing i think you know the common bisected term is good won't go down very well in the bay getting and also we have by design and they aren't going to have apologized for housing all but we want to listen right now because we understand that the ethiopian foreign minister mr what name as as well as to the us and the speaking at this press conference does this and then for us to the u.s. secretary of state that are more than one hundred year diplomatic relationship between ethiopia and the united states it's been an enduring relationship as the

foreign minister described as an all weather relationship that even when storm clouds together we remain friends and have always worked through the challenges together. also want to acknowledge again today this being international women's day and an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the social economic cultural and political achievements of women across the world and note the role of women in ethiopia in promoting economic growth as well it's quite evident the prominence that the women already occupy in government but in economics as well street being the rule of law the important role they play in human rights and in building in strengthening a civil society that will thrive as indicated united states and ethiopia longstanding partners i was glad to have the opportunity exchange views with foreign minister on many areas of mutual interest that we share or we recognize and

share concerns expressed by the government about incidents of violence and loss of life we do firmly believe the answer is greater freedom for people not less. we recognize the transition that is underway the opi of the first ever voluntary transfer of power and i view this as a very positive symbol of the strength of this very young democracy in ethiopia a peaceful transition of power given recent events the united states has expressed our concerns with the government's decision to impose another state of emergency it because it does put restrictions on fundamental rights like assembly of expression we also discussed in our exchange the importance of ensuring that security forces remain disciplined in maintaining law and order preventing violence they have a very difficult challenge on their hands this is this test their oldest or

listening in there to the u.s. secretary of state hailing the transition and the process that's going on of change in ethiopia speaking from at this abba he's touring the african continent as is the russian foreign minister a busy time for the continent then. china is promising what it calls a justified and necessary sponsor if there's 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 dog trump is expected to impose steep tariffs on steel and out of india imports he says cheap imports from china and other countries on the mining american jobs 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 is definitely a wrong remedy shots with 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. donald trump is refusing to back down on those planned tariffs on steel imports though he is there is a sign off on the measures by the end of the week reports. the u.s. stock market did not respond well to news donald trump's top economic adviser is leaving it open rattled over fears of losing gary cones moderating influence in the white house cone with 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 follow 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 on 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 are now very mature big strong economies i'm 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 twenty sixteen and the republicans

need to win again in this year's congressional elections kimberly help al-jazeera washington. still ahead on al-jazeera the leaders of a british group a jailed for hate crimes. schools out but even having classes is above it as we examine the state of argentina's education system. alison late season snow once again for qaida you might get the impression that the clouds moving up from the south but still talking in code and it's still cold in the northeast achang the society or minus six is the forecast in value of all stuck so i took that in you get snow from for hawk-eye day which is on his way out come friday in sapporo season temps go up to seven so that's a bit of

a thought coming across the island it's already much milder further south turkey is fifteen is a lot to be a wet fifteen at the sun is for the korean peninsula indeed for beijing still around about ten degrees and the sun spreads further east during saturday by sticking picture but i think you'll be mucky underfoot in her cot in the temp is still at freezing or probably just a bit above of most of the island that i felt south in child big sun once again the temp is a little bit below average to start with in shanghai and in hong kong with a northerly breeze but the sun is getting stronger now and it will feel a bit warmer rather pleasant out of thought comes out today with the breeze cut off almost altogether in shanghai and hong kong's are quite still and sunny south of this in the shower shot himself quite readily in relays it isn't easy but they're also up in vietnam and increasingly be funding in central and southern thailand.

a shining city sprouting from the rubble of a devastating. attaching president knowing alter. and orchestrator of the world. in the dark any man who dares to run and run. and intent tale of repression chechnya war with the trades at this time on al-jazeera. you're watching al-jazeera reminded our of our top stories this hour syrian

opposition activists have released a video they say shows phosphorus bombs being dropped on rebel held on five provinces promising to respond if there's proof chemical weapons were used second day convoy with desperately needed supplies has been postponed because of fighting . the u.s. secretary of state has praised u.s. ties with ethiopia describing them as longstanding partners with an all weather relationship rex tillerson also raise concerns over the theo pin government's decision to impose a state of emergency after months of protests in this making his first official visit to africa. china is promising what it calls a justify the necessary response if there's a trade war with the u.s. president don trump is expected to approve steep caris on steel and alum in imports saying they're needed to protect american jobs. sources have told al jazeera and morality military cargo plane violated carter's airspace last sunday the aircraft

was intercepted by a car through fighter jets which trying to establish communication with the pilot of the u.s. plane we're told there was no response this is the third time the u.s. has breached space within four months the u.a.e. is among four countries that cut ties with catherine last june britain's home secretary says a police officer was harmed by a nerve agent is still in a serious condition but able to talk the officer was at the scene when former russian spy screwball and his daughter were found unconscious on sunday investigators confirmed a rare poison was used to try and kill them so you're going to go to joins us now live from sols russo a police officer is talking is the shedding much light on what exactly happened on sunday. still quite tight on the details but they are saying. very little about. the substance that was

used to poison set against his daughter. only indicating that it was a very rare substance. there had been reports also initially that perhaps there was. all sarin gas that's been used with devastating effect in syria but that has not been confirmed at all. with be given that this is an extremely rare substance perhaps something else altogether different now elements from the. scene where mr sickly and his daughter were found just over there that covered park bench there have been sent to a low government facility a science facility nearby where they will be able to gauge not just exactly what the substance.

all right we seem to have a slight technical problem there we're trying to establish perhaps connection with sun you're going to go as soon as we can come back to that story the leader and deputy leader of a british far right group of being jailed for hate crimes jager 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 franson was handed a thirty six week sentence and golding received eighteen weeks. while is a muslim community activist who works on combating islamophobia joins us from manchester via skype good to have you with us do you take this these convictions as a sign that the government is taking the threat of right wing ideology and their actions seriously yes thank you for having me on i definitely think this is a step in the right direction and it's good to see that conviction being made and

religiously aggravated harassment i think you know especially people who want to war hate crime they often feel that about one of the barriers but what's the point what can be done about it and to see this conviction yesterday show that there is something that can be done and it's important to report a crime and it is important to see that the threat from the far right which is growing and becoming more serious and significant is being taken seriously by. when you look into the european union and you report on the state of terrorism you find that there are way more attacks attributed to far right groups than there are to muslim groups for example and yet the question is are there enough government programs that tackle the ideology of the right wing in the in the way that you have the so-called the radicalization programs and centers and policies to look at what's happening in muslim communities. no i don't think there are at the moment i

think we're really recent only recently with mark crowley the head of policing for counterterrorism and an outgoing speech she put plowright to extremism on the map and kind of said well there is a growing threat a big booming organized it's a serious threat and he compared i stared to that national action choudhry to tommy robinson but there is a difference that because the difference here is that social media outlets being used to propagate their hate on the far right extremist groups we have the media giving platform to people like tommy robinson and i think the thought to be shoot need to be addressed first you have online material that is being used by people like barnard on who then drove his van into worshippers outside great part mark and killed a ground up and yet that material is still available online so one of the things that needs to be done to tackle the online material we have prevented which is a government policy in the u.k. to look out right to collide a share in an extremism however these terms are well defined and we feel you know

many muslims feel that present isn't this kind of oh big policy and if you look at the number of referrals between twenty fifteen to twenty sixteen you know sixty five percent were. islamic extremism was only tempted and. you to up are right and growing if you actually look at the threat and i don't necessarily feel great do it when it's much less a yes something needs to be done. i wonder whether the rise of the right wing now across the continent maybe elsewhere in the west makes it more difficult do you think for governments to go after the threat of far right ideology i mean we're talking about an arrest being made of these people let's not forget the u.s. president was tweeting some of the. right. you know videos which is shocking to see especially in one of the videos was actually

a fake video but it gives credibility and it bolsters the far right supporters to think that it's acceptable for them to do what they're doing or to you know and it gives a few of them and confidence to go out on the streets and carry out attacks we saw joe being murdered by thomas mann time he was shouting it's written and so on and so there are people who will become radicalized by some of the rhetoric that the roots are are you know are spewing and yet we still have material online on social media and we have media giving up want to these people and we also have you know government or president reed tweeting this material so it becomes very difficult then to challenge it are good to get your thoughts and analysis on that. thank you. in the maldives three members of the country's main opposition party have been arrested they were taken into custody during

a meeting with the police raided the mold even democratic party's office the police reportedly refused to disclose their charges and said the arrests were made under the state of emergency declared last month president of delhi i mean granted sweeping powers to the police to investigate a suspected coup after the top court released nine political prisoners. a teachers' strike in argentina this week has turned the spotlight on the country's failing public school system used to be one of the best in latin america of decades of under-investment have left many poor children struggling to get a basic education through isabeau reports. it is the first day of school in the area of one of the. it is one of the poorest areas in the province with a population of eighty thousand people. has been fighting for years for the government to open up a school here now what seemed impossible has come true and that's why she has come

to pick up her daughter after class ready to go see we had nor school here and we had to send our kids very far away now at least we have the school but when it rains there's no class because the area is filled with mud the school is built out of containers which allows the children to attend class but is spite of efforts to get these children into a classroom many have lost years of study some have yet to learn how to read and write this is an example of how difficult access to education is in some of argentina's poorest areas there's over six hundred children studying in this containers and there is a very long waiting list of people here tell us that they're hoping the government will complete the project and build a proper school so with enough a donor has been helping children in this community have an education. these are areas with a lack of basic services that have poor schools with teachers on very low salaries

who find it a challenge to reach them studying is an odyssey and we are talking of a basic right that every child deserves. education is at the center of the debate in argentina as teachers have gone on strike once again they are demanding an increase in their salaries because of inflation they have been taking to the streets in the last few days. when. we are here defending public schools it's not only our salaries we're worried about the government has lowered the education budget they're demanding things from us that they don't give us the government says the teacher's demands are orchestrated by the opposition but in the middle of children who are caught in the fight. argentina has the shortest school years in the world including holidays and strikes so the consequences are obvious middle class children are more knowledgeable than those in poor areas that attend public schools the school system reproduces inequality from the very beginning and that's evident in places like what to be doing with our site is better schools are the

only way these children have to find a better life and. ukraine is investigating a top donald trump fundraiser for lobbying work for a russian bank that was blacklisted by the u.s. and europe al-jazeera has obtained documents showing elliott brody was offered twelve point five million dollars to give political and financial advice to russia's v.t. bank it happened in two thousand and fourteen not long after russian troops entered crimea it raises questions on whether brody was bricked was breaching a u.s. law that requires registration for people working for foreign interests. the documents were obtained as part of a one year investigation into corruption involving eastern european oligarchy which revealed a massive offshore network link to former ukrainian president viktor young of course which you can see that investigation called the oligarchs on al-jazeera is you tube channel so you tube dot com forward slash al-jazeera english. thousands of

south koreans are marking international women's day by rallying against sexual abuse and harassment. in march to a square insall carrying signs of the global me to movement south korea's government says it plans to toughen the punishment for employers who fail to address sexual abuse. women of march in new delhi to demand better rights and protection india has one of the world's highest rates of crimes against women the government says up to thirty nine cases are reported every hour rape and cruelty by husbands or relatives towards women account for nearly half of the crimes. let's take you through some of the headlines now syrian opposition activists have released video they say shows phosphorus bombs being dropped on a rebel held on klav france is promising to respond if there is proof chemical

weapons were used a second day convoy with desperately needed supplies has been perspire own because the fighting so holder has more from beirut in laboring the. 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. the u.s. secretary of state has praised u.s. ties with ethiopia describing them as longstanding partners with an all weather relationship rex tillerson also raise concerns over the theo p. and the government's decision to impose a state of emergency after months of protests to listen is making his first official visit to africa china is promising what it calls a justify the necessary response if there is

a trade war with the us president donald trump is expected to approve steep tariffs on steel and alum in the imports saying they needed to protect american jobs sources tell al-jazeera and m.r.c. military cargo plane violated causes as space last sunday the aircraft was intercepted by catherine fighter jets which trying to establish communication with the pilot of the u.a.e. plane told there was no response though this is the third time the u.a.e. has breached space within four months britain's home secretary says a police officer was harmed by a nerve agent is in serious condition but able to talk now the officer was at the scene when the former russian spy surrogate scruple and his daughter were found unconscious on sunday in the maldives three members of the country's main opposition party have been arrested they were taken into custody when the police raided the offices of the mall the democratic party police reportedly refused to say what they were being charged with the arrests were made under the state of

emergency declared last month since i'd story now. what is triggering violence. say they're being systematically targeted by the sinhalese buddhist majority the governments declared a state of emergency but what will it take to end the recurrent alleges for long term this is inside story.