the journey between the two countries is just a boat across the river that takes twenty minutes which is why. trying to go back to. this. we struggled so much we want to. bring a new layer of suffering to the. video of what looks like phosphorus bombs being dropped on the syrians and there is evidence of. attacks as well.

also on the grid the trans-pacific partnership to take to. the united states the massive trade. we're going to look at specifically one of the countries which is expected to be a big winner from the. international women's day we've been hearing from you about what. about their experience. and we're looking at rwanda on this. two thirds of parliament. led. streaming online. and of. course.

where this video showing what looks like phosphorous bombs being dropped on the rebel held on life has been released by activists they say happened in a residential area in the town of home morea the telltale signs those showers of white light that you see in the night sky phosphorus a chemical that creates breathing paul blooms it can bear the skin as well france is warning all of action if the reports of chemical attacks are proven true well those pictures emerged after eighty eight people were killed in another aerial sold on and good to bringing the death toll as we said to more than five hundred since the offensive by russian and syrian government forces began three weeks ago they know her as more now from neighboring lebanon. the assault on eastern who is intensifying pro-government forces have pushed deep inside the besieged enclave rebels are finding it increasingly difficult to hold their ground. there has been heavy shelling extreme levels of bombardment to help ground troops advance

. even billions are not spared you have got just over nine hundred people have been killed in nearly three weeks of what many describe as one if not the theosis military campaigns of the syrian war. medical workers reported yet another chlorine gas attack the government denied the claims and blamed what it called desperate rebels for distorting facts but videos appear to show victims struggling to breathe . and i was. most. used. to just the bombs. situation because it's like two thousand and thirteen when. the remaining aid supplies that were not are floated on monday because of the shelling we're supposed to reach the besieged population on thursday but according

to the international committee of the red cross the conditions on the ground did not allow that sources have told us that the russian government and the rebel factions in eastern who are holding the gauche ations over a withdrawal it may involve them one of the main rebel factions leaving two rebel controlled territories in the southern province of daraa the other main faction failing men will leave to areas under the control of turkey backed rebels in the north of the country. elicia zero also understands that international humanitarian organizations are meeting to prepare for what could be a mass evacuation even though that is not what the hundreds of thousands of people in peace say they want. i swear by god i will never leave our country i'll stay here till death look at the structure around you they are asking for encounters to help them get rid of us this is inhumane and you are

killing children and displacing people you are displacing the people of your own country. that has been part of the ceasefire deals reached in the past an effective surrender their families and civilians who are either afraid of arrest or who don't want to return to government areas have little choice but to leave bussed out to other rebel controlled areas that is what the pro-government alliance wants to happen in eastern huta it's the deal on the table if it's not accepted it has made it clear it will push for an all out military victory. fisher reporting live now from near the turkish syrian border i was reminded only yesterday on by a viewer that we shouldn't forget what's happening in other parts of the country maybe you can bring us up to a frame is of course another flashpoint in the north. that's right the african region but african tone at the city of frame is going to be the

main target for the free syrian army backed by the turks and the major strategic victory in the last few hours they have essentially taking control of gender in which is on the road to africa in the assault the final assault started late on wednesday but within a few hours within twelve hours there were free syrian army and turkish troops in the center of town they've taken over control of the main prison of the courts of the council buildings there is still some fighting but that's to be expected because up until know the free the f.s.a. and the turks have moved into small towns and villages gendered it is much bigger than that and so there are still sporadic fighting still is sporadic fighting going on around the tone but this is a significant victory because it gives the f.s.e. and the turks not only control of one of the moon roads into afrin it also gives them the high ground and as we know in military battles that is important and

strategic now the obviously have to make sure that gendron is fully under control before they start the move to afternoon but we had from the turkish foreign minister who was in vienna when i asked about the operation near he said that intention is to reduce as many civilian casualties as possible but he expects this operation which is called named all of branch to be done by sometime in me so in the coming days we see a buildup of forces as they make the move towards a friend but of course it will be different this time because we know that the kurds the white p.g. have pulled seventeen hundred men away from the fighting against the. against eisel and move them to the front lines where they will confront the turks so it's going to be a much bigger battle when the final assault on afrin city itself gets under way here important to keep up to date with that thank you for that alan fischer in gassy on tap. and you can have

a look at this these thing go to what is happening and why this is sort of our latest updates page if you like which is kept up to date by the online team just keeping you up to date with waters exactly happening and why why for so long it has been under siege the maps the comparison pictures there all day for you i think some video as well a little bit further down from the white helmet have a look for that what is happening in these things to and why it is that al jazeera dot com to other news in a new version of the trans pacific partnership agreement this will be known as t p p eleven is you to be signed in chile after languishing for more than a year after the u.s. withdrew go back and remember this originally twelve countries signed the original t p p back in twenty six in all these ones around the pacific market in grey designed to unlock markets promote investment boost sales there was the potential to create a sort of single market a bit like the euro zone but donald trump takes the united states out just three days into his presidency and it has in effect the tepees collective g.d.p.

shrunk by sixty percent trade within the group that was down forty percent and so the remaining eleven members spent most of last year trying to salvage the deal and it is the t.p. eleven which is the product of that year a slimmed down agreement designed to all but eliminate money at present tariffs in a marketplace worth close to fourteen trillion dollars so it is either going to sign it today in santiago and that is where the c.e.o. newman is for us a latin america editor alicea i guess the big question is the deal without the united states does it still work. hello well i think it is and if you ask the eleven countries that are here whose commerce ministers are going to be signing this deal in just about three hours they are hailing it and in fact as a land market agreement but it's a lot more than just a trade agreement really what it's seen is as a way of really offsetting what is being seen as the united states growing protectionism as a kind of an antidote to u.s.

protectionist measures which are growing as we know by the day and so it's we're talking about five hundred million people after all this is a very very large agreement even as it is and and and as you say more than ten trillion dollars are in place so much so that the united states is now saying that it's reconsidering joining or what it wants to rejoin the new t.t.p. except that this new treaty is a very different deal from the one that the united states or at least barack obama had originally excepted and it will be far less to president donald trump's liking once and or if the united states wants to rejoin the model and presumably those eleven countries non-farm into very would actually want to take the united states back and i'm guessing that's no guarantee. they would but not under any conditions under the original deal there were twenty two measures that had been basically imposed by the united states especially intellectual property rights to protect us farmers sort of partner sort of companies for example that's out of the

deal right now and the countries who are in today's say that they're not going to be pushed around by the united states anymore in the meantime there are other countries that want to join us stead south korea taiwan the philippines have expressed interest and there's even talk perhaps of great britain joining once it leaves corrects it so the united states is not answer to strong position as it was before donald trump decided to leave the sea or good to talk through voice within humans are latin america editor in santiago i mentioned earlier one of the biggest winners of this revamped trade deal is expected to be vietnam why it has been looking at that from the one 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 former 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 on the move into a new factory will help us develop you can see all our machines our old so we'll invest in more modern production lines for 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 it. was your best teacher. 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

figure has slipped 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 intently to modernize economy 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 the 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's certainly the goal of this company which used to import its clay and export the finished products price fluctuations mentored eventually became a domestic supplier only. and

a new modern factory male aout to realize its goal of returning to the international markets wayne hay al-jazeera has on vietnam. perhaps you would like to get in touch with us on any of the stories it seems so far all the ones coming up international women's day of course the big one today you have a news group be it on twitter at a.j. english you can tweet reply to that thread there with the hash tag you can go to facebook dot com slash al-jazeera if you're not already and watch the live stream there and comment as you go or you can use your phone plus one seven four five or one triple one four nine is for whatsapp and for telegram as well as the using either of those messaging apps in the meantime we will get some more international news from lauren taylor in london hi lauren thanks kemal britain's home secretary has vowed the u.k. will pursue whoever is behind a nerve poison attack on a former russian double agent sixty six year old sergei scriptural and his daughter remain in a critical but stable condition after being found unconscious in the city of souls

beyond sunday a police officer also harmed by the rare nerve agent is still in a serious condition. the use of a nerve agent to a new case or is a brazen and reckless act. this was attempted murder in the most cruel and public way people are right to want to know who to hold to account but if we are to be rigorous in this investigation we must avoid speculation we are committed to doing all we can to bring the perpetrators to justice whoever they are and wherever they may be convinced acacia is moving at a pace and this government more act without hesitation as the facts become clear. so you're going to go has more from salisbury. the status of the police officer who is now able to engage with investigators is certainly being heralded as a positive development as well but so far the other two victims who are still in

hospital they are in critical condition but stable meanwhile of course the investigations are ongoing just behind me there the tent covering the bench where. his dog to you were discovered samples from around there were sent to portion down a military scientific lab that is going to be used to test exactly what it was that poisoned the two victims that as far as we have as we have it confirmed from government officials they are saying that it is a very rare nerve agent so far no identity of the nerve agent itself but the. investigators will be able to point out once it is discovered exactly what it is they will also be able to tell where which laborde tree was produced it and from then on the investigation can go into exactly who was behind this now of course while politicians have been reluctant to point out who may have been behind

this attack there have been murmurings that maybe russia was behind it certainly the method has been seen before but it has caused again another. has been another source of diplomatic tension between london and moscow and certainly this latest incident involving mr and his daughter is worsening that. yes extra state has warned african nations against surrendering their sovereignty to china in return for loans rex tillerson has been meeting the chairman of the african union in the ethiopian capital addis ababa a spot of his first official visit to africa united states is the leading a donor to africa but china supposed it as a trade partner in two thousand and nine asia has pumped billions into infrastructure projects but critics say the use of chinese firms and labor on the mines their value we are not in any way attempting to keep chinese investment dollars out of africa they are 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. their 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 default. russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov has criticized listens comments as inappropriate ever offer is on his own african tour and has been meeting the new zimbabwean president. in harare lavrov said to listen should not to criticize the international relations of his hosts russia has invested in resource extraction projects on the continent and is

seeking to expand its trade battle. that's it for me for a moment. thank you lauren we'll see more from lauren in the team in london in about forty minutes top of the hour now we talked about this a little on last night's good political business environmental leaders from around the globe gathering in mexico for the world ocean summit there i aim to come up with some ways to use maritime resources to do it sustainably is john heilemann reports now from the location of the meeting itself there was a cautionary tale of financial gains trumping environmental concerns. for the delegates gathering to discuss how best to save the seas in the world ocean summit is a textbook example of what not to do in the very town that they flew into. it attracted seven million international visitors just last year but financial success has meant abandoning the principles of sustainability at the summit is trying hard to promote . also changing the way the territory west conformed into

a touristic area really brought lots of problems because for example we started to lose these natural barriers for the natural he says there's not only the coral reefs but also the mangroves and what do you do this transformation you cannot go back easily. mangroves have been ripped out to make way for development it reflects a global trend more than thirty percent of the unique trees crucial for storing carbon dioxide have been destroyed worldwide cancun's lagoon and seas have been polluted that together with global warming has damaged the mess where american reefs the largest in the western hemisphere worldwide over three quarters of reefs are under threat cancun is like holding up a mirror to the world or what happens when urban development tourism explode largely unrestricted by authorities it might look good for now but environmentalist say that here and elsewhere time is running out. but just as globally here there's

a local fight back going on this project is one of several farming coral to replenish the damaged reef one piece at a time it's the key to the ocean ecosystem that's had a sea fish recent corals generates so many habitats for fish mollusks quest haitians it's as if they were an all races in the desert warfare or fishing corporate is working with authorities and n.g.o.s are enforcing no catch sones the fishermen themselves monitor the protected areas and have seen biomass go up by more than four hundred percent though this is the work or if we didn't do this now we'd only be thinking a short term little we have now would disappear are fairly wealthy but the state government long lacks in holding hotel years and developers to account says it's also now on board you know you can put on this or there is a serious commitment from the government to focus on the environment because. he

recognizes that tourism attends a natural resources and if we exist then tourism has been used to. just woods for now but it's a local vision in line with the ngs of this global summit the united and business leaders conservationists and government before it's too late and here is john home and now live from that meeting in cancun cooperation i guess john is the key here. yeah exactly as in the package on a very micro scale but the summit same is to make that happen on a microscope and the people that are coming here just been chatting with them especially the environmentalists there saying that the important thing here is to have people from government people from big business people from the united nations so it's not just an echo chamber of them talking about what they should do but they can actually make contact with the people that can make that sort of thing happen and talking of which i'm here right now with the united nations director of oceans

united nations environment director of oceans at lisa's fence and lisa we're talking about a lot of different problems here plastic in the sea coral reef degradation the impact to tourism if you had to hit right now what was the most important to tackle immediately what we've been talking about the governance of the ocean really to find a solution on how we are going to tackle this problem and i see mention the pollution the fisheries to africa cation due to the climate change is tremendous problems but we also seem to coral reef and we are here to launch a campaign as well as we did last year on the clean seas to treat it right attention to the coral reef as an asset in our economy and how we are dependent on the coral reef fix sample both the stain of old poor is mature is fisheries but also how the fire itself protecting our shores from the climate changing anything hurricanes and also of course from the medicine so we have seen the ocean as a duck that's a problem and why have we allowed that is slack to the government. ok so we're

talking about governance that's where all the restrictions i suppose and where how people can use the ocean starts from there know what we're talking about three quarters of the world's coral reefs under threat at the moment the population of the world is growing eighty percent of tourism is happening on the world's coast this is something that we can really change or is it pile in the sky thinking that we're not destined for the death of the coral sea now we absolutely can change it and we have to change it but how do we change it is just not one person one government or one organization is a massive moments that we need to draw to the attention and this is why we need to work in partnership with governments with the private sector which is crucial to not only get the investment the finance for the solutions but also we know that the private sector have the end to connect the innovators that can provide sort of the innovative ideas and how to find new solutions but also turn transform the old way of doing business into news the thought of a sustainable way and of course the end of media as well of course as the economist

events like this and i think included in the private sector we're talking about hotels we're in a pretty massive one right now and this coast as you saw probably in our piece is really an example of hotels tourism develop and it's huge business all over the world do you think that those businesses and the governments that rely on them as well in those tourism dollars really buying into this at the moment well when the problem comes and they know that they lack of of course protection from the soil at shoreline but also of course when the tourist is not coming because it's all polluted nobody wants to come to a beach where it is polluted and that's very obvious at the problem that we can see but we also know that it is other problem going into the oceans so i think the story to tell is how it all settling in how it will all depend on each other how we are depending on the ocean how the tourist sector is dependent on a beautiful view but also clean and healthy oceans that's what that story is that we need to tell and that's

a story that you know one it was driving. for the king you like and the choir ok thank you very much lisa spence and there the u.n. director of oceans for u.n. environment so this is where it will hopefully going top in the next couple of days lots of meetings in hallways lots of networking between government between big business and between conservationists to try and come up with some sort of solution john heilemann in cancun thank you for that just want to talk about syria for a second just before we go to the break because i had a comment in from linda who's watching on facebook live i just it's a particularly impassioned one and i think it kind of sums things up certainly how a lot of people feel as we report on this is what she's just said we're all watching but no one can help what is the point of all the organizations so much military might and no one's willing to save these people this is of course referring to east and glued to it is a shame it is a blot on humanity for those world leaders to twiddle their thumbs the syrians are suffering on a daily basis when will this attack on innocents and when will this war and. that

is a question we ask ourselves every day i just wanted to read them because it just it just goes to the heart of all that suffering that we see every day for the last seven years from syria. and yet echoes what i think a lot of people think about that if you've got a thought you want to put to us there's the what's that number and telegram plus nine seven four five or one triple one four and i'm the hashtags a.j. newsgroup on twitter and facebook this is the news read if you're watching us on facebook i welcome the italian elections and they confused a lot of people what the outside country split and you are about to see what happens next that is for my friends and i join us and then later sri lanka still under a state of emergency the latest on the religious tension in sri lanka as well as the social media blockhead. it's about to cool down again across the levant there's plenty of cloud in the

eastern med and it's producing a lot of rain in turkey and a few showers for the sciences into beirut for example but that blows through is the other side of a cold front the temperatures drop by thing up to ten degrees berries for customers about eighteen come friday i was still up twenty seven in baghdad and it's twenty two in teheran i don't notice but the koch's this is pretty wet snow and the still some to come for afghanistan the far north of pakistan as well iran looks largely fine the moment the temperatures in baghdad drop a little bit two to twenty four we talk about saturday here so give you a sight of beirut much the same sort of out of the breeze a little lighter and for much of the caucuses so i mean here in georgia as by job the sun is back out here and back to school down to about ninety degrees or night south of this it's been really quite warm recently than through the gulf and qatar point types of thirty two degrees thirty one is in the forecast this is well above average should be now the records thirty nine we're not anywhere near that but here

and i and susie you're a we're up above where it should be twenty nine abu dhabi thirty four in the middle of our mom but it's nothing in the sky it's not about dusty either. they watch us. they gather evidence but so can we. and american cyber activists develops and used in brazil the moment the police. we have more cameras than they do because the people a bigger brother. revel peaks this time on a. natural capital the capital which makes the creative. when nature is transformed into a commodity big business takes in new interests buying landscapes protecting landscapes

it's a phenomenal opportunity to be able to use a business model to achieve sustainability of nature but at what risk banks of course don't do that because they have at the heart protection of nature they do that because they see a business of pricing the planet as this time on al-jazeera. they

have been calm and what's trending as well and we're going to be talking about that in just a moment a transponder things because they're in candy and we talked about it in residency in the office a way to really see them or something different knew ferrie had out to see what a combat is what's trending this thursday. a curfew there on the central district of candy has been temporary lifted after police managed to contain the anti muslim violence the government to create a nationwide state of emergency earlier this week and blocked several social media sites as part of that buddhist groups swept through towns and villages targeting muslims homes and businesses here as bandits meth now and candy. the

curfew was lifted early by the authorities because they managed to maintain peace overnight here in kandy the homes of two muslim families were burnt but comparatively compared to choose day now and into wednesday it was quieter that curfew lifted early to be back on the road four o'clock local authorities remain concerned that they say those social media platforms are being used to spread extremist inflammatory material and some of that material is feeding on the resentment felt by some in the majority buddhists and sinhalese community that the minority. muslim community here in sri lanka there are about nine percent of the population are too powerful in business and too many businesses that's a long running ill feeling is being played on by nationalists who are trying to enforce more buddhist nationalist sentiment in sri lanka. richelle carey in the

inside story tame went in-depth on sri lanka and yesterday's episode not just looking at what would end this current violence but what the long term solution is because really this is just a repeat of what we saw four years ago a new edition of inside story coming up at seventeen thirty g.m.t. but you can catch this want to get online at al-jazeera dot com in the show's section votes being counted down in sierra leone's presidential elections sixteen candidates vying for the top job hoping to lead the country out of an economic crisis but even though the result won't be known for days a runoff is widely expected that interest now with more from freetown. vote tallying at this data center for the national election commission has been going on smoothly according to officials at the what you see only results of the vote counted in polling stations across that in your own they'll be brought here and sorted and immediately they are sorted then they'll be passed on to certain members of staff to individual members who will be looking at those and of course

cross checking whether that at us now with the detail they correlate here will be passed on to another set of election commission workers. and there are two staff actually who would be assigned to different computers and each one will be imputing the results or the data from each of the polling stations so that the reason for doing that is that if there is any major that i don't like will come up and then what they do here finally at the end of the day well before a bigger database that will be analyzed by election officials finally before the results announced by the national election commission. the mood on the streets of freetown another major television set is in sierra leone is about topics but decisions then are someone's ideas by the way when politicians started asking their supporters to go out on the streets and start celebrating even before the

announcement by the national electoral commission how about people are very cautious of what is coming out and for the next one or two days that tension will be on the national election commission to hear what was the outcome of this court are they having a president after the first round or they should be prepared for a second round of vote. all right to help us chat with later this evening we're going to talk about about international women's day life or about i want you to sort of set the scene for us with something from rwanda from sierra leone to rwanda so in rwanda males are in general rather males tend to outnumber females in most parliaments around the world but that is not the case and rwanda women form the majority of parliament there is africa's gender equality success story if you will for high simo representation in politics in education and in the workplace much of this started after the rwandan genocide in one nine hundred ninety four now we've been talking to some women across the continent about how rwanda sets an example

for other african countries. today and see their married to separate reminds me make the point that. the influence of mexican families it's going to be that on the road to getting out to and stand point women's rights to make just. point sampling right down the main hold. more than sixty percent of major speak to a lot of fun still has to be done everybody needs to respond the progress not on the in the government basis not on the pundits cross-pieces but also in the business spaces in the public spaces and also you know we need to i so my hope is that we will continue to fight for more cooperation so i was a women's police because i see patients and also fight for morning hours that movie and how it would mean i make the lives of men easy and. rwanda was the first

country in the world to have more than half of its government be run by women currently sixty one percent of the parliament is female now according to the global competitiveness report rwanda is the best place to be a woman in africa and the fourth in the entire world following iceland norway and finland where wanda is also the global leader in the he for she campaign commitments of the global solidarity movement for gender equality developed by the un women and spearheaded by men in support of justice and equality for women but just because rwanda has a female majority government does not mean women are necessarily better off according to the un rates of domestic violence are still considered high in the country now if you're in rwanda we would love to hear from you about what you think of your government and what it does for you especially with gender equality you can tweet me directly and we heard a.g. or user hash tag there hash tag a jane is good thank you and more with later in a moment on this international women's day as we pointed out thousands of well

let's go around the world so we start with south koreans marking the occasion by rallying against sexual abuse and harassment. oh. yes me too much in a square in seoul carrying signs about global movements south korea's government says it plans to toughen the punishment for employers who fail to address the issue of sexual abuse. this is india women marching in the capital new delhi to demand better rights and protection the country has one of the world's highest rates of crimes against women the government says up to thirty nine cases are reported every hour strong and madrid here hundreds of women began a protest on but part of several events planned for their first nationwide strike on international women's day the strike aims to highlight discrimination how recent and violence against women in spain so before we move on just a little bit about international women's day has its own website here which was

just having a little look at before it has become a very big deal you see a lot of the sponsors involved there it's junk vodaphone met life and already looking for relationships for twenty nineteen as well what interested me as well as when i went to the united nations website about international women's day march the eighth it's actually been around for a while the first gnash national women's day i should say was in one thousand nine hundred nine in the united states and in nineteen well the early one thousand nine hundred one hundred thirteen fourteen seventeen you've got the day of the eighth of march actually put in as international women's day well i'm pleased to introduce yet membership niggers c. and i hope of said your name right there with us from nairobi she is the inclusion advisor at light for the world and international disability and development n.-g. o. and the reason we've got you with us one obvious that you're a woman too you are blind as well and you are i believe the recipient of the spirit

of helen keller award for what you're doing for women with disabilities congratulations first of all how does it feel to be recognized like that thank you very much. thank you so much three d. a great honor and i am so humbled that this is coming the perfect time as we know how one killer sets a very good example of a woman who has been persistent although it's challenging the challenges that she faced in all her time so she's always been my inspiration so getting this award would mean kind of sounding in solidarity with all women and particularly those amazing women who have excelled their challenges and make opportunities out of them so yeah the spirit of helen keller award comes in time to give me more responsibility and accomplish better for all women with disabilities in the world what sort of progress to feel you're making obviously issues to do with women at the moment things like the me too movement sexual harassment they have all of this impetus behind it at the moment for you women with disabilities how much progress

do you feel you're making and what more do you do you need to make more of an impact. i think the progress in terms of women with disabilities is quite slow and we still see that women with disabilities are not part of such huge movements including a lot of them like he for she and others so we really want to call upon mainstream gender movements to take into consideration the contributions that women with different kinds of disabilities from all over the world can make and i think for that we really need to do. recognition and that's why we are today in the meantime launching a global r. word for the first time for all women was disability for achievers who have done a very good jobs in different fields like held it occasion arts and culture so i think we need to recognize that women with disabilities are not only was this

abilities that's why we have named our word in life for the world her abilities so i call upon all women movements mainstream gender movements to count on our abilities not on our this bill it is and make us part of the overall movement going on and what about international women's day itself we sort of had some discussions ourselves thinking it is one day where obviously there's a lot of publicity and there's a lot of exposure on things like social media but obviously one day doesn't change everything but do you feel there is benefit in having a day like this. well it's america it's a benchmark and it's a benchmark to think and it's not just. coincidental it was for a reason that this day was the decade for women but it doesn't mean that the rest of the base doesn't belong to women and what we have to do is when we talk about internet education we have think about education of girls was the with and without disabilities when we talk about poverty we have to think about poverty the

situation of poverty of women so i think we have to just twist our minds to think in a gender lines whenever we talk about humanity human being environment climate change everything affects women so it's about the shift that we need to bring we need to gender rise the issues that we talk about throughout the year otherwise i believe that this day is needed because it came from a history as you mentioned a while ago that the verse macusi the recipient of the two thousand and eighteen spirit of helen keller award lovely to talk to you thank you. so yeah international women's day has been pretty much any us everywhere today if you've been on social media today you will have seen it something else so we have a look at this mcdonald's twitter page in fact this is on all of this social media pages they flip the golden arches upside down it's a w. for international women's day and actually this picture up here that is actually real i think that was limb would california one branch of mcdonald's actually

flipped this sign upside down and all the packaging and the like from that one store was done like that so it's it's big isn't it leah it is they really went all out for it and they want to say the people jump on this but they say you know they want to be part of it sort of that way they do a lot of people do and we're seeing that online as well so the theme for this year's women's day is pressed for progress you may have seen the hash tag online and many of you have been doing just that with other hashtags online for example bring back our girls in nigeria is just one point referring to female students kidnapped by the group boko haram knew and i'm in the us in south america meaning not one more woman lost male violence and that comment in the arab world which is equivalent to the me to hash tag that spread around the world thousands of you have written posted and shared your stories from representation and local governments to menstrual dignity here's what some of you had to say. i am the only person in the town i was thinking about coming down i don't want that kind of

a woman running. after like you carry on i am very excited. about the meet the women. but the magic and the i think it's quite normal for us to access toilet paper and so when we use public toilet so why is it different for menstrual products why do women in the u.k. use toilet paper in between periods when they don't have access to pads my name is magic gail and i'm the founder of been t. international this year for international women's day we will press for progress because we want to create a world where all women have menstrual dignity they need to movement for me represents the belly dilution of my existence i am no longer a victim i knew that at least ten years ago but now that i am the parent of a child with special needs it confirms my believe that no child should grow up

a victim no child should be abuse adult teen it does not matter the age in this case are women or girls or young ladies or teenagers and it all depends on us. this year the un is focusing on rural and urban activists helping women succeed this video is one of the most popular online. we are here this evening to celebrate the women under whose showed us we stand it really is a revolution that we are not waiting for permission to do their work yet you find none of them i should all be looking and to be a voice for them when they don't have to leave it at the moment and our history is no no one can stop us these speak up for our rights and even bring change to our wants all words can't change don't hold one. because. we are on together. you can send us

a video to telling us what topic you are passionate about this woman's day you can use or hash tag a.j. news read or you can write me directly at lee harvey a.j. thanks. it atory amazing this morning a number of us on the newsgroup team actually remembered something from like twenty sixteen which spoke to al jazeera and of course on many excellent female journalists this was very specific that when i tweeted about at the time and found it as well this is in the battle against eisel for control of mosul began we had three female correspondents on the frontline that day hoda abdel-hamid stephanie deca and then a hoarder and while this should not be a big deal let's be very clear about that it kind of was and it drew a lot of attention at the time on social media so we also know there are other female correspondents today to drop us a line to talk about their experiences in the fields and how being a women had impacted their work. i choose to celebrate particularly in this region that i cover east in central africa to celebrate the

many many women i have talked to particularly in countries that are in tom world women who are leaving their women who enjoy so much but with so much dignity and strength those are the women i choose to celebrate as a woman working on the field as a journalist i have encountered many problems in afghanistan for example in the city of kandahar we want went to meet a warlord and he wouldn't talk to me because i was a woman so i had to trust in the producer to get the right questions the right information for the story i was not there to give a lesson and women rights or feminism but to get a story out but at the same time being a woman has allowed me to meet extraordinary women around the world who have opened their homes to me told me their stories their suffering what happened to them and for that i'm very grateful we as women sometimes faced sexual harassment we often dismissed by some men who look down on you who dismiss you thinking that you are i

suppose not in the same league as some of the name particularly if you are a young black woman and some of the challenges we face but that said there are some advantages for example because some people don't see was for it the easier to approach it down this it isn't i mean to say and this and some axes. don't get but i do have to admit that it hasn't always been easy of course to be a female correspondent i've had my usual sexual harassment i'm sure all my female colleagues have had i've been called all kinds of body parts online by people who don't like my stories but it also has opened doors that has opened doors to women and men who feel more comfortable to talk and share their stories with a woman that has also opened doors to presidents ministers generals high officials who somehow not if you believe that if they're interviewed by a woman that she wouldn't ask those tough why. aren't majorly disappointed i've had lots of angry calls by staffers for example from an indonesian president who was

asking me what was that all about i want to tell my sisters here in indonesia and all over the world don't ever ever let anyone patronize you. stuff so much stuff online as well as of picked three things to show you one the team put this together today eight must see documentaries from al-jazeera hip hop the job is egypt women drivers journalists under threat all of those have been collated in the one place so if you look for what was the headline there he says scrolling through the back must see if you search for that also it causes women to steal this is from last year but i love this one girl says female bus driver the fisher women of dance are also dancers female blacksmith all these stories from a place which is cut off really from the rest of the world in the counting the cost team have been working on this as well the most recent episode the great pay gap is hasn't talking about the numbers in the world economic forum about how bad the pay gap is have a look for all of us counting the cost. it must see documentaries they're all that

al-jazeera dot com. his job to talk about so i'm feeling i prefer to be here today actually. i over in the control room all that yeah yeah you're kind of the odd one out really but you know because it we were talking about international women's day just a moment ago and of course that's going to be where we start who better to start with then the greatest perhaps the greatest anyway professional woman that is on the court right now and that is of course serina win is the twenty three time grand slam singles champ will make her professional return to the court for the first time since giving birth six months ago and we share her excitement serena posted this is a video on instagram just before her first round match at indian wells a little bit later on thursday and she added the message thursday the day i play my very first match well of course it marks international women's day my comeback could not have come on a better day her rivals including well number two caroline was jackie is also good

friend is keen to have her back on the courts you know obviously having the best. woman says perry ever come back and play on tour something that is very special some very happy to see serena back and going to be exciting to see. you know where she's going to come up with over the next few weeks and months. well serena has been a major role model for young women taking up the game but another sporting idol has been using his star power to influence the next generation in a different way miami heat's dwayne wade has a surprise visit to the florida high school where seventeen people were shot dead last month and as you can see they really appreciated his visit wade has had a connection with the school ever since it emerged that one of the victims was a huge fan of his and was buried in a way to josie or he has also sat down and spoken with some of those students from school who are campaigning for a change in gun laws in the united states and they were grateful that he wanted to get involved in his string of tweets he called them future leaders and said that

these young adults get his they understand the power of their voices for the ones that are often unheard and ultimately a success of his visit was summed up in this selfie posted by a student activist who wrote to wayne wade wants you to register to vote and it's been like over nineteen thousand times what is for asian can be found in all corners of the sporting world and on friday six hundred of the world's best to sable athletes will begin showcasing their incredible skills and abilities forty nine nations will take part in the winter paralympics which get underway in south korea the participation of a handful of north koreans has dominated the build up to the pune chang games thoughts on like the olympics north and south korea have announced they won't march together in the opening ceremony this time around broke mcbride looks ahead. at build up events to do support for the paralympics games that often struggle in

the shadow of the more popular olympics they follow. but amid the olympic goodwill generated between north and south korea these winter paralympics have an added political dimension. to the north and south the one nation and we should be united one day i see it as a positive move as a korean national. just as he saw a very successful winter olympics i believe we will see another equally successful paralympics. south korea's paralympians are being joined by a small team from north korea. a chance to help closer relations while supporting the development of schools for athletes with disabilities. the conditions for paralympics in the north is hard we want to help develop the sports and we hope the visa paralympics can play a positive role in reunification with the men's para ice hockey team is one of

south korea's medal hopes the subject of a feature length documentary released to coincide with the games. lots of people look at us with pity but we hope they just see us as athletes. and also as inspirational role models overcoming challenges and adversity. one of the team members is a defector from north korea now wearing south korean colors choi one calc how does leg amputated when he fell from the train he'd been clinging to. there are some people who wish for geisha and some who don't i personally want i wish all those who were hurt because of the division can be healed thought out. the games organizers say ticket sales are beating expectations pointing to increased interest in spite of the hype it took time for south koreans to get behind their

winter olympics but once they did no one it seems was warrant do you think. the hope is that same passion will now carry through to support the paralympics. and if they help north south relations say the games supporters koreans will be the winners even before the first medals have been awarded. rob mcbride al jazeera. always look forward to is paralympics get in touch with us he's in the hash tag a.j. news great or tweet me at. be back with most fought at eight hundred g.m.t. the finale had you back to come oh thank you joe pointing out as well i am the odd one out but then i don't need to be in a room full of women to be the odd one too early to sit for this news group that's how to get in touch with us we're going to leave you now with some images from all over the world as international women's day was celebrated for twenty eight tane i was so you back yesterday at fourteen tomorrow fifteen hundred hours g.m.t. friday. night minutes was mine the fact that the remaining doctor to make the

rounds. see there is a change in women feeling positive and not being afraid to speak. there . was one of those speaking the sort of things then maybe you would be more aware.

with the sisters the mothers the women say enough. the scene for us where online what is american sign in yemen that peace is always possible but it never happens not because the situation is complicated but because no one cares or if you join us on set there are people that there to choose or between buying medication eating basis is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's not to

this is close to the story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera and hundred forty twelve on the. u.s. and british companies have announced the biggest discovery of natural gas in west africa but what to do with these untapped natural resources is already a source of heated debate nothing much has changed they still spend most of their days looking forward to full dry river beds like this one five years on the syrians still feel battered or even those who managed to escape their countries have been truly unable to escape the war. as poverty and desperation sweep across ruhi just settlements women and girls are being bought and sold and given away in refugee camps one on one east investigates yet another dark side of the real hinge a crisis at this time on al-jazeera.

al-jazeera. where ever your. the syrian government tightens its grip on rebel held eastern bhooter and it seems to be using any means necessary including the apparent use of chlorine gas and phosphorus.