suspected money laundering operation but this time it was different. an accidental discovery the war simitian suspicion. unraveled some unprecedented scale of systemic international corruption people in power investigates a racket of such magnitude that the government redefined the rules of impunity. the power was. at this time that. the syrian government tightens its grip on rebel held eastern ghouta and it seems to be using any means necessary including the apparent use of chlorine gas and phosphorus. and. live from london coming up. no u.s.

no problem a revamped version of the transpacific trade partnership is about to become a done deal. the use of a nerve agent on u.k. seoul is a brazen and reckless act. tough talk in the u.k. of the poisoning of a former russian double agent. and environmental leaders gather in mexico for an ocean summit at a location which in a straits the very problems that tackling. there chilling new video has emerged from inside syria showing what appeared to be phosphorous bombs being dropped on the rebel held enclave of eastern ghouta activists say they were dropped on a residential area in the town of how. the bombs start fires where they none of course excruciating burns if contact is made with the skin. activists have also posted video showing what looks like

a chlorine gas attack syrian government forces are pursuing a relentless offensive against the rebel held stronghold but now on the verge of cutting the territory into two isolated pockets it's in hard is following developments 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. even civilians are not. over nine hundred people have been killed in nearly three weeks of what many describe as one if not the fiercest military campaign so the syrian. 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. 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 failaka man 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 eastern who say they want. i swear by god i will never leave our country i'll stay here till death look at the structural around you they are asking for in countries to help them get rid of us this is inhumane and ethical 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 rebels 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. meanwhile turkish soldiers working for the free syrian army have captured a strategically important town in northern syria the town of gender race was held by the u.s. backed why p.g. fighters are promising to fight off the turkish assault alan fisher reports in the turkish syrian border. the final assault began just before nightfall on wednesday. less than twelve hours later the free syrian army backed by the turks entered the city of jenin that it's. doctors treated those caught up in the fighting some too young to fully understand why they were in pain. some too late to help the taking of a strategically important for the free syrian army and also the targets it gives them control of the higher ground and also give them control of one of the main

roads towards afrin city itself the final target speaking in vienna turkey's foreign minister said the operation against the cutlash militia the y p g called all of branch should end by me the question whether now that we have passed the critical stage use mountainous areas or captured the border control is sustained we are moving towards africa of course when we get to a friend we have to be even more careful to avoid civilian casualties are i am our target is the terrorists we are more sensitive compared to anyone else when it comes to humanitarian aid and civilians genderless is the biggest turn that has fallen to the f.s.a. backed by the turks since this operation was launched in january but before they can even consider moving on from here they have to take complete control of genderless first. today first we targeted the town of ginger us by artillery shells and took full control of the town from y p g fighters we've captured and killed a few of their members and one of their fighters blew himself up. despite the

bravado they may not have complete control yet sporadic fighting is reported to be continuing in the time the battle for three in may not be as quick or the street forward the cards are moving seven hundred fighters across the country away from the battle against i sold on to the front lines for the coming assault alan fischer al jazeera on the turkey syria border. a new version of the trans-pacific partnership agreement known as the t p p eleven is due to be signed in chile after languishing for more than a year after the u.s. withdrew twelve countries signed the original t p p agreement back in late twenty sixteen a controversial deal designed to unlock markets promote investment and boost sales and with the potential to create a single market much like the eurozone and donald trump pulled the u.s.

out just three days into his presidency the typically is collective g.d.p. shrank by sixty percent and trade within the group by forty percent eleven remaining members spent most of last year trying to salvage the deal this new version the d.p.p. eleven is the product of a labor slim down agreement designed to put in eliminate tariffs in a marketplace worth close to fourteen trillion dollars one of the biggest winners is expected to be vietnam when he reports from his you warm. 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 and a moving to

a new factory will help us develop you can see all our machines our old so will 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 can in the worse your best picture. 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 into the 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 route direction of the reform is very welcome but some of that will need to be accelerated for for the domestic private sector to be able to grow more that it has been so far that certainly the goal of this company which used to import its clay and export the finished products price fluctuations mentored eventually became a domestic supply are only c.p.p. and a new modern factory male aout to realize its goal of returning to the international markets wayne hay al-jazeera has on vietnam the u.s.

secular 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 capital addis ababa as part of his first official visit to africa and united states is the leading aid donor to africa but china supposed it as a trade partner in two thousand and nine. 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 script parle and his daughter remain in a critical but stable condition after being found unconscious on sunday a police officer also harmed by the rare nerve agent is still in a serious condition. the use minerva agent on the u.k. saw 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 divest occasion is moving at a pace and this government more act without hesitation as the facts become clear in . the us president donald trump has suggested that australia canada and mexico may be exempt from new steel and aluminum tariffs last week trump announced that the u.s. would apply twenty five percent tariffs on steel and ten percent another minium to protect american jobs on two major trading partners to threaten retaliation on thursday trump said he was sticking to his plans but would have flexibility to change the tariffs for specific countries over the steel are the backbone of our invasion we are the bedrock of our defense industrial base our greatest presidents

from washington to jackson lincoln jimmy kimmel the and others they protected our country from outside influence from other countries coming in and stealing our wealth and stealing our jobs and stealing our companies. and we're going to be very fair we're going to be very flexible but we're going to protect the american worker as i said i would do in my campaign. still ahead on the program void by me to time's up millions mark international women's day because it's all talk and no action. and notching up the sky the six asian cities competing for the top prize this year is sky lantern festival in taiwan. and it's about to cool down again across the levant the cloud in the east and med

and it's producing a lot of rain in turkey and a few showers for the sinuses 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 know it is but the cokes this is pretty wet but was snowy and the still sun to come for afghanistan the fall and also pakistan as well iran looks lost the find the moment the temperatures in baghdad drop a little bit two to twenty four we talk about saturday here so give you the sights of beirut much the same sort of well the breeze a little lighter and for much of the caucasus on media in georgia as the sun is back out again back who's cooled down to about ninety degrees or night south of this it's been really quite warm recently to answer 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 die

and sues the u.a.e. 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 aagot. 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 mortars the why don't see stay with al-jazeera for a series of special reports from a three piece expedition to antarctica.

they're going on one of the top stories. new video has emerged from inside syria showing what appeared to be phosphorous bombs being dropped on the rebel held enclave of eastern ghouta activists say they were dropped on a residential area in the town of how maria. a new version of the trans-pacific partnership agreement known as the t p p eleven is due to be signed in chile often languishing for more than a year after the u.s. withdrew. britain's home secretary has vowed they will pursue whoever is behind the name of poison attack on former russian double agents and his daughter. those days international women's day and women have rallied across the world to market ahead of the un's refugee agency visited a camp in lebanon to speak to women who fled violence in syria he said the biggest

challenges facing the violence and early marriage lebanon is hosting around one and a half million syrian refugees. hundreds of women are gathering at turkey's border with syria to play raise the plight of syrian women after years of civil war organizers of the protest say more than six thousand women are currently being held in prisons in syria and some are being subjected to torture and rape them costello reports from istanbul. it's an all women can watch dozens of buses carrying women activists have been on the rules for two days from istanbul to hot site on the turkish syrian border the organizers of the so-called come to school or want to remind the world of syria's forgotten women who have suffered dire conditions and syrian regime prisons and been tortured since the war began in two thousand and eleven lawyer demand musar sees the conditions

violate not only international law but also syrian law absolutely no rights and a lot of times the families have some sort of idea where they are but for the most part they don't know which security branch they're imprisoned in or which present and for many they are forcibly disappeared which means we don't even know if they're actually detained in the prison or they have been taken hostage according to the organizers of the convoy more than six thousand seven hundred women are currently in jail at these five hundred thousand people have lost their lives in syria during the seven year conflict the british based syrian observatory for human rights says more than nine thousand were women and at least ten thousand were children thirty one year old neural his jersey was tortured for several weeks the police and the massacres arrested her because she was an activist in two thousand and twelve she is one of the convoys leaders for thought of the.

rule i haven't repeatedly beaten during interrogations they did everything. including electrocution they also humiliated us and tortured us the worst moment was when i officer ordered other soldiers to rape me if i don't talk for me there was always the threat for some other girls they weren't so lucky. women in this convoy are from different religious and ethnic groups they aim to create international awareness about the violations and crimes committed against the women in syrian prisons it is the least they can do on an international women's day for them and for their children no one here is expecting president bashar assad to be watching but what they are demanding is that the international community puts more pressure on his government to act at the doorstep of syria these women call out to those in prison beyond the border we are coming to save you see them because

although al-jazeera a stumble political business and environmental leaders from around the globe are gathering in mexico for the world oceans summit the aim is to come up with ways to use maritime resources sustainably the john home and reports the location of the meeting itself is 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 cancun it attracted seven million international visitors just last year but financial success has meant abandoning the principles of sustainability that 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 face reefs and corals generates so many habitats for fish mollusks. it's as if they were and always is 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 you know this if you work or if we didn't do this now we'd only be thinking a short little be here now would disappear are fairly wealthy but the state government long lacks in holding hotel isn't developers to account says it's also now on board you know you can put on these or there is a serious commitment from the government to focus on the environment because. as he recognizes that tourism depends on the natural resources and if we exhaust them tourism is spanish too. just woods for now but it's a local vision in line with the yangs of this global summit the united effort of

business leaders conservationists and government before it's too late to home how does it conquer. i mean john heilemann in cancun says it's a big effort they were involved in isn't it. yes it definitely is there's lots of different figures here you can probably see some of the whole networking behind this having figured together we're talking about people from the government the president of mexico is going to speak in a little bit we're speaking about conservationists and also people from the business world and international organizations like the united nations and also the world bank speaking of which we have with us the senior director for the environment and natural resources occurring kemp occurring thanks for coming to speak to us karen you've got a three point six billion portfolio for ocean related things but why is it so important that money it starts be tested in that sort of initiatives at the moment

what are you spending or. i'd say i'm very nice to be here that oceans are very important so while she managed so. we know that oceans regulate our i can oceans provide food including for the poorest people along a lot of the coastal and ocean nations in the world and also they provide a lot of economic activity around the ocean so they're really very important and if you were asking you asking what does one need to invest in what we know that climate change is a big issue we know that ocean plastics is a big issue and solid waste management and fisheries are a big issue and it's as an escape issue in. in the ping countries those are the those are issues especially most of the nyanza as i understand it that's where the world bank is whether it's looking to invest a lot he told me so. if i stay in those countries we know the

a lot of country very strict environment and there's a very good sort of promises but sometimes other things get in the way with the promise to use a bank in investing in those countries where our mission is to eradicate extreme poverty and to have bring about shared prosperity to the countries that we work with and so we work with countries for instance on solid waste management which is often a distant cousin sector because it is diffused you need to build capacity it costs a lot of money and also increasingly you want to bring in the private sector because it is one of those sectors where one can work very well with the public and the private and so we invest both in governance but also in the hardware and try to bring up both of capacity but also the financing when we talk about the private sector and we're talking about the governments of

a see those are the two big players here especially big business in the government you seeing in your work that they're really more than paying lip service but at the point where they really want to engage with this are they still milking the sort of tourism cow and dealing with this sort of thing in the future we certainly see a lot of countries that are being very very serious about the oceans and about how for instance tourism can only strive if it is built on the has the environment i just came back from the seychelles a couple of weeks ago where the seychelles just announced a long time marine spatial plan and where they are going to work around that and with marine protected areas so it goes hand in hand histories and that's why. it's a number of countries that are very aware that ocean harris is ocean well. that's probably a good point to leave it there so the world hopefully becoming more aware of this problem just to give you an example by twenty fifty there's going to be more

plastic scientists think than fish in the sea three quarters of the world's reefs are in danger right now and about ninety percent of the world's fisheries are either being over fish or they're pretty near to their full capacity so this is a big problem we've got a lot of people from around the world hoping to in some way start working toward solutions to fix it john homa thank you very much indeed. three members of the maldives main opposition party have been arrested taken into custody after police raided the moldavian democratic party's office the police reportedly refused to disclose their charges and said the rest were made under the state of emergency declared last month president of the yemeni granted sweeping powers to the police to investigate a suspected coup after a top court released nine political prisoners new evidence obtained biology zero shows that a major trump fundraiser is being investigated by ukraine for providing political

advocacy to a russian bank blacklisted by the us and europe the russian bt be bankrupt offered any it broady twelve and a half million dollars for financial advice and analysis shortly after russian troops and as crimea twelve page document raises serious questions about whether brody breached the us foreign agents registration act six asian cities are displaying their creations at this year's sky lantern festival in taiwan celebrations are a mix of old traditions and new technology as shares are big for reports rising up the night sky this year sky lantern festival theme is a celebration of the chinese zodiac year of the dark. the main display lenten a child from the local soup tribe with a taiwanese dog to wish everyone a prosperous year ahead at home hung the festival dates back to the tang dynasty 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 a brush a future. the festival features tech inspired elements that allow for more visitor interaction the smartphone app helps with festival navigation and provides display 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 tells law 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 hoax how well love and success slowly rise of. the kerosene so rice paper is expected to last a year but as technology changes lin hopes his ancient craft last a lifetime. got for al-jazeera. and one of the day's top stories new video has emerged from inside syria showing what appeared to be phosphorous bombs being dropped on the rebel held and cave of eastern ghouta activists say they were dropped on a residential area in the town of how maria. syrian government forces are pursuing

a relentless offensive against rebel stronghold saying holder has latest. sources have told us that the russian government and the rebel factions in eastern huta are holding the goshi asians over a would draw well it may involve islam one of the main rebel factions leaving two rebel controlled territories in the southern province of daraa the other main faction a large man will leave to areas under the control of turkey backed rebels in the north of the country a new version of the trans-pacific partnership agreement known as the t p p eleven is due to be signed in chile after languishing for more than a year after the u.s. withdrew a slimmed down agreement is designed so that eliminates tariffs in a market place worth close to fourteen trillion dollars. the usage of state has warned african nations against surrendering 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 as part of his first official visit to africa 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 screwball and his daughter remain in a critical but stable condition after being found unconscious on sunday the head of the un's refugee agency has visited a camp in lebanon on international women's day to speak to women who fled violence in syria people grandy said the biggest challenges facing them are violence and early marriage and hundreds of women are gathering at turkey's border with syria to raise the plight of syrian women after years of civil war organizers of the protest say more than six thousand women are currently being held in prisons in syria and some of being subjected to torture and rape. so now if that were the full news hour

just over twenty five minutes time coming next on behind the headlines inside story i had. a very rare nerve agent that's what the u.k.'s interior minister says was used to poison a formal russian spy and his daughter it follows a number of mysterious deaths in the u.k. of recent years of people linked to russia which flatly denies any involvement so what are the implications of this latest attack this is inside story.