richard you problem is something which is a geopolitical issue that's for governments international institutions to manage refugees don't have the right to freely on the other boards can move freely as far and as much as they want it's you multinational colonialism this is that the over the democratic process these companies they just want the money europe's forbidden colony episode one at this time on al-jazeera. u.s. president donald trump makes good on his promise to impose tariffs on imported steel and as the nation's on a deal against protectionism. alone down in georgia this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up new video posted

by syrian activists showing what looks like a chlorine gas attack in eastern guta. united in a global fight for equality women across the world home rallies to mark international women's day. on a fourteen hundred year old tradition gets a modern make over in taiwan. u.s. president donald trump has imposed controversial tariffs on steel and aluminum imports despite warnings by potential trade war foreign imports of steel will not be charging twenty five percent and ten percent and they'll take effect in just over two weeks from says name of us counted on mexico are temporarily exempt from the new rules at the same time due to the unique nature of our relationship with canada and mexico we're negotiating right now nafta. and we're going to hold off the

tariff for those two countries to see whether or not we're able to make the deal on nafta national security very important aspect of that deal and if we're making the deal on nafta this will figure into the deal and we won't have the tariffs on canada on mexico john hendren has more from washington d.c. president donald trump fulfilled a campaign promise that helped make him president by promising tariffs of twenty five percent on imported steel and ten percent on aluminum he fulfilled a promise that he would protect american manufacturers and try to bring back u.s. manufacturing jobs the response from the steelworkers who accompanied him during that announcement was immediate and raucous there are still plants who are beginning to go back to work because of trump's plan to install these tariffs however on capitol hill republicans like jeff flake said they would try to reverse this plan with legislation democrat dick durbin said it was like dropping a bomb on a net they feared

a trade war that could start in europe and go around the world the european union is already talked about raising taxes on such iconic american products as levi's jeans bourbon and harley-davidson motorcycles so the debate is on there are new industries new steel manufacturing starting up here in the u.s. but the concern about a trade war has just begun in the coming days and months will tell if that will be joined by other countries or pizza consular as chief market economist for the brokerage firm first standard financial he says the new tires are most likely aimed at china. he's basically using this as a bargaining power to get nafta the way he wants to get in after and he's made that quite clear and of course the real question here is how does it impact the domestic economy and the global economy economy once the tariffs go into full force and i and i suspect that the markets are going to be. on edge until we get some results

and of course the real key here is whether or not we're headed for a full blown trade war if that is the case then you know that means we could be headed for isolation and isolation certainly is not a good thing for any economy and obviously being in a global economy it would be a real negative europe is very important but i suspect that the real culprit here is going to be china. and if we should get into a trade would what would china. i would kind of think that the u.s. stands of a chance of being the loser and not necessarily the winner. of the trade deal that didn't want to be a part of the trans-pacific polish it's been signed in chile and what's being

hailed as a powerful move against protectionism and its future was in downfall more than a year after trump pull the u.s. out of the agreement with the revamped deal reduced tyrus for eleven countries and connect economies with ten trillion dollars of japan's economics minister says he hopes other countries will join the agreement in the future. key people. is a historic achievement which create and where roofs over the twenty first century in the asia pacific region oh the ministers i read today to make utmost effort to experience exposures entry into force and as soon as implementation of this agreement if all was at all it was successful we could attract a number of countries and economies to this high standard and we are biased agreement in c.e.o.'s ahead. syrian activists have posted

a video showing what looks like a chlorine gas attack in eastern guta comes after another video of what appears to be phosphorous bombs being dropped on the enclave syrian government forces are almost three weeks into a major offensive on the rebel stronghold they're now on the verge of cutting the territory into two isolated pockets so in a report from beirut in 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 bartman to help ground troops. 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 yesterday 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. one of the main rebel factions leaving two rebel

controlled territories in the southern province of daraa the other main faction 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 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 encounters 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. turkish soldiers working with parts of the free syrian army have captured a strategically important town in northern syria is a free region there are reports of fighting in the town of gin derose as the kurdish militia group the y.p. genie tries to hold its position alan fischer reports from the turkey syria 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 genderless. 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 to give 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 cut this 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 our aim 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 home today first we targeted the town agender 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 tiring the battle for three in may not be as quick or the street forward the kurds are moving seven hundred fighters across the country away from the battle against eisel on to the front lines for the coming assault alan fischer al jazeera on the turkey syria border. breaking news we're expecting an announcement from the south korean security advisor who is in washington d.c. at the moment is a live pictures from the white house there are reports he'll announce an invitation from north korea to meet with president donald trump and we'll bring you that live as soon as it begins in fact there just walking out now this is the south korean delegation the south korean national security adviser about to make an announcement

let's just listen in to what he has to say. today i had the privilege. president of my recent visit to north korea i'd like to thank president trump both vice president and his wonderful national security team including my close friend to know about moscow. plane to face down from that his leadership and he's match moment pressure policy together with international solidarity both process this time show i expressed president force no gratitude for president promised to leave the ship. i told president president from you know meeting north korean leader kim jong il and said he's committed to the duke will rise asian teams pledged that north korea we need to train from any for the nuclear for this so

tests he understands that the routine joint military exercises between the republic of korea and the united states must continue and he expressed his are you going this meet president from that's on as a possible. president appreciated both briefing and said he would meet kim jong un by may two or cheap. good to grow. up korea along with the united states japan and our many partners around the world remain fully. committed to the complete team to put up the korean peninsula along with president trump we are optimistic about continuing a diplomatic process to test the possibility of a peaceful resolution. public or korea the united states and all parts of the.

stand together insisting. that misstates. the pressure will continue on to north korea. thank you very much. so there you have it live pictures coming from in front of the white house the north korean security adviser who's been in washington d.c. with his delegation meeting president trump he said he had the privilege of meeting president trump and his national security team he said he told the president that the north korean leader kim jong un will refrain from any further nuclear tests he said that the north korean leader expressed eagerness to actually meet president trump and he said the president sent he may meet with kim jong il and he said all parties remain committed to the total denuclearization of the korean peninsula and to follow a diplomatic resolution to the crisis let's talk to al-jazeera bride who is in

pyongyang chang so how significant is this statement that we're hearing from the south koreans. this is indeed a very big development darrin and we were expecting something like this has been increasing speculation about what type of message jungle young the chief envoy was taking to washington this was the envoy who led the delegation to north korea who was had the banquet with couldn't go on in pyongyang who then came back with this apparent agreement and then taking this agreement now to the united states we knew that he was taking a personal message from kim jong un there has been increasing speculation that that was some sort of personal invitation we now know indeed that it was an invitation from kim jong un to donald trump of the united states saying let's sit down let's

meet trump has now apparently said that he is indeed willing to have a meeting there still needs to be an awful lot worked out ahead of time before any kind of meeting takes place just under what sort of circumstances the united states we know has always been very adamant that north korea has to commit itself to denuclearize ation to giving up its nuclear arsenal so on under what circumstances this meeting would take place remains to be seen but it is certainly a very tantalizing prospect that maybe very soon we might see a meeting between these two very different and in some respects very similar leaders down a tantalizing prospect indeed rob. rob thank you now the chairman of the african union says a visit by the u.s. secretary of state is proof of close ties between the united states and africa held talks with rex tillerson in addis ababa thank you dismissed the u.s. president's reported insults of some african countries as a thing of the past to lessons in ethiopia as part of his first official visit to

the continent. 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. they 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 or exodus and also raise concerns about security in ethiopia stephanie because more on that from the new yorkers are think that it quite clear at

a press conference with his ethiopian counterpart that the americans are concerned about the state of emergency that has been imposed here saying that the way forward was more freedom for citizens and i'm not that this is of course because this country is under a state of emergency that was imposed soon after the resignation of prime minister had marring to sally and they have been appointed someone you there's a big question about who that man will be that will also really indicate how this country moves forward and also the americans their interests in all of this because ethiopia is one of their key allies on this concert ticket in the horn of africa when it comes to security cooperation ethiopia has tens of thousands of troops involved in peacekeeping missions across the continent also particularly in places like somalia like that you don't which it borders so for the americans and this is also key to this visit they don't want to see this country fall into chaos because for them that also means the entire region suffering as a result. sierra leone's election chief has called for patience as votes are

counted from the presidential election sixteen candidates are in contention but it could take two weeks before the official result is known address has more from freetown. vote tallying at this data center for the national election commission has been going on smoothly according to officials at what you see only results of the vote counted in polling stations across there in the old 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 i address now 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 obtained from each of the

polling stations and so that the reason for doing that is that if there is any major i don't fly will come up and then what they do here finally at the end of the day will before a bigger database that will be analyzed by election officials finally before the results. by the national election commission. the mood on the streets of freetown another major television set is in sierra leone is about topics but the issues 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 the attention will be on the national election commission to hear what was the outcome of wednesday's court having a president after the first round or they should be prepared for a second round of vote. al-jazeera has learned that a military cargo plane from the united arab emirates breached qatari airspace on

sunday the plane was flying from abu dhabi to kuwait and it entered qatar airspace without authorization for seven minutes qatari fighter jets intercept the plane and tried to talk to the pilot by radio but it was no response this is not the first time the u.a.e. has breached international law by violating qatari airspace in general cats are followed complaint with the united nations about two other violations of its airspace by an iraqi military aircraft the u.a.e. is one of four are countries which imposed a blockade on the qatar last june. now several workers at foreign embassies in qatar say they've been abandoned because of the nine month blockade some stop haven't worked since embassies were closed and diplomats call home dr mattson reports they're seeking help from the qatari government for five years ashraf has been a driver for the saudi arabian embassy nine months ago he lost his job the embassy is one of several which shut their doors in doha when countries cut diplomatic

relations and imposed a blockade on qatar last june ashraf like many other embassy staff who are diplomats is sponsored by his employer that means he can't leave qatar or work for anyone else unless his employer agrees and his employer has left the country. but it's been very tense i spent all my savings on my daughter's wedding in india and then i came back and lost my job i can't earn money i need to get my sponsor changed so i can work but i don't know how. saudi arabia and other countries including the united arab emirates and egypt cut ties with qatar accusing it of supporting terrorism which qatari leaders vehemently deny this man also used to work at an embassy which is now shot he didn't want to be identified with. the closing of the embassy affect me i can't change work because the embassy has closed there are no officials to sign my papers and now i want to work somewhere else but

i can't i don't know what the future will be. for the last nine months embassy staff are being coming to qatar as human rights department they've made statements hoping that the qatari government will help to release them from sponsorship agreements with their embassies most of the people we've spoken to said they only came here for help today because they thought the blockade was going to be over by now but it's been nine months some of them haven't been paid since june of last year others we're told are living in the embassies where they used to work and the qatari government says it is willing to help them but there's a limit to what it can do if it doesn't have permission from the embassies or the people here the most important thing is to win their freedom. and these people who belong to countries which are blockading us they've come to try to get justice good we're able to protect them and we're trying to solve their problems. some like these moderate amiens have been getting support from qatari

charities and blame their own governments. the mauritanian government has taken an incorrect step that has harmed its people this is a gulf war we have nothing to do with it. but. the stranded embassy staff including ashley after wait to see if they'll be allowed to restart their lives rob matheson. britain's home secretary amber rudd says the attack on a former russian double agent in the u.k. is an outrageous crime investigators have confirmed a rare poison was used to try to kill surrogate's cripple and his daughter were found unconscious on sunday the police officer was first on the scene remained seriously ill but is now able to talk. the use of a nerve agent to a new case 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 investigation is moving at pace and this government will act without hesitation as the facts become clear ronnie's have been held around the world to mark international women's day this was a scene in spain's capital madrid as thousands of women joined a twenty four hour strike it's estimated more than five million people protested calling for gender equality. and women in the saudi arabian city of jeddah exercise their newly acquired right to go jogging in public the conservative kingdom is one of the most restrictive countries and one in the world they're still required to have male guardians to make important decisions on their behalf and tens of thousands of people in argentina's capital have been demanding the legalization of

abortion many wore green handkerchiefs and support of the abortion rights movement well actually proud as a board member republican woman for progress she says the rise of massage mystic abuse and politics is worrying. we have president trump in there who makes comments about women pretty much regularly which i'm not very appreciative of and that was the rhetoric that was used on the campaign trail which i think has been empowering a lot of women to consider running for political office because they've done more engaged more active in the sense that they feel as though they should be more represented there should be more women running for political office whether it be in your local school district or whether it be in the house and senate and i think that those are very important conversations for us to be having as woman for us to be lifting each other often to be empowering one another to say we can do this and we can come together and we can really take on what has traditionally been a male dominated industry which is the political industry we're seeing you know a lot of women come forward and say this is not ok we can't be silent anymore it's

not ok for us to be treated this way and there are many women some of my friends included including myself who have experienced this in the workplace there's harassment there's abuse there's all levels of it and at one point you have to say enough is enough and to start making a change as a society and this is become now a worldwide movement where of course you know some of us here in the united states are obviously very fortunate and other women in other countries are not as fortunate and they suffer and experience human rights abuses that are absolutely atrocious so i think the me too movement being brought in is certainly something that will help empower women as a whole all across the world all of this government has agreed to hold a referendum on whether to overturn a constitutional ban on abortion but those are set to take place in may currently terminations are only allowed if the mother's life is at risk penalty for accessing on the legal abortion is fourteen years in prison on them to steadily change the rules rooted in catholic doctrine including a twenty fifteen referendum legalizing same sex marriage. there are million people

have been left without power after heavy dumping of snow in the northeast of the u.s. it's the second storm to hit the east coast in less than a week more than eight hundred thousand people are enjoying widespread electricity cuts some of been without power for almost a week heavy snow and icy roads are for state officials to close schools and cancel or delayed thousands of flights. all traditions on modern technology have collided at this year's sky lantern festival in taiwan creations from six asian cities are on display at the event which attracts millions of visitors from around the world so here is that before reports rising up the night sky this year's sky lantern festival theme is a celebration of the chinese zodiac year of the dog the main display lantern a child from the local soup tribe with a taiwanese dog to wish everyone a prosperous year ahead. the festival dates back to the tenderness to fourteen

hundred years ago back in the tradition marked the end of the lunar new year break when students return to school with lanterns to be let out by the teaches as a symbol of a brush a future. the festival features tech inspired elements that allow for more visitor interaction this 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. 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 hope how well love and success slowly rise in. the kerosene so rice paper is expected to last a year but as technology changes lin hopes his ancient craft last a lifetime so here's a guy for al-jazeera. this is our desire a quick reminder of our breaking news this hour the u.s. president donald trump will meet with kim jong il by may after a high level south korean delegation delivered an invitation from the north korean

leader south korea's national security adviser says kim jong un also expressed a commitment to denuclearization let's get more now from rob brian he joins us live from china rob so now we have this tantalizing prospect of a meeting between president trump and the north korean leader how is that likely to go down there in south korea. this would be seen as a major breakthrough really a success of this whole policy of goodwill gauge with that we've had from president in south korea his special envoy young confirming that trump has accepted in principle at least that there will be this meeting of course that kim jong un will be having a summit with the south korean president moon j.n. at the end of april we now have the prospect that sometime before may or in may that we will have this meeting between trump and kim so it remains to be seen just

how this will play out but it's important to mention that the north koreans have committed to freezing their testing of missiles and nuclear development what they have not committed to doing is rolling back any of that so there still needs to be an awful lot of groundwork to be done before this potential meeting takes place down. there in pyongyang rob thank you now the u.s. president has imposed controversial tariffs on steel and aluminum imports despite warnings of a potential trade war in mexico and canada will be temporarily exempt from the new levies while negotiations continue on a regional trade agreement. trans-pacific partnership has been signed in chile what's being hailed as a powerful move against protectionism revamped to deal with reduced hours for eleven countries and connect economies well those were the headlines the

news continues here on al-jazeera after inside story that so much about tonight. the street is quiet the signal is given. out so it's safe to walk to school last year there are more than thirty metres in this community in one month the police say this area is a red zone one of several in some townships in cape town children sometimes a court in the crossfire when rival gangs fight so parents and grandparents have started what they call a walking bust to try to take them to violence i lost my. story years ago i also lost my but there are more than one hundred fifty volunteers working for several walking buses teachers say it is working class attendance has improved the volunteers also act as security guards. 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.