setting the stage for a serious debate. up front at this time on al-jazeera. just is influencing. some journalists decided to sacrifice their integrity for out in the media or opinion the listening post at this time on al-jazeera. after months of bitter exchanges the u.s. president except some offer to meet the north korean leader for talks. on pizza w watching al-jazeera live from also coming up strikes hit serious eastern

just as desperately required aid enters the procedure area. the u.n. warns more than two million children are at risk of dying due to malnutrition and democratic republic of congo. and assessing the damage to some of humanity's oldest cultural sites after years of ice all controlling them. the u.s. president donald trump passed today accepted an invitation from the north korean leader kim jong un for a face to face meeting the development is being hailed as a major diplomatic achievement after months of aggressive posturing between the two men bright has more. this fast moving diplomatic saga has seen many extraordinary twists and turns then the announcement to beat them all south korea's special envoy emerged from a meeting with the u.s.

president to reveal trump says yes to kim president from. the review and said he would meet kim jong un by made towards prominent did nuclearized. seizing the moment south korea's president to moon jay in has been quick to credit both north korean and u.s. leaders can you tell when your journey president from leadership will be highly praised by the residents of both class korea and north korea by people all around the world who are hoping for. moon's liberal government says the way is now open to achieving denuclearization of the korean peninsula through peaceful means something almost inconceivable until recently but many conservatives say it's only been made possible by the u.s. threat of force so i think the south koreans and the north koreans kind of put their heads together and said well we need to come up with something otherwise we

might all wind up having u.s. rockets landing in pyongyang where they're acting out of fear or seeing an opportunity much credit will go to south korea. special envoys went to pyongyang on a mission of hope bringing back a landmark agreement and seoul exploited its good fortune in hosting the winter olympics just when the world needed a path to peace it's still early days but this is being seen as a major diplomatic achievement for south korean president moon jay in building on the goodwill of the winter olympics two remarkable effect as the paralympics get underway south korea will be hoping these games continue to work their magic as it did in the winter olympics north korea is sending a team of paralympians sport and politics mixing it seems with the beneficial outcome at least they are dialing their stock into each other then in all i think sport playing their part in nor putting the door from then on it's up to the

politicians until now south korea's politicians and diplomats only have to plan for the agreed into korean summit at the panmunjom truce village at the end of april a first in eleven years now they face the prospect of a first ever summit between north korean and u.s. leaders rob mcbride al-jazeera south korea well our white house correspondent kimberly hellcat now with the reaction from washington. this is the face to face meeting that nobody in washington sock coming the fact that donald trump will sit down face to face we believe in may the time and date to be determined with north korea's leader kim jong un this is something that donald trump has signaled in the white house the signal is the united states is hope that will bring about a brighter future for the north korean people but while this meeting is scheduled to take place this is by no means a relaxing pressure that was put in place by the united states when donald trump

took office in fact just the opposite donald trump and his staff say that they will continue to exert maximum economic pressure as well as diplomatic isolation in conjunction with the international community and there are expectations for north korea in all of this from the united states that there will remain a commitment to nuclearize that there should be a refraining of testing of nuclear weapons and missiles and also that there is a need for the understanding something that north korea says it has recognize that the joint military exercises that will take place at the end of this month to south korea and the united states will continue something that had been delayed as a result of the a lympics taking place in young chang so there are considerable expectations on the part of the united states but still there is a feeling of opportunity as

a result of this message that has been conveyed by the south korean envoys to the president of the united states will china welcomed those talks as a quote step in the right direction adrian brown from beijing. i think china is very much sticking to the script the foreign ministry spokesman said on friday the china welcome these positive signals of course on thursday the country's foreign minister wang he said that he wanted washington and pyongyang to hold talks as soon as possible the fact those talks could now happen within the next two months is a time line the beijing will be very comfortable with i think but the foreign ministry spokesman said that while china she welcomes these developments it still believes that all relevant parties have to do more to ensure that the korean peninsula becomes free of nuclear weapons or made whole from of aren't we welcome these positive signals by the u.s. and north korea on having direct their log on the korean nuclear peninsula issue is

a moving towards the right direction to the settlement we fully acknowledge and support the role of the parties efforts to resolve this issue through dialogue elsewhere in asia the japanese prime minister has said that japan welcomes the news but at the same time says pressure must be kept on north korea to get rid of its nuclear weapons japan of course is one of the few countries that has had north korean missile to pass over its territory i think for china it is both good and bad bad because china doesn't want to be marginalized it doesn't want the united states to get all the glory and it also feels the china deserves credit for what it has done because it is china that has been enforcing sanctions against north korea china didn't want to do this it's always believed that the only way to bring about a lasting peace on the korean peninsula is true dialogue but now it's almost having to accept that in fact sanctions have worked here we have of course two of the

world's most unpredictable leaders president trump and kim jong un and of course in today's politics two months is a very long time but if this event happens it's going to be an event laden with. history the sort of history that accompanied president nixon's visit to china in one thousand nine hundred two that led to the united states stablish ing diplomatic relations with china. the un coordinator in syria says shelling on a rebel held enclave is putting an aid convoy at risk there strikes hit houston just as thirteen red cross trucks were entering the area the delivery of food and supplies was postponed on thursday because of fighting the u.n. says the shelling happened despite safety assurances from those involved in the conflict including russia. earlier the u.k. based syrian observatory for human rights reported. for the first time in ten days well the nine hundred people have been killed since the government offensive

began almost three weeks ago. thirteen aid trucks arriving in the besieged enclave of the united nations delivering much needed food to the people who are trapped in a war zone enough food for twenty thousand people far from this is an enclave which is home to at least four hundred thousand people according to u.n. estimates but the food was supposed to have delivered supposed to have been delivered on monday but the united nations was unable to offload the trucks because of shelling so they're hoping to be able to complete their mission today on those trucks there were no medical supplies surgical trauma kits this is what medics have been requesting for some time now this bombing campaign it's nearly three weeks now if you look thousand people have been wounded but the government really does not allow medical supplies into the areas because they say they will be used on rebel fighters who are wounded the situation there is an uneasy calm and overnight no

airstrikes no shelling some are saying that this is a positive sign maybe a goodwill gesture as both sides engaged in behind the scenes negotiations this is what we understand the pro-government alliance insisting on the rebel factions that they need to surrender that they need to leave the stand for this military campaign and they are not ready to discuss anything else and they're not ready to compromise and it seems that the rebels are running out of options they've lost a lot of ground and the suffering really. suffering among civilians and he's thirteen people have been killed in two attacks in afghanistan a suicide bomb went off at a police checkpoint in the capital kabul close to a gathering of a shia minority seven people were killed and more than twenty injured separately six soldiers were killed when the taliban ambushed and outposts in the north. the un has warned that more than two million children in democratic republic of congo are at risk of starving to death about three hundred thousand go and live in the

region where fighting between armed groups has forced millions to leave their homes over the past year the u.n. humanitarian chief will meet donors in the d.r. see next week so the aid can be delivered to those in need is the secretary general of the norwegian refugee council he says the situation in that country is being overlooked because of the wars in syria and yemen. a god the congo is has become completely neglected and forgotten as a mega crisis indeed hundreds of thousands of children may stop to death when i was there just last month i could see a tremendous crisis with very little humanitarian response very different from syria or yemen where we do at least have a great humanitarian muscle we don't have that in place for the congo yet well there is access is very difficult because we can reach people i would see congo

more than these other places where. alerted you to it's a funding crisis of epic proportions one example i was in northern keeble that place has gone from five hundred fifty thousand to one point two million internally displaced a doubling of needs in one year what happened to that in a year half of the humanitarian groups packed and left because there was no money for them because it became too so you too dangerous to be there one hundred and thirty on groups so women and children in north kebo are left to fend for themselves we have forgotten and neglected them. the u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson has arrived in kenya on the next off of this tour of africa he's for spring six nations with the aim of tightening security and economic ties to he spent much of the day in japan a vital partner in america's fight against terrorism across the region one of the

reports now from judy. he is here with the message that the united states still cares about africa. but u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson too is all about what african leaders over didn't know about the threat but mr sharon's approach to the continent counterterrorism is top of the agenda when human rights and democracy take a box that the u.s. military presence here does facilitate a very quick response to terrorism and violent extremism that threatens both of our countries but as well it threatens the region and stability in this region wherever that threat may come from his two ways also about pushing back up the perception of the tough because not the priority for the u.s. especially after the democratic comments reportedly made by the president about african countries in generally tell us those tools so comes up time that the u.s. has been up flunked and outspent by china which has provided billions of dollars

much of it in loans for infrastructure projects which african leaders have struggled to fund themselves it's he ain't djibouti host to complement america's the largest and most important military base in africa the issue of cheney's influence is most pressing for the u.s. home to about four thousand plus suddenly including special professional forces complement to act as a launch pad for u.s. operations in yemen and somalia but china has built a military base just a few kilometers from the americans and back on signs that the poll two percent this is backed by djibouti for me it's you know probably it is could be a hundred about to china a move that could have consequences for u.s. military and intelligence assaults in the horn of africa. behind closed doors tell us all swarm djibouti china was pushing it departing to do so it is manageable we invested in a very strong and good infrastructure and we hope that this commercial infrastructure

will be able to help us feedback our dead so we are not that worried but we have we keep an eye on that america's military presence in africa is expanding as it some special forces on the ground to help governments in western is the parts of africa fight groups such as boko haram and al-shabaab as thought is china's military role as it deploys policemen and soldiers on peacekeeping missions on the continent. the u.s. military has now put competent china along with russia other something of its national defense strategy mohamed atta al-jazeera djibouti. and the u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson has now landed in the kenyan capital of nairobi where its president and the main opposition leader. promising to work out their differences they met in nairobi for the first time since the recent disputed election of last august the opposition went on to

a boycott of vote that was followed by widespread violence across the country we have come to a common understanding and understanding. is greater than any one individual and that for this country to come together leaders must come together you guys must be able to discuss their differences you guys must be able to discuss really an openly what is our country what. is really in the. division. and. the time has come for us to confront and dissolve differences. these differences of becoming two and things no two king and said we on the other use of the differences and what the buttons millions of our children continue to be born

unmounted into these differences people are dying out of these differences my brother. and myself of their folk come together today to see this descent stops here still to come here on al jazeera global condemnation of us donald trump places big tariffs on steel and i'm living in imports. welcome back it's a largely fine picture across much of southern and eastern parts of japan through into taiwan all the time i may see some patchy cloud fine across

a good part of indochina central parts of vietnam still seen wanted to show is coming through and there's a head on into sunday not much in the way of any significant change across the region so fine across much of indochina look at thirty four degrees as a hyena and gone now as we head across into south asia you still got a fair amount of cloud pushing towards southern parts of sri lanka so the risk of further showers here across the rest of india pakistan and the much of bangladesh where the conditions are dry and fine but you see some showers affecting parts of nepal but otherwise you get your highs of thirty two degrees in delhi rise into a thirty three as we head into sunday so across into the arabian peninsula and it's already pretty warm here temperatures of thirty degrees celsius jerry running about four to five degrees above what we normally expect at this time being that's really been the case through much of the winter and early part of the spring on the other side of the clincher also looking pretty warm thirty six degrees there expected in mecca and some resorts temperatures during sunday moving up into levant region here

we've got some pretty woman still for parts of iran and iraq highs of twenty four in baghdad. the scene for us where on line 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 sat there are people there are choosing between buying medication or eating this is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's an activist just posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera.

welcome back here with al-jazeera i'm peter dobby here in doha with your top stories so far today donald trump has agreed to meet the north korean leader kim jong un in the coming weeks a south korean delegation to live with the invitation from mr kim to the white house south korea's national security adviser says kim expressed a commitment to denuclearize. the un's coordinator in syria's shelling on a rebel held enclave was putting an aid convoy at risk airstrikes hit eastern just as thirteen red cross trucks were entering that area and the u.n. as well but more than two million people children risking starvation starving to death in the d.r. see about three hundred thousand of them live in the region where fighting between armed groups has forced millions to leave their homes over the past year. germany has condemned donald trump's new tariffs on steel imports as an affront to allies

trump imposed the levies despite warnings of a global trade war saying he needed to preserve american jobs the european union and south korea say they may file a complaint with the world trade organization. what is not that we are looking for a battle we didn't secure prepared for what in your opinion is a peace project we have dialogue and compromise as our god. that is the whole idea with using union we didn't ask for this what we are asking is to our american friends and others work with us work with us to strengthen the international organization the global playbook as the video set said here they might need to change yes let's work to do that together to shape the future globalization give all of us work together we should do this now is what now if the you united states decided to do this this is deeply unfortunate and we would do everything we can to convince that that is wrong if it does happen we will have to take some measures to protect our jobs and workers as well paul brennan from brussels. the

reaction from here in europe has been warned of deep frustration but also determination euro furrow which is the european steel association representing the trade the trade body has described president trump's decision to levy tariffs and the linkage with for example nato funding as i quote an absurdity and sincerely amount strong the e.u. trade commissioner has been speaking at a an economic forum the smalling where she was promising that they would do everything she would do everything that you can to protect the european steel industry while still holding out the possibility of some kind of compromise she spoke about if the tariffs are imposed and it's a an important thing to remember that the tariffs that president trump has announced don't come into force for another two weeks and as well as canada and mexico he also held the door open for other countries to apply for exemptions and it's certain that the european union as

a bloc will apply to be exempted from the full effect of president trump's tyrus similar amount strong trade commissioner will meet with her american counterpart here in brussels on saturday and will press for exactly that kind of an exemption. and i turn curfew remains in place in the central sri lankan town of candy as the authorities try to contain violence aimed at the muslim community them the economy has taken a hit on the prime minister admits his country's reputation has been tarnished bernard smith is in kandy. candy's temple of the tooth is up there on the must see list of tourists coming to sri lanka. millions are drawn to the island serenity and natural beauty but that image is taken a hit after the attacks by sinhalese nationalists on the minority muslim community in candy we had to pass the area which was under curfew and so we had to go to the police to get a special permit to go through and that was quite exhausting and annoying also we had like to do

a detour which was three hours longer than sixty two. little selected a member or do you say we saw destroyed things destroyed innocence and. so he takes on those. prime minister knows the violence has impacted his country's image that these unwise acts carried out by a small group have done great social and financial damage to the country to this will greatly and can we missed and this has dealt a blow to the tourist industry. government assessors are now drawing up lists of businesses that are to be compensated many muslim families have seen a lifetime's work go up in flames after their properties were attacked. but the curfew imposed has meant lost income for almost every large and small business in candy which have to close as the security forces try to contain the violence nothing really. michael is indeed what he's playing and the salaries. are literally what they are. and as you know and so this was really like.

you know money was going to go listen illegal immigrant. eighty percent of tourists who come to sri lanka include candy on their itinerary the government is very sensitive to threats to tourist center tourism more than two million foreign visitors to sri lanka last year bringing in more than three point two billion dollars in foreign exchange so while the authorities were very quick to put out a warning telling foreigners not to come to county when trouble lad as soon as calm returned that warning was just as quickly. a national state of emergency is in place until monday and there's still an overnight curfew the authorities are hoping the worst is now over bernard smith al-jazeera candy. the u.n. human rights chief is advising the philippines president to seek psychiatric help it's in response to the philippines government filing a petition to declare a un special rapporteur and six hundred alleged communist guerrillas as terrorists

as a drug hussein criticized drug record to tertius use of bad language when he wanted u.n. investigators against looking into extrajudicial killing of drug offenders this is of course unacceptable for a special rocketeer are. acting on behalf of the international community whose expertise is sort by the human rights council to be treated in the screw and hooper my expect the human rights council to respond accordingly and really makes one believes that the president of the philippines needs to submit himself to some sort of psychiatric evaluation this sort of this this sort of common reed is unacceptable to me that i'm gone has more now from manila. when president through the good the churchill was sworn in in two thousand and sixteen he promised so usher in a new era of peace between the philippine government and members of the communist

party of the philippines he promised to end a five year conflict in the country he released members of the communist movement and even appointed some of them within his cabinet but months of attempts and failure at negotiations and skirmishes between the philippine army and members of the armed wing called the new people's army has led to this new terror to says the new people's army together with some other members of the national democratic front he says are there and it's intended to destroy quote unquote his country and so the department of justice has submitted to a court a list of what it seeks to tag as terrorists this includes members of the new people's army but it also includes activists former priests and former politicians and even members of the united nations human rights organisations and it is something that they say is deeply dangerous they say president of the good that

their dad is the makings of a dictator and they say that using the word terrorist is irresponsible malicious and downright dangerous. scholars from europe and the americas are returning to iraq now that i saw has been mostly defeated they're keen to continue their research about mesopotamia an ancient land that covers most of iraq historians believe the region is where civilization and learning began four thousand years ago his poll to judge him was that. when these lawmakers state of iraq in the levant was trying to carve out its own caliphate four years ago its members destroyed thousands of christian and muslim relics and monuments eisel also stole some of your rocks and syria's most prized ancient artifacts. but dominican fire no she managed to pack these rare manuscripts and sixteenth century books and smuggled them out of eisel battlegrounds. kurdish peshmerga fighters helped carry them to

the safety of iraqi kurdistan. with the help of small cars we saved these archives and especially some manuscripts belonging to the convent and church of the dominican and the mosul archives important letters and files that date back two hundred fifty to three hundred years. well. you know the father knows she been other dominican priests rescued a veritable treasure trove of religious documents and moved them to our bills oriental manuscript digitization center the center was stablished in one nine hundred ninety by dominican friars the same religious order that set up iraq's first printing house in eight hundred ninety seven the monks brought the equipment to the region through the desert and on the backs of camels now the friars are using high tech equipment to scan manuscripts recovered from churches and villages they can achieve who on him in fact all the archives are important because they

reflect the roots of a civilization and that is why the islamic state group is trying to eradicate and destroy the heritage in archaeological sites to erase everything that existed before the introduction of this presumed islamic state father knows training more helpers who will ensure digital copies are preserved for posterity and the originals returned to their owners paul chatterjee. this is al-jazeera these are the top stories the u.s. president donald trump has agreed to meet the north korean leader in the coming weeks a south korean delegation delivered the invitation from kim jong il and to the white house south korea's national security adviser says mr kim expressed a commitment to denuclearize ation the u.s. secretary of state's describing kim's change of tone as a dramatic. do you just love orderly. or are we

are you. will you is this wrong as are of you really which is harder. way. off over. us one of you or. is competition is the role. has been more shelling near a crossing in eastern turkey or an aid convoy is reported to be leaving for syrian government held territory the un's coordinator in syria says it's putting the convoy at risk strikes hit the area just as thirteen red cross trucks were entering that area now earlier the u.k. based syrian observatory for human rights reported no overnight air strikes or shelling in eastern guta the first time in ten days in afghanistan at least thirteen people have been killed in two attacks a suicide bomb went off at a police checkpoint in the capital kabul a gathering of a shia minority seven people were killed more than twenty were injured separately

six soldiers died in a taliban ambush of an army outpost in the north and to a car province. the un is warning that more than two million children risk starvation in the democratic republic of congo about three hundred thousand dolphin live in the region where fighting between armed groups has forced millions to the homes over the past. germany's condemned donald trump's new tariffs on steel and imports us in the front to allies trump imposed the levies despite warnings of a global trade war saying he needed to preserve american jobs the e.u. and south korea say they may file a complaint with the world trade organization. the kenyan president uhuru kenyatta and the main opposition leader run the dingo promising to work out their differences and to unify the country they've been meeting in nairobi for the first time since the disputed elections last august the opposition went on to boycott a vote that sparked widespread violence across kenya those are your headlines up

next it's the stream i will see you very soon. facing the realities growing up when did you realize that you were living in a special place the so-called secret city getting to the heart of the matter why is activist in jail just because she expressed herself hear their story on and talk to al-jazeera at this time. when i return the favor and then i am in the game. i am for me ok on this international women's day we're looking at female journalists on the front lines of journalism stay with us you're live in the stream i know you chad.