at this time on al jazeera. three weeks into the assault on the. past. and welcome to. my headquarters and. also ahead.

i mean honestly we are not going to send missiles. back on the campaign trail. north korea's leader. the strength of the. reporting from. above from the remote. have made significant gains in. the capital damascus the orange stripes here shows how much territory. on the eighteenth of february that's when the government stepped up its offensive or three weeks of heavy. later and you

can see the rebel stronghold has dramatically shrunk and more than a thousand people have died as a result of president bashar al assad's troops have advanced into areas between the main tells of and harassed and that's cut off the main rebel supply alive the government also says its full control of the city cutting off another key vote the first in the on claim into three ellen fisher has more from the turkish syrian border. syrian government forces have made big gains in the last twenty four hours they are still facing resistance. thanks this video from josh al islam claims to show regime forces being pushed back but they have surrounded two large towns in eastern guta duma and harassed and circling tones something syrian government forces have done consistently especially since enlisting the help of the russians militarily and tactically by cutting off roads and important supply lines they've

essentially left the fighters with no place left to go he's isolating the two cities now the two big cities in the in the east he's weakening them and he's. supporting its military approach by having this political strategy submitting them both on the ground and politically by trying to have a deal does the with useless law. across the country the free syrian army supported by the turks are closing in on the city of afrin. the positions held by the kurdish militia the white p.g. . it strikes have been ongoing water has been cut one doctor in the local hospital says he fears a massacre the chair of the local council has called on the u.n. to intervene. if the u.n. official claims that self administration and the y. p.g. prevent the population from escaping we invite those who sit somewhere and say something like this to send a delegation to a free and to talk to people here the people of our free prefer to voluntarily stay in their country and defend against. the turkish state. turkey's president says he

expects turkish troops in the city. if we placed on a shelf put on solid our conscience ethics and sensitivities just like other countries and terrorists do well in syria. after it will be a job that would take is just three days. back in eastern syrian t.v. says government forces now control fifty one percent of the area they're still considering humanitarian corridors for people and fighters who are ready to leave but they still continue to push for fuel control alan fischer al jazeera on the turkish syrian border. turkish president one has criticized the nato alliance for not supporting his military operation in syria as a free region turkey launched an operation to clear the area of kurdish fighters in january but i think instead of the wife beating a terrorist but its nato ally the u.s.

has backed the fighters to combat i so. choose. i'm calling on them now hey nato where are you we're putting up a fight isn't turkey a nato country where are you invited nato member states to afghanistan immediately so how about in syria if the nato countries who are in syria really had the power they would open the clearly stand against us but they don't dare because they can see that turkey is standing tall but what we wanted was this you called us to afghanistan we came you called us to somalia we came you called us to the balkans we came now calling on them so come to syria turkey with its nine hundred eleven kilometers of quarter with syria is under threat right now so why aren't you coming moving on to other news now in u.s. president trump has been speaking at a campaign rally in pennsylvania about his proposed meeting with north korean leader kim jong un tom price china and south korea for help of what two of the building and dialogue with the north mike hanna has more from washington d.c.

. throughout the day president trump was upbeat about the proposed face to face meeting with the north korean leader he tweeted about phone calls he made with various world leaders including the prime minister of japan the president of china the president of france getting international support for this unprecedented meeting also in the course of the day he tweeted that north korea had not carried out any missile test since the twenty eighth of november indicating that he believed the assurances that were passed on to him by south korean mediators this is a theme you return to during a campaign speech in support of republican candidates in the course of the evening they're not going to send missiles or think of it they're not sending missiles out and i believe that i believe that i really do i think they want to do something i think they want to make these i think it's time and i think we've shown great strength i think that's also important but many in washington expressing concern

about the lack of preparation by the trumpet ministration should any such face to face talks take place there is no ambassador in south korea also the experts in the state department under oath korea resigned last week so should be go see asians take place on a face to face basis the u.s. would be at a disadvantage it would appear right from the start hong kong police have detained a number of protesters as poles are part of the legislative council by elections of us expected to be that any contest and as the fighting marcus in camp looks to kate it's one these have blocked in the legislature the election a second is a test a gating reaction to beijing's increased interference in the city's governance difficult pollen has more. edward do you know is too well that victory doesn't guarantee is placed on the legislative council. the former professor won in the

twenty sixteen elections and while being sworn in he added to fray saying he would fight for universal suffrage after a year in office the beijing government reinterpreted hong kong's constitution to deem him ineligible because of that this time he promises his supporters he has a plan ranging if you are going to unite and they believe in the end of this year we will discuss about the political rights of calling people i usually use the twenty fourteen pro-democracy demonstrations known as the umbrella movement beijing has tightened its grip on the city as on it is that you would like to have the government meet you can you still can have our you know the law says no no the onus is on that although we've been calculating these elections to a place for ousted legislative councillors are divided along very clear lines the candidates are either probate are pro democracy. this is the other

camp rallying supporters in front of the government headquarters the poll beijing party's main office is to stabilize home fall. so i suppose that these are the government's preferred candidates if they win the opposition will not have the numbers in parliament to block bills or question beijing sections but many here believe these candidates will help the city run smoothly i hope it is a problem i know i keep trying to write so insulting but i think all it takes is a kind of hard to tell the faith ok my analysts say this vote is mostly symbolic a victory for the pro-democracy candidates would be an expression of frustration at beijing's increasing interference in hong kong's affairs former colonies macau and hong kong are the only territories in china where the public can directly vote for their government but many here say with beijing becoming more intrusive and pushing for more integration with their. to china the thing is increasingly regarded as

something that matters less and less pollen are just there are hong kong. to serially own now with a second round of voting looks likely with the results from wednesday's presidential election too close to call both of all in all people's congress and opposition in sierra leone people's party on around forty three percent with hof the votes counted candidates require fifty five percent to win outright election itself was largely peaceful but rival supporters clashed on saturday as results came in a runoff poll must take place two weeks after the final results. but it has more many civil unions believe that this election is headed for a runoff with fifty percent of the vote counted that is little difference between the two leading candidates candidate of the ruling a.p.c. party and the biggest opposition party in the country the s. and p. p. all of them have scored more than five hundred sixty thousand votes the third

candidate is hundreds of thousands of votes behind them now there are reported cases of. stuffing which the election officials say they are investigating now the election commission is expected to announce twenty five percent more of the votes by to morrow probably by the end of. sunday the result will be finally end and now civil unions are bracing themselves for a second round of voting on the streets of sydney on there are celebrations in certain places the celebrations were actually wild people are commending the election commission for conducting what looks like a very very fair vote in sierra leone. still ahead on the bonus round the u.s. and europe mountain a trade war yet but a meeting in brussels on saturday laid the groundwork plan to. stop mass illegal immigration and limit illegal immigration to get our sovereignty back and to help

our workers don't transform a chief strategist lend support to the rain le pen so far by party and from. hello there we've got one weather system that is clearing away from the eastern parts of canada but it's not staying dry for all of us there's that latest system that it brought has a lot of snow but it's working its way away and behind it it's very quiet for short time seven degrees will be the maximum a new york where you can already see plenty of cloud for the south this is giving some of us some rain and a few outbreaks of snow will sweep down into the east there as we head into monday so more rain and snow will move an edge as we head through the day meanwhile towards the west a little quieter force by the time we get to monday it should be a sunny day in seattle the temperature up at twenty degrees more cloud though for

l.a. with all my some temperature around twenty three now a further towards the south and we'll be watching one with a feature edge its way eastwards and it is still with us as we head through sunday and monday so a few showers are likely in the northern half of cuba or so stretching across the bahamas for some of us here are all the wet and that system sticking around as we head through monday for the south are looking for a draw i mostly settled for many of us here just a handful of showers perhaps around parts of costa rica further towards the south and by the time we get to lunchtime on sunday the cold front should cleared away from what is already so it will be fresher than it has been twenty four degrees and that should be some sunshine too. on counting the cost in what's been a big week for global trade we'll look at how the u.s. is bending the rules of commerce and if free trade is really worth fighting for plus the latest mind bending concept cars from the geneva old tosha counting the

cost at this time. good to have you with on these are our top stories syrian government forces have made significant gains in rebel held. areas between duma and harass that a major highway more than a thousand people have been killed in the east and the government stepped up its campaign three weeks ago. u.s.

president donald trump says he secured an agreement from pyongyang to suspend missile testing ahead of a planned face to face meeting with north korean leader kim jong il speaking at a campaign rally in pennsylvania china for help trying to find a diplomatic solution and says he thinks north korea wants peace and hong kong police have detained a number of protesters as the legislative council elections the election seen as a test gauging reaction to beijing's increased interference in the city's governance. tens of thousands of refugees have fled to djibouti to escape the fighting in yemen where three years after the saudi led coalition first launched airstrikes against rebels. and gulped most of the country but once reach safety in djibouti the struggle for survival continues as food is in short supply. has more from the point of. its food distribution.

in the. the law mohammed of the law has just picked his family's food a location for the month he came here two years ago when a missile hit and destroyed his house in whole south of the yemen now a mother who had a hand look at the shooting that as they've given us there won't be enough for my family or even five days a situation is really bad. apart from the legal regimes people here also complain of conditions of the come. the sweltering heat and ferocious sun hardly been many away this is a place where many don't want to stay for long at one point this camp was home to more than six thousand refugees today one thousand eight hundred one lived here most of them have either gone to all the towns or to the capital djibouti yet others have a country yemen preflighting the un something terrible was known to life in this country. those who have chosen to stay see the option of

a shared choice we have nowhere else to go where can we go we are forced to stay here yet the massive insecurity and shortage of some basic supplies in yemen is forcing many more refugees to cause the sea are some but are cut robbed of the come just three days ago from the city of thais which is under the control of both the fighters and again the young men we fled from yemen because of war and hunger the militias are also making life unbearable destroying homes of bullying and arresting people who will it's a disaster back in yemen. nearly thirty five thousand people admit the gen is southwards across the bubble mandeb straight to djibouti since march two thousand and fifteen from the beginning to open its doors to yemenis fleeing from the war the country has been uprooted for an investment in recent years due to it started. but the extreme poverty is still widespread. officials here say there is little else they can do for the refugees beyond giving them safety and homage at all just

the era of the djibouti. and an international conference as being held in london examining the consequences of the war in yemen jamal or shall have more. there is more and more interest in the saudi led war in yemen particularly in the capital cities like london in countries like the united kingdom which are or have a direct link to that conflict which has gone on for several years now in so much as that it is u.k. weapons that are being used by the saudis and there are allies in bombing yemen the fact united kingdom just announced a memorandum of understanding to sell even more fighter jets through the saudis during the visit of the crown prince mohammed bin sultan man a conference like this which involves not only yemeni experts but also very small reserve different think tanks and analysts is trying to set about maybe an alternative truth this or

a way out of this war some sort of peaceful solution earlier we spoke to a yemeni diplomats and asked him whether the ukase approach in terms of selling more weapons to saddam rabia was the correct one or in his view what you need what needed to be done in order to find an end to this war the solution in yemen which is an all on all parties knows it should be a peaceful is a solution t.m. and selling more pins t.m. and it would not help their many people to to reach a peaceful settlement for their public problems. i would hope that. other countries were absent weapons to saudi arabia to exert more pressure than syrian weapons under saudis and other forces in the who is for them to come down to or to a table and reach a peaceful settlement to yemen although not so high profile in any government ministers attending there are an increased number of these events that are taking

place in the narrative around the war in yemen and the u.k.'s involvement in it and the need for the international community to intervene to put an end to what the un has described as the worst humanitarian crisis today that narrative and that activity in countries like united kingdom i can see is increasing so a conference like this is testament to the fact that there is greater public dismay or maybe your position through the policies that are taken by specific governments and increased demand but there must be and put through the saudi look war on yemen . now our country has filed a complaint with the united nations security council did also violations of its airspace by military planes from the u.s. and by the way the qatari government outlined the traditions in a letter to the u.n. secretary general of the u.n. and bahrain and yet to respond the two nations along with saudi arabia and egypt broke tires of qatar in june banning kutha from their airspace the gulf nations

accused of supporting terrorist groups denies the allegations. well u.s. president obama's top former adviser has addressed the far right national front party at its congress and france steve allen praised party leader marine le pen for what he called a vision nationalist versus globalists david chase reports from louisville. marine le pen is still bruised by the scale of defeat to emmanuel macron nine months ago but as quoted britain's wartime leader winston churchill failure is not fatal it is the courage to continue that counts a change of brandon a change of name a coming in lille this weekend but not it seems a change in policies a ballot of eighty questions sent to national front members just returned of a jerky of ninety percent in favor of a referendum on the european union and ninety eight percent want a drastic limit to immigration which delegates here described as

a tsunami. it's not often that the spotlight moves away from the marine le pen the president trumps former chief strategist stephen bannon managed it when invited on to the party platform we had the single greatest candidate in american history thanks all we had to do was let trump be trump number one stop mass illegal immigration and limit illegal immigration to get our sovereignty back and to help our workers told the national front they were part of a world wide movement that history was on their side and it was the tide that would bring them victory after victory after victory. but it didn't happen for marine le pen and twenty seventeen many blamed her poor showing in the campaign's final debate with emanuel macron eyes are now turning on her twenty eight year old niece marion maddox charlotte penn although now retired from politics she has been

identified as a rising star by bannon and was spreading her message in in one thousand states last month i am not offended when i see a president on the trail and say america first. in prague. i want america first for the american people i was reading first one. the british people and i want transfer for the french people of the arena pen hopes exercise in rebranding will help bring support back and allow us to form alliances with other parties david eltis era leader. jason stanley is a professor of philosophy at yale university and author of the how fascism works and he says battle speech will help give the french fight the first advance but the band's macit is is he saying let's not try to win over the unconverted let's

be unabashedly about our sentiments here and that's a message that's proven very popular in the united states of course and in europe as well big there are beyond his show and and law and justice party and poland are both showing that these strategies work in europe we have they constantly attack the liberal mainstream media in milan justice party in poland ran against the media for not covering its crazy conspiracy theories about this once disaster orbán is constantly attacking the media and european elites so it's very dark very similar strategies here and there are course connections between the russians the far right in europe and the far right in the united states and are this late the kinds of bar right tactics that were successful in the united states out of her millionaire and

long history in the european countries that issue. now trade officials from the european union and japan are calling for exemptions on steel imports halves and posed by donald trump the demand came during a meeting in brussels in which the e.u. threatened to impose tariffs on u.s. products and retaliation and key u.s. trading partners have warned that chance to have switch come into force in two weeks could backfire transplant will see a twenty five percent tariff on steel and ten percent on the alimentary and ports paul brennan has more from brussels. this is a meeting that had been put in the diary several weeks ago to talk about the root cause of the industries the steel industries woes and that is overcapacity but president trump's announcements on tariffs have put new impetus into that part of the discussions that have been taking place here in brussels and the opportunity for the european union trade commission and the japanese trade minister to have face to face time with robert lites highs that the u. s.

trade envoy is very valuable at the start of this two week period before president trump's tariffs actually start to be imposed there are going to be intense negotiations over this next two weeks to decide whether or not the european union can be exempted from those tariffs and the big implications if they're not are an escalating tit for tat kind of trade war involving all kinds of other products such as peanut butter orange juice harley-davidson motorcycles blue denim jeans all of these kind of things that the european union are threatening they will that slap tariffs on in the tally ation essentially for what's happening to the steel industry now it's not a foregone conclusion by any means that the european union will find that it's a deal has tariffs imposed on it overnight president trump appears to be coming close to a deal with the australian prime minister on security arrangements there which will mean president trump won't impose tariffs on australia so there is a glimmer of hope that european union steel producers will escape the worst effects

of it but with this president it's not there's no guarantee at all and that is why the european union is seeking clarity from robert lighthouses here in brussels. now lying around a thousand kilometers off the something to chile the antarctic has been described as one of the most remote and treacherous places on earth but much of its rich biodiversity has yet to be fully documented and the second part of our antarctic series we look at the european union's campaign to protect the region let clark join the greenpeace scientific expedition through the way to elsie. the captain's eye view of all voyage south as the icebreaker optic sunrise pushes through into the remote waters of the weddell sea vost unknown territory few ships venture this fall. has already made an attempt this antarctic summer but was foiled

by ice because right now we have a way through. to get it down into the wealthiest try and reach think before we get any of what would be protected looks like helping you more. yes probably just making sure somebody. finally we break through into the isolated area of the proposed site tree at the moment i checked on the. satellite charts this morning and there's some one of the ship in this entire space as us that another ship about that and that's it and the whole whole area that's a slightly scary yet terrifying. very exciting exciting kind of just makes the case that this is pristine this area is not developed his no call industry has never had industry. we take a chance in this rare window of weather to take to the air and look down on the

mesmerizing scene below. the western edge of the would be protected zone breathtaking the rule power of land and sea and ice constantly reshaping on the move this is nature on a planetary scale so what we're looking at here is multi-year sea ice and great icebergs to the be the classiest scraping off james ross island that the weddell sea extends way to a distance over that proposed area pretty much on talks by human activity almost no scientific research is taking place in the back to base the arctic sunrise. standing by for a return alongside a giant tabular iceberg perhaps a kilometer long the next helicopter sortie is to the very top of it the expedition team are making a dramatic landing to spread the sanctuary message around the world this iceberg thousands of years in the making now adrift in

a process that has been going on for hundreds of thousands of years appraises it seems may be changing because of global warming and did a day of scenic wonder the antarctic day with a spectacular show above this apparently a reverse sunset phenomenon while simultaneously the clouds more in shape than color it's a fantastic unworldly painting across the evening sky at the ends of the. al-jazeera untaught ticker and the third part of that will look at the multiple threats of wildlife in antarctica climate change to tourism. again on one of. the headlines. syrian government forces have made significant gains. into areas. cutting off

a major highway. people have been killed and. the government stepped up its campaign three weeks ago. u.s. president says he expects great success at a planned meeting with north korean leader kim jong un he made the comments at a campaign rally for a republican candidate in the state of pennsylvania trump also says he has an agreement from pyongyang to suspend missile testing ahead of the meeting. a lot of people thought were going to war. but all of a sudden they come in this is going to be a meeting and there's no more missiles going off and they want the nuclear. nobody heard that nobody thought but they said they want to they are thinking about that who knows what's going to take who knows that really doesn't happen i may leave faster we may sit down and make the greatest deal for the world and for all of these countries including frankly north korea that's what i hope happens. not

china's commerce minister has said that any trade war sparks but why help white house tariffs on steel and many and imports would be disastrous for his country the u.s. and the rest of the world was speaking on the sidelines of the annual session of parliament the minister said china does not want a trade war and will not and the shared one main wally's you trade officials are calling for exemptions on u.s. and port tariffs donald trump's former chief strategist has addressed the far right national front party at its congress and the french city of little state ban and praised party leader marine le pen for what he called her vision that puts nationalists versus globalists let them call you racist let's listen it was a pig let them call you xenophobes meanless it is it was appeasing of let them call you nativist let's see who is up in the t.v. where it as a badge of honor just remind now that you can always keep up to date

with all the news on our website that is that al-jazeera dot com. counting the cost of the next. job is in seeing. some journalists decided to sacrifice their integrity for out in the media the listening at this time on al-jazeera. hello i'm has i'm sick of this is counting the cost on al-jazeera your weekly look at the world of business and economics in what's been a big week for global trade we'll look at how the u.s. is up bending the rules of commerce and a free trade really is worth fighting for. i'm wayne hay reporting from vietnam where we look at how this country has in just a few decades emerged from economic isolation and how.