bigger and potentially more dangerous that's the best way to describe what's happening with a smoking alternative known as favorite i enjoy the taste of it and the harmful effects of what smoking does between two thousand and thirteen and two thousand and fourteen a lonely star tripling in use among us high school students and head to head comparison easter eggs versus conventional cigarette which one do you think it's healthy my opinion i think they're both dangerous take no at this time and else is there. three weeks into the assault on the survey and rebel on clay both east and the death toll has passed one thousand. and welcome to al jazeera live from my headquarters in doha with the end of the

problem also ahead who else could do it i mean honestly when you think they're not going to send missiles up think of it. donald trump is back on the campaign trail and talking up his plan to meet with north korea's leader. voting is underway in hong kong that test the strength of the democracy movement. underground reporting from. the remote. syrian government forces have made significant gains in their battle to take the last remaining rebel stronghold near the capital damascus the yellow lines here shows how much territory the rebels held in eastern on the eighteenth of february that's when the government stepped up its offensive three weeks of heavy bombardment 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 assad strips have advanced into areas between the main towns of and had asked for and that's the main rebel supply line without them and also says it has full control of cutting off another key road to splitting the enclave into three alan fischer has turkish syrian border. well 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 just. across the country to free syrian army supported by the talks are closing in on the city of afrin. the positions held by the kurdish militia the white p.g. . in 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 but that was the u.n. official claims that south 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 a free prefer to voluntarily stay in their country and defend against the occupation of the turkish state. president says he expects turkish troops

to be in the city. if we placed on a shelf put to one side our conscience ethics and sensitivities just like other countries in terrorists do when they act in syria been capturing affray 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 full control alan fischer al jazeera on the talk to the syrian border. not her he's president richard sob and the wind has criticized the nato alliance for not supporting has been the trigger operation and syria's athene region which says he launched the operation to clear the area of kurdish wife and two fighters in january to the content of the y p g a terrorist group that its nato allies the u.s. has backed the fighters to combat i felt generalizes it and 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 it invited nato member states to afghanistan immediately so how about in syria if the nato countries who are in syria really have power they would open the unclearly 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 border with syria is under threat right now so why aren't you coming. move on to other news now and u.s. president donald trump has been speaking at a campaign rally in pennsylvania about has proposed meeting with north korean leader kim jong un come praise china and south korea for health and well to have filled in a 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 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 expert in the state department under oath korea resigned last week so should have been go see asians take place in a face to face basis the u.s. would be at a disadvantage it would appear right from the start. to hong kong now where police have detained a number of protesters as voting is underway in the legislative council by elections the vote is expected to be bitterly contested as the pro-democracy cat looks to keep its one third veto bloc in the legislature the election is seen as a test of gauging reaction to beijing's increased interference in the city's governance then you go palin has more. edward you knows too well that victory doesn't guarantee his place 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 you're going to you know didn't they. in the end of this year which we'll discuss about it but if you go right through all of the cold people i usually use the twenty fourteen pro-democracy demonstrations known as the umbrella movement beijing has tightened its grip on the city as i was it is that you would like to have the government meet this new can we still can have our. losses on the legal system and 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. and this is the other

camp rallying supporters in front of the government headquarters the poll beijing parties the main office there used to stabilize home called government 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 and hope is a problem i know i keep trying to write so insulting but i think all it takes is a kind of hard to overstate 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 the rest of china voting is increasingly regarded as something that matters less and less holland al-jazeera hong kong. to sierra leone

now a second round of voting looks likely with results from wednesday's presidential election too close to call both the ruling people's congress and opposition seriously on people's party on around forty three percent with half the votes counted candidates require fifty five percent to win outright the 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 are not in but it drifts have more. many civil unions believe that this election is headed for a runoff with fifty percent of the vote counted there 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 ballot 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 seven young there are neutered celebrations in certain places the celebrations were actually wild people commending the election commission for conducting what looks like a very very fair vote in sierra leone still ahead on the bulletin. there be background checks absolutely absolutely the national outcry for tougher gun laws guys unanswered in the u.s. congress so far. and more international outrage over donald trump's new trade tats .

from dusky sunsets if you disproving something. to summarize the talking asian metropolis hello there we've got lots of mobile weather across the middle east at the moment and by mobile i really mean wet is lots of cloud and it's all drifting its way towards the east it's giving us some rain over the mountains we are seeing some of that turn wintery so more wet weather then from afghanistan all the way north into kazakstan as we head through the day on sunday and eventually as we head into monday well it stays with us really there's not a great deal of change the next system though that is gradually edging its way eastwards and that'll be bringing a for more wintery weather stretching down towards the back further west just looking mostly settled force here and career there and eighteen degrees in for beirut will be at around nineteen is a low cost of not for the south certainly has got hot in doha quickly thirty three

degrees will be our maximum on sunday it's not quite as hot as we head through into monday thanks to more cloud edging its way towards us and a change of the winds as well the winds will be picking up so it will feel a bit fresher over the next few days even if the sun is still rather strong further towards the south of the southern part of africa plenty of blue an arch are indicating plenty of what weather here stretches all the way across into the eastern parts of mozambique very heavy showers here for the south also a couple of showers are likely around joburg and stretching down to durban. the weather sponsored by qatar and greece. what makes this moment this era we live in for so unique this is really an attack on itself is a lot of misunderstanding a distortion of what free speech is supposed to be about the context it's hugely important. to publish it. to be offensive or provocative or demonize people do

setting the stage for a serious debate up front at this time on al-jazeera. what have you with us on al-jazeera these are our top stories syrian government forces have made significant gains and rebel held east and good of advanced into areas between buddha and head off but cutting off a major highway. more than a thousand people have been killed and this is the government stepped up its campaign three weeks ago. u.s. president all trump says he has 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 he praised china for its help trying to find a diplomatic solution and says he thinks north korea wants peace. and harm calling police have detained protesters as polls opened in the legislative council by elections the election is seen as a test gauging reaction to beijing's increased interference in the city's governance. china's commerce minister has said that any trade war sparked by white house tariffs on steel and aluminum 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 initiate one meanwhile e.u. trade officials are also calling for exemptions on the u.s. imports you see is key u.s. trading partners have warned that trumps tariffs which come into force in two weeks could massively backfire trump's plan will see a twenty five percent levy on steel and ten percent on our many i'm imports paul

brennan has moved 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 where as and that is overcapacity but president trumps 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 light hisor 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 the slap tariffs on in retaliation 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 still has tariffs imposed upon 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 lighthouse and here in brussels. libya's coast guard has picked up more than two hundred fifty refugees and migrants from a number of boats headed for a family well the one hundred twenty people were pulled from an inflatable dinghy

on saturday while a second boat was turned back to tripoli and doctors without borders ship rescued more than one hundred people from the sinking dinghy more than six hundred thousand migrants and refugees have crossed from libya to italy in the past four years. so there was pretty scary rescue we had a critical rescue which means that there's a high risk of many people dying in that. the boat was in very bad condition but one of the five. holding the boat was either completely deflated or deployed to. one hundred twenty people inside the boat. now thousands of the taliban's have taken part in an anti racism rally in florence the demonstration included african refugees qualified justice after the shooting of a senegalese street vendor earlier this week was killed by a sixty five year old italian man that police believe the shooting was not racially motivated. now police in the united states say the gunman involved in the seizure

where three hostages were killed on friday was the firmest former servicemen suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or three female employees and the gunmen were found dead after an eight hour standoff at the nation's largest home for war veterans in the california town of yelped thirty six year old albert wall who served for get a goddess than had been a patient at the home psychiatric facility. now the u.s. state of florida has passed modest gone destruction of the park and high school shooting that left seventeen people dead last month but in washington there appears to be little appetite for new laws john hendren has the story. the outcry for stricter gun laws in america has bred never been louder or more emotional. this makes me sick millions of children are rationally preparing for sooden slaughter and this is normalized we cannot allow our nation to go along with this any longer how many more times how many more children are going to be

slaughtered their names have become an international shorthand for mass shootings in america littleton colorado virginia tech orlando's post nightclub sandy hook and now parklane florida but little has changed since last month's school massacre there in this hearing by senate democrats is unofficial the republicans you control both houses of congress are holding no hearings on guns president obama hugged me and wouldn't let go until i could catch my breath and stop crying it's different this time because people are taking it personally he said. but it wasn't different . at weekend gun shows across the us guns are easily bought with or without background checks and the appetite for weapons seems insatiable just try to find a parking spot at this one in virginia one reason background checks are such a point of contention is what's called the gun show loophole while licensed firearm

dealers need to do background checks on buyers any individual can sell to any other individual as long as they don't have reason to believe that person is prohibited from owning a firearm and gun shows are where they meet. even many gun aficionados are willing to support some change like mandatory background checks for all gun buyers should there be background checks absolutely absolutely the state of florida has passed modest changes banning the bump stock that turns semiautomatic weapons into automatics raising the minimum age to buy a gun to twenty one setting a three day waiting period in arming school employees but on capitol hill the senate has moved on to banking reform leaving all proposals for new gun restrictions on the shelf john hendren al-jazeera dale city virginia. now david been at as the former president of the students for concealed carry and he says americans feel like they need guns because they cop trust the government to protect them. unfortunately we're not able to trust the system and we need look no further

than florida's realize that you have the police were called to that shooter's home thirty nine different times you had teachers and the school officials who were aware of his the danger that he posed the school kids in that school were joking that he would be the next person to shoot at the school if anyone did you have the f.b.i. who was given specific reports about this person you have the mental health of the social workers he didn't do anything and you had an armed deputy actually multiple armed deputies who showed up and didn't go into that school so i don't blame the students for being upset i don't blame the teachers are being upset but i think that the ability to protect yourself especially whether it's in your home or whether it's in your classroom is very important to us because at the end of the day the only person that's there to protect you every second of the day is you and if you're armed with nothing more than a pencil or a textbook to throw back that's not enough tipitina hawtho now with that being more of a thought to last week's attack from the military headquarters in the french embassy and felt. detained brazen for especially for those responsible may have had and

find help and of how components from want to do. the honors for those who died in last week's attack most killed were soldiers. rick enough also is in mourning still in shock. distance. this is a moment of incredible sadness for us my brother in law went to the army headquarters to run an errand he was a bit late and the attackers took his life his body was so wounded he was unrecognizable. nine armed men drove a car full of explosives undetected through rush hour traffic to the most secured areas of the capitol the french embassy and army headquarters. the car bomb took parking afonso security forces by surprise overrun and overpowered the french

special forces who have a base in the capital intervened and killed the attackers investigators say the target was a scheduled meeting of the army chief of staff a five saheli in countries part of a multinational force led by france to push rebel groups out of the region on a visit to britain a fosse of the forces coronating country needs share vowed to hunt down the group responsible for the attack. we know that terrorists and their accomplices seek to undo our alliance they say they are foreign forces but they are fighting a common enemy. eight men in the capital were arrested after a rebel group operating in this and how it claimed responsibility for the. news that men are not foreigners but a mix of active and former soldiers surprised many here but all. the time came forty eight hours after the start of the trial of gen the former head of the presidential guards orchestrated a failed coup attempt in two thousand and fifty since then many of his soldiers

have been fired. negotiated with the rebel groups on behalf of western countries he was key to the release of european hostages. since his arrest attacks have multiplied killing hundreds of people these soldiers on the front line of an expanding war with what now seems like an enemy within their midst. india and sixteen billion dollars worth of french president and first official visit to india. energy space and counterterrorism and the construction of a nuclear power plant and it was also pledged to work together to ensure the freedom of navigation. is a professor. and he says political instability in the u.s. and russian has pushed new strategic partnership. i think that is not

a consequence of sorrow for what is happening in the but i system today especially with richard reeling under but that's it it's on its own but once the programs are for you partners with the united states or are you know you know if they don't get the degree let going to from the united states and difficult ramses not looking like the biggest. but depends on trying to market that india as in the it you're all going to but this is not just. defense partners are but is also civilian partnership and all that he's going to be in the body and i'm sorry i mean they did it or some video and so i think this is it meeting of minds and i get it is perhaps has been more of a guess i'm able to and i did he's going to be ever since the. seventy's and

eighty's so it is no surprise here part of it is good to see that this is the relationship is beginning far more robust. now finally this bill this one lined out of power from kind of a just off the southern tip of chile and top that 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 antarctic sea weeks if we look at the european union's campaign to protect the definite region and the clock jonah going pre-scientific expedition weddle see. the captain's eye view of voyage as the ice breaker arctic sunrise pushes through into the remote waters of the weddell sea vost unknown territory few ships venture this far. has already made an attempt this antarctic summer but was foiled by ice. we were way through. to get it down into the well. trying to reach

before the beginning of what would be protected looks like opening in here for. yet only just recently. finally we break through into the isolated area of the proposed tree at the moment i checked on the. satellite charts this morning and there's someone of a ship in this entire space as another ship about there and that's it and the whole whole area that's slightly scary terrifying. but exciting kind of just makes the case that this is pristine this area is not developed his not 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 melting yes sea ice and great ice bugs and the glass is sweeping off. the weddell sea way to a distance over that proposed area pretty much on touched by human activity almost no scientific research is taking place back to base the arctic sunrise standing by for a return alongside have a giant tabula ice pack perhaps a kilometer along the next helicopter sortie it to the very top of it the expedition team and 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 appraise says

it seems may be changing because of global warming and did a day of scenic wonder the antarctic day ends with a spectacular show above this apparently a reverse sunset phenomenon while simultaneously the clouds more in shape and color into fantastic painting across the evening sky at the ends of the. al-jazeera until ticket. and in the third part of our series on that called look at the multiple threats of wildlife and then talk to cafe's from climate change to tourism. again as a problem and the headlines on al-jazeera syrian government forces have made significant gains and rebel held east and grouper have advanced into areas between them and harass the cutting off a major highway more than a thousand people have been killed in eastern brutha since the government stepped

up its campaign three weeks ago. u.s. president says he expects a great success at a planned meeting with north korean leader kim jong un he made the comments at a campaign rally for republican candidates in the state of pennsylvania a trump also says he has an agreement from pyongyang to suspend missile testing ahead of the meeting. not to send missiles. they're not sending missiles and i believe that i believe that i really do i think they want to do something about the they want to make these i think it's. and i think we've shown great surely i think that's also important. china's commerce minister has said that any trade was sparked by a white house tariffs on steel and the minium would be disastrous for his country the u.s. and the rest of the world speaking on the sidelines of the annual session of parliament the minister said china does not want a trade war and want to initiate one meanwhile trade officials are calling for

exemptions on u.s. import tariffs hong kong police have detained protesters as polls opened in the legislative council by elections but most expected to be bitterly contested as the pro-democracy can look to keep their one third veto bloc in the legislature the election is seen as a test gauging reaction to beijing's increased interference in the city's governance. india and france have signed a sixteen billion dollars worth of deals during the french president imagine that khan's first official visit to india is a live pictures from the capital in new delhi he's meeting prime minister and then to morty at the first international solar alliance summit and the capital. thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of the italian city of florence and a rate of rally against racism the demonstration included the african refugees and migrants calling for justice after the shooting of a senegalese street vendor earlier this week he was killed by an italian man but

police believe the shooting was not racially motivated up front is coming up next. just. saying. some journalists decided to sacrifice their integrity for the hole in the media the listening post at this time on al-jazeera it's been fifteen years since the united states and its allies invaded and occupied iraq millions of refugees and hundreds of thousands of dead later some supporters of the war still believe there's nothing to apologize for in a lot from special i'll challenge the u.s. military's former chief spokesman in iraq retired general mark kimmitt.