also show counting the cost at this time. the continent of antarctica is facing multiple threats from climate change to overfishing tourism but now a campaign is underway to create the largest protected area on the remote waters of the white vote see stay with al-jazeera for a series of special reports from the greenpeace expedition to antarctica. you must surrounded syrian government forces link up to cut. and as turkish forces close in kurdish fighters are saying they'll form a human shield around the syrian town of affray in.

a low i'm maryam namazie in london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up. of. china removes term limits for its leader from the constitution paying to become president for life. and seeks to shore up the national front flagging fortunes by rebranding at the national gathering. colombians vote for a new congress which will include members of the former fox rebels. syrian state media says the army has now completely surrounded the town of duma in eastern guta that means the rebel held area is cut into amid intense as strikes pro-government forces broke through rebel lines to establish a corridor through the enclave state t.v. has been broadcasting inside the town of mid-air where the army units joined up and activists say over

a thousand people have been killed since the government ramped up its offensive to take back the area over three weeks ago when the rebels last stronghold near the capital damascus the orange stripes here show how much of it they held on february eighteenth when the government stepped up its offensive three weeks of heavy bombardment later and that has dramatically shrunk and the surrounding of duma by syrian government forces threatens to exacerbate an already dying humanitarian situation meanwhile further north in syria kurds are reported to be mobilizing to form a human shield around the town of affray and as turkish forces advance turkish troops and free syrian army fighters have surrounded affray in a warning that their entries eminent kurdish y.p. g. forces say civilians have volunteered to protect the town and are on their way to form a human shield around it out. on the turkey syria border and has more now what's happening inside syria. but what has happened in dumas happened elsewhere in syria

we've seen it before where first of all the split the area as they did in eastern guta on saturday and there's no surrounded one tire on the syrian government forces and backed by the russians then turn to use their military advantage to try and gain a political advantage by saying to the fighters maybe you should leave him move to another part of syria as a see that has happened before in this conflict meanwhile in a free and we are hearing that the wipe e.g. the kurdish militia are calling on civilians to help form a human shield to police themselves between the white p.g. and the advancing free syrian army which of course are backed up by the turkish military no it's not just cards who have responded to this call and we hear that there are buses heading towards africa but also groups here in turkey clued in women's groups and socialist groups or how they will get across the border which is currently closed is another issue entirely in our friend city we see that there is no water no internet and up to three or four families or no shooting each ice

because families that move from the early stages of this assault on those seeking shelter with friends and relatives seeking shelter essentially where they can the leader of the council in a frame says the situation is dire and has called on the united nations not only to investigate but to intervene. but in other developments kurds and countries have been protesting against his actions in syria train services at one of the u.k.'s busiest stations have been hit with delays and cancellations after a group of activists kind on to the tracks at manchester piccadilly ankara launched its offensive in the african region in january to drive out the syrian kurdish y p g militia or now to china where the national people's congress has voted to abolish term limits for the president and the vice president to change the constitution paves the way for judging and to remain in office beyond two thousand and twenty three adrian brown has more from beijing. an army of chinese

legislators came to the great hall of the people knowing what was expected of them a display of uniform loyalty to the man who could now be china's leader for life for the constitution is in accordance with our country's reality and the wishes of all the people. this is a big event a very memorable moment in our political life. and historic and controversial moment as well the almost three thousand delegates had been told the amendments were needed because the challenges china faces require a strong leader and a united party. in china's version of legislative government new laws and constitutional changes are always passed unanimously and so it proved to be the case again on sunday when delegates approved twenty one constitutional revisions including the scrapping of term limits for the president and vice

president for there was perhaps token opposition to votes against and three abstentions congress officials insist this process transparent. the chinese people have had no say in this historic moment critics accuse president xi jinping of building a personality cult indoctrinating the masses with his political philosophy just as chairman mao once did it was done shopping the other towering figure in recent chinese history who'd insisted on two term limits for the president he wanted to avoid a repeat of the cultish devotion that had surrounded mao but analysts say one party rule is once more turning into one man rule the fact of the matter his seeming has hijacked the entire communist party in the country. so we are back to just one person doing the talking one person making the decisions for the entire

party the entire country we are back to the period of the so-called one wars echo chamber. the president's influence is now felt in many aspects of life here she jean ping thought is now required reading for all party members study groups of spread to businesses and universities. parliament also voted to expand the president's campaign against corruption joining a five year purge more than one and a half million party officials have been punished analysts say the campaign is it guys for getting rid of potential rivals for now at least she would appear to have known adrian brown al-jazeera beijing. people in hong kong have been voting a by election in which pro-democracy activists i hoping to win back veto power in the legislature police detained a number of protesters who gathered outside the polling station where the city's leader cost her ballot the vote is to fill four sixteenth's formerly held by

pro-democracy politicians who were ousted for including protests in their oath of office. u.s. president donald trump says his plan talks with north korea could either fail or bring about the greatest deal for the world to ease nuclear tensions between the two countries speaking as a rally in pennsylvania he said he believes north korea wants to make peace but president trump wants he could leave the talks quickly if it didn't look like progress for nuclear disarmament could be made well to south korean officials who met the north korean leader kim jong un last week are to proof the leaders of china and japan one of the officials will meet china's president xi jinping on monday the other will see japan's president chins are on choose day the meetings are designed to update the leaders on the progress of nuclear talks with north korea to end wars returned from the u.s. on sunday after meeting president trump. a senior yemeni official has called for protested him on the return of president but reprimand so hardy from saudi arabia

minister states. made the statement on his facebook page the country head of the saudi led coalition's air campaign against those who think rebels in march two thousand and fifteen the president has reportedly been riyadh for over a year now. a turkish private plane has crashed in central iran the plane was traveling from sharjah in the united arab emirates to istanbul carrying eleven people when it went down roughly three hundred seventy kilometers south of tehran and emergency services spokesman was quoted by iran's state t.v. is saying the plane caught fire and crashed in a mountainous area of france's main far right party the national front is to be renamed the national gathering party leader marine le pen but for the proposal on the second day the national front's congress a make over is designed to revive the nationalist party after lappin lost the

french presidential election to emmanuel macron last year a ban assault in a distant strange father and the former leader and is called the name change of betrayal therefore serve him. we are the defenders we are the last defenders of the french republic the french republic has been stripped of its content which you figure is becoming less and less democratic and less and less social the political leaders are speaking in english is being replaced by the european flag marked by agendas that avoid over any substance. they've achieved has more on this now from the congress and. we had to wait until the very last moment of marine le pen speech here before we heard the name being suggested to replace the national front and the suggestion was national gathering now that name will be put to the membership of the party in the next few weeks we know that tonight fifty

two percent of respondents so far has said they're in favor of that still leaves a large number of the old national front opposed to changing that name now the reason marine le pen was trying to rebrand and change all of this is she wants to detox defy the image her party has because of her father john marie le pen now he stayed away from this conference and he was stripped of the honorary presidency by by them a juror in the course of the proceedings and he actually has been launching his own autobiography the first volume at least in paris which is turning out to be a bestseller in that autobiography he says that he was very much in favor of the he she regime of course you collaborated with the nazis in the second world war adding to the impact of the remark you made about the holocaust as the. detail of history so i don't think despite marina penn's best effort she could really rid

herself of the impact of the father who found his body and let it for nearly four decades no matter what she does what she goes through and what policy policy she's tries to push through the memory of her father will stay as a troublesome haunting spirit no matter what she tries to do it does still make her brand even with a new name slightly talks are. you watching out is there are still ahead for you protest as a back on the streets of boston lynette to demand the release of jailed politicians and harnessing the power of. and its national alliance aims to increase the use of solar energy to combat climate change. because

a little bit of rain sleet and snow heading towards afghanistan took mistah this band of clout that just pulling across iran will continue to drive its way further ace was bright skies do come back even behind this that disturbed weather there kabul at about sixteen celsius you can see a little further north that wintry mix still showing its hands also want to rain showers into northern parts of iran maybe just around the caspian as well but fine and dry across southeastern side of the med warm sunshine temperatures getting up to around ninety twenty celsius over the next day or two little bit of wet weather just easing as went to western parts of turkey by this days no sign of any wet weather across the arabian peninsula over the next day out a little bit of cloud just around that eastern side of saudi arabia but fought in trial here in doha monday will see temps getting up to twenty nine celsius with a gentle breeze there but on the murky side recently the wind switched around to a northwesterly direction as to the chance of seeing some with dust and sand in fact could still create some visibility problems and as we go on through the next

day or two meanwhile this lawsuit draw into western parts of south africa i'm afraid the wetter weather still clinging on to the eastern cape a chance of some showers here through monday still plenty of showers into mozambique zimbabwe and zambia.

welcome back with al-jazeera and updates the top stories this hour in syria state media says the army has now completely surrounded the town of duma in east and that leaves the main area still held by the rebels cut into mid intents and strikes pro-government forces broke through the rubble lines to establish a corrie deal through the enclave china's national people's congress has voted to abolish term limits for the president and vice president to change the constitution paves the way for him to remain in office beyond twenty twenty three and france's far right even marine le pen has proposed changing the name of policy from the national front to the national gathering she was speaking of the party's annual congress. people who visited a pub and restaurant in the english city where

a russian form a spy and his daughter will poison a week ago have been urged to wash their clothes and possessions they had with them health officials believe as many as five hundred people may have been contaminated with the nerve agent which left script and his daughter junia critically ill in hospital paul brennan reports. families enjoying a pizza drinkers socializing in the pub hundreds of people may have been unknowingly contaminated as a consequence of the u.k. spy poisoning the revelation the traces of toxic nerve agent have been found at both z.z.z. and the mill pub in seoul very approach a startling message from the u.k. top health advisory i am confident that this is not home and the health of anyone who was in the mail or this is restaurant however some people are concerned that prolonged long term exposure to these substances may over weeks and particularly

months give rise to health problems the advice is to machine wash clothes use baby wipes to clean any personal items such as phones and items which can't be washed should be securely bagged and sealed the authorities insist the risk is minimal but caution is essential the trail of nerve agent contamination is being followed backward from the park bench where sergei script and his daughter yulia were found collapsed the former spy's house is also sealed off for forensic examination and specialist officers have even been examining the cemetery where is the script was wife is buried among several priorities for police are the questions of how and where scripts and his daughter came into contact with the nerve agent had they already been contaminated by the time they visited z.z.z. in the mill or where the traces of toxin found at those locations left by whoever was trying to kill them. in two thousand and six when former k.g.b. dissident alexander litvinenko was murdered by russian agents using radioactive

polonium the killer has left a trail of radioactivity at several locations in london unfortunately it's happened again it means something was not done and alyson what is saved after the murder of my husband was not learned. and his daughter remains critically ill in hospital twenty one other people have also been treated for possible exposure but the instruction for hundreds of people to cleanse themselves of possible contamination is a worrying discoloration. britain al-jazeera supporters of catalonia as independents are protesting in barcelona are demanding the release of politicians jailed in the aftermath of last year's referendum catalonia has been perspire owned until further notice the election of a new regional president after spain supreme court ruled that cancer jordi sanchez would not be allowed to leave prison to attend a parliamentary session planned for monday now sebastian pinera has been sworn in as chile's president for the second time in the air

a billionaire entrepreneur vowed to revive the economy which has slumped on the outgoing leader left in the shell bashfully it's the second time daschle has turned over the presidency to pinera large crowds gathered for her exit ceremony in. okami is adding to the polls to elect a new congress where former fought rebels will take part for the first time a political debut comes after they lay down their arms ending fifty two years of fighting with the colombian government fark is guaranteed to win a minimum of ten seats under the terms of the peace settlement but many colombians feel home fight is should be in prison rather than in congress. let's go to alison who has the latest from how significant is it that you have the dissipating so the legally in an election process like this. well mary i mean is of course a very significant thing and

a very important step in the implementation of the peace process however things for them as they entering legally the political process here in colombia have not been easy many of their candidates have been hacked or up to receive threats online or otherwise even their one candidate for president their former commander the. better known as the moshing because being held did with tomatoes tones at a campaign event so much so that the fact that you suspend their campaign a month ago and then finally you know they see that to end this run but that also had to do with health reasons and the fact of not being the only party who have been candidates have received that tact that just shows how divided colombians are and how. the environment has been surrounding these elections and it just shows how

divided colombians remain when it comes to this peace process and how ever speaking to the voters peace is not the only thing they have in mind actually corruption has been a major theme here and that's because the especially when it comes to legislative election system of patronage fearing colombia has been her base. to renovate the congress and there's one issue on everybody's minds. of corruption is the biggest worry of voters richard or on the right or left of the political spectrum. as long overshadowed the legal political practices which are only now coming under bigger scrutiny scandals in past months have involved most parties and even tainted president juan manuel santos last campaign. yet the new study by the peace and reconciliation foundation says the public outcry will not

bring political renovation. more than eighty candidates for the senate and the house of representatives that have links with criminal organizations or are involved in corruption scandals such as older brecht or our children or wives of currently jailed representatives all with excellent chances of being elected they represent rural family clans that have for decades run their districts like. most are expected to remain in power doling out jobs public work contracts or just a little food and money to maintain the loyalty of their impoverished voters. many politicians and thirties corruption circuits to finance their campaigns they buy out local community leaders and pay around eight hundred dollars per vote the culprits in the end there to citizens they vote for the same corrupt parties then they complain about corruption it's a vicious cycle you can't vote for bandits and then expect to be well governed according to this study only three of the political parties have presented

candidates viewed with suspicion for their relations with. these are criminal or. which have many here were congress will have a hard time changing longstanding corruption practices. when you tally on director of political web site alessio i see says the system is per base of i have done an informal survey with professional politicians asking them how what is the percentage of. open your votes for congress and they all agree that seventy percent. or thirty percent opinion votes colombia and like other major latin american countries jailed many claim chieftain clans remain tough through this large as long as votes can be bought for pennies. i was wondering was saying the country is still very divided on the fox participation in this process

how much hostility are they facing on the campaign trail. as we were saying earlier they've been hacked they've received threats they've decided to do and they're to spend their campaign a month ago now they don't have a candidate for president anymore regardless of that they are entering congress that the story gets very important for the peace process and we're going to have to see how well they do today of course because even if they have guaranteed for the next two legislatures as part of their peace deal. for them will be very important to legitimize their presence there and besides that we're going to have to see what happens with the other parties which coalition will control congress that will depend if that reforms that are demanded by the peace deal will

move forward or not it specially when it comes to land reform when it comes to agricultural reforms that for decades have been at the root of this civil conflict here in columbia i was wondering here see in bogota thank you. cubans are voting to ratify a new assembly a key step towards choosing a new president on the communist front caribbean island nation eight million cubans are expected to turn out to ratify more than six hundred candidates for an equal number of seats in the assembly the new members of the national assembly will choose a successor to president raul castro new president will be the first in almost sixty years from outside the castro family. the indian prime minister and remote in the french president emmanuel macron of officially launched the international solar alliance at a summit in new delhi they want to reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels by expanding the availability of solar energy and adding a fouls and gigawatts of solar power by two thousand and thirty that comes with

a price tag of a trillion dollars well the summit's goal is to promote greater investment in solar projects in member countries it lights is seeking to add a thousand gigawatts of solar power by twenty thirty as we were saying but that is very expensive right now there are a hundred twenty one perspective i'm a member states thirty of which if signed and ratified the framework agreement countries at least partly within the tropics are eligible to join most of those involved are relatively poor states with high levels of sunshine. right so would just go to bring you some more on this now president emanuel macron did take some more subtle swipe at u.s. president donald trump they didn't wait and see didn't stop because some decided to leave floor and leave the bridge agreement.

because a decided it was good for them for the children the grandchildren they decided to act. and keep back. and. while we are here in order to act recreate. the antarctic has been described as one of the most remote and treacherous places on earth much of its rich to biodiversity has yet to be fully documented in the second part of our antarctic series we look at european union's campaign to protect the desolate region al-jazeera is nick clark joined a green peace scientific expedition through the wet 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 far. has already made an attempt this and talk to someone but was

foiled by ice because we are way through. to get it down into the wealthiest try and reach think before we get any of what would be protected looks like opening it here to be more. yes probably just make 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 someone of a 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 terrifying. exciting but exciting kind of just makes the case that this is pristine this area is not developed his not call industry it's 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 breath taking 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 a great iceberg to be the classiest sweeping up james ross island at 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 back to base the arctic sunrise standing by for a return alongside a giant type ila ice pack perhaps a kilometer long the next helicopter sortie is to the very top of it. the expedition team are making a dramatic blending to spread the sanctuary message around the world this iceberg

thousands of years in the making now adrift in a process that is being going on for hundreds of thousands of years appraises it seems may be changing because of global warming i did a day of scenic one the. day with a spectacular show above this apparently a reverse sunset from the wood and while simultaneously the clouds morphed and shaped in color it's a fantastic unworldly painting across the evening sky at the ends of the. al-jazeera until to get a. quick look at the top stories this hour now kurdish forces in northwestern syria say civilians plan to form a human shield around the town of a frame to protect it from an expected incursion action free syrian army forces have surrounded the town warning that their entry is imminent i've been fighting to

drive out the kurdish white b.g. from the area meanwhile state media says that the syrian army is now completely surrounded the town of in eastern guta the main area still held by the rebels cut into made intense as strikes pro-government forces broke through rebel lines to establish a corridor through the ng play. china's national people's congress has voted to abolish term limits for the president and the vice president and change the constitution paves the way for changing paynter main office beyond two thousand and twenty three. france's far right lead a marine le pen has proposed changing the name of passy from the national front to the national gathering make over is designed to revive the nationalist party after the pan lost the french presidential election to emmanuel macron last year her estranged father usual marie le pen who co-founded the party nine hundred seventy two called the name change of the trail therefore sir. we are the defenders we are the last defenders of the french republic. the french

republic has been stripped of its content which you figure is becoming less and less democratic and less and less social the political leaders are speaking in english our flag is being replaced by the european flag marked by agendas that avoid over any substance. voters in colombia are heading to the polls for the first election since the signing of a peace deal with fog rebels they've been guaranteed at least ten seats in the country's congress. and police in the u.k. city of souls three of issued a warning to members of the public who visited a restaurant and pub where traces of a deadly nerve agent have been found the poison left a russian former spy and his daughter in a critical but stable condition the police say that although the public health risk is low anyone who is in the location should wash their clothes and any possessions that they had with them those are the top stories inside story is coming up next

and then the news hour in twenty five minutes time. cuba has to get a new president and it won't be a cost of stepping down. for almost sixty years but is it the end of the cost and when it's mean the change of politics of this island nation this is a inside story.