and the story builds to be forced to leave the room. when people need to behead women and girls are being bought and given away in refugee camps al-jazeera has to lose on the ground to bring new award winning documentaries and live news and out of iraq i got to commend you on hearing is good journalism on air and online. action on gun control students across the u.s. are protesting to end mass shootings in classrooms. hello and welcome my name's peter w. watching al-jazeera live from my headquarters here and also coming up. there is no alternative conclusion other than that the russian state was culpable for the

attempted murder of mr script and his daughter britain is to expel twenty three russian diplomats as part of its response to the poisoning of a former double agent and his daughter. sold into slavery the result for some people seeking sanctuary in europe after an e.u. libya deal. and the world renowned scientist stephen hawking who helped unlock the mysteries of the universe has died at the age of seventy six. our top story developing story for you this thousands of students and teachers across the u.s. are about to walk out of their classrooms to raise awareness of gun violence the walkout will last for seventeen minutes to pay tribute to the seventeen people killed in the florida high school mass shooting exactly a month ago school districts across the country. threatened to punish those who

take part in the rally angering parents who say their children's right to protest is being violated organizers say they hope the walkout can help pressure congress to pass gun control legislation let's take you live now to parkland florida and our correspondent and to gallacher and the what do they think they can achieve today. well we were just talking to a student before we came on air and there is a real determination here and to change what they can i think there is a practicality here one student i was just talking to said well maybe we should focus on making schools safer because he doesn't ever see a time when assault rifles will be banned i think there is a real ism here among these people but remember two thousand eight hundred schools are taking part in this no more movement today that's the kind of support they have among the younger generation schools from alaska all the way to the american virgin islands all the way up to maine will all be walking out at ten o'clock in their

particular time zone so it shows that there is a great deal of support for this movement that there is obviously a lot of changing public opinion at this event here a month ago in which seventeen people died is seen by many as a tipping point in the gun debate but let's think about what's happened over the past four weeks we have unprecedented new laws here in the state of florida i one of the main ones raising the minimum age for buying a rifle from eighteen to twenty one this is a republican controlled legislature before parklane that was unthinkable on the national level it really hasn't been much movement from president lots of talk about raising age limits but now lots of committees to investigate what they will do it of course there is now that option to on teaches so there has been some change but i think overall the people we've been talking to at marjorie stillman douglass high school they certainly are not going to stop after today because remember they will be taking to washington d.c. later on this month and when you talk to those students and the teachers there and people like deputy headmasters those kind of people those administrative people and

the when they hear their president talk again as he's done in the past week reheating this idea of putting guns into schools to be used if needs be by highly trained teachers in the use of guns what's their reaction to that. well for the most part teachers say all they should have to do is teach and remember in many schools and many public schools in this country all the teachers have to ask parents for money for things like no pants and pencils so they think this whole extra training and bringing more guns into school is just something that isn't practical and that isn't safe how it will happen here in the state of florida is county by county if a county says look we don't want to our my teachers then it won't happen if a county does then they'll take volunteers and they'll proceed with that kind of action but when you speak to the students here the marjorie sturm and oversized i haven't met one in a month of covering this story that said yes i think having more guns in schools is

the right thing to do they're pretty clear in what they want they want to see a ban on assault rifles they want to see more background checks more intense background checks and they want to see their schools safer that's why this movement is being called never again is this a difficult one for the politicians to engage with and you know when you see those videos on twitter being done by school children which are a direct parody and a send up of the n.r.a. videos on twitter when their message is strong when they're angry when they're confident a difficult thing for politicians to engage with whilst also keeping everyone happy . well i think politicians who are best at self-preservation if if nothing else are seeing that their winds are changing a seeing that public opinion is shifting even among republican voters there is now an overwhelming desire for increased background checks and perhaps even bans on things like assault rifles you know governor rick scott in signing those laws here

in florida took a great risk in itself because he plans to run for the senate in the coming election and that may come back on him from some of the his supporters that are further to the right but i think politicians have seen that parkland have seen that marjorie stoneman douglas high school shooting is perhaps that tipping point that's never been seen in this country in previous years you know i've covered many mass shooting is over the last fifteen years and i've always said when people ask me do you think things will change i've always said no things have started to change after this one but i think there was the reality setting in here that things like banning assault rifles is something that may not happen for many years to come and what are these school students prepared to do if say in the next six to twelve months they don't get real serious proper movement towards what they want to see happening when it comes to new legislation. i think honestly i

think they will keep pushing i think the children here particularly at this school the ones that we've spoken to over the past month extremely intelligent extremely passionate about this but they have a good sense of the reality of the politics in this country the reality of asking politicians to back calls to ban assault rifles is something they know will be difficult but i think having spoken to people here and spoken to parents and we see the kind of national action we're getting in this country today they know this is going to be a long haul they know this is going to be a long battle but they also remember like the young student we were just speaking to are seventeen years old come the next election they will have a voice at the ballot box and i have no doubt that the children from broward county here in florida will vote for the politician that wants to ban assault rifles and make some what they call common sense gun reform when they know i get i think that this will be a long hard fought battle. and it will come back to i'm sure as this seventeen minutes walk comes to a close but for the next ten minutes or so thanks very much ok let's take the story

for you to washington my colleague can really help you can really just get us right up to speed where are we with the gun legislation changes right now in the u.s. . well the white house after holding listening sessions for many weeks following that shooting in parkland florida has now announced recently in the past week its own proposals and there is some criticism of the president because there was this feeling that there was this unique opportunity a president who is not beholden to any particular group because he is wealthy and didn't rely on special interest groups as much as previous politicians would be able to sort of speak independently take on the national rifle association even though they spent thirteen million dollars contributing to his campaign donald trump did speak very vocally about the national rifle association almost chiding some members of congress for being afraid of them but when we finally saw this

proposal by the white house in terms of what could be done it seemed to fall short of what many were hoping namely when it comes to the issue and lack of proposal with regard to raising the age to buying a rifle from eighteen to twenty one many had hoped it would be there it wasn't what the white house has put forward is essentially as andy outlined this proposal to use federal money to arm teachers in the classroom provide firearms training which many national educators say they don't want as well already in the works is the banning of the bump stocks that were used in las vegas do not increase of firearms accuracy but certainly it's fire power and then there's also been an overhaul of the mental health process but you have to understand how the united states works peter to understand where you're going to see most of the change responding to these young students is going to be at the state level because deliberately the

united states is organized to give strong state rights versus federal rights so while we see these students marching towards the white house where they're most likely to see effective change is going to be an individual states where legislators and constituents. looking for the specific action and he was talking about the tipping point that is represented by what happened at parkland when it comes to the the attitude the feeling the anger in the confidence of the students but was it a tipping point as well for the n.r.a. kimberly not so much what they said saying this is a constitutional amendment issue it's the right to bear arms but beyond that there was a particularly robust some people would say vicious reaction particularly the part of dana loesch that the n.r.a. spokeswoman because she came back with some of those videos on social media and she was very very clearly going after very specific groups and being her critics might say quite vicious with it. there's no question that down a firm defense entrenched within her to. to defend the right to bear arms the

second amendment of the united states and it's unlikely that will change that she's very emblematic of what you see outside of many american cities and more rural parts of america there are many who fear that liberal leaning particularly politicians will take away the right to bear arms in fact when barack obama was in the white house the sale of firearms in the united states skyrocketed you couldn't go into a sporting goods store and find certain types of ammunition because people were stocking up fearful that left leaning politicians and the president would take their guns in fact the numbers have gone down now as a result of donald trump being in office there's this belief that he will protect and preserve that right but many are concerned and this is been the case all the way along that any sort of giving in to the other side in terms of what some call commonsense gun reforms others say is just sort of

a chipping away at gun rights there's this back and forth and so what i can tell you is that well most polls show that there is some reasonable support for background checks potentially even raising the age of buying a firearm to twenty one there is that powerful voice of the n.r.a. it's well funded and it's got many many members in the united states who say we can't see any power whatsoever because this will be the beginning of the end of the right to bear arms down a lotion is very much of a magic of that we're looking at live pictures from portland kimberly as you're talking to us we were also looking at live pictures site the point in washington d.c. and he was making the point from florida the very clearly there are elections just around the corner but do the politicians have a longer term a slow a big issue and maybe the n.r.a. as well is this these young people who are dead set against guns weapons bullets and guns in schools. those people in ten fifteen twenty years time they

will be congressmen and women some of them will be in positions of power and influence and control and one gets the feeling that perhaps the clock is ticking for the n.r.a. the clock is ticking for those people that say the best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to be a good guy with a gun. i'm not sure the clock is ticking for the n.r.a. i think there is a pretty firm and strong foothold for the n.r.a. for quite some time and beyond a generation but i do think you have a point when it comes to politicians certainly these are the future leaders and particularly again there's a really stark rural urban divide in the united states and so the congress typically reflects that in these more urban areas which is where we're seeing the most of these protests taking place no question there are going to be politicians these children will grow up some of them will become representatives and they will be pressing for these types of change but in the rural areas still there isn't

always a reflection of that but having said that one thing that is important to note about the u.s. congress is it is not designed to respond to emotion it moves very slowly very deliberately the forefathers that put in place the constitution were very much concerned about quick reactions to emotional debate such as this so we're getting back to the larger argument here peter i don't think we're going to see immediate change but your point about will there be generational change is definitely one that is on the mind of many politicians who are currently sitting in office saying things may not always be as they are right now ok can believe many things. still to come here on al-jazeera the british prime minister to resign may announces tough new measures against russia in response to the poisoning of a former double agent sent his daughter in the u.k. . to see where many refugees are seek shelter from human traffickers in neighboring

libya. welcome back across central and southern parts of china we've got a southerly flow so generally looking pretty warm and humid with some outbreaks of rain is drawn across a good part of northern vietnam south annoyed there look it might sort of twenty five degrees further south there are some showers around there was a move the forecast on the main area of rain transfers further towards the west hong kong fuzhou looking dry now it is quite a contrast in temperatures between food issue and shanghai to the north with temperatures there just twelve degrees celsius how do you across into south asia seeing this little area of low pressure move across sri lanka through into carola and parts of kinetic and i would like to see further showers here bangalore are still at risk of the odd downpour and a fair amount of cloud expend extending as far north maybe by but across more

northern parts of india it's largely find that we have still got some snow up in the hill stations as i move the forecast through into friday fine conditions of delhi thirty one similar temperatures expected in karate in pakistan here in the arabian peninsula remains pretty warm we've got temperatures a thirty two degrees expected in doha pretty woman and the rest of the gulf states two on the other side the pincher mecca looks as though it's going to turn it warm temps of thirty six heading through into friday medina not far behind with a maximum here of thirty two. the scene for us when they're on line once is american sign in yemen peace is almost 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 you're watching al-jazeera with me to double your top stories so far students and teachers are walking out of classrooms nationwide across the united states to demand tougher gun control laws the protestors juta last for seventeen minutes in tribute to the seventeen victims of the florida high school shootings last month. the u.k.'s prime minister to resign may says russia is culpable for the poisoning of a former double agent. and she's announced a series of measures in response to that mrs may says twenty three diplomats

believed to be involved in russian espionage will be expelled from the u.k. within one week that's designed to reduce moscow's intelligence gathering capability in britain they will also be increased numbers of checks on private flights carrying russian nationals u.k. assets linked to certain russians will now be frozen an invitation given to the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov has been revoked and all high level bilateral contact will be cut here is some of what the reason may told m.p.'s in westminster. while we rightly initially focus on the use of this nerve agent here in the u.k. and its impact on us here in the u.k. this is about the illegal use of chemical weapons by the russian state and it is about an illegal program to develop in developing those chemical weapons by the russian state and we will leave no stone unturned in order to work with our allies to ensure that we respond appropriately to. life and to westminster correspondent

barnaby phillips barnaby when does all this kick off their. well those russian diplomats have a week to leave the united kingdom to put it in perspective. there are fifty eight diplomats accredited at the embassy here in london and just under half are being told to pack their bags how it kicks off in terms of ripples across the world and retaliation from russia we'll have to see but i think it would be a safe assumption to make that there will be british diplomats in moscow right now who will believe that they will be returning to london quite soon as well and misses me very clear i mean that she didn't present any hard evidence of such to the house but i see a direct quote from a she saying no alternative conclusion of than the russian state was culpable.

yes she was clear on evidence that she seen but which she feels for whatever reason unable to present in public that that is the verdict i think one interesting subtext actually peter which has just emerged in the last few moments that perhaps when you were following the debate you would have seen the opposition leader jeremy corbyn and his tone came under quite a lot of attack both from the government benches predictably but also from his own backbench members of parliament who seemed to be more closely aligned with the prime minister at times and with the government there with their own leader but the point is this is that jeremy corbyn spokesman has just been giving a briefing to to journalists here in westminster and he suggested that germany corbin wants to see more evidence before apportioning blame to russia which is a very interesting distinction and i think you know

a possible distinction with major political consequences here in. united kingdom if that route develops ok barnaby for the moment thank you very much for a challenge is in sebastopol on the russian controlled crimean peninsula so i guess the u.k. government employees at the embassy in moscow might be thinking about getting the luggage ready for a flight back to london rory any reaction yet from the kremlin. here the early indication is that that is exactly what is going to be happening. as far as i've seen the kremlin hasn't commented on this directly yet we have had. a response from a russian senator. joe biden of who basically says that the ministry of foreign affairs here will have to respond essentially in mind and british diplomats will be going home very soon possibly more british diplomats

going home and leaving russia than the u.k. has kicked out of russian diplomats going back to moscow we have also heard from the spokesperson for the ministry of foreign affairs and there is a quarter of a who has posted on facebook and her facebook statement basically that was defending her boss from attacks that she thought to reason may have launched against him now of course of course is a lot of rove now she says it's not up to british prime minister to reason made to pass judgment on the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov to reason she says lavrov is a russian minister not a british one and it's the russian president who evaluates him on the stand that you would like to think otherwise but your minister is boris johnson ok thanks very much. let's go back to that top story for you this thousands of students and teachers across the u.s. are walking out of their classrooms they've walked. for fifteen twenty minutes or so the walk lasting seventeen minutes to pay tribute to the seventeen people killed

in the florida high school shooting exactly one month ago school districts across the country have threatened to punish those who take part in the rally angering parents who say their children's right to protest is being violated organizers say they hope the walk can help pressure congress to pass gun control legislation live now to washington and our correspondent shihab rattansi she has got the feeling of a tipping point some people are saying is that the sense that you're getting there in the american capital. we have a sense of a great deal of outrage amongst the capitals young people here there's a bit of a twist and the rest of the country seventeen minute walk outs were planned and then the students are meant to go back into that into their schools here in d.c. however they gathered here at the white house here outside the white house they had a seventeen minutes of silence with their backs to the white house actually isn't here he's in california right now now they're not going back to school these

students they are heading down towards capitol hill in a march several hundred of them now marching towards capitol hill where they hope to speak to members of congress to push through that demand for some sort of legislation but i have to say the consensus here amongst those who who are in some ways the older generation of people in d.c. is gun reform is already dead there's no real appetite either amongst democrats or republicans to really push this through don't trouble me is back down already and it doesn't look likely however there are more demonstrations planned as another one mass demonstration planned in ten days time the students here are convinced that they can keep on pushing so the public opinion is on their side but as we've seen in the u.s. when it comes to guns public opinion doesn't necessarily trump all. doesn't it doesn't mean more than the in the in this in the city thank you steve perry is an american educates and founder of capital prep schools in harlem new york he joins us now from hartford connecticut steve perry what are the chances that this

seventeen minute walk and the anger the confidence that we're seeing today will actually spelled change. i don't know that the anger itself will spell change but as the saying a sustained movement will the challenge that we're faced with is that americans are tied to their guns it is the second amendment of all the things that we could put forward in the constitution the second thing that we fought for and continue to fight for in this nation is access to guns of any type it seems so sadly we as a nation have not found a way to both respect the rights of those who wish to carry arms and the rights of those of us who have to educate children tied to their guns you say who is the politician who will break that tether. i don't know that any politician is currently in the queue who's prepared to make that tether to break

that tether but i do know that there are many people on all sides who want to see a change the challenge that we're faced with is that as americans we have to look deep inside ourselves and ask what do we care more about our guns or our kids. who does the n.r.a. figure in this for you because you know people like fred gutenberg saying the n.r.a. has put a target on all of your banks when he was talking to a senate committee recently and he says the n.r.a. is a luxury that that finance these campaigns that forces legislation that puts out this video saying time is running out because the debate this time around surely seems different to all the school shootings there is a vicious anger the coming from all sides. well the n.r.a. is behind this but the truth is the n.r.a. can't do anything that the politicians don't allow that the problem is that we have a generation of children who are literally growing up afraid to go to school we have children who are afraid to go to school because they were afraid they could be

murdered at school it's not just their we've the the entire complex in a public gatherings has been changed by by mass murders in the united states in just the past twelve months we've already gone past the mass murder and it was a true mass murder in the pulse nightclub in orlando that the mass murder and las vegas i mean these are mass murders epic murders and even for generation we've become almost accustomed to this and the n.r.a. has a way of ringing the bell meaning that just because we've had hundreds of americans murdered in aurora while watching batman or a congresswoman shot in the head this is not been enough thus far and now we had seventeen people in a school some most of them being children and educators murdered yet again and the n.r.a. finds a way to bear down and fight for and keep. in these.

unobstructed rights to bear whatever arm is made it seems as those war coats come to a close steve it was supposed to take seventeen minutes is taken more like twenty seven twenty eight minutes listen thank you so much for coming on and joining us here on al-jazeera steve perry and half of the. tributes have been pouring in from around the world one of the world's greatest scientists stephen hawking a giant of the age of seventy six nineteen barbara looks back at the life of the man who changed our understanding of the universe. through his was a life of applause and accolades stephen hawking was a devoted scientist but was often treated like a statesman millions revered him for his gift of communicating complex matters to the masses i on wednesday there were expressions of sadness across the world from the cambridge university college where he worked for decades to the foreign ministry in beijing. mr stephen hawking was an outstanding scientist who has been

battling disease he made great contributions to science and to mankind and as far as i know mr hawking visited china three times in his life time we are alive we are intelligent hawking decoded some of the most enigmatic mysteries of the universe its origins structure and end from big bang to black holes he also beat the old spectacularly hawking was almost twenty one and a student at cambridge university when he was diagnosed with a less a degenerative motor neuron condition he was given just two and a half years but went on to live for more than half a century. taught me you know what. i can with what i still got. there what the condition. like me work in theoretical physics one of you know there are seven which disability is not a serious. as the disease progressed talking lost mobility and had to rely on

a wheelchair his speech began to slur and an emergency throat operation robbed him of his voice but not for long hawking turned to a speech synthesiser selecting words by moving his cheek muscles a tedious process but one that allowed him to express his pioneering ideas it also gave him his trademark american accent there have been a few setbacks like the dark cooking was respected early on in scientific circles for helping to prove the big bang theory about how the universe burst into existence fourteen billion years ago global acclaim came in one hundred eighty eight with the release of his book a brief history of time this introduction to cosmology was a global hit it sold more than ten million copies and been translated into dozens of languages at this tokyo bookstore his fans have been paying tribute showing him out i assure you he had a mind that no ordinary person could patent i wonder if he was able to convey everything that he wanted to convey through his research. stephen hawking became

a figure in popular culture guest starring on shows such as the simpsons and star trek blocking the line again. the press is in washington of course and public fascination with him culminated in the hollywood film of his remarkable life the theory of everything the universe is expanding if you will first time in the universe gets all. stephen hawking devoted his life to seeking answers to the questions of our existence and in doing so he helped us to peer deeper into how our universe works. one of the top stories in europe this hour the german chancellor angela merkel has been re-elected for a fourth term the parliament voted by three hundred sixty four to three hundred fifteen in her favor the new government will be sworn in nearly six months after national elections merkel's christian democrats and bavarian party and the center left social democrats and the official agreement to form the new grand coalition. video of a reporter rolling her eyes has caused the chinese government to censor

the internet the reporter lead young showing you who's wearing blue here couldn't contain her disdain for a fellow journalist when she asked a government minister a soft and apparently staged question. this is al-jazeera these are the top stories the u.s. students and teachers have been conducting their walk out of classrooms nationwide to demand tougher gun control laws the protests were due to last seventeen minutes in tribute to the seventeen victims of the florida high school shooting last month and the u.k. is expelling twenty three russian diplomats in response to the poisoning of a former double agent to resume a said all high level contact between london and moscow would be caught lots more news on the web site it's always there for you al jazeera dot com i'm back from ten

g. tomorrow will see you soon up next it's the stream by. eight candidates but i'll be blunt like the winner but he may putin's tight grip on the kremlin has spanned eighteen years now and when russian people. there is every indication that they will return him to his full presidential. followed the russian elections here on al-jazeera. hi emily could be and you're in the stream you're joining us for our second show this week covering the south by southwest festival in the u.s. city of austin texas so they will look at how musicians are expressing political activism through their work at a time when politics is becoming ever more polarized but me is at the festival and we'll be talking to three barry different artists.