travelers have to remain alert a lapse in attention could be fatal. the danger comes not just from above. even at the moderate speed of thirty kilometers an hour a tree branch can cut like a machete. it is tragic that president putin has chosen to act in this way. gratian to expel twenty three russian diplomats and suspend high level contacts over the poisoning of a russian double agent former double agent and his daughter. hello

i'm barbara sarah this is al jazeera live from london also coming up. school students stage a walkout across the u.s. in their push for tighter gun control us. residents to flee villages in syria's a free an enclave as turkish forces turn up the heat on fighters plus. it took a little longer than we thought but we did. democrat congressional candidate claims victory in a republican heartland but it's not over yet and how one t.v. reporters i roll stole the show a china orchestrated and you won't parliament session. hello thank you for joining us britain's government has announced a range of measures against russia in response to the nerve gas poisoning of a former double agent and his daughter in southern england last week prime minister

to resign may said the only conclusion was that the russian state is responsible she told parliament the u.k. will expel twenty three russian diplomats alleged to be on the cleared intelligence officers giving them a week to leave may said the u.k. will suspend all high level bilateral contacts with russia and cancel a planned visit by russian foreign minister sergei lavrov ministers and members of the royal family will also boycott russia's world cup in june she said the government would freeze a russian state assets if there is evidence that they may be used to threaten the life or property of u.k. nationals or residence with the u.k. has also called an emergency un security council session in a few hours time and the reason may told parliament that the british already has international support. many of us looked at a post soviet russia with hope we wanted a better relationship and it is tragic that president putin has chosen to act in

this way. but we will not tolerate the threat to life of british people and others on british soil from the russian government nor will we tolerate such a flagrant breach of russia's international obligations mr speaker as i said out on monday the united kingdom has not stand a load in confronting russian aggression in the last twenty four hours i have spoken to president trump chancellor merkel and president. we have agreed to cooperate closely in responding to this barbaric act and to coordinate our efforts to stand up for the rules based international order which russia seeks to undermine . or we have correspondents standing outside the u.k. parliament and then sevastopol crimea where russia's president is due to speak let's go to barnaby phillips first in central london for us barnaby how unprecedented are these measures and crucially how tough are they likely to be.

well to reason may said that these were the biggest expulsions of russian diplomats for almost thirty years are we going back to the cold war time if you look at the overall size of the russian embassy in london barbara it has just under sixty accredited diplomats so something like forty percent have been given a week to pack their bags and be sent home in terms of how tough it is i think that what has been announced today would have been broadly anticipated by the russians they can live with the expulsions they will no doubt retaliate with expulsions of their own they can live let's be frank without ministers and prince william coming to the world cup they're not going to lose much sleep about that when we talk about some of the other measures the freezing of assets new anti espionage laws potentially barring entry of certain powerful russian individuals to the u.k.

well we'll have to see how far britain goes in that regard and yes the potential there is there to cause russia some harm but i think what will really matter to the british name driesum eluded to it in that clip that you played there is how much multilateral support they are getting they've heard warm and encouraging rhetoric from washington and from berlin and from paris over the past forty eight hours but words are words and action and supports let's say on further sanctions multilateral sanctions from fellow western countries quite another thing i guess from a british point of view barnaby what makes this particularly serious as that there has been a precedent i mean this isn't the first time at something similar if it's ever proven and certainly the british government thinks so that the russian government is behind it this isn't the first time that something similar happens but do you get the sense that reaction to this will be different to the reaction that we saw

after the case of alexander nathan and co back in two thousand and six. well i think the litvinenko case has been overshadowed or halted if you like british politicians over the last nine days because that the similarities superficially are undoubtedly there and the public and politicians across the political spectrum have have drawn those parallels to reason may was not in government at the time back in two thousand and six but she was the home secretary in subsequent years when the british government some might say a little belatedly organized a full inquiry will what did the british do after the murder of alexander litvinenko they expelled a couple of diplomats very limited sanctions and broadly speaking it's fair to say that the russians have shrugged shrugged those measures off with some disdain so

the onus was on britain to do more this time yes barnaby phillips with the latest from outside the houses of parliament in london for the moment barnaby thank you or russia's president as you speak any time now at his last big election rally before the vote on sunday it's happening in sebastopol crimea and al-jazeera story chalons is there for us to be interesting to see whether vladimir putin does mention the situation with the u.k. right now and these measures imposed by the u.k. what reaction of any has there been so far and how do you think the russians are likely to welcome these measures. well you know when putin speaks later i suspect that he will try and keep things focused on the election and try and keep things on. the kind of glory that he did ease presenting here which is you know the the marking the anniversary of the reunification of crimea with russia not the annexation you won't hear that here. he i think you know he's going to leave the

case alone probably the foreign ministry has been speaking though and it has said there was a reason may has stated in front of parliament in the u.k. is as they say an unprecedentedly route provocation undermining the foundations of normal intergovernmental dialogue a russian response to the hostile u.k. actions is imminent but i suspect as barnaby was saying there the most of the russian leadership will be thinking is that is how we got away with this so far. because various parts of this what has been outlined by the reason may can be responded to fairly quickly i think the russians will kick out. an equal or greater number of british diplomats if the british do not show up in great numbers to the world cup that won't be too much of a big deal and the river cation over. the invitation to the u.k.

well the foreign ministry says that he was never actually going to go anywhere and there actually accepted that invitation if we start to see proper punitive measures being taken against russian oligarchs that's when this will starts to actually impact on the kremlin and that this group will turn a bit tighter because russia is an oligarchy in many ways these people are powerful they have connections with the kremlin they have lots of money which they funnel through london through the city of through the city there they send their kids to school in the u.k. if those kids are kicked out if their assets are taken if they stop being able to use london as a place to park often quite corrupt cash that is going to have some blowback in moscow and that's when it will start being felt but we'll have to see them first or a challenge in sebastopol for a story thank you. and the group of activists in eastern huta have launched a campaign urging countries to boycott the football world cup in russia over

president putin's bombing of syria they released campaign videos on you tube using syrian children to highlight their message. students have walked out of classrooms across the united states calling for tighter gun safety laws following the deadly school shooting in florida last month. from washington to new york to florida the walkouts began at ten am local time across each u.s. state coordinated using the hash tag enough and they lasted for seventeen minutes in memory of the seventeen people killed at parkland high school last month and the gallagher has more now from parkland than florida. in the seventeen minutes of protest and remembrance have just finished

a look at what's happening here you can see the students from the marjorie stillman douglas high school in the field behind the fence and then over my of the shoulder students from local schools that have come out to support them remember across this entire nation is something like two thousand eight hundred students or two thousand eight hundred schools i should say taking part in this mass protest what they want is what they call commonsense gun reform chief of which means a ban on assault rifles and increased background checks what they don't want to see is on teachers in schools like this that is predominantly what students have told us over the past few weeks here but what there is here is an energy a determination if nothing else this is the voice of a new generation. and many students also rallied outside the white house before moving on to congress she had written c. is that process for us who were just hearing from and the gallagher determination probably the key word to describe the mood of the of the students in florida what about where you are. right here in washington something different was found from

the seventeen minutes of silence in different schools and schools are still continuing across the country with the ten am local is reached here in washington thousands of students gathered inside outside the white house where they held seventy seven minutes of silence seated with the backs turned to the white house and then marched to capitol hill where they were joined by them so congress staged their own walkout the students behind me were addressed by members of the democratic leadership who assured that change would be would be coming but as andy mentioned the demands of the students are very bad on assault weapons about on high capacity magazines universal background checks normal loopholes for internet sales and private sales interestingly something that hasn't got much attention to the demilitarization of the police that is a recognition that many young people aren't being killed in school shootouts but by the police officers in this country or armed to the teeth now also saying well

they're not demonic what they're demanding does not happen and that is as on the mentioned the militarization of schools the owning of teachers as one speaker behind me said we don't our schools to turn into prisons unfortunately for the students that is exactly the favored route right now amongst the republican leadership from the white house to the local level. a true genius with an extraordinary mind the world pays tribute to superstar. at the precincts. and find out which country has been declared the happiest in the world.

welcome back across central and southern parts of china we've got a southerly flow so generally looking pretty warm and humid with some breaks of rain is drawn across a good part of northern vietnam nor there looking at my sort of twenty five degrees for the south there are some showers around the as i move the forecast on the main area of rain transfers further towards the west hong kong fuzhou looking dry notice 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 connecticut 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 war in the rest of the gulf states two on the other side the plunger mecca looks as though it's going to turn it warm temps of thirty six heading through into friday medina not far behind with the maximum here of thirty two. our. own the benefit of people. who witness documentaries that open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera.

welcome back here's a reminder of the top stories on al-jazeera the u.k. government is expelling twenty three russian diplomats as part of a series of measures against moscow in response to the poisoning of a former russian spy and his daughter in law students and teachers across the u.s. have walked out of classrooms to demand tighter gun laws exactly a month after seventeen people were killed in a school shooting in florida. in the u.s. state of pennsylvania the democratic candidate is claiming victory in a special election despite his republican rival insisting that he is not conceding defeat color line. by a around six hundred votes with several hundred absentee and provisional ballots still to be counted john hendren has more now from washington. it was

a race that shouldn't have been close it all and that makes connor lamb the new hope of the democratic party it's a little longer than we thought but we did it the you did it when you did it. in a nail biter the young charismatic former marine and republican state legislator rick's a cone finished in a near dead heat in a special election for a u.s. congressional seat in pennsylvania that traditionally leans republican and we're going to keep fighting and don't give up and we'll keep it up room that has democrats believing they can retake congress with an empty trump bump donald trump won the district by about twenty percentage points in two thousand and sixteen analysts say this election could be a sign of things to come this really will be seen as a referendum on donald trump and democrats are going to take the are going to take

that as an indication an early indication that the november results could be very good for them and they're going to believe that they have a real chance of taking a majority in the house of representatives late in the campaign sic own reach out to his party's president for health sense we shot. it with the president hoping to keep congress republican reach that go out and vote on tuesday for rick succumb the president even dispatched his son donald trump jr hoping to push the cone ahead he's going to support the some of those doing it a real conservative is going to fight for america and help us push through this agenda but here in steel and coal country lamb appealed to many of the union workers and blue collar democrats who supported trump two years ago many are now disillusioned despite the protective steel tariffs trump would keep them voting republican. it's heartbreaking because i voted for trump we all had hopes that he

would change everything but. i guess we were wrong or maybe we're wrong right now i don't know democrats hope to make more gains like they have in pennsylvania but that will depend on whether they can run electorally appealing get it it's like lamb and whether they continue to face an unpopular president john hendren. washington. turkish president rush of typewriter the one says he hopes the northern syrian town of a free will be totally encircled by the end of the day turkey and fighters from the free syrian army launched an offensive to take the kurdish held town on january the twentieth the fighting is displaced thousands of people and for those left water supplies have been cut as well as internet access turkey regards the kurdish y p g as a terrorist group and is trying to stop it gaining any more ground along its border with syria alan fischer reports now from the turkey syria border. in the last few hours at a gathering of local government officials in ankara the turkish president said that

he expected a friend to a fall and in the next couple of hours within about twenty minutes of those comments we got a clarification from the turkish president's office saying that what he actually meant was that the city of african would be surrounded though we know that things in africa have been difficult over the past week or so as this onslaught led by the free syrian army and backed by the turkish military has swept towards a free and we know that the water is in the city the united nations saying this we don't know for a week we know that the internet is down as well and you remember the wipe e.g. the kurdish militia said that they were going to call on civilian volunteers to form a human shield between themselves and the f.s.a. on the turks they were also calling seven hundred fighters from other parts of syria to defend free well what we're seeing is that people are in place now to begin this final assault on our freedom and it could come in the next few hours we

are also hearing from the turks that they are creating a humanitarian corridor for people to leave the city if they want the y.p. to you're saying no one is taking them up on that offer but we have seen pictures of people doing exactly that and also from a free self we're seeing people who are volunteering to give blood wondering what is going to come in the next few hours and wondering if it will be a long and bloody the u.n. says more than three hundred civilians have managed to leave rebel held eastern who tamed syria despite ongoing airstrikes the syrian civil defense says freshened planes dropped cluster bombs on residential areas in the city of kufa vaca air raids and shelling by government allied forces also targeted neighboring towns thirteen civilians were killed and dozens were wounded russia and government allied forces agreed to evacuate injured people from the besieged area.

and following airstrikes in adlib rescuers worked to free a woman from a collapsed building for twelve hours at least five civilians were killed another five are missing from the same attack. philippines president hillary go to ted is being accused of ignoring human rights abuses after withdrawing from a treaty that founded the international criminal court yes you see an ounce last month that would investigate reports of extrajudicial killings in what the ted has called a war on drugs the third phase previously accuse the court of political bias against him thousands of people have died in a drugs crackdown in the philippines since he took office in two thousand two thousand and sixteen the internationally renowned scientist to stephen hawking has died at the age of seventy six the british physicist was diagnosed with motor neuron disease as a young man but he went on to make several groundbreaking discoveries about black holes and the origins of life as well as writing many popular science books that

the bible looks back at his life. 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 and on wednesday there were expressions of sadness across the world a cambridge university where hawking studied and worked for decades they were particularly proud of the professor xavier has just has such a huge impact as as a person he's inspired generation after generation of individuals to go into sciences inspired people who are disabled and the foreign ministry in china the country he visited several times offered its condolences to hawkins family. mr stephen hawking was an outstanding scientist who has been battling disease he made great contributions to science and to mankind we are alive we're 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 odds 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. but . as the disease progressed talking last mobility and had to rely on a wheelchair after losing the ability to speak hawking turn to a voice synthesizer selecting words by moving his cheek muscles a tedious process but one that allowed him to express his pioneering ideas looking 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's sold more than ten million copies and been translated into dozens of languages at this tokyo bookstore his fans have been paying tribute to ringing out i assure you he had a mind that no ordinary person could prevent 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 the presses in the washington discourse on the right and public fascination with him culminated in the hollywood film of his remarkable life the theory of everything the universe is expanding its universe time and the universe getting smaller. 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. thank you america has officially started her fourth

term as german chancellor almost six months after losing significant support in the two thousand and seventeen election for a call was formally appointed by the president front valter stan meyer before taking the oath of office in the lower house merkel has been chancellor since two thousand and five and most germans believe that this will be her final term. google is launching a network of free wife i hot spots across mexico will be fifty six hot spots and high traffic locations while others are planned the number of people using the internet in mexico is risen by twenty million since two thousand and thirteen but it still lags behind many other countries. football's governing body fifa has warned greece it could be thrown out of the world game unless it takes appropriate action against the club owner who came onto the field with a gun how long he kept president even civis strode onto the pitch carrying

a whole story on sunday after his team had a late goal disallowed the greek government has suspended top division matches and definitely while their football association as its of it is with several disciplinary charges. despite its harsh climate and dark winter is that finland is the world's happiest country that's according to an annual survey the world happiness report ranks one hundred fifty six countries on things like social support life expectancy social freedom generosity and the absence of corruption finland which was in fifth place last year ousted norway for the top spot the top ten continues to be dominated by nordic countries while the report put bruni at the bottom of the happiness index. i joke with the other americans that we are living the american dream here in finland i think everything in the society is set up for people to be a success starting with a university and transportation that works really well for the real before. people

the services here that we need the daycare is nearby and the paul says well we can play and slide down who's if you want to do all of it. during the winter we put on a coat during summer we put on sewing trunks during autumn we put rain coats on so everything is a question of attitude here so all except summer is very short and fairness now a chinese reporter has found herself herself in trouble with the authorities who didn't approve of her dramatic i rolled during the annual national people's congress reporter. on the left could not contain her this day at the soft level of questioning from a colleague the chinese government has attempted to censor the clip which has gone viral and taken away her equity taishan reporters at the event have their questions vetted by the authorities before hand scott hides or has more now from beijing. it

was the eye roll seen around the world and it's still being viewed now the young is a financial magazine journalist here in china she's wearing a blue dress in this video she is seen reacting to her colleague in a red dress there asking a very long winded softball question at a press conference on tuesday what's going on in china right now is the national people's congress this is their version of the annual parliamentary session and what's known to take place during these two weeks are a lot of press conferences heads of ministries officials will hold these kinds of press conferences but there it's also known that a lot of these questions at the press conferences are are states are choreographed people took it off screen because it was aired live on state run television here in china then riposte it and posted photos everything to see how quickly censors here in china went to way though to bring down those video clips but also even phrases lady in blue was a phrase it's also being censored and still is being censored now so it's very innocent to see how quickly they they stepped up the great firewall here in china

to control this message that came out of this press conference now what's interesting is that it's very sensitive time during this national people's congress generally every year it happens but what's even more so now is there are a lot of changes being put forth by the communist party so even you know during a sensitive time normally it's even more sensitive now there's even a constitutional change that lifted term limits on the presidency and the vice presidency so she jinping the current president is very sensitive about that change and about controlling the message in these very choreographed press conferences this goes against that saying this woman role arrives so they're obviously trying to control that. now reminder of the top stories on al-jazeera the u.k. government has announced a series of measures against moscow in response to the poisoning of a former russian spy and his daughter in england last week prime minister to resign

may says she'll expel twenty three russian diplomats alleged to be under clare the intelligence officers the u.k. will also suspend all high level bilateral contacts with russia including a planned visit by russian foreign minister sergey lavrov many of us look to the post soviet russia with hope we wanted a better relationship and it is tragic that president putin has chosen to act in this way. but we will not tolerate the threat to life of british people and others on british soil from the russian government nor will we tolerate such a flagrant breach of russia's international obligations mr speaker as i said out on monday the united kingdom is not stand a load in confronting russian aggression in the last twenty four hours i have spoken to president trump chancellor merkel and president. we have agreed to cooperate closely in responding to this barbaric act. students and teachers across

the u.s. have staged a mass walkout of classrooms to demand tighter gun laws. in cities all over the country they will begin the protest at the exact same local time coordinated using the hash tag enough the walkout is seventeen minutes in memory of the seventeen people killed that popped on high school in florida last month. turkish president says he hopes the northern syrian town over free will be totally encircled by the end of the day turkey and fighters from the free syrian army launched an offensive to take the kurdish held town in january the fighting has displaced thousands of people. and senior officials in myanmar say they've begun talks with u.n. agencies to try to help and repatriate for him to refugees in bangladesh yet maher says it has a list of three hundred seventy four who are free to return at their convenience and eventually originally provide a list of more than a thousand names but myanmar's government says it can't verify them all that's all

for now.