as the train and equip the opposition in syria so they can help push back these terrorists people in power investigates how the us supplies soviet style weapons to its allies through private companies and the us government could wash their hands and say what we didn't know where it was so weapon that was supplied by the us government may well end up being pointed at us soldiers yes absolutely pick it up less than two months off to look professional americans guns secret pipeline to syria at this time on al-jazeera. but in the off to mouth of this appalling act against our country this relationship cannot be the same so we twenty three russian diplomats to tell to pack up and leave the u.k. as britain takes action over the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter. hello

i'm in london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up seventeen minute walk out to remember the seventeen killed in part in florida tens of thousands of students across the u.s. make a stand against gun violence. brilliant mind an extraordinary life while pronounced physicist stephen hawking dies at the age of seventy six. and after sunday's gun incident fifa threatens to kick greece out of world football and that's it clamps down on violence in the gang. russia says the u.k. is choosing confrontation over cooperation and its handling of a nerve agent attack on a russian former spy vs prime minister to resign may's unveiled a range of measures against russia in retaliation for the poisoning of cigarettes cripple and his daughter yulia in the u.k.

these include expelling twenty three russian diplomats she's also requested a u.n. security council meeting which is jus to start this hour we'll be live at the u.n. in a moment first though a look at the day's events on a b phillips reports. there was an air of inevitability to the private this is announcement given what she calls the contempt with which russia has responded to her demands for an explanation of what the british authorities say was a agents of. so mr speaker there is no alternative conclusion other than that the russian state was culpable for the attempted murder of mr script and his daughter and for threatening the lives of other british citizens in salzburg including detective sergeant nick davies. this represents an unlawful use of force by the russian state against the united kingdom she told parliament she's expelling twenty three russian diplomats alleged to be undeclared intelligence offices they have

a week to leave she said the u.k. will suspend all high level bilateral contacts with russia and cancel a planned visit by foreign minister sergei lavrov ministers and the royal family will boycott russia's well cup in june and she said the government would freeze russian state assets if there's evidence they may be used to threaten the life or property of u.k. nationals or residence of the opposition labor party leader jeremy corbyn was supportive up to a point his spokesman later refused to say the russian state was definitely at fault if the government believes that it is still a possibility that russia negligently lost control of a military grade nerve agent what action is being taken through the o.p.c. w. with our allies by welcome the fact the police are working with the o.p.c. w. . and has the prime minister taken the necessary steps under the

chemical weapons convention to make a formal request for evidence from the russian government under article nine point two. from russia itself the message remains consistent speaking before theresa may's announcement the foreign minister was characteristically dismissive of william story with news little move we will demand reapplication of international laws we see no argument from our partners and without demonstrating concrete facts they will be responsible for attempting to deceive the international community. so at the russian embassy in london they'll be packing their bags and low russian relations at their lowest point since the cold war but even now britain needs to keep open some lines of communication with moscow on so many issues from iran to north korea britain called to forward to ignore russia the measures which have been announced here would have been largely anticipated by the russians what would

really hurt them would be further multilateral sanctions involving other western countries for that to happen britain needs to convince its allies that this is not just a bilateral spat between london and moscow but an issue which has the potential to threaten the security of many western countries to be phillip's al-jazeera westminster in central london. let's go live now to christensen amy at u.n. headquarters in new york and we have certainly seen the british prime minister to resign may try to marshal her allies and keep this issue in the international spotlight what are we expecting to happen at the u.n. today. well right now we're waiting for a security council meeting to get underway a meeting requested by the united kingdom on this issue so the prime minister did send a letter to the secretary general dated the thirteenth asking for the support of the international community right now there's some wrangling going on about how

this meeting will be conducted some technical things on whether it will be its own agenda item on the security council's agenda or if it's something that will come under the heading of prohibition of chemical weapons again u.n. technicalities but clearly the united kingdom is eager to speak about this and russia apparently as well requested that the meeting be open so that they could make their case and. on the allegations that have been set forth to them we did hear from the u.k. acting ambassador on his way into the security council chambers just a short time ago and he said that that the united kingdom had no choice but to conclude that russia was behind this attack and he said that his country had already forwarded their evidence to the o.p.c. w that's the international body the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons and they've asked them to independently confirm what they are saying that russia is indeed behind this attack once the meeting gets under way we don't expect

any formal action in terms of the security council itself but this is a chance to really put russia on the hot seat for the united kingdom and its allies to make their complaints known and for russia to speak out and certainly russia has been very much in the hot seat here at the united nations in the last week alone on monday they were being attacked for their role in syria and ongoing military action there despite the fact the security council had called for a cease fire at that time russia defiant denied the accusations against it that it was acting against international law and defiant. putting the onus on the western countries in that case the united states today no doubt the united kingdom saying that all of this is just politically motivated it should be interesting to hear the fireworks in the security council chamber yet again between the west and russia if that does seem to be the likely scenario when that meeting

gets under way just a look at a live shot now we just waiting for that u.n. security council meeting to start britain calling for an urgent meeting in order to update its fellow countries fellow council members on the investigation into the nerve agent attack in the southern city of souls bri we'll get to that as soon as it starts. all now from washington to new york to florida students across the united states have walked out of costumes calling for tighter gun safety laws a coordinated protest last it for seventeen minutes in memory of the seventeen people killed in parkland high school last month from there and he got a car reports. ok across the united states students left the classrooms in droves from the east coast to the west this was a mass protest by

a generation calling for gun reform on the capitol lawn in washington activists laid out thousands of shoes each pair represents a child killed by gun violence. in new york the sentiments of many reflect the pain and george by those in florida that is why it is important for us to stand here today to show that gun control isn't a suggestion but a demand from the american people the protests lasted seventeen minutes one for each of the victims that were killed a month ago some t.v. networks followed suit paying tribute to those that died on a schools around the country just based on what we've been doing so i think if we can. start changing. the prosecutors in florida and now seeking the death penalty for the alleged shooter nicholas cruz wants yes but more than anything else these students are determined to campaign for change no matter how long it takes. to make a difference and they're going to stop. that we're going to see all of this is real

i think that they will to make a difference and they want to stay at home and congress hearings into the aftermath of the parklane shooting continue i was on the streets demands for gun reform grow if there is a message from the students of the marjorie stoneman douglas high school it's one of hope and remembrance they will continue to honor the friends that they lost one month ago but they will also continue to campaign for change this is the voice of a new generation and gallacher al-jazeera park in florida. seven people have been killed and eighteen injured after a bomb blast ripped through a police checkpoint in pakistan happened in the eastern city of lahore while police were changing guards a checkpoint was outside an annual religious meeting when nearly eighty thousand people gathered human rights watch is calling on saudi arabia to immediately investigate claims that authorities abused and mistreated prominent people who are arrested last year the new york times says seventeen detainees including members of

the royal family needed hospital treatment after interrogation and the body of a national guard general showed signs of torture after he died in detention saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman is due to visit the united states next week. one of the most well known scientists of the twenty first century stephen hawking has died at the age of seventy six and his seminal work on black holes and relativity his bestselling books and the parents is on shows like the simpsons or king helpmate physics more accessible to the masses later neuron disease may have robbed him of his voice in my ability but it also made him an inspiration to many adding bob and that's 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 steven has just has such a huge impact 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 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. you know what. because. they still got. a developed. as the disease progressed talking last mobility and had to rely on a wheelchair after losing the ability to speak talking 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 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 should. he had a mind that no ordinary person could fathom 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 night and public fascination with him culminated in the hollywood film of his remarkable life the theory of everything the universe is expanding it 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. you know how it is they are still to come and imitation makes a special appearance in crimea at sunday's presidential election you know what you're going to get residence and then it is in the kurdish and i have a friend in syria as turkish forces tighten my breath on the region.

hello the stormy weather or what twenty four hours ago has gone through the adriatic through croatia through the balkan states and the one doing up the low now is a little bit weaker but it's still a bus in the cold air sitting in western russia which is therefore an area of snow still to come the temperatures all that lives much more of the rest of europe in fact we're going into the middle teens with a weather that's coming out of the atlantic so that's potentially very wet weather all moving slowly it'll be some snow of the alps as a result of the high to the obstacles otherwise it's heavy rain but there's a story still in ukraine and really into western russia that cold won't go away if anything in fact the cold is trying to creep back further south manas for soccer that's a day max of only five in berlin that's quite a role when so you can see the warm stucky of heat coming it's the cold the cold will actually succeed for a while in coming back in but not immediately that jumping size and they still

weather coming down through our bierria in the form of a front that green line which is rain from iraq so sixteen robot proper right now i think biggest i believe that this parenting's that are running through algeria and tunisia about how we get to friday ahead of it has to breeze out of the interior of north africa or about thirty in tripoli. in a war torn city in iraq a magic documents the stories of the survivors recruiting best hopes and dreams for a peaceful future after american troops withdrawal. but the conflict is far from over. he turns the camera on himself when i salute take control and his family are often forced to flee and nowhere to hide a witness documentary at this time on al-jazeera.

let's update you on the top stories now 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 england students and teachers across the u.s. are walked out of classrooms to demonetize at gun laws exactly a month after seventeen people were killed in a school shooting in florida. and one of the most well known scientists of the twenty first century stephen hawking has died aged seventy six decoded some of the universe is it is mysteries from the big bang to black holes.

now russia's president has appeared at a rally in the crimea and people that are voting to imax the peninsula from ukraine in two thousand and fourteen jim infusions visit comes just a few days ahead of the presidential election which is set to return him to power for a second consecutive time from sevastopol in crimea or a challenge reports. on sunday crime ins will be voting for the first time in a russian presidential election and. has come here to the port city of sevastopol to hold one of his last big campaign events this place has always felt russian it's the home of the black sea fleet people have come here to hear him speak and many of them are excited but you a little bit as we get it but not in the others it's clear why we have these festivities we're all here for russia why is the president we'd like to think that he loves us more than others sevastopol is one of his favorites sixteenth one year

don't wish to. ship i think it's one hundred percent true that every true citizen of sevastopol every two crimean supports putin short of the date of this election was specifically chosen to fall on the fourth anniversary of the reunification of crimea with russia he will rarely hear it cold and an exception here and persian is reminding people that he is the gatherer a russian. could be a warden of that was just. four years ago you made a historical decision thanks to our historical decisions of us topple and crimea reunited with our common home oh marland mama russia. now crimea is a special case and the enthusiasm for putin isn't necessarily matched in russia's biggest cities but with his tight control of the media his suppression of political competition and his reputation as a strong leader it's an election he's almost certain to win. the u.n.

says more than three hundred civilians have managed to leave rebel held east and in syria despite ongoing as strikes a syrian civil defense says russian planes dropped cluster bombs on residential areas in the city of africa air raids and shelling by government allied forces also targeted neighboring towns at least thirteen civilians were killed and dozens wounded. in while the turkish president. one says he hopes the northern syrian town of afrin it will be totally encircled by the end of the day the fighting there is displaced thousands and for those left water supplies have been cut as well as internet access alan fischer. on the attack in syria or dare. i slowly they're closing in on our friend these free syrian army fighters are no taking up positions on the edge of the city the next move could come at any moment . where the special forces that belong to our homes a brigade were preparing for an operation which we'll hear about in a few hours it's a big operation at

a meeting in ankara the turkish president confidently predicted an end to this phase of operation all of branch in the coming hours. before i came here today i checked the latest numbers of how many terrorists were neutralized in a freen three thousand four hundred forty four terrorists were neutralized and we have gotten closer to africa and i hope that by this evening inshallah african will be completely followed but within twenty minutes of the president speaking his advisors were qualifying that what he meant was the city of african would be completely surrounded within a few hours not taken over accomplish will assure the y.p. g c the idea that the city is about to fall is completely false. the turks say they've created a humanitarian corridor to low people in the city to leave safely a number of people have already done just that the international red cross has reminded everyone that any civilians who evacuated anywhere in syria must be treated humanely among the key points the emphasize are any evacuees must be

informed in advance on the thames of the agreement destination site and evacuation process that they must be protected from attack if they're staying or leaving family unity must be protected that there are loads to take and keep personal belongings including important documents and property and possessions left behind must be protected the national city itself the cards have asked people to donate blood was doing that a battle may lie ahead in the coming hours bloody that might be alan fischer al jazeera on the turkey syria border. philippines present or to go to territory is being accused of ignoring human rights abuses after withdrawing from a treaty that founded the international criminal court the i.c.c. announced last month that would investigate reports of extrajudicial killings and want to tell tales called a war on drugs thousands of people have died in a drug crackdown in the philippines since he took office in two thousand and sixteen alan dogan has more from manila in the aware

a written order coming from the president himself he says that the country is withdrawing its ratification of the rome statute immediately but that's not how it works because based on the rules of the i.c.c. which covers a member states like the philippines it will take a year after the un secretary general receives the letter before there is basically withdrawal it becomes effective it also cannot and will not have any impact on countries with pending investigations such as the philippines and president would be good to tary it is government currently going through a preliminary investigation by the i.c.c. for crimes against humanity since president with the good authority was sworn in in two thousand and sixteen rights groups say at least ten thousand filipinos have already been killed because of this so-called war on drugs that's something that is government and the police forces deny these see basically that many of these

filipinos have been killed by vigilante groups that this is a drug war and that basically a lot of them and the question is the number itself whether that then thousand is really accurate or not but what is going to be sure here is that in the next coming months not much will change the philippines will still be part of the i.c.c. and the investigation when it comes to the probability of a case to be filed against a president with a good third to and members of his cabinet will continue. now to zimbabwe where the business community is calling for all international sanctions to be removed to help the struggling economy president wants to attract more foreign investors but some a still cautious about doing business with zimbabwe as her metacity reports from. company produces one thousand eight hundred tonnes of flour a month he thinks he could double production as sanctions imposed on zimbabwe by

the west nearly two decades ago are removed they targeted specific individuals loyal to former president robert mugabe was that his company is not on the sanctions list but he feels being zimbabwean means many others like him are considered guilty by association with. countries. sending money to zimbabwe ultimately just. stretching the funds. be frozen. confiscated tend to be. affected us. from from europe number of companies afflicted with equipment bought from europe and the u.s. can't easily be replaced the state owned railway company is one of several that needs urgent foreign direct investment. right now president was government is leasing locomotives and wagons from neighboring south africa he says it's a temporary solution until people are ready to do business with zimbabwe again

president and respect human rights and hold free and fair elections. once that then perhaps some or all remaining sanctions will be removed. to law foreign investment was government says it will amend black economic empowerment laws to limit majority ownership for the state to only diamonds and platinum all they have to work with is promising. but not many. actually being actively kept. encourage people. not quite enough. and until those investors season as low risk which could take a while remnant. the once thriving industrial sector tower over the jobless how ties to al jazeera but i. bet u.n. security council where that urgent meeting is underway on the poisoning of

a russian spy in a let's listen in an attack in salzburg. on sunday the fourth of march surrogates cripple and his daughter yulia were found in the town center slipping out of consciousness on a public bench and were taken to hospital by our emergency services where they remain in a very serious condition investigations by world leading experts at the defense science and technology laboratory at porton down accredited by the organization for programme bishan of chemical weapons o.p.c. w discovered that they had been exposed to a nerve agent british police officer nick bailey was also exposed and remains in hospital in a serious condition hundreds of british citizens have been potentially exposed to this nerve agent in what was an indiscriminate and reckless act against the united

kingdom we have deployed our military to secure and decontaminate numerous sites the police continue an exhaustive wide scale investigation through those investigations we have concluded that mr scruple and his daughter were poisoned with a navi shock a military grade nerve agent of a type developed by russia it is not a weapon which can be manufactured by non-state actors it is so dangerous that it requires the highest grade state laboratories and expertise based on the knowledge that russia has previously produced this agent and combined with russia's record of conducting state sponsored assassinations including against former intelligence officers whom they regard as legitimate targets. the u.k. government concluded that it was highly likely that russia was responsible for this reckless act we saw only two plausible explanations either this was

a direct attack by russia on my country or russia had lost control of a military grade nerve agent which they had developed we requested the russian government to provide an explanation by the end of june as they the thirteenth of march on how this russian produced nerve agent could have been deployed in seoul. they provided no credible explanation which could suggest they lost control of their nerve agent mr president we therefore have no alternative but to conclude that the russian state was responsible for the attempted murder of mr scriptural and his daughter and police officer nick baillie and for threatening the lives of other british citizens in salzburg mr president this was no common crime it was an unlawful use of force a violation of article two of the united nations charter the basis of the

international legal order which the president the u.k. is proud to have been one of the states which played an integra role in drafting the chemical weapons convention a landmark piece of international law we are therefore dismayed that russia has suggested that our response fails to meet the requirements of the convention article seven of the convention called on state parties to implement the convention under their own legislation the united kingdom is enacted the chemical weapons act in order to fully comply with this obligation that legislation together with relevant criminal law is now guiding our investigation into this incident as the convention was designed. this was an attack on u.k. soil under the convention we have the right to lead our response engaging the

o.p.c. w. and others as appropriate on the eighth of march the u.k. formally notified the o.p.c. w. technical secretariat that a chemical attack had taken place on u.k. soil the russian federation has complained that we are not using article nine of the convention on the country on the twelfth of march once it became clear to us that the united kingdom had been attacked my foreign secretary summoned the russian ambassador and sought an explanation from his government as article nine is clear we have the right to do we have received no meaningful response it is therefore russia which is failing to comply with the provisions of the convention and this council should not fall for their attempt to muddy the waters in addition the united kingdom is welcome to the offer of technical assistance from the director general of the o.p.c. w. and we have invited the technical secretary at to independently verify our analysis

we are making every effort to expedite this process mr president that is now turned to the part of the chemical weapons convention which russia is not talking about the part which requires state parties to declare chemical weapons stockpiles and facilities which have been used at any time since nine hundred forty six to produce chemical weapons. chemical weapons would be verifiably destroyed and production facilities destroyed or converted subject to approve but you've been listening to the u.k.'s ambassador's un jonathan allen reiterating the words a prime minister treason may that the russian state was behind the attempt at. his daughter and a british police officer. he was describing this as an attack on u.k. soul soil he said the u.k. is obliged to lead the response now and the investigation basically highlighted

u.k. times to internationalize this issue by engaging the o.p.c. w will be monitoring the russian response to this will be back at the un a bit later on stay with us. a lot of other moves reverends the coup. you load. and you're in the stream today betting on blocking technology but what exactly is blocking me. thank you for the easy question really for here at south by southwest.