features like a panic button and twenty four seventh's monitoring of drivers. in a war torn city in iraq a medic documents the stories of the survivors recording their 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 still take control and his family off forced to flee and nowhere to hide a witness documentary at this time on al-jazeera. we will not weaken our resolve we will stand for. britain takes its case against moscow to the un after announcing the expulsion of russian diplomats over the poisoning of a former spy. i'm

richelle carey this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. our deserve all the love although seven years of fighting bloodshed dispossession and failed diplomacy look at the war in syria from its beginnings and till today. south africa dismisses claims by an australian minister that white farmers there are facing quote horrific circumstances. and duty on our country an increase in the number of women joining the afghan police ranks. britain russia have exchanged wrong words at the un security council is the u.k. accused moscow of poisoning a former russian spy and his daughter and england britain received overwhelming support from its allies on the council including the u.s. its ambassador to the u.n. called the suspected attack at a finding moment emergency meeting came just hours after britain's prime minister

theresa may expel twenty three russian diplomats the biggest expulsion since the cold war christen salome has more from the united nations headquarters in new york . the united kingdom laid out its case for blaming the russians and got full throated support from its strongest allies on the council including the united states france and sweden other council members were reluctant to point the fingers at russia but expressed their concern over the gravity of the situation the united states for its part made a very clear plan to stand by its ally while russia continued to deny the charges the united states stands in absolute solidarity with great britain the united states believes that russia is responsible for the attack on two people and the united kingdom using a military grade nerve agent of lust of a cubit the news of the earth already is interested in finding the truth lost they guided by something else the using propaganda war to influence the public which is

very easy to influence and not well educated the u.k. has asked the o.p.c. w. the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons to validate the findings of their investigation the russians say they're happy to cooperate but they won't respond to ultimatums the u.k. says they'll continue to keep the international community apprised of progress in the investigation. as i mentioned britain's order the expulsion of twenty three russian diplomats and u.k. correspondent barnaby philips has more. there was an air of inevitability to the prime minister's 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 nerve agent. so mr speaker there is no alternative conclusion other than that the russian state was culpable for the attempted murder of mr script powell and his daughter and for threatening the lives of other british citizens in salzburg

including detective sergeant nick bailey. 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 as well caught up 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 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. story with mr little move we will demand be application of international laws and we see no argument from our partners and without demonstrating concrete fascist they'll be responsible for attempting to deceive the international community. so that 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. town hall as in moscow now so general what might moscow spots to all of this being. well we may in fact hear more about that imminently the foreign ministry spokesperson maria's are due to give a press conference as we speak she may well outline the measures that russia will

take in response she promised an equal and opposite reaction and certainly the protocol in these matters in terms of diplomatic expulsions is a sort of tit for tat reaction a response so twenty three russian diplomats packing their bags in london will probably mean twenty three british diplomats packing their bags here in moscow and that may well be pretty much where things are left to live for the time being russia is not concerned about the absence of ministers and british royals of the world cup have said as much to shrug that off they reacted with sarcasm to the suggestion that the invitation to sergey lavrov to visit london had been withdrawn they said simply he never accepted the invitation anyway i think that we'll be watching them very closely in the days and weeks to come quite how the rest of these measures pan out how they're implemented by the u.k. and the espionage measures the suggestion of possibly covert measures taking place

against russian assets in the u.k. and the money laundering measures checking russian cargo russian private planes making it more difficult perhaps for russian citizens to get visas these are things russia will be looking at and possibly ready to respond in time but for the time being i think we're looking at diplomatic expulsions so as you just said that the diplomatic it's all signs are what's getting the most attention but there's still a long list of other potential consequences that could maybe escalate this or actually get the concern of the kremlin at some point. well yes i mean no not necessarily spelled out. by the reason may but suggestions that they would be looking more closely at russian financial assets in the u.k. that they would be they would be looking for ties with criminal activity and would be prepared to act immediately to seize assets if they found any such activity or

connections you know these are sort of slightly woolly concepts how closely will they be looking at whose accounts will they be looking will they be looking at the accounts particularly of some of the extremely rich and influential russians who pocket off a lot of their money and only a lot of buildings and property in the u.k. the sorts of people who have a lot of influence in the kremlin here and a lot of influence indeed over bloody near putin who if they feel squeezed by the british government where it really hurts in their bank balance in their pockets may apply pressure to putin in return that's the sort of thing that will make the kremlin warry but at the time for the time being the sorts of things that are on the table i think they will largely shrug off ok john holl live in moscow john i thank you. a syrian red crescent aid convoys to derive an unrivaled whole part of eastern canada and the coming hours the u.n. says fighting has subsided into a master deal with the main rebel group there and allowed about one hundred fifty people who needed medical treatment to go to the capital damascus at least three

hundred civilians have left the eastern get in the past few days has been by government and russian forces continued and at least thirteen people have died in the latest attacks on eastern canada syrian forces are making advances nearly a month after stepping up their assault even cutting off sections of rebel held territory. now today thursday marks seven years since the syrian civil war began with peaceful protests against president bashar al assad his family had ruled for more than forty years at the start of the uprising a group of children scrawled and graffiti on a wall and the southern city of dare i say mare sas and i was one of the boys involved and this is a story. my name is summer and i'm twenty one years old i was fourteen when the revolutions in the arab world started we used to follow the news on t.v. one day some friends and i wrote on

a wall it's your turn doctor us security agencies threaten my father with the arrest of all members of our family if i wasn't handed over to the police within twenty four hours they also told him if he did hand me nothing would happen except to sign a pledge not to write words like that again instead myself and twenty of my friends spent three months in prison and we suffered all forms of torture and had nightmares our families did everything for us to be released when we were eventually returned to our families other people welcomed the release near the alimony mosque by protesting and chanting against the regime after that i joined the free syrian army i fought battles and i've been injured i got married and have two daughters i live a normal life but this will always be my way either to be a martyr or to achieve victory but we will never retreat so you know her joins us from kazakhstan's capital astonished which is hosting talks on syria or so. and in

fact they have been hosting talks on and off for quite some time has anything actually been achieved diplomatically at any of these meetings. well like we've been mentioning this war entering its eighth year or seven years ago there was a peaceful protest movement it evolved into an armed conflict ever since there have been numerous rounds of negotiations and in geneva u.n. sponsored negotiations here and asked another have been meetings now asked and is not about finding a political solution asked in a is about reducing the violence improving the situation on the ground for for the civilians and that is not the case the conflict is only worsening last year we saw a number of agreements reached and asked another so called the escalation zones that were created across the country one of those the escalation zones is eastern huta and it is facing one of the most fiercest bombing campaign since the start of the war it is very very clear that the pro-government alliance wants to end this

conflict militarily it doesn't want to compromise and we've heard statements made from the syrian president just yesterday saying that you know this is going to continue until quote all a terrorists are killed so the government clearly seeing anyone in the opposition as a terrorist and the united nations is also warning that the possibility of what they're calling tremendous battles ahead in the provinces of the in the provinces of these are areas under the control of the rebels so the united nations saying we must find some sort of a deal to avoid a further battles so it's seems that there's a real disconnect from what's happening at these talks as opposed to what's happening on the ground where there really doesn't seem to be any end in sight. well no new statistics from save the children for example civilian casualties up by forty five percent displacement figures in the last quarter of two thousand and

seventeen the highest in five years last year and the few in the months leading up to the end of two thousand and seventeen there was so much talk about this conflict nearing and it's winding down that is clearly not the case and tomorrow we're going to see a meeting of the foreign ministers of iran russia and turkey you know countries which are deeply involved in the conflict countries who have influence on the ground and they are working together but at the same time they're talking about disagreements among themselves even the russian president vladimir putin saying that you know each country has its own interests and there are some disagreements but we need to work together so even these three countries who are supposed to be an alliance not seeing the way forward clearly and the last time a summit was held with these three leaders in the vendor they were talking about the post-war syria talking about holding and hosting a peace conference which happened in sochi but that peace conference really amounted to nothing or at least not changing anything on the ground. in her life for us thank you saina. south africa's criticised australian government minister

for saying white south african farmers should get special basis because of what he called horrific circumstances at home president has vowed to speed up our distribution land redistributing land that is from wealthy whites to poor blacks but he says this will be done legally almost seventy five percent of farm land is still owned by whites more than twenty four years after the end of apartheid. i can say now on that we will not allow land grabs we will not allow land invasions and those who are tempted to resort to such activities must be warned in advance that we will not allow it because it is seal ego but apart from being illegal it begins to violate the rights of other south african citizens and rental is a spokesman for the refugee action coalition and crispin says the offer of home affairs minister peter dutton highlights the australian government's racist attitude

towards refugees. i think i think the racism of the coalition government to strike here is very very clearly on the sly and that's exactly what it is it's astounding ypocras say and and it is clearly you know races that we've often joked that if they're well you know white zimbabwean has a white south african farmers arriving in but it's a mistrial there would not be mandatory detention. ethiopians going to sudanese when they're somalis when they're from iraq or afghanistan the attitude is very very different that bites are turned around they're expelled to euro and and medicine it is astounding that. governments rices them i think has been recognised internationally and how it's treated refugees and nap pitted up was taken up another step to get this by the prices money internationals this is a this is a government that is in very difficult electoral circumstances in astrology and i would i would lose an election there will be an election in the next next few

months i will lose it dramatically end up in a dot and comments are buried under zinedine for domestic political domestic political audience he died i have been pitching to a rice's fight in australia full some time now that i've been you know criminalizing you know sort of sudanese refugees there being no references about you know african gangs allow there's been you know no substance so that in terms of the experience and the striving community about it it's a thing a very very deliberate ploy to appeal to or isis but in the context of a government which is declining in the polls and a desperate late feeling that rice is not to try and maintain some popularity. still ahead on al-jazeera. and. from coast to coast students in the u.s. walk out of class to demand change a month after a school shooting in florida. and major ports deal what to buy leads to a heated debate and somalia's parliament.

halland a stormy weather or twenty four hours ago has gone through the a drastic 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 there for an area of snow still to come the temperatures all that low as much model for the rest of europe in fact we're going into the middle teens where the weather is 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 is the snow is still in ukraine and running into western russia that cold won't go 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 and that's quite a role when so you can see the warm stuckey appear coming in sokoto the cold like

he succeeded for a while in coming back in but not immediately there jumping size and the still weather coming down through bierria in the form of a front that green line which is rain from iraq so sixteen robot proper right now i think but a study of the at this fire incidents that are running throughout geria and tunisia about how we get to friday ahead of it there's been a breeze out of the interior of north africa or up to about thirty in tripoli.

watched al-jazeera let's recap the top stories this hour britain russia have exchanged strong words at the u.n. security council as the u.n. accuse moscow poisoning of former russian spy and his daughter in england are says the accusations are unfounded. mark seven year since the start of syria's civil war the conflict was sparked by peaceful protests against president bashar al assad as it enters its eighth year and government forces are now trying to push the

opposition out of eastern ghouta south africa's dismissed an australian minister's comments that white farmer should get special visas as they face quote horrific circumstances home affairs minister peter dutton cited reports of lancers shuras and violence south africa's government says no one is endangering. the u.s. house of representatives has overwhelmingly approved legislation aimed at preventing gun attacks and schools the bill which now goes to the senate provides at least fifty million dollars a year to fund training and coordination between schools and police but doesn't affect gun ownership laws president donald trump backed the legislation which fall short of broader measures he suggested following the school school school shooting last month. there is still much more work to be done but the best way to keep our students and teachers safe is a give them the tools and the training to recognize those warnings as to prevent violence from ever entering our school grounds this bill aims to do just that mr

speaker. the problem of gun violence in america is a uniquely american problem it's an epidemic it's a complex problem there are many facets but we know what we need to do and i am committed to taking any step to getting any new policy across the finish line that will make our kids safer this bill the stop school violence act is a good bill it will not solve our gun problem but it will help troubled students that need help get help and it will help teachers and law enforcement identify potential threats before it's too late as congress is meeting in washington students walked out of classrooms nationwide mandan tougher gun control laws exactly a month after that school shooting in florida prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the nineteen year old suspected of killing seventeen people and gallacher reports from the school and parkland. across the united states students left their 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 in 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 seventy 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 a lot of schools around the country doing it just based on four we've been doing so i think if we can keep that momentum we care i start changing. the prosecutors in florida and now seeking the death penalty for the alleged shooter nicholas cruz who wants yes but more than anything else these students are determined to campaign for change no matter how long it takes to keep we care about this they demanded

a difference and they're going to stop until they have not only that means that we're going to start seeing politicians realize that they need to make a difference and they want to stay in office and congress hearings into the aftermath of the parklane shooting continue. i 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 a gallacher al-jazeera park in florida. is on his parliament has voted to ban dubai ports operator and says d.p. world violated the country's unity by signing a deal with the breakaway somaliland region mohammad ajo has the details from the british or. the us. the heated debate in somalia as a house of parliament senators debate a motion on the recent signing of

a deal between the united arab emirates if you appear on the bric enclave of somaliland to operate the portal but a bit of the. well the bill that aims to ban the dubai ports world from somalia quickly sailed through the law house it's proving to be contentious in the senate whose fifty four members represent the interests of somalia six federal states which include somalia. does our government share ethiopia why are we not talking about ethiopian interference in our affairs while we are only talking about the u.a.e. and dubai ports world when ethiopia took a nineteen percent stake in berbera port in the deal signed in dubai recently the port operator took a fifty one percent stake in the port of but better so my land retained thirty percent while the remaining nineteen percent goes to european. somalia and the u.a.e. has frosty relations even before the ports deal was signed somali government leaders say it's because of somalia's refusal to side with countries including the u.a.e.

which are blockading qatar saudi arabia the united arab emirates and other countries cut the plummeting ties with qatar last year they insist that others in the horn of africa followed their lead and bought it to the somali federal government which offered him a new trial in the crisis against most of its one of. the somali government blames the u.a.e. for courting the leaders of the six federal states and encouraging them to side with the blockade in countries causing a serious challenge to somalia's already struggling state building process you know . it's true we are passing through tough times it is true our economy is not doing well but we shall never allow foreigners to take advantage of our weaknesses and interfere with us of. barely two months of the he was appointed somalia's foreign minister has been given the responsibility of dealing with the fallout from the port deal we have no problem with investment in sunlight and importance of. that

however we would not. negotiate a compromise on the server. and in the turn it into summer so my loans relatively small portal better but i spoke to livestock to the middle east and imports food and other items including for a long look ethiopia all bought said to change as d.p. world says it's prepared to invest up to four hundred forty two million dollars to develop the port for somaliland the dubai ports deal is not only a financial windfall but also a vote of confidence and that is a major problem for somalia which view somaliland as its sovereign territory mohamed atta well just. as somebody. more cases of violence against women are reported in afghanistan last year than ever before but a new law still to punish those guilty of harassment and abuse critics blame the difficulty of the changing conservative mindsets tony partly reports we'll call

this the latest batch of young hopefuls sitting the afghan police entrance exam seventy young women were included in the four thousand applicants the highest number to date it's a korea about honor and survival i don't think i don't yes i want to join the place to help defend my country and fight for the rights of my people and the rights of women the war in afghanistan has touched many but few as hard as samir and her family her two sisters nor all hire a menorah were police officers in fiza bad in badakhshan province as they drove to work with their mother the taliban stopped their car dragged the young women out and strangled them their bodies were dumped in the river they were targeted because they were police. i couldn't do anything my daughters were screaming help me mother help me it was terrible. the family had to flee the province after receiving death threats so mira still clutches the cord used to kill her sisters despite what happened she's determined to join up. i am scared of the taliban and we if they see

us they will kill us perhaps they might riddle me with bullets or strangle me i can't go home anymore so i am determined to join the police for the memory of my sisters and to serve my country. females in the security services are often treated more harshly by the taliban which has consistently opposed women's rights those rights of steadily improve for some women in afghanistan mainly in the cities but not as fast as many would have liked the drawing up of the new penal code left out a section about penalising violence against women and a draft law aimed at making the houseman to women an offense has been left untouched for a year younger than i am yet they deliver speeches and play politics with their words and the women of afghanistan are tired of the empty promises and lies changing lives is one thing but changing we could serve to mindsets in much of the country it's quite another there's definitely mirth freedom and support for some

women in the country today but even so the number of cases of physical and sexual abuse the great swimming is not fairly there raising. last year saw an increase of eleven percent in those cases and two thousand three hundred women and girls committed suicide because of abuse but in reality those figures are said to be much higher because many women are too scared to report violence to a male dominated police force so mirrors sisters were victims not only of war but also of deep rooted discrimination it seems clear that long after the last bullet has been fired the women of afghanistan will still be fighting a battle tony berkeley al-jazeera kabul. and we're stuck here these are the headlines on al-jazeera for and russia have exchanged wrong words at the un security council as the u.k. a case of poisoning a palmer russian spy and his daughter in england russia says the accusations are

unfounded on wednesday britain or the expulsion of twenty three russian diplomats. this is how russia has acted in every other carries where it is being cool flouting international law dinoire destruction and threats it is what russia dos but we will not let such threats deter us we will not weaken our resolve we will stand firm comfort and you know it democracy our rule of law and the freedom of our people we will stand by the values which was shared by the overwhelming majority of those in this council in this united nations and we are today to stand by. mark seven years since the start of syria's civil war the conflict was sparked by peaceful protests against president bashar al assad as it enters its eighth year government forces are now trying to push the opposition

out eastern ghouta syrian red crescent aid convoys to to arrive in the rebel help part of eastern group in the coming hours the u.n. says fighting has subsided into my after a deal with the main rebel group there that allowed around one hundred fifty people who did medical treatment to go to the capital damascus at least three hundred civilians have left eastern go to in the past few days. south africa has dismissed an australian minister's comments that white farmers should get special visas as they face quote horrific circumstances home affairs minister peter dutton cited reports of land seizures and violence south africa's government says no one is in danger and the us house of representatives has overwhelmingly approved legislation aimed at preventing gun attacks in schools the bill which now goes to the senate provides at least fifty million dollars a year to fund training and coordination between schools and police but it does not affect gun ownership laws. those are the

headlines i'm richelle carey keep it here on al-jazeera inside story is next. and for your. novel washington's relations with the rest of the world donald trump as america's top diplomat will rex tell us in the replacement of the line with the president's vision of foreign policy this is the inside story.