facing realities growing up when did you realize that you were living in a special place a so-called secret city getting to the heart of the matter is activists to live in jail just because she expressed herself hear their story on and talk to al-jazeera at this time. turkey's president has no intention of handing over the city of a friend to the syrian government after church military operations and there we had the latest from gaza on tap. and richelle carey this is al jazeera live from to hossa coming up. russia's foreign ministry says u.k.

prime minister teresa mayes allegations that moscow was behind a nerve agent attack in england are quote insane. you know leave or quarter some london to rotterdam this comes at a crucial point in the u.k.'s brics it because she asian. and duty honor country an increase in the number of women joining the afghan police ranks. turkey has no intention of handing the city of a frame back to the syrian government once us forces have captured it the turkish government says it expects to clear a fraying of kurdish fighters the very soon thousands of civilians are leaving the city after turkish troops and free syrian army fighters encircled the city turkey launched a military assault and january to clear syrian kurdish forces that control the region get more from alan fischer who's live from gaza on the turkey syria border so allan fels all this supply supposed to play out turkey saying that we are going

to basically take over part of another country. well clearly the serbians would normally be very upset by this they would quote international law they were united nations resolutions but clearly at the moment the syrian government has more important issues to deal with as it continues to call the own cleaver and continues to complete its military operation they are supported by the russians so for the turks to see this i'm sure that the syrians are angry that they will raise some sort of diplomatic concern but there's not a great deal they can do about it at the moment this whole operation has been ongoing since january twentieth it's called operation all of brian certainly the move towards a free the city itself has been incredibly quick we've had within the last twenty four hours the syrian forces no encircled the entire city as you see people are leaving the city the y.p. de said that they would call in fighters to make a stand there but it no looks less likely to happen that way and certainly the.

presidential spokesman is very bullish insisting that it will no be within days that turkish soldiers will be in the center of our friend you remember just on wednesday the one expected the turn to be in the hands of turkey soldiers by the end of whedon's state that was later qualified to say that he thought the city would be encircled but that is no happened and so the people of our free know waiting to see what happens in the coming hours so if there is expected to be very little pushback against this mistake and what what will happen to the people of a frame so many of them have been playing. well that's not entirely clear the four go to war causes a problem here now of course after they take our freedom the intention is that the talks will continue their operation they believe they want to sweep the white p.g. the kurdish militia all the way to east of the euphrates to do that the intention

was that they would do it in a suicide mission with the united states because as we know the u.s. has been backing the wife in the fight against isis other parts of syria there's a problem with that of course in that there was going to be a meeting on the nineteenth to finalize this deal between the turkish foreign minister and rex tillerson the u.s. secretary of state who of course the last few days we've seen the departure of the u.s. secretary of state so that meeting has been postponed and the talks are saying that the whole operation to make sure that this save zone is created as the push towards the east of the euphrates could be delayed one or two weeks there's also an additional problem in that that is concerned in ankara over the possible appointment of mike pompeo as the new secretary of state because in the past he has been fairly fairly critical of president the one on the turkish government and so they are waiting to see whether or not they're actually someone he's actually someone that they can do business with ok alan fischer live for us. thanks alan

for the south syrian red crescent aid convoys to arrive in the rebel help part of eastern canada and the coming hours and the u.n. says fighting has subsided into math for a deal with the main rebel group there that allowed about one hundred fifty people who need medical treatment to go to the capital damascus at least three hundred civilians have left eastern cuba and the past few days as bombardment by government and russian forces continues and at least thirteen people have been killed in the latest attacks in eastern couldn't syrian forces are making advances nearly a month after stepping up their assault they've been cutting off sections of rebel held territory. today thursday marks seven years since the syrian civil war began with peaceful protests against president bashar al assad his family had well for more than forty years at the start of the uprising a group of children scrawled anti asada graffiti on a wall in the southern city of dera so mare was one of the boys involved in this

says story. and my name is some a c.s.i. 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 old members of our family if i wasn't handed over to the police within twenty four hours they also told him if you 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 omani mosque by protesting and chanting against the regime after that i joined the free syrian army i fourteen 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 her joins us from kazakhstan capitalist honest on a has hosted talks on syria's conflict in zain as we talked about there's this argument that's going on in eastern good other people trying to get out and get help this is a sign of a very active conflict that is still going on even though these meetings are happening and astonished what's what is there any real connection between these talks and what's still happening on the ground to so many people. well like you mentioned one of the most if not the the most fiercest bombing campaign in eastern huta late last year there was a lot of talk about this conflict winding down the war nearing and agreements reached in created the escalation zones in rebel controlled areas across syria but

if you talk to anyone in the opposition they'll tell you those deescalation zones really just gave the government the ability to freeze the conflict in the west in order to take territory from i saw in the east and control some of the iraqi border which was a strategic objective of the syrian government instead what we are seeing now is the conflict worsening the pro-government alliance especially the syrian government making it clear time and time again that it is pushing for an all out military victory it is not interested in any compromise that is not interested in any deal with the opposition that involves political transition even the statistics the number of the displaced in the end of two thousand and seventeen the highest rate in five years the number of civilian casualties up by forty five percent so the conflict on the ground only a worsening yes there are meetings and asked another have been meetings in geneva but really no progress on the political front all right. for us on the stand thank you saina russia's foreign ministry has called u.k.

prime minister teresa mayes allegation that moscow was behind a nerve agent attack in england completely insane that's a quote spokeswoman said moscow was working on retaliatory measures for britain's expulsion of twenty three russian diplomats the united nations security council discussed this incident at an emergency meeting on wednesday britain's allies pledged their support but russia demanded material proof christian salumi 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 last year to give it the news stories are 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. . 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 alternate arms the case says they'll continue to keep the international community apprised of progress in the investigation. hall is live for us in moscow so john a we are still starting to get more reaction from moscow it seems the rhetoric is getting amped up tell us more about their response from moscow.

well still nothing on a concrete response concrete measures that moscow may be prepared to take in response to to reason may's announcement of the expulsion of twenty three diplomats traditionally with diplomatic expulsions there's a sort of tit for tat response so i think it's highly likely when we do hear from moscow that twenty three british diplomats here in moscow will be packing their bags just as twenty three russian diplomats are packing their bags in london we did a short while ago hear from the foreign ministry spokes person there is a car over who we thought might have outlined a firm response instead she said that the accusations against russia were pure insanity she talked about the hostile measures in acted by the united kingdom and she said counter measures were in the planning as we speak but the point that she did make which seems to be the position that russia is settling on at this stage is that the u.k. in moscow's view is simply not fulfilling its obligations under the convention of

chemical weapons in terms of which as far as moscow is concerned they should be sending a sample of the nerve agent discovered in the u.k. to the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons to be analyzed there and then for russia to have ten days to respond there is in in other words a protocol here that should be followed britain is not following it russia's position is that it's willing to comply with an investigation but only if it's carried out in proper terms and russia of course insisting that it still it has done nothing wrong and it's interesting that a key ally of the united kingdom france seems to be taking a similar position the french saying they could they find the use of chemical weapons of course on british soil outrages but they're not prepared to take concrete measures against moscow until they see proof and boris johnson the foreign secretary announcing just a short while ago that indeed the u.k. has now sent a sample of this nerve agent to the o.p.c. w. and that may in time produce results that will bring u.k. allies on board but russia as i say insisting it's done. nothing wrong it wants to

see proper procedure followed here ok so what else. are the haas abilities. u.k. can move forward with this is she said it seems that the request or the pressure whatever you choose to call it to send this for a sample has has worked how else though my u.k. play this out. well i mean that's what the russians will be waiting to find out and indeed as will all of us to reason may announced a basket of potential measures but without clear specifics about how things are actually going to be in acted over time she talked about n.t.s.b. in ours and espionage measures she wants to degrade russia's ability to conduct intelligence gathering and espionage on u.k. soil permanently she said there may be covert measures attached to that the russians will want to know very much more about that but particularly what they'll be interested in is the extent to which the u.k.

may go after russian money in the u.k. there's an awful lot of it a lot of individuals russians who have been becoming extremely rich off the back of corruption of the back of their association with the kremlin and mr putin over the years have popped a lot of their ill gotten gains in the u.k. boris johnson the foreign secretary was talking about so-called unknown wealth measures that may be enacted by the british police to seize assets in the u.k. that's the sort of thing that makes the kremlin extremely uncomfortable because of course these individuals are rich or powerful their success and continued survival depends largely on the kremlin and on mr putin they can apply pressure on mr putin that's the sort of pressure the kremlin doesn't want if indeed the u.k. chooses to go down that avenue and that i think is what they'll be watching most closely for ok. john a think you. one of the case largest companies is moving its headquarters from london to the netherlands in only recent minutes likely to hit prime minister

teresa mayes government hard as it prepares to leave the european union next year but the company insists the decision was not to two bricks at the anglo dutch firm has been looking to consolidate its operations its part of a restructure so to go has more from london. after months of reviews unilever has said that it is finally leaving london it is a jewel headed company both with queues legal h.q.'s corporate headquarters both in the u.k. and in the netherlands the corporate headquarters in the u.k. will allow no longer be present as the company goes forward but it still will maintain a manufacturing and research presence in the u.k. it employs some seven thousand three hundred people in the u.k. most of those said to be safe for now but with this the c.e.o. of the company has said that it is really about streamlining the company to also be making it more focused and to have about one legal headquarters in the netherlands

as well as a lot of also insight into that saying that if the company was unhappy when it faced off a hostile takeover from the u.s. food giant kraft heinz and the worries that the u.k. legal system would not have prevented another. opportunity for other companies to try that as well the netherlands has tougher laws regarding hostile takeovers in that sense but also of course the all the issue on the table is bracks it that complex juggernaut course are still so many unanswered questions about what that means for corporations certainly for now with unilever certainly won't they have batted off any issues that it might have anything to do with bracks it is really comes at a time when the u.k. is not looking in a particularly strong position with this so and certainly for the corporations who are having to deal with the unknown complexities of brics it the safer option looks

like to be to be based within the e.u. . retailer toys r us will sell or close all of its u.s. stores and puts thirty thousand jobs at risk it's also shutting down its remaining seventy five outlets in britain the company filed for bankruptcy last year after racking up five billion dollars in debt it dominated the toy business in the one nine hundred eighty s. and ninety's but it's been struggling to compete with on time online retail retailers such as amazon. still ahead on al-jazeera. we will not allow land grabs we were not allowed a land invasion of our from south africa's president as australia offers to help the republic's white farmers. and a major ports deal with two violates two a heated debate in somalia's parliament. welcome

back as we look at the weather across southeastern parts of asia the satellite imagery shows a lack of share activity across much of the philippines though that little cloud of clusters giving some heavy rain across central areas further south some big rainfall totals to report in parts of borneo but it's looking clear across java at the moment in the forecast keeps not clear weather going for the time being further towards the east we've got some heavy showers still but also you notice across northern parts of the philippines not looking too bad bam another sunshine the highs of thirty two degrees so heading into saturday we see showers returning for java jakarta that will see one into downpours otherwise through them late clincher through singapore kuala lumpur northwards towards the gulf of thailand it's looking generally dry bangkok should be fine with highs of thirty three degrees down into a straight here we still a pretty unsettled weather around the top and some big showers being reported here the remnants of our tropical cyclone linda heading towards the south so look in the

forecast there are a few showers around still the cherry weather conditions not too bad there for sydney at twenty five degrees and sunshine and say don't wait for that circulation up there perth on the cool side highs of twenty two degrees falling to twenty one now as you head across into new zealand weather conditions here are looking to about that moment though some heavy rain likely towards a top of the north island. train and equip the opposition in syria so they can help push back these terrorists just people in power investigates how the us supplies soviet style weapons to its allies through private company spend the us government could wash their hands and say well we didn't know where it was coming from so when that was supplied by the us government may well end up being pointed at us soldiers yes absolutely we pick it up last week two months after the professional america's gun secret pipeline to syria and this time on al jazeera.

you're watching al-jazeera and these are the top stories this hour turkey has no intention of handing the city of a frame back to the syrian government once its military operations have ended their government says it expects to clear afraid of kurdish fighters very soon thousands of civilians were fleeing that city after turkish troops and free syrian army fighters encircled it. russia's foreign ministry has called u.k. prime minister teresa mayes allegation that moscow was behind a nerve agent attack in england deeply and say specs on one side moscow was working on retaliatory measures for britain's expulsion of twenty three russian diplomats. in a labor is moving its corporate headquarters some london to the netherlands the anglo

dutch conglomerate and sister decision is not to but it is a restructure it comes at a crucial point in britain's negotiations to leave the european union. south africa's dismissed an australian minister's comments that white farmer should get special basis as they face quote horrific circumstances minister peter dutton says a civilised country like australia should help the side of the ports of land seizures and violence in south africa's government says no one is in danger president cyril ramaphosa has vowed to speed up the legal redistribution of land from wealthy whites to poor blacks. i can say nom 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 sego but apart from being illegal it begins to violate the rights of

other south african citizens and rentals a spokesman for the refugee action coalition impressment he says the offer of home affairs minister peter tightened 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 you parker say and and it is clearly you know races that we've often joke 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 nero 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 and 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 the domestic political audience he died i have been pitching to our isis fight in australia will 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. nigeria's president says there will be no rest until one hundred ten missing

schoolgirls are found and is promising a new military offensive. visited the school and where the girls were abducted told families that security forces will bring their girls home suspected boko haram fighters kidnapped the students last month in a repeat of the abduction of two hundred seventy six girls from shook four years ago it's far from clear sailing for a major shipping company into by to develop a container port in the horn of africa d.p. world had its long term contract in jeopardy cancelled last month when peace in somalia have voted to ban the immoralities from a major investment and the breakaway state somaliland mohammad mohammed. reports from mogadishu. in somalia as a hostile parliament senate does debate the most recent signing of a deal between the united arab emirates if you appear on the brick and somaliland to approve 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 fair 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 money 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 follow their lead and that fitted 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. in the turn it into summer so my lungs

relatively small portal better but i export some 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 while just. a somali. afghanistan more crimes of violence against women are reported last year than ever before however new laws often tail to punish the guilty critics blame the difficulty in changing conservative attitudes a record number of young women are defying convention and death threats by joining the police force twenty partly report some couple 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 and i wasn't good i don't know if 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 stop their car drag 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 we even 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 improved to 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 you are gone i am 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 very conservative mindset in much of the country is quite another there's definitely more 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 samir a 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. recap the headlines on al-jazeera right now turkey has no intention of handing the city of a frame back to the syrian government once its military operations have ended their turkish government says it expects to clear

a fraying of kurdish fighters very soon thousands of civilians are fleeing the city after turkish troops and free syrian army fighters and circled it alan fisher has more from gaza on tap on the turkey syria border. for the talks to see this i'm sure the syrians are angry they will raise some sort of diplomatic concern but there's not a great deal they can do about it at the moment this whole operation has been ongoing since january twentieth it's called operation all of broad certainly the move towards a free city itself has really credibly quick we've had within the last twenty four hours the syrian forces no encircled the entire city the syrian red crescent says it's convoy carrying aid for thousands of people is entering the besieged rebel held parts of eastern go to the u.n. says fighting has subsided into my after a deal with the main rebel group there that allowed about one hundred fifty people who need medical treatment to go to the capital of damascus at least three hundred civilians have left eastern good and the past few days as bombardment by russian by

government and russian forces continue syria's civil war has entered its eighth year the conflict is sparked by peaceful protest against president bashar al assad and two thousand and eleven u.k. based syrian observatory for human rights says at least half a million people have been killed and more than half of syria's pre-war population of twenty million have been displaced the russian foreign ministry has called u.k. prime minister teresa mayes allegation that moscow was behind a nerve agent attack in england completely insane a spokeswoman said moscow was working on retaliatory measures for britain's expulsion of twenty three russian diplomats you know labor is moving its corporate headquarters from london to the netherlands the anglo dutch conglomerate insists the decision is not because they say it's part of the restructuring it comes at a crucial point in britain's to go to leave the european union and those are the headlines news continues here on al-jazeera after people in power keep it or.

u.s. president donald trump has said he will slap new tariffs on imports of steel and alum in europe for a five gene will mean fossil data types but tough times thoughts of the fourteen we bring you the stories that are shaping the economic world we live in counting the cost at this time on al-jazeera. it's well known to the united states exports billions of dollars worth of arms to its allies which isn't as widely understood is that many of the guns it sends into pools in the middle east are so cierra munitions manufactured in eastern europe so how do the supply routes function and waves of the weapons go in the first of a special trip across investigation into u.s. arms sales giuliana rufus.