we are witnessing around the world this hungry money which is only looking at how to make the next profit devastate economies devastating ecosystems putting a price on the protection of nature green economy is sound good but it was all about privatizing of nature should our environment be for sale what we're trying to do this destroyed people to stabilize the country by giving them a financial incentive to do that pricing the planet at this time on al jazeera. after weeks of intense says strikes and years on the government see thousands of people streaming out of syria's rebel held eastern ghouta.

hello i'm certain this is al jazeera live from london also coming up the pressure mounts on russia to jump administration announces sanctions on knowing teen individuals for alleged interference in the twenty sixteen election. while the u.s. france germany and britain issue a joint statement blaming moscow for a nerve agent attack in southern england plus. i'm andrew thomas at the opening of sydney's b.n. ali this year is the first ever to have an altruistic director from asia i'll be explaining why that significant what it says about to change its straight society. first we go to syria where thousands of people are leaving the rebel held enclave of isa groups near damascus the government is inching closer to taking full control of the area. there are reports that they are now in control of seventy percent of

the region for weeks syrian government forces have been bombarding guta more than a thousand people have been killed many of them children helen fisher reports. we had a choice stay and face more bombardment or leave to an uncertain future they choose to leave it started with hundreds it grew to thousands grabbing what they could carry what they could stuff into vehicles and a mind of a home they may never see again my own i know there's no water no medicine that could be provided to our children that even failed the situation is miserable. we're so happy because we're safe right now in the hands of the army we were living in a jail not in the gates are we not. have. a mass exit bizarre procession on the seventh anniversary of the start of the syrian civil war was leaving came from how maria a city that's been under attack for three solid weeks and the area once controlled

by anti assad forces are completely surrounded by their enemies. something like this had been expected since the syrian government forces backed by the russians effectively cut guta in three they've used their military pressure to force people to leave i mean i would be looking at a similar solution in other parts of the area the regime offensive against that used to alter and which has been besieged for the last seven years i'm just finally you know falling victim to government that isn't about negotiation that is really where the regime is using exploiting the opportunity it has the other fronts are moralists double eyes but even as a civilian streamed out of the besieged enclave airstrikes and aerial bombardments reported elsewhere in good time. and in the north of the area in a place controlled by jai shell islam a convoy of trucks entered the turn of duma the twenty five lorries caring enough in need for twenty six. those and people for one month once more there were no

medical supplies allowed in. the normal no arguing but most were sleeping in the corridor of this house it's too difficult to walk inside because of the huge number of displaced people who are here on. a corner how in the people leaving will be identified in process that offered some need this will be seen as a major victory for the syrian government for the people who managed to walk out it will be seen survival and fisher on the turkey syria border meanwhile thousands of civilians are fleeing affray in northern syria as the turkish military closes in on the town kurdish forces say at least seven people were killed when shells hit the center of reference when this day turkey says it has no intention of handing over a frame to the syrian government once it fully controls the town in order to campaign in january to retake the area from syrian kurdish fighters. the united states has announced sanctions on russia targeting more than

a dozen individuals for trying to influence the twenty sixteen presidential election and it's warned more sanctions will follow against government individuals well our white house correspondent kelly hellcats is live for us in washington to talk about this ken lay any more information as to just who is on this list that the trump administration is now targeting and indeed weina. yeah let's start with the first part of that question sensually the there was a background call for reporters were senior information brother administration official kind of outline just exactly who they were targeting and all of this you know we sort of speak about this in blanket terms that this century this is a response to russian interference in the twenty sixteen u.s. election but there were specific groups named in these sanctions that were recently behind those activities including the internet research agency. the sort of like into the russian trolling action that the united states alleges occurred an

influence in some ways the u.s. election although the intelligence agencies say not the outcome concord management and consulting concord catering essentially what we've got here is five prominent russian groups according to the united states as well as targeting the russian intelligence agency or to f.s.b. agents in these sanctions so pretty expansive and this is all happening under an act that was passed by the u.s. congress in august but you're right we're only seeing this action now the administration accused of dragging its heels the president signing this these sanctions into law in august somewhat grudgingly and only now taking the action why now well many believe it has a lot to do with what happened in the united kingdom last week of course with that nerve agent attack because the united states announcing these treasury sanctions almost simultaneously as it was issuing a joint statement abhorring that nerve agent attack along with germany and france as well as the united kingdom but i'm this seems to be the first time the trumpet

ministration did the president himself as. they believe there was involvement of russia in the twenty six directions it is something that by doing because of what's going on with the miller inquiry that kind of trying to take the wind out of the sails of the miller inquiries investigation by saying hey look we're doing something about it we have evidence. well we've got the white house press briefing that set to begin about an hour's time and certainly i will be is law as well as other reporters pressing sarah huckabee sanders on that question specifically and just to make it clear for our viewers what these sanctions mean in terms of the power that they have behind them these sanctions of mediately are punitive and this is a bit of a contrast to the justice department indictments that we saw coming down in february by robert mueller where some of the same individuals were named but this time what we're seeing is some concrete action many will be say that it may be an

effort to kind of get the spotlight away from the mall or investigation on the trumpet ministration certainly when the treasury secretary steve minutia was speaking before lawmakers on capitol hill last week there was a lot of questioning and there were certainly some pressing by both republicans and democrats for the trumpet ministration to do something in response to what they call russian aggression now we see this happening in terms of the motive certainly that's something we're delving into deeper we look forward to hearing what their sort of huckabee has to say kimberly for now thanks very much well as kimberly mentioned the u.s. has joined britain france and germany in blaming russia will be poisoning of a form of double agent in the u.k. it released a joint statement saying there is no plausible alternative explanation for the attack on wednesday britain expelled twenty three russian unsuspended high level contacts with moscow u.k. correspondent the phillips reports. the prime minister visit salzburg

a small english cathedral city not accustomed to this level of international attention we do hold russia culpable for this brazen brazen acts and despicable acts that's taking place on the streets of what is such a remarkable city and while she met the people of seoul sprit her ministers continued to press home their argument that russian guilt is indisputable something by the way in the kind of smug sarcastic response that we've heard from the russians that to me betray that indicates their fundamental guilt they want to simmer tenuously to deny it and yet at the same time to glory in it and the reason they've chosen this this nerve agent is to show that it's russia and from the defense secretary words that may cause even more offensive moscow frankly russia should go away should churchill up

a joint statement with the americans french and germans described events in salt spray as an assault on british sovereignty and from nato this this is the first often sieve use of a nerve agent on alliance territory since nato's foundation all of us agree that the attack course a clear breach of international norms and agreements this is unacceptable it has no place in a civilized world as for the russian reaction contemptuous of british accusations. the british prime minister has made several statements over the last few days in parliament they were completely insane accusations against the russian federation against our country against our nation. so now it's london bracing itself for the retaliation that moscow has promised and with everyone in the british government

assuming that vladimir putin is about to be reelected the seems no prospect of anglo russian relations improving for years to come but to be philip's al-jazeera westminster. russia says they will announce retaliation mentions soon lawrence lee has more from moscow. given how absolutely vicious the rhetoric has been between the u.k. and rusher of the last forty eight to seventy two hours and indeed continued on thursday from the british government it is striking that if anything the russian side has slightly held back a bit on thursday yes of course they still continue to condemn the british actions yes they will expel some british diplomats but they're not going to do it yet they going to wait and see and it seems to me they're trying if anything to regain a little moral high ground why would i want to do that well on one level clearly they can say to the british look you don't know who that we poisoned script how do you know that this is true you can prove it you being hysterical but if that then

if the united nations the americans and the french and the germans all say well actually we agree with the british then on the month the russian position it also i think leaves the russians feeling very very isolated and it has led to a lot of the resurgence of a lot of old gripes and very very very bad blood against the russians the new american sanctions because alleged meddling in the election the european union still furious with russia over the exception of crimea the downing of the passenger jets of ukraine all these things were never properly results and it seems like all these countries are now using the poisoning as an opportunity to say to russia we just had enough of you in this can ever carry on in the same way and i think there is a bit of a realization in moscow that that is something of a problem for them even if i think the british thing is a small incident everybody else isn't so much equally is the election this week and let me putin's in crimea he wants that and it will be through the weekend he wants that to be a heavily choreographed event about the glory of crimea in the glory of russia and all the sorts of things he may not want the spy thing to get in the way of that he

might but equally he might wait until next week when he's president again it's all gone away and he can give a much more considered response. so to come on the program people power in slovakia most say protests over the killing of a journalist and his fiance the prime minister to resign and we may be young women confronting afghanistan's running race of violence against females head on. welcome back as we look at weather conditions across the levant and western parts of asia we've had an area of snow across the east which is clearing away so bright to conditions for our marty in kazakhstan and tashkent as becky stan elsewhere we've got a fair amount of cloud around the caspian sea region it should be dry for back you maybe a chance of a shower for tehran we've got some snow across eastern parts of turkey with rain

extended to northern parts of syria otherwise we're looking at relatively bright conditions for beirut in general cross this region it should become fine as we head into saturday further towards the south fine conditions prevail across the arabian peninsula with thirty one the expected high here in doha a little bit of cloud around you in the course of friday about tends to clear away so remaining fine highs of thirty six degrees in mecca let's head down into southern portions of africa where we've got a developing tropical cycle which is going to be impacting madagascar over the next a few days is going to try to very very slowly down the east coast so a lot of rain likely to develop here with some flooding certainly an issue we've got some showers around the eastern cape the durban will pick up one a tutor in the course of friday should be fine for cape town for the north much of botswana and the may be a dry and fine but again we're seeing some heavy rain affecting zambia with highs of twenty six degrees expected in new saka.

welcome back our mind off the top stories here on al-jazeera thousands of people

are leaving syria's rebel held enclave of the single so it follows weeks of bombardment by government forces the u.s. has announced new sanctions on more than a dozen russian individuals and groups in response to election meddling and cyber attacks on the leaders of bush and the u.s. france and germany say they're united in blaming russia for the nerve agent attack on the script and he still. slovakia's prime minister has resigned over the murder of an investigative journalist and his fiance leaving his deputy to form a new government robert fico is the latest political casualty in the scandal is seen thousands of protesters take to the streets of bratislava the killing of journalist yank uzziah county's girlfriend last month has sparked outrage he was investigating links between slovak politicians and the tally and mafia group launches a as correspondent says demonstrators are unlikely to be satisfied with ficos

resignation. the biggest question now is this going to be enough because when when feet so left he said i will resign but only if the next prime minister come from my political party so this is what's happening now we have. a greenie film smear so we have the same political party and the same politics just two different names and even the president. said i accepted this but i'm not sure if public will saudi arabia's crown prince will discuss defense cooperation with his u.s. counterparts in washington next week between them is the biggest importer of u.s. arms but it's a three year role in the war in yemen has been condemned by rights groups hunted huxter reports. the latest battle damage the saudi army in the most

volatile area the three year war against whose these in yemen both forces have suffered heavy losses but the terrain suits hoofy fighters this rugged region of hundreds of kilometers of mountains and valleys has turned into an open battleground funeral society soldiers have become common since the conflict began saudi media says the army has lost seven hundred men here a puff military losses saudi's defense ministry is paying condolence fees to the families of the dead soldiers this graph shows how the so-called martyrs fund is swelling. we don't have accurate statistics but a sniper kills between six to eight saudi soldiers and mercenaries we destroy from three to five military vehicles every day whose the losses have also been significant with saudi warplanes helping the kingdom's cause the air force controls the skies above nearly all areas of military operations in yemen you had to produce

the following video you'll see your coalition aircraft targeting yemeni homemade missile platform near the yemeni saudi border the yemeni rockets were aimed at saudi cities and villages warplanes mco relation of countries led by the saudis a target whose the attempts to breach the kingdom's border whose the leaders haven't released the precise take but the number of dead is in the thousands in the town of side their main stronghold despite their losses the who things have managed to obtain more sophisticated weapons including ballistic missiles capable of reaching riyadh was a launch like this towards the saudi capital the lead to blockade on yemeni ports and airports stopping vital humanitarian aid aid agencies described yemen as the world's largest humanitarian crisis united nations says a record twenty two million yemenis are in need of food aid more than eight million threatened by severe hunger. and disease to cholera has infected moves in a million yemeni and syria is another threat facts the saudi crown prince who want

to avoid when he visits washington next week. or south africa has dismissed an australian minister's claims that white foam is all persecuted and need help from what he called a civilized country affairs minister peter dutton says he's exploring giving them access she fast tracked visas on humanitarian grounds president sarah opposed has vowed to speed up the legal redistribution of land from wealthy whites to poor blacks but south africa's government says no one is in danger a city councillor and her driver have been shot dead in the brazilian city of rio de janeiro in what appears to be a targeted killing thirty eight year old mario franco and anderson pedre gomes were killed when to attack and find several shots of the recall head of public security says the killings warrant a full inquiry violent crime against women is on the rise in afghanistan with an

eleven percent increase in cases last year despite that a record number of young women joining the police force defying convention and sometimes death threats tony betty has a story. 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 pleasant good i don't get that 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 samir a 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 i.c.'s 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 is 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 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 to stephanie miller freedom of 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 assisters 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. one of the largest companies in britain is moving its headquarters from london to rotterdam unilever says its decision is not

because of wrecks it but in order to simplify its structure and rebuffed takeover bids. makes a number of popular supermarket items such as dove soap domesticus and ben and jerry's ice cream a funny gay guy has more from london. after a year long review the decision now has been made to take the company backs the corporate headquarters of a company that is back to the netherlands it has previously been headed here in london as well as right to thoughts in the review questions have arisen that some make it more streamlined how to make the company more focus the c.e.o. of the company coleman has insisted that it has to do with that and that relatively few of the jobs of the seven thousand three hundred jobs that a base to are going to relocate back to the netherlands also what is another factor in this to be considered here is the fact that there was a hostile takeover bid by the u.s.

food giant cross tie ins last year and if it continues to be remain if you continue to remain in london london's. laws surrounding hostile takeover bids are loose so whereas they are much tougher in the netherlands therefore the risk of that is less but also would be ignored as well is this juggernaut of brecht's about continues with all the uncertainty that's surrounding it it doesn't really look good for two reasons the optics certainly are very good for that to try and get companies to stay has certainly big companies like this it is an enormous company it is listed on the london stock exchange and to have that is considered a something of a bit of an embarrassment for the u.k. in this context however the c.e.o. maintains that it has nothing to do with bricks it but certainly to go from britain and to be seen to go right back onto the heart of the e.u. is not going to be considered necessarily as a very good thing for the u.k. economy. the world health organization is launching a review after

a study found almost ninety five percent of bottled water contains twenty pieces of plastic researches in new york looked at hundreds of water bottles from nine different countries and found an average of more than three hundred plastic particles. well molly bingham is the chief executive of a u.s. based nonprofit needy collectives that conducted the research she says the next step is to figure out how consuming micro plastics will affect our health everyone in the world relies on water to survive and some of us in cities or locations where the tap water is potable drink bottled water as a luxury i think presuming that it is better for us or it is cleaner than the tap water however two point one billion people don't have access to potable water and they rely on bottled water for their consumption if the science on how consuming michael plastics impacts our bodies is really nascent and the answer to that is

still very unclear however i think what is clear is that we as people around the world are consuming plastics and micro plastics in the water and probably in the food that we eat and that it's important given the ubiquity of micro plastics in the environment in our consumption that large institutions that research human health step up and start to figure out what that means and i'm happy to see this morning that the show is done exactly that and announced that they will be doing a full review of the impact of human health on micro plastics in water for the first time ever one of australia's biggest show is being run by noticing directive from asia japanese curator mommy catto is taking the reins at this year's sydney be an early because science has choices are reflecting the multicultural makeup of the city under thomas went to take a look. sidney's held or not be in ali almost every two years since one thousand

nine hundred seventy three but some of our critics say this year is sydney's twenty first represents a coming of age all the b.n. ollie's previous artistic directors have been west and other australian european or american this be and ali is the first with someone from asia curating monica to ocala who normally runs a gallery in tokyo sees the significance and how it reflects a broader changes in australia since the bee and ali began so this is not a zero but this is not europe either it's interesting to see the demographics of this country and city and how you capture. this is hired to through the lens of the . one nine hundred seventy three year of the first b. and ali was also the year the queen both britain's and australia's open sydney's new opera house the crowd in this old footage is exclusively white until nine hundred seventy three white australia was official policy that changed soon after

and australia sent to become far more multicultural today more immigrants arrive from china and india than from any european country the art scene reflects that so that doesn't seem to rattle this be an erroneous in caption something that is being percolating. and the source of that being away since. since the late seventy's maybe eighty eight but in ali is showing out in six thousand years across sydney chinese artist ai weiwei ways work in response to the global refugee crisis is the standout piece on cockatoo island a film a shipyard and one time prison in the middle of sydney harbor. unlike some permanent galleries like london's tate modern which have been built within the shelves of former industrial buildings this cabin of space is still very much raw the floors are on even there a cracks in the windows and this machinery it's still covered in dust ty an

artist has hung canvases from the ceiling of a formal workshop where ships were once made and repaired first the top with the cue river. and good luck. to keep me disappears even critics who don't like most of the bialys ott say the setting is dramatic even sometimes the most but now or or you know sort of piece can look quite interesting in one of these places in boris from the interest of the buildings alan thinks the ben ali's art suffers from being too commercial it's not as political as it once was but arts can reflect rather than campaign and this year's been ali reflects the changing face of australia under thomas al jazeera sydney. up to speed on the top stories here and as there are thousands of people are fleeing the rebel held enclave east and voter in syria the government is inching

closer to taking full control of the ports that they've taken seventy percent of the area syrian government forces have been bombarding go to for weeks killing more than a thousand people many of them children alan fisher is following a story fungus the enter something like this have been expected since the syrian government forces backed by the russians effectively cut guta in three they've used their military pressure to force people to leave i mean nobody looking at a similar solution in other parts of the area. they don't have status as an outsider actions on more than a dozen russian individuals and groups is in response to russia's alleged meddling in the twenty sixteen presidential election for attacks the u.s. says additional sanctions are planned against russian government officials and oligarchs russia denies interfering in the election and britain the us france and germany say they're united in blaming russia for the nerve agent attack on surface

cripple and his daughter britain's expelled twenty three russian diplomats and suspended high level contacts with moscow over the incident russia is expected to retaliate in similar fashion so it actually as president has accepted the prime minister robert ficos resignation and asked his deputy to form a new government political leaders are trying to end a crisis provoked by the murder of a journalist who was investigating fraud involving a businessman with political ties his death fueled public anger over corruption and has led to the biggest protests in the central european nation since a form of communism nearly three decades ago. the united nations says a donor conference in rome has raised the next to one hundred million dollars to fund the u.n. relief agency for palestinian refugees the agency is facing a funding crisis after the us government's eight un says it's still running about

three hundred forty six million dollars short for twenty eight. you're up to speed with all the news but stay with us here on al-jazeera inside stories coming next. britain takes its case against moscow to the u.n. over the poisoning of a former russian spy at a time of friction of an unpredictable white house how will a divided west tackle resurgent russia which is again the fighting itself at least according to president putin as a great power.