in a war torn city in iraq a magic 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 salute take control and his family often forced to flee and nowhere to hide a weakness documentary at this time on al-jazeera. the triumph of ministration takes action against russia imposing sanctions for meddling in the twenty sixteen election. hello i'm maryam namazie in london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up

version france the u.s. and germany join together to condemn russia for the nerve agent attack in the u.k. . a serious civil war and it's a year thousands of civilians flee from eastern guta. and one of the world's best known toy stores is shutting up shop with the rise of online shopping apparently to blame. the united states has announced sanctions on russia targeting nine hundred individuals and five entities for trying to influence the two thousand and sixteen presidential election the drug administration says it will keep tough policies in place against russia until last go changes its behavior but both republican and democratic politicians say president trump needs to do more our white house correspondent kimberly hellcat reports. last july the g. twenty summit when u.s. president donald. met with vladimir putin he said it was an honor to meet the

russian president the yeas are ninety eight and in august when the u.s. congress passed legislation to sanction russia iran and north korea trunk grudgingly signed it into law but failed to sanction moscow for alleged meddling in the twenty sixteen u.s. election until now on thursday the us treasury sanctioned twenty four russian entities and individuals including two russian intelligence agents for interfering in the twenty sixteen presidential vote the announcement coming just as the white house issued a joint statement with the united kingdom germany and france blaming russia for the nerve agent attack in the u.k. leaving a former russian spy and his daughter comatose a very sad situation it certainly looks like the russians were behind it something that should never ever happen and would take an adverse seriously the u.s. says thursday sanctions are part of

a broad effort target what it calls russia's malicious cyber activity and critical infrastructure including america's energy grid nuclear facilities water supply and aviation industry it also targets in the lead russian troll factory the u.s. justice department recently singled out for the reported interference in the twenty six thousand vote for months members of congress have been pressing the trump administration to act questioning why it has delayed responding to what it calls russian aggression and we're still waiting for the president president trump to order one word public criticism for what putin is doing to the u.s. and democracies around the world i say to president trump. your silence speaks on this issue. the white house disputes that accusation i think you can see from the actions that we've taken up until this point we're going to be tough on russia

until they decide to change their behavior this move by the trump administration will immediately freeze russian assets in the u.s. and block the sanctioned individuals from traveling to the united states only adding to the tension between the two countries kimberly healthy at al-jazeera washington investigation into russian meddling in the two thousand and sixteen election and possible collusion with the trunk campaign has moved a little closer to home now for the u.s. president himself because the trump organization the holding company for trump's business interest as now been ordered to hand over documents related to russia u.s. special counsel robert muller has subpoenaed the conglomerates is the first known time ally has demanded documents directly related to trump's businesses passy cohen has more on this from washington. this tells us a couple of things that tells us that he has subpoenaed these documents he didn't have to do that he could have simply asked for them he has said in the message that

not complying i would violate the full force of the law and that he is serious and it also tells us that this investigation could take a little longer this we you know the lawyers have been saying forever that it's going to be wrapped up in weeks you're just now subpoenaing those documents it's going to take a little while to go through those so that's a couple of things another interesting tidbit in the new york times that i found it said that the peoples were in talks with the trump lawyers about sitting down for an interview with the president and said the moeller had already provided the topics they want to talk about it's reported that his lawyers the president's lawyers are saying absolutely do not sit down and have an interview with him in the past called it a perjury trap don't forget even if you're not under oath lying to federal investigators is in fact a very serious crime but according to this new york times report the president thinks he's done nothing wrong and so he can easily sit down and talk to miller so just interesting i guess suppose just an amount of time until it actually happens. well the u.s.

has joined britain france and germany in blaming russia for the poisoning of a former double agent and his daughter in the u.k. they've released a joint statement saying there is no process of alternative explanation for the attack are seen as expelling twenty three russian diplomats and has suspended all high level contacts with moscow i u.k. correspondent barnaby phillips reports. the prime minister visits saul's brain 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 between their indicates their fundamental guilt

they want to civil 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 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 it should churchill up a joint statement with the americans french and germans described events in seoul spree as an assault on british sovereignty and from nato this this is the first of france if use of a nerve agent on alliance territory since nato's foundation all of us agree that attack will secure 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 seams no prospect of anglo russian relations improving for years to come to be phillip's al-jazeera westminster. now a serious civil war and has it's eight here thousands of civilians have been fleeing from eastern gerta after almost four weeks of relentless on bodmin syrian government forces inching closer to taking the time and place the assault has kill almost over top hundred civilians many of them children alan fisher has more from the turkey syria border. they 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 not even food the situation is miserable so how did. i happy because we're safe right now in the hands of the army we were living in a jail not in a ghetto way not when i haven't had. a mass exodus of azhar procession on the seventh anniversary of the start of the syrian civil war was leaving came from home area 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 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 i'll be looking at a similar solution in other parts of the area the regime offensive against that used to alter and include which has been besieged for the last seven years i'm just finally you know falling bit by bit into government start isn't about negotiation that is really where the regime is using exploiting the opportunity it has that the other fronts are more of us. but even as a civilian streamed out of the besieged enclave is strikes and aerial bombardments reported elsewhere in britain. and in the north of the area in a place. by josh all islam a convoy of trucks into the turn of the twenty five lorries car you know freed for twenty six thousand people for one month once more there were no medical supplies a lowden i'm there i'm a normal you are doing 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. could have held in the people leaving will be identified in process that

offered some read this will be seen as a major victory for the syrian government for the people who managed to walk out it will be seen as survival on fish or on the turkey syria border or in northern syria thousands of civilians are fleeing the main city in affray as the turkish military closes in images have emerged of people cramming on to trucks and tractor drawn carts to get away people who've stayed in the city lining up to buy food in preparation for a siege turkey is trying to retake the area from the kurdish white b.g. which it considers a terrorist group. seven years ago the syrian war began with peaceful protests against president bashar assad but it's descended into a complicated quagmire involving many different countries and groups that as iran and hezbollah which back a sad russia then entered the war two thousand and fifteen also on a sad side turkey join the fight against i still but its main priority has really been stopping the kurdish y p g the us is back kurdish fighters and several rebel

groups while israel has carried out multiple air raids mostly targeting hezbollah in terms of resolving the crisis will have been eight rounds of un backed geneva talks with no result talks and a stunner establish so-called the escalation zones but they're still essentially battlegrounds russia has also hosted talks in sochi and then of course the human cost more than four hundred sixty five thousand syrians have been killed in the wars created five and a half million refugees and displaced and all the six and a half million people were earlier i spoke to nina surgery at a syrian american architect and writer from aleppo who founded the qur'an foundation she spent her adolescent is in aleppo before returning to the united states where she was born. we were very lucky that we had a place to go. it was it's very painful to watch the destruction of your home city aleppo all one of the oldest cities in the world it's

a loss for humanity it's a loss a collective loss for all of us and it's devastating to watch the loss of human life in syria that continues every single day for the past seven years and so we're very very lucky there's nothing that separates me from being a refugee or being displaced or living right now in these extreme conditions except the fact that i was born in the united states and i have a passport that allowed me to move freely between two countries but every single refugee deserves to be living in safety and security and every single civilian in syria deserves to be living in freedom dignity and in safety and most of all in peace so i had for you on the program despite a rise in violent crime against women in afghanistan record numbers of women are joining the police. and what's in a water bottle surprising finding problems the world health organization to conduct

a review. welcome back as we look at weather conditions across the strait here we saw the circulation rather top and so i think for darwin and some of the islands up that way it could be very wet and teacher in the course of friday elsewhere weather conditions not too bad sidney looking at temperatures of twenty six play about twenty five degrees these head towards the weekend it's going to be a thirty degree day on saturday and we could see similar temperatures on sunday not so warm over in paris with the wind coming up from the south as a result of nice and temperature of just twenty one degrees celsius so how do you across into new zealand where like you see rather cloudy skies across the north on a surge of friday oakland i think will be wet at times some showers for the south

island but heading in through to the start of the weekend weather conditions likely to be improving across the south are in germany there's still some showers across more northern areas let's head up into northeastern parts of japan where we've got a frontal system clearing on through no across the country you still see a burst of rain coming for tokyo for a time during the day but that will then clear as it does so that cold front will allow the flow to come in more from the north so temperatures will drop away quite considerably what about across a crimp in ship with highs of twelve degrees although there's some snow to the west beijing should be largely dry with highs before. the global economic superpower that underperformed in the world of football when you see explores how china is now spending billions in its quest to conquer the beautiful game. at this time on al-jazeera.

we understand the differences and the similarities of cultures across the world. so no matter where you call home al-jazeera will bring you the news and current affairs that matter to you. al-jazeera. backward look at the top stories now the united states has announced new sanctions on more than a dozen russian individuals and groups in response to election meddling and malicious cyber attacks meanwhile the leaders of person in the u.s. france and germany say they are united in blaming russia for the nerve agent attack on sergei scriptural and his daughter here in the u.k. and our other top story the south thousands of civilians have been fleeing from the

syrian enclave of eastern ghouta after almost four weeks of relentless bombardment government forces are inching closer to capturing territory. thousands of brazilians are protesting what appears to be the targeted killing of a city councilor and her driver thirty eight year old mario franco and anderson pendragon mez were killed when their vehicle was fired on as franco was a popular public official in a critique of killings carried out by police in some of rio de janeiro's poorer districts the military took charge of policing in the city last month i think it's pretty easy. to delete your very thoughts because the day a black woman who is always positive in our fight and who lived in the developer was taken by all this in just a matter of that exists in rio de janeiro we're not going to let it continue mary-alice here mary out of here mary alice here. so mackey is prime minister has resigned over the murder of an investigative journalist and his fiance leaving his

deputy to now form a new government field so is the latest political casualty in the scandal that seen thousands of protesters take to the streets of bratislava but many of those demonstrating say their trust the current political leadership to form a new government and a calling for fresh elections killing of journalists young could chacon his girlfriend last month has sparked outrage it was investigating links between slovak politicians and an italian mafia group well now to afghanistan where violent crime against women is on the rise in the country there was an eleven percent increase in cases last year and it's reported to have prompted two thousand three hundred women and girls to commit suicide but despite that a record number of women are joining the police force defying convention and sometimes death threats tony berkeley has their 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 i'm person i want to join the police 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 hardison mira and her family her two sisters nor all hire a menorah were police officers in fiza battin but action province as they drove to work with their mother the taliban stopped their car drugged 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 astill 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 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 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. united nations says a donor conference in rome has raised an extra one hundred million dollars to fund the u.n. relief agency for palestinian refugees the agency which is the oldest and largest u.n. relief program in the middle east is facing a funding crisis after the u.s. government slashed its a the u.n. says it's still running about three hundred forty six million dollars short for two thousand and eighteen and officials are warning that critical services could be scrapped if the money doesn't come through christopher gunness is the chief

spokesman for the u.n. relief and why it's agency he says they now have enough funding to keep him going for several more months what's at stake for refugees for the palestine refugees that we serve is for example nine million the patient consultations a year by a doctors five hundred twenty five thousand children around the middle east receiving a daily education one point seven million people receiving food assistance the timelines are quite short we have been saying before this conference that we were going to be running on empty by may june now we are able to extend that and say that we have money to maintain our services to the middle of the summer so things are tight we are certainly not going to be complacent now the world health organization is not doing a review after a u.s. investigation found plastic particles in many brands of bottled water two hundred

fifty nine bottles were tested from eleven major brands in nine different countries . using a red dye which binds to free floating pieces of plastic the study found a whopping ninety three percent of bottled water showed some sign of plastic contamination police or of water it was an average of ten plastic particles bigger than one hundred microns which is about the width of a human hair that's twice as much as the levels found in a previous study on tap water well the scientists behind the report spoke to me earlier sherry mason says that people should look again at how much plastic they use in daily life and try to cut down. i wasn't surprised that we found plastic because quite frankly you know my work started and in the great lakes and i've looked that's water i've looked at sediment i've looked at rivers i've looked at fish i've looked at sea salt they like that beer everywhere we look we find plastic even in remote areas like a lake up in mongolia so i wasn't surprised to find plastic but i was surprised at

the quantities that we found and the different types of plastics that we found but i really think that this really comes down to us reevaluating our relationship with this material right most of us have access to clean safe water that we can use and reusable containers instead of going out and buy bottled water similarly you know you don't need a plastic bag when you go to the grocery store you don't need straws to drink your beverages and so i really think we need to reexamine our relationship with this material because the reality is every piece of plastic we find in the environment ultimately comes from us which means that we're the problem but that also means that we're the solution. now to zimbabwe way junior doctors wrong strike and say it won't end until the government needs that the months for higher pay and improved working conditions of the government say the situation is worse and since present came to power and now nurses say they may join the nationwide walkout as well. as

from harare. harare central is one of the largest hospitals in zimbabwe doctors have been on strike for two weeks to demand more money and to look in conditions patients say they don't know when things will return to normal so get on with. some pain if those don't hit once in a while he will do to date think about what we are going through many state run hospitals across the country are struggling financially duck to say it's frustrating looking in them with a lack of equipment and drugs doctors are some of the worst paid in africa. hundred twenty nine dollars in a month and that's. far too good. to be able to. afford the particular services that we offer as a junior doctor and not able to pay for my medication. trials with all or in

hospital. let alone the. health minister david pairing atlases he needs more than one billion dollars to increase salaries and improve resources but the government's broke and there's a shortage of foreign currency nurses and some senior doctors are trying to keep things going after patients lie in some of the wards the doctor strike is getting quite serious is now into its second week in some public facilities across the country don't even have access to drugs. the main opposition leader nelson chamisa to zimbabwe's health sector has deteriorated since president in a similar took over from robert mugabe in november you can't come in and say you are open for business things are happening when they're not happening in the. union for. that isn't acceptable and was then not go away is accountable for every day that we've recorded when i was the biggest challenge is fixing zimbabwe's economy ruined by decades of corruption and mismanagement government ministers are talking

to leaders of the striking doctors trying to convince them to return to work overworked and underpaid nurses in public hospitals are also threatening to down tools if that happens the already dire situation could get much worse. a court in france is held a life sentence for the self-styled revolutionary who became known as carlos the jackal. sanchez was convicted in march last year of tossing a grenade into a shop on paris's left bank area in one nine hundred seventy four but he's always denied responsibility for the bombing that killed two people he's already serving sentences for a string of murders and bombings carried out in the seventy's and eighty's but is whalebone sanchez claimed his attacks were in support of palestinian independence groups up to ten people have been killed after a newly installed bridge collapsed in the u.s. state of florida pedestrian walkway fell onto a busy highway near a major university in miami trapped in cars underneath the crossing was only

installed on saturday and was set to open next year for students. well now the rise of online shopping is being blamed for the demise of one of the wilds biggest toy companies toys r us will sell or close it's us still is pushing thirty thousand jobs at risk it's also shutting down is one hundred outlets in person eberle and his own dough boy it's. an umbrella type racket for generations of children in america and around the world it was a playground for picking out the latest toy everything from a new goal bike or to a race car toys r us like the name so aptly implies was synonymous with any and all toys for kids stores could be found all over america including in one of the most important intersections in the world times square in new york city as a business empire expanded it opened in more than thirty five other countries as well its babies r us stores that clothing and supplies for infants but we

shoppers increasingly going online at sites such as amazon major high street stores are taking a hit to their profits toys r us managers finally gave up announcing that after seventy years in business they were shutting their doors for good and closing or selling off all of the nearly eight hundred stores in the u.s. and around the world i think were toys or struck the balls in a few areas one is their online business while everybody is growing their own why business toys r us was down twelve percent they perform extremely poorly online trouble had been brewing for the company for years and its chief executive complained last year about the challenges faced it's so competitive it's a twenty five billion dollar industry and every marketer out there wants to try to get their arms around those young families certainly be on wine business as made it

even more attractive for customers to price shop and look at various alternatives so it's a very competitive business but toys r us. as many self-inflicted wounds primarily about five billion worth of debts which meant there wasn't much money to upgrade stores the company filed for bankruptcy last year toys are a simpler he's about sixty thousand people around the world now they're looking for new jobs gabriel is on do. new york. and his something extraordinary for you people in northern fenland have been treated to a spectacular light display as the northern lights were seen dancing in the sky over the arctic circle a phenomenon occurs when charged particles from the sun reacts with the atmosphere . a quick look at the top stories this hour the united states is amount sanctions on more than a dozen russian individuals and groups this is in response to russia's alleged

meddling in the two thousand and sixteen presidential election and cyber attacks the u.s. says additional sanctions are planned against the russian government and on a cock's russia denies interfering in the election. i think that's something that russia's going to have to make that determination they're going to have to decide whether or not they want to be a good actor or a bad actor i think you can see from the actions that we've taken up until this point we're going to be tough on russia until they decide to change their behavior meanwhile burst in the u.s. france and germany say they united in blaming russia for the nerve agent attack on sergei script ball and his daughter person is already expelled twenty three russian diplomats and suspended high level contact with moscow over the incident russia is expected to retaliate with similar measures soon. as syria's civil war and has its eighth year thousands of civilians have been fleeing from eastern guta most of them left the town of how maría which rebels have now taken back control of parts of

well most four weeks of relentless bombardment syrian government forces are inching closer to taking the rest of the enclave the soldiers killed almost twelve hundred civilians many of them children. so back is president has accepted prime minister robert features 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 is investigating fraud involving a businessman with political ties is death feel public anger over corruption has led to the biggest protests in the central european nations as the fall of communism nearly three decades ago and the united nations says a donor conference in rome has raised an extra one hundred million dollars to fund the u.n. relief agency for palestinian refugees the agency is facing a funding crisis on to the u.s. government slashed its aid the u.n. says it's still running about three hundred forty six million dollars short for the year two thousand and eighteen and officials are warning that critical services

could potentially be scrapped. that's it for myself and the team here in london on a one east is next. it's candidates but only one likely winner but he may putin's tight grip on the kremlin as mandate seen is now when russian people's voice on march the eighteenth days every indication that they will return him to power is the fourth presidential time. followed the russian elections here on al-jazeera. china is in a limp exporting superpower. but football has always been there a chile's heat. they've only qualified for the world cup once. and lost every single match. this.