raise awareness to gun violence through art and in this piece tissues on each piece of tissue a name and age of someone killed by gun violence in the area. is called loving arms of course it's a play on words arms being what we used to hug or pray somebody but also arms being weapons as well the message here this world needs more love and less violence. this is al jazeera live from studio fourteen here at al-jazeera headquarters in doha. welcome to the new script the exodus from two thousand more people have left the besieged damascus suburbs this friday and gone at only twelve

thousand troops already left the biggest movement of people since the syrian assault began on the rebel held territory in fact also on the great moscow hits back diplomats will be expelled from russia just as its diplomats are being told to leave the u.k. russia continues to say it had nothing to do with the poisoning of a former double agent living in england and the killing of a councilwoman in rio de janeiro a known critic of the brazilian police and it has brought tens of thousands of brazilians out onto the streets in protest even police officials are saying she was deliberately targeted and i'm leah harding the president of kenya uganda but swan are at a summit trying to keep elephants alive and away from poachers will also have more on which african country is doing the best job after typing the gentle giant that's with the hash tag script. here with the new. written live on air and streaming online through you tube

facebook live and of al-jazeera dot com eastern ghouta we know it has been under attack from the syrian government and its allies for weeks but now more and more people are managing to escape the rebel held area near damascus about sixteen thousand fled in the last two days and the u.n. children's agency unicef expects fifty thousand more are likely to leave the own grave in the next few days but for those who are stuck there the situation is not getting any better activists report at least fifty people killed in strikes and shelling on friday it is alan fischer and for us reporting there from the turkey syria border alan bring us up to date with this this many people living where are they going. well in eastern guta what is happening that anyone who's leaving this process by the government. for kitchen is checked and then they will be directed we think at some point soon to other parts of the

country that source who don't want to stay in government controlled areas we saw the start of this exodus on thursday it started with just a few hundred became a few thousand when people saw that the humanitarian corridor was working the way it was meant to work that's when we saw the swelling of numbers on friday morning people thought they would try the exact same route on the phone though that it was open and so we've heard a number of people go through that route again on friday several thousand the united nations say they are preparing to handle up to somewhere in the region of fifty thousand people evacuating that area but this is a day of brutal divisions in syria did it also marks the start of the year of the syrian civil war in a village not far from the area where people are leaving there has been an aerial bombardment and at least fifty people have been killed but people on the ground are telling is the number of dead could rise to somewhere in the region of one hundred thirty we've seen some of the pictures that are important on why they are

incredibly graphic and sensually bodies are being piled up in the streets of this very popular market people who were there on friday buying what they could that have many many restrictions of what's available in syria but they were there to see what they could get and what happened was they were ended up underneath a bombardment and lost the life is the syrian the syrian government its endgame here basically to just keep up the assault on till everyone has been pushed down and that can take control back or just takes control bit by bit i mean can we sort of definitively say what they're in game is. i don't think anyone knows exactly what the end game is but it seems to be what they've done in previous years circle these tones. some people leave or keeping up the above bargain and other places holding the bombardment there and then letting them leave the united nations see they're ready to see people leave this in some parts of eastern go to the

ceasefire is holding up but they needed to hold up across the area for more than five hours and so slowly the syrian government is retaking territory that it once held and this is particularly key for them because it is the suburbs of damascus the capital they have always been weary of people getting too close to damascus so what's the end game we're not entirely sure what's the end goal obviously who went back as much control of as much property as much land as much territory as they can now thanks to alan fischer again reporting from tap there now not long ago that an hour or so ago the u.n. special envoy on syria stuff and de mistura brief the u.n. security council on the worsening situation not just a nice thing good thing you got to remember the rest of the country as well christians louise at the u.n. for us today is following those developments christian tell us what's been

happening and what stuff into mr a said. well stefan de mistura is essentially confirming for the security council what we're hearing from our reporters like alan fischer on the ground that the situation not only in eastern guta but throughout the country is continues to be precarious this was an meeting where the special envoy was supposed to update the security council on implementation of their resolutions particularly twenty four zero one which called for a cease fire across syria and as we can see is not being implemented the one bright spot de mistura mentioned was duma where a shaky cease fire has held for the last six days but in terms of the impact of the ongoing fighting on civilians he described a very grim picture. with civilians continuing to be and harm's way despite the action of the security council calling for the cease fire he also updated the

security council on efforts to restart political talks under u.n. auspices to bring a political solution to push that forward and he had very little progress to report there as well he talked about a stock where the ministers from iran turkey and russia are meeting and that there is a commitment from them to use the u.n. in those political talks moving forward but mr is saying that really very little is actually happening on the ground he was supposed to set up a constitutional committee for reforms that has not moved forward because of stonewalling by syria he was pretty blunt about that but really ultimately he was reaffirming to the council that ultimately it is of illions in syria that are paying the price right now. humanitarian colleagues who enter into

a give area book of having thin hunger or want poverty good faith and despair all around eight even for experienced people like my own nic your money there in colleague well done and then able to do a show where people are literally at the tip of a collapse kristen ongoing at the u.n. in new york now is the security council meeting on syria having heard from stephanie missouri correct if i'm wrong but that's the second this week that tell us something that there's a little more agency maybe. absolutely earlier this week they met on syria and again on twenty four zero one it was an update on that being implemented. and it's interesting to note that during today's meeting we don't expect to hear from the russian ambassador or the u.s. ambassador they had some very testy exchanges on monday of this week so this does

indicate that the situation on the ground is very grave in the security council wants to be involved and wants to try to do something to help the civilians there we just got a statement from the secretary general decrying the fact that this resolution has not moved forward and again civilians are suffering the russians have defended the ongoing military actions by saying that they are acting against groups on the un's terrorism list and that is completely within their right in the resolution the united states has accused russia of violating international law so that no progress in the security council on that front the u.n. trying to emphasize the civilian toll and the humanitarian aspects of that resolution which are not taking effect when people are not getting the benefits of that resolution in a way to kind of drive the conversation forward but the fact we're not hearing from the major players during this meeting kind of tells me that they've said everything that they have to say and there's not much more that they see that they can do at

this time from the chambers here in new york ok thank you that's kristen salumi at u.n. headquarters in new york at salumi on twitter if you want to follow. just had a facebook comment actually from someone this is interesting the only way to stop these things is to remove the u.n. security council and let the general assembly decide about syria from now on no more veto and that's such an interesting thought because every time something goes to the security council we do was think about the veto from the five permanent members anyway as the u.n. security council has been briefed on the latest anything good the foreign ministers from iran russia and turkey have been meeting in the cause like capital the three countries of held many rounds of what is known these days as the osce than a process talks that are meant to help the main negotiate is oh man negotiations in geneva so hard it has our report. syria brings them together stakeholders and power brokers in a country now divided into areas of influence turkey unlike iran and russia doesn't

support the syrian government but the three countries have enough common interests to continue cooperating to the so-called process the kazakh capital has hosted many rounds of talks on syria since the beginning of last year the process is meant to complement talks in geneva but the message from here was clear a disregard for the un led peace process and any western intervention in a final settlement but. a cease fire in the deescalation zones were important steps to end the war in syria a process is the successful international initiative to decrease tension in syria a sauna is where the political situation to the crisis will be found. for now agreeing on the paramita years of post war syria is being decided on the ground turkey is leading a military operation against the white p.g.d. in the mainly kurdish populated northeastern town of africa and the russian and iranian government are supporting the syrian government's campaign to recapture the

rebel held enclave of. the foreign ministers' meeting will be followed by a summit in april that will be attended by the three countries president turkey said it will host the meeting and said it's and will be to revive peace efforts the last time the three leaders met was in november at the time they were discussing post conflict syria and a peace conference that was held in solitary in late january since then there has only been military escalation. this week countries may have their differences but they share animosity towards the united states turkey's against the u.s. this alliance with the syrian kurdish e.g. armed groups the russians and iranians believe the american military presence in the critics controlled north east and its threats against the government are about increasing leverage. which you're sure that. it's unacceptable the u.s. threats to strike damascus with critics like the use of chemical weapons we have

told washington we rejected six weeks to use force. russian and iranian support have changed the balance of power in the syrian government's favor but politically there is no credible prospect of a settlement there is an international power struggle and they go are likely to continue on the battleground that. asked. robertson the regional director for the near and middle east to the international committee of the red cross and he's actually just come back from visiting boom and. thank you for your time sir tell me about it tell me about going into east and. not just what you saw but actually the process of getting in there and you know how froth or otherwise it was. well we were yesterday in eastern with the with the i.c.r.c. president we accompanied the a convoy of aid the twenty five trucks are full of food for people of course this

is only a fraction of what people need in eastern water but this also enabled us to see firsthand the tragedy unfolding there and the immense suffering of the civilian population where women and children are bearing the brunt of this of this protracted situation. children. are extremely reconned there are cases of malnutrition and medical services are not available in eastern with us or people dying not only because of untreated wounds but also because our for chronic diseases such as lack of dialysis is equipment or insulin or any other chronic disease medicine food is not enough people are burying their dead in. in trenches because space is that king there is a beginning of communicable diseases such as escapees

a. are all over the place in basement where people are piling up where when strikes and fighting resumes whole link to a certain extent i say to a certain extent because of some fighting erupted when we were there. but again people are extremely anxious about the future what is going to happen to them. is the big question mark and you can feel when you talk to people. a lot of anxiety about the future of course i don't want to make comparisons because the whole war has been awful but i mean this feels like aleppo all over again or or possibly even worse is that a fair assessment. well it's always very sense trickier to compare but the time then in certain neighborhoods that levels of destructions are certainly comparable to what you have witnessed in in alipore what is and what

is different from alipore because it's a combination of urban centers and agriculture lands and maybe this is what help people cope and the be resilient after years of for a siege but now the situation is getting more tense farmers are no longer able to go and harvest and go to their land so everything is much more it is getting more difficult and and of course. there is a great a great deal of tragedy for people who are living in comin and in constant fear of violent death or if it is and robert mahdi thank you for your time i'm glad you could give us that firsthand account of what you saw in east and go to thank you as you all know we have now moved into the eighth year of this war can you even

imagine what that's been like for people inside syria not just talking about what we've heard there the physical harm and the displacement that you go through imagine the sheer frustration of never knowing when it will end and social media team has put this together featuring syrians in their own words. if you can answer . that because you know. that's the general. going to. be doing this but. there are all that. aside there. that tells the story doesn't it and if you've got a view on that story anything else we're covering on the grid to get in touch with

us with the hashtag o.j. newsgroup on twitter at a.j. english we popped a tweet out there just before the show started ivery tweeted it as well that come on i j you can reply to that thread at facebook dot com slash to zero the live stream always available for you to watch and comment not just with us but with either of us and the whatsapp number plus nine seven four five one triple one four nine also using that on telegram we move on now russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov says moscow will expel british diplomats this is of course in response to the u.k. ordering out twenty three russian embassy staff over the poisoning of a former double agent and his daughter in southern england moscow denies any involvement the british foreign secretary boris johnson says he thinks russia's president gave the order to use this nerve agent it was clearly impossible to remember your new people new talk when the last time a high ranking official used such strong phrasing against russia i don't remember if it ever happened stop paying attention to this just as we've stopped getting

anxious although we never have been about the newer and newer sanctions. don't know how the moscow following this one for. says we're not interested we're not really following this but the tit for tat is going on isn't it. oh yes very much so and getting hotter and hotter all the time with boris johnson's recent comments. pretty much saying it was putin him self who likely gave the order for this military grade nerve agent to be used on british soil he's put in spokesman that is dmitri peskov shot back pretty quickly that that was shocking and unforgivably language to implicate the president directly something he said he'd never known any other nation ever to do so as the rhetoric goes up meanwhile we await concrete responses from the russian side to of course to reason may's decision to expel twenty three diplomats from the russian embassy in london we know

that mr lavrov is intent on doing something similar here as fits with protocol in these matters and history and precedent but we haven't heard yet how many or who they may be or when and as to when that may come well the answer is all in good time at the moment though russia seems to be engaged in a policy of sort of denial and deflection simply deny denying any involvement in any of this pleading innocence at deflecting blame it entirely on to london saying look we've said from the start we are willing to cooperate in the investigation we've offered our help it is london that has failed to provide us with any information or any evidence or access to a script file for instance the daughter who is in hospital and until london complies with its own international obligations under chemical weapons treaties we don't really want to hear anything more about it ok thanks for that journal holds

in moscow we'll go to london now with barnaby philip now to look at things from that side just to pick up on what jonah was saying barnaby are the british saying anything about what the russians want they want this perth in the end is there anything further to report from their side. the british say that they're cooperating with the o.p.'s c.w. in the hay the international organization of the prohibition of chemical weapons and that that is the relevant body and that is an impartial body that can be trusted more than the russians themselves over all the tone of british rhetoric is consistent with that of forrest johnson the one six significant dissenting voice is the leader of the opposition party here the labor party jeremy corbyn is should be said. dissenting even within his own party most labor party m.p.'s have lined up behind the government jeremy corbyn is taking

a slightly different approach while he condemns the attack and while he says that the expulsion of the russian diplomats was correct he's also come on i'll just quote of a few remarks he's warning the prime minister of the dangers of rushing ahead of the evidence he says that a fevered parliamentary atmosphere is conducive to neither justice nor national security we can have a mccarthyite intolerance of dissent there is the possibility that it may have been the russian mafia distinct from the russian state and that ultimately yes expelling diplomats as i said may have been the right thing but cracking down on russian money and matthew investments in this country may be more effective so that interesting cleavage an element of doubt has emerged here in london bombay philips in london thank you for that. we will take

a break from the grid here in the moment and have a look at some other international news with julian macdonald. kemal thank you now south africa's former president jacob zuma will be prosecuted on sixteen corruption charges prosecutors say the charges include cancer fraud racketeering and money laundering the case relates to a government arms deal with two and a half billion dollars in one nine hundred ninety nine when zuma was deputy president he was linked to the deal through his former financial advisor who was jailed for corruption zuma who was forced to resign as president last month denies any wrongdoing let's go live to malcolm webb in pretoria there malcolm to tell us about the announcement. of the prosecutor's office just a short while ago and the prosecutor announced that the charges have been reinstated they were dropped in two thousand and nine at the time the prosecutors said they had recordings of conversations that showed that there was political

interference in the case and so they said it should be dropped those recordings were never published and the political opposition weren't happy with us at all they said this wasn't a valid reason so they've been fighting to have the charges reinstated ever since. because malcolm zuma says he's innocent what's next. well now this will begin court proceedings some of the people who've covered this for a long time we were just speaking to a short while ago outside the press conference they think that basically there's still a long way to go there will be a lot of resistance from zuma challenging everything that can possibly be challenged in the court but nonetheless. they say that this is still a great step forward the people who have been campaigning for this some of the opposition parties and so on saying this is the first time that a south african former head of state is going to stand trial for corruption and they say that this is the beginning of of bringing some finally some accountability

for all of the corruption scandals that played. welcome way up there from pretoria malcolm thank you. some bob weighs president emerson and jaguar says robert mugabe is free to express himself but the country's moved on it was responding to criticism from the gobby who declared mom and dad was president the illegal saying he was the victim of a coup it was what got his first interview since he stepped down as president in november after pressure from the allies the president says zimbabwe is focused on free fair and credible elections i want to talk to has more from harare. president agogo released a statement and in that statement he said robert mugabe is free to say whatever he wants to say this is a free country he says that the state will continue to pay his pension will continue to look after the ninety four year old and he also states that the state of the country is trying to move forward people must of dwelling in the past and his government is now focusing on holding elections in

a few months time reaction from zimbabweans have has been mixed some of them with support mugabe say they glad he had to say this is the way he was a mood was wrong and they glad he got to his views but some one thing to be honest it won't really change the price of bread on the ground there is a severe shortage of foreign currency the job a genie doctors on strike in the hospitals crippling the public sector they say that mugabe didn't really give any viable alternative no solutions to the crisis and faithing so people are now wondering what his next move is going to be it's alleged he is backing a new image and part of that just being formed campaigning should start in a few weeks time then things could become more clear what his agenda really is and how influential this new party that he's alleged to be backing is going to be. whilst korea's foreign minister has met sweden's prime minister during a visit to stockholm that sealed speculation that sweden could host a possible meeting between the u.s. and north korean leader. kim jong un so this foreign minister says she hopes the

country's relationship with the north korean government can be put to good use. we valued this opportunity to arrange a meeting and we believe in dialogue and in the political process but we are not in a need to but we are hoping hoping that if we can use our role and also our contacts then we will put it to the best use and then it's for the parties to decide what is the way forward on the process from now on. has been rising on the streets of madrid after the death of an african street vendor who'd been running away from peace at least twenty people were injured a violent clashes between protesters and the police through the streets of the historic club appears district police say thirty five year old in the bombing the day i am from senegal died of a heart attack he's been living in spain for fourteen years my groups are calling for an investigation. and iraqi teenager who says he was trained by isis has been

found guilty of planting a bomb on a train last september in london eighteen year old ahmed has some will be sentenced next week thirty people were injured when his homemade bomb exploded apostles' creed chip station in west london has some claimed asylum asked arriving in the u.k. in the back of a truck to n.t. fifteen. that's it for me for the moment back to come out in the avi thank you for that duty egypt's government is demanding answers after the death of a teenage student in the u.k. the fire is reported to have been assaulted in the city of nottingham by a group of girls last month the eighteen year old died in hospital after she went into a coma we're going to get more details on this when emma haywood has arrived in nottingham ever bring us up to date. bokeh mall is the most a month this marma stuff though without one night coming home from a shopping trip airing parliament street one of the busiest streets in not seen

walking down here when she was allegedly punched by a group of what police according to those that followed her to a bus and continue to abuse her now one of the joy those tried to intervene but mariam was injured she was taken to hospital placed into an induced coma but sadly died two days ago now this story has gained a lot of and attention not just hit enough to get not just here in the u.k. but internationally too in egypt and that is because there's been lots of talk about whether it was a hate crime no the police here are not see him off saying that at the moment there is nothing to suggest that it was a hate crime that they are keeping an open mind the egyptians they were piling on the pressure saying though that they want those who were involved will quickly to justice and the high woods got the latest there from. thank you for that it's so interested. in egypt and i suspect online as well there is yes so there's also outrage over her death of the death of course of mary must people are using the

english and arabic hash tag justice for maryam and miriam's right will not be lost along with the hash tag people are sharing their anger and disbelief as well you have people like fatah who posted this picture saying i can't imagine what would have happened if a european girl was killed in an african country and then a quote here from aisha same there is also a lot of criticism about the lack of media coverage and here says why isn't anyone talking about miriam's death she was verbal and physically assaulted and later passed away for being muslim what is happening to the world and how some says the u.k. claims defending defending the human rights we are all there for we need for justice to be prevailed if you're in on this conversation we'd like to hear from you as always you can tweet us your thoughts at the hashtag ingenues grid thank you lisa. that sense of thousands of brazilians of protesters

across the country to mourn the apparent assassination of a well known police critic mario franco a councilwoman from rio de janeiro was shot along with a driver on wednesday night more on this would layer in a moment first this report from hannah hawkster. despite the music and dancing this is not a happy occasion protest is brian the streets of sao paulo to mourn the murder of a prominent politician and once described as a tireless social warrior the biggest marches were in her hometown of rio de janeiro where tens of thousands of brazilians gathered outside the city's council this is the woman whose killing has provoked such outrage marielle franco the thirty eight year old councilor has become a voice for gay and black rights as well as fighting against police violence in poor areas of the city police officials say she was deliberately targeted frank who were shot four times in the head and her driver was also killed her assistant who

is sitting in the back survived brazil's president was quick to speak out to condemn the killing even though the two had disagreed over his recent plans to put the army in charge of security in rio de janeiro. the assassination of the councilwoman r.t.l. and her driver and us and go as is unacceptable miscible like all the other murders that happen in rio de janeiro is truly an attack on the rule of law and on our democracy has promised to carry out a full and transparent investigation. the people on the streets are angry and point the finger at the or far too. because there is a lot of indignation against this cowardice they want to silence a woman who fight for rights for justice for young black women. is the reason why we are in two thousand and eighteen in the injustice carries on that's why we gathered here today we're tired of injustice we want this to go not

unpunished for our friend our colleague our sister's death not to go unpunished because her blood cries out. one of franco's final posts on twitter criticized the police killing of a young man as he was leaving church. human rights groups. police response to for at least one thousand killings last year. on a hoax that al-jazeera. and the protests continue online as many on social media use mariel franco's name as a hash tag to voice their anger over her death others are sharing her picture praising her for her activism the caption to this picture says in memory of the after of feminist activists hash tag mariel franco another person said we should all be extremely concerned her killing was a purposeful politically motivated message for black organizers against police terror in brazil we need to come together and build country in our networks using the hash tag black lives matter in this particular instance and then another user

here shared this video of mariel saying that this was ten minutes before she was killed proving she was an activist until the end the video was taken at a black woman's event on wednesday night in rio de janeiro the brazil director at human rights watch maria laura can you know she said quote brazilian authorities need to respond decisively by identifying those responsible for the killing of mariel and anderson her driver and bringing them to justice if you're in brazil we're looking for your questions and comments about this story you can join in on our conversation online with our hash tag as always. thank you people already very vocal about syria today though had a few comments on that particularly on the instrument facebook dot com slash al-jazeera said i think without russian support syrian regime forces wouldn't be able to commit such massacres they would have been defeated already certainly russia's entry into the war was a turning point in abraham and said syria is just an experimental lab for both

western and eastern blocs the cold war geopolitics never ended this is a clear example of it your thoughts your questions your comments the hashtag is a j newsgroup. could robot policing be the way of the future well if you with us on facebook but you can find out about that right now stories from dubai is coming out and then ahead on the grid thirty years on from emerging victims will be held up to massacre of sounds of kurds who were targeted with chemical weapons those who survived have suffered from cancer many of the children have birth defects that story coming up. how i would go a little scattering the showers moving across iran will fade away towards pakistan towards afghanistan you see the cloud had just easing out of iraq and making its way a little further east was for sas they say cloudy is some bits and pieces of writing

just pushing a little further he says twenty celsius in couples as some won't the run task and around nineteen degrees and nineteen celsius to four beirut sas day fog in drive just a reality of that but a little more cloud spilling in as we go on into sunday twenty four celsius by this date in by right and by that stage we will see the clouds and the damp weather just making its way a little further east with some sunshine but a story behind will warm sunshine across the arabian peninsula thirty one celsius here in doha but the normally breeze just picking up we may just fall back to around twenty eight celsius as we go on through sunday hopefully that the wind will be quite as stiff for much of the reason as you can see plenty of sunshine coming in that be plenty of sunshine so into western parts of south africa the eastern cape still seeing a few showers the west whether that was into that eastern side of madagascar where we have tropical socks and that will continue to bring flooding rains right down the eastern side of madagascar through saturday and much of sunday.

zero dot com and what's trending as well that story actually. about an hour ago we keeping an eye on that story the trial of. the trial concerning a black man who was beaten in the riots there and then plenty of other variety for you there the latest from. is ready syria's war spying for the beginning always a good resource if you need to go and understand anything from the last seven years so that's what's trending it on. the kurdish government has been holding a ceremony commemorate thirty years since a devastating chemical attack on its town of five thousand people were killed when iraqi forces attacked with mustard and sarin gas back in one thousand nine hundred eighty eight then president saddam hussein had accused the people of a lot of siding with iran during the iran iraq war many people in the tomah still suffering from cancer and other diseases related to that attack and just

a warning you may find some of the images in this report from assad a bit distressing. this symbolic graveyard is as close to closure as sabri a hummer can get to thirty years on the horrors of the chemical attack on her hometown in northern iraq stem. cells. on the sixteenth of march we were having a male we heard fighter jets they struck the area and then we were hit by a chemical attack in the afternoon we ran towards the hills we were so scared every one of us went on our separate way some of us went to neighboring iran others who couldn't make it died in the city it was like dreams day i lost four of my children and her on that day there are still many cases of psychological disorder skin diseases and respond to problems for the survivors and fortunately no one is taking care of them thousands of kurds were killed when the iraqi army said it attacked

iranian forces in the closing stage of the iran iraq war. a peace museum aims to keep alive the memory of those who died and to raise awareness about the horrors of chemical weapons kurdish doctors say three decades later the effects of sarin mustard gas are still causing defects and ailments. we don't have enough medical centers or medicine to treat these people who are still affected we need more specialized doctors in these fields and further cooperation of both the baghdad and erbil governments to treat them as. the chemical weapons convention was signed in one nine hundred ninety seven who bitting the manufacture and use of chemical weapons the vast majority of countries signed up but despite that chemical attacks have not stopped there have been more incidents of men women and children being killed in large numbers dead from breathing in poisonous gas none of them had any wounds trauma or injury. and in hootenanny of the syrian capital damascus president assad's forces killed more than fourteen hundred people in

a chemical attack in two thousand and thirteen since then most of the syrian chemical weapons stockpiles have been destroyed but the assad government has been accused of using concentrated chlorine gas on opposition held areas doctors say at least eight attacks have been reported in syria this year. and there are people like sabra say they can relate to what's happening in syria victims and both countries want the world to put words into action and stop more attacks some of the job made of is there. the use of chemical weapons has been condemned even banned by the u.n. for decades and yet reports of chemical attacks continue to emerge just over twenty years ago an arms control treaty called chemical weapons convention was signed to outlaw the production stockpiling and use of chemical weapons hundred ninety three countries agreed to the terms this is back in april twenty nine of one thousand nine hundred seven yet toxic chemical substances are subject to different regulations even though toxic chemicals can be used to develop chemical weapons

they are not outright prohibited by the treaty several human rights groups have found evidence of the use of chemical weapons such as in syria but they say the response has not been strong enough to tear into the support for mike hanna. another briefing of the security council about the crisis in syria and further reports of the use of chemical weapons in the conflict this time in the besieged enclave of kuta then also knew the starting allegations of the use of gas underlying the ongoing debate an overarching international law the chemical weapons convention which essentially outlaws the possession production and acquisition of chemical weapons and it's signed by one hundred and ninety two states and this is the attack that galvanized negotiations that led to the contention thirty years ago saddam hussein ordered a chemical attack on the kurdish. in northern iraq the negotiations on the chemical

weapons convention were already going on in one nine hundred eighty eight at the time of the whole attack and the the momentum in those negotiations really sort of tripled or quadrupled. unfortunately thanks to what happened in that but despite these horrific images that shocked the world it was seven weeks before the security council passed a resolution condemning the attack even then it was a neutral resolution calling on all sides to refrain from using chemical weapons portion of blame complicated by the fact that american intelligence claimed iran was responsible and by the fact that there was no mechanism to formally investigate the attack and thirty years later as evidence emerges of repeated chemical attacks in syria the security council finds itself in

a similar position. a russian veto effectively ended the mandate of the joint investigative mechanism and set a body that has informed the expressed intentions up a step to shing accountability for chemical attacks in syria completely. with no formal investigation of these attacks there's no sanction effectively rendering the chemical weapons convention meaningless and sending a dangerous message to those who deploy them they may take the lesson you can get away with it you can get away with murder you can get away with using the worst kinds of weapons and there won't be any accountability despite the international revulsion to the attack thirty years ago the saddam regime continued deploying chemical weapons with apparent impunity until the end of the war with iran. and every veto in the security council today which suggests that the lesson up the lab has still not be learnt. by kind of al-jazeera united nations. the presidents

of kenya uganda kept on and botswana are trying to protect elephants from poaching more than half of african savannah elephants live in just those countries so the mission of these leaders is to spread awareness the elephants are actually worth more alive the president's a part of a group called the giants club focusing on saving the gentle giants in front of the ladies are expected to sign a petition against elephant poaching for the african elephant is the largest animal walking this earth and it's under threat from a loss of habitat as human populations grow but the bigger danger really is that danger of poaching you go back to nine hundred eighty and there were around one point three million african elephants than it is now estimated to only be three. four hundred thousand of them lived the killing is mostly driven by the demand for ivory in asia at its peak the price of a single kilogram of ivory exceeded two thousand dollars that was back in twenty

fourteen but then china banned on every trade in the price went down to around seven hundred thirty dollars per kilogram shows you the difference it can make and when it's easy to imagine something like poverty would force people into selling ivory most of this poaching is actually carried out by well organized groups traffic has seizures of large scale and for shipments did hit a record high we're going to get leah to talk us through a bit more of this the because you've been looking at specifically that botswana exactly right and what's interesting is that the leaders of this elephant poaching petition they're actually meeting and what's one a country that's been recognized for its efforts to save the african elephant but swan and has more elephants than any other country in africa the government has strict regulations on poaching and it's tried to keep the elephants within its borders especially during unrest in neighboring namibia and goa that's one also has the kind of landscape elephants like the delta it has water year round and is

a hotspot for elements that are actually took this video that you're seeing now when i was in boats one out last year but saving the elephant has turned into a global mission a movement called the march for giants has gone viral where people can literally create their own virtual elephants polka dot stripes neons and all if you see their put their names on the side of them the thousands of elephants then they have been designed so far to walk together and are heard and show up on giant screens around the world in different cities like new york hong kong and london tops bread awareness about how important elephants are it's part of a fund raising campaign trying to prove that elephants are indeed worth more to us alive something these african leaders are trying to establish with the signing of this anti ivory and anti poaching petition now if you've seen elephants in the wild we'd like to see. here pictures you can share them with me at leo harding n.j. or you can use or hash tag a.j. news grid come all thank you for that li a nice to see your holiday snaps there is where two pieces i want to direct you to here first is

a feature from september last year was written by freelance writers dmitri daniel questioning whether humans and elephants can co-exist in sri lanka i liked this line a little bit further down fi can find it they are so intelligent they take risks they are bold they have been deprived of their land surrounded by electric fences and shot at and still they do not give up so you can search for elephants or lanka to read that's and then there is this from the techno team that goes back to august of twenty sixteen they learnt about how d.n.a. extraction and genetic mapping and carbon dating were all being used on pieces of ivory to find out where it's coming from which ultimately means you can find out who is killing the elephants that's the name of that episode who's killing the episode who's killing the episode who's killing the elephants you find in the show's section at al-jazeera dot com.

so we are going to grab a break here on the news and come back farwell have a look at sports.

both joining the sport on the grid today how far would we do it with football obviously but we're about as an iraq could be a in the exciting day for iraq football this could be a pivotal day in the history of international football in iraq the games governing bodies such as aside if competitive games can return to the country for the first time in almost thirty years safety and security concerns have resulted in iraq playing all their home matches in world cup and asian cup qualifying in neutral countries fifa will be voting on whether to lift the ban at a meeting in colombia later this friday the country hasn't played full internationals on home soil since the nineteen ninety invasion of kuwait there why not world cup appearance came four years before that in one thousand nine hundred

six despite the disruption iraq's biggest success came in two thousand and seven when the team won the asian cup iraq is now allowed to host international friendlies in three the news. and kerbala last month saudi arabia played in iraq for the first time in almost four decades let's talk now to rock football writer house and he joins us live from london house and how difficult has it been for the team to have to put all their important games away from home. it's been very difficult of course for the fans especially you know football's basically kind of final beacon of hope it's a huge sport iraq is the main sport for us to not be able to watch our national side in nearly three decades it's been very tough but likewise for the team it's also been very difficult you know various different aspects first of all on the top level of football the small margins much hugely with with no home support when

you're playing in a stadium that's completely empty whether it's in cut a lump or the u.a.e. or wherever you know it's not the same atmosphere that will generate when you're playing in your own country so that might give your five percent edge it's very difficult for the plays and that sense likewise is the factors such as extra travel or the pitches being poor this is especially been the case when we've played in iran and when you have play is capable of playing fast fluid football such as seen just in their own really results in you being forced to play a more direct approach which is not very convenient when you have the players capable of playing a better standard of football so it's been very difficult in these in these circumstances of safety is obviously going to be the biggest concern for teams traveling to iraq how have the recent friendly matches in the country gone. they've been a huge future success and for all the faults of the f.a.a.

they've done a tremendous job in organizing it. we've had quite a few games against syria against jordan against think it's kenya and of course recently saudi arabia they've all been huge successes all nearly sellouts we've had in the last game against saudi arabia about ten thousand fans watching the game from outside the stadium so the fans obviously keen to have football returned to their country. with all that said and done this these are just friendly's so called wait to see what would happen once this competitive games being played in iraq whether it's world cup qualifiers or asian cup qualifiers yes indeed and now beyond the country itself can you give us an idea of the global support for iraq's football team. iraq there's the rockies all over the world and we have players playing in all over the world as well whether it's. none in italy or just the norm in the u.s.

so we have players playing all over the world and likewise we have funds based in all all continents across the world with this in australia oh canada or the u.k. or scandinavia so football is our main sport is huge we have a huge following and today's result can be can be true a tremendous news for all the fans watching from across the world and just tell us what is the potential for iraq as a regional and world football power. i think first we need to look at being a regional power the potential is there but there are a lot of factors that need to change before we can actually find the feet and the regional stage a to be able to compete with the likes of japan and australia at present we have a very good team on paper unfortunately for various reasons with unable to compete at the top level just yet and hopefully today this is the first step in the right

direction ok thank you so much to great to get your thoughts doesn't bill out thank you so much for your time thank heaven. all right football fans are using the hash tag iraq a messy ronaldo in the hope the world's two most famous players will get behind their cause here's a tweet from the middle eastern football website a da the ruling today could end a thirty eight year reflection the nation has suffered the lifting of faeces ban could be the start of a new era for iraq jaffer in barcelona has this message for fisa we deserve the joy of having this ban lifted we have all the means to we have all the means and possibilities to organize matches and success please bring us a football life and the iraqi ambassador to russia and belarus hi there heidi says the prayers of millions of iraqis are directed today towards the colombian capital

bogota. so what do you think as always we'd like to get your thoughts on any of the sports stories we cover here on aging grid you can tweet me directly at underscore is style i'll be back with more at eight hundred g.m.t. but for now back to my thank you flora running out of time here on the grid we were going to tell you about the story the fact that it is international sleep day today and if anyone is deserving of a good slate it is linda harding who did wait for this a triathlon before coming to work today and if you go to her twitter page you can see her. there and some she's blushing over dance and one of our directors and our production assistants did it as well today before work. and i didn't i just got up light basically. if you want to get in touch with us you know assembly or congratulate or each page as well use the hashtag a.j. used to treat that like a how to be on twitter at i j english facebook dot com is here of course is the live stream and whatsapp number is nine seventy five i one triple one four nine

right to a telegram channel as well it's. right back here in studio for tomorrow fifteen hundred hours g.m.t. saturday. travel often. by tranquil board tubes and forests may provide wind warnings and walks of. by icons landmarks valleys and scotland's. live for adventure. discovery jobs

because far away places closer to the fish going this is together with cats i always. what makes this moment in this era we're living through so unique this is really an attack on truth itself is a lot of misunderstanding a distortion isn't what free speech is supposed to be about the context is hugely important we have a right to publish if you have a duty to be offensive or provoke that's all about it as people do setting the stage for a serious debate. up front at this time on al-jazeera. it's impossible to underestimate the size and scale of the economic crisis it's not just about the believe trillion dollars of debt it's not just about the banks it's not just about the government's it's about real people. on counting the cost are russians getting all they bargained for economically as putin heads for reelection

plus saudi aramco keeps the financial world guessing the globe's largest i.p.o. on ice will be asking what's behind the delay counting the calls on ages you. thousands of syrians feed besieged. talks to try to resolve the war on the way in a stunning. how they're actually went on all this is al jazeera live from london also coming.