paint the scene for us whether online what is a very nice time in yemen that peace is always possible but it never happens not because the situation is complicated but because no one cares or if you join us on set there are people that are choosing between buying medication and eating this is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's an activist who's close to the story joined the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. at least ten thousand civilians are reported to have left eastern ghouta in syria a few hours ago.

and again i'm peter davi you're watching al-jazeera live from doha also coming up but we will never tolerate a threat to the life of british citizens and others on british soil from the russian government russia and the u.k. both send diplomats packing as the controversy grows over the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter. the u.s. attorney general fires the f.b.i.'s deputy director and potential witness in the russian investigation just days before he was eligible to retire. and were on the front lines of afghanistan's battle to save these thousands of men and women struggling with drug addiction. thousands of civilians are fleeing besieged enclaves at opposite ends of syria as two major battles intensify in eastern guta close to the capital damascus a new wave of ten thousand people have left areas held by rebels in the past few

hours they're headed for syrian army positions after they were to leave in a state t.v. broadcast. the command of the syrian army urges all civilians to leave the areas under control of the extremist organizations through the safe corridor we affirm that we will continue to fulfill our national and constitutional duty to defend the nation until the return of security and stability throughout the country meanwhile in the northern city of a free and thousands are being evacuated from territory held by kurdish y p g fighters as turkish forces and their syrian allies try to break into the city they have been. reports of more air and artillery bombardments in both of those areas dozens of people have been killed in the latest strikes on the town of zamalka in eastern guta our correspondent andrew simmons has the latest now from killisnoo that's on the turkey syria border. they were assured safe passage and whether they

believed it or not a slow solemn column of people progressed through the checkpoints heading out of east ghouta into syrian regime territory the numbers can't be verified but there were certainly thousands of them and they are unsure of where they'll end up they were told they would be going to evacuation centers and then would move on from there and there was as all this took place more attacks air attacks on a number of districts amongst themselves which on friday came under bombing from russian planes according to people on the ground on the observatory from human rights in london but russia denies any involvement in those attacks however observatory for human rights records a total of thirty people killed at least in these attacks as this was all taking place people were trying to flee another area of conflict

a free man not far from the syria turkey border here there and the f.s.a. the free syrian army says it's advanced further closer to the city and turkish forces say they've now completely and circled it really digging in now the turks are denying they're saying it was fake news reports on friday of an attack on the city's hospital in which sixteen people were said to have been killed forty three died on friday according to the observatory for human rights that's denied by the turks and on saturday syrian media suggesting that six civilians were killed and seven injured in turkish ass strikes again the turks have so far been saying that no turkish as strikes have been taking place on civilian targets in the city center. the rebels in yemen say they would be prepared

to hold talks with saudi arabia to end the three year war there have been reports they've been meeting in secret but both sides have denied this the was led to the world's worst humanitarian crisis with more than twenty two million people in need of food medicine and other aid. there was no direct meeting between us and saudi arabia in scott's but when there was a chance for honorable peace there is no problem in having a direct dialogue between us and the saudi government that we are in a war with saudi arabia and the u.a.e. and they are using all their military capabilities on yemen and we need such a dialogue between parties to stop the war. russia's foreign ministry is expelling twenty three u.k. diplomats in response to a similar action taken by london over the poisoning of a former spy service rep al and his daughter were found unconscious in the city of souls bree almost two weeks ago now you can bassett us as russia is planning to take more action. from feel like.

russia. if the. russians. if they. join a whole has more now from moscow. well the british ambassador laurie bristow was inside the foreign ministry here in moscow for just ten minutes during which he was handed a diplomatic note that spelled out russia's counter measures in response to to reason may's announcement earlier in the week and as expected a diplomatic tit for tat twenty three u.k. diplomatic offices are being told to pack their bags declared persona non grata they've got to leave within a week that was largely expected there is precedent for this sort of tit for tat measure but then there were additional measures so-called asymmetric measures that the russians of thrown in here in response to the avenue that the reason they went down in terms of and to further n.t.s.b. knowledge measures and to get their money laundering anti corruption measures they

have decided to cease the activities of the british consulate in st petersburg russia second city it's been open there since one thousand nine hundred two now that of course doesn't just reduce britain's diplomatic presence in russia's second city it also makes it considerably more difficult for people wishing to get british visas to be able to do so they'll have to travel to moscow now to do that and it says here this is the foreign ministry statement due to the unresolved status of the british council its activities to be shut down this is an outreach. arm of the british government promoting british culture abroad promoting british educational activities and opportunities abroad it's been caught in the crosshairs of espionage scandal before after the litvinenko saga in two thousand and seven its activities work or tails now to be ceased altogether and then this line the british side has warned that if further actions of an unfriendly nature are taken against russia then the russian side reserves the right to take further retaliate three steps.

u.k. police have contacted several russian exiles of a safety concerns after the killing of a prominent businessman was found dead in his home on monday police say he died from a compression to the neck a murder investigation is now underway to scoff was granted political asylum in twenty ten and the u.k. had blocked attempts by russia to have him extradited. the u.k. prime minister to resign me says the u.k. will not tolerate attacks on british soil russia's response doesn't change the facts of the matter the attempted assassination of two people on british soil for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the russian state was culpable it is russia that is in flagrant breach of international law and the chemical weapons convention i repeat today that we have no disagreement with the russian people many russians have made this country their home and those who are by

by our laws and make a contribution to our society will always be welcome but we will never tolerate a threat to the life of british citizens and others on british soil from the russian government. russians head to the polls on sunday for presidential elections the authorities in crimea have reportedly been told to make sure there is overwhelming support for the president vladimir putin crimea became part of russia four years ago the territory was annexed from ukraine challenges there. crimea with its dramatic coastline has long held a romantic place in russian hearts and since it was an extreme ukraine four years ago it's russian once more. readymade putin who says he took the decision to reclaim the peninsula held his last big campaign rally in the port of sevastopol on wednesday he thanks the crowd for voting in the two thousand and fourteen

referendum which most countries never recognized and which so soured relations with the west. with your decision you showed the entire world the meaning of true democracy not a sham one he took part in the referendum and made a decision you voted for your future and the future of your children to hear. crimean xah voting again on sunday the first time they've ever done so in a russian presidential election and the peninsula has been made a central symbol in the putin campaign by the way a putin is reminding people that he is the gatherer of russian it's very hard for him to boast of any meaningful economic progress so defense security and national pride are his campaigning aces. in crimea entire towns like historical back she's a right the mood is different. mainly oppose the annexation intend to boycott the election but they say they're being pressured to vote. there were threats at all

levels that people could lose their jobs for example in our local school the director says think again of local people don't go to the elections they might fire me therefore i think some of the teachers will go to. the national spotlight is on crimea fresh from an appearance on russia's main t.v. channel we spoke to crime is deputy prime minister and he denied any dirty tricks of being used before the election is a completely free and democratic process therefore crimean people go to the polling stations and make the choice they want we think turnout will be quite high some us what we saw the referendum because crimea people don't see it as an obligation it's a celebration for us. as the home of russia's black sea fleet crimea has always been strategically important for moscow this year and selects a really important to reach alan's how does it run. let's go back to those

latest developments on the deteriorating relationship between the u.k. and russia and also specifically we're going to talk about the mysterious death of a russian ex-pat in the u.k. barker following that story for us neve was the focus the main focus of the investigation there. well peter on friday the police are looking into the death of nicholai klitschko said that they were launching a murder inquiry and he was founded his house here behind me on monday with what police described as a compression marks on his neck and you can see the scene here there are two forensic tents on his front driveway the curtains are drawn there's been a police presence and continuous guard outside the building now for several days he was jus to appear in court on monday to answer long stand standing challenges that him being brought against him by his former employer ara flaws russia's national

carrier where he previously was employed as the chief financial officer he was said by his torso to be in preparing a case for quite some time so when he didn't show up on monday his daughter alerted the authorities and went to investigate here herself the moment the police are not making any links between what happened here and what happened in solsbury just under two weeks ago with the poisoning of. sergei and scrip our they said that they keeping an open mind about this investigation but of course an awful lot of attention is being paid towards his previous associations with boris berezovsky the former russian oligarch who was very much an open and vocal critic of lie to me putin and the kremlin he was found dead in two thousand and thirteen in his house not far from here in bulk sure in west of london he was found with a ligature around his neck originally people concluded that he had hung himself but

then an inquest later on came back with an open verdict and had repeatedly believed that he had been killed so some already making the connections between the death of parazynski and this murder here he is now. now one of several russian exiles in the u.k. be very much the focus of a full blown reexamination a new investigation led by british police and british intelligence and also on top of all that means we've had these comments from series in may the u.k. prime minister today and she'll be heading up a meeting of the national security council on monday or tuesday in whitehall so clearly as far as the british government is concerned this is far from over. it is far from over and what we've heard from to reason may is perhaps a hardening in her opinion about who was responsible for the poisoning of the scribbles in salzburg originally soon after the poisoning happened she pointed the

finger at russia in general as a nation being the source of this nerve agent she said it could have come either from the russian state or it could have slipped out of the russian state's hands into somebody else's hands and she left it very much open but now she is making that connection very very clearly saying that unequivocally she believes that the russian state is behind that she's fallen short though of what boris johnson the british foreign secretary has said and he is openly come out saying it was a very likely that lattimer putin himself may have ordered that poisoning of course the diplomatic situation between moscow and london is getting worse and worse by the minute and many in the opposition benches in the british parliament to calling for more evidence to be presented as to how the british government really know that this nerve agent was directly link links the kremlin needs thank you.

still to come here on al-jazeera china's parliament confirmed xi jinping as president for a second term to hell is join him in office. protests are getting louder and angrier in brazil the killing of a popular politician. hello that there's more rain on its way across parts of china his the wet weather then as we head through the day on sunday some of it pretty heavy as you head up towards shanghai and this whole system is just slipping a bit further south with that as we head into monday so plenty of us seeing some wet weather and as it turns wetter the temperatures will be dropping say for shanghai when you get to around fifteen degrees all monday and it will be a role the west as well out towards the west it's far hotter the mat now across

some parts of india is in fact in some parts of additional state we saw temperatures just topping over forty degrees ole reddy this year very very hot more cloud over there recently though that's all been working its way eastwards and for most of us it is dry and now for the northeastern india states and through parts of bangladesh but further south we've still got this area of cloud with us as we head through sunday that's lingering on so a more wet weather to come here some of the showers likely to be rather heavy on monday still want to shower still with us but generally speaking this area of cloud and rain is beginning to break up and then for most of us the temperatures will just be climbing now here in doha we've seen a few spots of rain but those are all clearing away twenty eight degrees will be our maximum a on sunday the winds quite a feature but at least they're bringing in some slightly fresher. what makes this moment this era we're living in for the show you need this is

really an attack on the truth itself is a lot of misunderstanding a distortion isn't what free speech is supposed to be about the context is hugely important. to publish if you have a good cheape to be offensive or provoke the thought of it as people do. setting the stage for a serious debate up front at this time on al-jazeera. welcome back you're watching al-jazeera live from doha i'm peter dobbing these are your top stories about ten thousand civilians have left east in the northern syrian city of a free on saturday and these are pictures from the russian defense ministry that

appear to show the evacuations from the area. the u.k. prime minister to resign may says attacks on u.k. soil will not be tolerated after the poisoning of a former spy russia's expelled twenty three british diplomats from moscow in retaliation for a similar action by the u.k. . and his daughter were found unconscious in the eastern city of salzburg almost two weeks ago russia denies involvement russians head to the polls on sunday for a presidential election the authorities in crimea have reportedly been told to make sure there is overwhelming support for president putin crimea became part of russia four years ago after the territory was annexed from ukraine. now the temperate it director of the f.b.i. has been fired less than two days before he could retire with full pension rights andrew mackay put been a frequent target of public condemnation by president donald trump mr trump took to twitter to applaud the sacking saying this andrew mccabe fired

a great day for the hardworking men and women of the f.b.i. a great day for democracy sanctimonious james komi was his boss and made mccabe look like a choir boy he knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the f.b.i. roslyn jordan has more on this controversial tenure of andrew mccabe andrew mccabe was an f.b.i. agent for twenty two years rising to deputy director and then acting director after his boss james kohli was fired by the trump white house in twenty seventeen but just before he planned to retire on march eighteenth mccabe too was dismissed. in a statement released late on friday night the attorney general jeff sessions said that according to an internal agency investigation quote mr mccabe had made and an authorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor including under oath a multiple occasions i have terminated the employment of andrew mccabe effective

immediately. right after this mccabe told the news media his firing was payback for doing his job investigating ties between russia and donald trump's two thousand and sixteen presidential campaign as well as overseeing the probe into hillary clinton's use of a private e-mail server while she was secretary of state now president trump has accused mccabe of partisan bias mccabe's wife a democrat received campaign donations from one of hillary clinton's allies then mccabe added this quote the attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not to just slander me personally but to taint the f.b.i. law enforcement and intelligence professionals generally it is part of this administration's ongoing war on the f.b.i. and the efforts of the special counsel analysts say robert muller who is the special counsel will want to talk to mckay but now aides now will be testifying in

front of mahler and he knows a lot now what happened. during the campaign and during the investigation mr mccain can talk about the fact that when president drama fired your rector call me that was an attempt to call me where i'm actually going ahead with the investigation and not could be considered a structure of justice being fired means andrew mccabe might lose his retirement and health care benefits but mccabe might also have much more to gain by telling robert muller everything he knows about any russian links to the trump presidential campaign and that could mean the trumpet ministration might now have a much bigger problem on its hands rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington. one of the chinese president's close political allies has been voted in as vice president xi

jinping himself has been confirmed for a second term in office with unanimous support scott hind the now from beijing. for the first time in history the president of china took an oath of office president xi jinping raising his fist pledging loyalty to country and constitution as he begins his second five year term and that's a constitution that was changed last week during the national people's congress here in beijing. one of the biggest differences lifting term limits on the offices of presidents and vice presidents meaning this is almost certainly not the last time we will see she take the oath. also took his oath on saturday his first five year term as vice president. only one vote was cast against him out of the nearly three thousand carefully selected delegates known as a firefighter taking on tough tasks long front of the president's anti-corruption crackdown it punished more than one and

a half million officials. the election of one was no surprise he's a close ally of season ping and term limits have been lifted on the vice president's role but what will be different is that his power and influence will elevate the position that's traditionally been ceremonial get things done so see his loyalty and how he can follow his order to discipline chinese officials and he has been very successful in that and i'm looking forward to seeing you would want to make sure that his power i would be stabilized to for next decade or beyond that even before the curtains close on this year's national people's congress on tuesday wang will have his work cut out one of his responsibilities is to deal with u.s. trade friction something president trump has intensified over the past few days it's got harder al-jazeera beijing. a suicide car bombing has killed at least four

people in the afghan capital kabul that happened when many people were going to work in the morning there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack comes as pressure increases on the taliban to take up the afghan government's offer of peace talks to end the sixteen year conflict. drug production in afghanistan has been on the rise since the us led invasion in two thousand and one now last year there was an increase of eighty seven percent of the amount of opium produced about one thousand tonnes he is tony from kabul. in afghanistan there is a level below rock bottom it's where these lifeless expressionist drug addicts exist men who lost dignity a long time ago they've been rounded up and herded into one of the country's biggest drug rehabilitation units in kabul. these are the other victims of this never ending war collateral damage if you like people who have lost loved ones lost jobs lost hope and then numbers are growing in afghanistan every day the forty five

day program of this former military warehouse complex is basic and caters for nine hundred patients the treatment consists mainly of keeping the addicts away from drugs but it can't keep them away from the desire most relapse when they leave not they're not that we need international hill we are struggling drug addiction is everywhere in the world but unfortunately it's affecting us more we have double impact one is the war and the other is that people are jobless. no rules turn to drugs eight years ago when he lost his job he abandoned all hope and his wife and six children. my from north dakota with no job or income you have no choice but to steal and rob to get drugs addicts you have money eventually spend it all on drugs and when the money is gone they join us poor under the bridge we are no use to family society or country the bridges police doctor in kabul where the addicts live in a desolate world the afghan government estimates that three million people ten percent

of the population is addicted to heroin forty percent of those are women opium cultivation is a major source of funding for the taliban and a major target for the u.s. an air campaign to destroy crops and production has been intensified. the international community's sixteen year battle against drugs in afghanistan has cost billions of dollars but poppy growing is flourishing like never before last year there was a sixty three percent growth in land use for cultivation and an eighty seven percent increase in opium production the most in afghan history farmers of turned to poppies because there's more money in them than conventional crops but the threats from the air always there. we are worried that foreigners are the afghan government are going to destroy our fields the farmers are the ones who face the entire hardship of cultivation but the smugglers and others are the ones who benefit the most. that is beyond the concern of the addicks under the poly sakta

bridge their only concern is how to get the next fix they are in direct victims of this war but their image will haunt afghanistan for many years to come tony berkeley al-jazeera kabul. anger is mounting in brazil over the death of a popular politician city councilor marielle franco who was an outspoken critic of police violence was shot dead on weapons day rob matheson reports. brazilian voices raised in i go for a second day after the shooting of mahdi allah franco who supporters say gave her voice to the poorest of rio's teaming for violence. but i'm not here i'm here not just for mariela but for many other women and people from the periphery we have the idea that it doesn't matter what color you are and it doesn't matter where you come from if you have an important cause you should be respected for that. idea franco was a gay black woman who regularly condemned police aggression in rio's poorest areas

she was shot four times in the head as she sat in her car the police say she was targeted deliberately in the last year the number of killings of the generator was once two hundred people killed by the police in rio de janeiro and that was the highest number since the numbers of record so we have a huge problem now that we have a problem but we are in the if well funded election we're going to have elections. in october it's only keating is also sounds like a message for people who was the was that politics just the name of the boys brazil's president to michel tema has promised a full and transparent investigation in february tema put the army in charge of security in rio de janeiro a move condemned by mariela frankel and some of those demonstrating in brazilian city. i am here for black women who make it despite all the difficulties and for

all of those who don't make it those who are down in the dirt those who have been killed by the state which is killing us every day. a vocal critic of brazil's security forces may have been silenced but her supporters are still determined to be heard rob matheson. have a nice day today let's lighten the tone for just a moment bring you some live pictures for today st patrick's day the chicago river turning forty shades of green a tradition to mark the long standing links between the city and the irish celebrate their national day wherever they are around the world. this is al jazeera these are the top stories about ten thousand civilians have left eastern today on the northern syrian city of

a three on saturday these are pictures from russia's defense ministry that appears to show the evacuations from eastern guta the u.k. prime minister to resign may says attacks on british soil will not be tolerated after the poisoning of a former spy russia's expelled twenty three british diplomats from moscow in retaliation for a similar action by the u.k. so a script and his daughter were found unconscious in the english city of salzburg almost two weeks ago russia denies involvement russia's response doesn't change the facts of the matter the attempted assassination of two people on british soil for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the russian state was culpable it is russia that is in flagrant breach of international law and the chemical weapons convention. i repeat today that we have no disagreement with the russian people many russians have made this country their home and those who are bad by our

laws and make a contribution to our society will always be welcome but we will never tolerate a threat to the life of british citizens and others on british soil from the russian government. u.k. police have contacted several russian exiles over safety concerns after the killing of a prominent businessman cough was found dead in his home on monday police say he died from a compression to the neck a murder investigations underway to scoff was granted political asylum in twenty ten in the u.k. had blocked attempts by russia to extradite him. russians head to the polls on sunday for presidential elections the authorities in crimea have reportedly been told to make sure there is an overwhelming turnout in support of the president vladimir putin. who's the rebels in yemen say they would be prepared to hold talks with saudi arabia to end the three year long war there have been reports they've been meeting in secret both sides deny that the war has led to the world's worst

humanitarian crisis with twenty two million people in need of food medicine and other aid. those are your headlines your right up to date with all the top stories up next it's up front i will see you very soon. just. the same. journalists decided to sacrifice their integrity for access only in the media the listening post at this time and forget all the bad news about war poverty disease famine things have never been better that's the view of the harvard professor and bestselling author steven pinker who is considered to be among the world's most influential intellectuals in his latest book he denounces those he says progress and calls for us to stop whining and start celebrating how humanity has become richer healthier and safer than ever before thanks to the european age of enlightenment but do the facts support him or has he got it wrong this week headliner steven pinker.