in syria thousands have disappeared without a trace. forcibly taken from their families right near the most terrible thing in syria just to be. this has been the invisible weapon of the syrian dictatorship without. sometimes a call to conclude whether to god continue to be surely to in culture. the disappeared of syria at this time on al-jazeera. fide f.b.i. deputy director andrew mccabe says he kept personal memos of his interactions with president don't trump. again i'm suited to this is al jazeera live from london also coming up to begin

there are guns into the syrian town of a freeness tens of thousands of civilians flee to safety polls open in russia in a vote widely expected to deliver president vladimir putin another term in power and another blow to yemen has the world health organization was diptheria is spreading across the country affecting more than seven hundred people. we had to the u.s. where it's being reported that fired f.b.i. deputy director under mccabe kept a detailed notes on his interactions with president bill trump mccabe was sacked for misconduct just days before he would have been eligible for full retirement benefits donald trump celebrated his firing on twitter saying and 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

like a choir boy he knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the f.b.i. well was all in children has more. andrew mccabe was an f.b.i. agent for twenty two years rising to deputy director and then acting director after his boss james komi was fired by the trump white house in twenty seven teens 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 on multiple occasions i have terminated the employment of andrew mccabe effective immediately right after this mckay told the news media his firing was payback for

doing his job investigating ties between russia and 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 our laws 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 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. correspondent tom bowman has the latest from washington a day after the president called the firing of mccabe a great day for democracy is personal attorney john dowd has now called for the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein to fire robert muller the special counsel he said that he was speaking in his personal capacity and not on behalf of the president but it's hard to believe that that's the case in light of the incessant criticism of the president not only of rosenstein but also of his superior jeff sessions who chose to recuse himself from this whole case and was in turn criticized or has been criticized heavily and publicly by the president in the meantime there are republicans in congress who are putting further pressure on

rosenstein they're talking about creating a second special counsel to investigate what they call corruption within the f.b.i. saying that the mccabe firing sort of provided additional evidence that there is what some of the president's supporters call is a deep state within the f.b.i. that was biased against the president and working actively towards hillary clinton so this seems to indicate that the president is not only getting some support from capitol hill in contrast to democrats who say that if he does fire moeller he will have that will have consequences both for republicans and from republicans and democrats and it will not be good for the president. lawrence korb is a senior fellow at the american progress action fund and a former assistant secretary of defense he says there are unprecedented levels of tension between the white house and the f.b.i.

the fact that you fired the director ironically it was colby coming out a week before beyond lection and reopening the investigation into secretary clinton's e-mails that really swung the election to trump because before back to our secretary clinton had been a little bit ahead and then he plyers him because the fact that he didn't want him to would investigate that code luzhin it when in fact that i had to do that given all of the evidence that they have about what russia was trying to do with the young lection or i think if they try to quash the mall or is just a geisha it will be like when you mix and fire his special prosecutor i think even the republicans would rebel against that and that would cause an awful lot of problems for president trump because lawlor is a republican he has been appointed by republicans to office so it's not a porter said question turkish military sources have confirmed to al-jazeera that

there are violence inside the northern syrian town of affray has officially begun the operation which began in january has displaced over one hundred fifty thousand people in a self government chips have taken more rebel held territory within a single cell from the turkey syria border and j. simmons the polls. anywhere else in the world they'd be running for their lives but this is syria it's a slow procession the body language of mental exhaustion and fear they may not know what lies ahead of them they've only been able to bring what they can carry but they feel there's no other option but the eastern ghouta. 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 there is no united nations operation here would be mistaken to expect a full ceasefire not far away reports of airstrikes killing more civilians one of several districts zamalka hit again on friday activists had reported incendiary bombing which russia had denied the head of the main syrian opposition group criticize the un for failing to protect people. from alone we hold the united nations and the security council directly responsible for being silent around these crimes and for failing to take action to prevent these crimes but let us not forget that the syrian regime holds direct responsibility for these crimes along with the countries that continue to stand by it airstrikes are known to often coincide with such operations to evacuate civilians the opposition say it's a deliberate ploy to cause more terror and the syrian observatory for human rights

says at least thirty civilians died as they attempted to fleeced and go to on saturday in a separate battle civilians caught between the kurdish why p.g. of the turkish backed free syrian army fighting in a free had been leaving in larger numbers and the turkish military denied attacking the city hospital killing sixteen people on friday. it said these pictures were taken on saturday morning showing the building unscathed but the syrian observatory for human rights had shown video the damage building it claims is the hospital. as the f.s.a. fighters took control of the prison turkish forces maneuvered the u.n. who owned it was deeply alone by reports of civilian deaths and it was also concerned about reports of kurdish fighters using civilians as human shields and drew simmons al-jazeera killers of the turkish syrian border well good this

is a visiting fellow at the european council on foreign relations where he specializes in syria turkey and the kurds he says turkish troops are entering a free from the west i actually confront with sources inside a friend that conflict started the turkish troops and turkish support the syrian troop syrian groups have been entering the city from the western front which is a mahmoudiya neighborhood we're actually entering into a particularly violent episode of already a bloody conflict which so tens of thousands of people being displaced which most of them took shelter in the town itself and that they're now being displaced again and they're taking root towards the south they don't want to go back go to towards the turkish captured areas but also doesn't allow them to enter into them to enter into regime areas so that we're actually facing a double human tragedy of civilians trapped inside the city as well as to civilians

trying to flee from the polls have opened in russia's presidential election which is widely expected to hand of law to me pitching a fourth term in power meaning he could lead the country all the way until twenty twenty four according to russia's constitution this is the last term he can serve but it's unclear who will emerge to replace him on slate reports from moscow. whatever you think of him there's no denying that a lot of mere putin has made russia important again and here he was in two thousand and four winning a second time as president against a field as hopeless as the one this year but then russia's opinion on world affairs didn't count for much but as he said during this campaign people listening now will need a ship has been designed to guarantee a continued direction for russia down a very definite making sure there is a voice in the world as loud as that of the united states at home his admirers say

his achievements the bill enormous. coalesced in one putin came to power it was hard for us to understand that in our government american advisers were work and why were they telling us what to do nobody was talking to russia about solving global problems our country is putin's life and therefore russia's life is our president actions which in recent years made russia's presence felt have been utterly polarizing the annexation of crimea for all telling the syrian war to the advantage of the asset regime cost russia heavily putin never look comfortable at g eight meetings at the best of times now russia is absent western sanctions and the total mismanagement of russia's oil and gas wealth left most of the world's biggest country impoverished while a small clique in moscow grabbed the money. it is striking how putin's popularity is very often at his strongest in places which is seen almost no material benefits

from his nearly twenty years in power it only goes to show how potent identity politics and nationalism can be and they remain putin strongest cards. and so the people who run russia are coming up against a problem putin is presented as the only man to keep russia great but after this time is time supposed to be up so what's who comes next going to be a reporter and you called on you would already forty one option is that after twenty twenty four he changes the constitution as they did in kazakhstan and china and he stays on as long as he is capable. in the next two or three years he will pass power on to someone acceptable unless he decides to stay on forever putin will have to use this last term to cement a legacy from the look of it it will lead heavily towards militarism and even greater hostility to the west it is after all what putin does best horsley al-jazeera moscow. celtic on the program.

confound us china's leaders i sound as a major promotion for a close ally of the president and the faces of the desperate afghanistan grapples with a rising drug problem as opium production sergius. hello there are cyclonic clipping the northern parts of australia are the moment you take a look at what it did to darwin we can see the very strong winds that have with it did bring down a fair few trees power lines as well this is all water one hundred twenty two kilometer an hour gusts can do as another tree going down there very heavy rain associated with that too and that system is still just skirting along the northern

parts giving us some more very stormy conditions at the moment eventually it's going to work its way towards the west in the rural way i'm really will intensify very quickly once it's over the open sea further south and for many of us here it's staying fine and dry and recently has been very hot for the southeast corner of it even here the temperatures will be returning to normal as we head through monday another area of tattering where we working its way through parts of victoria towards melbourne every head across towards new zealand as one system moves away from the north island we see the next weather system making its way towards us but bringing us a great deal of wet weather there making things rather gray a little bit damp and drizzly there during the day on sunday and on monday for more intense rain begins to make its way towards the south island if we had further north one systems are moved away from japan but there's another one waiting in the wings so as we head into monday things turn away once more. the a. it's very difficult as a chef

a restaurant tour to buy shrimp with the confidence that what you're serving is going to be good seafood by nature is a hybrid sometimes trip was released using production drugs. that are not approved for use in the us the f.d.a. simply isn't testing on the imported market to really find all of these violent bread to feed take note at this time on al-jazeera. welcome back to remind all of the top stories here on al-jazeera the f.b.i. deputy director and her mccabe caps detail notes on his interactions with president

will trump because he was sacked for misconduct just days before he would have been eligible for full retirement benefits turkish forces have begun their advance inside the northern syrian town of a freen following weeks of fighting which has displaced tens of thousands of people and polls have opened in russia's presidential election which is widely expected to hand the document crete's and six more years leading the country there are seven of a candidate vying for a share of the votes. britain's prime minister to resign may says the u.k. is considering its next steps after moscow announced it would expel twenty three british diplomats and close the british council in russia person has accused the kremlin of orchestrating a nerve agent attack on a former russian spy and his daughter in salisbury german a whole reports from moscow. after days of waiting it took barely

ten minutes for british ambassador laurie bristow to be handed russia's written response we gave russia the opportunity to explain the healthy material soulsby we are structured to declare that material that particular to the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons russia did neither therefore we announced certain steps russia today has informed me off the steps that russia will be taking in response to that. the decision to remove twenty three british diplomats from russia mirrored u.k. prime minister to resign may's own statement on wednesday expelling twenty three russian diplomats from london the countermeasures didn't stop with the expulsion of british diplomats from the embassy here they were as well what the russians would call asymmetrical measures to match to reason may's promise of looking more closely at the sources of russian money in the u.k. so britain's diplomatic presence in russia will be further reduced by the closure of its consulate in st petersburg russia second city and the operations of the

government funded british council will cease a charity that promotes british culture abroad the russian government has long suspected it of being a cover for british intelligence it is though what in diplomatic speak might be described as a measured response but soon as their russia does not want to wait for fresh wanted to ask then the response to british. could be in the event of more severe way with the americans they could exploit more they could cripple actually the british mission. in moscow most part of russia is sending a message of words for the rhetoric continues but no more serious action number two reason to double. 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 the

british government may be emboldened by a show of support from allies like france and germany along with new sanctions aimed at russia by the united states russia meanwhile may be looking for ways to calm things down joho al-jazeera moscow meanwhile u.k. police have contacted several russian exiles due to concerns over their safety following the killing of a prominent businessman nicholai english koff was found dead in his home in south west london a monday police say he died from compression of a neck and the murder investigation is under way bullish cuff was granted political asylum in twenty ten and the u.k. have blocked attempts by russia to extradite him a british data firm is under investigation in the u.s. over possible interference in the twenty sixteen presidential election cambridge analytical is alleged to have used the dates of more than fifty million facebook profiles to support president donald trump's election campaign the company reported

they harvested the data without authorization twenty fourteen to build a software program to influence choices in the twenty sixteen poll. who the rebels say they're willing to hold talks with saudi arabia to end the war in yemen the hoof is made the admission after reports emerged the group spokesman had been in direct contact with saudi officials in amman both sides deny secret talks are taking place but has said they would support un peace efforts aimed at reaching a political solution it comes as the humanitarian situation in yemen continues to worsen with twenty two point two million people in desperate need of assistance. there was no direct meeting between us and saudi arabia. 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 so we need such a dialogue between parties to stop the war. and the world health organization is a warning diptheria is spreading across yemen affected more than thirteen hundred people the outbreak was first detected in october last year in a country already ravaged by color and with a health system close to collapse and a huckster a small. children and desperate parents from a disorganized queue at this medical clinic and some are lining up for potential lifesaving vaccination against that area local health workers are in force in the world health organization must vaccination program to counter the rapid spread of the disease across the country they were not created over two and a half million children aged between six weeks and fifteen years old there's been a diff the outbreak in yemen since late last year and there are now almost thirteen hundred cases of the exterior including more than seventy deaths most governorates

most areas of the amman have been affected by this to syria outbreak diptheria is a serious bacterial infection that affects the mucous membranes of the throat and nose once infected toxins are released and spread through the bloodstream causing the thick gray coated to the nose throat tongue and blocks ways eighty percent of the sufferers of children and young adults under twenty five years old dip there is common in many developing countries where sanitation is lacking. these facilities here a basic yemen's health system has almost collapsed after nearly three years of war most workers have not been paid this year fairly fifty percent of all health facilities are functioning there's also a devastating cholera outbreak diphtheria outbreak and a cholera outbreak at both symptoms of a failing health system because people are not that's in asia because they do not have access to safe water because their sanitation has been ruined by war all of

these are symptoms of a collapsed tell system and this is in true due to the war and this will only improve once there is peace. peace looks a long way off yemen is engulfed in the war pits and government forces helped by saudi led coalition against iranian backed rebels as the conflict continues so does the suffering of millions of yemenis trapped in a situation the un has cooled the world's largest humanitarian crisis. al-jazeera. at least four people have died in a car bomb attack in the afghan capital kabul police say the bomb went off as a convoy of foreign vehicles asked by all those killed appeared to be local bystanders there was no immediate claim of responsibility it's the latest in a series of attacks to hit the afghan capital. and afghanistan is facing a growing drugs problem with around nine thousand tons of opium produced that last year heroin is an important source of revenue for the taliban and the u.s.

is targeting their drug cultivation sites tony betty reports from kabul where record numbers of people are turning to drugs in desperation. 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've lost loved ones lost jobs lost hope and their 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 there 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 double impact one is the war and the other is that people are jobless. no ruse turn to drugs eight years ago when he lost his job he abandoned all hope and his wife and six children. are going to my from north dakota with no job or income you have no choice but to steal and rob to get drugs addicts who 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 varmus of turn to poppies because there's more money in them the conventional crops but the threats from the air always there. to shoot was assurances we're 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. chinese leadership paying has been unanimously way

appointed by his policy with no term limits of actively making him president for life a close ally of president xi was noted in his deputy by the national people's congress scott hyde has not 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 president 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 one front at the president's anti-corruption crackdown it punished more than one and a half million officials. the election of won't was no surprise he's a close ally of susan ping 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 he order to discipline chinese officials and he has been very successful in that and looking forward as 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 vision now it's patrick's day and the party is going on around the world for islands national holiday almost three hundred landmarks in forty eight countries are also going green including the great wall of china and the leaning tower of pisa in the u.s. city of chicago the river was done by the emerald green for the city's annual parade so patrick's day began as a religious holiday in ireland but it has long been celebrated outside of the country. let's get a reminder of the top stories on al-jazeera former deputy director of the f.b.i. under mccabe has reportedly handed over notes he kept of his interactions with the

u.s. president to special counsel robert muller miller is investigating links between dol chance presidential campaign and russia mccabe was fired from the bureau for alleged misconduct he denies any wrongdoing and says he's being singled out with tom ackerman has more from washington d.c. various sources have said that mccabe's contemporaneous notes and memos are now in the possession of the special counsel robert muller and presumably as indicated by mccabe's comments and reaction do is firing that they could corroborate james cole music out turkish military sources have confirmed to al jazeera that their advance inside the northern syrian town of a free and has officially begun the operation which began in january has displaced over one hundred fifty thousand people his forces are trying to push kurdish wifely g. forces out of the area i'm fighting and asterix have displaced thousands of civilians

in syria government cheats have captured two major rebel strongholds within a single are increasing their hold in the region is forced men women and children to stream out of the area in the thousands in desperate search of safety britain's prime minister to resign may's says the u.k. is considering its next steps after last go announced it was expelled twenty three british diplomats and close the british council in russia britain has accused the kremlin of being behind the nerve agent attack on a former russian spy in the u.k. twenty three russian diplomats have already been expelled by britain. chinese leader xi jinping has been unanimously reappointed with no term limits affectively making him president for life a close ally of president she was voted in as his definition of the national people's congress wanky shan is known as the fire fighter for his central role in

tackling issues like corruption and domestic financial problems those are the headlines that fit from maybe stay with us techno is coming up next. the benefit of sudan people so bad they see the importance of the outcry witness documentaries that open your eyes at this time on al-jazeera. this is techno a show about innovations that can change lives the science of fighting the wildfires we're going to explore the intersection of hardware and humanity and we're doing you a unique way. this is a show about science oh no i scientists. tonight techno investigates shrimp safety the seafood by nature is a high risk commodity for americans love their shrimp but most of it comes from

countries that use extensive antibiotics that could make you ill.