the turkish free syrian army says it has now taken control of a frame from kurdish forces.

you're watching al-jazeera life headquarters here in doha coming up in the next thirty minutes the polls are open in russia in an election considered a foregone conclusion for the president but it could help decide the country's leader after. also a potential new problem for double trump after reports that the fired f.b.i. deputy director has turned over the notes to the special prosecutor plus. joint. strongly and resolute. right. about north korea's. nuclear program. the association of southeast asian nations and australia expresses grave concerns about the escalating tensions caused by north korea.

welcome to the program russia says more than five thousand people have left syria's eastern guta in the last a few hours meanwhile the turkish backed free syrian army says its forces are now in full control of the northern town of a freend the development comes almost three months after turkey began its cross border operation to push kurdish forces back from its border now these pictures appear to show free syrian army fighters parading through the center of a free thousands of civilians have been streaming out of the town since turkish forces and their syrian allies encircled it almost a week ago andrew symonds is our correspondent live for us in god's intent on the turkey syria border with the very latest i mean there seems to be movement on the military front as we've just mentioned in terms of freeing the city what more do we know what are we hearing about what's going on there. well there's

a lot of movement in our free in fact the free syrian army they're not going to fishel with it yet but the free syrian army backed by the turkish forces all are actually in are free in the center of the estimates and they're never quite accurate but there they may be optimistic all that sixty to seventy percent of the main center of the city is now in the hands of the free syrian army along with a lot of turkish help what's happened corner logically was this word went out that there was some sort of big operation underway towards the center of a frown a feeling at some stage probably in the early hours call for sunday morning that in fact was the case but there was a cloak of darkness over any precise information on it obviously then ahead of that

surprisingly the turkish media suddenly started reporting that special forces took a special forces. actually operating inside a free and city now this was a surprise to a lot of people it appears al-jazeera did get confirmation from a senior military source attributing it that yes this was the case now was this some sort of signal some sort of smoke out tactical the part of the turkish in having all this surveillance that drones in the sky watching what the why p.g. the kurdish fighters would react how they would react to that information going out it is unclear is the fog of war but what did happen was this we have from our contacts with the syrian free army the free syrian army that they deployed from one thirty am this morning sunday from the southeast that's the information we have

right now that may have been different tactics involved. distance is the directions but it was from the south the main thrust also from possibly from the northwest as well where they made gains including a prison they took over on saturday but right now we're hearing only just a few minutes ago this information has reached me that there is active fighting clashes going on in the very center of our friend. market area as well and they're engaged with y.p. forces but for the moment under we'll leave it there is it's a fast moving story we'll update our viewers with you later in the day thank you now our other top story polls have opened in russia's presidential election which is widely expected two hundred one to me putin a fourth term in power meaning he could lead the country until twenty twenty four according to russia's constitution no president can run beyond two consecutive

terms but it's unclear who will emerge to replace him lawrence lee has more from moscow. whatever you think of him there's no denying that a lot of mere putin has made russia important again here he was in two thousand and four winning a second term 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 are listening now his own leadership has been designed to guarantee a continued direction for russia down a very definite path making sure there is a voice in the world as loud as that of the united states at home his admirers say his achievements have been enormous. when putin came to power it was hard for us to understand that in our government american advisers were working 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 turning 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 alps 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 all the money it is striking how putin's popularity is very often it is strongest in places which is seen almost no material benefits from his nearly twenty years in power you don't to go 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 his time supposed to be up so what who comes next got to be a reporter and you could i knew what 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 or 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 lean heavily towards militarism and even greater hostility to the west it is after all what putin does best horsley al-jazeera moscow but we also have two other correspondents in russia following the election very chalons in sebastopol in the south of the country but first let's cross over to jonah hill who is also in moscow jonah is it a stampede to the ballot boxes the polling stations have been opened just over what two hours now. yeah well i mean the central

moscow polling station here it's hardly inundated so hell but they're doing pretty brisk business and have been for the last couple of hours and of course if that continues and if that's replicated that polling stations across the country that will be good news for the kremlin because the issue of turnout is perhaps the only or certainly one of the a few real question marks also about you can have a look at real question marks hanging over this election it's clearly not in question who is going to win and president putin will win another six years in power possibly he's lost certainly constitutionally anyway he's lost but what the kremlin cares about is the issue of legitimacy they want a high turnout to boost the legitimacy of his victory and a lot of effort has gone into enticements and and so on are polling stations around the country discount shopping vouchers and chances to in fancy cars and that sort of thing one thing that may stand in their way is the absence on the ballot of

a key opposition figure called alexina valmy and and to corruption lawyer who commands or a lot of support he's been barred from running he's asked his supporters to boycott this election that may impact on turnout on the seventy percent turnout that the kremlin has said that it hopes to achieve another thing that may impact turnout of course is simply the fact that an awful lot of russians even if they do support the emir putin may simply not see very much reason in the field that's been. posted on the ballot here to come out and voted talk a look or see election has an underlying theme as well in the fact that there is an international spats between russia and the u.k. at the moment how much does international politics play a role in the way the election campaign has been run leading up to even this issue which could perhaps also be a factor in the way people vote. well international politics has certainly been a big punchy theme of the me of putin's campaign such as it is it hasn't been

a very energized campaign he's made very few campaign appearances but just a couple weeks ago he announced a massive new nuclear program a new generation of untouchable invincible nuclear weapons that would protect russia and stick and put russia i to eye with the united states once again for the first time since the depths of the cold war this is putin's leave this is what he's often used to rally to unify the country around the idea of an embattled russia which he has brought back to full strength and parity with the united states as co superpowers again and of course the crisis over the spy scandal in the u.k. the poisoning with a nerve agent of the former double agent surrogate scruple doesn't hurt that idea here at all that plays very well in the media here and it plays well to the idea that people support the emir putin in his continued effort to pull russia back up to full strength as i said but we'll have to wait and see quite how that plays out

or whether indeed it has a knock on effect at the polls indeed eleven time zones there in russia several hours of voting still left will come back to later in the day joe thanks very much let's cross over to our other colleague challenges in the south of the country in sebastopol how our voters they're feeling about this election. well sebastopol sevastopol is the one of the main russian cities in the peninsula of crimea of course of vital importance here in this election and we've been speaking to voters as they sounding out they've been saying things like this is a prior celebration one man that we've spoken to a travelled all the way from i five in israel to come here and vote for his preferred candidate we can't say who he was voting for but there's a kind of idea of how russia crimea are seeing this particular election. there if you see. as and for us is that really the typical view across the area

though. well one point five million voices in crimea the majority of those are ethnic russians the majority of those are supportive of crimea is reabsorption into russia they voted for it four years ago in the referendum but there are minorities here particularly the muslim minority that are felt very marginalized victimized and oppressed under the new russian or thora teas they've been wanting to boycott this election but they say that they have been subjected to various pressure tactics to get them out to vote it doesn't necessarily matter who they vote for just to turn out bring up the voting numbers and make this essentially as legitimate an election as possible in the eyes of the authorities. well for the moment so rory we'll leave it there of course salo beds with you in sebastopol as the day continues thank you

there still ahead here on al-jazeera how people in sierra leone are trying to recover from the a bowl or break four years old. and a new debate over say spoke and privacy after revelations that data on users sounded sway to a political research for those stories after the break. hello there it is cold now in some parts of europe and elsewhere it's pretty wet we look at the satellite picture we can see all the cloud fading out from the south that's bringing in all the rain and then it's hitting that cold air over the new parts of europe where his the cold day it's turning to snow so we're expecting quite a bit of wintery weather across parts of russia and ukraine that during the day on sunday in fact that wintry weather also extends a long way towards the west with some pulse the u.k.

seeing a lot of snow at the moment and sunday we'll see some more brashly does clear there as we head through monday still for monday plenty of cold but dry weather for the northern parts of europe for the south plenty of wet weather and at times we're seeing more wintry weather for the southeast corner as well for the other side of the mediterranean while it's been fairly unsettled here recently as well more showers are making their way through parts of geria and morocco that on sunday and that system is slowly edging its way towards the east behind it to some rather brisk winds bringing in a fair amount of tag and perhaps one or two more showers during the day on monday for the east though largely fine and dry for most of us here around thirty three in cairo for the central belt of africa lots of what weather here over parts of uganda that stretches out towards the west gabble is also looking particularly wet during the day.

welcome back you're watching al-jazeera obstacle robin a reminder of our top stories there are reports of gun battles in the center of syria's the northern town of freeness kurdish y p g fighters attempt to repel

advancing turkish backed forces the free syrian army earlier declared it had full control of the town. also blood of a putin has cast his ballot for russia's presidential election seven other candidates also vying for a share of the vote but it's widely expected the putin will win a fourth term in office that means he'll leave the country for the next six years. now the u.s. president donald trump has lashed out at the investigation into links between russia and his twenty sixteen election campaign and for the first time on twitter he used the name of the man leading the probe it's all part of a political storm surrounding the firing of the f.b.i. his former deputy director now trump tweeted the miller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime it was based on fraudulent activities and a fake dossier paid for by crooked hillary and the d.n.c.

and improperly used in court for surveillance of my campaign which aren't well christian salumi reports. former deputy f.b.i. director andrew mccabe insists he was fired in an attempt to undermine his credibility months before his dismissal he told congress he can corroborate the former f.b.i. director jim commies account of his firing which is under investigation by special counsel robert muller simply puts or you cannot stop the men and women of the f.b.i. from doing the right thing protecting the american people and of holding the constitution now multiple news agencies citing anonymous sources say mccabe as acting director of the f.b.i. kept notes of his interactions with the president which have been handed over to moeller. president tram's own statements have linked conan's firing to his refusal

to shut down miller's russia best again. i don't believe he's going to fire robert muller but i can tell you this there's a lot of pressure on the congress on the attorney general to put an end to this fishing expedition not one shred of evidence has connected the president of the united states when he was a candidate and now that he is president any connection to russia there has been no russian coalition that has been uncovered thus far attorney general jeff sessions says mccabe was fired at the recommendation of disciplinary officers for misleading investigators about the bureau's handling of the hillary clinton investigation for months trump has painted mccabe as a stooge for democrats because his wife received campaign money from a clinton ally the fake news is beside themselves that mccabe was caught called out and fired trump tweeted how many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wife's campaign by cricket aides friend terry m. who was also under investigation how many lies how many leaks komi knew it all and

much more. komi responded with a tweet of his own mr president the american people will hear my story very soon and they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not ironic lee it was called the coming out a week before beyond action and reopening the investigation into secretary clinton's e-mails that released long the election to trump because before back to secretary clinton had been a little bit ahead and then he fires him because the fact that he didn't want him to would investigate the collusion when in fact that i had to do you have been or all of the evidence that they have about what russia was trying to do with the young action in the cave was fired less than two days before his retirement and pension were due to kick in christensen looming al-jazeera. southeast asian nations

gathered at the asean summit in sydney saying that north korea's nuclear and missile development is a threat to the region and a statement the group called on pyongyang to comply with its international obligations australia is hosting the two day summit for the first time despite not being part of the ten nation bloc that's looking to strengthen political and trade ties in the region amid china's rising influence with the joint commitment to respond strongly and resolutely in the face of the grave concerns we share about north korea's reckless and illegal nuclear missile programs while staying in asia one of the world's fastest growing cities is running out of water bangalore is a hub of technology but it's going dry as a result of growth neglect and unpredictable rainfall katty lopez hartigan possible . bangalore is the epi center of india's high tech industry it's even nicknamed silicon valley despite all its advances in cutting edge technology it's facing

a major problem water or rather the lack of it in that if you tell a big bang a little bit of what this is this is the main point of this and then if anything this is going to be a good collapse it will be because of the war that the city's population has doubled over the last fifteen years to more than ten million as young i.t. workers arrive to take up high tech jobs but about half of them have to rely on tankers for their water supply i would say this is because of unplanned that but a nation that has happened in the bando landscape sold a senseless irresponsible ad but there is a ship bangalore's dry fields are replacing what was once fertile and profitable land farming is now on luxury and fewer crops mean higher prices at local markets. it's also a challenge elsewhere in india thousands of farmers marched to mumbai recently demanding more access to land and financial help from the government india is not

alone inadequate supplies of water have become an international problem cape town in south africa has its own crisis to deal with after a three year drought the city is predicted to reach a day zero in early july when its water supplying reservoir sink below thirteen percent of capacity in india the supreme court is now involved last month that allowed for a new river sharing arrangement for the indian state of karnataka of which bangalore is the capital and the prices on board the call as if not a. looming problem which is when of. that that we log more force almost everyone audio video host to pick up measures naked in order harvesting and water conservation measures it's hoped the warnings are now being treated seriously enough that action can be taken to preserve water and keep it flowing. katty a little. al-jazeera. the president has lifted a state of emergency

a nationwide curfew was imposed twelve days ago following unrest between similes and muslim communities was their own businesses and a mosque was set on fire during the riots the violence began that with a group of muslim men were accused of killing a belonging to the majority similar buddhist community. people in west africa are still trying to recover from a bowl or break that hit four years ago the epidemic killed thousands of people in sierra leone survivors complain if they're not getting the help that they need evidence of support from the city of waterloo where some are still dying from health complications linked to the disease. and survived one of the most fatal viruses treat west africa indicate a group of survivors of the twenty fourteen airball outbreak are working on an awareness strategy to help others instead of your they say the disease is still

killing people three years after the country was declared a ball of free. the. complications leads to you know there of fifteen of the survivors in the country and that one is too bad there is also a need to get on there for even the problem in the country to have that if we don't have proper care so you will be i mean it will be because members mill survivors still there that i have a fragment of the virus and yes even what i appeared instead of the two ones after the first outbreak in guinea in march two thousand and fourteen it killed thousands dozens were already dying before help arrived. this cemetery in waterloo is dedicated to victims of the disease thousands of them are buried here some sort of loon is believed many could have been saved if dorna funds received by government

had been used properly this symmetry is a constant reminder of one of several yawns darkest moment. activists and survivors still struggling to recover. court demanding accountability on how fourteen million dollars of money meant to fight the disease vanished the history of that many strikes one striking their whole idea is ritual and that the victims survivors can just is what it will are we have to strike again that our government is prepared that our government judicious to manage this whatever funds are so that side to respond to the virus that is what we do it is a government official told of just leader but they've not received communication on the matter from the regional court government says more than four thousand people died here activists say the numbers are higher for now their biggest challenge is

dealing with the health complications and the stigma of having contracted the virus . i'm with you trees i'll just water the city of young. but the world health organization is racing to vaccinate people in yemen against a rapidly spreading outbreak of diptheria about one thousand three hundred people have been infected more than seventy have died since the disease was first detected six months ago how the hawks to has more. 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 enforcing the world health organization mass 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 to syria 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 coating to the nose throat tongue and blocks ways. eighty percent of the sufferers of children and young adults under twenty five years old 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 diptheria outbreak and a cholera outbreak at both symptoms of the 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 hell system and this is in truth due to the war and this will only improve once there is peace. peace looks a long way off yemen is engulfed in a war between government forces helped by saudi led coalition against iranian backed two three rebels as the conflict continues so does the suffering of millions of yemenis trapped in a situation the u.n. has called the world's largest humanitarian crisis. social media giant facebook has banned a company linked to both donald trump's campaign and the pro ranks of porsche the data analysis firm cambridge analytical has been suspended for failing to delete information from about two hundred seventy thousand users who downloaded a personality app called this is your digital life the company is accused of harvesting data without authorization in twenty fourteen to build

a software program to influence choices in the us election and elisia morale ears a reporter for the news website courts in new york she explains how it happened. what they did is they used data that was collected by an hour personalities so it's very personal data and they harvest it it's first of all it's not just the data of the people who don't loaded up which was about two hundred seventy thousand but it's there are all of their friends on facebook and all of the people who who's sort of security setting would allow the data to be accessed by dia as it is up and been transferred to cambridge analytic and they had been you know sort of looking at it it's actually pretty sinister the way that the whistleblower who spoke about it described it as like sort of like axis these accessing people that you know so like they're private and personal concerns about the election and so you know it's

far deeper and it's far more personal than you know a simple opinion poll not to mention it's not all christ. you want you all just their arms a whole realm of these are all top stories are all reports of gun battles in the center of syria's northern town of freemen as kurdish fighters to repel advancing turkish backed forces the free syrian army earlier declared it had full control of the town. vladimir putin is cast his ballot for russia's presidential election seven other candidates are also vying for a share of the votes but it's widely expected that putin will win a fourth term in office and that means he'll leave the country for the next six years u.s. president donald trump's lawyer has called for the investigation into russia's election interference to be shut down this follows the firing of former f.b.i. deputy director andrew became but new reports suggest that the cave has already

shared evidence with special counsel robert buller's investigation personal memos taken of his interactions with trump. a southeast asian nations of also gathered at the summit in sydney and say that north korea's nuclear and missile development is a threat to the region and a statement the group called the gang to comply with international obligations australia is hosting the two day summit for the first time despite not being a part of the ten nation blog it's looking to strengthen political and trade ties in the region amid china's rising influence. joint commitment to respond strongly and resolutely in the face of the grave concerns. about north korea's reckless legal nuclear missile programs and because president has lifted a state of emergency a nationwide curfew was imposed twelve days ago following addressed between sinhalese and muslim communities muslim owned businesses had set fire to

a mosque enjoying those riots the violence began when a group of muslim men were accused of killing a man belonging to the majority sinhala buddhist community i'll be back with more news in thirty minutes next it's inside story do stay with us here on al-jazeera. here is a very important for some information for many people around the world and all the cameras have gone i'm still here go into areas that nobody else is going to talk to people that nobody else is talking to and bringing that story to the forefront. the national home of the jewish people that's what a controversial bill that's being fast tracked through israel's parliament wants to achieve but where does that leave millions of israeli palestinians what will be the regional fall out this is inside story.