waycross off it does look very wet that on monday a system sweeps through though and by choose day it will be beginning to dry out for many of us behind that system though it won't be that warm on maximum in sendai just nine. zero. zero zero i maryam namazie this is the news hour live from london coming up. the. region celebrates his victory in russia's presidential election with

a promise of success and a call for unity. turkish forces say they've captured the syrian town of afrin after ousting kurdish fighters. president assad meets syrian troops in eastern where they've now we've taken eighty percent of the enclave. and trumper news his attack on the special council investigating the us presidential election republicans warned him not to sack robert muller. we have top sports stories including chelsea fight took place in the english f.a. cup semifinals where they'll meet southampton i'll have the full troll for the last full coming up in the program. well in the last hour of law jim a putin has celebrated his victory in russia's

presidential election with thousands of supporters in moscow and a promise of success in the future for what he called that great country is the latest on the exit poll so far with fifty percent of the vote counted putin is projected to take seventy five percent of the vote is nearest rival is communist candidate who didn't who is sitting on thirteen point three percent who didn't is a multimillionaire tycoon who's been critical of the government but not of person. just behind him on six point three percent is ultranationalist right to measure an all ski former reality t.v. star sub jack was one of the most high profile candidates but she's in fourth position with just one point four percent of the vote lawrence lee reports now from moscow i call this election such as the status of blood in your putin in russia but he was in reality a little more than a coronation to the worst disappearing you could lead you to that are you me it's very important to maintain this unity to attract those who could have voted for all

of a candidate we have to stand together shoulder to shoulder we have to think about unity not about differences we should think about the future of our people about the future of our country we are destined for success. it was never a contest got the overwhelming percentage of votes cast and more than six out of ten russians voted for the kremlin it went more or less to plan of course russians knew perfectly well that when the television told them that they had to go out to vote because it was a city do you see what they really meant was you have to go and vote because we have to get putin back in the kremlin that meant this was a great election about who was going to win but it was about but how much several instances of fraud were caught on camera harmless looking old ladies voting twice or stuffing reams of paper since a box is not enough to alter the outcome but for alexina valmy banned from standing

in the election evidence of a corrupt vote so thousands of people went to vote and out of curiosity i went on twitter to check on the candidates to see if they are writing about violations they are behaving as if nothing is happening people who are observing these elections keep writing about things and other violations and they are complaining about it and the people who are remaining silent don't care about this they are candidates it's just that kind of election i guess in delhi even took part in the campaign was entirely absent from the t.v. debates but during the election videos surfaced on the internet like this one which gave a glimpse of how the kremlin wants people to think. the film depicts a man who tells his wife he can't be bothered to vote something which putin himself had warned against the man that has a nightmare in which black africans suddenly appear in the armed forces to his horror the homosexual in the kitchen the message is clear is day this is what you'll get if you don't have putin in charge and of course it's coupled with

a promise from the president spend more and more on the military what he can put in would very much like to normalize ties with the west but his personality means he can't show weakness it can't be seen to be giving up yet he understands very well that with international isolation his regime is open to risks and dangers his fourth term begins with a flat out diplomatic crisis with the west events which are uncertain and fast moving but political change in russia continues to move as fast as the ice on the moscow river largely al-jazeera in most. of the democrats and also spoke at a media conference in moscow after his election victory he thanked voters for their support and said russia has a great future ahead. which is little doubt you are open to support the results could be completely different so i would like to frank you i would like to say thank you to all voters who voted for me and it shows with trust

will creating together and hope that every think we are talking about will be achieved and this is important to unite all people we respectively who we voted for . she's alive now florence who is in the russian capital moscow lawrence the result of this election was widely expected but did the kremlin get the legitimacy from it that it wanted. yes i think of i think to be honest the older they'll say that they did they were worried after so many years in power people wouldn't why would you vote if you know what the outcome is going to be it's minus twenty you know you could sit inside and have a glass of vodka or something but they they weren't used and soul food they tried to get this error celebration around dates and it as i said in the report it ended up being a bit more like a coronation and i think the if if you think that after eighteen years in power

they managed to get sixty five percent of people to silence or vote admittedly with some pretty obvious irregularities like ballot box stuffing and things like that it's still a pretty good turnout for the for the kremlin and the amounts of votes called for putin which looked like being three quarters of the entire vote again admittedly against of a deliberately very poor field people still have to go and vote and so they will say it's legitimately it's a fourth term and putin can press on with with this with his nationalist pro russian agenda that he has and clearly that takes different forms it's partly to do with standing up to this perceived antagonism from the west as i said in that report it's also against perceived enemies within there's a lot of and c and c m a sexual and racist stuff that goes on around the fringes of when you were crossing and that exploited us as well particularly in the poorer parts of russia and so that sort of social program and the and the and the foreign

policy program seemed to me to go hand in hand when has also said that he wants to try to give some more money to the poor because the wealth distribution in russia is awful but that's that's that seems to me a very long way away it's more the sense of pride the motherland those sorts of things that putin that there always has traumas cones and i have also been accusations of fraud and people being forced to vote some footage we seen on social media is that likely to be a problem myself or an. well both the electoral commission here has acknowledged some irregularities but they've said of the things still valid of course they would because it's all part of the same machine to get him back into power. i mean clearly it was true that there have been lots of instances of people working in the public sector who received less as saying it's your civic duty to go house and votes we expect you to do it which you can classes as

a threat if you want to war or pressure or whatever you feel like and that's a coded message for go and vote for putin clearly there was also the fraud that went all over the place which was monitored and picked up by supporters of alexina value proposition from the right which of the standing the thing is i just don't think any of it actually would have made any difference in the long term because if you look at where all the other kind of those are against putin the second highest the problem is really there for about thirteen percent i mean we've seen so far ahead the nothing like that if all right well thank you very much lawrence lee in moscow. well russia's election is being held on the fourth anniversary of the an exception of crimea from ukraine or challenge reports from sevastopol crimea is largest city. as the home of russia's black sea fleet sevastopol has always felt like a russian city even in the years before crimea was annexed when this territory was

leased off ukraine. so the polling stations here bustled with cadets the naval officers and military policeman and civilians most seemingly happy for crimea to be voting in its first russian presidential election and most seemingly happy to cast their ballot for one man. is that the animal of course we voted for the president of the russian federation for number one vladimir putin. if he didn't take civil stop all in the whole of crimea under his arm it would have ended up in the wrong hands if he didn't do what he did who knows who would have been in charge of this fleet is. now watches or thirty's want to connect this presidential election as much as possible with another vote that happens four years ago and so everyone in the cast their ballots in this polling station today and around sebastopol get some medal and this medal has the dates of the referendum sixteenth of march two

thousand and fourteen that referendum of course in which the annexation of crimea was formalized and then on the back we have the motto with russia forever very consciously election day here has been made a celebration of being russian it's a tactic that's likely to play well for the kremlin both in terms of crimean turnouts and results but it's the an experimental or has been a central if i'm declared campaign platform for putin nationally to win criminalise it's the biggest achievement of his last presidential term and for many russians it's a source of huge national pride got it seems serious by ciba so on sunday evening shortly after the polls closed big celebrations were held in red square named russia sevastopol crimea rory chalons how to zero point zero. president putin has also dismissed british allegations that russia was behind the chemical attack on a form of double agent as nonsense persian is expelled twenty three russian

diplomats in protest of the poisoning of soccer script and his daughter yulia in southern england last week russia has retaliated with similar measures but insists it did not possess the nerve agent used in the attack. i learned about this tragedy about scripts how i learned about it from the media i think it's quite obvious that if it is a chemical weapon many people would die immediately doesn't have any chemical weapons which destroyed all its chemical weapons under international observation some of our international partners promised to do so but they haven't done before we're open to corporations. which are still to come for you on the news hour as the u.s. debates its gun laws we visit a high oh school which has been quietly arming educators feel years. the horse first ban all a showcasing arts and culture and want to pakistan's biggest cities. and goodbye

chang south korea closes the paralympic games after historic five weeks of sport and politics. kurdish fighters in syria's northwestern afrin region have vowed to fight on after the main town was taken by turkish forces and their allies turkey launched its operation to clear the enclave of kurdish y p g fighters in january the kurdish administration says it will now use guerilla tactics against the turkish army after simmons reports from gaza on turkey's southern border with syria. they reached out for him at sunrise columns of free syrian army fighters turkish special forces have been active on the ground ahead of the kurds. why p.g. fighters had withdrawn in large numbers there was limited resistance on one of the rebel fighters backed and directed by turkey with ground forces and airstrikes

prepared to declare a victory here. before and after we enter the free and we've liberated all the center of and we will declare a victory statement on the terror we are telling the civilians to come back to our friends it's safe now. within hours celebrations in the city sent. by the syrians and the turks. this is a gift from the turkish armed forces to the turkish people and our glorious martyrs on this day a reference there to the victory of turkish forces against the western allied forces one hundred three years ago in deliberately in the first world war the turkish president was at the commemorations and made this announcement tell us the

result. most of the terrorist have already fled with their tails between their legs our special forces and members of the free syrian army a cleaning the remains in the traps i left behind in the center of a frame our flags of trust and stability away even inside of rags of terrorist and so on the fifty eighth day of operation olive branch turkey's first objective is realized that i'm here for transit some civilians have chosen to stay instead of joining tens of thousands of others into syrian regime areas to the south. it's reported the kurdish why peachey now intends to avoid direct confrontation with turkish forces instead engaging in guerrilla types of action the turkish have proved with force their intention to pull. back the white p.g. away from its border and it doesn't and they'll be moving further eastwards this is likely to be one bottle of several andrew simmons are jazeera. let's just take

an overall look at the situation as it stands in syria at the moment you have turkey in the free syrian army having captured large swathes of the a friend district but kurdish forces remain in control of most of the northern territory that's east of the euphrates italy province in the northwest remains the largest rebel stronghold but syrian government forces backed by russian air power have divided the rebel enclave of eastern goods into three parts cutting off key rebel supply lines well the syrian president bashar assad has visited army positions in eastern ghouta where his forces now control almost eighty percent of the territory assad met with soldiers who'd been part of the effort to retake the damascus suburb the united nations is said to be negotiating a possible ceasefire with the main rebel group they plan the rebels say they're in discussions about getting aid to civilians and evacuating people with urgent medical cases. of aid has the latest on the situation in eastern kentucky.

this is still happening in the besieged pockets of rebel held eastern buthe here strikes and shelling have continued on one of the largest and most populated parts of the entries from inside this footage from a drone shows the shrinking boundary between rebel fighters and advancing forces loyal to president bashar al assad thousands of people have been wounded in more than fifteen hundred killed in the latest on slot. shook it will worship we hold the united nations and the security council directly responsible for this silence around these crimes and for failing to take action to prevent these crimes but let us not forget the party that holds directress. like much else of rebel held syria relentless bombardment of the has forced most of it into submission the buildings over parking garages no longer stand that's a washing machine hanging out from the shell of an apartment block

a fridge shows what was once a kitchen another floor appears to show but and the caved in roof the cameraman who filmed it says this used to be his neighborhood craters on top of buildings are the entry points from where rockets and bombs entered these buildings until recently eastern there was home to almost four hundred thousand people the u.n. is said to be negotiating with rebels for an evacuation deal many don't want to leave because they fear conscription arrests reprisals and revenge wants to leave. more than twenty thousand have fled to government controlled areas but tens of thousands still remain inside. we lived in horrible conditions we did not have food water or water. syria's military has released videos of tanks and soldiers rolling into the streets of towns across eastern huta in addition to russian air cover government forces are backed by iranian troops hezbollah fighters and shia militias from iraq and afghanistan they say they have almost one but they're taking over

another area decimated by syria seventy a war some of a job with al jazeera. let's take a closer look now at the situation in northern syria i'm joined by friday occur in turkey analyst at chatham house thank you very much for coming in to speak to us so the turkish army is now in africa and taking the territory is one thing will they be able to consolidate that position that in the short term i think turkey will be able to consolidate its control over a free however in the longer term very much depends on what alliances the syrian kurdish militants do with turkey's opponents for example does the assad regime for example supply assist the the syrian kurds against the turkey which then could cause a prolonged conflict between them and the kurds have vowed to deploy guerrilla tactics against the turks how much of a problem could that be could it result in them withdrawing from the territory

sooner than they would wish to if the syrian kurds receive external support say for example from the assad forces then yes it could be quite painful to turkey we should that could be similar to how the americans manage a very quickly two thousand three to dislodge the iraqi military but then we saw the we saw a sunni insurgency erupt it created lots of casualties among u.s. forces for something similar could happen with turkey so how long are they going how engaged are they prepared to be they in this for the long haul will they remain in affray in for a period of time before then going east of the euphrates potentially i think the turkish military will be in the syria for the long haul i think the turkey is the syrian armed allies are incapable on their own to maintain and hold the territory that has are now gained in a free and i think that turkey will attempt to widen its military control

a. west of the euphrates to try to destroy the kurds from more and more territory in northern syria. from chatham house thank you rick. now republican senators a warning us president donald trump not to fire special counsel robert mueller they say he must be allowed to investigate alleged russian meddling in the two thousand and sixteen presidential election and a series of tweets over the weekend trump accuse the f.b.i. leadership of lies corruption and leaking information tom ackerman has more from washington. while calling the investigation into his campaign suspected connections with russia a witchhunt the us president had indicated he might be willing to submit to questioning by the special counsel but as robert muller's team appears to tighten its focus on the president himself trump's latest tweet storm made clear his open hostility towards the probe why he said as the motor team have thirteen hardened

democrats some big crooked hillary supporters and zero republicans another dam recently added does anyone think this is fair and yet there is no collusion on saturday trump's personal lawyer john dowd called for a shutdown of moaners investigation at first saying he was speaking for the president but later backtracking he spoke after former f.b.i. acting director andrew mccabe was fired for what government investigators said were an authorized media contacts and a lack of candor about alleged disclosure of classified information mccabe disputed the allegations and said his dismissal was an attempt to undermine his credibility because he could corroborate former f.b.i. director jim commies own firing by trump who's admitted it was intended to and the russia investigation amid reports that muller has presented the white house with questions he wants to ask the president even under threat of a court ordered subpoena there's growing speculation that trump is ready to fire

muller that say members of congress would be a big mistake this is a serious investigation and if the president tries to terminate it prematurely i think it will be. a true constitutional crisis and meanwhile mccabe's firing just two days before he became eligible for a full government pension has prompted at least one democratic congressman to offer him a temporary job allowing mccabe to preserve his benefits tom ackerman al-jazeera washington . before this a correspondent patchy ca and joins us now from washington republicans are saying back off but is trump like. well truthfully he doesn't have the authority he simply doesn't have the power to directly fire robert muller he could try to change the regulation that governs the special counsel's office that would end up in court and it seems unlikely that the court would side with the president he does have some options though he could try to fire rod

rosenstein the deputy attorney general overseeing the moeller investigation and try to get someone in there who would intervene or for the more likely scenario is one that we've been hearing that has been contemplated within the white house is to fire the attorney general jeff sessions remember he recused himself because he was involved in the campaign that's the reason rod rosenstein is in charge of muller if there's a new attorney general they take that authority now it be hard for the president or nominate an outsider who would get past senate confirmation without promising to protect muller so then the tricky thing he could do is move a current cabinet secretary who's already been approved over to that position there's been talk that the e.p.a. administrator pruitt would be moved over and the thing is because special counsel doesn't have broad power he's not allowed to go call a press conference and say here's everything i found he has to buy the statute give that report that information to the who's ever overseeing him so if that's pruitt then prove can simply say nothing to see here and say the public never gets to find

out what mohler actually knows so what about the investigation itself how close is minute to getting to trump and saudi. you know i think that there is a reason we're seeing this tweet storm if you will from the president and that i think is why you're seeing all these members of congress say stop looking so guilty that was from a republican who's been a big supporter of president trump saying if you have nothing to hide quit calling it a witch hunt naming muller which is the first lead the first time he's done that show in the intensity of what he's feeling about this investigation so basically we do know that it's getting closer to the president the moeller subpoenaed all documents from the trumpet business organization that have to do with russia and as tom mentioned we believe there are reports that in these negotiations about getting to the president to have him sit down and talk with muller in the investigators that they've handed over to his lawyers here the topics we want to talk about that could be what's really influence of the president to send out these series of tweets and

i think it's important to point out the pressing the united states is an american citizen he can plead the fifth but he cannot talk to investigators he is required by law to answer subpoena. reports are that his terms attorneys are saying don't talk to muller president trump it won't work out well because lying to investigators is a felony but term for reportedly is very confident in his own abilities thinking that he could handle that incredibly well now this is a president who's proven that he has sometimes difficulty distinguishing truth distinguishing truth from lies so it would be a risky proposition but one he's apparently telling people he wants to take thank you very much patty kind in washington. you know the news hour live from london still ahead you dash cam footage shows the moment a newly built pedestrian bridge collapsed in miami. tell you why a fifty year old massacre in the philippines is stopping peace efforts with armed groups in mindanao. in the opening mostly g.p. race gets underway in qatar with

a last lap thriller joel telling you he's been setting the pace for the new season . of the a. hello there for some of us across europe it is bitterly cold at the moment there's also a fair amount of snow around the reason for it is an area of high pressure that sitting across the northern belt and that's ensuring that it's cold here and it's also mostly dry the west so weather is in the south you can see all the cloud working its way around the area of high pressure and then sneaking up through the eastern parts of europe where this wet weather hits that cold air that's where we're seeing the snow a few bits and pieces in the way of snow are going to be seen again on monday but we'll see some more significant downpours on choose day to heaviest snow making its way through parts are remaining and up into ukraine towards the west well the cold

air is actually being cut off here so the temperatures are recovering eight degrees will be the maximum in london by choose day and force in paris will be up at around seven for the other side of the mediterranean here it looks like we're going to see things turn increasingly wet as we head through the next day or so so forth on monday there's actually a good deal of dry weather around the temperatures aren't too bad either we're looking at around sixteen in algiers but then there's more wet weather that's pushing its way and so for morocco algeria and into tunisia is going to be more cloud more rain and it won't be feeling that warm either a maximum temperature this time it now just of just a thirty degrees. the in. or benefit those people.

who witnessed documentaries that open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera. perceptional. powerful documentary. from around the globe. it was a big sound but the. religious journalism. debates and discussion is a lot of misunderstanding a distortion isn't the only argument i find against that is all over the corridor the history. see the womb so much to see the scripture on.

welcome back it was the news hour let's update you on all top stories but jim a person has celebrated his victory in russia's presidential election with thousands of supporters in moscow and a promise of success in the future for what he called the great country. is in serious northwestern africa region have vowed to fight on using guerilla tactics after turkish forces took control of the main town also syria's president bashar assad has visited soldiers in the enclave of eastern goods which his forces now control almost eighty percent of. victory for the. means that he'll serve as president now until two thousand and twenty four the end of the current two term limit making him the longest serving russian leader since joseph stalin it's korea started as a k.g.b. officer way he rose to become a left handed colonel before moving into politics in one thousand nine hundred one

he took over as acting president on new year's eve one thousand nine hundred ninety one over half the votes in the next year's election russia's economy stabilized and expanded substantially over the next eight years between two thousand and eight and two thousand and twelve goosen served as prime minister but he was widely seen as the force behind russia's invasion and the antics ation of georgia mass protests over alleged voter fraud followed his reelection as president in two thousand and twelve and was outraged by western support for the protest as the past six years have seen putin's most audacious foreign policy including is an extension of the crimean peninsula in two thousand and fourteen and intervention in syria the following year russia has been repeatedly accused of interfering in the us presidential election in two thousand and sixteen which he denies. journalist michael binyon joins me in the studio now he is a former moscow correspondent for the times newspaper thanks very much for coming in to speak to us so great deal to discuss but let's just first focus on the

turnout this was crucial for the kremlin for president putin but it was less than he hopes yes it was disappointing very hoped for at least seventy percent and it's looking as around sixty five all thereabouts which is not particularly good and it's a suggestion that a lot of younger russians have listened to the call from the opposition leader who was barred from standing alexei navalny who said well just don't to go to boycott the election because it's manifestly unfair and it looks as though quite a number of younger people probably have done that and so what does that mean then for as they just mysie he faced the same questions and concerns in his last victory in two thousand and twelve but is eager is he likely to come up against those same challenges now well by russian standards he is absolutely legitimately elected it was an open election the were full of opposition candidates they didn't school very

much but they were there and he complained that he had the overwhelming support of the bulk of the russian people which is true you know starts the more difficult job of trying to make the economy better trying to sort out syria trying to get an end to the conflict in ukraine and trying to revive the economy which is going to be quite a big challenge and how important is that because we speak about russia but we're talking about a vast country that spans across a vast territory you have a great deal of the wealth concentrated in moscow but the economy has come under enormous strain and people across the country have been feeling the pressure from that how much of a priority is that going to be for putin in the next six years well i think that is the absolute pertti russians can put up with a lot and have done in the past and they're ready to tighten their belts which they've had to do but they are begin. to grumble and the problem is not just lack of income jobs are scarce they're finding that they're not finding much opportunity

at russia so it's got to do something and that means better relations with the west and that means fixing ukraine where the sanctions are really hurting russia but if anything we see putin's relationship with the west going in the opposite trajectory it's deteriorating he has a diplomatic crisis with the u.k. existing tensions with europe an investigation into political interference taking place in the us how difficult is it going to be for is he going to attempt to repair the situation much well that's a that's a key question he'll have to do pretty much as sort of flip a revolt for us yes indeed he has let relations get worse some would say he's deliberately worsen them because this way he's been able to project himself as a protector of russia while the whole world was against russia and now he's actually got to try to improve things and i'm not sure where he's going to make a start but is there much of a perception within russia that his behavior on the global stage is not necessarily been in russia's interests there's a perception on the global stage certainly i'm not sure there's much perception

russia that most people think that he's really stood up to the west and the west is going up on russia and bullying the russians and that's the picture that's the narrative that he's wanted to project and that is what he hoped would bring people to the ballot boxes in their droves doesn't seem to worked like you very much michael. now next weekend tens of thousands of students are expected to march in cities across the u.s. to demand action after the florida school shooting the level of gun violence in the u.s. is strikingly i compared to other developed countries three of its deadliest mass shootings have happened in just the past six months last october a gunman killed fifty nine people at a music concerts and last vegas making the deadliest gun crime in modern american history a month later twenty six people were killed in a church in texas the deadliest mass shooting in the state and last month in florida a gunman opened fire in a high school killing seventeen people including students and teachers this year

alone there have been more than ten thousand shootings in the u.s. killing at least two thousand eight hundred men women and children one of president trump suggestions for tackling gun crimes in schools has been to arm teachers and school stuff john hendren visited one school in ohio which has been quietly doing sophie is this might be the most heavily armed public school in america in the rural town of sidney ohio would be attackers are warned each entrance to every school scattered throughout this school or several safes opened with a fingerprint it put a glock nineteen handgun in reach of a team of teachers and staff trained to take out the shooter i don't necessarily like having guns in school either mental health backpacks background checks assault rifles gun control laws all of those things i don't necessarily agree disagree with but at the same time i am all of those things combined are not going to stop

an active shooter five years before president trump said this if you had a teacher with who was adept at firearms they could very well end the attack very quickly educators like this former soldier were volunteering to train for classroom combat back when we first started this i don't. i second guessed whether this was the correct thing to do and sometimes i still do but. if if we save one one one student or we say a whole building more of the students it's it's i think it's worth it i think it's . i don't it's it's just sad that we have to do that now after the massacre at connecticut sandy hook elementary school in two thousand and twelve sheriff john lynn hart decided that if anyone starts shooting here there would be a small army to fire back its case in america i cannot wait on the state i cannot wait on the federal government i can wait on psychologists to figure out why one

person hurts another person you have to protect yourselves if i could wave a wand and make it all go away i would prefer a no guns period but that's not going to happen in the states. each school in sydney also has an armed deputy and each classroom is numbered on the outside so first responders can pinpoint a gunman the locations of the weapons and the identities of the first responders are secret so that if a gunman came to this school he wouldn't know who might be armed because it's all caught on camera the first responders can see him many teachers say they're already overburdened without adding security to their duties they're there to teach so what they would rather have than guns is the have training on how to i identify mental health problems but here in sydney some parents of reluctantly come around like it's not the world i think any of us will live in but i think it's the reality of where we're at and. you know we take all kinds of measures to protect banks and

our money and museums and why would we do the same thing for our kids as she can schools across the us return to focusing on the so-called three r.'s reading writing and arithmetic here in sydney they've added a fourth responder john hendren al-jazeera sydney ohio. and his very man who was stabbed in jerusalem's old city earlier has died of his wounds the suspected attacker was shot dead by security forces at the time of the attack tensions have been escalating in jerusalem since u.s. president gul drums recognized the city as israel's capital at the end of last year . but israeli forces say they've destroyed a new tunnel network dug by hamas in gaza military says the tunnel was two hundred meters from the israeli border was going to be used to mount cross border attacks it was cut off during the two thousand and fourteen gaza war and a massive been working to get it back into operation a spokesman for hamas has denied the claims and accused israel of marketing fake achievements to increase the morale of its soldiers. well now to sri lanka where

the president has lifted a nationwide state of emergency which was imposed to stop anti muslim violence the order came into effect told days ago off to an after violence which killed two people and damaged hundreds of muslim owned properties and mosques much of the unrest was carried out by sinhalese buddhists and was concentrate in the central county district security forces have been deployed to help rebuild damaged homes and businesses and its myth has more from the city of jaffna in northern sri lanka . now went into communal violence first broke out two weeks ago the police and the government were criticised for not doing enough to stop the violence that was directed mainly muslim old shops businesses and homes so in response to that they quickly imposed a state of emergency in as part of but they blocked all restricted access to what's up viber to facebook because the government says messages inciting racial violence were being spread by members of the sinhalese majority nationalist community of

the muslim minority now one of the lessons the government has learned is that it says in future it's going to much more closely monitor what goes out on social media because now for two weeks people not been able to get access to watch baseball viable or imo because of those restrictions considerably inconveniencing people here but it says it needs to monitor what's the message of the spread on most social media platforms and indeed facebook was called in by the government last week to say what it could do and facebook has said it will work with the government to try and stop these messages the messages of. violence and racial incitement being spread by its powerful. new video has emerged of the moment a newly built pedestrian bridge collapsed in the u.s. state of florida killing six people this dash cam footage taken on the road at florida international university in miami shows how in

a split second the bridge crashed on to vehicles below the university says engineers met hours before it collapsed and concluded a crack in the structure was not a safety concern. we believe that we've recovered the final two individuals final two victims from underneath the bridge so that makes a total of five people that were recovered from underneath the bridge there was one individual or passed away at the hospital for total of six people and i believe that is the final count a ceremonies taking place to mark the fiftieth anniversary of a massacre in the philippines locally to say because it remains on resolved it's holding back peace talks between the philippine government and armed groups in the southern region of mindanao jamila island bogan reports now from courage or island . the island of the door was scene of one of the most decisive battles in the second world war it was the last line of defense for

american philippine troops from invading japanese forces since then it has become a memorial of bravery and sacrifice. but for many muslim filipinos could he door is also a place of a national betrayal i don't know man if jesus walked through these walls hoping to see the name of his grandfather it isn't here he says but it does not diminish the importance of what happened here fifty years ago i studied. in the bottom more history and then i found the story of this. and so a sublime summer youth. we are to conduct a study in justice because we are the future of the bombs and. in the late one nine hundred sixty s. before martial law was imposed the philippine government already wielded enormous control over state forces and many of its operations were shrouded in secrecy

operation were deca was a covert military plan by the former president for dinner and marcus the destabilized and take it back from malaysia filipino muslims were recruited under the guise that they will be able to join the philippine military but the plan failed and the massacre or more than twenty filipino muslims spark to rebel unit mindanao that continues to this day. it is believed that a total of about sixty filipino muslims were recruited and most of them remain unaccounted for various armed groups and rebel leaders have for decades demanded separate state for more communities in mindanao more than one hundred thousand people have been killed and millions more displaced governments have tried and failed to achieve a peace deal many local leaders believe that's because historical injustices have never been acknowledged the job of the massacre is not taught in schools are

written about in history books and so in a small and solemn commemoration of jobby there are those who died are honored fifty years ago those filipino muslims being trained as soldiers but their names on these walls local leaders say this may have been a desperate act as they were being held captive by the military and probably already knew they would be killed. but they wanted the country to know they did exist and remember what happened here. dog and al jazeera could hear their island central philippines. artists musicians and poets from around the world have been flocking to lahore for pakistan's first ever be n.r.a. the art festival not only aims to promote cross cultural exchange but to place pakistani art on a global stage al jazeera is kemal hyder went to have a look. if it hurts

be a knowledge thanksgiving. art lovers an enthusiast. once known as lotus garden by the british in the mid nineteenth century since being renamed juno gargan after bulger sounds founding father. is rejecting their visions entertain the audience with classical music and to allow deployed. but outside the music it's more thank you and some of the originators find your heart today just a rhythm of their drop everything is so wonderful and almost fantastic and so you know to be participating. he was a. gallery and then to show them facts of. even we don't

visit modern enough culture and cultural events are important to any country absolutely any country at all because that's what. we are i think the whole said really nice things about pakistan i think the people every person i've met in pakistan has been fantastic so you couldn't ask for a better investment or for the country as a rare time by the pakistanis to show the original show. that beer and first off it's going to and their historic edward norton. or the rest of the word but also give an opportunity for progress on the. learn from all those people who have come all the way to bach to shepherd and district of and although there are more than fifty artists taking part from bangladesh india iran syria longer europe and the us bogged down new yorkers. i feel really excited it's like a new journey has been. and we are learning from them they are learning from not

only an exchange of culture a bit century of experiences and a very comforted her time of relative calm in the safety and security situation improves organizers believe it will encourage people to partnerships in a very. banal is an opportunity. for people to come and visit. for. casual travel and to be able to see the whole to be able to see pakistan that we all are living and we're all a part of the same global culture and it's business as usual here things go up and down but these things are going up and down all over the was back at the long haul museum one of the seven locations for the event it is not difficult to understand their reach tapestry. but the message here is that love orders.

with this rich traditions of art and beauty come on. the whole or pakistan. you know at the news hour still ahead barcelona go thirty six matches on b. seven in spain stop me joe will be here with that story and the rest of the sports . education is struggling to keep pace often failing to prepare children for today's world. but some schools are changing the rules there are kids who have hope that they can and how beginning. with the stone mission results. in. a different book are in. rebel education early learning mexico at this time on al-jazeera.

al-jazeera. where every. time now for sports. thank you chelsea are through to a second successive english f.a. cup semi final but they needed extra time to get past less don't sunday. put

chelsea ahead in the first half but jamie vadi equalized for the hosts to force extra time it was substitute pedro who headed home in the one hundred fifth minute to put chelsea in front again sealing their spot in the last four to one. what's also been drawn with southampton who beat third tayside were getting a little earlier and not just united and tottenham will play in the all the semifinal now those matches will take place on the twenty first and the twenty second of april at wembley where top men will have something of a home advantage they've been playing home games there this season while the new stadium is being built now to have made it thirty six matches unbeaten in spain's top flight after to know victory over athletic bilbao. put them ahead after just eight minutes before leno messi scored his twenty fifth goal in the league this season at the midst of a vet a side now have an eleven point lead at the top of the standings and that is off to

second place atletico madrid lost two one at villareal on sunday but look at that it was an absolute go fest in madrid chris turner and although schooled four goals israel beat juror no six three and rails are third in the standings but still fifteen points adrift of leaders barcelona christian the elder and boss known as leno messi maybe some of the best footballers in the world but both trail liverpool's most sour in the scoring ranks the egyptian striker has become the top goalscorer across europe some five major leagues and says he's flattered to be compared to messi by his own manager you can call up some of them of his kind of ability to be a lie of course when they compare you to a great player and he's one of the best over the last few years it's great for me but i think the comparison is more about our goal tally rather than our style i read what they write on social media in the end social media spun it won't affect me change my mood and change my life sometimes we talk and we laugh about those

things but in the end it's a compliment. the new mighty g.p. season is underway the first race of two thousand and eighteen in council provided a last lap thriller to cassie's and rid of a zero so over to mark mark head and just managed to hold off the reigning world champion the visitors are crossing the line by me at no point not two seven seconds ahead of the spaniard valentino rossi completed the podium. i. believe it will move. up south korea is that liberating the end of a successful winter games that is first to have a gold medal at the winter paralympics in men's sitting cross country skiing and mostly it end of a historic event which saw north and south korea uniting at the olympics and north

korean athletes participating in the winter power lympics for the very first time kathy novak reports from pyongyang. just over five weeks ago athletes and visitors arrived in this snowy region of south korea for the winter games now that much of the snow has melted and the final medals have been awarded it's time to say farewell with the closing ceremony for the biggest ever winter paralympics about five hundred seventy athletes from forty nine countries took part in clude ing for the first time in a winter paralympics north korea the show of unity started with athletes from both koreas marching under a unified flag at the olympic opening ceremony they helped to make these the pisa lympics that the south korean government had hoped for we begin to get to the olympics acted as the path that led to donald trump and kim jong un agreeing to hold talks and korea became a driving force behind promoting peace to single you don't like a really big deal

a lot of people have said that the winter games lead to the easing of into korean ties which is very positive and i feel great about it south koreans enthusiastically supported the paralympics with record breaking ticket sales but many complained they couldn't watch korean athletes competing because of a lack of television coverage. it was difficult to tell our children who was competing at the paralympics them with what kind of disability is hard to find out if it's not in the media so that was a bit disappointing petitions to the president lead to broadcasters showing more paralympic events it's hope to these paralympics will help improve conditions for people with disabilities in south korea here in the host city organizers build and upgraded facilities to help make them more accessible but around the country older buildings narrow pathways and an even surfaces can make getting around challenging for those with impairments. there is shoes being shared with the host cities of the

next summer and winter games tokyo and beijing so we want to take advantage of the fact that we are staying here in asia for a decade to really prove accessibility but also the way people perceive persons with an impairment because it's not only about physical structures is about mentality as the international paralympic committee president closed to the celebration he paid tribute to the renowned scientist stephen hawking who passed away on wednesday and like the athletes here refused to allow his disability to hold him back kathy novak al-jazeera pyongyang south korea or pyongyang has now handed the olympic flag to the next host city beijing in four years' time china will try to better its medal whole i got just one gold leaving them in twentieth place the united states topped the table with thirteen gold behind them with the n.p.a. or neutral paralympic athletes the name given to russia's competitors and canada came in. a time when the champion merit and did her record breaking season with

a flourish in the final event of the cross-country skiing world cup as father norwegian heidi being sealed the overall title and who became the most decorated olympian of all time in china last month when the ten kilometer pursuit in sweden on sunday the thirty seven year old finished sixteen point seven seconds out of the nearest challenger jessica diggins of the usa then finish down in eighteenth place but was still able to hang on to a lead in the overall standings to come her second consecutive crystal globe. elsewhere in sweden the final alpine skiing races of the world cup season were cancelled because of high winds the cancellation gave victoria ravens a third giants line slalom title and first since two thousand and twelve mckayla shifrin picked up the slalom and overall ladies title austria's marcel her show was crowned men's slalom and overall champion and i was like a sport for now but tomorrow am in london thank you very much was more into

everything on our website all the latest news and sport right there including of course analysis that takes you behind the top headlines of the day al-jazeera dot com that if the news al but i will be back with another full person very shortly stay with us. in syria thousands have disappeared without a trace. forcibly taken from their families when the most terrible thing of syria is to be detained this has been the invisible

weapon of the syrian dictatorship could offer some toddlers a call to do good by there to guide them continue to be surely to the new culture of. the disappeared of syria but this time on al jazeera. a new poll ranks mexico city as the poll with worst in the world for sexual violence many women are attacked while moving in the crowded spaces of the metro buses and even at the hands of taxi drivers the conversation starts with do you have a boyfriend you're very pretty and young you feel unsafe threatened you think about how to react what do i do if this gets west's no money on the uses a new service it's called lal dr it's for women custard ges only and drawn by women drivers the apple for some extra features like a panic button and twenty four seven monitoring of drivers. stories of life. and inspiration. a series of short

documentaries from around the world. that celebrate the human spirit against the odds some of them come to someday someday. al-jazeera selects changemaker this at this time. i. think. hootin celebrates his victory in russia's presidential election with a promise of success and a call for unity.