in syria citizens are collecting evidence. of crimes committed against civilians moved out of the six hundred thousand pages so that one day they can bring the assad regime to justice the face on the charges it's a. syria witnesses for the prosecution at this time on al jazeera. after days of silence facebook c.e.o. addresses privacy concerns that have taken tens of millions of dollars off the company's value.

and welcome to al-jazeera life by headquarters in doha with me and the parana also ahead air strikes and serious problems killed at least twenty two people most of them children. french authorities open a formal investigation into ties between former president nicolas sarkozy and libya and. three months after barely surviving an impeachment president has resigned. the head of facebook has promised to restrict developers access to information after admitting that it mishandled belonging to fifty million of its uses. finally broke his silence five days off that the u.k. media expose the actions of cambridge and aletta the firm accused of improperly access and use information to manipulate u.s.

voices and a post on facebook sokoban admitted that his. company made a mistake since data protection is promising an investigation into apps on the platform after a quote is allowed cambridge and other to access to information on millions of profiles that's despite only three hundred thousand users responding to the quiz well that quiz gave cambridge and that of her access to respondents friends as well and because of the facebook maintains that there was no data breach as permission was given by the original users zuckerberg says terms of service have since changed my carrier has more from washington d.c. . head a hearing on election security by the senate intelligence committee discussion about how to protect the electoral process from outside agencies in the light of social media interference and twenty sixteen the elephant not in the room though is facebook founder mark zuckerberg he and facebook chief operating officer sheryl sandberg were also absent from an internal facebook meeting tuesday that was

addressed by legal executives zuckerberg has released a lengthy statement acknowledging that there were failures in facebook's protection of data he continues i started facebook and at the end of the day i'm responsible for what happens on our platform i'm serious about doing what it takes to protect our community while the specific issue involving cambridge analytic should no longer happen with new apps today that doesn't change what happened in the past we will learn from this experience to secure our platform further and make our community safer for everyone going forward but us lawmakers remain adamant that the facebook founder and other tech c.e.o.'s should provide information in person minnesota senator amy klobuchar has formally asked for a judicial hearing with social media c.e.o.'s including zuckerberg this isn't the first time we've made this request but now fifty million people who had their

records stolen should add to our numbers more chuck should be awarded to dish or to meet with the commerce committee maybe both under oath under subpoena with document of doubt this fundamental breach of trust underlying the uproar the allegation that data harvested from facebook servers was used by cambridge analytical to support the trump campaign in twenty sixteen bit interference in the electoral process confirmed in this undercover interview with the company's then c.e.o. alexander nix have you met mr brown that he hadn't. a. strategy at facebook spokesperson says the company remains committed to protecting the privacy office users there's the surance is not enough for u.s. lawmakers though all for those who wants the facebook faithful trending on social

media is a hash tag delete facebook and the chilly prospect facing the company is that its client base may freeze it out mike hanna al-jazeera washington two other news there and at least twenty two people most of them children have been killed by. the province the white helmet to rescue the children died. after the raid. has more details. have been deaths and injuries mainly among children because of our strikes launched by what the opposition says were russian jets they targeted residential areas in the village of kaffir about the. countryside they hit civilian homes the first airstrike targeted a house near an elementary school children at the school were terrified they fled the school in a chaotic way so residents tried to shelter them inside an underground cave in the

neighborhood however the jets turned back and targeted the location with several missiles hitting the cave that was sheltering more than twenty children and women the cave fully collapsed on top of the children civil defense units did all that they called to rescue them what they could not rescue them and after several hours of trying all those inside the cave are found dead. so his government has agreed to a day and with the ready. to evacuate the town of hit us the least two thousand people have died in the same place since the government intensified attacks a month ago saying the holder has more from beirut one of the rebel factions in eastern a good hour has decided to surrender out a sham they control the town of house the eastern huta this besieged enclave of eastern widows now divided into three pockets three pockets that are surrounded by pro-government forces now one of those pockets how to us the pro syria government media reporting that up to one thousand five hundred fighters and six thousand

members of their families will be leaving early thursday they will be bussed to the north western province of idlib which is under the control of the opposition this will be the first deal of its kind in eastern huta because there are two other rebel factions socialist them and they have also been involved in negotiations with the russian military but so far those the negotiations did not make any progress but undoubtedly the decision by the to sham to lay down its arms will pile more pressure on these two other rebel factions now the pro-government alliances the military campaign has entered its second month really relentless bombardment that put a lot of pressure not just on the rebels but the thousands and thousands of people who are trapped inside according to the united nations hundreds of thousands remain in these rebel controlled besieged pockets of territory and that their situation is catastrophic many of them want to leave but they are requesting safe passage what they mean by safe passage is that these humanitarian corridors should be monitored

by international observers they're too scared to cross into government controlled territory in fear of arrest and even some will tell you we could be executed simply because we belong to the execution so one rebel faction surrendering the pro-government alliance making this clear in its actions and its in its words really since the start of this campaign that they will not stop. the rebel factions lay down their arms and any agreement short of that will not end the military onslaught. to france delaware former president nicolas sarkozy has been placed under formal investigation accused of receiving illegal campaign donations from the late libyan leader moammar gadhafi sarkozy allegedly accepted millions of dollars from gadhafi while running for office in two thousand and seven the investigation into his election campaign has been underway for the past five years he denies any wrongdoing. has more from ten near paris this is the first time that a former french president has been placed under formal investigation for illegal

foreign campaign funding foreign funds planned during presidential campaigns here in france well nicolas sarkozy was questioned by french police for just over twenty four hours police station just behind me it's just outside of paris and then he was released earlier on thursday afternoon around five thirty local time and placed on a conditional release we don't know whether that means bail whether there will be restrictions on his travel but what we do know is three judges then decided to place him under formal investigation for corruption for the misuse of libyan funds and for illegal campaign foreign funding now that of course is the worst case scenario for nicolas sarkozy has always said that he is innocent and he was of course hoping for his release what he can do now though is he has six months to try and appeal those charges during that time the magistrates will try and put together

a case they will do more investigating see if they can possibly bring nicolas sarkozy to trial at some date in the future. police in the u.s. state of texas say the suspect in a series of possible bombings has killed himself he's been identified as mark anthony condit five parcel bombs have exploded in texas this month killing two and during several others. well austin's acting police chief says they found a recording on the suspects phone that amounted to a confession what is clear from listening to you know is this was a very troubled young man who was talking about challenges in his life that led him to the point where he took the actions that he took and there were also indications of actions he was willing to take in the future i'm not going to go into specifics because again this is an ongoing investigation but it was important for me to understand that his comments were not a reflective of a do a hate based terrorism based approach to what he did. based on what he

specifically described as the bands that he had constructed we can account for each and every one of them. a palestinian teen aged go on trial for slapping an israeli soldier has been sentenced to eight months in prison the case has made the many a symbol of the palestinian struggle and drawn and national attention a toy gate and a report. i had to mimi arrived in qut to hear her sentence in a defiant and scientists know yes we are not satisfied with anything we especially don't accept the existence of the occupation on our lands it's illegal the seventeen year old agreed to a plea deal with israeli prosecutors to avoid more serious charges that could have imprisoned her for years under the deal she's due to be released in the summer she was fined fourteen hundred dollars her lawyer says the case against her was possible after we understood the military prosecution wanted to keep hiding

detention for several years because this case is a case of detail that they're trying to detail are other palestinian youth from resisting occupation as i did. to me was arrested in december after a video of her slapping and hitting israeli soldiers went viral the confrontation in the occupied west bank took place after what israel says was a stone throwing assault on its troops the judge agreed to a similar plea deal for two mimi's mother who was charged with incitement. to me respond the visited his wife and daughter for the first time in prison on cheese day he says his daughter spends her time doing school work she isn't doing well. reading studying the first born she told me that there is a body how she was doing to the people that want to buy things for all of us to maybe's case was heard behind closed doors in

a military court it's drawn international criticism and one point seven million people across the world have signed a petition calling for her release and she's not alone the pressure group defense for children international says that last november three hundred thirteen palestinian children were imprisoned victoria gay to be out there. still ahead on the bulletin. a historic new trade agreement and the find in africa we look at what it means for the continent. from the neon lights of asia. to the city that never sleeps. hello the cold days over in shanghai it should be rather better sixteen

degrees on thursday is forecast hampshire bit of a breeze and misleading the sun is out as quite calm weather throughout most of central southern china now that doesn't mean we won't develop a bit of rain something will happen in sichuan much as cats should do otherwise it's fine warm spring sunshine increasingly so for shanghai up to nineteen by this time the still active wet weather in indonesia service the clouds for you see there over job of to cause a sudden sumatra covering most of borneo parts the philippines and once again sulawesi something of a focus for a full cost run of the next day or so but the line is still there back to sumatra probably avoiding singapore probably avoiding kuala lumpur but you'll notice thailand including bangkok is starting to get went in there now we have got swelling clad in northern afghanistan is over pakistan as well and you think something would come out of it is some snow on the hindu kush been some rain

forecast was as one was left at the time you get to day and you took you back clear skies for the most part even in southern india and sri lanka was a chance of showers the full cost has it virtually dry so we're just now watching the temperatures slowly rise. the weather sponsored by cats on race. a key figure of the early twentieth century arab literary scene. and a feminist writer had to have had time. so why do the story and in such tragedy. al-jazeera won't expose the life and why of maisie arda at this time on al-jazeera.

that have you with us on al-jazeera these are our top stories the head of facebook has admitted that his company made mistakes and it's done for protection after revelations a u.k. firm misused information from fifty million of its uses c.e.o. mark zuckerberg has promised office death to restrict developers access to information. at least twenty two people most of them children have been killed by airstrikes and sylvia's rebel held at the province activists say the civilians fled their school too in the of i cave after the first wave of bombs was dropped by russian jets a cable's hit and a second series of strikes. and francis former president nicolas sarkozy has been placed on the formal investigation accused of receiving the illegal campaign

donations from the late libyan leader of one like a dolphin sarkozy an edge of the accepted millions of dollars from gadhafi while running for office in two thousand and seven he denies any wrongdoing. where is congress such as you're to meet on first day to formally accept the president's resignation in public was facing an impeachment vote over corruption allegations or pressure has been mounting after video emerged of questions skis allies offering rewards to the opposition if they voted not to oust the leader kaczynski has denied any wrongdoing but in a nationwide address he said he didn't want to become an obstacle to peruse development views i think that the best thing for the country is the need to resign the presidency of the republic i don't want to be an obstacle so that our nation can find the past the harmony that it very much needs and that i was denied. let's get more on this now our correspondent marianna sanchez is joining us live from the capital leaver kaczynski has been mired in corruption allegations for

a long time now marianna so can the country move on if once he is out once he does resign. i apologize we don't have a connection with our correspondent in lima so let's move on for now pope francis has reportedly called the mother of a murdered brazilian councilwoman funk overshot their last week and thousands of brazilians have been protesting sense demanding police find her killers the nonprofit organization for darcy on the tweet on wednesday is saying franco's mother spoke to the park councilwoman was known for her activism against police brutality. to nigeria where most most of the hundred ten schoolgirls abducted in the northeast last month have been very united with their families vocal fighters released all but mine girls to their hometown of the government says

it agreed to a temporary ceasefire with the armed group to secure the girls' release asama been job it has the latest. it's difficult to hold back their tears afterward these girls have been through these are some of the hundred in ten children who were kidnapped last month boko haram fighters took them from their school inductee town in northeastern nigeria the girls say five of their fellow students died. when they took us from the school we've been sitting thinking about what we might eat then we heard a gunshot everybody was confused they asked us to come to the school gate we were in the area they take us into the vehicle and asked who were the people fasting that then gave us a drink so cake this was on the way after when they took us food there under a tree and gave us food to cook we cooked and asian proceeded further we continued going we entered one river then we boarded a canoe and crossed the river into a village they took us away from the village in the night we boarded another canoe

to another place and remained in their place until today when they brought in spec we didn't go to any other places they didn't mistreat us the dust in the distance are the vehicles which dropped off the children parents and relatives. i have been anxiously waiting for weeks to find out what happened to their children mean again you do and. i saw with my own eyes the love and boko haram vehicles they were with the children they drop the children at one corner they told us to give space for people to recognize their children and i got my child to government really clear that it would negotiate but the kidnappers rather than use military force would not use any means of competition i don't see lots of these children are much more important to us than you know you can get there's an isa islands at the girls' school and men dressed in military fatigues entered the school and took the girls away in their truck. this isn't the first time school girls have been

abducted there was an international outcry in two thousand and fourteen when more than two hundred seventy girls were kidnapped from she broke many have still not been found nigerian forces have not declared the details of the deal under which these latest girls were released. just nigeria and its allies have been fighting boko haram in the lake chad region for years but brazen kidnapping and drop off of victims indicates that the group is far from being defeated solomon job aid. let's go back to now and speak to our correspondent marianna sanchez about president petro pablo kaczynski often has resignation to congress he has been mired and corruption allegations marianna so will the opposition will congress accept the resignation. well elizabeth the congress has already accepted his resignation. congress was about to impeach him tomorrow in

a few hours from now and many called that he would survive this second impeachment proceedings in less in three months however these videos surfaced just forty eight hours ago where you could see members of his. allies of his party apparently negotiating bolt is for try to keep him safe the presidency however this has caused a debacle here in the political is the pattern here because many congressmen and all of the political is. that this has been this that this is a crime and even members of his own party said that they would vote for the impeachment so these calls that the president which is

resigned today he left the presidential palace and the right after he left the palace there was a message to the nation that was recorded where he continued to say that he was innocent of all the charges of corruption against him and money on the he is the lead a less an american they did very removed from office because of the corruption scandal involving the brazilian company breasts what is happening with the investigation around the brush around the continent. well there is a lot of politicians involved in this investigation in the case of they do and will it's a very liberal investigation that has president former president in jail. if former president bill who is it living in the u. with today there was

a huge extradition was approved by congress to come and face justice and. president former president alan garcia as well being. questioned is that he may have also received money from all they would and all the top political class here from the mayor of lima to the top. presidential candidates all of them according to all the average have received money from this brazilian construction company that they have. they gave millions of dollars to anyone that could be very close to power here in peru so there's a lot of investigation still to be done here in the country thank you very much for that that's money on the sanchez joining us live from leave us thank you. now to yemeni government ministers have resigned after calling for their president's return from saudi arabia they accuse riyadh of holding president. on the house

arrest he fled to the saudi capital along with many of his ministers at the start of the yemen conflict with saudi arabia which backs the president's internationally recognized government has been waging war against the rebels and two thousand and sixteen. egypt's president up there father l.c.c. has said in a televised interview that egypt should not fear speaking freely he's also denied that he is responsible for a lack of competition and upcoming elections he made the comments in response to criticism that people in egypt are afraid of imprisonment and a struggling economically. and who can i have noticed on t.v. that there are phrases like oh stop talking or no you can't say that this is not good and i am not saying this for the sake of saying it i mean it and people are comprehensively free to talk and act only one thing is not allowed for example to violently hurt the country some people ask about the democratic process and practice when they say that sisi may win the elections but still we wish to see

some other competitors yes they are right why not more candidates but you talk to me about something i have nothing to do with well earlier we spoke to all matter sure as a professor of security studies at the institute for graduate studies and he says see if the statement is not truthful. the practice is on the ground completely different from what he says. most of the serious contenders for the presidential elections were either marginalized or live in prison including the former chief of staff of the education army general sami on and you have all those who have been harassed you have human rights watch is talking about fifteen solved and civilians who were court martialed in his reign between october twenty fourth seen in september twenty seventh this is unprecedented number even on the mubarak's time we have hundreds of cases of forced disappearances extradition killings are well documented and that made the human rights commission areas they've been rather

speaks frankly about the. era of intimidation and terror in ruling the country which is also unprecedented for a human rights commissioner to say that never been said before under any of the regimes so when this is said that nobody no one should fear and these are the realities documented realities on the ground and there is a big gap that the european union has set up plans to increase the tax paid by the digital companies the finance commissioner pierre moscovici says he wants firms with larger digital revenues and europe to pay a tax of three percent of their turn over the plans won't come into force unless they're backed by the european parliament and the twenty eight countries now forty four african countries have signed a free trade deal the biggest since the world trade organization was established like the e.u. will allow the unrestricted movement of people goods and capital that among the countries who have not signed up to south africa and nigeria the country's biggest continent rather biggest economy mohamad the reports from the rwandan capital

kigali. one by one they signed up to an agreement decades in the making it's estimated the african continent toll free trade area could see business between african nations increased by more than fifty percent within four years the idea is to bring together countries with a combined population of one point two billion people and gross domestic product or g.d.p. of more than two trillion dollars into one market africa stronger acting together now creating an african economy into a free trade area so we realize that we asked when we have a larger market. so far full to full of the african union's have to five member states have signed the protocol but these one multiple absentee nigeria africa's biggest economy prison muhammadu buhari did not attend the signing ceremony to

allow time for more consultations nigeria's led by unions have cautioned him against signing what they called an extremely dangerous initiative african union officials admit everyone is such a fight that individual countries would be better off under the deal look at the european union from the treaty of rome. almost to. the teeth of these well if we projects of integration of any level as well as a work in progress the argument commits countries to moving targets on ninety percent of goods and lifting all body has to trade with in the continent eventually the free movement of people and even a single currency could become part of the free trade area but before the tuppence banks are looking to fill the void what we have. is to make sure that the chorus problem. is only. what can go with the launch for the. tough two we have been set to with.

that platform also will. suit in federal. court cases when africa's most advanced economies often advantage with them will develop manufacturing capabilities some of them remain opposed to the agreements that trade unions are already raising that flex arguing unfettered access by foreign workers to their labor markets could cause problems as people move to the continent stronger economies is such a jobs mohamed atta was his eda got. and just a reminder that you can always keep up to date with all the news on our website at fed al-jazeera dot com. you know again as the brannaman of the headlines on al-jazeera the head of facebook

has admitted his company made mistakes in its adoption protection after revelations that u.k. for the cambridge analytic or misused information from fifty million of its users c.e.o. mark zuckerberg has promised tougher steps to restrict developers access to information . at least twenty two people most of them children have been killed by airstrikes and syria's province activists say the civilians fled their school to a nearby came after the first wave of bombs was dropped by russian jets the cave was hit in the second series of strikes. france's former president nicolas sarkozy has been placed on the formal investigation he's accused of the sebring illegal campaign donations from the late libyan leader moammar gadhafi sarkozy allegedly accepted millions of dollars from gadhafi while running for office in two thousand and seven he denies any wrongdoing. for as congress has accepted the resignation of president had republicans who stepped down amid corruption allegations he denies

any wrongdoing but said he didn't want to be an obstacle to the country's development the vice president is expected to be sworn in on friday. i think that the best thing for the countries that need to resign the presidency of the republic i don't want to be an obstacle so that our nation can find the past the harmony very much needs and that i was denied. the palestinian teenage girl on trial for slapping an israeli soldier has been sentenced to eight months in prison after accepting a plea deal seventeen year old amir is accused of assault after hitting the man in the face last year in the occupied west bank the confrontation took place fired what israel says was a star and pro assault on its troops. police in the u.s. state of texas say the suspect in a series of possible bombings has killed himself authorities say they found a phone recording of marc anthony condit confessing to the times five passing bombs have exploded in texas this month killing two and injuring several others

those are the headlines on al-jazeera do stay with us inside story is coming up next thank you very much for watching. millions of facebook profiles allegedly used for political purposes information that could have helped donald trump and influence the breck set of candidates a swing elections and his privacy really possible in this age of social media this is inside story.