now on al-jazeera congressman i'm interested in stopping crime. it's impossible to underestimate the size and scale of the economic crisis it's not just about the billion trillion dollars of debt it's not just about the banks it's not just about the government to my real people. a key figure of the early twentieth century arab literary scene. and a feminist writer and every time. so why did a story and in such tragedy. al-jazeera won't expose the life and why of maisie adda at this time on al-jazeera. the. syrian government forces tighten their grip around the country's last few

rebel held areas. and i'm adrian for again this is al jazeera life and also coming up thousands of people gather in the u.s. capital to begin a march against gun violence. a french police officer who was hailed a hero for trying to stop a supermarket attack dies of his injuries. tens of billions of dollars worth of ivory why zimbabwe's former first lady is being investigated in connection with the whole. syrian government forces are closing in on the few remaining rebel held areas of the country at least and good close to the capital damascus rebels are surrendering in a southern part of the old clave it's the second rebel group. to start fighting there

in recent days felt like iraq man was in control and been fighters in harasta surrendered on thursday that leaves duma which is just to the northeast of the capital is the last rebel stronghold in the area. the deal with rebels around also involves safe passage for other fighters their families in the north of the country those people on now headed some one hundred fifty kilometers away to italy which is the last remaining rebel stronghold in the north of the country that's despite the fact that intense bombardment has killed dozens of people over the past few days more now from al-jazeera zana huldah who's in beirut. three rebel factions were controlling the eastern enclave two of them have already surrendered the third racial islam is close to surrendering this is what we understand they are engaged in negotiations with the russian military and they are close to a deal fishel assam in the russian military have been talking for the past

a few days but the talks collapsed over a main sticking point and that is. didn't want to be evacuated to adlib that is the province in the northwest of the country under the control of the opposition does not have good relations with the rebel groups which dominate province so what we are understanding is that they may be sent to the eastern region there is a rebel pocket there close to lebanon's border so a deal is close with a third rebel faction. man another rebel faction which has a surrendered the southern pocket preparations are now under way for the evacuation of up to seven thousand people fighters their family members as well as opposition activists they are getting ready to be bussed to. that opposition controlled province in the northwest the on wednesday i heard a sham handed over the town of harasta so the pro-government alliance close to recapturing the entire eastern guta enclave but these people who who are choosing

to leave and choosing to be evacuated they're not going to a safe place adlib is not a safe place that has been coming under attack from the skies for years now and it's not just that it's overcrowded more than a million. internally displaced syrians are there so most of these people are going to the unknown many of them will not find any job so it is a very very difficult situation for those people but the pro-government alliance already declaring victory live pictures now from washington d.c. where protesters have begun to gather in the u.s. capitol for what's expected to be a huge demonstration calling for tougher gun laws the march for life demonstration is being led by students from a florida high school where seventeen people were shot dead last month hundreds of protests are expected across the u.s. and in cities right across europe asia and australia live doubts who were on suicide estabrook who is in washington d.c.

so what are we expecting to happen that day diane. what we're seeing a lot of people many more people pouring into pennsylvania avenue just in front of the capitol we just saw somebody walk by with a sign from alaska we talked this morning to some students from new york north carolina of virginia maryland who all say the same thing that they want their lives and their safety to become a priority now this event's going to be kicking off in a couple of hours we're going to hear speakers that are students from across the united states most notably from marjorie stoneman douglas high school where that shooting took place about a month ago that killed seventeen people will be hearing from those students who organized this event and we're also going to be hearing from a student from right here in washington whose brother was the victim of gun violence who died a year ago we're also going to be hearing from performers entertainers who speak to

this generation common is going to be performing ariana grande day miley cyrus demi lovato so it's going to be a pretty packed afternoon with speeches entertainment but all. all for the same goal these people are trying to get across the point that they want tougher gun legislation in this country in light of the one hundred twenty two people who've been shot and killed on high school and college campuses in the last twenty years but diane. any of today's protests and the ones that we've seen since the florida high school shoes are going to have any impact on. legislation to control guns. well federal legislation it remains to be seen although yesterday president trump tweeted that the department of justice is going to be banning the bomb stocks which are those devices that can turn

a semi automatic weapon into a machine gun there's other legislation that's why it's way through congress at the moment we don't know what what will happen with that legislation but we're starting to see some tougher gun laws in states like florida which had been gun friendly more gun from lee before the a massacre at that high school a month ago the governor just signed legislation that would ban bump stocks increase the minimum wage that you can buy a gun from eighteen to twenty one and also do some things to make high schools safer arming teachers that sort of thing so these kids say that they're not going to let up until they see tougher gun laws in this country of we've seen in the past that students can have an impact they did back during the vietnam war when they launched protest so they say that they're in this for the long haul to have anything some serious time estabrook in washington d.c. . french media are reporting that

a second person has been taken into custody in connection with friday's supermarket shooting attack in southwestern france meanwhile people in the city of caucus song have been paying their respects to the police officer who died after offering himself up to the gunman in exchange for another hostage forty four year old. was one of four people killed in the attack when the gunman took hostages in the town of. i don't you know new me i haven't slept all night since what happened yesterday he was marvelous he was a hero obviously the military the police officer i would like to pay my respects to be. your love for me i laid flowers to support the family. more now from al jazeera as the trash but lies in caucus. well the people in this community are really just trying to absorb the events of friday when that gunman shot dead four people taking hostages in a supermarket and then pledge his allegiance to i thought you know people here have

seen attacks similar to this across france over the last few years but no one would have imagined this such a thing such violence could happen on their own doorstep and of course that sense of sadness as well with the news that i want to this forty four year old police officer a friend has now died of his injuries now he was the police officer who went into the supermarket very bravely swapped himself with a female hostage he left his mobile phone open inside the supermarket to madeleine out police officers outside to follow events inside and he was one of the last people to leave but very sadly as we have heard he has died of his injuries the french president a short while ago put out in fact a statement paying homage to his bravery in spain the speaker of catalonia as parliament suspended a vote to elect a jailed separatist leader as the new regional president judy total was one of five leaders detained on thursday for their role in last year's failed to session but

the separatist majority of the catalan parliament had the chance to elect him on thursday but that failed when the left wing bloc abstained. china has condemned the u.s. after one of its warships sailed an artificial island that beijing built in the south china sea the u.s. says that they will destroy it was carrying out a freedom of navigation operation it says it came within twelve nautical miles of a reef in the disputed spratly islands the u.s. accuses china of building military facilities to restrict shipping movements but the chinese government says that it has sovereignty over the islands. by repeatedly sending military ships into these areas without authorization the u.s. has seriously harmed chinese sovereignty and security violated basic rules of international relations and endangered regional peace and stability what the u.s. is doing will damage the atmosphere of military to military relations and cause close encounters by and naval forces of the two countries which could easily

trigger miscalculations already in accidents this is a serious political and military provocation the chinese military is firmly opposed to it zimbabwe's former first lady grace mugabe is being investigated over accusations that she was involved in an ivory smuggling operation it follows a three month probe by an undercover journalist as malcolm webb reports recently given to this group. when adrian stern went undercover as an ivory buyer in zimbabwe he says he received more death threats than he can count he's a wildlife photographer who began investigating the illegal ivory trade in december speaking exclusively to out his era he says young covered a poaching and smuggling syndicate which he believes is led by the former first lady grace mugabi which is being sourced either from the national parks vote being the food or from live elephants being killed by poaching syndicates the syndicate within sale to clientele she would then be able to pack that it's into out through

the airport anything through that airport that was the property of the first lady who was not searched or scanned in any way. stern got the documents on the cover videos and testimonies which he showed to al-jazeera is investigative unit he says they expose the syndicate and the former first lady's involvement this is the vote from where he says tens of millions of dollars of ivory and rhino horn was stolen when he presented evidence to zimbabwe's wildlife authority there how they mean to allege smugglers have since been charged with possession of ivory and investigations been opened a special advisor to president emerson. confirmed to our dizzier in a written statement that the government of zimbabwe will seek answers from all parties implicated in this matter including former first lady grace mugabe about their knowledge of the illegal export of prohibited items from our country

al-jazeera contacted grace mcgarvie staff lawyers and relatives for comment he didn't respond during the presidency of a husband robert she was a controversial figure earning the nickname grace for her extravagant shopping sprees. hopes of succeeding him were dashed when the army forced him from power in november and mango took over three weeks later this shipment of two hundred kilograms of ivory was seized their harare's airport stands as his investigations on covered evidence which appears to connect it to grace mcgarvie and the smuggling syndicate the new government keen to clean up its international image after decades of mugabe rule since the change of power the poaching in the smuggling investigation is the first major challenge to the mugabe family dynasty malcolm webb al-jazeera johannesburg south africa got a weather update next the new man in charge of national security in the u.s.

why donald trump's latest point but is raising questions about future foreign policy. and rallying for justice for decades after argentina's dirty war a battle that's pitting people against their parents. however got some rather lively spring showers into central parts of china at the moment we've got a little bit about weather pushing up towards shanghai twenty degrees celsius in shanghai gray skies there this was so weather will tend to fizzle out a little as we go on through monday pushing a little further west was still a possibility some snow over the high ground you notice come for the satisfied dry warm and sunny hong kong touching twenty five degrees for some present conditions coming through here also dry fine weather across south asia at present meanwhile we

are looking at a little more cloud just spilling its way across afghanistan through northern pakistan to the far northwest of india and elsewhere it does look hot and sunny the pre monsoon heat continuing to build and thirty nine celsius possibility there for not pool could touch thirty eight in hyderabad a little more cloud though into a tunnel nadu interest franca with the possibility of wanted to showers here as we go on through the next few days but also as you can see it stays dry karate thirty seven degrees celsius into the thirty's to across a good part of the arabian peninsula thirty one celsius here in doha supplies and conditions as we go on through sunday move on into monday could be hotter still has it thirty three celsius at the top temperature thirty three for e. what makes this moment to this era we're living for so unique this is really an attack on truth itself is a lot of misunderstanding

a distortion even of what free speech is supposed to be about the context it's hugely important level right to publish it on the gucci to be offensive or provoke it's all about otherwise people do setting the stage for a serious debate up front at this time on al-jazeera. and i get the top stories here on al-jazeera syrian rebels are surrendering in the southern part of eastern guten it and ask us thousands of fighters and civilians being taken some one hundred fifty kilometers away to province this will leave just one rebel stronghold outside the capital. police in france have been paying people

rather a front to be paying tribute to the policeman who died after offering himself up to the government in exchange for another hostage on a belt tom was one of four people killed in friday's attack when the gunman took hostages in the supermarket in the town of spare. protesters gathering in the u.s. live pictures from washington now for a huge demonstration they're calling for tougher gun laws the march for our lives rally is being led by students from the florida high school where seventeen people were shot dead last month. donald trump's appointment of john bolton as national security adviser is raising concerns about how the u.s. is going to deal with iran and north korea in the future both times previously pushed for the preemptive bombing of both countries and the other new additions to the president's team also appear to favor action rather than dialogue white house correspondent kimberly helka reports. recent appointments made by u.s.

president donald trump to his cabinet have left many in washington nervous i'm really at a point where we're getting very close to having the cabinet others say that i was on his most recent appointment john bolton as national security adviser underscores that concern. the former u.s. ambassador to the united nations was the chief architect of president george w. bush's justification for the two thousand and three us invasion of iraq and appears ready to construct the cases for other wars the national security advisor among whatever other functions he or she might have has two critical roles number one making sure that the president has the four range of options in published editorials bolton has called for the bombing of iran and north korea last month in the wall street journal newspaper he called north korea an imminent threat arguing

it is perfectly legitimate for the united states to respond to the current necessity posed by north korea's nuclear weapons by striking first but it's not just bolton surrounding trump with aggressive ideas trump's new pick to lead the u.s. state department is equally hawkish mike pompei o as cia director favors confrontation with iran tearing up the iran agreement and supported trump's moving of the u.s. embassy to jerusalem will not a cabinet appointment in palm pails place trump has left gina housefull to take over the cia during her intelligence career she once ran a cia black site in thailand. with a brutal practice of waterboarding took place trump's defense secretary james mattis remains in his cabinet and although he's considered by some to be the moderate voice mattis also holds hawkish views on iran even the recent a dish. larry kudlow is white house economic advisor has the u.s.

position for an aggressive trade war to counter chinese trade practices but one analyst argues the changing face of the trumpet ministration may actually help the one thing we do know about the koreans and russians and iranians is that they do respect strength and perhaps this show of strength will be enough to calm tensions . already this week donald trump has picked a fight with china and now seeing tear of dozens of imports into the united states but fears of a trade war are small compared to the big concerns about the fight donald trump now appears to be positioning with north korea and iran can really help the al-jazeera at the white house federal prosecutors in brazil are investigating whether a consultancy firm at the center of the facebook data breach had access to millions of profiles cambridge analytical denies improperly accessing the information of fifty million facebook users brazilian prosecutors want to find out if the company

at a local consultancy did the same thing ahead of an election there last october cambridge analytical also began operations in mexico ahead of that country's presidential election in july candidates are now distancing themselves from the firm as john holdren reports from mexico city. cambridge journalists could told on the cover of porter's that it was working in mexico what we do know is that the company did set up shop here and it was looking for a presidential candidate that it could work with now all of the major candidates said that they had nothing to do with the company but this is still a timely wakeup call for mexico and that's because it's heading into the biggest elections in its history a move in sixty percent of the population over the age of six is now online making the potential targets for influencing their it's slow action and mascot and when

the mass of the biggest election where the most young people are going to vote and wherever the most voters connected many will be in better ways of using new technology and almost all of my facebook and a lot going to depend on how effective a strategy is influencing them as much make news as voting him a sheet depending on when the last is that they hear us the country's already seen some do you b.s. online and tech practices for example since two thousand and twelve experts have noticed that when there's a hash tag on twitter that's in particular being criticizing the government then other accounts are sprung up bringing out hundreds of tweets per minute to dilute or to the rail that protesting hash tag they've been cool those account penya bots named after the country's president it also emerged last year that the government has a book surveillance technology that was then used to spy on human rights lawyers activists and journalists but the focus isn't just going to be on mexico this year there's

elections coming up across latin america including brazil colombia and venezuela and there's going to be a lot of eyes on the online battle for the electorate people in argentina have rallied to remember victims of the so-called dirty war in the one nine hundred seventy s. it's believed that around thirty thousand people who were against military rule either died or disappeared children of those in charge of. crackdown want to testify against their parents to find out exactly what happened to risible reports . when asked where are they ask these people outside a courtroom what a sight is the question is directed at the former military officers on trial for human rights abuses committed during the dictatorship in the one nine hundred seventy s. and eighty's when a. father we know was an intelligence military chief during the dictatorship who is under house arrest. he told me he would do it again and i was in shock would you

kill again would you rate again. it took years to accept her father's crimes that's why she's campaigning to change the laws so that she and others can testify against their parents in court. and i was embarrassed to say who was my father that he committed genocide i approached human rights groups because i believe we should be able to testify against our parents. if we have any type of information that could shed some light on what happened during those dark days arjen time legislation prohibits sons and daughters from testifying against their parents in court and that's why a group of people whose parents were members of the military during the dictatorship are hoping to change the penal called only in cases where human rights abuses have been committed they believe that their testimony can help shed light on what happened to thousands of people that were killed at the time. and it's not just finding their remains that victims want it is also finding the who are now

adults born to mothers who disappeared. son had lost both his legs amputated in a train accident he was a political activist in argentina in one nine hundred seventy eight he was kidnapped with his wife and daughter. was able to find her granddaughter twenty two years later but many grandmothers are still trying to find missing children. we thankful for anyone who can provide us information that can help us find our grandchildren even if it's my son who did something wrong he deserves a trial but stealing his daughter i don't understand how these months is can continue to stay silent. there is a pact of silence among members of the military involved in abuses that's why information is precious for those trying to find their loved ones. changing the

penal code would allow a new testimonies to be given which may not only lead to new arrests provide the answers they been looking for decades. i'll just point to sightings a car bomb has exploded in the egyptian city of alexandria killing a policeman and injuring four other people the interior ministry says that the device was aimed at the city's security chief the explosion comes just two days before the presidential election in egypt which will be the third presidential vote since the revolution seven years ago i was there as can all santa maria looks now at the political ups and downs since the fall of hosni mubarak i. remember this it's hard to forget really an eighteen day revolution it's hot in cairo's tahrir square which brought down a president so firmly entrenched in egyptian life a cold in the pharaoh but equally a revolution can be something which goes full circle and it's hard to argue that

it's not happened in egypt seven years later the play is largely the same just with a different cast. after president hosni mubarak stepped down in two thousand and eleven the army took power but for months the protests continued egyptians were not happy with the slow pace of reform they eventually got a national unity government by the end of that year followed by a presidential election in june of two thousand and twelve which was won by this man the muslim brotherhoods mohamed morsy think about how big a deal this was the leader of a party with islamic principles which had been banned in the mubarak years was now the democratically elected president of egypt but perhaps not surprisingly this didn't sit well with the old guard nor did it help that mostly dismissed the defense minister the chief of staff and trying to limit the influence of both military and judiciary by early two thousand and thirteen the protesters were back this time against morsi and in july the president was overthrown by the egyptian

army and it is at this point that we are starting to see the beginnings of that full circle which we talked about the muslim brotherhood it was declared a terrorist group political parties based on religion were banned though again that only really affected the muslim brotherhood and when a presidential election was held again in may of twenty fourteen egyptians elected a former army chief bill fattah el-sisi as their leader with nearly ninety seven percent of the vote though it does have to be said there was a low turnout and a massive crackdown on campaigning and the media meanwhile morsi was sentenced to twenty years in prison over the arrest and torture of protesters when he was in office as well as being condemned to death a ripper a count of muslim brotherhood prisoners that sentence was overturned in november of twenty sixteen in a retrial ordered but morsy does remain in jail to this day and all the while sisi has strengthened his grip on power journalists have been arrested including our own let's not forget while potential political opponents have been i've a banned from running or arrested themselves sisi will run for

a second term in this presidential election and right now there is very little to suggest he won't win. now there's one a vent that the entire world can play a part in on saturday earth hour hong kong has become among the latest cities to turn off the lights for sixty minutes to try to help the environment some famous landmarks around the world of being plugged and people at home are being encouraged to embrace the darkness with earth hour itself began in a strain in two thousand and seven and sydney was among the first of the places to turn off the lights this year's andrew thomas reports we're right at the tail end of our here in sydney any moment now you should see the landmarks if you can behind me including the harbor bridge lights back up but that doesn't mark we end of the overall this is obviously a global day and every hour somewhere else in the world at eight thirty goes dark

and there is the bridge now just beginning to light back up but from here this movement will travel across asia you'll see the skyline of hong kong shanghai big cities like that going dark then into europe landmarks like the eiffel tower going black and then the americas times square for example should go dark at eight thirty pm new york time now. the electricity saved in this hour is pretty minimal amount put it to the head of the doubly w.f. who runs this campaign here in australia whether this was anything more than mere symbolism what it is it's a symbolic gesture to send a message to the whole world that we all need to come together and do something for our planet and we all realize we still have a long way to go and this is the moment he would like to well think about what we need to do turn major also told me that acts as a brand lots of local campaigns environmental campaigns attach their cause around the brand and that gets them a lot more traction so though it only last one hour on this day in mid march in

fact the impact is felt around. and it is good to have you with us adrian sitting in here in doha the top stories this hour on al-jazeera syrian rebels surrendering in the southern part of eastern ghouta near damascus thousands of fighters and civilians i think taken one hundred fifty kilometers away to a province that will leave just one rebel stronghold side the capital. people are gathering in the u.s. capitol washington d.c. for a huge protest calling for tougher gun laws these are live pictures from there the march for our lives rally is being led by students from the florida high school where seventeen people were shot dead last month by estabrook has more for us from washington. these kids say that they're not going to let up until they see tougher gun laws in this country we've seen in the past that students can have an impact

they did back during the vietnam war when they launched protests so they say that they're in this for the long haul a car bomb has exploded in the egyptian city of alexandria killing a policeman and injuring four other people the interior ministry says the device was aimed at the city's security chief the explosion comes just two days before the country's presidential election people in france have been paying tribute to the policeman who died after offering himself up to the gunman in exchange for another hostage on nobel trom was one of four people killed in friday's attack when the gunman took hostages at a supermarket in the town of crab in spain the speaker of cattle early as parliament has suspended a vote to elect a jailed separatist leader as the new regional president jodi total was one of five leaders detained on thursday for their role in last year's failed secession bid and zimbabwe's former first lady grace mugabe is being investigated of accusations that she was involved in an ivory smuggling operation it follows

a three month probe by an undercover journalist and the seizure of a two hundred kilogram package of illegal ivory at harare airport china has condemned the u.s. of the one of its was an artificial island that beijing built in the south china sea the u.s. says the naval destroyer came within twelve nautical miles of the reef in the disputed spratly islands the chinese government says it has suffered see over the islands those the headlines next and i was there are it's up front. we understand the differences. and the similarities of cultures across the world so no matter how you take it al-jazeera will bring you the news and current affairs that matter to you al-jazeera. has been visiting the white house and one pulled it from the us media but is crown prince now.