al-jazeera. where every. we're talking about ivory poachers who have decimated populations of elephants in africa they almost always shipped the ivory out of a different country from where it was poached because that's where you start your search looking in the wrong place this radiocarbon dating method tell us their trade ivory has to be built and then we have a place you can focus law enforcement on to take those out and perhaps choke the source of the r.v. from entering the network take no at this time on emphysema. the

children of boys the legislators no children c.d.'s were pardoned and guns. the message is enough is enough hundreds of thousands take to the streets across the u.s. demanding tougher gun laws. i am c.t.'s on this is al jazeera live from london also coming up pro-government forces in syria inch closer to capturing only one rebel group remains in the enclave millions are displaced in need of aid and malnourished the democratic republic of congo says that's an exaggeration and refuses to attend its own donor conference and the mission to plant millions of seeds in brasilia how it could help the city's water woes. hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the streets across the u.s.

calling for an end to gun violence and stricter gun laws the main event is getting underway right now in washington d.c. within sight of the u.s. capitol where hundreds of thousands of protesters are hoping politicians will be listening. the event called march for lines is being replicated across the us where the rallies in cities including boston he said how can florida the scene of february and school shooting that killed seventeen people listening to and the gallagher who is in washington d.c. for us and the you covered that dreadful shooting last month in florida that is indeed what spot told these protests with them really leading the charge did they fail is a feeling that galvanizing opinion by getting someone. well i think you know their compassion and their eloquence has led them to this day and it's a long way away from that fateful day on february the fourteenth when we first reacted

to news of the shooting at the marjorie stoneman douglas high school and these students of you know gone through the grief of losing fourteen of their fellow classmates and three teachers and it's all come to this day of course it's not the first time we've seen a march of this size in washington d.c. back in the year two thousand there was the million mom march which many said was the beginning of a movement that didn't happen often in these cases these kinds of marches don't convert the skeptical they confirm the faithful but nonetheless this march is not the only one as you said that is going on today there are all sorts of other protests going on across the u.s. another eight hundred marches like this across the entire globe so these students are definitely not alone they are pushing for common gun reform what they call commonsense gun reform above anything else they want to see they are fifteen so-called assault rifles ban they want to see more in depth background checks but of course this is spring break the president is not here none of the politicians are here so the real question is what happens after this day after this culmination

of so much work and effort but i certainly got to know lots of the parklane students in the last few weeks they say they will not stop campaigning for gun reform they certainly have a lot of support here today. in this momentous turnout almost half a million people expected and the event as he said just getting underway right now and if you get the sense that things may be changing and people may be listening at state level but not a congress level. i mean that's right but it's important to remember that these students have already made a change in the state of florida and that is a republican controlled house of representatives that voted to up the age limit for buying an assault rifle from eighteen to twenty one that is a significant change something certainly many people never thought they would see and those changes on the state level may end up being more important to the ones on a national level of course we heard president talking about pushing through a ban on stocks that modification the terms of assault rifle into an automatic

rifle but beyond that the battle these students face to change policy issues minds will be a very long and hard road although public opinion in this country is beginning to swing and change up certainly meant lots of republicans who are now for common sense gun reforms and as i'm standing here now you can hear the students shouting vote them out and remember these are people that come november's midterm elections will be able to vote themselves come the next election they will be voters it's going to be pretty hard to ignore the voices and ignore the shift in public opinion in this country that is a huge thing i want to think about the second amendment what you think about the power of the national rifle association but it will still be a very long and difficult road to convince republicans and politicians to change the second amendment many things on the calendar there live from that demonstration in washington d.c. .

the syrian army is close to taking full control of the last rebel held area near the capital damascus two groups have already surrendered with thousands of fighters on the families departing for rebel held areas in the north only the suburb of do our remains in opposition hands with the islam rebel group so far with using to given they know how the has more from beirut in neighboring lebanon. 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 in the slum 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 to 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 are about a sham handed over the town of harasta so the pro-government alliance close to recapturing the entire eastern huta enclave but these people who are who are choosing to leave and choosing to be evacuated they're not going to a safe place at lib 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 who are there so most of these people are going to the unknown many of them will not find any jobs so it is a very very difficult situation for those people but the pro-government alliance already declaring victory. and i think to the missouri and they deliver a car bomb has exploded there close to a hospital the head of the local civil defense agency seven people died in the attack near the center of it league city he says twenty five other people have been injured. in a car bomb has killed two policemen and injured five others in northern egypt the attack at a security convoy as it passed the police station in the center of alexandria inter ministry says the city security chief was the target the explosion comes two days before sunday's presidential election. government leaders in the democratic republic of congo are refusing to attend the donor conference in geneva next month

the meeting aims to raise one point seven billion dollars for its humanitarian crisis but the d.l.c. government insists the u.n. is overreacting president joseph kabila has also failed to visit a refugee camp in northern europe province where many of the victims have fled salah ballasts reports. she tried to run but marie last child fell out trying to escape her attackers. one of the landed militia cut me with a machete my brother helped me run away but i was also hit by two arrows on my side four of my kids were killed that same day lot children a family among the tens of thousands of congolese who have been injured and displaced during clashes between rival tribes the hey ms and lenders who are based in atory province is the latest flare up in land disputes that date back to the early one nine hundred seventy s. villages have streamed into domestic displacement camps and over the border into

uganda we have been living in a very difficult situation and we don't know what the president thinks about resolving the situation so we can go back home president joseph kabila promised to visit the displaced this week but he has battles of his own many congolese a furious with him for clinging to power after his term expired two years ago and for refusing to call elections critics argue he's doing little to reveal the ethnic violence. problem we had problems between the two communities even before two thousand and three we controlled it's because the government was absent today all the legal and security forces are present there how can we justify then these level of atrocities this is why we're saying it was then willingly by the authorities. a leader with one of the tribes says both sides are being manipulated those that. we have form a militia members without jobs in our community and it's easy to manipulate them the enemy of our province is profiting from the unemployed young boys in order to

destabilize it to re province where the un is warning of a worsening situation thirty million people need humanitarian assistance four point six million children are acutely malnourished and this is an epidemic of cholera and secure violence if it troubles in a terry province just one crisis within many for a country wrecked by conflicts chalo ballasts al-jazeera still to come on the program we take a look at how yemen is war is worsening regional tensions with hundreds of people being expelled from southern cities and from sydney to hong kong and later here in london iconic landmark surround the world switch off their lights. however we got some rather lively spring showers into central parts of china at the

moment we've got a little bit wet 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 spreading 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 cool could touch thirty eight in hyderabad a little more clout though into a tumble not do interest frank with the possibility of one of two showers here as we go on through the next few days but also as you can see it stays hot and 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 highs of thirty three celsius and a top temperature of thirty three for e. it looks ugly it sounds ugly in scares people from america's high streets to mexico's on the world's record for just the size and who controls the other side people in power of the smuggling route and test the ease of acquiring untraceable weapons on american soil the weapon that was designed for war and it took you about five minutes to buy it because you america's gun is arming mexico's cartels on al jazeera congressman are you interested in stopping crime.

i'll come back remind all of the top stories on al-jazeera hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating across the u.s. calling for stricter gun laws the march for our lives rallies are in response to last month's school shooting in florida which killed seventeen people the syrian army is close to taking full control of eastern guta as thousands of rebels surrender and flee towards opposition held areas in the north it leaves duma as the last rebel stronghold near the capital damascus and a car bomb has killed two policemen and injured five others in the egyptian city of alexandria just two days before monday's presidential election. place a man who died after offering himself in exchange for hostage in a supermarket see has been hailed as

a hero by the french president. was one of four people who died in the shooting spree in the southern towns of caucus on and tribe the gunman was shot dead a second suspect is now in custody. as the latest from caucus on. people in the french town of kalak has songs. paid tribute to our north the forty four year old french police officer had swapped himself for a hostage in a supermarket attack on friday shot by the gunman he later died of his injuries in this small town known in france for its medieval citadel people say he was a hero. he was a man who was passionate about his job i can only imagine that he knew that going into that supermarket he had little chance of getting out to give others a chance to leave because it got us on this you. caucus on it like a village it's a lovely place people are happy here i'm angry that there are bad people out there it was on friday morning that a gunman hijacked

a car in caucus on killing its passenger he then shot and wounded one of a group of four police officers who were out jogging he then drove to the nearby town of tire where he attacked a supermarket took hostages and killed two more people pledging allegiance to myself. do i saw the attacker firing two or three bullets and crying our akbar and so i went back up stairs quickly and told the girls in the office call the gendarme call the gendarme there is a terrorist in the store. police identified the killer as twenty five year old read to one lakh in a french national who was born in morocco rather one like him grew up on this housing estate in calcutta so on he had spent some time in prison for petty crimes police said he had become radicalized and they put him under surveillance for years ago but last year french intelligence services decided lacked imposed no threat and was unlikely to carry out an attack so they ended their surveillance of him many

people in france are now questioning how the security agencies could have got it so wrong natasha butler al jazeera france. the u.n. envoy to yemen has arrived in the capital sana'a which is under the control of who the rebels is the first visit by martin griffith to sylar since he was appointed in february he said to me who say leaders and try to arrange a fourth round of talks three previous rounds of negotiations have come to nothing but alas yemen's war enters its fourth year regional divides between the north and south are worsening the south as its own country until one nine hundred ninety and calls forth a session once again gaining strength following the outbreak of war a summer binge of aid reports. jimmie's have been trying to free central paris and northern provinces where the saudi led coalition is battling with the rebels but many have been denied entry into southern cities including aden and hundreds of

northerners already in the south have been forcibly displaced in testimonies provided to al jazeera some business owners say they were told they'll be killed unless they pack up and leave. we had to show up but they stormed our places and kicked us out they even took my medication for me in the matter of three hours working and i didn't have a restaurant i was kicked out i was harassed and i urge them to fear god they confiscated all stalls which belong to northerners this is my mother they took all our might. human rights watch says yemenis with more than backgrounds face difficulties and aid in the checkpoints sometimes held for hours questioned occasionally turned back or called there are good three names. i was trying to travel to saudi arabia but was turned back i had visas papers everything but they refused to allow me to access the airport there and then let me go have calculus off the bus and kept the standing we asked an officer to have some mercy old men

but after he saw the id he said you're an old man and i don't want to put you in jail but i don't want you in aden either. when we showed them i.d.'s they said these won't be enough they took us to prison and left us without food or drink and care they said they would hold us for a little while and then they would deport us. forty years ago the elected government called in the saudi alliance to help defeat to the rebels but fighting continues in the north and no single party seems to be in control of the south. the south with its old country until unification in one thousand nine hundred and now many there are again openly calling for secession divisions have also appeared in the saudi led coalition despite repeated denials in january secessionist backed by the united arab emirates took over most of aden they took it from the forces of the internationally recognized government which is ironically supported by u.s. coalition allies saudi arabia and as the old cracks reappear in war torn yemen its people find themselves stranded between competing interests it's not

a big job it is there. and in the next part of our special series on yemen with take a look at who's behind the new own groups that are adding to the chaos the middle east's poorest country that's on sunday. the barboy is former first lady grace the gobby is being investigated for alleged involvement in a massive illegal ivory smuggling operation that follows a three month investigation by an undercover journalist they say is here of a two hunch kilogram package of illegal ivory at harare airport welcome web reports from johannesburg and neighboring south africa. recently granted this group or not when adrian stern went undercover as an ivory buyer in zimbabwe he says he received more death threats and he can count he's a wildlife photographer who began investigating the illegal ivory trade in december speaking exclusively to our zira he says young covered a poaching and smuggling syndicate which he believes is led by the former first

lady grace mugabe ivory which is being sourced either from the national parks vote bank the food or from live elephants being killed by poaching syndicates the syndicate within sale to quiet till 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 was not searched or scared in any way. stern got the documents undercover videos and testimonies which she showed to al jazeera as 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 they allowed him in to allege smugglers have since been charged with possession of ivory and the investigations been opened a special advisor to president emerson. confirmed to al-jazeera 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 one cargo took over three weeks later this shipment of two hundred kilograms of ivory was seized harare's airport stern says investigations on covered evidence which appears to connect it to grace mcgarvie in 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 challenge to the gobby family dynasty malcolm web al-jazeera johannesburg south africa thousands of croatians are rallying against a european treaty which describes gender as a social role protesters marched in the capital zagreb against the convention which they feel undermines traditional family values in the predominantly catholic country gracious parliament is in the process of ratifying the treaty which is designed to combat domestic violence but opponents fear it paves the way for transsexuals or transgenders as separate categories. prosecutors in brazil are investigating whether a consultancy firm at the center of a facebook data breach acted illegally in the country cambridge analytical denies improperly accessing the information of some fifty million facebook users to target voters in the twenty sixth us election prosecutors want to find out if the company

and the local consultancy use data in the same way ahead of brazil's municipal elections also tobar. meanwhile some companies are cutting ties with facebook a long mask deleted the facebook pages for his space x. and tesla companies after he was dead to do so on twitter a web browser and a germany's commerzbank followed suit facebook's market value has fallen by nearly sixty billion dollars in the past week. the eighth world water forum has just wrapped up in the brazilian capital with delegates emphasizing the importance of conscious sharing water rather than fighting over its they host city brasilia is itself facing water shortages now its residents have come up with a traditional solution to the modern problem. and the latest report in our first series. there's plenty of water here about three hundred

kilometers north of brasilia in the national park brazil is the land the raging rivers and expansive lakes. itself side the world will to form in brasilia residents demonstrated over water rationing. and several national human rights organizations in a letter to the un pointed out that thirty four million brazilians don't have access to clean running water or more than one hundred million have an adequate sanitation the water level at this time of the year the end of the rainy season should be up to about here we can see if we went down to the water level that it is now this simply not enough water in this reservoir to see this rooting through for the rest of the year forcing many to look for alternative methods to keep the water flowing this is the savannah brasilia was created in the one nine hundred fifty s. the city is still growing much of the habitat that was damaged in the rush to build is now being replenished by simple replanting like is instead of

a problem we faced a serious drought in brasilia and the stan was on the edge four percent of its capacity. today it's around sixty eight percent we know that the vegetation will help to produce water in the region we expect this project will help to recover the water capacity in the basin and that serves brazil's capital the seeds grow to strengthen the soil. to retention where it's needed and preventing flooding. maybe the idea of throwing seeds into the soil is a way of reproducing the vegetation instead of cultivating a plant in a greenhouse which is a controlled environment for transferring it to the land this plant will grow in this space and adapt more easily than a transplanted plant the seeds are collected by hand and stored which also provides much needed work. when we started in two thousand and twelve we had one family which collected six hundred kilograms of seeds in twenty sixteen on the other hand

we worked with more than fifty families who collected twelve tons of seeds the results have been positive and the project is growing with turning to pass methods to the very source of life itself for a solution to a very modern problem that is why there are central brazil. china has condemned the u.s. for political and the military provocation after one of its warships sell their own beijing claimed island in the south china sea the u.s. says the naval destroyer was carrying out a freedom of navigation operation near the disputed broccoli islands the chinese government says it has sovereignty over the islands which are also claimed by the philippines. 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 us is

doing will damage the atmosphere of military to military relations and cause close encounters by naval forces of the two countries which could easily trigger miscalculations or even accidents this is a serious political and military provocation the chinese military is firmly opposed to it. rescuers in western australia are asking the public to keep a close eye out for five whales in case they become stranded on a beach for a second time the parks and wildlife service was only able to rescue five more than one hundred fifty pilot whales that beached in hamelin bay south of perth on friday and they're warning that whales are off to return to dry land after mass stranding events. some of the world's most iconic landmarks including the eiffel tower sydney opera house and the empire state building are all going dark to mark earth hour event organized by the world wildlife fund c cities and towns across the world

switching off the lights for an hour to raise awareness of climate change the public are also being asked to make a promise for the planet to reduce their individual for prints from saying no to plastic cutlery to carrying we usable coffee cups a stroller and new zealand where the first countries to turn the lights out andrew thomas has more from sydney. we're right at the tail end of the hour here in sydney any moment now you should see the landmarks of the city behind me including the harbor bridge lights back up but that doesn't mark the 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 w 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 and we all need to come together and do something for our planet and we all realise 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. these are the top stories on al-jazeera hundreds of thousands of people are

marching across the u.s. demanding an end to gun violence and tougher gun laws the march for our lives rallies are taking place in several cities including parkland florida where a school shooting last month killed seventeen people the biggest event is happening in washington d.c. within sight of the u.s. capitol where many student protesters are hoping politicians will be listening and the gallagher. the battle these students face to change policy is mind will be a very long and hard road although public opinion in this country is beginning to swing in change of thirty men lots of republicans who are now for commonsense gun reforms and as i'm standing here now you can hear the students shouting vote them out and remember these are people that come november's midterm elections will be able to vote themselves come the next election they will be voters it's going to be pretty hard to ignore the voices that ignore that shift in public opinion in this country the syrian army is close to taking full control of eastern ghouta the last

opposition stronghold in the capital damascus two groups have already surrendered with thousands of fighters and their families departing for rebel held areas in the north and in the suburb of duma remains in opposition hands with josh islam or the army of islam so far refusing to give in. or many of those escaping who are heading to opposition held. in the region is far from safe a car bomb near a hospital on saturday killed at least seven people twenty five others were also injured. a car bomb has killed two policeman and injured five others in northern egypt just two days before monday's presidential election the attack his security convoy passed a police station in the center of alexandria government leaders from democratic republic of congo are refusing to join a donor conference in switzerland promised to same

a killa says they won't attend next month's summit because the un is overreacting about his conscious humanitarian names on a piece man who died after offering himself in exchange for a hostage in a supermarket has been held as a hero by the french president. was one of four people who died in the shooting spree in the southern towns of. trap those are your headlines but stay with us here on al-jazeera next up its people in power.