u.k. we examine how relevant the commonwealth is today between corporate and public interests up to the last drop unveils the longstanding rule for water in europe april on al-jazeera. what makes this moment this era we're living through so unique this is really an attack on truth itself is a lot of misunderstanding a distortion isn't what free speech is supposed to be about the context is hugely important level right to publish it. to be offensive or provoke the thought of it as people do setting the stage for a serious debate up front at this time on al-jazeera. al-jazeera. and.

the u.s. says russia's choosing to further isolate itself by expelling american diplomats. along down jordan the sound is iran law you from doha also coming up. will be coming out of syria like very soon let the other people take care of it now donald trump declares a withdrawal from syria catching his own officials off guard. as thousands of palestinians prepare to model on day we look at the struggle to hold on to that. at the moment my priority is to get these kids in bed and rest stop and why disgraced australian cricket is not telling his side of the bone attempting story just yet.

russia is kicking out sixty u.s. diplomats and dozens more from other countries in response to the expulsion of its own diplomats as the latest development in a worsening rao the who is behind the poisoning of a former russian spy in britain mike hanna reports from washington d.c. . the u.s. consulate in cent petersburg shut down some sixty diplomats ordered to leave the country by the middle of next week sweeping russian retaliation. there will be mirrored measures but not only stopping events the u.s. ambassador is invited to our ministry where my deputy would deliver him the content of these retaliation re measures against the united states they include the exposion of a similar number of diplomats and they include our decision to withdraw our consent to the operation of the united states consulate general in some petersburg as for the rest of the countries everything that concerns the number of people who leave the russian federation from diplomatic missions is also mirrored signal at the root

of the dispute the alleged poisoning of a former russian double agent on british soil with a russian designed nerve agent russia vehemently denied any involvement but in a coordinated move more than one hundred fifty russian diplomats have been expelled from some twenty seven western nations a sanction including sixty from the united states and twenty three from the united kingdom. and the u.s. state department has reacted angrily to the russian action insisting that russia does not have the right to play the victim there is no justification for the russian response our actions were motivated purely by the attack on the united kingdom the attack on a british citizen and his daughter remember this is the first time that a weapons grade nerve agent no overt shock has been used outside of war on allied soil the russian consulate in seattle now stands empty but importantly the u.s.

has made clear it reserves the right to further response the diplomatic dispute is far from over mike hanna al-jazeera washington. you know eunice cryptology daughter of the former russian spy who was also poisoned in that attack is getting better that's according to hospital officials russia has demanded access to her doctors say she is recovering although it's unclear if she will be well enough to speak to investigators father said yes cripple remains in a critical condition u.s. president donald trump has told supporters that american troops will be leaving syria very soon he was speaking at an event in the state of ohio where he began complaining about how much the u.s. spends on rebuilding other countries and by the way we're knocking the hell out of isis will become another syria like very soon let the other people take care of it now very soon very soon we're coming now we're going to have a hundred percent of the caliphate as they call it sometimes you ferd to his land

take it all back quickly quickly well like some previous trump announcements this one caught many in washington off guard including the state department. i can't comment on what the president supposedly said i haven't seen and i have to refer you back to the white house. i have not seen it myself and said it i have not seen that myself ok but you know you don't you don't necessarily comment or report on things that have been heard secondhand and i'm not going to do that that's ok that's fine so you're not aware of any policy determination to poor old to pull the us out of so i am not no ok so the president is just speaking off the cuff and i don't know i don't know what if you were already back in the white house i'm not and i'm not aware it's not just the world us join the syria conflict during barack obama's presidency one mission was to support groups fighting against die so the pentagon says about two thousand u.s. troops are still there to prevent a resurgence by the armed group and help maintain stability in december defense second to james mattis said he expected to send more diplomats and civilian

personnel to syria more than eight billion dollars of u.s. money has been directed toward syrian related humanitarian assistance congress to set aside billions more to help with security operation inherent result which aims to eliminate isolate from syria iraq and other areas of cost more than eighteen billion dollars while it was a scene in syria advisor to some of the power was america's u.n. ambassador under barack obama he says it's unlikely it trumps comments represent actual policy change. i was literally just speaking with some colleagues of mine former colleagues of mine at the state department who are getting ready to deploy to syria to to do their work out there in the northern part of the syria where the u.s. military stationed so i really think this caught everyone off guard and i don't think it's particularly connected to any real policy the united states continues to pursued in the region the policy in the past has been to intervene in as little of a way as possible to try to. address the humanitarian situation without getting in

broiled in a broader conflict in the middle east that's kind of been the policy but really clearly it has not worked with this administration there's clearly a disconnect between what the president is saying what his military and political advisors are telling him which is the united states should remain in the area that is in to use it as leverage against the syrian regime the iranians and russians and to keep an eye on potentially eisel returning that's really kind of the consensus on what the policy should be but again just like previous statements the president should from the hip and and now everybody is getting all worked up about what he's saying but i really would pay attention to what the united states actually does in the coming days and weeks which i think will be more likely to remain in the area that sense. you know reports of emerge that france plans to send troops to support kurdish forces that man in northern syria that's where most u.s.

troops are deployed french president emanuel mark roman officials from northern syria and paris they had members of the kurdish wife which turkey has been fighting near its border kurdish officials say they sent troops to man to help defeat i saw turkey advancing into the town. a palestinian a farmer has been killed in gaza the man was targeted by israeli tank fire in the city of hama you miss going to the palestinian ministry of health he was working with other farmers in the land at the time another man is in critical condition well a death in gaza comes as thousands of palestinians are expected at protests marking land day it happens each year and is an act of collective resistance to israeli occupation and seizure of their land the biggest protests are planned in gaza where israeli forces of warm they'll open fire at anyone trying to breach the border fence or how many reports from the occupied west bank it's that they that's been marked since one nine hundred seventy six then like now palestinians are protesting

the confiscation of their land it's also they weighted demonstrate their attachment to that land. we want to impose their presence planted lanes are hard to take over israel always says that it's only taking a barren land that's why we need to play it everywhere. so his property shrink by four hector's and has received notice that another fourteen could be taken away soon. much of the land goes to was building illegal jewish settlements and the exploitation of natural resources or in the case of rafa meant for the construction of a bypass road that now goes over part of his land he can only reach it via this underpass but axes isn't always guaranteed. if the gate is closed we're stuck for hours everyone wants freedom of movement i want to be able to come home here and build a shack to store my equipment but the israelis won't allow me i can't even install

a light to sit here in the summer was integrated by israel's prime minister binyamin netanyahu also pledged two hundred twenty eight million dollars from this year's budget the building of more roads across the occupied west bank another project underway is that up the road there to the left that's extension of the eastern ring road and it has its own separation wall in the middle now trafficked on one side will be reserved only to israel on the other side traffic will be reserved to palestinians but they can only travel between their towns and villages without bypasses are designed to circumvent palestinian population centers settlers say it's for their own safety but the plan was initially put in place in one thousand nine hundred three and was only implemented after the oslo accords were signed years later when i because the road could through the west bank in circling palestinian communities and dividing the west bank into continents they connect to

jewish settlements to each other and directly to israel in case of an exaggeration there's already a system in place. israel sees the bypass roads as vital for the development of settlements they expanded by seventeen percent last year or as many palestinians say ever since donald trump became you as president with every dig of the shovel palestinians see more land lost and the dream of a future state crumble furder without that hammy al-jazeera in the occupied west bank hundreds of people in the u.s. state of california have attended the funeral of a black man who was shot dead by police officers said they thought stefan clark aimed the gun at them but it was his mobile phone his death sparked protests in his hometown of sacramento and beyond. reports. friends and family of stefan clarke were here to grieve and console each other civil rights activist al sharpton gave

the eulogy reminded people why they were there we came to have a family we came because there is more i should have to be clark was a twenty two year old father of two kids he was shot and killed by two police officers who mistakenly thought he was a burglar body cameras on the two officers captured the moment on the evening of march eighteenth when the officers confronted clark they fired their weapons twenty times course was killed instantly he was unarmed only holding his cellphone he was standing in the backyard of his grandmother's home both officers aren't administrative leave pending an investigation at first the shooting mostly went unnoticed outside of sacramento but as more details emerged so too do the coals for justice street protests growing louder by the day and spreading as far away as new york white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders said that stefan clark's

killing was terrible but that the white house won't have much more to say about it because in her words it's a local matter at clark's funeral in sacramento this was the response to that no this is not a local man. they didn't killing young black men over the country and we are here to say we are going to stand with stefan crack and the leaders of this family emotions are still high and people have promised to not rest until the officers are held to account the city of sacramento is on edge more protests are planned the family lawyer is appealing for calm we must. now balance to make sure that we protest the first amendment rights in the most productive way possible but people here know this funeral should never have been needed that stefan clark was killed for no reason gabriel's on doe.

washington. mall so to come here and al-jazeera including it's not child's play the british prime minister's hot selling year out from breaks it. out it's a dirty job the mission to clean up one of the world's filthiest with us or not stay with us. welcome back weather conditions across the levant and middle east generally looking quite interesting over the next twenty four to forty eight hours eastern areas geria looking too bad fine in fact tashkent inspected stop at thirty degrees on the south of the wind but further towards the west we've got a low pressure center which is bringing rain in across turkey was snow or high elevations some rain for the south and also we've got a weather front thrown into the mix and that is going to push across the region during the course of the weekend so there's

a lot of dust already across parts of iraq iran through towards q eight and that could well get worse before it gets better and there's also going to be significant impact the dust across the arabian peninsula we're going to see it's sweeping in across the arabia during the course of friday and you can see the difference in winds here give us some indication of disturbed weather conditions the southerly ahead of this front northerly behind it surreal it thirty nine degrees but i think the visibility could be awful at times that may well affect the driving conditions it maybe even some aircraft operations here in doha the visibility is going to go very poor in teacher in the course of saturday with temperatures stop at thirty four degrees but i think the air is going to be full of dust over into southern portions of africa no such problems but a scattering of showers you might see wanted to showers affecting when talk in the media. and new yes new lessons and new rules and this is the time when you get to choose

your english teacher is for the next two years meet the teachers empowering their students my take and my cool all about freedom going to come out perspective i want you to develop the skill with which you speak by letting them choose the lessons they learned revelent you cation democratic schooling united kingdom at this time on al-jazeera. welcome back a quick reminder the top stories this hour the white house says russia's expulsion of sixteen u.s. diplomats marks a further deterioration of its relationship with moscow the latest move in a diplomatic spat over the poisoning of a former russian spy in the u.k. . the u.s.

president says american troops will be leaving syria very soon speaking to supporters trump said it's time to let others take care of myself that. hundreds of people have attended the funeral of a black man who was killed while police in california stefan clark's death has caused widespread public anger at. the. preliminary results some egypt's election have delivered what everyone expected a landslide victory for the president but it appears most voters other stayed at home actively boycotted the election or spoil the ballot to schapelle reports. the wrong ones with most votes already counted in egypt's presidential election abdel fattah el-sisi appears to have won a second term by a landslide. state media says he secured ninety percent of the vote while sisi described the election as a source of pride critics described it as

a sham millions of eligible voters stayed home over the three days of the election rather than vote for him or his only rival who said mustafa mussa leads a party that supported sisi he announced he was running at the last minute after all other potential challengers pulled out some were arrested some were pressured to drop out a new national has some well i voted to improve the country's current situation it doesn't matter who you support most of my friends didn't vote for. seven political parties and one hundred fifty opposition figures told voters to stay home rather than grant sisi the electoral agenda mysie he wanted the national elections authority warned egyptians to vote or pay a fine other threats and incentives were used to encourage voters but participation was lower in this election than in the previous two more than one point five million votes were rejected after some voters submitted blank ballots or wrote in

their own candidates that made the term invalid votes trend on twitter the most popular post saying the true winners of the vote were egyptians who boycotted the election altogether we all know that it has no that's a constitutional or political legitimacy in a sense of there's not much of participation saw fanfare and so on but he wants to say at least that there was significant turnout. to give him another mandate for another four years especially that most of his promises in twenty fourteen were not fulfilled the security for egypt prosperous economy situation the ending of the crises whether security or political. with a new mandate of sorts and with his reelection secured his strongest supporters are considering the possibility of amending the constitution to allow sisi to run for a third term or perhaps even longer and or chapell al-jazeera. near mars new president due in mayan has been sworn in it comes

a week after the former president is in charge resigned because a growing health concerns the new president was the lower speaker of the house and is seen as a close aide of and sang suchi his role will be largely ceremonial with suchi as the country's de facto leader now one of the world's dirtiest rivers is being cleaned up thousands of soldiers are being deployed in an ambitious project to make the water of the tar remain in the asia drink a bill in the next seven years but a step vasant reports factories are still using it as a dump the chemical waste. a thick soup of rubbish clogging one of indonesia's main waterways after previous failed attempts to clean up the river in west java the government has called in the army to do the dirty work it's not an easy battle to win as the soldiers remove garbage from the three hundred kilometer long river more arrives ways from households markets and shops simply dumped into the water

not only is it the easiest way to get rid of rubbish but for many living along the river it's the only way that they got. up for more than a month we've been talking to villagers about how to be more hygiene it turns out most of them don't want to dump their garbage in the river but they don't know what else to do with their household waste there is no garbage dump in their village there are no garbage collectors it's a huge problem that the. people in the village of my july used the river for washing and cleaning that many villagers including yes watty and her son are suffering from a skin disease doctors blame on the contaminated water more muscle in the same rules of. the water used to be clean but since the factories have been operating it has become like this it used to be totally clear. thousands of factories dumped tons of chemical waste in the river every day and via mental groups took legal action against one of the main textile producers kohat tax but

this by the supreme court order in november betting the dumping of waste this is what we found a black colored slick coming from god tax after repeated requests for an explanation the company eventually said the color does not prove the water is contaminated so. as long as there is no law enforcement and as long as they don't have regular inspections in these factories the river will never be clean this clean up has been happening for nearly two months and there have been inspections but this is the evidence we find. samples have shown dangerous levels of lead and other metals in the water which is also used by thousands of farmers for irrigation turning this into drinking water within the next seven years sounds like a promise impossible to keep despite another attempt to clean up what's known as one of the world's dirtiest rivers she tavern is still being used as a dump for all kinds of waste and fire mantilla say that if polluters are not being punished this cleanup is just another waste of time and money the government says

action will be taken against polluters as soon as a presidential decree is issued that we're going to focus on promises because we told them radio we're going to kill the next generation don't play around anymore because before i heard about this story you know and i said no was this decree coming we're going to we're going to beating the creek we're going to execute some parts of the river are looking quite clean now but taking out the rubbish has not exactly solved the waste issue with most landfills full soldiers have no choice but to dump garbage next to the river in the middle of a residential area creating new problems step fasten al-jazeera a cheetah river. britain's prime minister has been touring the country selling the benefits of brigs it here before the u.k. is due to leave the e.u. the reason may says she is committed to making brags it a success but huge numbers of people remain unconvinced and many are campaigning

for the country to change its mind and stay here u.k. correspondent bonnie phillips. she didn't vote for breck's it to put on a rapid tour of britain starting in a scottish textile factory the prime minister the country to embrace the idea of leaving the e.u. i believe that we can negotiate a good agreement which is terrorists free in this friction is trade is possible so we maintain those markets in the e.u. but also that we open up markets around the rest of the world breaks it provides us with opportunities. but who's this campaigning against sit outside downing street boris johnson or maybe not but his impersonator and these protesters believe bret's it can be stopped with a second referendum on the final deal from the because she ations between britain and the e.u. says will a student just speaking for

a generation that voted overwhelmingly to stay in your russian business one direction for a few. million fighting to mobilize and try to persuade parents and grandparents many of the like minded back to back to back us not sure anymore but it's not the right deal i'm not sure i'd direction from here but all the older generation persuadable i travelled from london to the english market town of spaulding west seventy percent voted to leave the e.u. the challenge for those trying to stop bricks it is to change people's minds in towns like spalding and that still feels like an uphill struggle there is a measure of ensuring. that i don't think you can lay said no go on tennis get only hurt back in london not much sign of rallying around. another group sets off on a battle bus tour around britain supported by some big names in british politics all right except that whatever happens in terms of any effort. to stop here which

is take it to a different course in the one the peoples in the voice roy said that's very difficult but i think millions of people believe the country's made a terrible mistake. and that this is just can't count this isn't sustainable meanwhile the prime minister travelling all through northern ireland wales and england in one hectic day says there's no turning back but if the brics this referendum of twenty six deed was meant to settle the issue of britain and europe for want some for all while it doesn't yet feel that it has to be philips al-jazeera london pope francis has washed the feet of twelve inmates to mark holy thursday for the sixth year in a row the head of the catholic church before the ritual at a prison rather than the vatican a number told symbolizes jesus has of humility towards his twelve apostles and in his day. well as millions of christians around the world mark of their holy week

signs are emerging of improving relations between the vatican and the chinese government agent brown reports. in china catholics have a choice pray in a state sanctioned church like this one in secret but this easter many worshippers will be considering a new scenario a deal between the vatican and the chinese government that may be imminent the agreement could decide the future of the estimated ten million catholics in china who've long hope for a normalization in vatican china relations what i always hoped the pope and the vet again stablish diplomatic relations with china i'm so excited. the pope is the symbol of catholics if you're catholic you would definitely want to see him that's why i'd be so happy if he came to china surprising views because those worshippers belong to the official catholic church which is not

recognize the authority of the pope since the vatican and china sever diplomatic ties in one nine hundred fifty one but that could be about to change according to francisco c.c. an attorney an academic invited to interview the pope two years ago he says there are even discussions about the vatican establishing a representative office in beijing and this could happen. within the zia i would say that sue. i think it is a possibility we don't know there are of course many things up in the air but there is lobbed in the air as the song would say. before that happens though another deal is expected on the thorny issue of who gets to appoint bishops for the first time that would give the vatican a say in the selection process but some of the underground churches that operate

without government approval are fearful about this growing reproach mo and they have a senior catholic official on their side who's accused the pope of betrayal cardinal joseph zen is the former bishop of hong kong where religious freedoms are still protected many people in that union less a church may get to scandalize in may who is their faith in the in the pope that the poor pope has so many critics already we dis one i'm a very sorry. such charge criticism of the pope even by a retired cardinal is rare neither the vatican or china's religious affairs bureau responded to our requests for comment but a report in the state controlled newspaper on thursday citing several official sources said the announcement could be made as soon as saturday a day before easter. china represents the last frontier for the catholic

church it's been that way for centuries never more so than now adrian brown al-jazeera beijing. the last of australia's three disgraced cricketers has returned home following the ball tampering scandal in south africa vice captain david warner has been banned for twelve months and been told he'll never again the whole the leadership role in the team he returned to sydney after teammate steve smith and cameron bancroft a thirty one year old issued an apology on twitter while in the air for briefly speaking to the media on arrival. you can understand tough emotional songs for voicing the kids. it is present on and you'll hear from in a couple of days at the moment my priority is to get these kids in bed and rest up and let mum one be clear so i can see and.

talk for a quick check of the headlines here the white house says russia's expulsion of sixty u.s. diplomats marks a further deterioration and its relationship with moscow is the latest move in a diplomatic spat following the poisoning of a former russian spy in the u.k. . donald trump says u.s. troops will be leaving syria very soon speaking to supporters in ohio the president says i still is almost defeated in syria and that it's time to let others take care of the problem a state department though says it's unaware of policy change. and by the way we're knocking the hell out of isis will become another syria like very soon let the other people take care of it now very soon very soon we're coming out we're going to have a hundred percent of the caliphate as they call it sometimes referred to his leg and take it all back quickly quickly a palestinian man has been killed in gaza the palestinian health ministry says the farmer was hit by israeli tank fire near the city of harness he was working with

other farmers on the land at the time another man's in a critical condition there been more protests in the us state of california following the funeral of a black man shot dead by the police officers blocked roads as groups marched in sacramento after the service for stefan clock he was shot by police who believed he pointed a gun at them investigators found a mobile phone but no weapon in his body the united nations says it's appalled by the deaths of sixty eight people in venezuela after a riot and fire in the holding cells of a police station at the burial services in valencia for some of the victims former french president nicolas sarkozy will face trial accused of corruption and influence peddling his lawyers say he will appeal against the decision the case centers on wiretapped phone calls which sarkozy allegedly tried to sway judges who were looking into claims of illegal financing during his two thousand and seven presidential campaign meum hours new president you in mind has been sworn in comes

a week after the former president putin shall resign because of growing health concerns the new president a seen as a close aide of unsung sutured a lost of australia's three disgraced cricket is has returned home following the ball tampering scandal in south africa vice captain david warner's been banned for twelve months he returned to sydney after his teammates steve smith and cameron banks. well those were the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after rebel education statement that so much about that. a conflict spanning seven years. humanitarian disaster displacing more than half a nation. al-jazeera world meets the children who have become victims of syria's civil war. i am.