starts with do you have a boyfriend to you're very pretty and young you feel unsafe threatened i think about how to react what do i do if this gets worse no money on the uses a new service it's called loyal droid it's for women passages only and drawn by women drivers pull for some extra features like a panic button and twenty four seven drivers. a story fourteen hundred years in the make. a story of succession and leadership. tells the story of foundation and the emergence of an empire. of the caliph episode one. zero.

present donald trump ramps up the rhetoric warning russia of an imminent u.s. strike in response to the alleged gas attack in syria. and our oracle this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up algeria begins three days of mourning after the country's worst plane crash kills more than two hundred and fifty people also. celebrations in azerbaijan as present when a full time in a vote boycotted by the opposition. and the man one step to be china's future president goes on trial for bribery.

present donald trump has warned syria's ally russia that missiles coming in his response to a suspected chemical strike near duma and duma in the capital damascus moscow has hit back saying america should target terrorists not the syrian government the u.s. action general has called on the security council to prevent the situation spiraling out of control well from the white house correspondent kimberly halakhah . this is how the united states responded to last year's nerve agent gas attack in qana by attacking a syrian air base with tomahawk missiles and it's how the u.s. may act again little. truck displayed the syrian government for a recent suspected chemical attack outside damascus with their troops on the ground in syria he's also accusing russia of complicity for supporting president bashar al assad in a series of tweets on wednesday morning president donald trump warned missiles will

be coming and taunted get ready russia because they will be coming nice and new and smart russia has proven themselves to be responsible in part for this they guaranteed that the use of chemical weapons by syria would not happen again they failed it that russia shot back in the war of words with trump it says there's no proof a chemical attack occurred on facebook the russian foreign ministry spokeswoman posted a smart missile should fly towards terrorists and not towards the lawful government which has been fighting international terrorism for years it will be met and it will be met forcefully for days trump has been meeting with top military leaders and advisors. clued in on wednesday with defense secretary general james mattis we're still assessing the intelligence ourselves and our allies we're still working on this. there are also over. it's a u.s.

navy carrier task force led by the u.s.s. harry truman is sailing towards the region trump's also been conferring with world leaders like french president jacques rogge and british prime minister theresa may . it's an astonishing and confusing ramping up of rhetoric for a president who said just a week ago that he wants to get out of syria what is clear is it appears the united states is determined to hold those responsible for the suspected attack accountable can really help get al-jazeera at the white house and rory charles has more now on the reaction from moscow. well the russian response to escalating tensions around syria is to say don't do anything that would destabilize the country any further donald trump's tweet seems to be a direct response to something that the russian ambassador to lebanon said recently

in an interview to a hezbollah controlled t.v. channel which was essentially that if there was a u.s. military strike against syria in any form then russian air defense systems would shoot u.s. missiles out of the sky and hit back against the launch sites of those missiles now he seems to be slightly misquoting something that the russian chief of general staff general gerasim off said about a month ago which was that if russian personnel russian infrastructure was threatened by u.s. strikes in syria then there would be such a response so we don't quite know whether this misquoting was intentional or not but the russian general response to all this has been not really to take donald trump's bait the foreign ministry says that any u.s. missile should be targeted at the terrorists in syria not as the foreign ministry

puts it the legitimate governments and sides governments and the kremlin has said rather dismissively that russia does not deal in twitter diplomacy that they are more serious in their approaches. well the world health organization is demanding immediate unhindered access to confirm reports that more than five hundred people and doom are showing signs of having been exposed to chemical weapons and says its partners on the ground in duma have recourses symptoms that include difficulty breathing and disruption to the central nervous system hasn't been charged it has more on the situation and in the from. the tacky syrian border. it's a strange wait inside syria where air strikes or missile strikes by the united states are imminent people on the ground in the seized area of duma where this chemical attack on saturday but they have been telling us about their difficulties and their suffering not moving the moving image is only getting worse after this

attack and this rhetoric that's been ratcheting up between the united states and russia a fighters on the ground are not actually hopeful by anything that will be moving after these strikes because they say this is not the first time that the united states will be carrying out these strikes and they say that the united states will be warning the russians in advance of how and where it's going to hit them so it is a very strange wait for them dearly for the u.s. president is tweeting about his attack he's saying that it's going to be shining in new missiles that the russians are going to face inside syria but yet he's going to warn them in advance as well on the ground inside duma more people have been able to meet today about five thousand people left for another northern part of syria people have been besieged there for years and activists on the ground are saying that all with all of this rhetoric the suffering of the people inside syria or the fate of the assad government which has been carrying out attacks with impunity is

not going to change. in your script pal who was poisoned along with her father a former russian spy in the u.k. last month has turned down the offer of help from a russian embassy and her first statement since leaving hospital here said if she changed her mind she knew. house to make contact her father surrogate remains seriously ill of the nerve agent attack that's led to one of the biggest crises in britain's relations with moscow since the cold war cold war u.k. blames russia for the poisoning a charge moscow denies algeria is observing three days of mourning after a military plane crash near the capital algiers killing two hundred fifty seven people most were military personnel but the dead also included dozens of refugees but on a hunt has more two hundred fifty seven people were on board the military aircraft it went down shortly after takeoff crashing near a military airport south of l.g. is the defense ministry says that many of the passengers were soldiers some of them

accompanied by their families a number of people survived this family was among those being treated hurt when the plane crashed into a field close to where he was working. i could see that as soon as the plane took off it started falling the plane flew over my head and came really close the wing clipped me as i was jumping to get out of the way and then it burst into flames i've survived by the grace of god. the military aircraft was on its way to the algerian region of bash it stopping often to do it's a region on the border with the disputed territory of waste in sahara thousands of whiston saharan have sought refuge here the policy area front a group that's been fighting for the independence of western sahara sit in a statement that sushi of the passengers will whiston so hiren's hitting back after getting medical treatment in now g. is the aircraft was a soviet designed to military transport plane the crash is likely the worst in

algeria is aviation history maidana hond al-jazeera. saudi arabia says intercepted a ballistic missile fired from yemen over the capital riyadh and the fighters claimed responsibility for the attack through a twitter account associated with the rebels they say they were targeting the saudi defense ministry there were no reports of damage saudi arabia also shot down to a man drones that hooty forces say were aimed at riyadh's oil facilities. that are you know many of these advancements showed the capabilities of the hutus this is what changed the equation and the rules of the political game and also managed to change the strategy of defense that's what we've noticed these missiles can determine the targets coordinates and hit them accurately. meanwhile the yemeni national army has recaptured the coastal city of mehdi from who through rebels and follows a three day operation backed by assad led coalition than ten thousand civilians

have died in yemen civil war since two thousand and fourteen. azerbaijan's president has won a fourth consecutive term in a snap election that was boycotted by the main opposition parties. claim victory in a televised address ups taking eighty six percent of the vote these barca reports. he's laid azerbaijan since two thousand and three and now in president for another seven years. there were multiple candidates in the race but only ever one front runner politics in azerbaijan is a family affair and lives wife was made first vice president last year. succeeded his father heyday president in the early ninety's the former k.g.b. general clamped down hard on opponent while at the same time opening up the country's huge energy reserves to international companies. this once crumbling post

soviet republic is now one of the world's fastest growing economies balancing relations with azerbaijan's former soviet moscow russia and the west this country is one of the main partner of the repeal union from the point of fuel energy security but at the same time this country. between russia and iran these folks in the smart foreign policy helps. to have good relations with only worse i but the economic boom hasn't benefited all many people struggle on low incomes have made growing inequality. and this is what happens to antigovernment protesters the. leading opposition parties boycotted the election accusing him of vote rigging and nobody can speak out in the ways that challenges the government and not face consequences and that means freeways are either in prison or outside that was there

where john when they keep quiet to many azerbaijan is a post soviet poster child an international player the host of major cultural and sporting events but it is to this day the only former soviet republic to witness the rise of a ruling in a city as the nation gets richer one family the l.d.s. remain firmly controlled. still ahead here on al-jazeera tracking the number of death penalty cases worldwide. both good and bad news plus the i do it all of one and also. to sell the actually share wife thousands of afghan refugees are fleeing their country and heading to turkey.

hello rain has been spotting all the way down through eastern iraq kuwait the gulf states of inhaled showers and saudi the mess of cloud is still there but it's just coagulates and shadows all right and that's still true on thursday possibly more into the rainy and high ground than anywhere else behind the sun comes out twenty three in baghdad a little less on the coast the mediterranean in beirut for example the sun was warmed up the following day this cloud there is persistent and the rain is still there but reaching pasta syria as well clearly eastern turkey azerbaijan seem like to be cloudy and possibly wet at times the tail end of all that is very slow moving spotting these rain occasionally thunderstorms aside to be some significant showers or thunderstorms in yemen some of that was flooding as well that looks like not necessarily repeat for the next day or so and the cat is fading away so a dry clearer spell a less sound in the air all this dust in the air as well we've also seen big

showers in south africa for thursday for the middle south africa you could watch out for them they might be rather we should be seeing the dry season coming in here hasn't apparently occurred to south africa botswana looks like having a dry couple of days at least along with symbolic. a story fourteen hundred years in the make. the story of succession. the jersey that tells the story of foundation and the emergence of an empire. the kind of episode one. jersey the.

other again you're watching al-jazeera has reminder of our top stories this hour the white house says all options are on the table for u.s. response to those suspected chemical attack in the syrian town of duma as far as an earlier tweet by donald trump warning the syrian government's main ally russia to get ready for missiles to be fired. algeria has announced three days of mourning after a minute sea plane crash killed two hundred fifty seven people aircraft went down shortly after taking off from both our military airport near the capsule is most of the dead was soldiers and their families. and doesn't buy john's presents a secured a fourth consecutive term in a snap election that was boycotted by the main opposition parties with most ballots

counted and has eighty six percent of the vote and a televised address he claimed victory and thanked the people for their support and trusts. a former senior chinese official who was once a major concept for leadership position is on trial for corruption so john tie is one of the highest level politicians to be charged under president xi jinping is anti corruption crackdown he's accused of taking bribes and abuse of power. when he was expelled so and was the youngest member of the politburo made up of the ruling communist party's top members was also widely expected that he would be promoted into the all powerful standing committee but an investigation was launched against him in the run up towards the leadership we shuffle in october the fifty three year old was also the party leader of china change one of china's fastest growing cities and is replaced by chan min a seems the process of president xi jinping soon have

been identified most closely with china luth youth league faction associated with c's predecessor who jintao. as a political analyst and foreign press or the city university of hong kong joins us now via skype so the sun was a rising star why are we seeing this fall from grace. well he was certainly corrupt nobody doubts about this art he was a rising stars he was one of a small group of two or three people who are designated by themis leaders who are gentile and went off to secede season in the coming. in twenty twenty two so according to convention of into. the planning process he and putting them up were supposed to be promoted to the senate committee of the libero so that they would be in

a position to see susan being five years from now but obviously this did not happen being rejected any secession arrangement for new twenty two who then actually what happens in the previous party congress and yet not. indicate you get a don't care so huge and b. are more or less one to one to have ones to have for a term for himself and yours has probably has been followed by the vision of the constitution. well tomorrow it's not but won't turn so soon time is now in trouble in fact his case in india not last year already how much trouble is he actually am. well when he says you know official in this case of liberal member up is prosecuted when he has to go to call and he

are not out there this will be those who are sick and even be sentenced to prison meaning the end of this political life are is some of the business associates are. close to the native son have also been not prosecuted and or at least one does this woman is also related to a business or thirty years of. former opinion one jarls family so there is a little bit of speculation that the former premier wen jiabao we also be more but there's there's only speculation at the moment she has made this anti corruption campaign central to his rule hasn't he but many say it's simply convenient way to purge his rivals but do you think. well indeed corruption is

essential to the name going in and of the communist party regime it remains popular amount of people who. are or refutable light can see there you don't need is very senior others cannot prosecute but as you say there's also a very concrete in herat that sacked our political instrument and we had to dispose of. the games politicians well he. does not lie wants to to remove is a bit of sinlessness numb among the interview jens in china. is a very useful political incident and in the hands of. generating a certain deterrence among his political enemies joseph tang a very speak to thanks for joining us there from hong kong and until now i'm

see international says two thousand and seventeen saw a significant drop in the number of death sentences issued around the world and the report says more african states are abolishing the death penalty altogether but says amnesty there are still hundreds being executed worldwide without a fair trial and i didn't bother reports. amnesty international says the global picture is continuing to improve last year they counted at least nine hundred ninety three executions that's four percent fewer than in twenty sixteen and thirty nine percent fewer than in twenty fifteen and there's been a marked drop in death sentences passed at least two thousand five hundred ninety one were recorded in twenty seventeen a yearly fall of seventeen percent but there's a major caveat these figures don't include china amnesty says it's by far the world's biggest executioner carrying out thousands of death sentences last year but statistics are considered a state secret now eighty four percent of all recorded executions took place in

just four countries iran saudi arabia iraq and pakistan iran executed at least five hundred seven people last year more than half the recorded global figure amnesty says courts very often rely on confessions made on the torture when passing death sentences and several countries in the middle east resumed executions in twenty seventeen after years of not doing so one continuing practice that amnesty calls disturbing is executions for drug related defenses something that's against international law we have notice it been used by a lot of countries malaysia and iran in marion and indonesia singapore notice other countries and this is contrary to some of the obligations that this country of the international human rights along standards and the fact that some of these countries are actually even now taking steps to reform their own national laws to align it with international laws and regulation is a is a is a testimony to the fact that they agree with us in the usa the only country in the

americas executing people the number of states carrying out executions rose from five to eight and while there was progress in sub-saharan africa nigeria sentenced six hundred twenty one people to death last year more than any other country in the region so a mixed picture and amnesty international says its public campaign to get the death penalty abolished will go on. getting some reports out of that there's syrian government forces have taken full control over the town of duma now that's the last rebel stronghold in the eastern ghouta enclave just outside damascus and this is according to the reuters news agency and they're quoting a russian military official who says syrian state flag has been raised over a building in duma so reports there that the syrian government forces have taken full control over the town of doom another this is a live shot of the outskirts of doom and there we have seen

a couple of buses traveling along that road we have over the past few weeks seen civilians fighters and their families leaving east and other parts of syria under various negotiations with different rebel groups inside eastern now we're getting reports that a settlement has been made with the last rebel group in doing which was josh. that they have we are hearing from only the russian side at the moment that they have surrendered that the syrian government forces have taken full control of doom or you can see another bus traveling along that road on the duma outskirts we're going to be keeping a close eye on this story talking to our correspondents there and people on the ground to get you more information as to what is exactly happening there on the outskirts of damascus in eastern. now serbia nationalist politician voice says shell has been sentenced to ten years in prison for

committing crimes against non served during the balkan wars in the one nine hundred ninety s. so shell was initially acquitted by un court but that verdict has now been partially overturned so nick a ago has more we don't actually have that package let's see what we can go to next. having a bit of a meltdown in the gallery let's just see what we can go to we can go to turkey ok and turkey we're going to go to work apologies we seem to be having a complete system failure here we are working on it and now we're going to go to facebook c.e.o. mark zuckerberg facing more tough questions on the final day of testimony about the

massive breach of users private data now the thirty three year old billionaire has apologized several times facebook has been in the spotlight after the personal information of eighty seven million users was harvested by the political consultancy from cambridge adolescent. now the u.s. republican house speak up paul ryan says he won't run for reelection he will serve out his current before retiring in january ryan's announcement follows a series of regional election wins for democrats and mounting republican concerns about holding on to their majority in the house of representatives a man must government has sought to reassure ranger refugees in bangladesh saying their repatriation is a priority social welfare minutes so when all is m. bangladesh for three days he's the first senior official to visit ranger refugees

who fled to cultures bizarre to escape a crackdown in state. demonstrations in the central african republic laid bodies outside the u.n. mission building in the capital bangui to protest an operation against on groups in a largely muslim neighborhood the red cross remove the bodies which have been wrapped in sheets or plastic and laid out on the bare ground at least twenty one people were killed in the un operation in the mainly muslim p.k. five community. now we can go to turkey more than twenty thousand afghans have a legally tried to enter the country turkey via iran over the past three months now turkey has stepped up efforts to send them back home so because they are glued heard stories about their treacherous journeys in search for a better life. it's been a long journey but your feet are swollen. these afghan boys how walter three hundred kilometers since entering turkey. having left families behind they hope for

a better and safer life here. that we've been travelling for seventeen days walking for twenty two hours nonstop i mean we have some bread water and a few shirts in our bags. they don't have passports or other forms of identification if they're lucky they won't get caught by the police and will reach their friends and relatives in ankara or istanbul undocumented afghans are brought to this repetition center that hosts around one thousand five hundred refugees and deported following legal proceedings. one of them is all the c.r.a. who is staying at the center where the sister mahnaz the way they are does want to attack our universities and therefore my mother said to the ongoing research university so they are far left. behind us tell us how they are shop and their families were attacked one through four was coverage this is an act that is off his

hands and leave no more than thirteen five and you have to break that it's not all the problems of violence in forfeiting education that they face drugs are also a major issue i think in that the boys to join taliban are you have to drive all of us and also if. to sell their car she should have full that they traveled with hooman traffickers from afghanistan to iran's northeastern city of measured and to the capital before reaching turkey through mountainous roads inside covered trucks . there are one hundred seventy thousand afghan refugees who have registered with the u.n. in turkey about twenty thousand of them came through iran in the first three months of this year alone it's a new migration way for the turkish authorities most of them are young men under twenty five but turkey is already hosting at this three point five million syrians and doesn't want another refugee influx many of these afghan refugees stay they do

not want to go back to their country because of unemployment and threats of violence on troops like the taliban and ourselves but they can't stay in turkey either because many of them do not have legal recognition unlike refugees from syria yeah because of the lot we're only here for world we already paid all our money to the human traffickers we don't have a government that would pay this money back to us because they should rather kill us instead of sending us back to what these men they were difficult journey has come to an end they're being put on charge to planes back to afghanistan and their dream for a better future least for now over see them kosovo al-jazeera is to turkey. here with al-jazeera these top stories the white house says all options are on the

table for u.s. response to suspected chemical attack in the syrian town of duma that follows an tweets by president donald trump warning the syrian government's main ally russia to get ready for missiles to be fired. and we're hearing reports that syrian government forces have taken full control over the town of duma the last rebel stronghold in eastern enclave outside of damascus that's according to the reuters news agency quoting a russian military official who says the syrian state has been raised over a building in duma also getting reports of russian military police being deployed into duma and eastern in order to secure the area for a proper independent o.p.c. doubly investigation. into the alleged chemical attack the daughter of the former russian spy who was poisoned along with her father last month has made her first public statement since leaving the hospital paul says she

wants no help at all from the russian embassy the u.k. government accuses moscow of being behind the suspected nerve agent attack on and her father so ok algeria has announced three days of mourning after a plane crash killed two hundred fifty seven people the military plane went down shortly after taking off from both eric military airport near the capital alj is those are your headlines are back with more news here on al-jazeera after witness to stay with us. this is really an attack on itself is a lot of misunderstanding of what free speech is supposed to be about the context of hugely important setting the stage for a serious debate up front at this time on al-jazeera.