asked for a ride to the country club i'm the decider play god. and certainly if you didn't castro set to shoot you right shade if we could. bring cuban cigars in this magnificent it's a chronicle of the revolution and its aspirations through the prism of its architecture cuba's unfinished space 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 to a distortion of what free speech is supposed to be about the context it's hugely important. to publish it. to be offensive or provoke the whatever it is people do to setting the stage for a serious debate. up front at this time on al-jazeera.

russia syrian government forces have taken control of one of the country's last rebel held areas. to al jazeera live from my headquarters in doha with me and as the parana also ahead present donald trump says the u.s. will respond with missiles after an apparent chemical attack in syria. but on trump's pick the secretary of state faces his senate confirmation hearing why some say pompei or is not the man for the job and the man once tipped to be china's future president is convicted of bribery.

we begin in syria where government forces have pushed the last rebel fighters out of the southern town of the river that's according to a russian official well that country is a military police have now been deployed to take over security moscow's have i'm sure that those in the one order in duma well general was previously held by syrian rebels fighting the assad government it's one of the largest towns and eastern good which has been under siege since two thousand and thirteen fighting escalated last november the u.n. says eighty thousand civilians fled to government held territory in damascus in march and some twenty thousand rebels and civilians have been evacuated to rebel territory in the northwestern province of idlib under deals with as hard as ally of russia. for the syrian government took control of their march to an agreement with russia and the armed group. the deal says only russian military police are allowed to enter the city after the evacuation and not observing and government forces are crossing points will be open to commercial movement as soon as those military

police enter the city the agreement also guarantees that those who wish to stay in the city want to be prosecuted or forced to serve in the syrian military and it ensures the release of all pro-government presidents held in duma or chalons has more now from moscow. so the news that's coming out of the russian defense ministry on thursday's essentially the culmination of a surrender deal brokered the weekend's between the russians and the arms rebel group josh islam now what this deal said was that rebel fighters and their families were going to evacuate from duma from eastern guta and be given safe passes to a part of syria further north russian military police were then going to take control of the area maintain law and order there but effectively the eastern goods of dubai. it was going to be passing into the control of the syrian government so

that's essentially what we're being told is happening right now russian military police are on the ground according to the russian defense ministry what this means of course is that when chemical weapons inspectors from the o.p.c. w. arrived in duma to investigate this expected gas attack that took place over the weekend they're going to be operating in an area that is fully in control or fully controlled by the russian military police and the syrian government and of course what that means or want many in the west in western capitals and in the armed opposition movement suspect is that what chemical weapons will therefore find will broadly suit the perspective of moscow and of damascus and that is the narrative of a being pushing for some time now which is that what happened in duma was a provocation launched by the rebels in cahoots with the u.s.

government essentially to blacken the name of the damascus government and justify u.s. airstrikes against the syrian government and its assets. or maybe on the whole and with a look back at the fight for control of them and a warning that viewers may find some of the images in her report distressing. duma stood as the last bastion of resistance against syrian president bashar al assad. located in the heart of the once rebel held region of eastern ghouta. just ten kilometers northeast of the capital damascus it was a thorn in the government's side for years rebel fighters took control of eastern ghouta in july two thousand and twelve. by the following year the government had it completely besieged a blockade that would last for more than five years and lead to incredible hardship

in the region once known for its fertile land in bountiful produce aid agencies said syrians here suffered the highest rate of acute malnutrition than anywhere else. and all the while they were being bombarded the people of eastern ghouta by u.n. estimates around four hundred thousand civilians and judy years of a strikes and shelling was. the rebels in turn would target the capital without hillary and rockets the main group in charge was called jaish al islam the army of islam but over time there was splits within the group and in fighting with smaller brigades in the area and as always in war those in control reap the rewards the rebels controlled a lucrative smuggling trade using a tunnel system for years. some a did get in but the government and the rebels were both accused of removing vital items sometimes most of the cargo from the trucks in

. the world started paying attention to the good to region in august two thousand and thirteen that's when at least a thousand people were reportedly killed in a suspect. did chemical weapons attack united nations investigation team said it found clear and convincing evidence that sarin gas was used the syrian government denied it was behind it and many thought it would lead to u.s. intervention a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. but that red line came and when there was no intervention by russia brokered deal was to rid assad's government of its chemical weapons and another political deal last my involving russia iran and turkey was to include eastern guta as one of the false so-called deescalation zones. but the relatively short lived ceasefire

wasn't to last and allegations of chemical weapons attacks returned the worst just last week when at least forty people reportedly died in duma the syrian government again denied being responsible the tragic individual stories in duma heavy easily been lost as the numbers of the deed have risen. is no longer and rebuilt hen's and now into the eighth year of war president assad has control of most of the country media on the whole and al jazeera. well the strong language coming out of the u.s. about how it will respond to saturday's apparent chemical attack in the on wednesday president trump tweeted a warning to russia to quote get ready for missiles to be fired more now from our white house correspondent kimberly how could. 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. to the truck display of 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 at 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 smart missiles 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 were still working on this. there are also reports a u.s. navy carrier task force led by the u.s.s. harry truman is sailing towards the region trumps also been conferring with world leaders like french president jacques raul and british prime minister theresa may. it's an astonishing and confusing wrapping 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 let's move on to other news now

in israel says it's find it several hamas positions and gaza in response to an explosion which damaged a vehicle used by an army engineering team the military says a bomb was planted under a decade during the protests of the gaza israel border no one was injured and it's not clear what type of weapons as round used in the attack thirty one palestinians have been killed by israeli forces since protests began at the border fence two weeks ago. now un judges at the hague have overturned a war crimes a question for serbian nationalist politicians voiced show they sentenced him to ten years in prison vaulting and remain a free man because of time he's already served also nationally acquitted by a u.n. court on charges of committing crimes against us during the war in the former yugoslavia and the. president on choice for the next secretary of state twelve again his confirmation hearing. mike pompei as the current cia

director selected him to replace rex tillerson was fired last month a state department correspondent rosalind jordan reports. confirmation hearing is at hand for the cia director michael. to become the next u.s. secretary of state service. some say if confirmed. eagerly will embrace president donald trump's america first approach to foreign policy he's a kind of guy that approaches the world thinking about how to use force and how to use coercion before he thinks about how to use diplomacy and that's you know the secretary of state is america's first diplomat so it's concerning to me. as cia director has been skeptical that negotiations will lead north korea.

to abandon its nuclear weapons program even as trump prepares for a key meeting with him in the coming weeks. during his time as a congressman called the iran nuclear deal terrible and wants the u.s. to walk away from it and he has long accused muslims and arabs of being security threats a belief after this say disqualifies pompei o from serving as the country's lead diplomat if confirmed as our next secretary of state mr pompei i would infuse u.s. foreign policy with his view that muslims are a monolith against which america must fight but others say views won't matter to middle east leaders who are more concerned in getting weapons and political legitimacy from washington what could be problematic for pompei o is his willingness to attack moscow's behavior in syria in ukraine and in cyberspace something donald trump has up until recent days been reluctant to do here's what

pompei o said last month about vladimir putin he continues to view the greatest. the greatest failure of the last century have been the dissolution of the soviet union he is. bent on returning the former soviet union to its greatness and glory but john glaser of the cato institute says knows how to stay in his boss's good graces he knows how to talk in a way that doesn't offend trump and he knows how to bolster trump's sort of attitude and confidence it's unlikely the u.s. senate will reject tom pails nomination ultimately it's worth recalling that he will be advancing donald trump's view of the world not his own rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington. still ahead on the bulletin a u.s. cost of this video shows its agents trying to force an injured man back into mexico . we didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility and that was

a big mistake mark sacramento gets a vote for a ride on the second day preferably u.s. congress. however got plenty of sunshine across southeast asia some lively shall was of course that said the possibility southern part of the philippines to say some rather wet weather recently ninety two millimeters of rain in twenty four hours here where so weather will continue to ease its way further west was west impossible scenes and lively showers showers gradually making their way towards marching towards the malaysian peninsula go on into sassed and you can see it increasingly wet further north is fun and i want sunshine there for bangkok temperatures getting up to thirty six degrees celsius now we're not far off that they say that yet again still lots of heat just around that eastern side of

australia down to the southeast little more cloud just coming in now the weather system that'll make its way through the bite and you can see it's just not seeing across perth temperatures falling back to around twenty one celsius and eventually it'll move on across south australia adelaide twenty five greece and well down on recent values a twenty five there for melbourne as it makes its way further east was established for right back to a she say chile eighty degrees celsius the hate last breaking still getting up to twenty nine in sydney achiles of one of two showers here that a bit of rain just around the gold coast to just some right to making its way towards new zealand as we head into the weekend. every game. in a climate of fear rhetoric is easily abuse. your clients in france to gates of new initiatives to combat gangs simply being used to target be undocumented and

vulnerable we started hearing kids report. had been picked up and his parents with no kids were just literally be disappeared trumps war on gangs on al-jazeera. good to have you with us on al-jazeera these are our top stories syrian government forces have pushed the last rebel fighters out of the town of that's according to a russian military official as the last rebel stronghold in east and near damascus russian military police have been deployed to take over security the white house

says all options are on the table for u.s. response to saturday's suspected chemical attack in the fall is an earlier tweet by donald trump warning the syrian government's main ally russia to get ready for missiles to be fired and president trump choice for the next secretary of state will begin his confirmation hearing later on thursday my pompei o is currently the cia director president trump selected him to replace rex tillerson who he fired last month. china a former senior official who was once a major candidate for a leadership position has been convicted on charges of corruption. is one of the most prominent politicians to be charged under president xi jinping for anti corruption crackdown he's accused of taking bribes and abuse of power between two thousand and two and two thousand and seventeen let's get more on this now our china correspondent adrian brown is joining us live from beijing and soon pleading guilty to taking twenty seven million dollars and bribes adrian.

you know it's a staggering figure isn't it twenty seven million dollars he's been accused of a variety of bribery charges and he admitted his guilt at a court in tear in june today we didn't know this trial was actually underway and told thursday morning that's when state television confirmed that it was indeed underway and that he had pleaded guilty to a number of charges now this man. had been really destined for the top of chinese politics he was a real high flier relatively young lives with only fifty four years old but his political downfall has in a sense been a swift as his trial it really started to go wrong for him last july when he was detained and then in september he was expelled from the party and from public office he'd been boss party boss of chungking in the southwest of china that's one of china's mega cities and ironically he had replaced a former party chief who himself was accused of corruption and was also being

tipped as a future leader now in the past you know five years three major leaders have been brought down what we're witnessing is a good old fashioned communist party purge and you know it may not be over. as you said adrian he has a number of officials have been prosecuted and critics say that this anti corruption crackdown that's a purge is being used to get rid of the president's rivals and still fear the party ranks. you're absolutely right because he wasn't soon wasn't just really guilty of corruption according to the party he was guilty of a much more serious offense and that was plotting to usurp the leadership conspiring against president xi jinping and basically he was accused of being part of a plot to essential topple the leadership here in china the two other ringleaders who included bocce lie and the country's former securities are have now been jailed

and it now seems almost certain that soon will join them in jail he's expected to have to receive a life sentence but certainly a very long sentence we don't know when that's going to happen of the court says the sentencing will happen at an appropriate date but certainly another big day turbulent day in chinese politics adrian thank you very much for that that is our china correspondent adrian brown live in beijing thank you. now two u.s. border agents have been reprimanded for trying to illegally force an engine man across the border into mexico the officers made no attempt to identify him and offered no medical assistance which is a violation of international treaties bob reynolds has more. a new case spotlights the tensions at the border between u.s. and mexican officials a mexican official recorded the cell phone video in march of two thousand and seventeen it shows two uniformed u.s. border protection agents escorting a dish old and apparently mentally disturbed man in handcuffs up to the border at

calexico california until our mexican authorities on the other side challenged them saying if the man is a mexican citizen he should be properly repatriated through the mexican consulate in the u.s. after his identity and nationality have been confirmed what i now know. better than it was as the u.s. and mexican officials argue the man flails about and lays on the ground one of the u.s. officers says the man looks like he's mexican but they do not attempt to determine his identity. and. as a mexican official points out that the man has a knee injury the u.s. agent repeatedly tries to make him go over to the mexican side.

eventually the man gets up and the u.s. officers allow him to wander away through traffic the man was eventually left in a park on the u.s. side about a month later he was hospitalized for observation and it was determined he was in fact a mexican national at that point he was processed and repatriated to mexico mexican authorities filed an official complaint over the incident after an investigation that two u.s. border agents were reprimanded but not fired a spokesman for the border protection agency says their actions were quote not consistent with our normal procedures but he said the video merely. showed an isolated incident a recent survey by an immigrant advocates organization shows a quarter of migrants interviewed reported abuse or aggressive behavior by u.s. border officials robert oulds al jazeera los angeles facebook c.e.o.

mark zuckerberg has faced questions from the u.s. house of representatives the promise to improve privacy during two days of testimony and said that regulation of social media companies isn't evidence will is being questioned often the personal information of eighty seven million facebook users was used by a political consultancy firms. it's clear now that we didn't do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm as well and that goes for fake news foreign interference in elections and hate speech as well as developers and data privacy we didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility and that was a big mistake it was my mistake and i'm sorry i started facebook i run it and at the end of the day i'm responsible for what happens here david mccabe as a technology reporter at x. eos which is an online news magazine and he says the question is whether change the

way he runs facebook. what we saw at these hearings was it he is resistant to changing the overall business model of facebook which is based entirely on the harvesting of user data and taking that data to help target ads he has said the company is open to regulation you still have some very vague ideas but certainly he did not get behind some sort of sweeping regulation of facebook that i think some critics of the company would like to see but it's not clear that there is the appetite for that even in congress let alone at facebook and in silicon valley you know i think our boarding shows from coverage of lawmakers that they're not any closer really to regulation of facebook i do think that they do they put facebook on notice they essentially said clean up your act or we might have to come in and clean it up for you. government is trying to be assured of refugees in bangladesh that they have a petri ation as a priority social welfare minister when maya is in bonded there for three days is the first significant from myanmar to visit one hundred refugees who fled to cox's

bazaar i will meet. minister and on thursday. now new zealand's prime minister says the government will not grant any new permits for offshore oil and gas exploration the move is part of a pledge to help reduce the country's net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by twenty fifty percent says the policy point effect twenty two existing exploration permits that means that oil and gas operations could continue for several decades. azerbaijan's president has won a fourth consecutive term in a snap election that was boycotted by the main opposition parties and claim victory in a televised address after taking eighty six percent of the vote back of the polls. he's laid azerbaijan since two thousand and three and now eleven 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 haider 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 in from the point a few energy security but at the same time this country. between russia and iran these folks in the smart foreign policy helps as a bridge on to have good relations with only ber's 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. 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 by john where 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 only arabs remain firmly controlled . al-jazeera. now amnesty international says last year saw a drop in the number of people being sentenced to death around the world bartlett

so this don't include china said to be the world's biggest user of death penalties and the report highlights how for middle eastern countries resume capital punishment nothing barbara 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 to 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 not been use in a lot of countries malaysia and iran in any on indonesia singapore known as 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 that is 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 all. over again on the problem and the headlines on al-jazeera syrian government forces have pushed the last rebel fighters out of the town of that's according to the reuters news agency quoting a russian official that is the last rebel stronghold in eastern guta outside damascus russian military police have been deployed to take on the security. the white house says all options are on the table for u.s. response to saturday's apparent chemical attack in duma that follows an earlier tweet by donald trump warning the syrian government's main ally russia to get ready for missiles to be fired. a former senior official in china who was once

a major candidate for a leadership position has been convicted on charges of corruption. is one of the most prominent politicians to be charged under president xi jinping anti corruption crackdown. israel says it has fired at several hamas positions and gaza in response to an explosion which damaged a vehicle used by an army engineering the military says a bomb was planted under a protest of the gaza israel border no one was injured and it's unclear what type of weapons israel used in the attack. facebook c.e.o. mark zuckerberg has faced more questions from the u.s. house of representatives promised to improve privacy during two days of testimony and said regulation of social media companies and possible is being questioned after the personal information of eighty seven million facebook users was. consultancy firm. u.s. president donald trump choice for the next secretary of state will begin his

confirmation hearing. mike pompei or is currently the cia director or president selected him to replace rex tillerson who he fired last month. the one judges in the hague. acquittal for serbian nationalist politician boys. they sentenced him to ten years behind bars remain a free man because of time already served in jail and was initially acquitted by a u.n. court on charges of committing crimes against during the balkan wars and the. those are the headlines on their lines that's coming up next u.s. president said he was. for us. to transcribe times faster than we bring you the stories. we live in. this time zero.