that of choosing between buying medication and eating bass is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's been out of athens just posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. a story fourteen hundred years in the making. a story of succession and the leadership. of jersey that tells the story of dispute and deficient of the hall. the caliph episode to. jersey.

president back on his threat of imminent missile strikes on syria over the alleged chemical attack but says a decision will be made soon. this as a sad forces take full control of the town of duma after the last rebels pull out. oh i'm maryam namazie and london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up a man once taped as a future chinese president becomes the latest casualty of president she's corruption crackdown i will take you inside africa's first plant that will turn waste into energy.

oh u.s. president donald trump says he will be meeting his top advisors and promised a decision on military action against syria fairly soon experts from the global chemical weapons watchdog the. are on their way to damascus to investigate the alleged chemical attack on duma they'll start on saturday a day off to warning russia to get ready. he never said when an attack on syria would take place adding it could be very soon or not soon atoll u.s. allies are considering their positions now the british prime minister trees a maze held an emergency cabinet meeting to decide whether to join us led strikes the french president said france needs more information before deciding whether to strike but he has no doubt he says about the syrian government's guilt and chancellor angela merkel says germany supports efforts to show the use of chemical weapons is unacceptable but will not be taking part in military action so let's go to our white house correspondent kimberly halkett she's been following the twists

and turns in washington there and certainly there has been confusion over the timing of any planned strike thanks to those tweets by president donald trump any further clarification from the white house. right we have been hearing from the president in the last couple of hours he was speaking from the cabinet room at the white house as he met with governors and members of congress he was asked a question about syria in terms of the timing when he would have a decision here's what he had to say. we're looking very very very closely at the whole situation. we'll see what happens you see what happens if. the world puts us in a position like you. said this morning we're doing a great job we have just absolutely decimated isis but we have to make some further decisions so they'll be made. what we're seeing is donald trump essentially dialing down the rhetoric that we saw just twenty four hours ago when he was

calling the syrian president bashar assad a gas killing an animal threatening russia now we have a president who on social media in those comments there very much saying that he is being more measured in terms of making that decision that may have a lot to do with the fact that he's had his defense secretary general james mattis weighing in in the last twenty four hours not only here at the white house but also he will be back here at the white house we're told meeting with the national security council as it looks at options to present to the president of the general has said as of wednesday that it's very much in the united states interest to assess the evidence and then provide options if appropriate he was also speaking capitol hill where he told lawmakers in fact that as you heard the president there the primary goal for the united states in syria has always been to defeat eisel not to engage in a civil war having said that he said that certainly there is concern about the

chemical weapons attack that took place when you're go in consequence of course the united states responding then and now considering whether or not to respond again to the suspected attack in duma all right thanks very much from the white house with all the latest that we now present bashar al assad's government has already been moving military resources away from possible sites for missile strikes so no one to reports from beirut. syria's military is preparing for possible airstrikes by the united states and its allies it has been hiding aircraft moving its assets and evacuating potential targets including the ministry of defense and army headquarters in damascus western nations are promising a response following the suspected chemical weapons attack in the city of duma syrians living in rebel areas welcome any attempt to punish and weaken the syrian government but many in the opposition believe nothing will change. they already emptied all the military airports before an attack this shows that all sides are

conspiring against the syrian people. we're hearing about a possible u.s. strike we don't believe anything the last time they hit nothing happened even gave the regime advance notice to remove the planes if they hit again it will be limited . it's been several days since u.s. president donald trump promised a swift response for what he called an atrocious attack last year his administration carried out a one off strike against syria over the use of chemical weapons now the possibilities involve something more forceful but the presence of iranian and russian troops complicates the choice of targets there is a real risk of direct confrontation with the russian military. negotiations on the issue of continuum between your audience and the russian federation i've seen all levels military political and governmental level. i.

have a conclusion that russia and america fall in themselves in the real deadlock they're facing a dangerous period. begin who are. the so-called de confliction hotline that the u.s. and russian militaries use in syria to prevent a direct clash is being used the kremlin however is not saying what is being discussed we understand that turkey and nato member is acting as a communication channel between the western alliance and russia there are behind the scenes efforts to try to deescalate what is being described as a dangerous crisis a crisis that can lead to a confrontation between the united states and russia as well as a showdown between iran and israel. just days after syria russia and iran accused israel of attacking an airbase in the syrian province of homs iran's top advisor to the supreme leader ali akbar will a.f.p. travel to damascus where they are to threatened to expel what he said were

occupying u.s. troops in northeast syria saying the area east of the euphrates will be liberated iran lost seven of its military personnel in monday's strike not only did it promise a response its leadership promised to stand by syria if it attacked and would be a limited strike it will be against. military installations air fields and all of those. things that can be repaired fairly quickly i think the american leadership will insist and the european partners or others will insist that the terrence has to be reestablished. that means that the syrian regime has to pay a price for naught. that price is unlikely to lead to the collapse of the syrian government which is further consolidating its control after its victory in the damascus suburb of eastern huta france has said if a decision is taken to launch

a strike the government's chemical capabilities will be targeted and not russian and iranian assets the situation is unpredictable but one thing seems clear significant u.s. led military intervention to tip the balance of the conflict in favor of the opposition is not on the table sen beirut russia's foreign ministry says moscow will not escalate the situation and suggest the u.s. should face consequences for its behavior as a she crania piousness color washington continues to voice explosive war mongering statements that are fraught with dangerous ischl ation they are not only against damascus but they say that russia is protecting assad's regime and that is to be a responsibilities for his crimes. what we call responsible members of the international community to seriously consider the consequences of such accusations such threats and planned action our position is utterly defined we are not seeking

escape. or a challenge has more now from moscow. well the russians been saying for weeks now before the chemical incidents in ghouta in duma over the weekend that it was expecting some sort of as they put it provocation a false flag operation launched by the united states in collaboration with rebels on the ground using chemical weapons to justify punitive strikes against the syrian government and its assets and it's no surprise that that message is being continued by the russian government is now in the aftermath of what happened in duma the foreign ministry said today our position is perfectly clear and precise we are not seeking escalation and we expect our partners to be wise enough to return to the legal framework and solve the emerging problems gather. the bush cabinet has

been meeting to discuss action over syria joins us now from downing street what's the outcome. well the meeting is now over as he said it lasted about two hours it can was convened very quickly indeed and now where essentially waiting for the conclusions to be made public we know that theresa may had suggested that she would be willing to commit british troops to support a u.s. airstrike against the syrian regime but given that donald trump seems to have stepped a few steps back from the conflict precipice when it comes to immediately launching air strikes against syria to reason may may well have a little bit of a thinking time in which to formulate her response especially given that there are inspectors chemical inspect weapons inspectors on their way that to provide us with more information as to what they think has happened there still the british government believes that the intelligence that they have is robust linking assad with the alleged chemical weapons attack in duma over the weekend to reason may

believe that there is a moral imperative to respond exactly how the british government will respond though they will make clear in the coming hours. all right thanks very much neve back with all the latest from downing street all syrian flags are flying in doomer as the government reassert its control following the departure of the last rebel fighters but russian military police have been deployed to the town rather than regime forces under a deal between russia and the armed group jaish al islam thousands of rebels and their families up in boston all in syria as part of the agreement catching lopez for diane reports. a deal to surrender and leave over the last week thousands of opposition fighters and civilians have left duma to rebel held areas in northern syria about twenty thousand people have gone to the northern province of it live for many the pain of defeat is overwhelming.

those on the opposite side of the war celebrated the evacuation the last rebel stronghold in eastern guta now under government control is covered and probabl and i'm up. all the entrances are closed this mind inside i can't go in i can will not to go anywhere you can see the wires and other troubling things they told me to wait a couple of days until the street is cleared. for the evacuations out of duma or a major victory for syrian president bashar al assad and his ally russia. many of the city buildings and roads have been destroyed there have been weeks of intense bombings. the takeover may have been driven by an apparent chemical attack in duma about forty people were killed hundreds were treated in hospitals the syrian government says it had nothing to do with it while the russians deny such an attack even happened. however western powers say the assad regime was to blame and some

including the u.s. are considering a military response under the inoculation deal russian military police are now patrolling the streets. a city in transition as the syrian government keeps gaining ground. on al-jazeera so the convoy on the program donald trump's pick for u.s. secretary of state might faces antiwar protesters at a confirmation hearing but vows to find a peaceful solution to the north korean crisis. and corpses laid out in protest why the u.n. says this action in central african republic is an act of propaganda. we're still got some rather lively right into parts of the middle east big area of cloud

just around the eastern side of iraq pushing across into iran has produced some very heavy rain here flooding rains for some asti fifty four millimeters to friday just twenty four hours just into that western side of iraq you can see how the cloud and right makes its way up into azerbaijan into georgia maine yes they'll seeing some wet weather as we go through the next couple days this is them really is kind of stuck here little bit of wet weather to have a towards afghanistan kabul at twenty three degrees twenty three degrees celsius the beirut but the fog the fine and sunny weather will continue here as we go on through the next couple days little change as we go through sassed like or just rather eastern side of the med i'm afraid for eastern parts of iraq on the other hand the right still in place as you can see it pushes over towards western parts of iran still a bit of wet weather that into northern areas too up towards the caspian sea had a little bit of rain recently around the gulf haven concept few spots of fright on the day that's clearing through that

a little more cloud as we go wanted to saturday the more cloud to just around western parts of yemen fab a cloud recently pos of south africa stays a little wet into central areas for friday but dry further north.

welcome back aisle top story this hour president drum says he will decide shortly on whether to launch attacks against syria off to tweeting that they could take place soon or not soon atoll president emanuel says france has proof that assad's forces used chemical weapons and duma last week but he still needs more information before deciding whether to join any u.s. action on the syrian government has raised such a control of the duma after the departure of the last rebel fighters that russian military police have been deployed to the town under a deal reached with the armed group a sound. now president trumps nominee for secretary of state is facing tough questions from senators at a confirmation hearing. the

current cia director was greeted by protest as accusing him of being a warmonger if confirmed by the senate will replace rex tillerson who was fired last month of therapy to be clashing with the president tonight advocating for regime change in rules korea also enjoin is watching developments on capitol hill. known for his whole case stance but he is denying that he's taken any extreme positions on north korea. well he's saying that because he's relying on the information that he has as the current cia director what mike pompei i said was that he was going to support the president during his upcoming talks with kim jong il the north korean leader and that caution was very much advisable we have a responsibility to achieve a condition where kim jong il is unable to threaten the united states of america

with a nuclear weapon i understand that or do you feel so are you saying now you don't favor regime change senator i have never advocated for regime change i have all along i just want a question so you're not you don't then you know i might actually do that i'm not advocating for regime change yes and i think you appreciate you want to get that clear let me go on to consider just just to be clear my role as a diplomat is to make sure that we never get to a place where we have to confront the difficult situation in korea that this country has been headed for now for a couple of decades. well pump a is also known for his opposition to the key foreign policy challenge facing the top administration the iran nuclear deal what did we learn about his position on land. well even though mike pompei o had said in the past that he thought the iran nuclear deal was a very bad deal and that it should be scuttled as quickly as possible in recent days he has been telling senators in closed door meetings and during this hearing

that if the state department analysis decides that the deal is not living up to its promise that he would recommend to president donald trump that a better deal will be struck in accordance with the u.s. is allies but he said that only depends on what the evidence is he's simply not calling for a whole scale rejection of the iran nuclear deal all right thanks very much from capitol hill rosen in jordan. the global chemical weapons watchdog has concluded that a highly pitched type of noma choked nerve agent was used to poison a former russian spy and his daughter in england last month person is blaming russia for the attack on sergei nearly a script all in seoul's bray but last show is denying any involvement investigators from the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons say the toxic chemical was of high purity but they don't know where it came from or assign blame for the attack and has asked for a u.n. security council meeting next week to discuss the findings of the new court guthrie

is a british chemical weapons expert he says all of the evidence points to russia. very invention of high purity is very important it's very difficult to make a highly toxic chemical to this high level of purity without a lot of effort normally you don't worry about some impurities because they don't get in the way it's the nature tossed that you're using the chemical for which is to poison something so you only release the impurities if you try to make it difficult for people to point the finger back at you. at least fourteen people have been killed in an attack carried out by the taliban in afghanistan gunmen stormed a district government compound in the southeastern province of gaza any local governors seven policemen and five intelligence officers are among the victims the district is now under control of the control of afghan security forces. israel is saying it's fired at last positions in gaza killing one fighter and leaving one other person injured. the strikes were in retaliation for a bomb attack on

a military vehicle on wednesday which did not cause any casualties thirty one palestinians have been killed by israeli forces since protests began at the border fence two weeks ago. a former senior official in china who was once considered a contender for the presidency as guilty to corruption charges soon is one of the most prominent figures to be charged in president xi jinping is anti-corruption crackdown and china correspondent adrian brown reports from beijing like his trial the political downfall of syndrome time was swift state television showed a remorseful son who could be facing his guilt just a year ago he was talked of as a future chinese leader on thursday the former politburo member pleaded guilty to a range of bribery charges amounting to more than twenty seven million dollars he told the court he'd seriously violated the law but it received a fair trial. i deserve the punishment i am guilty

i'll accept whatever sentence i receive. sune was dismissed from public office and expelled from the communist party in september that was just a month before the party congress where president xi jinping was reappointed leader for a second term without indicating a successor soon had been party chief of chongqing one of china's fastest growing cities replacing an even more flamboyant figure bocce ly also once tipped as a future chinese leader songs demise comes as president xi jinping intensifies his anti corruption campaign since it began more than five years ago more than a million party officials have been disciplined but soon is one of the most senior figures to have so far been brought down analysts say she's campaign is really about eliminating political rivals since soon had also been accused of plotting

against the leadership a conspiracy said to involve the country's former security chief john young carrying who was jailed for life three years ago now soon is facing a lengthy imprisonment adrian brown al-jazeera beijing civil society groups in myanmar welcomed a commitment by facebook c.e.o. mark zuckerberg to tackle hate speech on the site more than seven hundred thousand rangle refugees have been forced to flee myanmar for bangladesh following a military crackdown last august facebook has been accused of being a source of anti were hanging a propaganda law social welfare minister when i was on a three day trip to bangladesh to assuring the refugees that every patrick is a priority or unfair to say a senior member of the myanmar government stella cation told al-jazeera they're encouraging wenger to return to me and this has always been. in the press in the media at replanting in these words. if you know the

fact that we're here the fact that we're willing to accept them back to where they had lived before then i think it's a very solid demonstration there's no added clinton if there were any and clinton would not have you will accept them for we are really i just want to make sure that the message is very clear that really have no hesitation we are doing our best to make sure the environment is conducive for the safe return we have committed ourselves to the three international criteria as you know safe voluntary and dignified for we are doing our best to ensure that they come back not only in terms of the hard stuff of buildings etc but also to make sure that they have a decent living our livelihood to d.c. and we will work we're doing our best to to shore and to be.

visit has enabled us to give the our fried of what the conditions are in your mouth so i think most of them when we ask if they are willing to come back the majority said yes. the reason very productively. united nations has described a civilian process easing dead bodies in the central african republic as propaganda demonstrates has placed seventeen dead bodies outside the u.n. building in the capital on wednesday they say they were innocent civilians were killed during clashes between the united nations and armed groups and by the un is insisting a dad were criminals it opened fire on un peacekeepers at the un is currently on a mission to restore state authority in the p.k. five district of. amnesty international says two thousand and seventeen saw

a drop in the number of people being sentenced to death around the world but its figures don't include china said to be the world's biggest executioner and a new report highlights how for middle east countries resume capital punishment last year. 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 under 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 any and 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 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. africa's first plant that converts waste to energy is about to open in ethiopia it's a project that aims to bring an actress city to thirty percent of homes in the capital it's been built next to a massive landfill site and i just let people sift through mountains of garbage trying to make a living stephanie decker has. this is only waste dumping site it is on an extraordinary scale we're being told it's been here for around fifty years it also goes around thirty meters underground it is untreated it is not dealt with it keeps growing now waste is of course not just and if you know people problem it's not just an african problem it is a global problem now there is an exciting new project underway here it is africa's

very first waste to energy plant currently we have the waste to energy plant an idea how about this what you see is the whole. will receive the waste so basically what the facilities corn receive is one thousand four hundred tons a day so this is equal to almost eighty percent of our waste what currently goes to the land the fields and pollutants the environment once this facility start operating and incinerate in this waste we kind of want to produce one hundred eighty five our electricity which is because light tops our city percent of i decide my household. we're told that the plot will be fully operational in a couple of months from now and once it gets underway it's going to make a massive difference to the capital's waste management now this is technology that's already being used on every single other continent and this is why authorities here are keen to showcase it as a success story as africa's for us and of course it remains just

a small step in dealing with the ball quantities of waste that we as humans produce a. quick look at the top stories now u.s. president donald trump says he'll make a decision on a military strike in syria very soon just a day ago trump want russia to get ready for a messiah tack america's allies away vesa bought french president emanuel says he doesn't doubt the syrian military was behind saturday suspected gas attack into the british prime minister to resign may is held an emergency cabinet meeting while germany ruled out providing military support president trump won't set a timeframe for action. we're looking very. closely at the whole situation in. which he without the slopes you see what happens in. the world which of those in a position mccain. recently said this morning we're going to great job with those

if we had just absolutely decimated isis but we have to mention the decision should be made for we should. russia's foreign ministry accuses the u.s. of escalating the situation in syria but says take the bait. there is a she could write. washington continues to voice explosive war mongering statements that a fraught with dangerous ischl ation they are not only against damascus but they say that russia is protecting assad's regime and that is to be a responsibilities for his crimes. we call responsible members of the international community to seriously consider the consequences of such accusations such threats and planned action our position is utterly defined we are not seeking escape. international chemical weapons inspectors are on their way to syria and will start investigating the tumour attack on saturday syrian government flags waved in the streets as its troops fully took over the former rebel stronghold thousands of

rebels and their families have been lost in northern syria as part of an evacuation agreement and the global chemical weapons watchdog says a highly peer type of novacek nerve agent was used to poison a former russian double agent and his daughter in england last month burson blames russia for the attack on sergei and crippled but also denies involvement. with all of our top stories the news hour is coming up in twenty five minutes time i'll see you for that inside story is next but much more news coming up later on i found.

a first since the military prague down in myanmar a government minister tours and.