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 wise to publish if you have a duty to be offensive or provokes it's all about honest people do setting the stage for a serious debate. up front at this time on al-jazeera. the nature of news as it breaks this was a great election about it was going to win but it was about how much with detailed coverage the syrian civil war most lose it to. what is different is that each key some people will live until to morrow many innocent people from around the world the bats and balls are several years old the really good players could end up trading a cricket academy and maybe one day play for the national team. u.s.

presidents donald trump says he is still deciding on possible military action in syria. immediately with. the digital war and russia warns of a wider conflict with washington and asked for the un to help. hello there more of this is al jazeera live from doha also coming our way but i've got a rage in india over the rape and murder of an eight year old girl activist say the ruling b j p is shielding the accused. and the show of power china's president attends a massive naval exercise in the disputed south china sea. yes

present old trump still hasn't made a decision on how to respond to a suspected chemical weapons attack in syria on thursday an emergency u.k. cabinet meeting was held where ministers agreed on the need to take action and france president emanuel said he now had proof the syrian government used chemical weapons in duma and would decide whether to respond in jus course russia has called another u.n. security council meeting for friday last actually general and had a good terrorist will brief the member countries and in washington trump and his national security council discuss possible military action u.s. defense actually james mattis says any strike has to be balance against the threat of creating a wider conflict we begin our coverage with this report. and deny that james mattis was already settled to meet lawmakers to talk about the budget but with the growing

threat of military action against syria this gave the house armed services committee the chance to drill for more information but what is the power see the department of defense regarding in strategy regarding the assad regime its future in the syrian civil war is there a strategy. with the president warning russia in a tweet that nice new and smart missiles were heading to syria is defense secretary insisted there was concern any strike could lead to a bigger battle and we're trying to stop the murder of innocent people but on a strategic level how do we keep this from escalating out of control the idea of deescalating the tension is also a theme coming out of moscow with a warning russia will protect. its people on the ground this is all this which is this this is the task for each and every country in the world to protect its citizens on the ground so our people aleph soldiers they're there not for conquering i don't know conquering syrian people they are for protecting syrian

people across capitol hill cia director mike pompeo was meeting senators seeking confirmation is the new secretary of state. when president trump launched his last attack in syria almost exactly a year ago he didn't seek authorization for the use of military force from congress . pompeo says he won't need at this time either i believe that he has the authority he needs to do that i don't believe we need new math for the president to engage in the activity you describe but uncertainty of what's to come still lingers not least because the president says the decision still hasn't been made and we're looking in very very seriously very closely at that whole situation and. we'll see what happens folks will see what happens what makes we have final decision is washington's uncertainty has allowed syria and the russian allies to move men and machinery and protect important weapon systems and whether any military action

would put american troops in syria even greater risk alan fischer al jazeera washington mike hanna has more now from the united nations where a meeting on syria has been held. the security council held a closed door session on syria this called by bolivia to discuss what it called the rising rhetoric however the russian ambassador vasoline the bends here came and spoke to the media after the meeting he said the immediate priority was to avert war when asked whether he meant war between russia and the us this is what he had to say we can look exclude any possibilities unfortunately because we saw with messages that they're coming from washington they were very big because. they know we're hopeful i wish there was work through proper channels of these two virtually any dangerous individuals development. and yet another security

council meeting on syria will be taking place friday this has been called by russia which is also asked the secretary general to brief the council well as you've been reporting the pentagon has been assessing for days the potential action for a burn manoli has more on the weapons capability of the u.s. and russia in syria. now the u.s. hasn't made clear where it may strike in syria or how but the american ship the u.s.s. donald cook recently arrived in the eastern mediterranean sea now that's joint a guided missile destroyer the u.s.s. puerto it's capable of firing missiles from hundreds of miles off shore well off of range of syrian air defenses the last week aircraft carrier the u.s.s. harry truman loaded with strike paint set sail from the u.s. also to the mediterranean and the u.s. has the l a date s in kata there has stealth f.

twenty two fighter jets which could be used to evade the syrian regime's russian made at defense systems now if the attack takes place it may be more aggressive and have more international support than the unilateral strike by the u.s. one year ago that's what us navy launched fifty nine cruise missiles from the mediterranean towards syria's remote shire at air base it was in response to another apparent chemical attack on hunch a coon another syrian town held by rebel forces but let's take a look at russia's weapons also mill for its latakia based in the west of syria it has weapons including the s four hundred sufis to air missiles now these have just over three hundred kilometer range radius and the capability of shooting down missiles launched by the u.s. navy so what could be the new u.s. targets unless the pointing to areas including do math marsh were high of and

a mess at bases around syria's capital damascus which have been instrumental to the syrian regime's offensive in eastern kuta. syrian flags are now flying and the tower web suspected chemical attack took place of all rebel stronghold is now clear of josh fighters and their families as part of a russian sponsored evacuation deal russian forces have been deployed to the town to prevent their return to lopez who 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 evacuations 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 well 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. 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 under the inoculation deal russian military police are now patrolling the streets. a city in transition as the syrian government keeps gaining ground

katia lopez with a gun al-jazeera. having protests in india over allegations the ruling b.j. pay is protecting the man accused of raping and murdering a child and. demonstrators say the crime is being used as a political and religious tool. or has more. protesters angry over the rape and murder of asa fabiano that was where the eight year old girl was kidnapped and attacked in january police say it was part of a plan to force her muslim the magic community to leave the area us a phone was abducted and held hostage in the temple for days her attackers were hindu. slogan cities in the name of the hindu god j she'd amen in the name of the country india that e.j. being the least for the accused i'm not the victim then i don't know what kind of

fun reveal growing up in and what kind of country we are in this country in which direction. on social media people also call for justice saying the horrendous crime should not be about religion but about the murder and rape of a young girl. hindu nationalists rushed to the defense of the accused including lawyers and government ministers from prime minister narendra modi's party party of the same to egypt is also a party here in the us be they support israel's you know they supported based and i believe the supports to anything to be actually. the prosecutor says threats have been made on her life harrison people he has seen litigants is not deeply i believe i personally feel that he says something which is really unfortunate. rahul gandhi leader of the indian national congress held a candlelight vigil for us of her saying the government is not doing enough for victims like her that is an attempt to use politics and use communalisation to

protect those who have committed such crimes and a force that is infuriating and while the religious and political bickering continues to divide the country this still no justice for the innocent little girl whose life was so brutally taken to her side before al-jazeera. china has held what it's calling as big as they will drills in the disputed south china sea president xi jinping was there more than ten thousand personnel seventy six find jets and forty eight warships took part in the exercises agent brown has more from beijing. well forty eight hours after president xi jinping had presented china as the guarantor of global free trade he sailed into the contested waters of the south china sea to position china as the guarantor of security in the asia pacific region and i think he also had another message these are our waters now and we have the strength the power and the ability to defend them this was

a huge military display involving some forty eight aircraft fighter planes a nuclear powered submarines and also china's aircraft carrier the looming a refurbished soviet era carrier and of course this happened at the very time the three u.s. aircraft carrier battle groups were also sailing through these same waters and tensions i think are going to rise even further next week because china has announced it's going to be conducting live fire drills in the taiwan straits on the eighteenth of april next wednesday and it's fair to assume that taiwan's military will be on full alert next week. still ahead on al-jazeera in the line of via palestinian journalists covering the protests in gaza say they're being targeted by israeli forces i give them. all the way. and pushing at the boundaries performers in zimbabwe using their creative

freedom to tackle political issues why some say and way last. follow the weather has been rather disturbed for central parts of the middle east recently some rather disturbed weather making its way out of iraq into iran air a cloud here sweeping in across the region this kind of stock actually we're going to see further showers or longer spells of fray as we go through friday bright skies behind him is fine dry and sunny some gorgeous sunshine coming through over the next couple of days but you notice the right nest of in place in say that eastern side of iraq up towards the northeast pushing up towards azerbaijan georgia and armenia little bit of wet weather to just into northern areas on iran at this stage an easing i would towards afghanistan south of that it's bright and sunny and

it will become increasingly bright and sunny across the reagan peninsula over the next few days friday here in doha temperatures getting up to thirty five celsius the four back a little as we go on into saturday but essentially a lot of dry and sunny weather charles of wanted to show is that it's a saudi arabia still it's also some showers into central parts of south africa was you go on through friday we have got the clear skies a little further north this little area of showery rain heavy storms there the process of filtering out as you make a way into saturday more showers life in northern mozambique a more rain for towns in the. in a country with high youth unemployment one of the nice asian helps turn school children into entrepreneurs who can tell us what i mean by their wide fundraising empowering them to reclaim their futures we teach them how to operate this story in my shoes

was how to make the baskets and build more prosperous communities some of the invest the money into the business of school from uganda part of the rebel education series at this time on al-jazeera. and again you're watching al-jazeera has a reminder of our top stories the white house says u.s. president donald trump has yet to make a final decision on how to respond to a suspected chemical attack in syria russia has called another u.n. security council meeting to discuss the situation its u.n. ambassador says he can't exclude war between the u.s. and russia. but been mass protests in india over allegations the ruling b j p party

is trying to protect the men accused of raping and murdering a child in jammu and kashmir an eight year old girl was abducted held hostage in a temple and held hostage in the temple in january police say the attack was planned to force a muslim nomadic community to leave the hindu majority area. and china has held what it's calling its biggest ever naval drills in the disputed south china sea display of military might was attended by president xi jinping all the ten thousand personnel seventy six fighter jets and forty eight warships took part in the exercises. yes present donald trump's nominee for secretary of state has faced tough questioning from senators at a confirmation hearing like pompei was grilled on everything from iran and north korea to his views on islamophobia as well as the investigation into alleged russian meddling in the two thousand and sixteen election the senate will vote on his nomination later this month when jordan reports. the antiwar demonstrators were

there when my plan pale arrived for his confirmation hearing. you know. so too was a cascade of tough questions from congressional democrats about the secretary of state nominee its views on north korea 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 the iran nuclear deal which pompei o has opposed in the past and if there is no chance that we can fix it i will recommend to the president that we do our level best to work with our allies to achieve a better outcome and a better deal and his willingness to be a truth teller not a yes man to u.s. president donald trump republican rand paul who has already promised to oppose upon pales nomination some here worry that you're going to be too much in agreement president actually where you're going to be too much in disagreement with the president but pump pale also faced tough questions about what some call his anti muslim views do you have any views that the muslim faith or people believe in

worshipping other gods is that just something negative in our country hey you can look at my record you don't have to take my word for it here today my record is exquisite with respect to treating people of each and every faith with the dignity they deserve and pompei o even faced questions about the president's alleged efforts to undermine the special counsel's investigation into russian meddling in the two thousand and sixteen u.s. elections if the president were to fire the special counsel or to interfere with his investigation that it would put the rule of law genuinely at risk if that were the case and if that happened would you resign your post as secretary of state in order to demonstrate that we are a nation of laws not of men my instincts tell me no. my instincts tell me that my obligation to continue to serve as america's senior diplomat will be more important at increased times of political domestic turmoil for nearly five hours on thursday

mike pompeo tried to be as diplomatic as possible about his views before skeptical senators his future now rests in their hands as they debate whether to forward his nomination to be secretary of state to the entire senate rosalyn jordan al-jazeera capitol hill. to put out his welcome decision by the u.s. to explore the possibility of rejoining the transpacific trade partnership donald trump has also advised us to see if a better deal could be negotiated it would be a major policy reversal for the u.s. president who withdrew from the pack soon after taking office citing concerns about jobs that he p.p.a. includes eleven other pacific rim countries so i can present my throat saira santa has temporarily temporarily suspended the country's parliament until may the move came after the government promised a cabinet reshuffle following an unsuccessful no confidence motion against the

prime minister. a spokesman for the president gave no explanation after the announcement. thousands of palestinians are preparing for a third friday of protests along the gaza israel border fence gaza's health ministry says more than one thousand six hundred demonstrators have been shot by israeli forces so far thirty of them killed among the dead was. a freelance photographer a local journalist getting ready to cover the latest demonstrations say they fear being deliberately targeted herefore set reports. and so we get ready to film at one of the protest camps along gaza's eastern edge it's a quiet midweek day featuring families with young children and they're well back from the area where israeli troops have used live fire on the past two fridays but they wear their protective equipment nonetheless this. after the journalists were shot last friday the family told us don't go we as journalists

we send a message no matter what my wife or mother says we love our work because of that will keep coming here. last friday freelance photographer yasser tiger was shot in the upper body as he covered the protests the bullet entered his armpit where his flak jacket clearly labelled press could provide no protection he died in hospital it's not just the death of yasser more times or that has his colleagues worried the palestinian journalist syndicate says there's a deliberate policy by the israeli army of targeting journalists in order to intimidate them certainly nine other journalists were injured by gunfire during last week's protests. israel has denied targeting members of the media at the same time it's accused of being on the hamas payroll without providing evidence. in garza's sheaffer hospital we meet. a freelance photographer he was shot in the left leg and needed three surgeries the latest transferring muscle from one leg to the

other. upstairs is beginning what could be a twelve month recovery like a freelancer he's worried about the impact of being without work for so long minutes after capturing these images of injured protesters being rushed away for treatment he found himself making the same journey. i was wearing a flak jacket and helmet suddenly while i was working about four hundred meters from the fence the israelis shot me with a live bullet in the leg it broke the bind because it was an explosive bullet. but he says the job of documenting these protests and the israeli response to them was worth the risk a sentiment shared by t.v. cameraman man who despite his family's concerns will be back on shift at the border on friday ari forsett al-jazeera gaza it over chemical weapons watched on his back to the u.k. findings on what was used to poison a former russian spy and his daughter in southern england last month it was a sin for the prohibition of chemical weapons identified

a military grade nerve agent used in the attack which the british government blames on russia last year has denied any involvement in sounds all reports. it was the first nerve agent deployed in europe since the second world war the o.p.c. w was ordered to carry out an independent investigation into the poisoning of your young sergei screwball last month when they were found slumped in a park in salisbury yulia was released from hospital this week her father is still receiving treatment while the o.p.c. w. isn't responsible for finding out the source of the chemical it didn't stop the british foreign secretary boris johnson from pointing the finger only russia has the means motive and record the kremlin has to give answers the chemical identified is said to be of high purity suggesting that only a sophisticated laboratory could make it very wench and of high purity is very important it's very difficult to make

a highly toxic chemicals to this highly level of purity without a lot of effort don't worry about the impurities because they don't get in the way is the nature tossed that you're using the chemical for which is to poison something so you only release the impurities if you tried to make it difficult for people to point the finger back at you russia has consistently denied its involvement and the incident such off a diplomatic tit for tat with britain it refuses to accept the findings of the o.p.c. w. unless moscow has access to the test samples itself but there today i'm not sure if it's saying no we confirm all official position that russia will not blindly accept any conclusions in this case until russian experts are given access to the material of the. investigation and to the full range of real information on this incident which london is in possession of. the foreign secretary has said there is no other alternative about who is responsible for the nerve agent except moscow the british

government has requested a special meeting with the o.p.c. w to discuss its findings and the un security council where russia as a permanent member will also hold a meeting next week stansell al-jazeera london. here's vice president mike pence says he will meet venezuelan opposition leaders in peru during friday's summit of the americas the meeting as part of efforts by the u.s. to increase regional pressure on the government of venezuelan president nicolas maduro pence is leading the u.s. delegation after president donald trump canceled his visit after a suspected chemical attack in syria. as well as were among several groups of protesters rallying in peru's capital leave ahead of the summit john homan reports . the summit of the americas the biggest gathering of heads of state in the western hemisphere has yet to begin but already people are protesting here in lima peru the people here a finnish whalen's and they're protesting against the venezuelan government which is currently presiding over

a humanitarian and financial crisis among them is the exiled ex mayor of caracas who told us what he hopes the heads of state will do in the summit of the americas because then we're muslims jani they should declare the sanctions against those guilty of corruption and crimes against humanity and those who are linked to drug trafficking and terrorism. the issue of venezuela is going to feature on the agenda but the host country peru has already sent a message but an inviting venezuelan president nicolas maduro is going to be another leader who isn't going to be attending the summit and that's the united states president donald trump he's decided to stay at home to deal with the syria crisis and a lot of people here are feeling the message that sends is that latin america priority for him without president trump the rest of the leaders who are left to deal with the summit central theme and that's corruption especially in latin america probably very scandal has unfolded this for the sake of the return of some

countries a prosecutor politicians for other countries have failed to do so the question is if she faces will they be able to come up with concrete solutions to what is an age old problem here. a teacher's strike in the u.s. state of oklahoma has and is off to nearly two weeks the state's largest teachers' union says it secures his sorry gains in education funding after a decade of cuts to school education budget cuts. and a new play and zimbabwe says the final days of former president rule he was forced to resign in november after a military intervention all says hope be more creative freedom under the new government. which has more from harare one was the production called operation reg a-c. begins with grace mcgee is a former first lady insisting she can do what ever she nights i was his wasn't.

i was was the phrase was then robert mugabe emerges accompanied by army generals who tell the ninety four year old and grace they are under house arrest the guy who don't you ladies. what you can say i'm going to forget i was. the performers acting what happened on november fifteenth when soldiers and armored vehicles blocked roads to government offices parliament and the courts then president mugabe was confined to private residence zimbabweans marched in the thousands demanding he step down eventually the man who had ruled zimbabwe for thirty seven years was forced to resign we was. not read out to me i. now the mugabe is gone and innocent and is president some are testing how far they can push the boundaries thirty seven years robert mugabe you

do. but the question is did we speak out in both thirty seven years people watching the play got a chance to laugh at themselves and the country. in the process the government often criticized theater productions and had i said it was a sensitive issues some also display in the face of things like change you have been through but others on social. since mugabe's removal a few protests have been allowed doctors and teachers marched demanding more money there's always a line that is never to be crossed. subtle threats from the military from the government that use this online space responsibly and courts use their knee jerk response a bully in court i was it's not yet clear how much creative freedom zimbabweans have mugabe is fair game because he's no longer in charge where

the people can openly mocked the current leadership is another story. al-jazeera. thank you. these are the top stories the white house says u.s. president donald trump is yet to make a final decision on how to respond to a suspected chemical attack in syria russia has called another u.n. security council meeting to discuss the situation which had been mass protests in india over allegations the ruling party is trying to shield suspects and rape and murder case an eight year old girl was abducted held hostage in a temple raped and then killed in jammu and kashmir back in january police say the attack was planned to force a muslim nomadic community to leave the hindu majority area to government ministers from the b j p party which is the party of the prime minister narendra modi have been rallying support for the accused claiming that's

a conspiracy against hindus china has held what it's calling its biggest ever naval drills on disputed south china sea the display of military might was attended by president xi jinping more than ten thousand personnel seventy six fighter jets and forty eight warships took part in the exercises japan has welcomed a decision by the u.s. to explore the possibility of rejoining the trans pacific trade partnership donald trump assassin visors to see if a better deal could be negotiated would be a major policy reversal for the us president who withdrew from the pack soon after taking office citing concerns about jobs the t.p. includes eleven other pacific rim countries. at least five people have been killed in somalia following a bomb blast at a park football stadium the explosion hit the stadium in the total town of borrower the armed group has tamed responsibility for the attack trying to present

a palace or a center has temporarily suspended the country's parliament until may the move came after the government promised a cabinet reshuffle following an unsuccessful no confidence motion against prime minister the singer. thousands of palestinians are preparing for a third friday of protests and in the gaza israel border fence gaza's health ministry says more than one thousand six hundred demonstrators have been shot by israeli forces so far thirty of them killed local journalists getting ready to cover the latest demonstrations say they fear they're being deliberately targeted those are your headlines war news on al-jazeera after rebel education. for nearly half a century. a controversial political figure in the middle east and one who was never far from crisis. in a two part series. tells the story of king of joy.