right. the scene for us when they're online which is a very nice time in yemen that peace is possible but it's not what happens not because the situation is complicated but because no one cares or if you join us on sat there people the little choosing between buying medication and eating this is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's an activist and has posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera.

eastern goodenough your book syrian government forces zero in on another damascus suburb to root out rebel fighters. i'm richelle carey this is al-jazeera live from doha also coming up. a court hearing for australia's most senior catholic cleric is accused of sexual abuse plus . i believe you're. a judge releases the client list of donald trump's lawyer who paid an adult film star one hundred thirty thousand dollars to remain silent plus. discovery of the end james amusing. scientists on a potential solution to plastic pollution.

syrian government forces have begun shelling the last area under eisel control near the capital damascus the tiny enclave of your move has been under government siege for several years half of that is held by eisel fighters the other half by rival rebel groups government troops say they plan to retake the entire area in the coming days it's mainly home to about six thousand palestinian refugees who move there long before the war in syria began as into her has more from beirut in neighboring lebanon. the syrian army and its allies they've been preparing for this operation for some time now sending reinforcements to the front lines the army announced that they are targeting this enclave a number of districts in southern under the control of. the army moving on following its a victory really in eastern after taking control of eastern from the rebels that setting its sights on this enclave in the south of damascus really wanting to clear

the area around the capital around its seat of power now these districts really are not that densely populated unlike eastern and these districts are smaller in size than eastern but it's not just southern the syrian army and its allies have also turned their attention to holmes the northern countries it is the central province of homs they have the area heavily bombarded the area over the past forty eight hours at least five civilians have been killed and it seems that they have tried to push into this enclave but so far the rebels are there so the government really empowered following its victory in eastern and civilians in these rebel enclaves worried that they could face death or forced displacement. this could be the start of a new offensive against rebel territory in hopes. the syrian government appears to

be turning its attention to the strategic region following its victory in eastern huta much of the central province has been recaptured in recent years but the opposition has long held an enclave in the northern countryside that the area is strategic for damascus if it wants to secure the roads linking government controlled cities in the west of the country the opposition is promising a fight. they weren't able to hurt us with the shining and they did try to advance on the ground they failed we warned them that if they want to fight they will lose a lot of. every so often the army drops leaflets on these besieged neighborhoods demanding rebels to reconcile with the government surrender and leave or face attack that's the way the government takes areas by imposing sieges and then bombing the rebels and the population into submission. we fear they might displace us just like they did to others in other places people are petrified

because they don't want to be left without homes or shelter. hundreds of thousands of syrians have been forced from their homes because of these so-called reconciliation or evacuation deals and they know returning is only a distant possibility they have. to be displaced i want to stay with my family and friends i don't want to go anywhere else to be humiliated. homes is not the government's only target there is a rebel enclave forty kilometers northeast of the capital damascus rebels in the western region have been given an ultimatum to accept a state to rule or leave the faction in the town of the mayor has agreed to surrender to stave off a military offensive the opposition has little chance of winning the battles in the northern countryside of homs and in the western and if those areas are under siege they have been for years but it's only recently that the army has been able to apply military pressure throughout the conflict the pro-government alliance

suffered from a manpower shortage and has had to prioritize battles. now the army is mobilizing on the front lines in southern damascus. and the opposition controls a number of districts there it seems the priority will be the battle with ice so before a deal is offered to the rebels that would end all opposition presence in and around the capital where thousands gather to celebrate syria's independence day and this year the government is marking the anniversary from a position of strength has never been this comfortable since the start of the conflict more than seven you. jennifer there they route after a series of delays russia says international inspectors will intervene on wednesday to investigate an apparent chemical attack that follows emergency talks i think global chemical weapons watchdog the u.s. accused russia of tampering with the site of moscow blame delays on security concerns a fact finding team arrive in syria on saturday will try to establish if the

chemical attack happened on april seventh it will not assign blame. witnesses of the apparent gas attack and told al jazeera they felt the effects of a poisonous substance many are now at displacement camps in northern syria a somber bench of. the turkish syrian border this is what home looks like today for his family on april the seventh they were in duma when it was alleged syrian forces launched a chemical attack i will mahmoud this close to where it happened. there was another missile which landed and then there was a very strange smell the first thing was smoke a call it yellow smoke it had a rotten smell it was like a new thing was being tested on us because although they have been displaced the children are finally able to play in the sun without the fear of bombs or near strikes more than sixty thousand people have been forced to leave their homes in duma but tens of thousands more opted to state duma is part of eastern which was besieged for nearly five years and bombed into submission over the last two months

. the intensity of the last attack made gestural islam spike to surrender the next day in a statement the rebel group says it decided to withdraw to save lives russia and syria continue to deny that chemical weapons were used and see the pictures of the bodies and people gasping for breath is propaganda produced with the help of western intelligence agencies the u.s. u.k. and france didn't believe russia or syria and carried out air strikes on syrian military facilities in retaliation. some people like primary teacher ahmed illegally entered turkey to reach safety he doesn't want to disclose his real name or show his face because his family is in damascus and he's afraid they will be harmed if his identity is revealed on how i'd look at the coffee. when we came to it if there was a war like situation there in egypt this was a bombardment we left to stay alive we don't want to face war again we want to have a normal life thank god again to turkey it was very difficult to cross but it

wasn't impossible the. medical sources told our desire that those were families in areas under the control of the assad government would be free to say anything about the alleged chemical attack there have been allegations and denials about tampering with the evidence in duma some members of the international chemical watchdog say they have not been granted access to the site where the alleged chemical attack took place russia maintains that it should be the u.n. which grants access but a week after the incident with a team which does not have the mandate to see who carried out the attack many don't have much hope in what will they find some of the job a al-jazeera of a dickey city aboard a syrian air defense systems for triggered a few hours ago by a false alarm according to state media earlier pro-government reports said missiles targeting two air bases held by the syrian military have been intercepted as a ports just spark concern coming less than a week after french british and american strikes on three sites the state news agency is now reporting the defenses were fired but there was no folk external

aggression. australia's most senior catholic cleric will return to court next month to find out if he'll stand trial on sexual abuse charges are known george pell denies the allegations his lawyers want the charges thrown out saying he's being targeted to punish the catholic church failing to prevent other cases of abuse andrew thomas has been following the proceedings and. although pal is australia's most senior figure within the catholic church he was once bishop here in melbourne he's also been offered bishop in sydney and he was until very recently all you believe the third most important person in the catholic church worldwide in charge of all their finances well he found out on tuesday that it will be on the east of my scalp as whether he'll have to face a formal trial a multiple historic sexual abuse crimes at the place accuse him of the magistrate here in melbourne but spend the last six weeks hearing some of the evidence against

him and hearing what some of his defense would be and she said that she'll now take the time to consider whether those witnesses all believable she said in court on tuesday that the defense would have to have an annoying light to the possibility that those witnesses those accusers could be taken seriously by a jury and that would be the test by which she would the sawyer whether or not a formal trial could go ahead it's not called no pale house being at the school a number of stages over the last six weeks he wasn't here on tuesday but he will now have to wait another couple of weeks before he finds out whether he will have to face a full trial. judge in the us has rejected a bid by president onil trumps personal lawyer to keep some of his business documents secret the records for seize as part of an investigation into his dealings with an adult film actress who says she had an affair with trump kristen salumi reports. attorneys for michael cohen and president trump asked the judge not to give investigators documents seized by the f.b.i.

until they could review them and citing attorney client privilege protect the identity of other cohen clients but the judge denied the motion and outed one high profile client conservative fox news commentator and trump supporter sean hannity hannity says he discussed real estate issues with cohen who's an old friend attorney michael cohen is the one under investigation in the proceedings taking place here in the federal courthouse in manhattan but it's a possibility that new information could come to light from those seized documents about president truong and his alleged affair with a porn star that's attracting so much attention thank you very much. investigators are looking for possible criminal activity surrounding cohen's one hundred thirty thousand dollars payment to stormy daniels who says she was paid to keep quiet about her brief two thousand and six relationship with the president. my attorney and i are committed to making sure that everyone finds out the truth and

the facts of what happened and i give my word that we will not rest until that happens. she is suing for defamation of character and her lawyer says the seize documents could be important to their case and dangerous to anyone who's dealt with cohen he is radio active anyone that had any contact with this man in the last twenty years should be very concerned about what secrets and theirs are within these documents the judge has yet to decide who will review the documents which include information about the president's business before they're given to investigators collins attorneys have asked for the appointment of a so-called special master to do the job they're typically an independent lawyer who decides what prosecutors can see but prosecutors argue cohen doesn't need these special protections regardless of who represents christensen leamy al jazeera new york still ahead on al-jazeera the consultancy firm at the center of the face to data breach standoff this is more scrutiny than britain plus.

spain cracks down on catalan separatists of those who still train the session are changing their tactics. hello we've got warm spring sunshine on the way for japan over the next couple of days a little bit of cloud here still in the process of easing through key issues still a possible still dial a little damp as well as we go on in sea well wednesday some heavy rain coming through sixteen celsius in tokyo in that writing makes its way through it warms up it brightens up the somewhat blustery temp just touch twenty one degrees twenty celsius there across the korean peninsula hasa still for beijing here in the southerly wind will see highs are a thirty one celsius with plenty of hazy sunshine but the sun shot across central

and southern parts of china meanwhile we're seeing the temperatures edging back up in hong kong twenty five to. on wednesday afternoon warmer still as we go into thursday could touch twenty seven degrees always a little more cloud over towards the your western side of southwestern side of the country one of two showers coming in across in the chart of that's always a possibility more in the west sunshine than showers the sunshine the shallows to across southeast asia southern parts of the philippines could see some lively downpours as we go through wednesday northern sections of borneo also looking a rather wet wet weather easing its way over towards the march i want to show as to when to indonesia some wetter weather lingering around thailand will see bangkok thirty five. a story fourteen hundred years in the making. a

story of success. as jersey that tells the story of dispute and division of the. college it was sold to. jersey. you're watching al-jazeera and these are the top stories right now syrian government forces have begun shelling the last area under eisel control near the capital don klaver move has been under government siege for several hours after that is held by eisel fighters the other half by rival rebel says russia says

international inspectors will be allowed to enter duma on wednesday to investigate an apparent chemical attack will try to establish if the attack happened near damascus on april seventh they will not assign blame. australia's most senior catholic cleric will return to court next month to find out if he'll stand trial on sexual abuse charges cardinal george pell is accused of multiple sexual offenses which he denies. charges hold a facebook myspace a class action lawsuit over its use of facial recognition technology people in illinois say the company broke state laws by collecting biometric information without their consent but facebook insists the case has no merit that's the latest issue for the social media giant after a british consultancy firm was found to have improperly access the information. nearly ninety million users and a former cambridge analytic executive is appearing before a british parliamentary committee lawrence lee joins us live from london so still

a lot of questions for cambridge analytical what is the significance of our testimony what kind of work did she really do. what was if you demonstrate in your introduction richelle that clearly that there is a concern now that all over the world democracy is potentially being subverted and brittany kaiser's opening position having worked both on the obama campaign and then on the trunk campaign for cambridge analytical is her concern that she's very cynical about this now is that governments in very wealthy people are gathering in harvesting all our personal information and are able to analyze it and target us with specific messages with a view to changing our political opinions and she's very worried about how this is happening now she was only tangentially involved in the campaign to leave the european union which is what the this british committee want to know about most but most of all but she did explain the while working became politically they

approached the leave doughty you campaign said look this this is how you could go about doing what we did for trump in the states she says that they didn't pay ten dollars a go for that but then took the idea themselves and just went with it and one of the key things that she's suggested is that the man who was in charge of that campaign who's a very wealthy insurance salesman gathered all the data she says from the people who bought his car insurance and then targeted them with political messages so when the call center she said of go skippy insurance they were the call sense of people were ringing people up and saying what do you think about the fact that turkey might join the european union the movie's form with muslims and things like this which clearly would be illegal if it was true so in that sense it is very concerning for this committee because what he's trying to understand in its entirety is partly whether the bracks referendum was unfairly influence through fake news and partly where the u.k.

electoral law is up to standard anymore because of the use of big dates abide by these sorts of organizations and the fallout continues lawrence lane life rests in london thank you. a public outcry in china forced its most popular social media network to reverse the decision to ban gay content on its sites and a way that china's equivalent of twitter received backlash when it blocked videos and comics related to homosexuality adrian brown reports. last october president xi jinping set out his long term vision for china it included total control of the internet ridding it of content deemed inappropriate on friday the country's equivalent of twitter began deleting posts relating to pornography violence and gay culture but on monday following a furious online reaction the company reversed its decision. they were filed.

remarkable says one prominent l.g. bt activist. i think it's a significant for sure as a media platform sina sending such a notice to always users is very important. but there was no apology gay rights came late to china homosexuality only ceased to be a crime twenty one years ago and was finally declassified as a mental illness four years later but the l g b t community says its still faces discrimination and persecution in two thousand and fifteen five lesbian activists were detained for campaigning against the sexual harassment of women on public transport yet on monday the gay community here pulled off what few pressure groups in china have achieved a climb down by a corporation with close links to the government where. i really feel encouraged

i see a lot of support for leaving and outside our community and now we are going to stick with our original mission anding discrimination against homosexuality well on tuesday sign no way bows reprise appeared to be holding in general the tone of the posts were positive but also qualified for instance one here says beware of the candy we need to keep fighting. but it is not known if the government ordered scene away bow to withdraw its decision although a company statement says they are no longer deleting material for the time being. members of the l g b t community say they are not dissidents because they don't advocate political change but they are on the margins of what china's government is prepared to tolerate adrian brown al-jazeera beijing. canada is withdrawing the families of diplomats into. after new information about mysterious illnesses which

affected staff at its embassy and have ana envoys from canada and the u.s. first reported headaches dizziness and nausea last year now doctors say they may have brain injuries a cuba says it doesn't know what's behind the attacks. two former ministers and spain's catalonia region are expected to appear in the supreme court to be formally charged with sedition and rebellion several politicians have been indicted for organizing last october secession referendum they include the region's former leader carlos approach to mont spain's government has become increasingly tough on cattle on two still three months a session the central government in madrid as opposed to wreck rule on the region undergo reports on how activists are now changing their tactics. and not to defiance by catalan pro independence activists disabling a highway toll just outside barcelona allowing motorists to pos free of charge. and welcoming them to the cattle on the public

a protest in action but it ended up with one of the leaders being arrested on suspicion of terrorism she was later released others with charge of public disorder this is the new normal in cattle and grassroots politics. more than healthy year has passed since the banned referendum in catalonia and there has been no breakthrough in the crisis the reaction of the spanish state has done little to dampen any feelings but there is a fear that the government will do what ever it takes to prevent secession from that a movement has evolved the committees for the defense of the republic were not afraid any more and the spanish government will do more against us that we will be afraid what they've done to us so far is nothing we appear afraid censureship is winning and we can't allow that but it has come at a price that. they stay out of proportion so. if you were

prosecuting us out terrorism people would surely crime. complain the american demonstrations in this truth are you accusing of terrorism just because he's up for a game the integrity of this of the country that says so how. it's a problem for the state the defense committees were set up in some sixty towns across catalonia and initially it was to protect the voting centers where the battle referendum was held well since then they moved on what they want to do now is to bring about a new capital and republic the spanish government's reaction has been to double down on the pro secessionist movement the president catalyst the moment is in germany where a court ruled out extraditing him to spain on charges of rebellion but he is still a wanted man. the the the there is an impasse and the committees are keeping the momentum going for now they refused to give in to what they say is intimidation by madrid but the possibility of local

elections in july may just bring those matters to a head the desire to have a catalan republic may be strong but the practicality of creating it is still a dream that is out of reach. sony vaio al-jazeera barcelona. and the reporters who broke stories exposing sexual harassment in hollywood have won the most prestigious prize in american journalism the new york times and the new yorker one hundred two and pulitzer for investigations into alleged sexual abuse by film producer harvey weinstein and the reports led to his downfall and also sparked the global need to movement encouraging people to speak out about sexual harassment the new york times and washington post also won a pulitzer for their reporting on suspected russian interference in the two thousand and sixteen u.s. presidential election and reuters journalists who were recognized for

a documentary refugees have been escaping a military crackdown and me and maher since august. and what's being seen as a cultural milestone kendrick lamar's become the first rapper to win the pulitzer prize for music as two thousand and seventeen album dam has been praised for bridging hip hop to high art more now from heidi castro. called the voice of a generation thirty year old kendrick lamar mixes hip hop with poetry and political protest his common subjects of race police brutality and perseverance made his songs the anthem of the black lives matter movement in the united states. his politically charged performances like this one on top of a vandalized police car have also triggered conservative backlash they're not helpful at all this is why i say that hip hop is that more damage to young african-americans than racism in recent years but it was with

a quiet delight that the administrator of the pulitzer prize announced on monday that lamar's latest album was to be honored with this year's award a virtual stick song collection unified by its for nakheel or authenticity and rhythmic diane dimond tism. that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern african american life lamar is the most commercially successful musician to have won the pulitzer prize with his albums selling out at record stores he is also the first non classical or jazz artist to win the honor legitimizing rap music as critically acclaimed art lamar says his music is a reflection of his background the son of a former gang member now a cultural icon who is recognized for his contribution to american arts and music teacher castro al jazeera washington. and international team of scientists has engineered an enzyme that eats plastic that's a world first in an effort to find

a solution for the three hundred million tons of plastic produced every year charleville assess more. tiles of plastic in every city in the world in remote regions with nowhere to go. since its invention last century the disposal of plastic has plagued the world three quarters of it sits in landfills floods the oceans even the tampa st that's recycled is simply remolded never truly broken down until now we can break it down to its building blocks and then put it back and. as water bottles and things like this subject to recover those urgent type properties a bacteria discovered recently in a japanese recycling plant feeds on the world's most common plastic known as p.t. this is an enzyme aging the plastic magnified three thousand times the scientists wanted to study how it works but accidentally spit it up we actually thought we

were making the enzymes floor by by changing a few amino acids but actually we've made it faster we've made an improved version of the enzyme better than the natural one already that's really exciting because that means that there's potential to optimize this and say even further the science has a long way to go enzyme can only digest plastic and needs to be scaled up in a commercially viable way basically we can just make gallons of powdered enzyme and then pour in a faucet this is what we're aiming to do so just in the same way that washing powder to parents were developed and made more stable been able to work at high temperatures will temperatures we're going to do the same with this enzyme and hopefully create something that we can use in an industrial scale every minute one garbage truck of plastic is dumped into our oceans if we continue this trained by twenty fifty it's predicted there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish it's

an all consuming problem that scientists hope enzymes could help eat up charlotte bell. al-jazeera. your headlines now on al-jazeera syrian government forces have begun shelling the last area under eisel control near the capital on clay the your move has been under a government siege for several years half of it is held by eisel fighters the other half by rival rebel groups as into her house for from beirut in neighboring lebanon . the army announcing that they are targeting this enclave a number of districts in southern to mask under the control of icily are moved on. so the army moving on following its a victory really in eastern huta after taking control of eastern router from the rebels and setting its sights on this enclave in the south of damascus really

wanting to clear the area around the capital around its seed to powered russia says international inspectors will be allowed to enter tomorrow on wednesday to investigate a suspected chemical attack it will try to establish if an attack took place on april seventh but it will not assign blame the u.s. accuses russia of tampering with the site while moscow is blaming delays on security concerns. australia's most senior catholic cleric will return to court next month to find out whether he will stand trial on sexual abuse charges cardinal george pell denies the allegations his lawyer wants the charges thrown out. a judge has rejected a bid by the us president's personal lawyer michael cohen to keep some of his records secret documents for seize as part of an investigation into a payout here arranged for an adult film actress who said she had an affair with donald trump. a former cambridge analytic an executive is being questioned by

a british parliamentary committee britney kaiser worked on the firm strategy to help the campaign leave the european union during the two thousand and sixteen referendum the political culture consultancy is under scrutiny after claims that improperly accessed the personal data facebook users around the world. canada's withdrawing the families of diplomats and cuba after new information about mysterious illnesses which affected staff and have anna envoys from canada and the us reported headaches dizziness and nausea last year or so the headlines keep her on al-jazeera inside story is next. it happens all too often in india the gang rape.