in the syrian city of duma in april a preliminary report by the o.p.c. w. says various chlorinated chemicals with found at the site dozens of people were killed in the attack on duma which was under rebel control at the time the acid government has denied carrying out any chemical attacks. historic flooding as left at least sixteen people dead and more than forty five missing in japan the heavy rainfall has triggered landslides and rising rivers more than one point six million people in western and central regions have been ordered to leave their homes almost fifty thousand rescue workers are responding to the crisis whenever the night. i offer my deepest condolences to the victims and my sympathies to all people who have been affected and. heavy rain will continue in the area from western to eastern japan and it will be historic during chan rainfall which could be the heaviest rain ever recorded well let's bring in michael pena he's the president of the xing get sue news agency he joins us live now from tokyo on skype michael how

unprecedented is this flooding in southwestern part well the part that some press of the it is the intensity of the rainfall i believe that it's been recorded like something more than half a meter of rain water falling and one hour so what's happening is that there's just massive amount of rain and water hitting the land before it can adjust and so that's that's the unprecedented part there's also unfortunately the possibility that this may end up being unprecedented in the number of people who die although that hasn't reached that point yet yeah and so far fifteen people have died with dozens missing but many people have abandoned their homes and moved to higher ground what more can you tell us about that. yes well actually the most recent figures from the japanese press are twenty three dead and forty seven missing and yes it's no doubt that you know those who live near rivers and any kind of body of water have been evacuating to you know schools and other facilities that are opened

up for evacuation but on the other hand you know some roads are out and you know not all not all of the transportation facilities are working because of the destruction which has been wrought and michael what about the emergency services how challenging has it been for them to get to those flood stricken areas and those remote regions right well that is the major problem if you consider you know rainfall this rainfall is hitting basically everywhere at once so there's no it's difficult for the emergency services to prioritise where they should go first because there's so many things happening all at once and obviously if a road is washed out or bridges destroyed even if you have a nice fire engine or ambulance you can't get to some of the places that you need to go to so it's probably going to take a matter of days last year there were similar floods in q shu which which did take

a week or more before all of the places had been reached by by emergency services michael pan there in tokyo michael thank you thank you now the football coach who led a group of young players into a cave complex in thailand has apologized to their parents and note the message from a couple of chantelle was handed to the families by rescue divers along with other notes from the truck boys they've not been stuck inside for thirteen days more than one hundred tunnels of being drilled into the ground in the latest attempt to reach the trapped team the head of the rescue mission says it's too risky for them to try to dive for the submerged tunnels due to potential flooding scott hietala has more from china right. there are concerns about the oxygen levels in the cave system coming out from the commander of this rescue operation now they're not a dangerous levels yet but what they're doing is they're taking out non-essential personnel that are now rescue personnel that are now inside the cave you know there

are the divers going back and forth to the spot where the coach and the his players are there's a chamber where the kind of pre staging tanks and things and supplies they bring to the boys so they're taking out the people who are non-essential and only keeping those in there who are absolutely essential because the fewer people in there the less oxygen that will be used in the boy's area that is the same case too for divers seal divers will be with them still at all times but all non-essential people will be taken out other options are being explored but there's nothing that's really coming forward as another viable option just yet they're still looking through these chimneys or downward tunnels in the mass of mountain range that houses this cave system that's behind me nothing yet they say that there are one hundred chimneys that they have explored there focusing on a team but again no real find yet that that's giving them hope that they could use this as another escape hatch now what we're looking at now too is obviously the families that have been waiting the boys went into the cave two weeks ago today so obviously this is putting a lot of pressure

a lot of stress on the families one thing that is a glimmer of hope if you will they were able to exchange handwritten notes a family member sent in some notes out to the to the spot where the boys were in their coach they then wrote back and in that exchange there was an apology from the coach who's in there the twenty five year old now this is the first time we've heard directly from him he apologized to the parents but the exchange was very endearing between the kids and their parents talking about how they can't wait to get out don't worry about us we're ok and one is even worrying about how much homework he's going to have when he comes out another one saying he wants barbecue pork as soon as they leave so obviously an endearing exchange but the pressure is on for these rescuers to get these boys out quickly as possible. the u.s. and north korea have agreed to form working groups to set out details for denuclearizing the korean peninsula the u.s. secretary of state might pompei o has been holding talks with north korean officials in the capital pyongyang pompei oh says president trump is committed to a bright future for north korea the issue of repatriation of the remains of

americans who died in the korean war in the one nine hundred fifty s. there's also been discussed so a clock has more from seoul. well we've just been fed new lines in an update from the the u.s. delegation which is meeting at the north korean a high level working committee in pyongyang stated that there's been no softening on the progress or the position of the u.s. and they're seeking three basic goals this includes the complete denuclearization security assurances and the repatriation of the u.s. service members who were killed in the korean war between nine hundred fifty and nine hundred fifty three both sides have also stated that they're seeking to clarify a number of certainly either side intentions at these a full day of talks today has told a group of political reporters a pool reporters who are traveling with this delegation that they've had a good set of conversations and they're looking forward to more good dialogue has also reiterated that trump is committed to a brighter future for north korea and yesterday

a progress report which is also recently been released today the u.s. state department has cautioned the expectations of what people expect out of this meeting as a disc climb almost don't expect any blueprint or sit timeframe on how to take the next steps for this denuclearization plan the main goal seems to be assurances from both sides on whether north korea is committed to this goal and how to achieve that next step to denuclearize the korean peninsula today is the second and the only full day of negotiations it's been a two day trip for pompei and his delegation he will leave pyongyang this afternoon and head to tokyo we'll meet the south korean foreign minister and the japanese foreign minister to discuss what they're change at this meeting as well as a shared commitment in the region the u.s. government says it needs more time to reunite migrant families after separating thousands as illegally crossed over from the mexico border this year a u.s. judge ordered the trumpet ministration to return children under five to their

parents by tuesday but government lawyers say only about a half of the one hundred children in that age group will be reunited by then the separation sparked a fierce outcry and protests against donald trump zero tolerance policy john hendren has more from washington d.c. . the troubled ministration went to court in california to explain why it can't abide by an immigration court order the court had ordered that you'd ministration had to reunite the parents of undocumented children who had been separated at the border with those children within thirty days but for children under five in there about one hundred one of those that had to reunite them by this coming tuesday it ministration was in court explaining it can't do that because you couldn't locate only about half or forty six of those one hundred one children under five there are three thousand children in total who were separated from their parents or the administration still is trying to meet the goal of reuniting those children with

their parents the judge said the administration might be able to get a delay if it could produce a list of these one hundred one children and their parents by five pm on saturday so that is what the administration is looking at but what this means is that the administration did not have a plan in one throws children with their parents when it separated the government lawyer said that the government would comply with that order but she would not personally be there for the saturday meeting because she had a dog sitting duties let's also to come here in. israel. the running of the bulls.

welcome back we're still looking at some very warm weather across europe temperatures across parts of france and the u.k. in excess of thirty degrees celsius mostly sherratt seventy in fact is further towards the southeast where we from austria down through into the balkans and southeast there is generally so some big storms are likely here more unsettled weather across the north and there is the winds coming in from the northwest so temperatures bit above average but not much above average for stockholm and for moscow but many parts of southern europe generally looking at fine weather with temperatures into the low thirty's some of the forecasts are into sunday the area of rain moves further towards the east through poland through into ukraine into north africa we've got about of lifted dust around for to cross more southern areas otherwise it's all fine weather conditions but strong winds giving some dust across algeria more mauritania maybe into western sahara but otherwise fine conditions for

car that thirty nine degrees into central parts of africa and we've got a lines of showers across parts of west africa those that we particularly heavy elsewhere a few showers still left coming through south sudan into congo otherwise gerry not looking too bad for southern portions of africa some showers for mozambique but most areas like to be dry and fine twenty in cape town.

welcome back to the top stories here on al-jazeera the syrian government is back in control of southern province after rebels agreed to surrender as part of the deal more than two weeks of fighting it's forced at least three hundred thirty thousand people to flee many to the border with jordan. historic flooding has left at least sixteen people dead and more than forty five missing in japan the heavy rainfall has triggered landslides more than one point six million people in western and central regions have been ordered to leave their homes almost fifty thousand rescue workers are responding to the crisis. and the football coach who led twelve young players into a cave complex in thailand has apologized to their parents

a letter from a couple of chantal what was handed to the families by rescue divers along with other notes from the truck boys have been stuck inside the cave for thirteen. israel's supreme court has issued a temporary injunction to block the demolition of a palestinian village in the occupied west bank the bedouin a community of han has lived there since before israel's occupation of the area more than fifty years ago the israeli government says it can move to an area near a landfill site reports. sulaiman abu who was born here in the bedouin village of qana in the israeli occupied west bank he's lived here with his family all his life . these raided government wants to demolish and many other bedouin villages as part of a plan called easy one which involves expanding the illegal settlement of mala i do mean completely surrounding jerusalem and separating the north from the south of the occupied west bank. i am like any man i'm asking for freedom like any

israeli i have the right to live and to have my freedom like he does they photo or better still leave in one nine hundred forty eight and now they are forcing us out but where can we go. what is really security forces raided connel on wednesday arresting and injuring a number of people. a day later bulldozers began clearing a path to the village but late on friday israel supreme court put a temporary injunction on the demolition of the village to the palestinian authority submitted documents it saves show palestinians have owned the land since before israel's one nine hundred sixty seven occupation. activists palestinian villages and politicians recognize that the fight to protect twenty three other villages in this area that also faced demolition is far from over yet but they say

this case is important because they want support from the international community they say that it highlights how israel continues to expand its settlements which is illegal according to international law under the one nine hundred ninety three oslo agreement between israel and palestine the occupied west bank was divided into three zones connel law is a cold area see these ready government has administrative and security control here . israel says it confiscated the land around connel amr in the one nine hundred seventy s. and has a right to build here palestinian politicians say they have proof the land is still owned in least the bedouin by palestinians and these illegal settlers who are settled on an occupied territory have swimming pools have schools have going to the gardens have everything while this community is suffering and such at that have been really what is this if it is not a system of apartheid sulaiman shows us the school that was built in two thousand

and nine using tires because these radial sorties would not allow proper building materials into the village israel has always refused to issue building permits or supply the village with water and electricity they say the palestinians here can move to another area around twelve kilometers away near a landfill so laman and his fellow villagers say they will not leave stratford al-jazeera. in the occupied west bank french investigators say a cockpit fire likely cause an egypt air jet to crash into the mediterranean two years ago this contradicts egyptian aviation authorities who suggested the air bus was brought down deliberately and said traces of explosives were found on victims remains all sixty six passengers and crew died when flight eight hundred four crashed on its way from paris to cairo a turkish court has jailed journalists it says are linked to the july twenty sixth

failed coup thirty journalists and executives on these newspaper were arrested in september twenty sixth seen but all the knowledge any involvement the sentences range from eight to ten and a half he is the man which has been shut down was linked to u.s. based character to laguna for the turkish government blames for the coup attempt. british police in ames when soulsby are searching for a small vial feared to be contaminated with a nerve agent novacek police believe a couple may have handled the vile when they fell ill a week ago officers have been searching places where the pair visited it's believed the vile may have been thrown away by whoever use the nerve gas against former russian spy service crippled and his daughter yulia in march. at least one person is dead after protests in haiti of a steep increases in fuel prices demonstrators built barricades and burned tires to block major streets in the capital earlier on friday the cost of diesel gasoline and kerosene all went up the government agreed to reduce fuel subsidies in february

in order to receive aid from the international monetary fund. thousands of people in cities across colombia are demanding an end to wave of activist killings which is threatening a peace deal colombian officials say more than three hundred human rights defenders have been killed since twenty sixteen that's the year a peace deal was signed between the colombian government and fog rebels rights groups blame the violence and funk dissidents who didn't back the deal. from a vigil in the capital bogota. some of these are holding people and that's in towns and villages across the country to bring attention to the continued murdered human rights defenders and social and community leaders the violence against human rights of friends there's a spike since. i read back and see how. these protesters are asking for an end to the killings and also and hands to what they see as

indifference on the part of the many columbians and they're asking the government to do more to defend them and also recognize what they see as the systematic nature of these killings. it's a symbolic act to reject the genocide against social leaders and the political opposition we want to tell the world that in colombia human rights are still not respected any money the government needs to be made for twenty four killed just last month can't be ignored we can't be going backwards after what we achieved. in past days that united nations in your sleep rejected and condemned the killings also asking the colombian government for.