not seen in more than a year italy province and surrounding areas were declared a deescalation zone last year under an agreement reached between russia and turkey intended to avert a major offensive on the rebel held area that agreement appears to be under threat activists say syrian and russian government forces launched more than eighty strikes on saturday two hundred fifty thousand people have already been displaced in the latest wave of violence if there is a real offensive a real attack and really i mean. is aimed at penetrating. the denture or the. settle. down itself. others then we going to have an enormous crisis and then we're talking about two hundred thousand but up to a million of people probably will be on the rules right now. i'm still hopeful

that's not going to happen i'm still hopeful that this will be contained to dot's final confrontation a cease fire. as government tanks and troops move towards it live in greater numbers the state media say they're there to target terrorists from a group linked to al qaeda but many fear this could be the start of a bigger operation to take the final rebel held stronghold home to nearly three million civilians one million of them children enter chapelle al jazeera. european leaders have criticized washington's decision to restrict oil trade with iran this development came after iran's president called on his country to resist and unite against the u.s. after it tightened restrictions on to his nuclear program the u.s. did not renew two key sanctions waves that were in place that means iran will now be in violation of the curbs if it continues to ship any surplus heavy water that is what is my. in the nuclear process to amman the u.s.

has also made it harder for iran to dispose of any enrich uranium it has renewed some sanctions waivers that allow russia china the u.k. and france to work with iran on civilian nuclear projects or president hassan rouhani says the u.s. just trying to sow division amongst iranians oh you already called about all you do you know getting as the united states is violating international laws and pressuring companies to prevent them cooperating with iran and seeking to weaken our currency and the independence of our country there are huge conspiracies against our country and the american administration is waging a political and psychological war against us and is seeking to change the regime in iran washington aims to spread division in the country and the iranians must unite to face this war here's what we've got coming up for you on this news hour the scientific secrets which may be lurking in the world's deepest lake and what they could mean for all of us. down and

outs and disillusions why some south africans are out on the streets ahead of the coming election. and in sports liverpool back on top in the english title race joe has all those details of a dramatic victory at newcastle. in the months after all much of the show was ousted from office and protesters continue to vent their anger at the transitional military council in sudan but the demonstrators are starting to believe that change is happening to reports now from . these no letup in protest in. public on god is the transitional military council is in no way. even if impasse between the military council not just continue the protesters say they have no confidence in their actions. and the other paul says what it also got you know is

that the regulation not here that's why we are pushing no faith in the you do not discriminate against anyone that was legal when the wolf from rights are these a festive mood here families have come hoping to be part of history all sting the military council is exhausting work for some of the big companies out here for weeks they're angry and the time it. was in their almost endless chanting the military council does it it got it as close as that it former president. i skated had them seen the military have ruled us for all these years and we have nothing to show for it except in justice that a civilian government is what we urgently need. those people are the ones before place that they want to help remove from our present moment i don't know but they say they have a long process until free people do not the silence nothing very right will hold

them back a deadline issued by the military for that immovable body kids from roads bridges and gravel ways. but instead of removing them the protesters reinforced the bloody cade's opposing him ahead on the street and on ahead with i mean we will never remove the barricades because they're here for our security checkpoints we have nabbed people with weapons and drugs wishing to cause people harm we can't take chances. the daily demonstrations in the square help ensure all for the much needed in the bridge to poultice leaders in their talks with admitted. that is why saddam's younger evolution of his thinking will and link them soon. to saddam but now weapons experts are analyzing rocket launchers on north korea's east coast which it state media cold a strength drill south korea's president expressed serious concern over the launch however he was present on. trump tweeted that kim jong un doesn't want to break the

promises made to him referring to commitments to denuclearization this is what trump tweeted i believe that kim jong un fully realizes the great economic potential of north korea and will do nothing to interfere or end it he also knows that i am with him and does not want to break his promise to me deal will happen let's talk to him about this former state department diplomatic specializes in north korea joining us from washington d.c. you know the first thing i thought when i read that tweet was does he know that north korea just tested some sort of missile it just all seems a bit in congress. was absolutely my reaction is why all the president has consistently taken a very rosy optimistic view of the diplomatic process with north korea no matter what the evidence is and this was the latest we've seen with that and did you notice that he also in that tweet and in many similar tweets he will always talk

about the economic potential i think is what he called sort of north koreans saying no i understand it and chairman kim understands in a letter why is there always do you think that focus on the economic side of things when actually the rest of the world is looking at again these sorts of missile tests. well you know i think that arises from a misunderstanding in washington about what north korea's motivations and incentives are there is a belief that north korea desperately wants to bolster its economy and. if only it would get great economic aid from the united states it would completely denuclearize. the united states is certainly right that economic incentives do matter in some way to north korea especially partial sanctions relief but it certainly will not get north korea to completely give up its nuclear weapons so how do you view the current status of any deals or talks between the two countries we're looking at pictures from hanoi that was february we're now in may is there

any prospect of any movement while the president deal will happen but i see no evidence that we are anywhere close to a nuclear deal with north korea north korea probably does not have the domestic political space to take any of the bold risks or maneuver maneuvers that would restart the diplomatic process and washington for its part has not been creative enough or flexible enough to really take advantage of this diplomatic process and get us closer to the deal so you used to work in the state department. can you give us a little insight of how it works between state department and white house or at least how you think it should work when it comes to international negotiations like this isn't state supposed to take the lead. while in practical terms yes but it has always been the case in both the obama administration and the

trumpet ministration that with an issue this important and this high profile the white house takes the lead and it's the general policy direction and the state department really implements it it drives diplomacy it comes up with ideas but the direction is at the white house level and your so you have to move in your view looking as an outsider effectively now looking at the. as much as we can read anything into what happens in the trumpet ministration how do you feel it is working in this particular situation who's. which is that dog wagging the title. seems like the dog in the tail are acting completely separately. the president and his subordinates have been on completely separate parallel tracks on north korea and it almost seems like they don't consult each other or a coordinate their message and that's

a huge difference from past administrations and i think has a lot to do with the dysfunction we've seen in u.s. north korea diplomacy and it's very concerning very interesting talking to you mentor but thank you so much. now while protests across asia prepare to celebrate but as birthday in south korea the festival comes with a different meaning this year many just grateful for the improved relations between the north and south but as rob mcbride reports from seoul there's also been some setbacks. at the end of what's been an eventful twelve months on the korean peninsula but his birthday seems like a timely moment for peaceful reflection. it is traditionally marked in south korea with elaborate lantern displays and this year's theme of world peace is especially fitting. to use ho the way for pair this year's festival with the goal of peace on the korean peninsula and in the world by overcoming conflicts with

a buddhist spirit of mercy. reconciliation between the two koreas has led to combined sports teams including for the olympics train lines have been linked in the hope of running services the length of the korean peninsula and beyond. but there have also been setbacks. during the year there have been quite remarkably sri into korean summits and to us north korea summits in between these milestones movements there have also been periods relative calm and this is one of those love between february's failed summit in hanoi and no clear way forward on restarting talks between the u.s. and north korea. the truce village of pam and john separating the two koreas has a new look just reopened to visiting tool groups the soldiers from both sides no longer wear helmets or carry guns and i think that what you'll see here is

a place that can foster trust building in confidence i hope we can spread across the korean peninsula the chance to stroll along the foot bridge where the leaders of the two koreas match during their landmark first summit just over a year ago. and friendly waves from the tall groups on the northern side. but there's also a growing awareness that the attitude of the north korean leadership has recently become a lot cooler towards the south and the towards the u.s. there's been a return to some of the outright hostility of the past. that supported by saturday's weapons test with south korea calling on its northern neighbor to stop activities that could escalate military tensions. join into this holiday is tainted with uneasiness about what's to come. bride al jazeera so. now scientists are hoping the world's deepest lake is harboring

something which could help a soul in types of antibiotics have been found in organisms living in the depths of lake baikal and russia but a step also reports more research needs to be done before many patients could benefit. it's more than twenty five million years old six hundred kilometers long and holds a rich history of information about a changing climate and species this is siberia's lake baikal scientists recently found that one creature living here with extreme survival skills might be crucial to the discovery of new antibiotics the enfeebled a coup station often mistaken for a shrimp produces bacteria that can be used to cure infections in humans. from a sort of course is very significant for humanity would we do here because we're now facing increasing resistance to existing interviewer six meaning that there used to work are less effective before these new antibiotics can be used on humans

a lot more research needs to be done some pharmaceutical companies have already shown interest it usually takes ten years before a newly discovered antibiotics are produced the institute is also using the crustaceans to study the effects of climate change and other and via mental changes under even creatures by injecting micro sensors in their tiny bodies by observing different kinds of crustaceans living in different depth of the lake they hope to obtain information about how humans can adapt as well scientists believe that this immense lake not only holds the cure to diseases but also the answer to and fire mental challenges our planet is facing but this league is still largely unexplored and to reveal its secrets some say the government should change its strategy and change the lake into an international hightech research project so far lake baikal is mostly used as a tourist attraction and source for drinking water scientists say the world's

largest freshwater reservoir can be better protected if it's turned into a center for biotechnological research instead. limited to more than twenty five scientists. a lot of questions which can be studied but twenty five thousand scientists and bike of. unpatched resource of new. technology and biotech for well well nobody really knows about environmentalist say they support the idea gonski. i believe this is a gigantic nature a library which can be source of information for an endless number of years can be part of our research for certain means of adaptation to life on this planet if we learn how to use this bank then this can contribute to our lives and the habit of the lake can be protected the government didn't respond to our request to comment on the plan one of the obstacles to attract scientists to lake baikal could be the

extreme weather conditions in siberia but while temperatures can reach minus thirty celsius in winter deep inside the lake the temperature has stayed the same for millions of years there are stations who can live up to twenty years and could hold the answer to the secret of a long life at least that is what scientists are eager to find out step fastened al-jazeera lake baikal russia. when we come back on this news hour we'll look at how turkey's economy is expected to be hit by the u.s. sanctions on iran. thailand crowns its new king two years after he inherited through art and eighteen women lined up on the grid is a new motor sports series gets underway joe will have all the details in sport.

we've had some severe storms across the deep south of the u.s. anywhere from around say museum and i that's not the takes up of music very calm down it's a walk and saw a into texas but if this area of cloud has some flooding to into the say following a tornado that ripped across that eastern side of texas and this wild weather is now making its way further eastward alabama stings a nasty weather to go through sunday and the mid atlantic states just pushing up towards new york into battery fourteen celsius plateau right comes back in behind not out of the woods just yet so some more of a shower still a possibility across the central plains and northern plains too i was towards the west but it's five and dry here sixty celsius in san francisco eighteen in seattle and nineteen for l.a. maybe an eighteen there on monday seattle warms up to twenty one and notice by monday that's one of the new york seventeen celsius more cladogram coming in out of

colorado down towards oklahoma arkansas so good part of texas the southeast five and dry clear by this stays in that clear and dry weather spread static cross the caribbean or just a sunny weather but some places a fair weather cloudy that certainly a possibility a chance of water to see as into cuba and the arch out to the central america. as we embrace new technologies rarely do we stop to ask what is the price of this progress what happened was people started getting sick but there was a small group of people that began to think that maybe this was related to the kind of aspersion on the job and investigation reveals how even the smallest devices have deadly environmental and health costs we think ok we'll send ari waste to china but we have to remember that air pollution travels around the globe death by design on al-jazeera in

a two part series. zero observes the lives of two children. over twenty years. where insights into circumstances that shaped lives. in a rapidly changing world. twenty years of me starts with blood and land to build a story on how to zero. on the news on here at al-jazeera these are all top stories israeli warplanes have hit targets in the gaza strip prompted palestinian fighters fired dozens of rockets

into southern israel injuring two israelis four palestinians have been killed including a pregnant mother and her fourteen month old child. the youngest brother of algeria's ousted president has been arrested side beautifully had been algeria's defacto since his brother suffered a stroke in twenty thirteen two of his former intelligence chiefs have also been taken into custody. and syrian and russian government forces are continuing to strike rebel factions in it leave the province in what is meant to be a deescalation so at least twenty two people have been killed the fighting force and thousands of people from their homes many of whom have already been distressed . and as well as opposition leader has made another bid for the seaport support of the country's military as he attempts to take over as president. saleh has to break ranks with president maduro but military commanders have so far remained loyal to the president's separately the united states is again sending mixed messages

regarding venezuela after speaking to the russian president vladimir putin this week donald trump downplayed any russian involvement in caracas bought his secretary mike peo had this to say about moscow last month i visited colombia and saw firsthand the misery the murderers created with the russians and cubans help. these same scenes of desperation are playing out all across venezuela the must and the time for transition is now. let's go to gabrielle is on to about this one now in washington so why do you think this message at this point now from my own i. think there's probably two reasons call number one is that called for mass protests in venezuela on saturday so i think that the timing was good for pompei zero to come out and give a message on this day however those protests by the opposition were not nearly as

big as i think why do have wanted them to be was so i think that's number one but number two is i think there's an admission in washington and even within the opposition that they are losing steam in their effort to dislodge president nicolas maduro from power let's remember let's back up here it was the end of january more than three months ago that was declared himself the interim president of venezuela and when the u.s. excepted that and acknowledge that they would recognize. those interim president and not recognize nicolas maduro that was more than three months ago and where are we today nicolas maduro is still in office still the president of venezuela why do appears no closer to his quest to dislodge my daughter from power than he was more than three months ago so there's a real a real sense i think that the opposition is losing a lot of steam here and i think that's part of the reason why you saw that message

today from. what about the difference though in messaging between secretary. and president trump or we actually spoke to a guest earlier in this news hour about north korea but the same sort of thing the fact that the two departments the two men have very differing views. it's almost like you're getting two different governments speaking up out of the same issue here it's the same government on one side you have pompei what you just heard there who very much says that russia is involved in venice where he went so far as late last week to say that it was venezuela who called nicolas maduro in a very critical moment when the dude who was thinking of fleeing the country to cuba according to pay oh it was the russians who called. maduro and said no stay fight this out you can make it that's according to pump a zero but then we just heard from the president ited states donald trump who said when he was on a call with vladimir putin that putin said we want nothing to do with venice well

we're not looking to get involved in venice well a that's what but i'm here putin told donald trump and donald trump just sort of seemed to accept that so what you're seeing here is very similar to the u.s. policy with north korea you're seeing on one hand the state department saying one thing and on another hand the president the united states saying another what's the truth well it's probably somewhere in between but clearly is not giving good signals to the opposition or really to the international community quite frankly when you're getting these mixed messages coming out of washington on at least here in the western hemisphere one of most critical crisis is playing out in south america and really in the western hemisphere right now and that being been a swell deborah that it's on there with the update from washington d.c. thank you. the massive cleanup underway in india after cyclon funny hit on friday at least twelve people were killed after the extreme storm battered state barbara and up as more. a trail of destruction along india's eastern coast.

with winds around two hundred kilometers per hour cycling fernie ripped apart homes in addition state. toppled power lines and left uprooted trees covering the streets walked me to one quarter i was really afraid when the storm hit us we were lucky that we were all downstairs if my children were up stairs they wouldn't have survived all our belongings our money everything is gone. the storm has weakened since making landfall on friday the extent of the flooding in the city of puri is clear to see with damaged crops and infrastructure india's navy air force and disaster response teams are on standby. but their teams go to each and every site we get reports from we've been working since morning our teams have been out there since the so i can calm down. despite the destruction and the number of people killed the indian government says the situation in addition could have been worse.

about one million people were evacuated airports and schools were closed before the storm hit. a different outcome from nine to ninety nine when a super cyclon killed more than ten thousand people across the state. now emergency crews are trying to clear wreckage but many roads are blocked and some communities completely qatar. the coast of the dishes state is vulnerable to cyclons and tsunamis over the years embankments and shelters were belt but for now the focus is on how to recover from this storm proper and get her out of syria get a look at turkey's economy now which is expected to continue to slump as the u.s. imposes further sanctions on iran's oil industry so is a major iranian customer but is having to look elsewhere for its energy supplies a cynical syria reports from istanbul. iran is the second largest oil supplier to

turkey after russia turkey has energy rich neighbors but nor reserves of its own so is dependent on oil and gas imports that leaves the turkish call me while noble to rises in energy prices the value of the turkish lira has fallen at least forty percent in the past year and could fall further because of concerns about all supply to keep the troubled economy running. human you have many troubles just during the israeli lobby before the twenty twenty a lick should sound like he gave golden heart center jerusalem told him otherwise it has nothing to do with national security around complies with the nuclear deal but they want to contain iran for israel safety if turkey can't buy oil from iran sourcing alternative supplies from the united arab emirates or saudi arabia is difficult the turkish government is a leading saudi quit it following the killing of journalist jamal khashoggi in the kingdom sconce late in a stumble last year and relations with the u.a.e.

are strained since turkish police arrested two a rabs who confessed to be spying for their murat is as a stopgap the turkish government is negotiating with iraq to buy oil only to kick only to wild turkey is trying to make itself understood by its western friends who are protecting its national interests but to put an end to its independence it should focus on renewable energy in the long term turkey try to torpedo their reimposition of u.s. sanctions through a gold for all a strategy with iran basically using clear and golden payments via turkey's state bank hot bank another turkish initiative was a curse a swap they are between iran and russia last year and that bypassing the u.s. financial system but it fails to stall turkey's all supply problem turkey's relations with the us are strange two of the major problems are u.s. support for the kurdish fighters in syria out with turkey calls terrorists and the

u.s. stopping deliveries of f. the device that's what plays because turkey refuses to cancel a deal to buy air rushing the missile defense system and what the domestic issues such as weak currency and troubled economy it seems difficult for the turkish government to stand against u.s. sanctions on neighboring iran say now because all of al-jazeera a stumble in south africa poverty and a rising unemployment are likely to be on the minds of my. voters as they head to the polls on. president cyril ramaphosa of the a.n.c. the african national congress is promising change and is likely to win at the end his popularity has declined in recent years reports from johannesburg. twenty five years after south africa became a democracy these people are tired of having no jobs no land and poor housing these kinds of protests happen every week even more say with an election coming. this one

last month was in a township in johannesburg. has lived there in a shack for thirteen years politicians have always promised better housing but she says they don't even organize trash collection. we don't have enough space we need . i'm not going to avoid up until they took two waves. not the same for everyone south africa's the most on equal country in the world since apartheid most white people remain relatively wealthy economically things improved to some black people. but not in the shanty towns each one of these toilets is shared by dozens of families they smell bad they're only emptied about once a week across south africa there are millions of people living in similar conditions in informal settlements and the only way to get out is to find

a job that pays enough to be able to afford to live in a better area more than a quarter of workers are on employed and there's been economic stagnation for about a decade. president cyril ramaphosa is promising change his party the african national congress has been in power ever since he was credited with ending white minority rule he's expected to win again but with a smaller majority in ever before. some economists think poses leadership good for economic growth but good in. that alone won't fix a broken model is long as the i'm not imagining economy models which are broadly inclusive and exploring new. economy to make sure that the broader increasing population. at least can transition from the students to the middle

class then there is. potential full serious conflict in the future that is based on . opportunity. victory is certain is the continuation of protest this one was in pretoria two weeks ago many people want change this election's on likely to bring it malcolm webb al-jazeera johannesburg south africa still in africa or in camps in the lake chad region in nigeria have become home to hundreds of thousands of people they were forced to flee attacks by the. manager says the latest now in our series a life displaced from the city of my degree. at the height of the crisis she. met a group of people fleeing attacks in two thousand and thirteen when. they were out in the streets of my degree hungry and exposed to the elements there so temporary

shelter on his property before moving to displaced people's camps. i know you know this place was my main source of income but they sent all tenants away to make room for the displaced currently there are three children displaced people here haven't anything. right one. six years or the refugees sure more signs of leaving mystified is one of them he says is going to wait out this crisis and this camp no matter how long it takes yeah yeah yeah only a few days ago people. were killed and if you others escape you have to think about your safety first the united nations estimates that more than six million people in the lake chad region have been affected by violence two and a half million of them i need a.