so of recapturing this town and really a symbolic blow to the government because when they launched this offensive in the northwest corner of syria. was one of their 1st games on the ground now they lost it and now the syrian government says that they will fight back and they will recapture this territory they may be able to do that but this is proving to be a very costly fight and like i mentioned this offensive is now in its 4th week the government has made limited gains on the ground just taking a few villages in the northern countryside in the neighboring province they haven't been able to advance they've been trying to control this strategic mountain range they made several attempts but they were unable to advance further north what they have been able to do is target opposition controlled villages. and hundreds if not hundreds of airstrikes really in the past 3 weeks and up to $200.00 civilians reportedly killed in the past 24 hours alone at least $23.00 civilians killed so limited beans on the ground this is proving to be

a very costly battle and what the significance is that it's not just. the group that many believe this linked to al qaida that is fighting on the ground but turkey backed syrian rebels have joined the fight fighting alongside them when only a few months ago. pushed turkey backed rebels from the area which many believe is a sign from turkey because the relationship between turkey and russia the guarantors of this cease fire is now being tested in where really it is has been a bargaining ground security in indonesia's capital is still tied after election results violent protests 6 people were killed in riots and 200 injured on tuesday protesters are angry that president djoko we don't know was declared the winner of last month's election and they say there was widespread cheating that the election commission says the poll was free and fair opposition candidate is expected to challenge the results in court as the latest from jakarta. it's a different scene in central jakarta. on thursday off to chew days of street

protests security is still tight the barricades are still up but police have taken off their full riot gear and there's not a protest to incite the sting of tear gas still lingers in the air the cleanup crews are here they swept every off the streets left by riots over light presidential challenger. has urged his supporters to refrain from resorting to violent street president joke. issued a strong warning to demonstrate saying he will not tolerate those who seek to disrupt the security and unity of indonesia the tide of public opinion also seems to be against probable at the moment on social media local television talk shows he and his supporters have been criticized for creating chaos during the muslim holy month of ramadan hash tag. which translates to a rest probably was the top trending topic on twitter in indonesia on wednesday 2 out of 5 policies in problems coalition have distanced themselves from the

demonstrations saying they accept the election results still has a legal option and back just to follow a complaint with the constitutional court but the situation here is hot to read demonstrates as may not be out on the streets on thursday but it doesn't mean they've given up their fight so head on al-jazeera the u.k. separates a crushing defeat and a un vote on the island. by diplomatic stand between canada and the philippines of plaster nearly 6 years could soon be resolved. to weather sponsored by cast time and links. hello again and welcome back to international weather forecast where we have seen plenty of rain this weekend in the beginning of the week and unfortunately that is going to continue over the next few days as well we have some rain some clouds down here towards the southeast we

have a few systems here across eastern europe and what that is doing is particularly in the heating of the afternoon those those areas of moisture really build up those clouds across the region tempters across the interior only into the teens or high teens over here towards isso kiev is going to be arraigned today about $23.00 degrees putting that into motion from thursday to friday notice a little bit a drop in the rain but then it comes back up again across much of the east we are talking by some heavy rain in some locations there but restraints you are 23 degrees also we are going to be seeing some rain down here across the i.b.m. peninsula that means for madrid as well as barcelona where temperatures into the low twenty's where here across the northwestern part of africa we are seeing some clouds pushing through now over the next few days those clouds will mean we see some rain not on thursday but by the time we get towards friday notice all these clouds coming in from the west across the desert areas the mountainous regions as well so for algiers you could be seeing some rain as well but we do expect to see

more rain in the forecast the tunas a 28 degree their day in tripoli at 25 degrees. the west sponsored las i really want to get down to the nitty gritty of the reality where online and how that e-mail sheldon is and that is in france split in our global federation it is really fight to get you for that or if you join us on saturday people are free now they can speak up their mind this is a dialogue everyone has a point it's to talk to us in our live you tube chat and you too can be straight join the clovelly conversation on al-jazeera.

watching al-jazeera let's recap the top stories right now the u.s. is apparently considering plans to send thousands more troops to the middle east to guard against what it says are potential threats from iran the u.s. news agencies are reporting donald trump's national security team will be briefed on thursday. early vote counting in india suggests prime minister to reject modi is on course for a major victory in the world's biggest poll according to the election commission nobody's ruling coalition is off to a bigger than expected 600000000000 ballots are still being tallied. and northwestern syria rebels have launched a counterattack against pro-government forces fighting has been intensifying in their lives province since last month despite a cease fire program by turkey and russia. u.s. president donald trump asked accuse top democrats of tearing the country apart by pursuing investigations into his administration he's refused to comply with congress after the release of

a report into russian interference in the 2016 election separately a judge's ruling may now allow democrats access to trump's financial and business records carefully halkett reports. it was supposed to be a bipartisan meeting with democrats about fixing america's roads bridges and airport but when democrats arrived for the white house meeting on wednesday u.s. president donald trump abruptly ended it just. took a pass it was planned when we got in the room the curtains were closed why trump is upset democrats are accusing him of blocking multiple attempts to investigate him we believe that the president united states is engaged in a cover up and cover up later called reporters to the rose garden to debunk that argument i don't do cover ups on capitol hill for the past few days there have been growing calls by democrats and at least one republican to ready begin impeachment

proceedings against trump in an attempt to remove him from office yes there was. some lawmakers believe the president obstructed justice during the investigation into allegations his 2016 campaign worked with the russian government there has been no collusion and were poor by the u.s. justice department clear trump of any collusion use them again as a legal obligation to be here still just this week trump stopped his former counsel don began from testifying to congress about that investigation and on wednesday new york lawmakers voted to release trump state tax returns to congress trump is also fighting democratic attempts to get his business records from deutsche bank what they've done is abuse this is investigation number 4 the same thing probably 5. and it really started i think pretty much from the time we came down

the escalator in trump tower donald trump argues his democratic opponents have been resisting his presidency since before it even started and continue to back efforts to impeach him but democrats are divided on whether it's even wise to lodge impeachment hearings knowing it could take down trump or help him win support for his reelection kimberly health at al-jazeera the white house and general assembly has demanded that britain give up control of the tigris islands within 6 months or so says it was forced to give up the territory of the indian ocean in exchange for independence as a diplomatic editor james reports the un decision to set back for britain and the us. a humiliating defeat for the u.k. and its ally the us in the un general assembly countries voting overwhelmingly 160 nations in favor of the people who still live on a small group of islands called the shah goss just 4 countries voted on the side of

the u.k. in the us back in the 1960 s. britain did a secret deal with the united states to build this military base on the largest of the shadow silence diego garcia the islanders were forced to leave their homes more than 50 years on earlier this year the international court of justice ruled the u.k.'s actions at the time were illegal in 1968 when rishis gained its independence from britain the share goss was split off from the rest of the country so that the base could be built one would have who. that any country found to be engaged in an ongoing wrongful act by the highest court of the word would hasten to make amends why will you not listen to the international court of justice to the un general assembly and give these islands back to the people they belong to.

the islands around british suffering i want to make that point very clear that's point 1.2 this is a binational such event outline the british government's detailed legal position so i followed up with another questions the principle don't the show because people though have the right on their side the united kingdom sincerely regret the manner in which the cheik are since where we moved from british indian nation territory in the 1960 s. and seventy's the shag also islanders say they'll continue their long protest they say they just want to return to their home we left a paradise we were done. as we were left in the slum of malicious there was no support mechanism the british did not look after us for the people of the shire goss the best hope now probably lies in the unpredictable cauldron that is post the brics it british politics the current u.k.

opposition leader jeremy corbyn says if he's prime minister he will abide by the international consensus and hand the share goes back to its people james 0 of the united nations south african m.p.'s have formally reelected several of my posts as president i am a person took the oath alongside new members of parliament and capetown the african national congress won the general election earlier this month that with a reduced majority i am opposed to will be formally an operator on saturday. back to 6 years of plotting to overthrow zimbabwe's government have appeared in court were arrested on monday at the airport harare when they were coming back from a foreign trip or i'm a tosser has more from the capital. the state says the activists travelled abroad to receive training on how to overthrow zimbabwe's government it also says they were taught how to use small firearms they've been charged with subverting

a constitutional government opposition party officials believe the allegations are false and insist the state is trying to silence voices of dissent. we are no visiting the courts is frequently as we used to do during this time people are still being judged. summary executions are getting on in the streets for dissent. with government officials say the opposition is planning what's being called winter of discontent protests over the economy the government has got a responsibility to was told law and order and the government of the sun as well as the responsibility and the will ensure that. in me. $100.00 destruction of property and there won't be any violence and those who break the law. but. several people were killed during the heavy crackdown on protesters

by security forces in january hundreds were arrested and beaten reports of rape and torture was a protest against a fuel price hike of more than 150 percent for months later prices have again increased. this time for it has gone up by nearly 50 percent that is everything is now more expensive. to transport economists warn it could be that unrest as people become increasingly frustrated. as life becomes more of a struggle every day in zimbabwe human rights workers fear there will be more arrests as the government try to stop protests that insists are being planned by opposition groups al-jazeera. japanese electronics maker panasonic says that has stopped some smartphone related business worthwhile way to comply with the u.s. restrictions earlier britain's vodafone announced their own measures to distance themselves from the chinese tech giant or u.k. chip designer arm says it will suspend all ties last week the u.s.

blacklisted weiwei citing national security concerns family is a contributing writer with the technology publication wired it says weiwei has contingency plans for the short term they're getting out the u.s. blacklist could take some time. the company has been stockpiling ships for at least a year so just it is and to submission of something like this happening it can also develop a lot of its own suckers we're going to as an operating system is even developed so that 7 ships so it can definitely stave off disaster but not having any way to buy more ships once those stockpiles run out you know that could end up being. a massive blow to the company especially outside of china is not really clear to me right now what else to do the company is already opened up its proprietary code to the u.k. intelligence and would do the same to the u.s.

if requested but it's difficult to prove that that an error or a security bug. was an accident as opposed to malice so it can be really difficult to to shake out whether. it has malicious intent or not but laws governing body faith has announced the 2022 world cup tournament in qatar will not be expanded to $48.00 teams usually $32.00 teams take part but in 2017 feet for a decided to include more tames and the competition last year the organizations president john f. and tino said that change could go into effect in 2022 but those plans have now been scrapped since june in 2017 qatar has been under an air sea and land blockade and posed by saudi arabia the u.a.e. bahrain and egypt it's a favor has released a statement saying qatar had always been open to the idea of an expanded tournaments and 2022 but after joint analysis both parties have concluded that due

to the advanced stage of preparations and the need for a detailed assessment of the potential logistical impact on katara more time would be required and a decision could not be taken before the deadline and june it was therefore decided not to further pursue this option james dorsey is a middle east expert with a s. rajaratnam school of international studies in singapore he says people's decision was a foregone conclusion. i think with that we have had months or weeks of basically just cussing hot air and something that was in my mind illusionary with other words god i was willing to play this out it's certainly became clear after kuwait gnomon said that they would not be able to accommodate fish in an expanded world cup. the idea that infantino was putting forward that agreement. to share the world cup with saudi arabia and the u.a.e.

would put an end to the gulf crisis was basically party in the sky got us since 2010 has been preparing for $32.00 team world cup and to expand that by by basically double half of that so going from $32.00 to $48.00 would have been an enormous task in the last stretch towards the other world cup and i think that got a may have been willing to share with with oman and kuwait keep in mind the romance been very helpful to god during the. during this whole gulf crisis in the last 2 years and kuwait is the mediator but there was no way that they could be shared with saudi arabia and the u.a.e. as long as the boycott was in place and the boycott is about much more than the world cup canada spending more than a $1000000.00 to bring dozens of containers and writing rubbish back from the philippines it will mean government says it was shipped illegally in 20132014

mislabeled as plastic cement for recycling sale allen ivan has more from manila. between the period of 20132014 at least 48 container vents containing toxic waste were shipped from canada to the philippines it was discovered by the bureau of customs and has requested that the canadian government take that those shipments back to panda where they actually belong not much has been done since then the spy cases having been filed against the companies involved both here and in canada in 2015 canadian prime minister just introduced says it wasn't legally possible for canada to take that trash back and a few weeks ago president of the beleaguered the terry to ordered and gave a deadline basically to both sides to find a resolution that deadline was in may he threatened to go to war with canada if this was not going to be handled properly and that made deadline was in fact missed

last week the foreign affairs in manila ordered members of the philippine embassy in canada through return to manila and yesterday according to the spokesperson the president of the good of the the president remains visibly upset about what happened and said that the philippine government will now shoulder the cost of returning these toxic waste back to where it came from now according to the canadian government just recently they have announced that they have found a resolution they are going to sign with a local canadian company and all of these stocks equates will be eventually be shipped back to canada by end of june this is been quite an irritant for both sides and with the new commitment of the canadian government to resolve this issue they hope that this tension between the 2 countries will be resolved soon as well.

take a look at the headlines right now on al-jazeera and the recipe is apparently considering . plans to send thousands more troops to the middle east to guard against what it says are potential threats from iran u.s. news agencies are reporting that donald trump's national security team will be briefed on thursday early vote counting in india suggests prime minister narendra modi is on course for a major victory in the world's biggest poll according to the election commission modi's ruling coalition is off to a bigger than expected lead 600000000 ballots are being tallied has more from new delhi according to the election commission and these are still early stages they are trends at the moment that the election commission is keeping the indian public abreast of data suggesting that the beach road in the lead in 292 constituencies that if they win over those 292 constituencies they've won 10 will seats than they did in 2014 and they themselves can then form an absolute

majority is 272 is the magic number that any one policy needs to an upset majority not what the b.g.p. one northwestern syria rebels have launched a counterattack against pro-government forces fighting has been intensifying in a province since last month despite a cease fire brokered by turkey and russia. voters across the e.u. will elect members of the european parliament in the coming days between now and the 26th of may people from 28 nations will choose to represent them the u.k. and the netherlands are the 1st 2 countries to vote. and britain's prime minister theresa may has resisting calls to resign after her latest by exit plan backfired the revised plan included a possible vote on whether to hold a 2nd that referendum once maine's legislation passes the 1st stage football's world governing body feet to has abandoned plans to expand the 2022 world cup tournament in katara to include $48.00 teams usually only $32.00 teams participate

in 2017 if you decide to include more teams so the headlines keep it here the strain mr x. . 0. you're just back from the yemen what was the glimpse of the country that go listen the children are deeply affected because of war we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter just 0. they could be and i had to have a d. and you're in the stream today who will win the new race to the moon with space agencies and private companies are eager to bring humans and their plans for development to the next frontier so do you have any questions about moon exploration well if you do share them with us via twitter or in our live youtube

chat. my name is katie. north carolina state university and you are in the stream. that's 21000 marks 50 years since the united states but the 1st man on the moon space agencies and private companies are calling for a renewed era of lunar exploration in january china became the 1st nation to successfully send a lunar probe to study the far side of the moon and last week the u.s. space agency nasa announced its accelerated timeline to build the 1st lunar orbit outpost and at the 1st woman on the moon by 2024 other nations including india have plans for their own lunar landers that will examine the moon southern pole so what's behind the renewed momentum in bringing humans back to the moon well with us to discuss all of this from st louis missouri ryan watkins she is a research scientist with the planetary science institute and

a member of the advisory board to the aerospace company blue origin from the hague in the netherlands bernard forming a senior scientist at the european space agency also known as and the executive. rector of the international lunar exploration working group and in new york last but not least robin c. mangal a journalist and director of content for supercluster that's a website focused on stories about space so good to have all of you here in the stream thanks for being here so i want to start with this tweet because it really lays it all out here for why we're talking about this topic this is from the johnson space center nasa the u.s. space agency 2024 we are going and we are going to stay have a look at the promotional video behind that idea. is to use a go. at the. trail blazed through the sections of science introduced. today are calling to explore is even greater.

to go farther we must be able to sustain mission of greater distance and duration where he was use the resources we find that our destination. give us overcome radiation isolation gravity and extreme environments like never before these are the challenges we face to push if you're. going to the moon to stay by 2024. to stay kind of ominous but kind of exciting bernard talk to us about what you think is behind this new impetus to get back to the moon and to make that push for lunar exploration. any way to come from the moon. the moon our 8 don't you know it in why do we want to go for good we want to go photos of the moon for peace for science for to go to we want to also

goes it to make business to explode to be so says and inspire you to take it to the kids that would be the future moon locos and start a new renaissance for scuttle to the moon because you are part of an event if you stand so we have a lot of things to do there we are looking to get everybody it would easily start on you for the sundays to follow as an engineer is useful old countries and we want old ages and or discipline because we know because of the years we can be part of this movie ditch 7.5 b.n. people should be involved no you know we we just tend to send some robot was the father of the baby do it i sent to the moon some 10 years ago once we got some of the new maps of the moon we have fun places there where these water this is where they do it because it tonight we can next day so i hear the i do hear the.

voice i love that several things that we're going to delve into today in the show but that 1st the 8th continent of the world so ryan you hear this as a member not his voice what do you make of this this push why are we going to the moon now i would definitely agree with everything that bernard just said i would also add to that we're going not only to stay on the moon to use the resources to explore to learn science we're also going to get to mars so you know people in their community you'll hear them say it's not the moon or mars it's the new manned mars so we're going to the to learn how we can live and work in space in order to go beyond the earth moon system and you know i hearing you say that this reminds me of some of the converse a. since we had as we were preparing for the show which is now in our live chat as well as on twitter i want you to answer this robin if you can sammy saying there's a lot of money put into the space program but the public is never informed on what's going on why not and is there

a way for citizens to find out then we have another tweet from being charlie putting it perhaps a little bit more simply billionaires racing to cash in on the latest space race what do you make of that robin is this about money as much as curiosity and anything else. absolutely. i think that's what's driving the commercial space industry if there wasn't money to be made there wouldn't be any innovation right now and i think that the innovations that we've seen and reusability and what both bill origin and space x. are doing by reducing costs is making this possible in terms of the public knowing about what this space in history is doing we need more space journalists we need more coverage of what's going on we need we need more science communicators we need more stem outreach on the grassroots level so i can there's a lot of things we can do to inform the public and an informed public actually helps the space program because then they write letters to their congressmen or senators they call for space exploration that's

a really important facet of getting funding so let's how do me and i have let's help educate the public right now but. it's only money i mean money. mean to do what you want to do and you want to do to. keep it cool you'll see t.v. going to the people who. look at about science and everybody to do most nice lot in ok events money and maybe we need to get benefits money viewed exposed to be souces but as a society we make progress all together and that's i think that the biggest resources be could do between exploration it's just that we have all of those of the world is that we can inspire you to do the innovate to do seem to be looking at the moon but investing in. 100 s. . so i have to agree with bernard and just say that exploring the moon and building

the architecture to get there and the infrastructure to stay there is like building the internet you're allowing a new platform for new startups new entrepreneurs students and just about anybody who wants to get involved with space exploration. now have that platform to go do so and that's what's important about settling on the moon so i want to get a little geeky right here for the science nerds and our audience and also just for the general public so we know scientifically what it is that we have to explore ryan talk to us about some of the unanswered questions that we still have from the last trip to the moon what is there left that we don't know about what is there left to learn scientifically yeah well we could spend several episodes talking just about that question but kind of some high level things that we haven't answered there's a lot we still don't know about the different types of volcanism on the moon there's a lot we don't know about the impact history the age of different basins which if we can get that kind of information we can know

a lot about the impact history not only of the moon but of earth and the inner solar system and by impact history you mean so what these were asteroids or these for these explosions or these were hits on the moon yeah so yeah asteroids impact in the moon you know over what time frame says that happened had there been spikes in the impact history throughout history throughout the moon's history. you know there's a lot you know there's a recent discoveries of water ice on the moon but we don't know what forms this water's in you know is it you know solid ice beneath the surface is it mixed in with the soil on the moon we don't know and these are just you know a couple of things you know we could hit on topics regarding their lunar atmosphere and the interior of the moon the actual regolith there's just so much we don't actually know and we need to go back to answer all these questions. in years if we send some plants in we made you discoveries the old question. new questions indeed

we stand. the moon but also we found. out again these are. signs of the moon would be key to. just and bit for the so. i'm sorry i'm very busy because this word has come up twice yeah well that is that what i saw when his eyes of the moon is a key and summarize it well but also in the future we are going to take samples. in another state we are going to do science from today scope to observe the beginning of the universe look for extra to a source of edition and also we do science on the moon we bring life to the surface of the moon so yes go ahead go ahead rob and retained your question about blocking as so volcanism on the moon isn't quite the same as what you might think about walking as an on the earth you know there's there's no large volcanoes sitting on the surface spewing lava. and there's not.