the boat about 200 people have been rescued and more want to get on but this simply no space. in the u.s. says the taliban has agreed to a 7 day reduction in violence which could lead to american troops withdrawing from afghanistan. below i maryam namazie in london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up on the program beijing or does everyone returning to the city to go into quarantine for 14 days as china steps up its war on the coronavirus syrian military helicopter is shot down as fighting displaces thousands more people in adelaide. in a record high temperature is recorded in antarctica is it a one off phenomenon all the tip of the iceberg.

united states says that it's reached a reduction of violence agreement with the taliban which could lead to the withdrawal of american troops from afghanistan a senior administration official told reporters the weeklong act is very specific covers all afghan forces and if successful could lead to a more permanent deal it follows protracted negotiations in doha in a meeting between the u.s. secretary of state and afghan president ashraf ghani at the munich security conference jonah hall is also in munich force explains what we know about the agreement. we don't have a formal announcement date or indeed a time when this 7 day period would come into effect we understand the details are very specific it is to apply nationwide across afghanistan to. roadside bombs

suicide bombs rocket attacks on afghan forces if this period of 7 days passes with a significant reduction of violence within within 10 days talks would be shed yule to start between the afghan government and the taliban directly and other parties on the ground other political parties and so on towards a comprehensive peace agreement including the withdrawal of u.s. forces who've been on the ground in afghanistan to get 19 years now having gone in just after 911 so a hugely significant potentially significant moment of this no official response yet from the afghan government they and others would likely be treating this with some caution they haven't had direct contact with the taliban as yet and frankly the taliban don't have to if it form in this department has also been reaction from the u.n. secretary general the spokesman welcoming the agreement saying that its most important facinelli ends if this were to succeed it would obviously be a notable step in bringing peace to the country. and the dialogues of vital pay is

of is vital to paving forward the constructive intra afghan negotiations on peace i think it's very important. to find ways to reduce the levels of violence in afghanistan is specially the violence that is harming civilians and earlier i spoke to former british ambassador to afghanistan william patey and tell me about the challenges facing this and the shell agreement. so many things could go wrong in a country the size of afghanistan with so many pleasant i don't think the taliban have a very tight command and control structure there are other players around but it certainly is important if it does lead to a reduction in violence it's obviously been seen as a confidence building measure to give it to as part of a white a settlement so. you know i don't think some violence would be a problem in a 7 day period but if there is

a significant reduction in terms of taliban attacks roadside bogs rocket attacks and that would set the scene for more subsides of talks about a comprehensive peace agreement which eventually could oversleep to withdrawal of u.s. troops. also shavar tensely is in washington and joins us now and so shabbas we are hearing from the former ambassador that if this agreement survives and that even develops into a more permanent deal it would possibly mean a with joel of american troops from afghanistan something that would be very attractive to talk about in an election year. not least because president obama ran on bringing all the afghan troops home and failed when he when obama left there were about 8400 troops present drunk and say look the democrats obama they said they would do it i did it because all the democratic presidential candidates currently on the trail are promising to bring the troops home but drunken sailor

these democrats can't be trusted i did it i tell you that you know that's because this is an incredibly unpopular war endless war no military solution so many us military killed and all this 2400 i think is the latest figure not to mention all the thousands of people injured and p.t.s.d. 2 trillion dollars but here's an interesting question we're now getting these reports time magazine says it has seen secret our next is in this document and kind of document which suggests that the initial troop withdrawal if everyone's happy with this period of nonviolence or whatever or acceptable violence or whatever it is the the troops will be drawn down by about 4 and a half 1000 initially. but what will happen is under the nebulous thing that we've always heard about from a barracuda of counter-terrorism a force of about $8600.00 u.s. troops would stay in afghanistan indefinitely fighting counterterrorism they don't

fight the taliban but fighting the afghan war but simply to fight terrorism the taliban deny that as you can imagine the u.s. isn't commenting on it but time magazine says it has 3 sources have confirmed that this is the case which means we're ones with rule not a withdrawal is this going to be an election promise kept and campaigned upon which isn't actually withdrawal at all in fact $8600.00 b. $200.00 more than obama left in in afghanistan so we need to watch that carefully this issue of secret annexes and also the idea of well look if say for example there is a secret out of x. and $8600.00 troops remain in afghanistan what happens when the taliban rank and file and not those negotiating in cata when they know just wait a sec these americans are still here what's going on and then isn't there a chance of complete chaos happening once again or is the thought think it will but by that time the election will be over so these sort of questions rumbling away even as there is optimism that perhaps some sort of political solution has been found yet the initial up to isn't it's there isn't it thank you very much

a happy chance in washington for us. well search china is stepping up its war against the new coronavirus imposing a 14 day south quarantine on anyone returning to beijing and punishment for those who refuse it's also revealed the toll the outbreak has taken on health workers confirming that so far over 700 have been infected 6 have died the world health organization says there's been a rapid falloff in diagnosis in the past 2 weeks there are now more than 48000 lab or treat confirmed chronic virus cases in china and around 16000 clinically confirmed cases in who by province 1381 people have died across china including one in hong kong and then outside china 505 people have been positively diagnosed with the virus 2 people have died one of them in the philippines the other in japan or

w.h.o. is sending more experts to by province to add to the stuff already there and say they are taking a closer look at cases of health care workers contract in the illness rhonda standing is the cases among workers peaked in the 3rd or 4th week of january and there's been a rapid falloff in the number of cases that were occurred in and health workers in the last 2 weeks this may reflect increased levels of training increased levels of protection and also increased levels of awareness remember this is a precursor com expanded very quickly in an unsuspecting health system so we also need to look at how many of those home workers were exposed or knowingly within a clinical environment well the chinese city of wine is entering its 4th week on a lockdown since it was identified as the source of the outbreak journalists are restricted from traveling to the city but al-jazeera has obtained pictures from a resident nearby katrina you reports now from beijing. empty streets and an increasingly empty fridge there are plenty of vegetables but not much meat

for the one family's next meal during the coronavirus lockdown speaking via video call from who day one should told us his family was doing its best not to panic when we go home with this infection liquid all over our bodies and we go out we wear masks we don't know if we go out we come back with a virus stuck our clothes so we this in fact every day he lives in ching mn a city neighboring will hunt the epicenter of the virus outbreak for 3 weeks the family's been ordered to stay indoors movement is increasingly restricted once every 3 days one family members are allowed to leave the house to pick up groceries supplies and a limited shop to stand in lines one meter apart waiting to enter it's been almost a month since one saw his daughters who are staying with relatives in southeast china is that i feel relieved that my wife and daughters are not me who by now we

chat online every day they're doing ok just worry about me the vast majority of confirmed coronavirus cases more than 50000 are in a province. patients have been sharing videos and social media of life inside makeshift hospitals and quarantine centers at least 1700 medical staff are among the infected. elsewhere in china people taking any chances. wanks in hopes leaders will learn their lesson from the outbreak. at the beginning nobody paid enough attention everyone saw it was under control until it was too late. and looks forward to life and a lockdown coming to an end katrina al-jazeera beaching. a syrian army is saying that it has completely secured the last part of

a strategic highway that runs through the last rebel held region highway connects the capital damascus with aleppo and is the main trade route running from the north all the way to the southern border with jordan earlier a syrian government helicopter was shot down in the country's northwest it's not clear who was behind that attack but rebels are claiming that they shot it down reports now from the turkey syria border this is the moment another syrian military helicopter shot down in aleppo province none of its crew survived they were taking part in a military operation to recapture opposition held areas on the outskirts of aleppo city it's the 2nd helicopter downed by rebels in the same area this week. fee's fighting continues in neighboring province it's a critical time for the rebels who are constantly retreating after losing ground.

is their last stronghold if they are defeated here the war will be over and president bashar assad will have regained total control over syria many syrians are continuing to flee their homes this woman has been forced from the countryside of aleppo province she feels abandoned by everyone that is mad i mean it's very cold and no one seems to care about what's happening to us the situation is more than tragic no one is helping look at the people leaving i don't know of any safe area where i can take my family almost 150000 refugees have fled to worse the border with turkey in the last 4 days joining more than a 1000000 forced from their homes since the start of the syrian army's offensive in it live last april. has been forced to flee his village. as well as refugee camps at least 4 times over the last few months.

i recently moved my family to the city had been ish thinking it would be safe far from the fighting then the syrian army stepped up its offensive and we go we packed and left i don't know where to go next i feel like my next move will be towards the unknown. as the humanitarian crisis deepens turkey is deploying more troops into it . and accuses damascus of violating the terms of a cease fire agreement that was 2 years ago between turkey iran and russia the deal established safe zones and implemented a cease fire but violence never stopped the syrian army seems determined to defeat the rebels and continue its advance towards the city of the. that's a red line for turkey it's ramped up its military presence in and has given the syrian army until the end of this month to pull out behind turkish observation post or face a tougher response. on turkey's border with syria. and

then in the past hour there been some reports of a syrian government attack on account for internally displaced people in the northern countryside of social media a video appears to show the aftermath of shelling s. armada it's not clear how many casualties there are. and watching our jazeera live from london more still ahead i think it's time to stop the tweeting a. read criticism from one of president trump's most loyal left talents but is it a risky asset the damage limitation exercise. and virtual reality reunites a mother with her deceased or does it help or harm the bereaved. hello

again and welcome back to your international weather forecast well here across the coast of new south wales we're dealing with a few problems along the coast in terms of storm surge as well as rip currents down here and if you notice out here towards attachment see that is the remnants of a cycle own making its way down here towards the south now it has made landfall anywhere but we do expect to see an impact as we go towards the end of the weekend and it's going to probably be parts of new zealand and this is going to be the south island as we go towards sunday we'll be seeing an increase of winds as we go from saturday night and well into sunday as that area makes its way a little bit more towards the south winds are going to be on the increase and also the rain here particularly down across the south western coast of the south island for auckland though it is going to be a nice day for you are going to attempt to there about $25.00 degrees as we make a way towards parts of asia we do see back to back storms making their way towards japan and with it we're going to see some very heavy rain over the next day saturday is going to be a better day but notice all the very heavy rain coming out of china that's going to

move very quickly maybe towards the northeast as we go towards sunday very heavy rain across much of the region and if you look towards the back parts of the russian maritimes it is going to be snow there for so it is going to be cooler with a temperature of about 0. on counting the cost for the coronavirus and its impact on the gas market spending billions of dollars to save trillions later from new york to chicago so we look at the cost of rising sea level of the oceans warm up divers improve our risk little. congo the gulf on al-jazeera. understand the differences and similarities of cultures across the wound so no matter how you take it we'll bring you the news and current affairs that matter to you.

welcome back a look at headlines now the u.s. is saying it's reached a reduction of violence agreement with the taliban which could lead to the withdrawal of american troops from afghanistan a senior official told reporters the weeklong pact is very specific covers all afghan forces and if successful would lead to a more permanent deal syrian government helicopter has been shot down in the country's northwest state media is reporting that all crew members were killed rebels say they shot it down but syria is blaming turkey for this that china is imposing a 14 day quarantine period for anyone returning to beijing as it steps up the fight against a new coronavirus it's also revealed that more than 700 health workers have been infected and 6 have died since the outbreak began. but in other news u.s.

president donald trump says he has the legal right to interfere in criminal cases after his own attorney general rebuked him in a television interview william barr said trump's criticism of the justice department over the trial of his former advisor roger stone made it impossible to do his job trump said that while bart confirmed he'd never asked him to intervene in any criminal cases he did have the legal right to do so as response came on twitter despite boss saying it was time for the tweeting to stop to have public statements and tweets made about the department about or people in the department or men and women hear about cases pending in the department and about judges before whom we have cases. make it impossible for me to do my job and to assure the courts and the prosecutors in the in the department that

we're doing our work with integrity. when our house correspondent kimberly alcatraz bars remarks may have been part of an orchestrated move to maintain the integrity of the justice department. it's enormously surprising it's very rare public criticism from one of the president's biggest defenders and so that's what makes it so i knew she will because donald trump is a president that while he doesn't offer it he demands loyalty we've seen others in his cabinet who have sort of broken ranks eventually quietly being dismissed sometimes not so quietly the former attorney general jeff sessions also the former chief of staff john kelly so there's a lot of speculation in washington right now about why william barr might be doing this is it to protect his own reputation were simply left to speculate but there is some thinking that perhaps this was coordinated and calculated given the fact that william barr has seen the departure of 4 attorneys from the department of justice that he oversees as

a result of that stone case and whether or not there's concern that more attorneys might leave and what that could do to the integrity of the department the u.s. justice department is dropping a criminal investigation into former senior f.b.i. official andrew mckay who's often been heavily criticized by president trump he will not face charges after a 2 year investigation into allegations he lied about a leak to the media a cave said he was pleased the case was over saying the justice department to too long to clear him the white house has not commented on this now the biggest outbreak of locusts east africa in decades is continuing to sweep through the region swarms of insects have been destroying crops in kenya somalia uganda and tanzania efforts to control the infestation of so far not been effective and there are fears the locusts will multiply even further the u.n. is appealing for help to prevent a food crisis in the region keith cressman is a senior locus for cost of the un's food and agriculture organization he said the

problem is partly been caused by climate change. this can be traced back to 2 specific weather events perhaps associated with climate change the current situation developed about 18 months ago in mid 2018 as a result of a cycle on that brought very heavy rainfall to the arabian peninsula and it was followed by a 2nd cycle about 6 months later so these combinations are cyclers they give very favorable breeding conditions for the locusts that then you know increase exponentially and develop into these very large swarms u.s. scientists say last month was the hottest january globally since temperature records began in $880.00 a record high temperatures also been set in antarctica for the 2nd time in a week the 1st time it hit almost $21.00 degrees celsius causing fears of climate instability in the region or about an manning reports the polar desert

a fine tart is the coldest place on earth but its northern peninsula is among the fastest warming regions in the world brazilian scientists on say more island off the coast of the peninsula say they've never seen a temperature as high in that topped. 20.75 degrees celsius exceeds 20 degrees for the 1st time. the island's temperature is a usually far lower ranging between minus $21.00 and $1.00 degree celsius but scientists warn there's not enough data to predict whether it's just an unusual summer weather event the record appears to be likely associated with what we call a regional fire an event a rapid warming of air coming down a slope or mountain scientists say warming temperatures have course 9 out of 10 places in the region to shrink and we know that the ice sheet is beginning to lose mass that's me means it's noting and it no order is contributing to say the rise

and it's doing that with an external rising right and we expect that to continue to the southwest the same or island is the pine island glacier. their european space agency satellite images show an iceberg breaking off this week it measures more than 300 square kilometers that's almost the size of multi before it shatters into pieces climate scientists mock drinkwater says the daily dot a strain reveals the dramatic pace at which climate is re defining the face of antarctica he's among many scientists who warn global warming could melt ice sheets across the south pole the powers climate accord signed by 100 $96.00 nations in 2015 aimed to limit global warming to one and a half degrees rice by the end of the century but many fear the damage already done maybe irreversible. al-jazeera. reigning english football

champions manchester city have been banned from european competition for 2 years of breaking financial rules set by the european governing body u.a.e. for city are in breach of financial fair play rules designed to force clubs to run as businesses and not be overreliant on owners club is accused of disguising cash injections from abu dhabi owners as legitimate sponsorships they do intend to appeal this decision. that's now speak via skype to martin lipton whose chief sports reporter for the sun newspaper here in the u.k. banned from european competition for 2 seasons how much of a blow is this to manchester city look it's a huge blow to that if you tell you to them. to their status and to the integrity issues because they been effectively found guilty by 2 u.e. for power knows of cheating of lying about their finances in terms of.

you know the potential damage it is immense they said that they're disappointed by this decision though they are not surprised and they also plan to appeal the ruling to the court of arbitration for sport so i guess there is still some possibility even if it's a slim chance that they might avoid a ban. well they will hope so certainly since he will go to the corporation for spoke and plead their case. they argument is that this is in bit of a biased process from minute one a day one that it's been unfair that they've been wrongly targeted they've not been listened to that they have as they say irrefutable evidence of their innocence. but it's a big ask for the cook to put aside a judgment when it's fate of judgment over an investigation unit which is headed by a former builder and foreign minister where the panel who made the final verdict is

of senior law juist from the european core including the portuguese head of it who is a very senior judge at the european court who found charge so will cast go against that when as whom the cobell principle has always backed governing bodies whereby follow the rule book. will communities of action of this nature do you think send a warning shot to other clubs perhaps act as the parents of some so poor people will say 1st of all how of p.s.g. got away with it this is the big issue pierce shares we know are owned by. side the khatami government best poncing q include could salvia wait this is a big question about then they have avoided any sanctions when people like the league achieved have it to pass where madrid barcelona and other clubs in europe

are said that basically city and p.s.g. are 2 sides of the same coin but clearly this proves that no one has alexander chaffin said to me when i asked in march of this year no one is too big to be sanctioned by u.a.e. for fair pay this is proof positive of that thank you very much most inept and. if you could talk to someone you love is now dead what would you say and how would you react will cutting edge technology coupled with the backing of a television station is given a mother in south korea something approximating chance or a challenge reports now on a project that's shopping dividing and in. this. in the 21st century ghosts do exist already. and. after 4 years she can see her again. she can hear her again.

but as hard as she tries django song can't touch her dead daughter now yawn but this is a digital recreation of the go to die from leukemia in 2016 age 7 just pixels in a headset and a voice in some headphones. meeting her daughter's avatar has been a complex and deeply emotional experience for this grieving mother i say to you now your own life should now be 11 years old and it's heartbreaking to see that her time is stopped at the age of 7. but i was so happy to see how that way. the reunion has been made possible by advances in virtual reality is that one thing is what i was another one and then people often think that technology is cold and we decided to participate in this project technology can comfort and warm people's minds when it is used for people in. the south korean studio used photos and her

mother's memories of now yawn and the movements of a child actor. it was filmed in a 2 part documentary for south korean broadcaster n.b.c. called meeting you the film's been a big hit but producers have had to defend themselves against accusations they've emotionally manipulated a distraught family for viewer ratings. and we thought about the ways in which people can make their lost family members if they were to meet what can they talk about what do they want to talk about this is the biggest motivation of this project jang says her last wish was to tell my yarn she loved her and has never forgotten. rory chalons how does iraq. i want to bring you one of the story about indonesia's mount merapi one of the world's most active volcanoes erupting for the 1st time in

a decade volcano shot clouds of ash 2000 meters into the sky covering an area of 10 square kilometers government to set up a 3 kilometer exclusion zone around the crater last major eruption 2010 killed more than $300.00 people there don't appear to be any casualties this time. cricket headlines before we go now the u.s. is saying that it's reached a reduction of violence agreement with the taliban which could possibly lead to the withdrawal of american troops from afghanistan a senior administration official said if the weeklong pact a successful it could lead to a more than a deal it follows protracted negotiations in doha in a meeting between the u.s. secretary of state might on peo the defense secretary mark and afghanistan's president ashraf ghani at the munich security conference china is imposing

a 14 day quarantine period for anyone returning to beijing as it steps up the fight against the corona virus death toll in china is now 1381 with 2 deaths outside the country the outbreak is taking its toll on the health workers more than $7800.00 have been infected and 6 have died the world health organization says that it's taking a closer look at the health care worker cases particularly. understanding is the cases among workers peaked in the 3rd and 4th week of january and there's been a rapid falloff in the number of cases that were occurred in and health workers in the last 2 weeks this may reflect increased levels of training increased levels of protection and also increased levels of awareness remember this outbreak has com expanded very quickly in an unsuspecting health system so we also need to look at how many of those home workers were exposed or knowingly within a clinical environment there are the headlines the syrian government helicopter has

been shot down in the country's northwest state media is reporting that all crew members were killed it's not clear who was behind the attack but rebels are saying they shot it down while syria is blaming turkey. and u.s. president donald trump is said he has the legal right to interfere in criminal cases after his own attorney general rebuked him in a television interview bill barr said trump's criticism of the justice department of the trial of his longtime adviser roger stone made it impossible to do his job trump tweeted that while had confirmed he had never asked him to intervene in any criminal cases he did have the legal right to do just that. counting the cost is the program coming up next looking at the economic impact of the crime virus stay with us for that. a major rival change decreasing conflict libya. since the revolution is a long time to teach. al-jazeera explains the complexities of libya's civil

and potential political solution special come on al-jazeera. around the clock this is counting the cost on al-jazeera look at the world of business and economics this week as the death toll rises the economic cost of the coronavirus is being felt in every market in the world oil prices have tumbled prices have carved we have an exclusive interview with the general secretary of the gas exporting nation. a few $1000000000.00 spent now i'll just save trillions of dollars later from new york. we look at the economic cost of rising sea levels. the oceans warm up the extraordinaire.