this is news live from berlin the syrian army makes further advances in eastern guta government soldiers have reportedly surrounded the enclave the largest town duma as airstrikes pound the last opposition stronghold near the capital damascus and thousands of civilians remain trapped also on the program. can trade officials from the european union get the block out of upcoming american import tariffs on steel and aluminum or is the e.u. going to counter it with tariffs on u.s. products. and seven years after

a nuclear disaster struck the japanese video fukushima some locals are using sport to lawn they're hoping the twenty twenty olympics will soon put their city on the map for something completely different baseball. and welcome to the program syrian government forces say they have made significant advances into eastern ghouta the army has spent the last three weeks conducting an offensive on the area which is the last major rebel stronghold near the capital damascus the fighting has already claimed the lives of over a thousand people we'll get the latest from our correspondent but first this report . the next strike is never far away in duma.

another victim is rushed to an ambulance. call for. observers say east into tears largest rebel held time is now completely isolated government forces have reportedly cut off the main highway linking it to the town of harasta and to the rest of the besieged enclave meanwhile state television shows the army rolling into the center of misrata. one of the syrian observatory for human rights says assad's forces have night taken this rebel time as the syrian army proclaims major gains opponents and aid groups have accused the regime of using chemical weapons. they used to go to gas and they used. force for and now. i mean in just the city they is there more of more than one hundred fifteen people killed most of them children the government strongly rejects the allegation that. we absolutely denied the existence of any chemical weapons including chlorine gas.

the united nations has condemned the intensity of the government assault. in the last three weeks the shelling and ass trikes have been almost constant monitors say the bombardment has not killed more than a thousand people. correspondent. developments for us from beirut in neighboring lebanon and thanks for taking the time the syrian army says it's advances have divided into several parts the rebel forces are disputing that claim what are you hearing about the situation on the ground. well will be hearing is a city you know is actually quite a strong position a great now and that's actually not surprising the top military the rebels are following it up will they have to sit in a team added with the russian military might the bustle ethel's or they're also

using what we've been hearing that now is that in fact the regime has entered the center that i don't know as an excuse of she claiming but and they haven't once but they are perhaps always stating that if she misses the point because of the bells are also persisting medical bills are also fighting the rebels officially not said that it has a need to know what i'm going to g. neither are you we don't want to completely surrounded by that which he bought we have a search and this march the regime is in these areas and has been the last digits we need is intensively bombing all of these areas and it's just a matter of time before they get in the world as. you mentioned there's been constant shelling and that the rebels are obviously fighting back what kind of resistance are they putting up though. this is really more of a political planetary man because as i mentioned earlier they just do not have the ability to take on the syrian army they just do not have the ability to take on

their actions so less strategy has been more on how to jabber world which other journalists how their actions also while in work around it would pressure on the international community on the ground or the archives they just do not have a single mounds of strength as some say. there is you know as if there was even to go on resisting militarily on the ground they are bound to do that's not a bridging the even looking at with the hopeful arms of the international community can put some sort of pressure on the regime and to leave the us and internationally seen in many ways as in those that are less mature including laws now there was a thousand syrians who were on the ground as i'm speaking of those civilians we've been hearing about the horrific humanitarian situation in the district what more can you tell us about the civilians who remain trapped there. well it isn't a look at as a human there are as its major thousand and thirteen

a single does being under siege by the one thing that does. live follow the last interval evils and get their basic supplies their all to and fuel was the answer grades of the officials after the crossing to be above the possibly a one hundred meter wild luck made last year the stumble over the stars or so also pondering the sea has been absolute but over the last leaves it's a completely and it's complete chaos people are huddled up in there these loons are not only able to get out. they have a look at what the deal aid is like there's not a lot of food supplies it's really just nothing they're not of medicine. so it's quite a nightmare situation of these people and hundreds and thousands of these will sell their porcelain to get out the others are scared that if they do get out that might either be singled out by wishing or they might go into indonesia people refugees

and essentially are like i was just mentioning against us all together so it's a pretty hard situation behind it's one of the thousands of people in dumb allston there are civilians. and child for our many thanks. now to some of the other stories making news around the world british officials say they've identified some two hundred witnesses and a couple hundred pieces of evidence in their probe into the poisoning of a former russian spy and his daughter the two are now in critical but stable condition in hospital. thousands of people have rallied in dublin to demonstrate against a bid to ease ireland's laws on abortion the country is due to hold a referendum by the end of may abortion has long been a dive but this is an issue in the catholic country where a complete ban was only lifted in two thousand and thirteen in cases where the mother's life is at risk the. top trade officials from the european union and japan

have pressed an american trade on void to exempt them from upcoming steel and aluminum tariffs the tariffs are set to go into effect in two weeks the e.u. has said if it can't secure an exemption it will consider tariffs of its own on u.s. products like bourbon whiskey bluejeans and peanut butter. look for allies and keep negotiating for now that's the strategy of europe's trade commission a cecilia maelstrom who put on a show of friendship with the japanese economy minister. japan has also shoplift criticize the u.s. president's traitorous. u.s. envoy robert bly ties it was late for the meeting which was supposed to focus on cheap chinese steel prices but it was chum's tariffs that dominated the talks europe and japan are attempting to obtain an exemption from the duties so far without success still germany's economy minister is pressing her arguments is there the risk it is important that the european commission finds

a way with the americans to prevent a trade war not just for europe's sake but for all affected countries under them but porton. the e.u. has already prepared a list of over two hundred u.s. products that could face retaliatory import taxes but first brussel plans to take the matter to the world trade organization in the hope it might make trump change its mind. obvious cooling it's doubtful whether it will be possible to explain to the u.s. that this will be damaging mostly to themselves we can't forget that a big part of this trade policy has little to do with trade it's a chance for trump to score points against his domestic rivals holes on the home of one gets to point in europe and japan left the meeting empty handed which countries might receive exemptions from the u.s. will require more negotiations now to somalia are millions of people are facing an unprecedented drought due to poor rains for four consecutive seasons repeated

failed harvests have led to widespread malnutrition farming families have abandoned their homes in search of food and aid. the heat sets in early in the morning and dolo in southwest somalia women line up for assistance they've been here for about a year back then the drought was at its worst and the sheepherder families lost their animals as. well but all of them well most of us survive on what relatives give us not everyone has gotten help from the aid group so far. aid organizations seem somewhat overwhelmed with the constant influx of families donor money from germany has secured this project by unicef and the world food programme . workers take care of malnourished children. and mothers are given education on issues like breast feeding for protecting their kids from disease and about nutrition in exchange for registering with the program women get

a card that allows them to receive food. and know they have assistance and livelihood to move through shows. child protection c.d.'s all of that. but droughts are becoming more common and another issue remains the traditional way of life for livestock herders does little to guarantee one's future these days. march eleventh two thousand and eleven that was seven years ago when a magnitude nine earthquake struck off the coast of japan triggering a tsunami that led to the worst nuclear disaster since your noble we all remember the video footage that you can see behind me here surging waters flooded the nearby fukushima power plant resulting in explosions and a meltdown in the reactors and some eighteen thousand people are believed to have perished in the tsunami and tens of thousands of others had to be evacuated from

the region amid the nuclear disaster that followed seven years on the people of fukushima are still trying to move on and a team of talented sportsmen are intent on letting the world know there is more to fukushima and the disaster that devastated the area. the japanese love baseball anyone serious about going pro comes here to fukushima to train but most people don't think of baseball when they hear the name fukushima rather the true thousand and eleven nuclear disaster locals think that's unfair. it is always going to be associated with this accident people may think it's a ghost town and the media too is propagating that image. when questions about possible radiation annoy the curch and the young players here barely mention it players like fifteen year old you know she told she sato who was able to overcome this fear. there was no money there's

also radiation that occurs naturally in the wild. it doesn't always have to be dangerous fukushima was never evacuated after the catastrophe even after increased levels of radiation were recorded around one hundred twenty thousand people remain in the city that's less than half of the population before the nuclear meltdowns from here it's about eighty kilometers to the devastated daiichi nuclear power plant before that fukushima was popular with tourists the city is one of the venues for the tokyo olympic games in twenty twenty baseball has become an olympic sport again at the specific request of japan but who here will not be thinking about radiation it's a kind of thing and. what can we can understand that many people think it's still as bad as it was seven years ago. and that's why the olympics will be a great way to show the world what has happened here and how well people are doing

and along with the locals hope the images of the olympics center around the world will inspire tourists to start coming back radiation levels have decreased in recent years but critics say bringing the olympics to fukushima is overlooking the existing threat. the risk to visitors will be minimal. but just down the route you've got radioactive disaster zones millions of tons of nuclear waste which they will definitely not have dealt with by twenty twenty so yeah this is a propaganda war being fought by the japanese government in its effort to restart nuclear power japan needs some good news out of fukushima and these young baseball players are here to help out with that. there's tackler sailing in the import race and auckland new zealand conditions were lightened by tomato harbor the shifting winds

made for plenty of changes over the course of the one hour race dongfang race team emerged as the winners the crew have now cut the gap on. to just three points. you're watching the. don't forget you can get all the latest on our website any time. thanks for watching the next time. with different languages we fight for different things that's fine but we all stick up for freedom freedom of speech and freedom of press. giving freedom for global news that matters. made for minds. this.