kenyan t.v. channels remain on their despite a court order allowing them to reopen. a congressional memo on russian election meddling opens a rift between the white house and the f.b.i. . plus a new shipping route in the arctic what that means for the environment. a lot of states has accused the syrian government of continuing to use chemical weapons against its people and of seeking new ways to deliver them it follows a suspected chlorine gas attack near damascus on thursday which is injured at least three people well the white helmets volunteer rescue group has been posting pictures of the alleged gas attack on twitter under the hash tag suffocating rose in jordan as the latest from washington d.c. . the civil war in syria has not been at the top of the news agenda here in washington for at least several weeks but on thursday the trumpet ministration made known a couple of us serious concerns about the conduct of the war on the part of the government of president bashar al assad first reporters were told in a briefing off camera that they do believe that the syrian government still has a chemical weapons arsenal and did not come clean about the extent of their chemical weapons holdings back during the obama administration when they gave up their weapons in order to not face any sort of u.s. military action for targeting people with chemical weapons during the syrian civil war then here at the state department new allegations about the use of a weapon that technically isn't a weapon but still has very dangerous effects when used against people we are watching very carefully and the united states is an extremely concerned about yet another report of the use of chlorine gas by syria the syrian regime to terrorize innocent civilians in the east good of syria outside of damascus if confirmed the attack is the third reported instance in the past thirty days in east ghouta we take the allegations of chemical weapons use very seriously and are working with our partners on the ground to investigate the reports so beyond raising public awareness about the security situation inside syria the trumpet ministration is trying to see if they can somehow come up with a new way of verifying that the syrian government still does possess chemical weapons there had been an organization known as the joint investigative mechanism which should have been renewed according to the u.s. at the end of december so that it could continue its work trying to clarify what syria is doing and what it's not doing in terms of using chemical weapons russia which is serious close down. like took action and said no we don't want to reauthorize this body so now u.s. officials are trying to figure out if there's a new way of standing up a group that can try to not only gather the evidence of what syria is doing against its own people but use that evidence as a foundation for possibly lobbying potential sanctions against the assad government or charles duelfer was the chief u.s. weapons inspector in iraq in two thousand and three he says it seems little can be done to deter president assad's use of chemical weapons. the united nations had an investigation which was continuing on after that early spring attack and they identified syria as one of the agents and they identified the government as being the person responsible for however that that organization has since ended in the russians have vetoed the continued operation about or so it's a difficult position you know in from pasha role thoughts perspective i mean he's going to be attentive to what's going on in north korea and also what's going on in the lawn he will have noticed that saddam hussein was removed from power after he got rid of his weapons of mass destruction he will have noticed the cut off he is removed from power after he got rid of his weapons of mass destruction so the the dynamic is extremely dangerous right now even if you're most successful in getting rid of the weapons has the united nations inspectors were trying to do you can't erase people's memories that you can't you know cause the bottom is to be taken by the people involved and so these engineers and scientists have been continuing apparently to develop the you know the the munitions of as the artillery shells or the rockets that deliver the chemical agent so you know that is apparently what the united states is claiming they are continuing to pursue presumably with the objective of making it harder to attribute the origin of these of these weapons to the to the regime itself you know as as the you know the syrians have been trying to make the case that well you don't know that we did it it could have been isis the russians have also made that case so the ability to diffuse responsibility maybe their objective strikes have destroyed a hospital built on the twenty meters of rockingham a province of rebel held parts of central syria medical aid groups say they were minor injuries but no casualties the hospital has been attacked three times in the past month but they just try to put it out of sense. the united nations says the syrian government is being more uncooperative than ever before when it comes to delivering aid to besieged areas the humanitarian advise of assyria young egeland also criticized rebel groups for putting up obstacles humanitarian diplomacy seems to be totally impotent we're getting nowhere at the moment the last convoy beseeched area was at the end of november the twenty eighth of november to playschool national beer and it was only for seven thousand two hundred people show through december and through january hasn't been a single convoy of lifesaving relief medical supplies food to any besieged area saudi arabia and the u.a.e. are attempting to end the standoff between government forces and succession is fighters in yemen's port city of aden a southern city was overrun by the u.a.e. that secessionists who took control of the government headquarters on sunday a sort of another new front in yemen's war and prevented much needed aid from reaching civilians saudi and the morality envoys have met both sides urging them to abide by a cease fire. eighteen people have been injured after a minivan hit several pedestrians in the chinese city of shanghai the city's local government says the van was on fire when it mounted the pavement next to people square the victims were taken to hospital and three in a serious condition police are investigating the incident. now three kenyan t.v. stations remain off the air despite a court ordering them to reopen the government closer stations on tuesday after they tried to broadcast a mock inauguration ceremony staged by the opposition leader. catherine sawyer has more from nairobi. lunchtime news at n.t.v. one of three t.v. stations switched off by the communications of far of kenya on tuesday the news bulletin was only available online cutting off millions of iranians nationwide who can't afford the internet. was his why opposition leader right loading the taking an informal oath swearing to be as he called himself the people's president tens of thousands of his supporters rather more gratian a tuesday government wants t.v. stations against providing live coverage because of security reasons the directive was ignored by some the government allowed the event took place so i don't get the sense of what is illegal what is allowed to take place and then it will be. an offense i don't understand the ministers. why they are allowed the event but cannot allow coverage the high court has now ordered the resumption of t.v. services until a challenge to the government ban is had in two weeks the cabinet secretary in charge of security will sit in this office of the president says that tuesday symbolic swearing in of rollo dinka was an attempt to overthrow the government and a threat to national security he say the t.v. stations that were taken off air while facilitating that illegality. police have also arrested the lawyer who presided over the whole thing and have declared the national resistance movement an organized criminal group the opposition coalition started the movement last year to push for electoral reforms through peaceful resistance these opposition leaders say plans to intimidate them won't work really for for a long time to leave this country a new constitution. term the new constitution. we're there with all the freedoms that it entails is earned serious talk. a dentist says he doesn't recognize who is president because he won the presidential election last august they result was invalidated by the supreme court it remains unclear what his next steps will be or even what he states will people's president really means catherine so we are jazeera now ruby kenya more than nine hundred fifty miners in south africa are stuck underground after a storm knocked out power the bitterest gold mine is near the city of vulcan in central freestate sixty five people have already been rescued but power has since been restored in the first left for the miners hasn't brought above ground the white house is expected to release a controversial memo about the way the f.b.i. and the justice department went about the investigation into alleged russian interference in the twenty sixteen presidential election the document apparently claims there was anti trump bias and both departments alan fisher has more from washington d.c. . the memo has dominated talk in washington for days donald trump was even asked about it as he left his state of the union speech tonight right now one hundred. four page memo was written by republicans in the house intelligence committee it alleges a misuse of power by the f.b.i. and justice department under the obama administration while investigating the truck campaign during the u.s. election the f.b.i. issued a real statement arguing that there were important details left out which would fundamentally impact the memos accuracy and the justice department says releasing the document would be extraordinarily reckless. it's the president who must make the ultimate decision to declassify and release but no after a national security review the white house is blanked out some parts of the document and sent it back to the committee it can no be published at any time at a gathering of republicans in west virginia the president made no fresh mention of the memo but afterwards speaking to the media republican leadership defended the idea of its release this family's not indictment of the f.b.i. the department of justice it does not impugn the moeller investigation or the deputy attorney general what it is is the congress's legitimate function of oversight democrats have argued the release of the memo over their own objections are all part of a campaign to undermine the investigation into alleged russian meddling in the presidential election in fact the leading democrat in the house has called on the republican chairman of the intelligence committee devon is to be removed in a letter to speaker paul ryan nancy pelosi says congressman is has abused his position to launch a highly unethical and dangerous cover up campaign for the white house congressman nunez deliberately dishonest actions make him unfit to serve as chairman and he must be removed immediately from this position the leading democrat on the committee says the row doesn't serve the american people the memo is seriously misleading because it omits very material information and has deep factual inaccuracy this knew this was part of the trump transition team and last year recused himself from leaving the russian vest a geisha no he will decide if he will release the memo that he wrote on an inquiry which continues to divide washington and the country alan fischer al-jazeera washington. palestinian president mahmoud abbas is set to deliver a rare address to the u.n. security council later this month israel's ambassador to the u.n. says such a move would put an end to any possibility of future peace talks our diplomatic editor james bays has more with relations between the u.s. and the palestinians already at their lowest point for years the palestinian leader is taking the dramatic step of flying to the united nations this month it means a showdown with the americans and the israelis on the floor of the u.n. security council every month the council meets to discuss the conflict normally ambassadors of israel and of palestine attend but in a deeply unusual move mahmoud abbas will himself be there he's angered by the trumpet ministrations decision to formally recognize jerusalem as israel's capital and to cut a large chunk of its funding to the u.n. agency that provides humanitarian aid to palestinians the last straw was president trump's attack on him last week at davos he said he disrespected vice president mike pence declined to give an audience to when he visited the middle east the decision of the palestinian leader to come to the u.n. it was announced by the incoming president of the security council what do you hope it will achieve having him here in the council chamber. president abbas will come it will be a good thing in that it will be a good thing for the members of the security council to listen to the president himself it will be beneficial for everyone this really ambassador to the united nations danny down on has issued a statement saying that president abbas is completely misreading the situation and harming the prospects for his own people it's not clear at this stage who will attend the security council meeting for israel all the united states james out jazeera the united nations. also to come here now jazeera including pope and senate controversial nor the regulate holocaust speech outrage in israel. twenty eight russian athletes have a lifetime an impact bounce but they've been lifted but cannot compete in the upcoming winter games more states. from a fresh coast to breeze. to watching the sunset on the australian outback. how the weather is looking lousy far to try across parts of the middle east over the next covered i still a little bit of cloud between the black sea and the caspian sea always a chance of quality showers and they could well be wintry in nature but by and large it does look settled seven ice celsius for many hit tehran baku seeing seven or eight we're getting up to around nineteen there in beirut fine in trying him as you go on through friday i think we should hang on to the decent sunshine as we go through sas date with the possibility of want to showers just creeping towards cyprus possible if they want to see showers just around central and southern parts of the red sea over the next few days before much of the arabian peninsula the status quo really twenty two celsius here in doha some of value two for abu dhabi it's about about these two foremost scott and it will stay largely to i still go that team some wind coming in so the possibility of a little lift the dust and sad but i think much to worry about here well as you dry across much of southern africa we could deal with the rain in cape town no sign of that in the forecast durban at around thirty four celsius the showers do gather across northern parts of south africa as we go on through saturday pushing up into zimbabwe much of zimbabwe seeing some rather heavy spells of right central areas of mozambique also wet along with madagascar. the weather sponsored by qatar and peace. the scene for us there on line what is american sign in yemen that peace is possible but not what happens not because the situation is complicated but because no one cares or if you join us on sat there are people that there are choosing between buying medication and eating this is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's an activist just posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. welcome back a quick reminder of the top stories here al-jazeera the united states has accused the syrian government of continuing to use chemical weapons against its people and of finding new ways to use that follows continued and strikes by syrian government forces near damascus on thursday. three t.v. stations in kenya remain off despite a high court ruling against the government shut down the country's top t.v. networks were taken off their own tuesday after the tried to broadcast a mock you know direction ceremony held by opposition leader why no it didn't go. to the white house expected to release a controversial memo rushed on baldwin twenty sixteen presidential election despite objections from the f.b.i. the memo was prepared by republicans in the house intelligence committee the f.b.i. says it's misleading and reveal sensitive information. opponent diplomatic route with israel offered senate approved a bill making it illegal to suggest it was complicit in the holocaust the upper house back the draft legislation despite objections from israel and the us are a force that has more on the developments how it's perceived in israel. in the early hours of thursday morning polish senators voted to pass a bill that israel says is designed to hide the truth about poland's role in the holocaust nazi occupied poland was the second world war site of some of the worst horrors of the holocaust the concentration camp of auschwitz birkenau has become its most potent symbol but poland objects to terms such as polish death camps instead of nazi ones pointing out poles were victims of invasion then occupation is what it is it will grow we are very sad and surprised our fight for the truth for the dignity of poles is perceived and interpreted in this way. the bill would punish without the three years' imprisonment anyone accusing the polish nation of complicity in the extermination of the jews the domestic opponents of the proposed law its terms to prove it had this. sort of public discussion should take place without any obstacles it cannot take place under the supervision of the prosecutor after poland's lower house voted the bill through last friday israel's prime minister called it an attempt to rewrite history demanding the proposed legislation be amended israeli government says it adamantly opposed to this second vote adding that no law can change historical truth and there is support in the israeli parliament the knesset for a bill here to challenge the polish one by offering protection legally to anyone prosecuted for their views on the holocaust overseas and making it illegal to deny complicity in the holocaust as well as the event itself opposition leader ya appeared his great grandmother was killed in poland is one of the law's sponsors if you see the kind of protest the senate is there for hours you know costco weeks important to this bill you understand why is it so important for us to be able to maintain the memory of the holocaust is what really happened during the years of the forty five jews were murdered and poles were held to israel's holocaust memorial yad vashem pays tribute to nearly seven thousand poles who didn't save their jewish neighbors at the height of the holocaust but one of israel's leading scholars on the period says many more poles were complicit and corinth research shows us that many of those jews were killed not because of the german something they were handed to the germans but by poorly citizens by poles who found them to polish government this bill is an effort to stop a defeated occupied nation from being defamed as a partner in the nazi genocide to israelis it seems like an attempt to shield thousands of polish citizens from blame or a force that al-jazeera west jerusalem. well dr william black is a lecturer at university college london he thinks more research into what happens when the war is needed this new law seems to be an attempt basically to limit discussion about what happened in poland during the second world war in the context of the nazi occupation. this is a very complex history you know the roles of paul's in relation to what was going on to the nazis policies towards the jews it's very complicated people you know had . those very different behaviors in that situation in an extreme situation and it's you know it's a topic which is still under research still needs more discussion and it still hasn't it's not something which you know polish society has i think completely comes to terms with you know a lot has happened in poland in terms of coming to terms with what happened during the holocaust and the history of polish jewish relations a lot of good things have happened you know over the last going to twenty five thirty years. and this unfortunately seems to be rolling back a little bit mourners in the democratic republic of congo are calling for the body of a veteran opposition leader to be repatriated from brussels a year after his death they packed the catholic cathedral in kinshasa i remember at the end she said hetty then accuse officials of failing to have his body returned to avoid a funeral service that could turn into a last rally against the president joseph kabila. the french dairy giant block tallis has admitted it may have been selling salmonella tainted baby milk for more than a decade more than twelve million products are recalled last month after it was revealed that thirty eight babies are made ill by formula produce to the factory in western france the company says the same factory may have been responsible for another outbreak in two thousand and five. twenty eight russians have had their lifetime an impact bans overturned by the court of arbitration for sports but the international olympic committee says the decision does not necessarily mean those athletes can compete at the winter olympics which begin next week in south korea chalons has more from moscow sochi gold medalist alexander lead cough silver medalist. gold medalist alexander tretiak of just three of the twenty eight russian athletes who have their olympic doping bans overturned and their results at the last winter olympics in russia four years ago reinstated after their appeals were upheld by the court of arbitration for sport the evidence collected was found to be insufficient to establish that an anti-doping rule violation was committed concerned this does not mean that these twenty eight actually saw the innocence but in their case due to insufficient evidence the held it's a setback for the case built against russia by the international olympic committee and world anti-doping agency. even putin has often said the anti doping allegations against russia are politically motivated even though they are designed to interfere in the upcoming presidential elections well that voice is less than two months away now and so for the kremlin cass's decision is a timely gift. it fits neatly into a picture often painted here certainly one regularly offered by the government and state media of russia as a besieged fortress righteously defending itself against a largely hostile world and russia is now pushing for its previously disgraced sports men and women to be readmitted to the winter olympics starting next week in south korea because just put it in the court of arbitration for sport confirmed athletes are clean and earned the right to take part in the olympics so the russian olympic committee will send a letter to the international olympic committee suggesting they allow athletes to compete in the olympic games despite what russia's sports minister says the international olympic committee notes cass's point a lack of evidence doesn't prove the innocence of those athletes for now the i.o.c. seems reluctant to readmit them to compete in pyongyang the result of the caste decision does not mean that athletes from the group of twenty eight will be invited to the games not being sanctioned does not automatically confer the privilege of an invitation still provided it's not overturned on appeal the caste decision means russia has the legal momentum in a country where sport and politics often march together that's a boon for its athletes and the kremlin will reach allan's how does iran moscow now the maldives top court has ordered the release of king imprisoned politicians including the country's exiled the former president mohamed nasheed was the maldives first democratically elected leader he was jailed on terrorism charges after allegedly flawed trials machine has been living in exile in the u.k. . now as rising temperatures in the arctic melts ice that used to cover the region all year ships are beginning to make their way through waters which were once far too dangerous or impossible well now the recalls the tough shipping rules as traffic increases as part of our series on global trade routes danny alack looks at north america's northwest passage. first it was. immortalized in folk songs poetry and popular history the northwest passage was fascinated canadians for centuries once explorers and adventurers now shipping lines and cruise ship passengers all have sought the northwest passage until two thousand and seven canada's arctic was ice bound all year but rising temperatures are melting sea ice at an alarming rate leaving open water for at least part of each year since then cargo and passenger ships from europe the u.s. canada even china have sailed through here traffic is expected to double by two thousand and twenty the arctic is an incredibly large remote and extreme region it's a hazardous place to navigate at the best of times and the remoteness means that there's no search and rescue capacity located anywhere close to the northwest passage other concerns are environmental and oil spill in these now pristine waters would be devastating to fish and wildlife that local people need for survival the rules governing shipping have to change say experts putting the rules in place that benefit communities and protect wildlife it includes regulations on the discharge of pollutants like grey water and sewage includes phasing out or banning some of the most toxic fuels like heavy fuel oil it it also includes restraints on emissions and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from shipping for thousands of years the indigenous people of the north the in wheat have roamed the ice water and land thanks to land claims agreements they now have a real say in how the northwest passage will be developed as well as tough environmental standards the people of the north are demanding a share of economic benefits and jobs. that may come when international shipping begins using the passage regularly because we don't have or along our coastline. we need. them but their evil. intent and i think. their knowledge and land. temperatures in the north are rising faster than anywhere else now even recreational sailors from far away can come here and find an ice free northwest passage that is alluded so many for so long then your lack al-jazeera cambridge bay in canada's north and for the next story in our series on global trade routes wayne hay went to laos where the government's investing billions of dollars in high speed rail with the help of china to link up with the rest of asia europe and beyond. are time for a quick check of the headlines here this hour the united states has accused the syrian government of continuing to use chemical weapons against its people out of seeking new ways to deliver them and follows a suspected chlorine gas attack in rebel held territory on the outskirts of damascus on thursday well the white helmets volunteer rescue group has been posting pictures of the alleged growing attack on twitter under the hash tag duma suffocating. we are watching very carefully and the united states is extremely concerned about yet another report of the use of chlorine gas by syria the syrian regime to terrorize innocent civilians in the east go to syria outside of damascus if confirmed the attack is the third reported instance in the past thirty days in the east we take the allegations of chemical weapons use very seriously and are working with our partners on the ground to investigate the reports saudi arabia and the united arab emirates are attempting to end the standoff between government forces and secessionist fighters in yemen's port city of aden the southern city was overrun by the secessionists who took control of the government headquarters saudi undemocratic envoys have met with both sides urging them to abide by a cease fire three t.v. stations in kenya remain off the air despite a high court ruling against the government shut down the country's top t.v. networks were taken off air on tuesday after they tried to broadcast a mock inauguration ceremony held by the opposition leader rhino dingo. the white house is expected to release a controversial memo on russia's involvement in the time to sixteen presidential election despite objections from the f.b.i. the memo was prepared by republicans on the house intelligence committee the f.b.i. says it's misleading. mourners in the democratic republic of congo are calling for the body of a veteran opposition leader to be repatriated from brussels a year after his death to the catholic cathedral in kinshasa to remember. many accuse officials offending to have his body returned to avoid a funeral service that could turn into a mass rally against the president joseph kabila. eighteen people have been injured after a minivan hit but restrooms in the chinese city of shanghai the city's local government says the van was on fire when it mounted the pavement police are investigating the incident but initial reports suggest it was an accident. well those were the headlines the news continues on al-jazeera the stream station. facing realities growing up when did you realize that you were living in a special place the so-called secret city getting to the heart of the matter why is activists to live in jail just because she expressed herself hear their story on and talk to al-jazeera at this time. hi i'm sorry ok a little overweight afghanistan's capital kabul has been hit by four major task having almost one hundred fifty people and pushing an already angry population to.