are but those killed since monday. also for starvation abductions and looting amnesty international blames me a mass military for ethnic cleansing of regular muslims. and israeli media is reporting that police will recommend prime minister benjamin netanyahu be indicted on corruption charges. plus we travel to one of bulgaria's most polluted towns and look at why the government there still loves coal. welcome to the news hour almost two hundred people have been killed in the past three days in rebel held parts of syria after some of the most intense air strikes fighting and shelling in months thirty four people died on wednesday in eastern guta a rebel enclave on the outskirts of the capital damascus where four hundred thousand people are estimated to be besieged by government forces since twenty thirteen four others died in province which has been the target of recent chemical attacks a government offensive backed by russian air support has been underway there for weeks now russian bombing in the area has been ramped up since the pilot was shot down and killed on saturday both and cuter or supposed to be part of a so-called deescalation zone where fighting and airstrikes were to be scaled back now the attacks take the death toll to at least one hundred eighty four after almost ninety people were killed on tuesday and sixty on monday zehava reports now from beirut in neighboring lebanon. civil defense while interiors look for survivors but instead they're pulling out the dead from the rubble of what was once homes children women men dozens of them have been killed in air strikes that are leveling residential buildings. this man just lost his son. god bless you he says clearly still in a state of shock. it's day three of an intensified military campaign. multiple areas of the rebel held damascus suburb of eastern who are coming under fire people there are saying russian and syrian government aircraft have been carry out one strike after another. people here believe russia is taking revenge after his plane was shot down by the rebels and its pilot was killed it is intense bombardment at least eight hundred people are wounded some of them very seriously and they can't be treated here. there is a lack of medical supplies and doctors eastern huta has been besieged by pro-government forces for years it is both home and the traffic for some four hundred thousand people doctors have put up makeshift health centers but they too are being hit the top of a center is now out of service it was hit by the plane and it was the only medical sense in this town and fifteen thousand people in the united nations is calling for the fighting throughout syria to stop for a month to allow aid deliveries and evacuations of the sick and wounded at least five hundred are in. the enclave just outside the capital has been heavily bombarded since mid december but the past few days have been the worst many believed pro-government forces are pushing for a decisive outcome. they want. not fight them anywhere. ready. to fight. and the north. pole. the northwestern province of idlib which is also under the control of the opposition has been hit by dozens of strikes in recent days there are two residential neighborhoods and hospitals are being targeted. syrian government forces have taken ground in the southern edges of live in recent weeks recapturing . the immediate goals involved securing the north. and lifting the siege on to loyalist towns. in the pro-government forces have been struggling to bring eastern huta under their control for years and now that russia appears to be honing in on rebel areas syria is once again in the midst of a major escalation especially with no progress on the diplomatic site this will only bring more suffering. he says. because of the. terrible situation especially those days. and. the hospital. kind of my doctor that these days that because of. the back. seat media and people. who can imagine some destroyed a hole which is more than the three or four stories being the only in. four hours forty eight hours more than one hundred fifty. c.d.'s they were killed and they were. almost all of the casualties from their homes we hope we can now. those people i think the situation is not easy to imagine and it's that what we see it's. the casualties. and the engine i was being generous. it says. something and disappeared something and need a lot of mitigation of. the support that they're like it's not easy. for more. of the more they need to have. not lost my. life. all turkish forces and their allies the free syrian army say they've captured the town of shaikh sort of on the road to flee a stronghold of the kurdish group the warrior peachey demolish elvis today military camp in syria what he has been training the f.s.a. fighters. prepared for battle five hundred fighters stand to attention listening to their final commands before they head off to the front line these are soldiers from the free syrian army brigade young and old they hail from all parts of syria. most have been fighting since the revolution turned into world war i in the early days the enemy was gone the regime of bashar assad whose army had killed innocent protestors forcing many of its own soldiers to defect inform the free syrian army now however the war in syria is a quagmire of different armies groups and factions some fighting for land and power others for survival a lot of blood there all the same the white p.g. and the assad regime it's the same oppression all of them have killed and tortured our people but. this brigade is being supported by the turkish army who soldiers fight side by side with the f.s.a. in their ongoing offensive in northern syria. it's an attempt to defeat the kurdish militia group the y.p. jeeves which ankara considers to be a terrorist organization responsible for numerous rocket attacks on sort of killed several of its citizens both the tarkus military and the free syrian army are hints on for size the background of these fighters they're made up of kurds fartman and arabs as far as the starkest military is concerned this is a fight against a terrorist organization the y.p. far as these fighters are concerned this is a continuation in their long warm battle for freedom in syria who want to p.g. and its supporters accuse turkey of waging war against them simply because they are kurdish but this fighter from the f.s.a. a kurd himself dismisses that. of the sort the seller son and then of the revolution began kurds demanded freedom but the y.p. g. joined hands with acids army and started attacking the people as kurds were discriminated against by the government and our lands are occupied by the y.p. g. terrorists but god willing we will be free. it's hard to question the commitment of these fighters in their pursuit for freedom their training and readiness however appears to be amateur the vast majority of them have no formal military training most lead simpler more peaceful lives before this war began their commander tells me that while their immediate target is often seen in defeating the why p.g. there it is said in his regime who are their main enemy from their y.b. she and i said are two sides of the same coin like i said they have killed thousands and expelled the people from their homes from assad's army to has been lost fighters to i saw and now the kurdish militia these men have fought countless battles in search of freedom that freedom has remained elusive the only reality they've seen is death and destruction who knows maybe one day this war will end. al-jazeera as northern syria. let's move to asia now where a new amnesty international report says the ethnic cleansing campaign against the roof continues unabated in me and mar the group interviewed nineteen of the thousands of refugees who arrived in bangladesh in december and january fleeing northern rakhine state almost all of them describe her miramar security forces are denying their communities access to fields confiscating their livestock and setting markets on fire it's a campaign amnesty international describes as forced starvation those interviewed say the abduction of girls and young women is commonplace the rights group war disease abductions raise serious concerns about rape and sexual slavery refugees also describe how security forces set up checkpoints along escape routes to bangladesh where they were robbed of their valuables and subjected women to humiliating body searches amnesty concludes that the continued assault on the dignity of the remainder shows that the international response has been weak and ineffective and that the agreed repatriation of refugees from bangladesh to me amar is premature but wells is a senior crisis advisor at amnesty international and the author of the report joins me now from washington d.c. you say in the opening part of your report that shielded by official denials and lies of a concerted effort to deny access to independent investigators mia mars military continues to get away with crimes against humanity we've heard this all before is anybody listening. you know what we've seen is condemnation after condemnation from the international community but there is been a real failure to act to impose real consequences on the me and our military for what is now been more than five months of a campaign of ethnic cleansing and so we think that there needs to be an arms embargo targeted financial sanctions against senior officials in the military who are who have committed this this these horrific human rights violations over the last five months and as you said in the outset this is continuing it is not yet even stopped what makes this report more depressing reading the any of those that have previously been published is that we're hearing the same sorts of stories of the same sorts of conclusions what makes your report any different from those that we've heard before. you know i think in the last couple months the government has said that it's ready to start repatriation the returns and what our report today shows is that the military hasn't even stopped committing horrific human rights violations against the rectangle who remain in northern rakhine state consistently from people who arrived in bangladesh in the last month or two you know we had reports of just as you said of four starvation of people who've been denied access going out to the rice fields who've seen their markets burned or blocked from from access who have watched as humanitarian aid has been severely restricted throughout northern rakhine state all of this is led to a situation in which people are struggling to find food which is forcing these new arrivals to bangladesh you touch on a lot of points when you talk about the food accessibility the problems that people face getting to their fields you also accuse your thora tease and the military of being complicit in the abduction of young women and theft from fleeing rohingya how did you collate that evidence with the exception of speaking to people that have come from that area you have to back it up shortly with some physical facts. you know when you see the in terms of the theft at checkpoints i mean this was from more than a dozen people from different villages who arrived at different times in bangladesh and told the exact same story of how they arrived at this particular checkpoint that separates the dong in the townships and there the soldiers have been separating rango men from women they've been doing body searches in which they take every last dollar check in me and more from from people they've been taking jewelry they've been taking portable solar panels batteries basically anything that someone has a value they've been taking from them such that when people don't arrive at the boat point to leave to bangladesh they have little more than the clothes on their back and this represents really you know the final blow after months of a horrific ethnic cleansing campaign in which we and others have consistently documented widespread killings sexual violence against women and girls and the targeted burning of ring of villages across northern rakhine state before the bill but we'll leave it there but of course we'll continue to follow suite with you with other organizations unfortunately the weeks progress thank you. well still ahead here on the al-jazeera news hour one man sentenced to death and thirty others jailed for lynching a student in pakistan we speak to the victim's family about their quest for justice . and he would warns that every child in yemen need some form of aid to survive. also in sport just two days out from the winter olympics dozens of russian athletes are still fighting for their right to compete. now israeli media say the police will recommend prime minister benyamin netanyahu to be indicted on corruption charges netanyahu and his wife are suspected of receiving illicit gifts from billionaire benefactors including a major hollywood producer he's also alleged to have been involved in a deal with a leading newspaper which would have weakened a rival daily in return for favorable coverage the prime minister denies the allegations and says he's confident the attorney general won't pursue the case if one can set this up date via skype from west jerusalem right mr benjamin has long been all of these accusations he said they are political in nature and he's used various different platforms to talk about how this is a political witch hunt against him now what he's normally done is take to his facebook page those facebook page has been very active of late talking about the operations going on in the west bank but what he's done is say to the israeli public that what is going on with them is a witch hunt against him but more importantly that the attorney general will rule on the rule will rule on the state of the law itself is confident that he can beat anything that's thrown against it let's take a listen to what he had to say. are you. many of you ask what will happen so i want to reassure you they'll be nothing because i know the truth the state of israel is a state of law the law says that the one to determine whether there is evidence against the prime minister is the attorney general and he consults with the state attorney and the state prosecutor recently said in the knesset that about half of the police's recommendations and with nothing what's going to happen next is likely that prime minister benjamin netanyahu will fight any kind of recommendation that the police make against him both publicly in the course of public opinion and if you get legal in any kind of legal case let's see what happens if it's very general decides against the prime minister well the jacobs as a partner with the truman national security project and joins me now from new york via skype good to have you with us live on al-jazeera the prime minister says that he's confident that no prosecution will happen is he too confident no one has ever accused benjamin hanson now of being. lacking confidence he may be a little bit too confident at this point there have been so many investigations into this particular prime minister or all the years that he does have solid ground to stand on in thinking that it's not going to go further than the current years we've seen a recent change in the law just a few weeks ago where the attorney general really has the final say as to whether a prime minister goes to court or not always indicted or not change from the sort of state prosecutors who would have been the attorney general's subordinates how much of a change in policy the change in law is that that actually you might say protects the prime minister it's significant i don't know that it necessarily protects the prime minister that march. as a democracy and very beholden to the laws that exist israel is far from. far from a country that one indicted sitting prime minister done twice already. the change in the law just adds to the idea adds to the fact that there needs to be a very substantial body of evidence against the sitting prime minister to actually have the indictment come through what you do have here in terms of the list of cases that are being investigated one of the newspaper coverage you want to get is right the sub deal even wald. links to a tele called the telecoms minister doesn't live with a close relationship between big business and politicians and how difficult it could be to separate the two well you know israel is no different than any first world country and democracy is the revolving door between the public and the private sector constantly ongoing add to that that israel is a small country and a lot of people know each other maybe related to each other add to that that with the mandatory military service a lot of people have served in the military together creates a very tight and close relationship long going through their lives believe that it is you and the peace kind of please finish. i was going to continue to say that the reality is that it's a part of life in almost any country but the election laws in israel and the election donation laws in israel are extraordinarily tight far tighter than they are in the united states or western europe well it certainly is an interesting developments and i come out of israel will follow that story very closely for the moment the jacobson's joining us from new york thank you. well as many as seven hundred fifty thousand children in the iraqi city of mosul are still struggling to get even the most basic health services the city was retaken from ice a last year but only a handful of hospitals and clinics have resumed operations the u.n. children's agency unicef is asking the world not to forget those all as it asks for seventeen million dollars in rebuilding funds. no children are going the brunt of the conflict in yemen as well even before the war intensified in twenty fifteen yemen was beset by poverty food shortages and poor health services reports. the intensity of the fighting on the ground in yemen is showing no signs of letting up what a saudi led coalition target to the rebels infighting between yemen's political factions has turned city streets into frontlines. after more than three years of war the united nations says the humanitarian crisis here is the worst in the world and its children who are suffering the most at this hospital in western province babies and their mothers are brought here for treatment most suffer from severe malnutrition but with little money and even fewer resources health officials say there isn't much they can do. most of our patients are suffering from malnourishment especially babies who pray speak from their mothers the number of children that are dying is higher than that of matters as we are able to cheat severe cases we also are unable to provide proper nutrition to pregnant women the united nations children's charities says at least five thousand children have been killed or injured since the start of the war that means on average five children lose their lives or are maimed every day the u.n. says more than eleven million children nearly every child in yemen need some form of humanitarian assistance to survive. going war has led to despair of war related epidemics such as cholera which broke out in yemen last year this exacerbated the malnutrition crisis and caused the number of cases to double however we'll never know how bad the situation is because many people cannot make it to hospitals or medical centers. saudi arabia says it has sense nearly a billion dollars worth of aid to yemen and plans to spend another one and a half billion but rights groups accuse the saudi military air campaign of repeatedly striking civilian targets including markets and medical facilities and say the coalition's blockade on ports under who the control has been a major factor in pushing yemen into near starvation whatever the case the war and the humanitarian crisis it's caused is likely to continue for some time. al-jazeera . a court in pakistan has sentenced woman to death and thirty others to prison for the lynching of a student who'd been falsely accused of blasphemy in april hundreds of students trying to michelle khan out of his university dorm in the northern city of burnt down he was beaten before being shown that and his body mutilated to mohai the hospital from islamabad and then did carry them called herring's a high profile marshals on lynching case had sentenced the shooter to a dead while five others were sentenced to twenty five years in prison another twenty five to forty years in prison each and twenty six were acquitted redoubt punishment this was indeed a high profile case and raised by charles holland was wrongfully accused of committing blasphemy the people who perpetrated the attack against him on the university campus included political workers who were injured and even employees of that university across pakistan or send shock waves and there of course would be a sigh of relief when people find out that this was indeed a strong word big and necessary because in the past the country's blasphemy laws have come into controversy some people saying that they have been abused and therefore the court setting a precedent and sending a strong signal was a bit strong we spoke to michelle's family who've been awaiting justice for their son. his family has kept his room the same as it was the day he left home for the last time a reminder of the kind of man he was muscle khan was studying journalism and abdul wali khan university and more done in april last year he was lynched by two hundred fellow students the mob was spurred by rumors that khan had somehow insulted islam. but earlier this year a police investigation found that there was no evidence he ever violated any blasphemy laws police did find that university officials from holland had publicly criticized for corruption and incompetence conspired to make false allegations against him and rallied the mob that killed him he was just only going to sidle the system and you and me and him so i intend to build my toe or diminish when ish these last because if women are these rules in these last comments. and even not will make nice so i think that more and more michelle's will be killed in this war more and more michelle's very essence needed because this is a very easy blame on someone. for his mother losing one child has been so traumatic that she won't let her other children go back to school to afraid of what might happen to them she says when her son's body was brought home he had been so badly beaten she only recognized him from the tips of his fingers and when she kissed him on his toes in the aftermath police were accused of not responding quickly enough to stop the attack and in some cases even facilitating police say they're reassessing their approach to blasphemy cases come i think that's for me or not is a separate issue the man thing is we're going to be even in our people to lower their head again and the person we're coming thinks any kind of a crime so my answer is no they will not know any one particular on their hands and can anyone for committing certain type of crime even in death mush is not safe a police unit guards his grave because of threats from religious hardliners of digging up and burning his body. the final resting place of this young man has become a kind of symbol in this community people with a little more liberal a point of view come here to pay their respects to someone who was beaten to death for thinking a little bit differently. other than that despite the fact that john was innocent of allegations against him in pakistan facts are often ignored in the court of public opinion. i many people here still believe that what happened to him on the day he died was the right thing i seen bus ravi al-jazeera more than. well still ahead here on al-jazeera school shots and villages mts why people stay near the line of control separating india and pakistan in kashmir are living in fear. also why don't trump is facing a backlash over his desire for a military arranged. and in sports a birthday to remember for the cyclist on the divide told tatiana will tell us more in sport. they'll be more trouble on the roads i fear in the us while sister got colder up here and i wonder was being fed up from the sciences only see a line where it joins of usually put a front in there because it's the front of car with and this case is doing just that is bringing the cauldron snyders the northeast corridor rain to the south all gone through is an overnight feature because you wake up with all the gras and contempt is just single figures from new time towards well probably northern georgia lands about thirteen then the next streak of snow is already coming through british columbia and montana and stretching down towards the western plains it misses california altogether but that of course will follow the same sort of pass through northern nebraska to illinois chicago minus two knots a sniper tension here not in the appalachians still looking fine here as. clouds gathering on the gulf shores the showers possible here i think shows of rain even possibly thunderstorms but south of that is still fairly quiet you don't pick up much from the satellite picture a very shallow shower clouds just hitting the coast of nicaragua honduras and possibly costa rica that's true for the next two days that's the right sort of thing for this time year with temps is steadily in the breeze in the middle twenty's for the smaller islands maybe thirty one in kingston jamaica. i am doing this for the benefit of people. so they see the importance of guys. who witness documentaries that open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera. one of the really special things that working for others here is that even as a camera woman i get to have so much empathy and contribution to a story i feel we cover this region better than anyone else working for it is you know it's very challenging liberally particularly because you have a lot of people that are divided on political issues we are we the people we live to tell the real stories are just mended is to deliver in-depth journalism we don't feel inferior to the audience across the globe. welcome back to the al-jazeera news hour i miss a whole robert the reminder of our top news stories almost two hundred people have been killed in the past three days of rebel held parts of syria following an intense air a ground offensive by government forces and their russian allies thirty four people died in the most recent attack on wednesday in eastern cooter their capital damascus four others died in italy province an amnesty international report says the ethnic cleansing campaign against the really good continues unabated to be about refugees who arrive in but that there should be some months i describe exist about a campaign of force starvation. kidnappings and sexual violence. and israeli media is reporting the police will recommend the prime minister benjamin netanyahu be indicted on corruption charges that if yahoo and his wife are suspected of receiving illicit gifts from billionaire benefactors. the u.s. led coalition in syria says it's carried out airstrikes against what it calls pro regime forces it says the bombing was in response to an unprovoked attack on its ally the s.d.f. the main the kurdish estie of controls an area in north eastern syria which borders was held by forces loyal to syrian president bashar al assad a so-called de confliction line is supposed to divide the two well experts in russia are working to identify the origins of the anti aircraft system that shot down a russian war plane in syria last week moscow has blamed identified foreign powers for supplying the weapon to a syrian rebel group rory chalons has more from moscow. well following the downing of the russian jets in syria a few days ago there has clearly been a punitive response from the russian military with numerous air strikes over the last few days but there was there is also detective work going on as well working out essentially who brought this plane out of the sky and how they managed to get their hands on the weaponry allowing them to do so now at the moment the russians are pointing the finger of blame at a group called. in russia or it's still called by want to it's old and names the nusra front and russia believes that it was nasr that controlled the area from which this plane was shot out of the sky and the manpads system a kind of shoulder launched rocket system it insinuates might have been supplied by the united states now russia is trying to get its hands on the wreckage that would have enabled them to work out more definitively who and what's might of downed this plane it's working with turkey to try and get that to happen but i have to say it's a little bit dissatisfied with turkey of the moment and has had a dig at ankara for not being properly able to establish the observation posts in the area there are as russia points out part of its obligations under the start to peace process presumably observation posts in the area would give turkey greats a control of the zone and presumably would also help russia be able to work out who and what brought down its plane. numerous reports indicate that a manned pad was used to bring the russian aircraft down so what is a manpad well it stands for a man that portable air defense system which can be launched from a soldier's shoulder into the air these are generally guided weapons which makes them a threat to low flying planes the federation of american scientists estimates there are as many as half a million such weapons in circulation recently is the head of global risk at the geneva center for security policy told us how syrian rebels may be getting their hands on manpad weapons. froot a black market these weapons can be bowed out of prize ranging from a few hundred to a few thousands of dollars and there were also weapons that were looted in stockpiles in iraq in syria and in libya just in libya it is demitted that fifteen thousand manpads have vanished. among the rebels and there is a possibility that the state has provided the rebels with weapons you have a lot of. alliances and so in the case are free in that you could think. you could think of the united states but most likely . weapon we're built on a black market and we're in the hands of the rebels since a while i'm there is the issue. because this weapons after a certain amount of time degrade and. then there isn't lots of malfunctions stand is the issue of training people and but we have seen instances into past we're at this weapon where use we're also used by our terrorist organization for instance al qaeda affiliated group in two thousand to target and this really jet. planes. so it is indeed a worry of the international community. but you know where people living near the line of control in india administered kashmir say their villages have been destroyed by shells fired by the pakistani army over the last three weeks but it's forced hundreds to leave their homes as victoria can be reports. this is what's left of two hundred sixty one homes in jura from a remote village an indian administered kashmir is less than three hundred metres from the so-called line of control the unofficial buddhist separated regions of kashmir run by india and pakistan people here say the pakistani army shouldn't target civilian areas. a lot of damage has been done we are left with nothing no cattle no food or clothes everything is gone and we just want peace. moving one hundred people have fled the violence there now living in this makeshift camp where resources are scarce. our entire village has been destroyed and it's been a fortnight now since we migrated we are facing immense difficulties we are short of food. others dealing with grief as well as hunger. the shelling started at six thirty in the morning two shells landed inside our house my wife was killed and me and my some were injured the fire hit us inside our home. kashmir has been divided between india and pakistan since one thousand nine hundred forty seven and remains a hotly disputed territory analysts say incidents of cross border firing along the line of control are increasing and there are several reasons for this reductions coming up it's not you know look it may be election year no numbers in sight she want to. live sort of it's my political. not misleading. the shelling has led to the closure of at least eighty four schools impacting a new generation that only have a known hostilities hostilities that threaten the prejudice cease fire implemented fifteen years ago victory gates and be al jazeera. or to africa where the leader of south africa's governing a.n.c. party says he's in direct discussions with president jacob zuma over a possible transition of leadership several room opposer seen here on the right has voted for a speedy resolution and says the talks will be concluded in the coming days for me to miller has more from johannesburg. this certainly is a lot of confusion and uncertainty especially after the national executive meeting which was to discuss jacob zuma is future was cancelled late on tuesday now this is after talks between the president of the and cecil rama porson president jacob zuma now run of course his office has described this discussion as fruitful and constructive and it would appear that the a.n.c. is closer than ever to removing jacob zuma as president we know zuma met with the top six leadership of the party on sunday and reports indicate that at that time had refused to resign but this latest in the. cation from the a.n.c. is a progress has been made since then opposition parties say though i have criticized the a.n.c. leadership saying that is not strong enough to push jacob zuma out there demanding decisive action from the a n c this is a party split between support for jacob zuma and demands for him to step down now so the africans are looking for clarity from a party that throughout these difficulties president zuma has constantly insisted that a solution will come from within the party and nowhere else. now u.s. politicians are pushing back against president old terms requests for a military parade in washington d.c. is unusual request in the u.s. and critics say there are far better ways to spend the money. pools. it's the kind of parade authoritarian leaders have long loved colorful uniforms marching bands and the latest military hardware all on display now u.s. president donald trump wants his own reportedly inspired by the french celebrations he attended last year in paris to mark best steel day. so preparations for a similar grand display in washington are underway we're all aware in this country of the president's affection and respect for the military we've been putting together some option will send them up to the white house for. however such an event is rare in the united states outside of presidential inaugurations the last one was held nearly thirty years ago in washington to mark the end of the first gulf war the president watches one thousand nine hundred sixty one president john f. kennedy held one for his inauguration in washington at the height of the cold war with the soviet union he used it to showcase the u.s. army's first anti-ballistic missiles formal parades may be intermittent but displays of force in the united states have in recent years become more commonplace sporting abets and american independence day often reverberate with the sound of a fighter jet flying overhead but parades are cheap the last u.s. military parade cost more than eight million dollars back in one nine hundred ninety one that's a lot of money translated into today's dollars i see it it's a fantastic waste of money to amuse the president many americans will view allow. active support for a military parade as unpatriotic charge trump is used against athletes protesting racism and police brutality who refused to stand during the national anthem. more recently he had this to say about lawmakers who refused to clap for him at his recent state of the union address un-american somebody is a treasonous i mean just why not the idea of a military parade is yet another example of the political divide that exists in the united states well million see it as nothing more than a flag waving display of patriotism millions more see it as yet another troubling sign of president trump's authoritarian tendencies kimberley health at al-jazeera washington oval garia his finding itself in the spotlight for its less than impressive environmental standards the country relies heavily on coal which flies in the face of europe's drawing for green energy flows the report from western bulgaria welcomes opponent europe's most polluted town the coal fired power station dominates it's owned by one of bulgaria's richest men. panic sits in a valley on a still winter's day the smoke haze sits over the town. it reveals his true color when he wipes off the stuff it has consequences. galina lives here with her family they all have lung problems like others here she assumes life be short in their family and i. rarely. the king count on the fingers the while kim peoples that i can say i'm big can strong and. is really young people the truth is that the people here feel and that i. people who complain about the dust that blows off the slack heaps all the open collars minds which scar the land say fishel them doesn't want to know that told over and over that there is no problem so that big on their own tests to try to prove they're being poisoned. people don't trust the authorities this is this is the definitely the case in bulgaria and we've seen so many times that basically the authorities are providing . replied to the civil demand for information like sorry you don't have the knowledge to interbred the data that will give you the minor restore the colon underground bunkers. elka owns this house above one it's begun to see to the ground you choose refuse compensation by the local authority and the mine and is in the last two months this is some care move this is the family of you having been here miles be careful. come in because i mean the whole house could just collapse into the ground. on every level it appears cole is harming the town campaigners say it's a metaphor for a much wider problem as a political bloc the european union is trying to show its unity and commitment to tackling climate change and defending the paris accords particularly given the hostility of donald trump you do wonder therefore how helpful it is to the e.u. that the current president's is bold garia a country which is indicated that it wants to continue to use coal as its primary power source into the indefinite future. the environment minister who refused to speak to us is a noted meyer of trump and the climate change denier. other voices in government happily defendable gary's love of coal need. shouldn't be any rush to implement restrictions on coal otherwise we will risk the energy balance of europe and it should be discussed at the highest levels of the european council and country should decide for themselves what they want to do. to make things worse for the european union bulgaria has said it will support poland in trying to water down the existing e.u. rules on toxic emissions perhaps the biggest irony is that this country enjoys more than three hundred days of sunshine a year they could heat every home with a solar panel but instead is going the other way entirely laurence li al jazeera panic bulgaria. well. welcome back down north korean athletes have arrived in the south ahead of the winter olympics and chang amid reports that the sister of the north korean leader kim jong il will also attend one of the largest peace time crossings of the korean border and a group of two hundred eighty north koreans travel to the south on wednesday kim jong un sister kim jong il is expected to arrive in pinch angle friday but she's not the only guest causing it to national controversy james bays has more from the united nations. there's been a great deal of attention on the fact that kim jong un's sister is leading north korea's delegation to the winter olympics but the u.n. security council is actually more concerned about another name on the delegation list and that's choi who is a senior north korean party official and chair of the national sports guidance committee but the security council is concerned about him because he appears in one of their resolutions from june last year and he is under sanctions in that resolution for his role as the voice director of the propaganda and agitation department of north korea he's in charge of censorship in effect north korea's censor in chief in fact the resolution says he controls all media in the country and is used by the government to control the public members of the security council will now discuss this issue they've been given twenty four hours if in twenty four hours any of them wishes to object then the sanctions will remain in place otherwise he will be given an exemption and allowed to travel to the winter olympics when it's time for sport that has touched the other. thank you very much two days out from the start of the winter olympics forty seven russians a still fighting for the right to compete herring started on wednesday at the court of arbitration for sport in pyongyang an additional fifteen athletes joined the list of thirty two who appealed a day earlier after being barred by the international olympic committee due to doping claims last week the court had overturned the lifetime in pick bands of twenty eight russians but the i.o.c. thel wouldn't allow them to take part the privilege to be invited requires more than just the absence of a section so we have no right. this way. we want to do justice to all hast needs regardless of their past. the invited the russian housemates and the ambassadors of it you'll generation. they can be the new role models for a change of culture in russian schools. the winter olympics is an event that pits countries with a warm climate at a distinct a disadvantage including australia but one unlikely pair are getting ready to make their debut in p.r. as a home reports. it's one of the boys picture rest sports at a winter olympics yet this is a rare sight and a strong in figure skating joe getting ready for the game. the catarina alexandrescu and holly windsor make an unlikely pairing russian born alexandra was granted a strong lead citizenship just four months ago while winds off from western sydney is set to become the country's first indigenous winter olympian that has really completely sank in yet i feel like a sinking a bit more want to being at the games and actually represented but you know i can i can wear like a badge of honor you know and i hope that i can sort of a role model for other indigenous people move towards winter sports. while many countries hold basically competitive olympic trials to select the biggest skating teams just having an aussie pair on the ice is an achievement of the twelve winter olympic medals ever won by australia only two of them have come on ice and boy team speed skating there are only two thousand established rinks nation wide making for a difficult part to success i wouldn't think it's getting purely by accident my mom and i were driving. on saturday but years old and we took a wrong turn and i saw back to an ice rink so i asked if i could go in and just i went in a skate around the public session and i really like that so i had like the next week and the next week and everything kind of took off and the. wins i had little luck finding the right pairing in australia so when like twenty fifteen travel to moscow in search of a partner that's where he been fifteen year old cat. carli com two brought to us and there was this tall guy. and i was true to his stall he's orks lies. the russian skating federation officially released her and that's been a peasant's twenty sixteen though crowned junior world champions last season securing their place in chang and with russian athletes banned from the games county has even more reason to embrace her new nation i threw a present of stroller because my partner for a lobster in their head. to pyong chang via moscow and sydney a pair proving that there's many ways to the top elites homan al-jazeera. meanwhile a north korean delegation has crossed the land border with the south head of the start of the games the group included two hundred twenty nine members of a state trained chairing group as well as officials journalists and a taekwondo demonstration team north and south korea in a place called walk together under the unification flag at friday's opening ceremony a joint team will also compete in women's hockey. a group of united states senators of called for an investigation into the u.s. and unpick committee and u.s. aged nothe takes in the wake of the sentencing of former team doctor larry nasa nasa is set to spend the rest of his life in prison for abusing young female gym nothingness care over two decades the reprehensible actions of the so-called doctor have been exposed yet there are still so many questions that remain. why was this disgusting man allowed near our young female athletes when there are reports that the usaca leadership knew about the sexual abuse allegations legally does boss alone to travel to valencia on thursday bidding to pick a place in the final of the spanish cup the defending champions have a one zero advantage heading into the second leg of the semifinal in the unbeaten in the last five outings off a lengthier have suffered five straight defeats possible that nest of better there isn't taking anything for granted by a useful should know. if it's a little deficit they are difficult team to beat and they are quick on the counter-attack but as we are leading them after the first leg they will try to be more aggressive now they are told and they will use defense approach to their advantage cricket now and india have become only the second team after australia to win three consecutive one day internationals against south africa and south africa the hosts won the toss and elected to bowl in cape town but were left to ring that decision off to iraq early made one hundred sixty not out as india set a target for three hundred three south africa ended one hundred twenty four runs short of india now have a three no lead in the six match series we're really proud of ourselves as a team but the job is not even half done yet that's the kind of thinking they've all always had and even if you're winning we want to keep about intensity even more than the last game and i think that's been the biggest plus part of the city. we've not been good enough in understanding yes we have game plans but unfortunately they've bowled well enough not to give us the balls to play you know game plan and we've got to come up with different ways of of counting how good they've been you know you've got to be jammed up and say they've just been they've been too good for us they've outplayed us in all departments and finally there were double celebrations for italian cyclists any other vianney on wednesday is the one stage two off the divide on his twenty ninth birthday stage one when adele and get on a vague and carried a four second overall lead into the second stage which still ride as travel one hundred eighty kilometers outside of did by but despite a late surge from the dutchman that the power went to the front inside the final off the kilometer to the oval when he now moves into second place in the standings just two seconds behind granted i can. feel this ball for now. but it's tough going to be watching the avs there are news out with me as a whole rob will have more be able side of the break to stay with us here a lot as a. part. training starts lightly but the pace picks up quickly as these grannies work out a long lifetime of frustration. at eighty five years old intombi sold what trains as hard as anyone and. i feel so good i feel fresh i punch this side and this side like this and like that. i don't like things like soccer because. these ladies are tough and they take their training very seriously you. know you feel a little more confident and feel more energetic you feel more alive. for the nomadic jacka tribe survival is about reaching their destination goals if we don't carry on never be able to go to the top of the storm we follow the mongolian herdsmen on a treacherous migration line the country is dangerous the ice is there as they strive to preserve their traditional way of life here a little bit longer sometimes luser in the dark there with the cold war because of the storm risking it all mongolia at this time on al-jazeera. the united nations is asking for above phone calls and fighting in syria after it stepped up raids killed nearly two hundred people in three days. logs of all rob if you want to.

Related Keywords

Bangladesh , India , Australia , Johannesburg , Gauteng , South Africa , Nebraska , United States , Libya , Russia , California , Pyongyang , P Yongyang Si , North Korea , Ankara , Turkey , Idlib , Syria , France , Netherlands , Italy , Mongolia , Hollywood , Israel , Costa Rica , Moscow , Moskva , Islamabad , Pakistan , Paris , France General , Spain , Cape Town , Western Cape , New York , Jerusalem , Israel General , Yemen , Huta , Ramawt , Saudi Arabia , Bulgaria , Nicaragua , Iraq , Beirut , Beyrouth , Lebanon , West Bank , Montana , Washington , Doha , Ad Daw Ah , Qatar , Damascus , Dimashq , Poland , American , Turkish , Spanish , Russians , Iraqi , Americans , Syrian , Pakistani , Dutchman , Soviet , Russian , French , Israeli , North Koreans , North Korean , Italian , Aussie , Saudi , Al Jazeera , Jacobs Asa , Bashar Al , Bashar Assad , Mia Mars , Jacob Zuma , Charles Holland , Cecil Rama , Holly Windsor , Benjamin Netanyahu , Al Qaeda , Laurence Li Al , Michelle Khan , Benjamin Hanson , Homan Al Jazeera , Ravi Al Jazeera ,