and this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up it's time to put down the weapons why the taliban says it wants to end the bloodshed in afghanistan. a move to redress racial disparity in land ownership in south africa how the government plans to make it work. and white blanket covering breaking down large parts of europe why scientists are saying it's wacky. the first five hour ceasefire on a rebel held on klav in syria has failed to stop the fighting russia's partial truce was planned to allow aid in to get the injured out of eastern near the capital damascus reports. when the bomb stop it was time to see what's left of the home day one of the five hour ceasefire brought comfort to the people trapped in besieged east. there's no food or water they always say there's a ceasefire but they come back in the bomb us the situation is pretty bad prices already high and we did not use money at the shelter. or water and we do not. close to six hundred people have been killed in the latest onslaught hospitals have been hit and medical supplies are running out and suddenly the airplane came towards us my mother screamed get inside the house i told her i will wait for her and the missiles exploded. as jets roared above both sides accused each other of violating the truce even. look this is the truce this is the ceasefire this place had fifty women and fifty children thank god they left before the airstrikes. ordered by the russian president the syrian government had agreed to hold fire but despite the violations moscow is optimistic about its plan. over the specific humanitarian corridor also have been sit through which aid will be delivered and medical evacuation will be carried out in the opposite direction also billions who are willing to leave will be able to leave in full compliance with the un resolution to fall over. a un force says. they can bring out the more than one thousand in urgent medical care but without a consent from all warring sides. and. assistance. aid agencies including the u.n. are frustrated that since saturday words have not translated into action. within a day millions distance and miles distance from recent would in the last unable really. medical supplies that they're desperately needed to bring to people in the area so this iteration is really highly unsatisfactory to say the least there aren't many people in willing to brave the rough at the crossing and even if they wanted to leave it isn't clear where will they go it was the inside is they also shouldn't they will stay there will be protected and there will not be at bat and he might. be able to reach out for them there's not much faith in promises of help in this damascus suburb under siege for the last five years but even the dead are not exempt from destruction of a job made out of the era. of the turkey syria border where the u.s. state department says russia is to blame for much of the recent misery caused by syria's government jordan reports from washington d.c. the state department spokesperson heather nauert tells al-jazeera the situation in the middle east does have a common for destabilizing factor and that is the government of russia russia had said years ago that it would help but help syria get rid of its chemical weapons russia failed to do that the syrian regime was back on its heels years ago who came in and prop them up or russia dead so without russian support syria we believe the united states government believes would not be in the position to attack people the misery that the syrian people are feeling right now is because of its own people its government the government of bashar al assad and also russia. well hillary mann leverett the chief executive of strategic it's a political risk consultancy she's joining us by skype from mclean in virginia thank you very much indeed for being with us we did our expectations stay too high given the fact that this truce was only going to last for five hours. well we we should always have hope but expectations i think are very high too high that the syrian government with the assistance of russia is going to retake eastern and other parts of syria in. a bloodless way it is going to continue to be a very bloody conflict in till the syrian government retakes all of the positions that it should with russian support it will continue to be a very bloody conflict nevertheless it was russia that brought together the u.n. security council meeting that predicated this and then brought in the humanitarian crisis forgive me the humanitarian corridors that doraville these try to set those up it seems as though there is some movement on russia's part to try and make this work but what does this tell us about russian influence in syria given the fact that this truce basically has fallen to bits. well i think the key phrase that you mentioned is to make this work well i think from the russian perspective to make this work and from the syrian government perspective to make this work is to enable the syrian government with russian support to retake eastern so how do they do that how do they do that most effectively they have to they have to in a sense mute international criticism they have to give the international community away to feel good about itself as russia and syria russia back the syrian government to retake eastern as they did with aleppo so i think this is more of a measure to keep the international community at bay as a syrian government takes the territory i think it's nothing more then an attempt to minimize criticism as they can to continue the military option operation until they've retaken the territory well and we're going to see this pos affine the u.s. and iran and all the players in the region. yes i think it will it worked as horrific as it was in aleppo it worked in aleppo and i think you already see notwithstanding the u.s. state department spokeswoman and comments you already see the united states really getting out of the way the united states has more than two thousand troops in syria not one of them is lifting a finger to go anywhere near eastern good to and in addition to that the u.s. commander in the area general of child said today that the u.s. interest in syria is just to combat isis he made no mention of going against the government of bashar assad and he made no mention of helping the civilians and use are good to us so i think when you look at what the united states is actually doing on the ground militarily and what the military u.s. military commanders are saying and doing there they're basically standing aside for russia to work with the syrian government to retake this territory really good to get your thoughts on this hillary mann leverett thank you very much indeed. thank you very much the afghan government says it will set no preconditions for peace negotiations with the taliban and the announcement comes hours after the armed groups said it was willing to talk to the united states to try to end the bloodshed in afghanistan suicide attacks killed close to one hundred fifty people in kabul last month dozens have died in the violence since the taliban was overthrown by u.s. led campaign in two thousand and one the afghan government and the taliban have held the direct talks only once before in twenty fifteen but they broke down almost immediately officials from around twenty five countries the e.u. and nato jus to meet as part of the kobold process in the afghan capital on weapons team president ashraf ghani is expected to map out his peace plan at the conference tony berkeley has more from kabul. well there are two ways of looking at this one that it was an open letter which was basically an accident the omitted certain things or it was deliberate now normally when the taliban issue a letter or a statement they always say that before any direct talks happen the americans have to withdraw militarily they haven't said that this time so if it was a deliberate mission it does suggest a softening of tone from the taliban and that is quite something different it may be for several reasons you mention the conference which is happening in kabul on wednesday it also could be something to do with a statement made by a second assistant secretary of state department for south and asian affairs alice well she said the door was always open for direct talks with the taliban so maybe this is moving things along it could also have something to do with the increased american firepower now in place in afghanistan you know that under president trump the force here american forces going up from eight thousand to fourteen thousand and a month's time there's going to be another thousand combat troops who will be in the front line and that's the first time that will have happened since two thousand and eleven and of course on top of that you've got increased american aerial power that's being brought to bear the american bombs have been falling they say they've been successful they're pushing the taliban back from areas that's not what the taliban say they say they still control up to seventy percent of the rural areas but still there is fire power being brought to bear whatever side is the former deputy u.s. assistant secretary of defense for afghanistan and pakistan he says the increase of u.s. troops is impacting heavily on the taliban. up until then the taliban have been counting on president obama's promise to leave afghanistan and to end the war there by pulling all u.s. troops out this change of direction by the trumpet ministration has told both the taliban and their supporters in pakistan that they can't count on the united states leaving and i think that is one of the major factors that is leading the taliban to look at it to look at talks with new interest i think that his show in both the taliban in pakistan that just waiting out. the fall of the afghan government is not going to work at the same time with the increase in air attacks an increase in u.s. military support for the afghan government is leading to greater battlefield casualties to that for the column and they've responded by cheap shots if you will using suicide bombers to kill civilians in afghan cities but on the ground the situation is starting to tilt against the taliban the head of the army and saddam has been replaced and a shake up of the defense establishment president omar hassan al bashir ordered a series of new senior appointments in the armed forces which he replaces head of security of this month is also announced that more than eighty political prisoners are going to be released south africa's parliament has passed a motion allowing the government to take private land without compensation plans being put forward by the left wing economic freedom fighters party and supported by the ruling a.n.c. south africa's new president said obama opposed has promised to speed up the transfer of land to black people land ownership remains a black a major issue more than two decades after the end of apartheid malcolm webb has more from johannesburg. ever since new and see came to power in nine hundred ninety four politicians have promised land reform and redistribution eight hundred policies and programs to do so but progress has been slow and it still remains that in south africa around three courses a land belongs to the white minority a lot of people say that the reason progress has been so slow is because a lack of political will from the top of the a.n.c. and also allegations of corruption and landry's redistribution but julius malema the leader of the breakaway opposition economic freedom fighters party has been saying that the problem needs to be tackled by changing the constitution to allow the government to expropriate land without compensation and so he made the case to parliament to make to pass a motion to make that constitutional change we must ensure that we restore dignity for our people without compensating there could be not as. our land. to protect these crimes. are to stop crime because those who protect a crime are criminals themselves the motion was part of the significant majority about two hundred forty in favor and about eighty voted against this is because the ruling a.n.c. party voted with the economic freedom fighters in recent years as the a.n.c. popularity is declined the rhetoric has got even tougher on land reform and used to object to expropriation without compensation but this time they joined the staff in a move that will begin the process of constitutional change so by the time that's made it will take months we don't know who will be in power as an election next year we don't know to what extent they will use this policy to bring about radical one change but it's something generally that may be popular with voters but on popular with investors. still ahead on al-jazeera as venezuela's president moves to tighten his grip on power the un's refugee agency warns of a surge in the number of people escaping the economic crisis plus access denied the u.s. president's son in law is reportedly excluded from top secret security briefings. from the neon lights of asia. to the city that never sleeps. and i will go day of active weather coming up a significant frontal systems develop digs in circulation rather tougher your stream well that's the cold front from it's a little run through thunderstorms quite possibly heavy downpours quite possibly once it's all gone through it quietens dad again as i get to says states doesn't quite in shanghai hong kong last a moment twenty five the rain is down to reform just inland from sichuan a good chunk has just been sitting in the sunshine in the twenty's for seems like weeks all and be honest south of this we've had almost three weeks without any rain in singapore but the showers are all fairly close in fact there was one briefly about two three days ago and it looks like a whole lot slowly moving up with the sun so the potential for showers increases in singapore kuala lumpur those not very high so it's more luck you'll see what with just catching the edge of vietnam but more especially through borneo to gleason's born here and then towards java possibly bali more especially sumatra that line is consistent over the next couple of days leaving actually most of the philippines fairly dry a nice light for many i would think now we've seen rain recently moving through afghanistan and iran the cloud is very much there and the forecast suggests it may well start to fall that's running in pakistan. the weather sponsored by qatar and he's. the story of one of the most successful p.r. campaigns in the us. study after study has demonstrated that israeli perspectives dominate american media coverage what part of this case you get through your thick head is hamas a terrorist organization the only thing that you're going to say is what we want to use and if you don't say it when i go let you speak it would be very hard for ordinary americans to know that they're being deceived the occupation of the american mind at this time on al-jazeera. you're watching al-jazeera a reminder of our top stories this hour the first five hour cease fire for the siege suburb of syria's capital damascus has brought a little rust bye to the people there that have been multiple violations and used in both sides blaming each other. afghanistan's government says it will set no preconditions for peace negotiations with the taliban group says it's willing to talk to the united states to try to end the bloodshed. south africa's parliament has passed a motion allowing the government to take private land without compensation you president said obama was a promise to speed up the transport of land to redress disparities in old age. ok let's get more on our top story those attempts to get help to people in east and go to hospitals in the rebel held on klav are struggling to cope with the number of injured especially as their own stuff a caught in the firing line. my name is malik. i've been a nurse in one of his hospitals for five years we had a very tough day at the hospital five days ago as we received so many wounded people after the barbaric shelling of the area. i finished work and left for home all of a sudden about one hundred meters from the hospital i was shocked to receive a bullet wound to my stomach i yelled out in pain and a group of colleagues rushed to help me they took me to the hospital where i was treated at the same period where a few minutes before i'd been treating other wounded people. i spent the night at the hospital and the next morning an aerial raid hit the city everything shook everyone of us forgot about how pain and we tend to the emergency room was that was full of the wounded i left my bed and i went to try and help the wounded i was shocked to see one of the patients was my best friend i tried my best to calm him down as he knew well what had happened to me five days ago. u.s. media say president donald trump's son in law and adviser jotted questioner has lost access to top secure secret security briefings is one of several top aides under scrutiny on the level of information they've been allowed to see alan fischer reports. well the white house will never confirm who has security clearance and it was level well it's confidential secret or top secret but this whole row blew up a couple of weeks ago over there or porter incident no you remember he was an executive secretary to donald trump which essentially meant that every piece of paper that the president saw went across his desk and it was revealed he only had interim security clearance when he faced allegations of supposed to leave us he then resigned and john kelly who is the chief of staff said that he would start a fool skill review of who had full security clearance and interim security clearance it was revealed that in november forty seven people who were very closely with the president only had that interim security clearance and they included don't mcgann white house chief counsel and also say the huckabee saunders who of course is the white house press secretary just in the last we've heard from a spokesman for jerry said he has cooperated fully with the clearance process and will continue to do the job that he has been given by the president john kelly who is the chief of staff has also said that the clearance the jury question has got a lowe's him to do his job not confirming whether or not he has been downgraded as we know is working very closely on the idea of a middle east peace process and also watch very closely on relations between the united states and mexico one final interesting thing is that security clearances well they can be set aside by the president any time he can turn around to anyone at any point including your son in law and senior advisor and say there is something here that i think you need to see and that could carry that top secret branding doesn't really matter it's up to the president to decide who sees what you know as politicians are leveling more accusations against russia saying it's trying to disown discord through the use of social media some members of congress have sent a barbed message to the kremlin by installing a new street sign in the capital patrick ohayon reports from washington d.c. . for the first time my final estimate is coming available on and i show them out the family of slain kremlin critic birthname stop in washington d.c. on the third anniversary of his killing they say to send a message to moscow he will be remembered. it remains a portion of road in his honor in front of the russian embassy more snapshot plaza puts russia on notice notice that the world is watching there was plenty of tough talk from u.s. politicians senator ron johnson tells al-jazeera he believes without a doubt that the russian government interfered in the u.s. election that they are still sowing division on social media to which congress responded by passing sanctions that the president is refusing to implement but the congress seems unlikely to push him while the president accelerated congress will. have to ask president ok i voted for the sanctions and we learned today the u.s. is not fighting back inside her space according to the director of the national security agency the president hasn't authorized him to try and disrupt what's happening we're taking steps but we're probably not doing enough ok so she wants to know and i want to know why the hell no ma'am i didn't say i'm an operational commander ma'am you're asking me a question that's so much bigger than me admiral mike rogers says russia will continue because it hasn't paid a price i put this question to republican senator roger wicker but if you believe they've interfered with the election and that they're still trying to sow discord within social media and the president won't pass sanctions even though he's being investigated for potentially colluding with the russians during the election how does this not seem kind of minor. well i think this is a better step today and you can you could put it in the context of everything that's happening in the world today we are making a statement about a brave man so all the signs are up what is it actually mean well anyone coming into the russian embassy if they look up they'll have to read the. name but as far as writing mallard giving people their address that's still wisconsin avenue the russians are reportedly going to fire back naming an alley by the u.s. embassy in moscow one north america dead end a war of words so far without any consequences. al-jazeera washington. venezuela's leader nicolas maduro has officially registered himself as a candidate for april's presidential election oppositions boycotting the vote and is calling it a farce and those main rivals are either barred from standing against him or they've left the country to avoid detention venezuela's going through an unprecedented recession with widespread shortages of basic goods in medicines all the crisis is fueling mass migration into venezuela's neighboring countries hundreds of thousands of people have gone to colombia many of those are heading south to brazil the head of the u.n.h.c.r. is calling them refugees and says the number is likely to increase. as more. as you can see this is been turned into basically a giant campsite for venezuelans with nowhere else to go after they cross the border from venezuela trying to reach brazil which is where they're at now they don't have anywhere else to go so they come here and this is where they've gathered by the thousands over the last couple of months we've seen men women children everybody trying to escape venezuela and have a better life ok unfussy it's not easy over there in venezuela there is no food we only eat one meal a day at least here we can try to eat three meals a day. it used to be about five hundred venezuelans a day would arrive here in the city of bull beast now that number in the last couple weeks has reached nearly a thousand people a day now there are a total of forty thousand venezuelan refugees here that's ten percent of the entire population of this city now pursuing officials say under no circumstances will they close the border they are welcoming all venezuelans here with open arms because they know that this is a really a humanitarian crisis and that the situation is very bad and everyone here is just looking for a better life and as you can see the people people are running now because a truck has just arrived here bringing some food and so everyone is going to try to grab some of that food it just gives you an idea of how desperate the situation is right now. the brazilian better old government is expected to send the military here in the coming days to start flying some of these refugees to other parts of the country where they can better be helped an egyptian popstar has been sentenced to six months in jail for the joke about the cleanliness of the nile river should he not apologize to offer a video appeared of her laughing with funds in lebanon in august she said drinking water from the nile could give people power sites judges accused of spreading fake news she's free on bail pending an appeal. me in my eyes defended its military operation against the range of people its minister of international cooperation with speaking at the un human rights council in geneva since august almost seven hundred thousand fled violence in me amman and taken refuge in bangladesh iraq and if you issue is not a religious one i repeat it is not a religious one but a political and economic challenge involving migration competition over limited resources already and the rule of law it does reasonably evolved from community conflict into the issues of national security and terrorism it has never been a case of religious discrimination all conflict between the two different feet and majority of muslims are residing peacefully and how many actually in the remaining but of this multi religious country according germany's a pastor willing to allow the cities to ban older diesel cars the measures have been imposed to tackle air pollution environmental campaigners have sued dozens of german cities arguing they have a duty to protect health the decision could have major implications for car makers in germany which is europe's largest car market some parts of britain are said to be colder than the arctic circle this week is due to a freak winter storm which is also hitting much of europe scientists say manmade global warming is a likely cause he's barking reports this is what many people across the u.k. woke up to roads blocked public transport come stalled and schools closed fun for some misery for others. in croatia the army were drafted in to rescue people trapped in their houses but as fast as the snow was cleared more quickly fell. and then the italian capital romans experienced the first snow in sixty is to pass a can into a battleground. cold weather in winter is hardly surprising but what's unsettling scientists is that europe is currently colder than the arctic a freak warming around the north pole is sending a blast of arctic cold across the continent whether experts say manmade global warming is to blame in the one nine hundred seventy s. climate scientists came up with a theory for the war in the arctic the colder the european continent they even gave him an anagram w a warmer arctic sea sea colder continent or as the scientists prefer to call it wacky people here in southeast england maybe surprised by this unusual or wacky weather but it could in the future be the shape of things to come on the norwegian archipelago speil barden the high arctic scientists have recorded temperatures thirteen degrees centigrade above average sea ice is for treating exposing warmer water below and releasing more heat into the atmosphere and while arctic temperatures increase the wacky weather continues to leave europe out in the cold. al-jazeera in kent southeast england. this is al jazeera these are the top stories the first five hour cease fire for the besieged suburb of syria's capital damascus has brought a little rest fights to the people there that have been multiple violations and he said a hotel with both sides are blaming each other. afghanistan's government says little sets no preconditions for peace negotiations with the taliban down group says it's willing to talk to the united states to try to end the bloodshed south africa's parliament has passed a motion allowing the government to take private land without compensation a new president said obama pose a promise to speed up the transfer of land to redress disparities in ownership the head of the army in sudan has been replaced in a shake up of the defense establishment president obama husain al bashir ordered a series of new senior report mints in the armed forces replaced as head of security earlier this month is also announced that more than eighty political prisoners will be released venezuela's leader nicolas maduro has officially registered himself as a candidate for april's presidential election the opposition's boycotting the vote and calling it a farce but due to his main rivals are either barred from standing against him all they've left the country to avoid detention venezuela is going through an unprecedented recession with widespread shortages of basic goods and medicines accordant germany has passed a ruling to allow cities to ban older diesel cars the measures have been imposed to tackle air pollution environmental campaigners have sued to dozens of german cities arguing they have a duty to protect health the decision could have major implications for car makers in germany which is europe's largest car market. us media reporting the president's close advisor and son in law is out of has had a security clearance downgraded another white house aides without the approved clearance will no longer get top level briefings an egyptian pop star has been sentenced to six months in jail for a joke about the klan and s. of the nile river the wahabi apologized after a video appeared of her laughing with fans in lebanon in august she said drinking water from the nile could give people parasites judges have accused her of spreading fake news she's free on bail pending an appeal those are the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after inside story life and. the taxi in question israel for the holiest in christianity of the church of the holy city. has closed schools is a tax dispute is the reason for the old us president to protest or is it because the christian presence in the holy city is nuts and this is inside story.