in myanmar a new investigation reveals that hundreds of all injured villages have been massacred and buried in five mass graves genocide ickes ations against the military are intensifying question is will this prompt the international community to intervene also on the grid defiance from palestinian group hamas after its leader is designated a global terrorist by the trumpet ministration this means any assets his might only ask in the u.s. and off rosen and he can travel there or take a look at who else has been on the u.s. terror list and how useful it really is and a russia is after these are feeling vindicated twenty eight have had their lifetime a lengthy battle lifted a week out from the winter olympic games but will they be able to compete in china we'll also explore the impact that decision might have on the fight against doping . and to kenya's government is accused of a media crackdown offer a mock interview race of by the opposition i'm ahead of a home that's next they'll start to show you. the hash tag eighty was great and the and with the news great live on air in streaming online for you tube facebook live and at al-jazeera dot com thank you for joining us what's in a word the word in this case genocide well it's a term that could raise distaste for the international community to demand accountability from myanmar the u.n. official reporting on the human rights situation in the country has said violence against their will hinge on minority bad as a whole long genocide the comments from young lead come as new evidence has emerged of a massacre of range of muslims the video released by the associated press news agency appears to show the bodies of half buried men after an attack on their village in august last year locals told the associated press that up to four hundred people may have been killed now on mars government has often denied that any massacre being committed so far only one mass grave which it said contained the bodies of ten terrorists journalists and human rights monitors have heard stories of mass graves for some time now and many videos have been shed claiming to show killing fields but without metadata like timestamps or location information it can be hard to verify those caves well earlier we spoke to associated press journalist fausta clue who told us how his team verified the footage. we found a guy named mohammed. who worked at the kiosk in one of the camps and he had the original cell phone memory card that he had taken in myanmar and he wrapped it up with plastic and tied it to his thigh you know and walked through these checkpoints and into bangladesh without it getting taken so we had the original footage of these graves now to verify and we asked him in numerable questions about what was in these videos how he knew what was in the videos where he was when he took them and then we went to nearly two dozen other people from the village separately to ask them similar questions about those videos and you know pretty much everyone agreed it was good up here and everyone recognized you know things as granular as the placement of banana trees or you know where rice paddies were in relation to you know trees the background of various hills so we felt pretty confident that these videos were authentic we have the actual memory card with the time stamp showing the date that it was taken at the time and then we have the corroborating evidence from the people there lots of videos including of a good option but without the time stamp they just have much less weight. well myanmar's range of muslims have been described as one of the world's most persecuted minorities around six hundred eighty eight thousand of them have fled across the border to bangladesh since august when the latest military offensive began in rakhine state they say they're fleeing a crackdown by myanmar's military but the military says its operations are only targeting on groups bangladesh and myanmar have reached a deal to voluntarily repatch. but implementation has been delayed and the u.n. says not enough is being done to guarantee the safety of those who return now here's what the un special rapporteur on human rights in myanmar said after the netas reports of mass killings i would think that these are these are part of the hallmarks of a genocide and we have too many first me among his people and the democratic transition to the future i think me and my needs to get rid of this baggage of digital you or did you not and if. if proven they did and there has to be responsibility and accountability. well i want to bring in john june to the news grade has been covering the range of crisis and has traveled to myanmar bangladesh at the border there extensively over the last few months first of all you know in the past few months we've heard a lot about the ethnic cleansing from human rights organizations from the u.n. envoy as well as the. human rights council of the united nations now we're hearing the genocide being used what are the implications what's the significance of this to not being used in addition to ethnic cleansing and what are the implications of a fully as quite significant first let's talk about the difference between ethnic cleansing and genocide because these are two terms that are often confused often used interchangeably and they shouldn't be genocide is the greatest humanitarian crime there is it is the intent to eradicate an entire group or ethnicity of people ethnic cleansing though that is just the expulsion of a group of people and is not considered an international crime so that really shows you how much the stakes are raised when you an official start using terms like genocide now as you said for months we heard many governments we heard many officials and especially u.n. people refer to what was going on against the revenge of by the me and more army as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing n.g.o.s on the ground in bangladesh who had also been to me and more had said for a while that there were indications through their research that perhaps a genocide was being perpetrated but in order for a genocide to be declared that's a legal mechanism that has to go through the u.n. it must be referred to the international criminal court that referral must come from the u.n. security council so it's very difficult to do it's very hard to prove but the fact you heard the u.n. special repertoire today say that this bears the hallmark of genocide the fact that in december the u.n. high commissioner for human rights said that there were indications that perhaps a genocide was being perpetrated that indicates to me and to many other rights activists i was speaking with today that perhaps more international pressure is now being put on. myanmar a comment here from one of our viewers on facebook says the united nations is still silent on this issue but concrete what can they do on this crisis how are they going to intervene if they do end up accepting integrating that genocide is being committed in myanmar this is a very good question nobody really knows right now this is uncharted territory you heard many times that the international community must do more in order to try to stop this now i can tell you that when i was in bangladesh on the border with me and more that the row hinder refugees that i was speaking with were convinced that in fact a genocide was being perpetrated against them they said that the international community must do more that they must be protected now we spoke to many many people who said they suffered horrible atrocities one boy in particular he's eighteen he said that he and his brothers had been rounded up and shot we heard these kinds of accounts day after day of men in villages in iraq i say being rounded up and shot bodies being disposed of mass rapes happening mass killings executions just horrific tales here's one particular story we heard when we were in bangladesh. despite the relief his family tries to provide eighteen year old or hindu a refugee mohammed to hussen is still haunted for a while his mother and siblings try to give him a brief respite from the extreme heat and humidity but no matter how much medicine is given or the number of bandages applied his scars both physical and psychological will remain. if they took it out from a home and to hands behind our backs they pulled us along the roads and kicked as they pulled us through the village through the jungle and took us to join another group of people they made as lie down on top of one another mohammed will says when soldiers from in mars' army began shooting at them he was hit twice in the back. at first he pretended to be dead. when i open my eyes to see if they left or not when i opened my eyes they saw me and shot me here two of his brothers were killed in the army's attack on mano village in rakhine state on august twenty seventh mohammed who was convinced he also would not survive. i thought i would die so i prayed i thought to myself i'm not going to see my relatives anymore. harrowing tales as we've heard. there is now talk of free patry aiding sending back some of these refugees to me and ma myanmar in bangladesh have reached an agreement for repatriation hasn't been implemented yet but can it really happen right now where does this all leave this idea this agreement of repatriation from the beginning when this repatriation deal was first announced until now there have been far more questions about it than answers really when the governments i'm in more and or bangladesh have spoken about it it's been done very vaguely and because of that the international community has been very concerned about the outlines of the deal the u.n. has been especially critical saying that you cannot have a repatriation deal while you still have u.n. officials that are not allowed to go into myanmar to go into iraq and stay to try to ensure that there is a mechanism by which these people who have suffered so much will actually be protected they won't be further abused by the time they get back to me and more every single refugee we spoke with in bangladesh we asked them if they wanted to return even the ones who wanted eventually to go home said they feared that if they go back now that they will be slaughtered this was a very palpable fear this is something we heard from everybody it was a common theme throughout the entirety of the trip when we were reporting from there and the reason for that is because the kinds of atrocities we heard about from these people this was suffering and trauma and pain on a scale so massive that even when you were there talking to them it was hard to get your head around to really fathom this kind of thing could happen in this day and age thank you so much mohammed for sharing your experience with us and mohammed you know has done some great compelling reporting on the road refugee crisis you can watch some of his reports on our web site al-jazeera dot com and there's one in particular that is absolutely hairy the story of a young mother who had to watch her baby thrown into a fire by soldiers absolutely heartbreaking stories and i also want to point you to this very good documentary by our colleagues at one o one east what does the future hold for there will hinge in bangladesh one of the walls poorest countries to find it just click on the documentary stab on al-jazeera dot com and then one to one east. and we've been getting a lot of comments already on this story our top story today on the news great one here from a duel on facebook says how much proof does the international community need it's a genocide where both the army and some extremist are engaged thank you for your comment and you can keep your comments coming on the story and others were covering on the news great today by reaching out reaching out to us on social media don't forget to use the hash tag news great and all the other ways to get in touch on the bottom right of your screen right now onto other world news now and palestinian group hamas says u.s. sanctions against its political leader will not stop it from resisting israeli occupation washington has designated is made a global terrorist and he had called for an uprising or an intifada against israel after u.s. president donald trump's decision to recognize jerusalem as israel's capital and mosses deputy foreign minister guys the hamas has told on to syria a sign for palestinians to change or time ticks. we have experience of war done thirty years where the bush administration obama administration a clinton or administration more than a twenty four years and i think we got the big zero from the american as media that i think this is a big lesson for the present our best to understand and to open his wise that american they are not honest and they are not accepted by the policy not do just only put the glasses of israel they just believe in the right of israel in existence security prosperity then never believe in the palestinian national or so i think now we have to change our strategy we have to a first of all i think our ability now is to go back to the national unity the policy reconsideration in order to have one start to you when one vision and after that i think we can we can find different honest mediators who can help the policy in us but i think we should ignore and we should exclude americans we should know that they are god because of the think i think because they have just one ball to support take a patient and to supply their compassion with money with power with weapons and we have to slog this again because i think we are fed up for this game for twenty four years it should be stopped i let speak to al jazeera as imran khan in our west jerusalem bureau a man considering the recent moves by the trump administration you know the recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital and so on what impact is this latest decision likely to have on the ground. well what you're hearing a lot more from politicians on all sides of the palestinian factions is that the u.s. is no longer an honest peace broker that it's picked the side and it's picked the side of israel now you used to hear that kind of language in private they were very careful about the kind of words they would use in public when it came to the americans because clearly they the americans were involved in the peace process that's no longer the case that's really the key difference that's come to place since trump has taken over and since he's had this policy in place how much like you heard ghazi hamad say it's very dismissive of everything that the u.s. is doing they say that this is about us internal politics is not really anything to do with them it doesn't make any difference them very dismissive of all of this but you also hear now that we need to reconcile all of the palestinian factions in gaza and it said in his. sound bite that you just heard that reconciliation is key however islamic jihad and hamas members of the palestine liberation organization that's a key problem for mahmoud abbas who wants to try and bring people together so the palestinian factions now really need to get together formulate a new strategy and that's really the kind of language that you're going to be hearing more and more we need a new strategy thank you very much for that i'm running run come live for us in west jerusalem as many it was put on the u.s. department of state's watch list by executive order and labeled a specific designated global terrorist and those on the list face a travel ban the u.s. assets are frozen american companies cannot do business with them and they can be brought to trial in the u.s. the state department designation also put same on the f.b.i.'s terrorist screening database which is a consolidated list of all government watch lists for a known or suspected terrorists as of twenty sixteen there were one million people on that list many political organizations and leaders have been on a u.s. terror list in the past. gays including the late palestinian president yasser arafat the lebanese shia group hezbollah and south africa's anti-apartheid icon nelson mandela and the african national congress yasser arafat only got off the list when he recognized the state of israel mandela was only removed in two thousand and eight even is after he was freed from prison and became south africa's first black president speak to glen call who's a former deputy national intelligence officer for trans national threats at the cia he's five skype from boston thank you very much for your time so the u.s. state department accuses hamas of being involved in attacks that have resulted in the killing of seventeen americans since the group was founded it is my enemy is a global terrorist as the american say why don't they issue an arrest warrant for him with interpol for instance but as a good question i think that the. the terrorist list is first that a political. gesture and statement and and positioning by the u.s. before it is one of. operational relevance to directly anyway to the cia or the f.b.i. or law enforcement authorities this is aligning or increasing the pressure politically a little bit by the united states on me and on a mosque and clearly it's part of the closer alive meant by the trump of ministration of u.s. positions with those that israel wants why there is not a warrant. i think one shouldn't expect a perfect coherency from multiple bureaucracies acting sound changed so first this is a state department and white house step and it does make life a little more or a bit more difficult for the individual targeted and. right. was also on this list as was nelson mandela as we mentioned mandela in fact was on it until two thousand and eight which was a bit embarrassing for the americans at the time geopolitics change as we've seen with apartheid in south africa how useful is this list and does it keep up with the pace of the threat realities we're currently facing. well you touch upon one of the problems in this kind of list in the u.s. is that once on the list it becomes difficult to get off it take its takes a formal. education process i believe by the state department that then is to be approved by congress and the white house so it's a slow moving process that is always subject to the political disagreements of which there will always be political disagreements among the political factions in the united states governing process so this is why mandela many years after he was recognized as one of the great figures of the century actually by the united states remained formally on the list to say changes things for for honey in the u.s. but beyond the u.s. does it have an impact on on him elsewhere and could the u.s. ask the ration with other countries you know if they wanted to have any respite for instance. it can have consequences practical consequences out side of the united states yes because a foreign entity and i use the vague word because that could be an individual or an organization or a government that or a bank in particular i think that has dealings with any and may have problems with the u.s. going forward so that at the least if a foreign bank or individual is aware and intelligent and they are they will have to think a bit more closely about associating with honey and hamas so it does make it harder certainly because although the u.s. is clearly in some chaos and turmoil with our foreign policies and domestic issues now nonetheless we remain the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room and one has to think twice before crossing the u.s. even if the u.s. policy is contested so it will have some effect ok thank you so much for speaking to us and sherry no inside game call from intelligence officer joining us from boston and there's a very good opinion piece on al-jazeera dot com on the u.s. terror lists and their effectiveness at base a bit but still very relevant smalley mccoskey argues that the list of states wants or of terrorism for instance is not sustainable in the lightning fast environment of modern terrorism that is an arbitrary list that is no longer useful reader a piece on our website at al jazeera dot com. now some breaking news to tell you about on the news grid and it's out of south africa where a mining company says nine hundred fifty of its workers stuck underground after a storm knocked up power sixty four people have already been rescued we understand as get more from correspondent and producer in south africa. who joins us on the line from johannesburg what more do we know about this incident. well that you know fully is that an official thing that they're working really hard to get the advantage of ketosis instead being provided with. what happened was that last night we had a big storm and it not our power and this prevented to even shift workers from accepting the mine and still you know these mining accidents legacies are not prevalent in south africa hasn't been a privilege in south africa for a while the last big one was in between two steps peeing wasted in the five people or miners who were injured and three unfortunately lost be alive thank you so much for that our producer on the line there from south africa where as we've said some nine hundred minus are reported stuck on the ground in three states south africa will keep a close eye on this story and bring you more information as it becomes available staying in africa this time in kenya the high court there are suspended a government shutdown of three private t.v. channels that was prompted by the coverage of opposition leader right now dingell's south proclaims presidential inauguration citizen n.t.v. and k.t. n.t.v. were taken off the air by authorities on tuesday over plans to cover the ceremony at nairobi's who park the government called a symbolic swearing in a well choreographed attempt to subvert overthrow president hu kenyatta and said that broadcasting the event amounted to a serious breach of security several media groups and civil society organizations have described the move as a sad moment for media freedom in kenya kenyan media have been caught up in a bitter and deepening political crisis over the recent presidential election it began in august last year when longtime opposition leader ryan claimed to have won the presidential vote but the electoral commission declared incumbent president who can be out of the win a challenge the results and the supreme court agreed with him cancelling the vote over what it called irregularities the court ordered a new vote in october which can. one boycott about polls citing a lack of electoral reforms who are kenyatta was then sworn in as president of kenya in november come on this says speak to abdulai how lackies east africa researcher for amnesty international he previously worked as a journalist in kenya and as documented the conduct of the recent election extensively his rise caught from nairobi thank you for your time first of all what's your reaction to this court's decision today do you think this is going to be a lasting reprieve for kenyan media yes it is i mean it's also a demonstration that the cold steel remains one of the last twenty years when it comes to protecting civil political rights in kenya however we have to be cautiously optimistic because this is we've seen in the recent past this administration disregarding all orders but he's a very private again and media talk to us about some of the challenges the media has faced the restrictions and limitations perhaps have faced when covering this political crisis. i think one of the things that we need to be in mind is that the kenyan media have played a fundamental role in the expansion of the civil political space that kenyans have enjoyed comparatively in the region but these administration has been very careful because it's an administration that really wants to be see in would light both torment regionally so what it's done nice one of the challenges that the media have been face is they have from time to time been invited to the to the state house dressing down also you know a few months ago. a few weeks ago sorry their spokesperson for the deputy president threatened a journalist because the journalist at the nation spoke about you know. the problem between the presidency we on the deputy president with respect to the appointment of cabinet ministers but even more pervasive one nice the government has moved in terms of trying to contain the media using the absence most of the us that the media rely on has been moved to a government online portal that has made you know the media to think twice before they run critical stories regarding these cases do you feel that media freedom in kenya is under threat today and is it a solid enough institution to withstand this threat. it is. couple of things needs to happen i mean as long as you know we have a fairly strong court that would be fundamental in terms of moving forward with a respect the court ruling on secondly the media also you need to use these which are pretty to bring back themselves to the fundamental function of you know setting the agenda speaking for the voiceless if they do not do that what will happen many is that they will face the backlash from the government right and secondly majority of the citizen will say look you've been you've been you've been covering this administration you haven't been you know doing your right job so why do you think we should be feeling sorry for you. thank you for speaking to us up to this international in nairobi kenya thank you very much for your insight on this we appreciate it let's bring in our social media producer writer mohammed now talk to us about the reactions online and also the latest developments following the court's decision in kenya today there's been a couple of changes folley the high court has ordered that the t.v. channels should be switched back on but at the moment people watching say shows like citizen t.v. katie n o n t.v. also saying this notice on their t.v. screens and off transmission the channels were shut down on tuesday by the government to prevent live coverage of the opposition leader from taking an unofficial oath as president a few days before the president himself met with media manages and threatened to block whoever covered the event now the government has set the shutdown will stay in place. we have. to wait because i'm targeting individuals and organizations. may not be limited to certain media houses for example the media have the means to go and do. some of the investigation. and the kenyan government have labeled a dangerous party to be a criminal group so any media who reports on the event is accused of facilitating an illegal act but rights groups are worried that this is setting a dangerous president in the country that could lead to journalists being arrested the committee to protect journalists have said that kenya should be a beacon on the continent for media freedom and the public's right to access information yet government censorship continues to erode the kenya status as a leader of african press freedom. and an editorial by the daily nation newspaper says that the shutdown is a throwback to dr days referring to the ninety's and early two thousand when several editors were arrested and police raids also took place a human rights watch has confirmed that since president yet a took office government officials have intimidated harassed and threatened media organizations as well as journalists and bloggers writing on sensitive such subjects and assaults on freedom of the media or risk further damaging kenya's or protection in the world as a rights respecting nation so if you are currently in kenya we do want to get your thoughts on this next us throughout the show using the hash tag news quit message me directly i'm at raynham ahmed and right now we've got a comment here from one of our viewers on twitter ali who says the freedom of media in kenya has been violated by the government this is against the constitution a right of information we are depending on social media thank you for your comment don't forget to connect with us using the hash tag eighteen news grade on social media if you're watching us on facebook coming up next here on the news great our colleagues at a.j. press have a racial profiling story from the u.s. while a man was shopping for clothes and still ahead on the great the f.b.i. is taking on the white house over the release of a memo on his investigation into russian election meddling look at the controversy with our white house correspondent kimberly hockett in just a few minutes to stay with us i am. hello there the weather is all come down across the middle east now our weather system is moving away from afghanistan behind it there's just this rather feeble one making its way across the caspian sea there's not really a great deal of this though so just a few lighter outbreaks of snow we're likely on friday for most of us it will be dry and fine terror on where the temperatures will be getting to around eight degrees but it's still cool for us in kuwait i think we'll stick around nineteen as we head through the next day or so here in doha it's definitely been quite fresh recently and that's thanks to the wind there will be working down from the northwest bringing in that cooler air so twenty two degrees of our maximum at the moment dropping down to around thirteen at night that's in the city but we will see the winds pick up on saturday so saturday will feel like a cool day if you are out in that wind it will feel quite cool down towards the southern parts of africa we've certainly got some lively weather here in this area of thunderstorms has been working its way eastwards giving us some very very heavy downpours but we haven't seen the last of it just yet it forms a once more as we head through friday and still giving us some sharp showers for those showers really get going as we head through into saturday and then it's a little bit further towards the north it's here working its way across joburg here will likely see some very lively thunderstorms indeed. which has never been this risky. but nothing can stop them in their tracks chasing the american dream escaping poverty but the legal route is their only option and their hope for a better life can lead them into trouble braving tough conditions generally the law will put their lives in danger just heard in the mosquito distillate on al-jazeera . winning news breaks when people need to be heard. as the lucky to get to me is. over there in. my brain and this story needs to be tuned just largest catholic country is witnessing a dramatic rise in teenage pregnancy al-jazeera has teams on the ground to bring a mood winning documentaries. and live news on air and on. bad lines. finding out. excite al-jazeera dot com at number one their top story on the great today evidence of growing a mass graves uncovered in myanmar also trending the u.s. invested in a failed strategy in afghanistan it's an opinion piece about the current u.s. strategy in afghanistan and at number three it's won't he job day to day and an interesting opinion piece about how the job is not just a piece of paper read about the stories and mine and i would. walk home a four page document that could be released in just a few hours has the political community in the us in an uproar the previously classified report was compiled by the house intelligence committee and is also known as the newness memel by the name of committee member newness and we'll take a look at what's at issue right now democrats fear the report is an attempt to discredit an inquiry into the trunk campaign links to russia republicans say it shows a misuse of power by the f.b.i. and the justice department under the obama administration while investigating the tram campaign during the u.s. election in two thousand and sixteen on wednesday the f.b.i. expressed reservations about releasing the report part of its statement says we have grave concerns about material admissions of fact that fundamentally impacts the memos accuracy while after his state of the union address on tuesday present donald trump said the memo will be definitely made public taken this. seriously or you are the one on the. right. the right. aisle as being in a white house correspondent kimberly hall kate in washington kimberly some reports suggest that this memo will be released today thursday what a year in from your sources. well certainly there is the expectation it could come at any time but it's always hard to predict with this white house but i can tell you is though it's very unusual to see a president clashing with the top intelligence communities but not only that ones that are centrally run by appointees put in place by donald trump and that's what makes the story particularly extraordinary you have to remember donald trump has a history of of clashing with the former f.b.i. director of course james comey who he fired of course there is reporting that he asked for a pledge of loyalty from the deputy director andrew mckay who is now announce he is leaving the f.b.i. but as well comes to the department of justice we are hearing that he may have asked for that similar pledge from the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein so certainly this is exceptional because as you pointed out this is many democrats fear an attempt to undermine the russian probe that is looking into potential collusion and also russian interference in the twenty six thousand u.s. election what are the implications of the allegations made in this memo then and who does its publishing benefit who does it hurt more. i think it hurts the institutions that's an easy one given the fact that there is really deep concern in the american electorate with regard to the credibility of the f.b.i. and as well the department of justice but truthfully this isn't new there has been serious concerns and accusations of weaponize ing these institutions that predates donald trump but actually goes back to the obama white house and what we're seeing now is an intensification of that there certainly has been a louder outcry from conservatives who accused the attorney general under the obama white house eric holder of weaponized and the department of justice picking and choosing cases to prosecute but now this is gone even further so i think it erodes public confidence institutions that is certainly the casualty here but the broader concern of course is whether or not there can be any sort of confidence in the release of this memo and the rusher probe and that's exactly what democrats are concerned about in fact a top senator chuck schumer he released a statement saying that he is deeply concerned and accusing republicans of seemingly stopping at nothing to undermine the rule of law that is a serious charge and i think this is going to intensify as the hours come as we wait for this memo to be released the white house saying it will be released very quickly thank you for that kimberly kimberly how gets a white house correspondent in washington and we're going to say in washington for this next story the qatari foreign minister who is in the u.s. right now has warned of world wide and long term damage if the struggle for regional dominance continues unchecked in the middle east mom had been funny was speaking at the american enterprise institute in washington he said almost eight months of a sounding advocate against the has highlighted the narrow self interests of some regional powers. illegal block it started last year against but that is one of many instruments of silver tell its intended to really my country into submission the world is discovering that the blockading states will stop at nothing illegal market manipulation different kind of additions humanitarian assaults silencing dissenters weaponize and probably going to and undermining the global fight against. the humanitarian diplomacy in syria is getting nowhere the words of the un's humanitarian advisor a young egland who's been detailing what's been happening last year in syria and has one word horrific here's why the u.n. says a humanitarian pause is desperately needed in eastern gotye in syria where nearly four hundred thousand people have been living under a government siege for over four years there's been no medical evacuation since the end of december even those trying to return home after years of conflict are falling prey to unexploded bombs in iraq which has been recently recaptured from i so have been fifty deaths or injuries every week since then one hundred twelve people have died so far the u.n. says the amount of displacement in syria last year has never been witnessed in a generation in a province of been two hundred seventy thousand displacement since december alone the syrian government and its russian ally have launched if we knew the offensive ended lead and at least fifteen thousand civilians have been fleeing into afraid because of the turkish offensive which began there last month and they are reports noble authorities are not allowing civilians to escape humanitarian diplomacy seems to be totally impotent with getting nowhere and the more the last convoy to get 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 so through december and through gen re hasn't been a single convoy of lifesaving relief medical supplies food to any besieged area. as we mentioned there's fighting on several fronts in syria right now including an offensive by turkish troops against kurdish forces in the northwest turkey's foreign minister has given an exclusive interview to our jazeera elaborating on the cross border offensive in northern syria now that cashola says his country has no interest in attics in parts of syria if there is a threat other side of the border and international law and the un charters and solutions security council resolution actually give right to that country to eliminate that threat so this is what we are doing we are there to eliminate the terrorist organization we are not targeting the kurds not syrians i mean any syrians not our ups not to mention. we have no interest in serious territory integrity or properties this is our aim our aim is to defeat this terrorist organization and actually through defeating. terrorist organization or cleaning this area from the terrorists we're supporting. the country's territory interact with. and you can watch that full interview with the turkish foreign minister and on talk to al-jazeera on saturday at four thirty am g.m.t. right here on al-jazeera meanwhile the trumpet ministration is allowing thousands of syrian refugees to stay in the u.s. for at least another eighteen months the decision extends temporary protected status to seven thousand syrians it only applies to refugees who arrived in the country before august twenty sixth the meaning a status of major arrivals will be put on hold more than twelve million syrians have been displaced since the conflicts began in twenty levon and now to germany where breakthrough decision on immigration that could bring some political stability with more on that story here israel once again thankfully now the german parliament has made a decision on reuniting refugees and their families there will be extending the current role which limits migrants from bringing family members to the country until july this year and after that the suspension will then be lifted allowing one thousand family members per month to join they were in germany and this was agreed between chancellor angela merkel's party and the social democrats a move that might pave the way for a coalition the suspension of family reunification rule was first implemented in twenty sixteen but not everyone agrees that the should be lifted starting with the leaders of the far right party their fifty years in the office whom we believe that a family reunification should not take place in our country but in protected zones in syria where most parts are peaceful. and online many people are protesting this decision the seasons says that the most important issue for the parties is not digitize ation education or pension but family reunification for refugees who should actually go home and this is a says that they bring up the killing of a fifteen year old called maya who was stabbed in twenty sixteen by her ex-boyfriend who was an afghan refugee and he says that she would like to be reunited with her family and there's also this issue which was a wave of support for the move the leader of the green party said that he wanted every child to be able to grow up in safety with his family just as he was able to he then called on germans to post their childhood pictures hundreds during the campaign on twitter instagram and facebook and supports all of the decision for the topic of asylum seekers is high on the gender in german politics since twenty fifteen more than a million have been registered and as though the numbers are receding the issue continues to devise society especially since there was a ten percent rise in crime rates last year and most cases were linked to young male refugees this agreement might actually put an end to the political deadlock in the country on sunday merkel's party hopes to conclude those negotiations so if you are currently in germany we do want to get your thoughts on this next us using the hash tag genius grid thank you very much for this and you know for more on the pride of the refugees in germany al-jazeera is people in power has this excellent two point documentary called searching for century in germany it follows a remarkable story of two syrian refugees who survived a treasure is sea crossing to reach safety in europe find it on our website at al-jazeera dot com our time now for a look at the day's other news here's nick clark in our london innocent. thankfully yes first up saudi arabia and the u.a.e. trying to end the standoff between government forces and secessionist fighters in the yemeni port city of aden and this other city was overrun by separatists armed by the u.a.e. who took control of the saudi backed government headquarters on sunday this old opened up a new front in yemen's war preventing much needed aid from reaching civilians study and morality envoys have met both sides urging them to abide by a cease fire and refocus their attentions on fighting the who these in the north polish lawmakers have caused outrage in israel by approving a bill that would impose jail terms for suggesting that poland was complicit in the holocaust israel has called it an attempt to challenge historical truth the bill has also drawn concern from the united states you know how small the polish senate voted overwhelmingly to approve new holocaust legislation that makes it a crime to refer to wartime nazi extermination camps as being polish or to accuse poland of complicity in the atrocities of the third reich of i want you to. that israel has condemned it the foreign ministry saying on twitter israel views with utmost gravity any attempt to challenge historical truth no law will change the facts but poland's ruling party denies the charge pointing out that threatened in any way opposition m.p.'s warned the bill was an attack on free speech and was a resumption of peace or they cannot be any law that will suppress the discussion this bill is worded in such a way that discussion can be suppressed here in poland but also abroad and that is the worst fear. poland was occupied by nazi germany in world war two it lost six million of its citizens including three million jews who died in camps like auschwitz and birkenau in occupied poland helping jews even offering them a glass of water was punishable by death the senate vote in poland happened a day after germany and other nations joined in annual remembrance of the holocaust with a minute of silence while there is no suggestion that poland willfully colluded with the nazis israel's holocaust memorial yad vashem says the polish bill is liable to blur the historical truth regarding the assistance the germans received from the polish population the bill that aims to defend poland's wartime image must now be approved by the president who has previously indicated his support and a whole al-jazeera u.k. prime minister to resign may has meant to chinese president xi jinping in beijing on the second day of her three day visit the two leaders and their partners took part of a traditional chinese tea ceremony discussing a potential trade deal as the u.k. prepares for life outside the european union may has brought a delegation of more than fifty business leaders with her there are rising tensions in south africa's drought hit city cape town with one person being arrested after a fight broke out at a natural spring residence have been flocking to the spring to collect water due to a severe water shortage and new restrictions were introduced on thursday in an attempt to avoid day zero the day in april when they might have to turn off most taps people are now being asked to use no more than fifty liters a day. i mean we've been coming here for the past five years the only now having a plane been here for more than ten years has since been happening that has been happening full told on the only planning now. and this is my first it's freezing in europe with these new rules that's been put into place it's tough but what can you do we all need the water it's the large shows. and we just go with the flow and that's it for live from the notes but to fully make thank you very much for that peter's here in a moment to look at reaction to the day's biggest sports story and a lot of that critical of the international olympic committee as a lifetime ban same polls on twenty eight russian athletes says overturn the status . i decided i'd like to let's find out what he was talking about into us today his speech or artfully just eight days out from the start of the winter olympics the issue of russian doping is front and center once again and that's because the court court of arbitration for sport has overturned a lifetime ban for twenty eight russian athletes who were accused of the ping at the twenty fourteen games in sochi the court said that the evidence provided by the i.o.c. in making the decision was insufficient and eleven more of them will be free to compete after pyong chang as well this does not mean that these twenty eight actually saw the clear innocence but in that case due to insufficient evidence the appeals held the sanctions and notes and their individual results achieved in sochi reinstated the international olympic committee as you might expect had something to say about this as well this may have a serious impact on the future fight against doping therefore the i.o.c. will analyze the recent decisions very carefully once they are available and consider the consequences including an appeal to the swiss federal tribunals let's turn to our sports correspondent leigh wailings who is in london right now i mean the good of you to be with us again how much of an embarrassment is this for me i.o.c. . well i one way it's embarrassing for them but overall it's just been a nightmare for several years it's had a huge effect on their reputation remember it swayed from one way to the other first of course the i.o.c. were criticized for being too lenient we do have one hundred sixty nine russians who are allowed to compete under a neutral flag in the games people felt that was too much of the what clearly happened. and we're talking about systematic doping now we've gone to the other side of the coin now they find themselves in a position where the russians can look at the i.o.c. and say we've treated us too harshly look at what the court of arbitration for sport is saying about this look at the paper that it's cleary you didn't have enough evidence to go against individuals like that so really difficult position for the i.o.c. who wants to maintain a decent relationship with russia who'd been boosted by the fact the unified korea destructed from the russian problem i now find themselves with real difficulties and again just again just eight days away or at least what happens to these twenty eight athletes serve the russians melo will they be competing in juncture. it is such a mess twenty eight of them up including you can see that the international olympic committee doesn't think they came and doesn't want them there they really resisting it they said look we haven't invited them they are not invited to these games now russia hasn't come out yet and said well you really need to have these twenty i afterwards there are further eleven of course that are not even able to via the cast decision to try and get a p.r. china but we're talking about being a nine days away from competition and the i.o.c. are trying to sort out a terrible mess and of course the situation with the reputation of the olympics and where the public is i keep talking about to the public trust in who's winning gold silver and bronze because nobody saying that cause of their will claim that's not what they're saying there wasn't enough evidence for a lifetime ban it's only winnings a pleasure as always thank you so much for your time and joining us here on news grid if you can imagine that they are pretty pleased about this in russia they news agency head has both headline on their website it says russia are back at the top of the saatchi twenty fourteen medals table while i'm officially anyway now over on twitter the russian embassy in south africa are also celebrating they tweeted the details of the ruling and added a picture of three russians on a podium you can see the man there on the gold medal block you looking particularly happy somebody even say jumping for joy now u.s. anti doping agency general counsel bull bach is less impressed though he says scores of clean athletes are revoked demise by the i.o.c. is incompetent angling of the russian russian doping crisis and a running coach steve magnus says the sins are horrible message to all athletes he also references the investigative documentary film ikarus and he says that the international olympic committee is failing miserably. remember you can get in touch with me on to it's on at peta under school system and you can use the hashtag a.j. news good as well and we'll have more sport for you in the eighteen hundred g.m. c.e.o. but famille i'm going to hand you back to fully major thank you very much for that and before we go some breaking news out of london at this hour and the verdict is in the trial of the man who drove a van into muslims outside the finsbury mosque last june he has found been found guilty in that trial more on this new story from makani in london in just a few minutes for me from the bat and home team here in doha that would do it for today's news great minute to keep in touch with us on social media at all times using the hashtag eight years great we'll be back here at studio for your team tomorrow friday at fifteen hundred dollars t.n.t. bye for now. i am. traveling often. by trying to use local forest products. oxygen. families and scott. scott with. his family and six months. to get his cats are always. the partnership. was less. than. we have here as if data we know the products of from buying everything that you're doing that's really where the power of the all powerful internet is both a tool for democracy and the threat do you believe that any of your companies have a den of five to full scope of russian active measures on your platform in the echo chamber world of fake news in cyberspace the rules of the game left change their ogg no presidents people in power investigates this information and democracy at this time on a. kenya's high court orders the government to reopen t.v. stations it won't for broad consing riley are doing is mocking old gratian.