deploying more troops to search for more than one hundred schoolgirls and seized by boko haram in northern nigeria. and the fascists march in rome a week before it's in these elections with right wing parties like the league expected to do well and as the winter olympics draw to a closer look at their political and economic legacy for south korea. the syrian government's onslaught on the last rebel held area near the capital damascus has entered its seventh day five hundred people have been killed and there's been no letup in the bombing of eastern huta thousands of people are trapped in underground shelters and are appealing for help but world powers that the united nations haven't yet managed to push through a resolution calling for a cease fire resolution or a vote or a resolution is due to happen this hour add the united nations we'll bring you more on that as it happens first though this report from osama bin. rescuers are responding to crisis for help. people. like you but in eastern nor very safe. in moments of panic this search for children who disappeared in the debris. the children call for their father. was a civil defense worker says they must hurry to the basement. activists accuse the syrian government and russia for the airstrikes and shelling the suburb of syria's capital damascus has been bombarded specially hard for the last week. the only like these is from the fires which started after the bombing. these children prayed in the dark in an underground shelter one of them wants the world to feel their pain her. no food no water every day you sleep on the floor my back hurts we can't bring a pillow from our house if we get out we'll get hit don't you know that imagine your children. to be to say. the other wants to safety. because you had the floors are down the air is humid and it's called underground there are few basements in all to nearly four hundred thousand people i know that on the roofs of our size you know what this is called our children didn't eat for two days we can't find anything else we'll feed them this is a male god help us. if syrians living in cities abroad have protested in small gatherings they reject that the fight in eastern is against what the government calls terrorists. but the syrian government iran and russia say the civilian deaths in who are fabricated propaganda activists from who have been sending us messages asking people to imagine living their lives without proper electricity or running water for five years and now the bombs just don't stop whether it's day or night some of the job under zero. in the turkey syria border. where the picture is coming out of eastern huta appears to show a deadly mix of weapons being used by syrian government forces in one of the bloodiest assaults of the seven year war and the chapelle explains. guta is just outside damascus a rebel held area that includes the eastern suburbs of the capital. making it close enough for rebels to fire mortars into central damascus and for syrian forces to deliver a devastating response. since february eighteenth government forces have targeted a series of densely populated towns in the area the u.n. says there are nearly four hundred thousand people there that includes rebel fighters but most are civilians for days as strikes and months of forced families and children into underground shelters we can't do anything we can't even go outside to get food. some of the weaponry being used is designed to target underground hiding places this video shot by an activist in the region on wednesday appears to show helicopters dropping vacuum bombs with their signature parachutes al jazeera can't confirm these are vacuum bombs but one weapons expert we spoke to says he's ninety nine percent sure they are this weapon creates a pressurized shockwave and a vacuum rupturing lungs and other internal organs that's if the target doesn't die in the initial fireball. if that wasn't enough the same area was later showered by incendiary cluster bombs. the u.n. secretary general has described the situation as hell on earth. with weapons like these being used in a densely populated area just a few kilometers away from the syrian capital. enter chapelle al jazeera well our diplomatic editor james baines joins us live now from the united nations headquarters and james for the past few days the security council has been trying to pass a resolution calling for a cease fire. across syria were meant to see a vote pretty much now what's going on there. ambassadors of certainly arrive for a security council meeting which is shared chilled as any vote is as an adoption of a security council resolution of course you find out in the chamber whether they actually adopt it when they raise their hands as you can see though from the live pictures we have of the chamber no vote at this stage is taking place remember throughout the throughout friday we'd watched for a vote and it didn't happen and in fact those who came up with the original draft had wanted to put this to a vote on thursday two so not at all clear whether the vote is going to take place right now but certainly there are some who are calling for it to take place whatever the russian position everyone should put their cards on the table right now and vote and among those is the u.s. ambassador to the united nations nikki haley she's actually been away from new york for a couple of days she's back here in the last few minutes arriving at the security council moments ago on the floor below here as she arrived i asked her do you have agreement with russia she replied today we're going to see if russia has a conscience the words of nikki haley moments ago we heard from the dutch ambassador to who said that he had signs perhaps that they could get an agreement today that they could be a positive vote on this resolution that is possibly going to be put to the security council in the near future clearly the key player in this is russia russia making no statement to us at this moment the russians have been in the u.n. building certainly for well over an hour we've seen the russian ambassador vasily into ben's ear he has been on the phone he was spotted just moments ago in fact i was just checking my phone my colleague saw him on the phone in deep conversation. in a short time ago we don't know whether he's discussing his current position with moscow we've also seen him in touch with the chinese ambassador in deep conversations with him remember china quite often has voted with russia on syria but not always occasionally china's voted with the west sometimes russia has vetoed resolutions and china has just abstained so their views the chinese views important the other person that we've seen a mass in the benazir with in the last few minutes is the syrian ambassador. jeffrey it one more thing to relate regarding him is when he arrived at the security council i asked if the council was the vote for a cease fire would his country comply with that he clearly didn't like my question and muttered under his breath who made you the chairman of this meeting. james just remind us now what the main sticking points as far as we know what the main sticking points are between russia and if not all most of the rest of the security council. well i can certainly tell you the point that they have been questioning in the resolution this is the resolution technically before they're put ready to vote that it's an old fashioned thing used to be that with a typewriter with a blue ribbon they're put in blue they still use that term and they still put them in a blue color which means the resolutions ready to vote and you can see on this version it's this paragraph the actual main substandard power of one and you see the read where things have come out of the resolution that's the paragraph where the changes have been made what they call the operative paragraph one of the resolution and it's all really about the the real detail of how this would take effect this ceasefire the timing of the cease fire there was a time period in the word immediately came out of there the new version has without delay that the cease fire should come into effect it's those sorts of details that are being argued over i can tell you that certainly some countries and to have met put this on the record the u.k. and the u.s. believe that the russians are not actually arguing about the terms of this they're just trying to delay. well it is being delayed right now we can see live pictures there of the security council chamber all the chairs empty of course the embassador is not there yet we'll see if they show up for a vote anytime soon james bays well of course check back in with you at a later point in the in thank you. now nigeria's president is the ploughing extra soldiers to search for more than one hundred girls kidnapped from their school in the town of chief muhammadu buhari has called monday's abduction by boko haram a national disaster parents of the missing girls plan to join the bring back our girls campaign which was launched after boko haram kidnapped more than two hundred and seventy schoolgirls from the town of chibok in two thousand and fourteen and many of those girls are still missing a twenty dollars has the latest now from nigeria's capital of. there are questions as to whether or not the gun troops and the air operations we're looking at where they are you'll be a state in particular is a vast area most of it desert area. and it's not far from the general public this school where these girls were taken in particular licenses and two hundred kilometers away from initiate a public and nobody is certain whether or not these girls have been moved out of nigeria to reggie or inside nigerian territory so the question is why will these troops start looking and it's been three or four days since they have been taken but all the same a lot of people are sort of. commending the government because it had knowledge of this problem early on and like in the past when it took weeks before the government accepted the fact that these goes up in particular the government will be keen to avoid that repeat of chip balk a two thousand and fourteen simply because it's campaign season starts very shortly and already it has gained momentum in this country the president will want to see this issue quickly resolved and how soon nobody knows at the moment but it's clear that the next few days will determine whether or not this government will succeed in bringing this goes back and people will be watching what it will do also regarding the remainder of the trouble goes could not bible quote on four years ago . at least five people have been killed and dozens wounded in an attack on a security base in yemen's southern city of aden two suicide bombers targeted a camp used by counterterrorism forces in there and to while he district hospital officials say most of the dead are soldiers. thousands of protests have taken place across italy as tensions rise in the run up to next weekend's election the anti immigrant party which was formerly known as the northern league held a rally in the land where its leader spoke to sounds of supporters anti immigrant sentiment has spiked initially in the wake of europe's refugee crisis but it is also being met by opposition several demonstrations in support of immigration have taken place including in the capital grows more now from. but they all salvini greeted and enthusiastic crowd of supporters in central and it's interesting for a posse that he has which was once known as the northern league he has since drops the name norman and order to appeal to the rest of the country of course the policy was founded as a session this movement to the north sea for the rest of the country which it deemed as a backwoods and this is an interesting town and because of course while the name a strange little in the way of its politics has it still has the same xenophobic rhetoric still very much on t. banking and the effect on the economy and still very much also against the e.u. in the eurozone as well but it's interesting to note that trying to appeal to other parts of the country as well that has been criticism of this is an opportunistic. policy by mr selby me and that is really to try and go on or as much support as possible against immigration and it's nice immigration policy is of course not forgetting that it's a lead has had hundreds of thousands of people turning up by sea and that has really put a strain on the country's infrastructure here that has been a lot of coal to brussels as well to try and do as much they can to help it but the country as well as that has also been going through its own recession those two problems things have had a definite effect on the politics certainly on immigration policies certainly heard more by mainstream politicians as well it's not just a focus of rightwing policies but it's all throughout now as well and that has seen its really swing to the right politically. so a year ago reporting there now still to come on the program could this shoe mourns its dead after friday's twin bombings as i'm going to relatives accuse the government of failing to protect the country. and opposition activists in sudan celebrate their lives but say dozens of their homes remain in the city. hello there we've got a lot of unsettled weather across parts of the middle east at the moment with two main systems with this at the moment the first one is here marching its way eastwards working its way steadily away from us but then we've got the next one that's already with us it's working its way over parts of saudi arabia over parts of iraq and into parts of iran as well so that is our next real major system and it's making its way through around there eventually into afghanistan as we head through sunday is also stretching across the other side of the gulf as well and that system will gradually edge it's way more towards the east there as we head through monday tashkent will see some rain will see some cloud increasing there an hour marty and then the next systems with us as well say for monday then we'll see some more rain over parts of iraq and gradually another system and very strong winds will be there over the western parts of turkey now as i said some of that unsettled weather is making its way a bit further south as well so we're expecting heavy rain in doha overnight saturday gradually on sunday those things will improve so a good deal of cloud at times maybe a few outbreaks of rain but the wettest of the weather will be here over parts of the u.a.e. of for some of us it really does look very wet all of that though clears and as we head through monday does look a good deal of dry air for most of us across the region for the southern parts of africa plenty of cloud and rain and that's sticking with us for sunday. the in. a reminder now of the top stories on al-jazeera five hundred people have been killed in seven days of syrian government attacks on a rebel held eastern outside damascus the u.n. security council is gathering to vote on whether to call for a cease fire. major areas president is the point extra soldiers to search for more than one hundred girls kidnapped by boko haram in the town of ramadan hari has called the incident a natural national disaster and thousands of supporters of the anti immigrant party have held a rally in the italian city of milan in the run up to next weekend's elections. relatives of victims from friday's bombings in somalia are accusing government leaders of failing to protect their people the twin explosions in the capital mogadishu killed at least thirty eight people the group al-shabaab has claimed responsibility victoria gate and he has more. families connect the dead hours after the latest bomb and gun attacks in the capital it's four months since the largest ever truck bomb attack in mogadishu killed hundreds of somalis the lack of protection continues to cause and. the government failed to protect its people they should step down if they can't protect us from the slaughter of the constant explosions. one of the. fighters launched the attack at the start of friday prayers targeting somalia's intelligence headquarters and then the parliament. gun battles continued near the presidential palace. as the night wore on the number of dead grows people searching for their loved ones and hospitals then at. many of the dead and injured on friday were civilians including people enjoying their weekend on the beach. we came from the beach me and my two brothers we were near the hotel when the explosion happened i survived but my two brothers died. fighters who are linked to al qaida once controlled large areas of somalia but were forced out of major cities six years ago it wants to overthrow the un backed government and impose strict islamic law. frequently detonates car bombs and fights gun battles the worst attack killed five hundred twelve people in october at least fifteen hundred children well off and somali government leaders say they are doing what they can to keep people safe and say security forces prevented at least one bomb laden car from reaching its intended target the somali government is backed by twenty two thousand african union troops and u.s. drone strikes following criticism after october's attack the minister of defense was sacked along with the police commissioner and security bosses despite that mogadishu's in mourning again victoria gave him be. a week after sudan released eighty people arrested during protests in january many more remain locked up some of those arrested were journalists who say they were arrested simply for doing their jobs morgan reports for how to. ten days ago i might have been he was not sure whether she'd ever see her home or her children again but journalist was held for more than a month without charge or trial after she was arrested while filming protests against economic reforms. i was arrested on the sixteenth of january in the protest organized by the community party we were at the place the protests were held with my colleague omar the security people came and beat us and directed us to go to a certain direction they surrounded me and said i'm honest filming us filming us here all know how bernie was one of eighty journalists politicians and activists released last week by the sudanese government they were arrested during last month's protest against the government's decision to devalue the currency which led to price rises and inflation lawyer had and has and like others who were arrested says she had no part in the protests but the good the member with her had better say i was walking on the streets after the protests and they were beating a young man so i stepped in to help and and told them to leave him they turned to me and started beating me they put me on a pickup truck and i was taken to detention rule little funicular yet then because the prisoners were released as to international pressure on sudan's government which hasn't said how many arrests were made political and rights groups say more than two hundred people were arrested during the protests over high prices in january and with only a few released rights groups including human rights watch say many are still being held in unknown locations with no access to lawyers or family visit in conditions which may constitute and force appearances and with democrats of abuse. the government has pledged to release all prisoners but says protesters who are attempting an overthrow need to be careful with the guard i see there is the president's decision to release the prisoners as a sign of good will and we released all the students women and all the members of the party and we hope that contributes in developing the political environment around the country but anyone who tries to mess with the administrative institutes of the nation and tarnish it we will not let them get away with it i'm an artist. i might have been he says she's happy to be back with her family a game but worries about all those who remain in detention and with the should be killed again for doing her job people are going to do there are a lot of them. europe's first major film festival of the year is coming to an end around four hundred films have been screened that the berlin international film festival and nineteen of them are contending for the top prize the golden bear although many cain joins us live now from the red carpet at the barely know so tell us a little bit about which films are actually you know might actually win the gold in their. obama the thing to say is that the air of expectation is now rising as we count down towards those prices being given out the stars have been arriving behind me on the red carpet and as a say the and to dissipate in is rising as you say nineteen films in contention for the grand prize the golden bear and the point to make is that many of the experts and the film critics say that this is a wide open race of this new one obvious favorites one of the home favorites one of the german favorites is the film a german called indian gang and in the isles this is a film set in the former east germany it's a sort of quirky love story as it were set in a warehouse where a mixture of poetry and romance is infused into the into the acting in this film and as i said there are those who believe that this might have a chance of winning the top prize that certainly two of germany's more famous actors actresses are in this film as protagonists and there is some some suggestion it might do well another film very different to in the isles is the film the latest offering from ways anderson the hollywood director this is called isle of dogs a stop motion animation set in what's called a dystopian vision of japan in which an island has has been set aside as it were for quarantine because some sort of canine viruses has forced the dogs to be put on to this island we follow the story of a young boy trying to be reunited with his pet the point here is that there are some social criticisms in the film and that's why it has received attention but there are those who suggest that maybe given his prominence whereas anderson may not take the top prize with this particular film quite different film is the film transit this is a film which has a sort of migration theme to it the sense of how refugees deal with with dislocation as it were it sets in and it has a rather strange background to it which is that it's a second world war themed movie but in the future with characters who come and go from the past to the future and we follow in. it the story of an individual who is fleeing from the nazis and how he interacts with other refugees both at that time and in the modern setting that's the draw for that particular film and finally one other film too to look out for which is the latest offering from gus van zant it's called don't worry he won't get far on foot it's this story is about the story of an event that individual who was an alcoholic who is suddenly paralyzed in an accident and we follow how the individual concerned deals with his his changed circumstances have he gets dry and how he learns to deal with with apparently the paralysis to being threatened on him and if we can see the red carpet behind you and a lot of actors and actresses coming very briefly if you can tell us why it's still so relevant the berlin international film festival. which as you said in your introduction but this is the first major film festival taking place in europe in the in the calendar year and for that reason it attracts a great deal of very very important movie makers actors actresses but also it's a chance for other up and coming filmmakers to introduce their work and let's remember it's not just hollywood films that prosper at this festival it's also art house films and indeed indigenous filmmakers get some prominence at this festival so it's very much a cultural mixture of of hollywood but also art house that makes this particular festival stand out amongst the others that take place in europe at this time of year. there at the berlin international festival very briefly again dominic can you just tell us when are we going to find out who was won the golden bear. well barbara the point to make here is that the all the main protagonists as it were arrive on the red carpet they go inside and then over the course of an hour or so the prizes are handed out and we learn in about an hour also quite who has won and are there many prophecies there's the golden bear prize which goes to through the main film and then what's called silver which are given out to other winners and that goes into the realms of the actors the actresses and other films which are considered not quite to have achieved the top status but also that this festival wants to honor with some sort of award so there are very many different prizes handed out here and also remember that the golden sands which you don't manage to award prizes you were going to have to really work there unfortunately dominic but we will come back that when we find out who the winners are dominic kane in berlin thank you now an ancient the crapola says been discovered near the nile valley city of minyon egypt is a large cemetery is located on the edge of the countries of western desert and is home to a range of family tools archaeologists say that one grave contains of a one thousand statues as well as jars holding the mummified remains of their owner who will start to be a high priest of the gourd off egypt hopes that the sky will boost its vital tourism sector which was hit hard by political turmoil following the two thousand and eleven uprising. the macedonian government has begun the process of renaming its airport in a bid to improve ties with greece the airport was named in honor of an ancient warrior king king alexander the great but will now be called scope here airport it's part of efforts to resolve a decades long dispute over the name macedonia and macedonian government took on the name when the country declared independence from one thousand nine hundred ninety one but greece argues that it implies territorial claims to its own northern province of macedonia where alexander the great was actually born more on the web site al jazeera dot com. and now a reminder of the top stories on al-jazeera five hundred people have been killed in seven days of syrian government attacks on rebel held eastern huta thousands of people are trapped in underground shelters many of which are providing little protection against the syrian and russian rockets and bombs they are sick at the security council is gathering right now to vote on whether to call for a cease fire our diplomatic editor james bays has met. this is the current draft of the resolution the problem and the problem for some time has been the very first paragraph you see the read on there that's where things have been changed in the last twenty four hours it's all about the cease fires timing and how it comes into operation that seems to be the problem they originally have the words that it should be an immediate cease of hostilities that became without delay they had for initial period of thirty days that became a cease fire thirty days for a juror pull humanitarian pause nigeria's president as the ploy extra soldiers to search for more than one hundred girls kidnapped from their school in the town of the chief mohammed a bihari it's called monday's abduction by boko haram a national disaster parents of the missing girls plan to join the bring back our girls campaign which was launched after the armed group kidnapped more than two hundred seventy schoolgirls in chibok in two thousand and fourteen at least five people have been killed and dozens wounded in an attack on a security base in yemen's southern city of aden to suicide bombers targeted a camp used by counterterrorism forces in the district i saw has claimed responsibility for the attack. thousands of supporters of the anti immigrant party formerly known as the northern league have held a rally in the city of la lanne the party is polling at around fourteen percent ahead of next weekend's election and the immigrant sentiment has seen a spike in the wake of europe's refugee crisis at least twenty six people have been killed in a series of attacks across afghanistan most of them army personnel taliban fighters a stormed the military outpost in the west where they killed at least twenty soldiers there's a top stories coming up next that's inside story by. nigeria's missing schoolgirls dozens more are abducted by boko haram the government says it's a national disaster but what's it doing to fend off the threat and reduce public anger this is inside story.