In homs. Three al jazeera journalists back in court on World Press Freedom day first, afghan Officials Say more than 2,000 people may have been killed in a landslide in the northeast of the country. United nations which has been running a rescue operation has not been able to confirm the figure. It was in the region of badakhshan, in a mountainous region. Rescuers are facing a tough time to reach the affected village. Reporter they spent the night in the open. During nearfreezing temperatures looking over what used to be their homes, and preying for any sign of life. Everyone is trapped here. Hours after the landslide the priority shifted from trying to find survivors, from keeping those that did, alive. Due to the nature of the catastrophic event, its any likelihood the people recovering has now disappeared. At the moment we are focussing on getting materials, nonfood items and food and other stuff into the place. Days of rain caused the side of this mountain to collapse. A wall of mud and rock swept into the village, destroying all in its way. Hundreds of homes buried, many still nz. Around 4,000 people are in need of shelter. Translation i ask the afghan businessmen and the government to provide humanitarian assistance to these people. Volunteers from nearby villages have come to the remote area of northeastern afghanistan with tools and shovels to help rescuers. Its been hard for teams to reach the site. The narrow rain has been damaged by rain, and heavy machinery cant be used. The hillside is unstable adding to fears that another part may cave in. A group of International Military observers held captive in slovyansk have been freed. Observers were there as part of a security operation for europe. They were seized by separatists, saying one of them was a spy. Ukranian Government Troops are involved in a new offensive against prorussian groups in the east. They are trying to retake government buildings. That comes a day after Government Forces launched a major operation in the nearby rebel stronghold of slovyansk. Paul brennan is live in donetsk. O. S. C. E. Observers are freed. Tell us more about what happened . The referee what we have been told is we are on the road side in donetsk. We are awaiting the arrivals of oece observers, theres a cop contingent prepared to take them further south. Security here are twitchy. We have been told that others are aware of our location here. Everywhere is on a height state of alert. What we have been told in relation to the freedom of those o. S. C. E. Observers is that a joint effort was made with the Russian Special envoy, together with the council of europe. They came here at 5am, basically at dawn, and special envoy lukin wept went into slovyansk to secure the release of these detainees. All 12 have been released. They are making their way south, carefully and slowly, as i understand it, because of the situation on the roads, coming south from slovyansk, and they have been delayed a little bit because of unrest and fighting in a little town north of here. We are hopeful of seeing them. In the next hour, we hope well see them. All 12, the nine seven europeans and the rest of the ukranian staff should be disembarking. Also this morning, operations against prorussian separatists in east ukraine im told continued at dawn near the town of kramatorsk. Tell us about that operation. Yes, information comes out in an irregular way here. The interior minister announced on his facebook page, not an official channel, that the ukranian military had retaken a Television Tower some 10 miles 15km or so south of slovyansk. Now, that was a tower which had been taken by prorussian separatists a number of days ago. What the separatist did was effectively take off ukrainian tv channels stop them from broadcasting. The Ukranian Army has retaken the tower, retaken the channels and you can see why that is important information, it is vital in this unrest here. It is important to get information to the public and information from both sides. A tactical decision to target the tv tour, and what appears to be a successful operation. Its not come without casualties. Russia today, the creme line official tv station is reporting 10 casualties in the operation. No word from the ukranian official side as to casualties from the official side at least. Thank you very much. Brep live in paul brennan live in donetsk. Russia condemns ukraine over what it calls kievs criminal use of force after the death of activists in the black sea city of odessa. 31 were killed, more than 100 arrested. The southern port of the odessa is far from where the fighting is taking place in don esque, where paul brennan has been reporting from. Hoda abdelhamid reports. Reporter the trade Union Building was set on fire after a day of clashes between prorussian and prounity demonstrators, carrying the blue and yellow flag of ukraine. The intensity of the smoke sends some jumping for their lives, out of windows of dozens of others died suffocating. The building had been the headquarters of prorussian protesters for over a month. Ukranian police had been deployed earlier in the day. They were unable to restrain either side. The clashes underlined the challenges that faced the interim government. There had been, on the same day, ukranian forces launching offensive in the antiterror operations in the town of slovyansk in the east. In the south of the country ukranian paratroopers continued their operation in slovyansk throughout the night. It started earlier in the morning as ukranian forces destroyed several checkpoints north of the town. Two of the helicopters were shot down. Replaced by portable surface to air missiles, proof, the government says of russias involvement on the ground. This man was in one of the helicopters and is cared for by separatist supporters in the prorussian stronghold. Translation there was another helicopter touched down. We tried to approach it. We decided to save one pilot. He was abandoned by his own people. Ukrainian forces managed to retake the tv transmission antenna. It was seized by russian supporters. All ukranian channels had been taken off the care. [ gunfire ] but the message of both sides is spreading throughout the country. The clashes on odessa, hundreds from the prorussian heartland in the east are a sign that the increasing divisions puts the country at risk. The question for most here is how close is a Russian Military intervention now that many of its supporters have lost their lives. We have some breaking news now five people have been killed in an explosion in a crowded street in mogadishu. Well bring you more on that as soon as we get it. Syrias government is set to regain control of the city of homs after a possible deal allowing hundreds of trapped fighters to leave. Civilians and some fighters were allowed out of the old quarter this year. A few armed groups stay on. A 48 hour ceasefire agreement was agreed on to let rebels out of the area and other areas, the last stropinghold stronghold in the city. Homs is the largest city, the capital of the revolution. It was one of the first to rise up, much fell to opposition forces. Over the past two years, the government laid siege to areas home to tens of thousands. At the beginning of this year om the old city was held only the old city was held by armed groups. If the deal holds, that will fall to government control. Rebels are insisting theyll cancel a deal unless a u. N. Delegation supervises their call. Zeina khodr september us this report from neighbouring turkey. Reporter the old quarters of homs and vouching neighbour surrounding neighbourhoods are the last rebel strongholds. 100,000 fighters are inside. For months theyve been out of siege. Now they may be gip safe passage given safe passage out. Theyll retreat to the northern countryside of the city. Those areas are under seeing. The deal would allow the state to regain control of a city, known as the capital of the revolution much. Translation now it is impossible to take back the city. We were so hungry we couldnt walk 100 metre. I used to weigh 73 kilos, now i weigh 53 kilos. This 24yearold arrived in istanbul. The bombardment and the siege on rebelheld areas forced them to surrender one after the other. In early 2012 the regime began a campaign to retake the city. Activists appealed for help as International Observers visited the rebel areas at the time. The world did not act it was a symbol of defeat when the rebels lost he defeated. At first i thought wed return. The situation was worse. We didnt lose ohms, we lost a city. The city is strategically located. The corridor lipping the coast passes through homs. The regime and opposition know they cant control the country. The regime is concern freighting on retake concentrating on retaking strategic cities. Ohms will no longer be divided by front lines. The rebels may lose the heart of revolution, but the war is not over. Lets bring in a syrian academic. A political analyst at the doha institute. Months of stalemate. Symbolic and a strategic town and the cradle of the revolution according to some opposition groups. This is an important withdrawal, significant. Absolutely. But i think both sides needed this very much. They needed the truce very much. The regime has been using all sorts of tactics to regain what we call useful syria. And land from damascus in the south to the coastal area in the northwest of the country, through homs. As the report mentioned, it is located and controls the main the highway between damascus and the course. The regime is trying before the election to clear homs out of the rebel fighters which have been under siege for the past two years. The rebels on the one hand came to the conclusion that they cant win against the raining eem. They have been under rebels. They have been under siege. They have not have supplies and the opposition has not been able to break the siege. They tried before. Is it symbolic about the way the war is going. This is one of the first cities to rise, it was the first largely taken over by armed rebels. And message is that sending in the region to president asaad. That might be true. It wont be a turning point in the war. It will last for years, in my opinion, because neither side can win the conflict on the one hand. The region and International Powers will not allow the war and the party. Gradually regaining more territory, which is what hes been doing. He is losing more territories in the north. Its true he may regain the mountainous areas on the border north of damascus last month. On the other hand he lost a huge chunk in aleppo, in idlib and he also rust the opposition in the course. This is like could you then this is a stalemate. It is, absolutely. As i said this, is not a syrian war, this is original and international conflict. As i said, the original and International Powers will not allow either powers of the conflict to win the war. You see it as a stalemate and a proxy war. It is a proxy war. Is more weapons coming in. Its true, its calculated. The lies of the opposition dont want to opposition to win the conflict. Americans made this clear many times. U. S. Officials, saying we dont want the regime to fall, to undermine the regime, we dont want to regime to collapse and how they go about that, its anybodys guess. Well leave it there, thank you for joining us. You are watching the newshour still to come south africas Opposition Party holds their final rallies. Are they fighting a losing battle . 13 years in captivity, a former child soldier gets really for an emotional return home. A former champion banned for doping. Thats a bit later. After 13 years in captivity a former child soldier has gone back to his village. He was one of many abducted and taken to lords resistance army. Malcolm webb was with him when he was reunited with his family. When he was 10 this boy was abducted from his village by rebels of the lords resistance army. He was forced to become a child soldier and commit atrocities. It was 13 years before he could escape. Translation many children were beaten to death. You have to follow orders else they kill you. Children that tried to escape were killed. You have to follow orders until a chance come to escape. In recent weeks, the Rehabilitation Center won by the Charity World vision has been at home. At the peak of the war, hundreds of soldiers came through here. Murals painted are here. An estimated 10,000 are missing. Most of them will never come home. A trickle of former soldiers escape. Now grown adults. Translation it is a problem. Psychologically they keep on recalling. Dennis completed his counselling and its time to go home. He was a boy when he last saw his family. Since then he was forced to march hundreds of kilometres across four different countries. He escaped. He has seen and done many things that he doesnt really want to talk about. Many child soldiers were forced to kill relatives or neighbours. They are scared to go home. They dont know how people will react. 2km from denniss Village People come running. Hes made to tread on an egg a ritual of reconciliation. Theres no grudges here. He is safe. Reporter all of the people from the surrounding villages came to join in the celebration. People are singing and waving branches. Almost everyone thought dennis had died. His parents carried out a funeral ritual in the absence of a body. Now that hes home and alive after 13 years in the bush, people here are delighted. Then he arrives. Thousands of the abducted children were killed. Nobody thought hed make it. The trial of three al jazeera journalist detained in egypt has been adjourned buns way gain. It will rekum on may 16th. The 7th Court Appearance coincided with International Press freedom day. Peter greste, Mohamed Fadel fahmy and Baher Mohamed are accused of providing a platform to the outlawed muslim brotherhood, now declared a terrorist organization. Members of the media find themselves a target for the work they do. Often around the world. 16 peel have been killed in the first four months of this year alone. Last year the total number was 77. Almost half of those killed this year died in syria. Journalists in iraq, somalia, india and pakistan and the philippines face almost daily violence and persecution. Journalists risk not just their lives, but their freedom. Today 166 media workers are in gaol. Almost 100 are in china, era traya turkey and uzbekistan. Egypt, where al jazeeras fourth staff are held has fallen in the world index rankings. Reporters without borders reported that arbitrary arrests of journalists is common. We bring in a swedish journalist and editor sentenced to 11 years in prison for terrorist crimes in ethiopia. World press freedom day not much to celebrate. Nothing to celebrate on a day like that. Figures that you mention, the deaths, shows that is theres a hunting season for journalists going on, and International Conventions that used to protect us has last value and we are target ourselves. We are currently looking at a perfect storm. More conflicts, more freelance, a lack of resources among the media houses. The most important thing is that government and fighting groups learnt that fighting against the journalists works by killing the mess eng ger and silencing the mess epinger. What we see in egypt and ethiopia are governments using terrorist laws to terrorize journalists and dissent. Its a challenge for this coming year. You mentioned the use of freelancers. Just to explain to viewers, freelancers not in staff position with companies. So the attacks on them are more frequent. Is that because companies are not supporting their freelancers. I think its a combination of forces. If you look at the conflicts, syria and egypt is one of them, a dangerous country to work in, the value of journalists is deteriorating. We have lost the report, and i think that one of them, the most dangered thing is when governments are accusing journalists for being terrorist, as we see happening in cairo. People have been warning about the developments 10 years ago. People raised the flag and said that the laws way be used against journalists, it was waved off as a wolf at the door. 10 years later we are there. Martin, we are running out of time on this. You were detained for some time. How would you describe what the al jazeera journalists are going through at this moment. I know its a different detention to yours, different country, but how would you describe their mental state and what they face . I mean the worse fear being locked up as a prisoner of conscience is to be forgotten. Its not there, the scream of the tortured prisoners or the companies in the prison, its the fear of being forgotten. I remember the days i was taken to court you were exhausted from the new impressions, but to see the colleagues there, people protesting, writing, tweeting, that boosts your moral. And to have, to see people carrying on, journalism is more important than food and water when you are locked up. Its crucial. It gives your mystery and meaning it gives a meaning to the suffering. They cant look up journal. So keeping on with the campaign, and i started saying that theres a hunting season and its a bad time for journalists. The positive thing is the support that the al jazeera staff are getting and the support that the bloggers in ethiopia are getting from around the world. That is something that is impressive. They need to keep on that. They do the fight inside, and well do it from the outside. Thank you for joining us. Thank you very much. African leaders and diplomats are converging on the capital of south sudan hoping an end to the crisis may be reason reach. The head of the u. N. Peacekeeping operations will come to juba. The president salva kiir agreed to talks with former Vice President riek machar. The conflict began as a power struggle between the two. President salva kiir is a member of the dinka, riek machar is from the secondbiggest cib, the nuer. Thousands have been killed, nor than a million left their homes. The u. N. Security council has talked about the situation. Our editor brings this update from new york. Reporter the crisis is in the world spotlight. The u. N. Security council has been hearing a briefing about the situation from the u. N. s high commissioner for human rights and a special advisor on the trench of genocide. Some of the figures are staggering. 80,000 sheltering in u. N. Camps and across south sudan, its believed 9,000 child soldi