>> reinforcement for the kenyon military as the siege continues outside the a nairobi shopping mall. ♪ ♪ >> hello there, i am laura, you are watching al jazerra live from doha. also on the program, destruction in taiwan and the philippines as typhoon usagi bears down on hong kong. guilty and jailed for life former rising star of the chinese communist party is sentenced for corruption. and voting is getting around way in germany as angela merkel tried to win a third term in

office. ♪ ♪ >> it's almost 24 hours since al shabob fighters stormed in to a shopping center in nigh kobe. security forces are locked in a standoff with them and hostages still inside a unknown number, 39 people are dead and 150 have emerged wounded. the latest picture that his we are seeing, form i army reinfors around the shopping center. the al shabob gunmen are refusing negotiate the tackers are isolate odd the ground floor or in the basement. among the dead a resident of the president of kenya. two canadiens and french several american citizens have been wounded. that lob rebels are saying it's

in retaliation for the military inter investigation in somalia. african union troops are battling islamists. they have also said that they are determined to punish the attackers says their president. >> let me make it clear. we shall hunt down the perpetrators whenever they run to. we shall get them and punishment them for this heinous crime. >> familiar with al shabob attacks, he says his nation knows only too well the human costs of violence like this. hassan added these heartless act against defensive people including children cannot be tolerated we stand shoulder to shoulder with kenya in this time of grief. also con stemming the attack. >> the united kingdom conserved

this terrorist attack and it's sucthatsuch attacks will not wer resolve to defeat our orism. >> wwe will be going back to tht story getting the latist from the shopping center and keeping you up-to-date of any developments as we clearly watch that 24 hour siege on a shopping center in nigh rob i other news. disgraced chinese politician has been sentence today life in prison. the former rising star of ruling communist party was found guilt i have break ry, corruption and abusive power. bo was removed from office during a scanned that would saw his wife convicted i've murder of british businessman man neil wayhey world. >> reporter: fatheyward 67 the . guilt on three count, live in prison taking bribes, he has to

back about $4 million he took in bribes. there were no surprises he was in the courthouse for just over two hours, there were no surprises in the third sr*edz anverdicts andsentencing. this is such a high priority cracking down on corruption, expected a heavy sentence this isn't the end, though, we'll hear moreover the coming weeks and possibly coming months because there are strong indication that his bo will appeal this decision and not that elevate it to a higher court they will retry the case. it's not over, but right now he is found guilt on all three charges. >> at least 65 people have been killed in a bomb attack in baghdad. the three blasts happened at a funeral in the mostly shiia area of the sadde sadr city. no responsibility which involved at least one suicide bomber. the tamil party has won a huge

victory in the provincial poles. the tamil national aligns secured 30 seats out of 38. ending a 26 year war three years ago. more from the capital. >> reporter: this first pr provincial election to be held in the forth has delivered a convincing victory to the tamil nation al lines, in many respects the party itself has been surprised that it's reached its target however they say it's a positive move forward for the politics beings of the region they are campaigned on diversifying the political conversation with more dialogue with the people. and also the economic benefits, the social cultural den benefits we should see in the international scheme of things this is significant. this area is coming off more than 25 years of war and conflict, it is still recove reg there is a great deal of do

ridge on spotlight on this conflict. certainly moving forward in that respect. internationally as well, the president will be in new york next week at the united nations general assembly. this will be a discussion rolling in to sri lanka's democratic institution a significant move that many people on both sides will be able to debate and discuss. >> okay, we can go back now to our top story and join our correspond end outside of that shopping sent there in nairobi. which has been under siege in kenya's capital for almost 24 hours now. katherine there for us, what is the latest that you are hearing from there? >> reporter: it's been a really long night. and the gunmen and there are some women as well, have been holed up in this supermarket, that's still there. police and the military have surrounded this place. but it seems that the gunmen have the leverage because they are holding hostages who they been using as human shields we

heard gunfire and we were told that it's still raging, this battle. but the police have been very careful not to have too much class cacollateral damage. >> i understand that your sister was in the shopping center yesterday. tell us what happened to her. >> reporter: yes, my sister was in the shopping center. she was with her children, she said that when they were leaching a coffee shop that is there is there is when she heard an explosion and she heard gunshots and it all went crazy, everybody was running around, she ran to the nearest clothes shop where she hid in a changing room. there were about 25 others there. she still a bit traumatized. she said she could hear gunshots, she could see a lot of movement outside. there were plain clothed people with guns being police with guns, she went sure who the

plain clothed people remember. a lot of people were shouting inside of the clothes shop where she was. they had to be shut up by some of the people saying that, no, they have to be careful so that they are not ambushed as well. but then, it's not just my sister, there are still many people hiding inside of that mall. just actually about half an hour ago, there was a woman who came out, she just has been rescued, police this morning imagined to rescue three women. this woman just came out. didn't have her shoes on, very traumatized she could not even speak to us, the police tell us that she had been hide in this basement under a car the whole night and the basement is one of the places that are not secured. the police and the military have manage today secure only the second floor of this mall. the first floor, the ground floor and the basement are still insecure, they don't know whether the attackers are there, there are a lot of people who are still hiding in this places

that are sill not secured. >> katherine, sounds absolutely terrifying. very pleas pleased to hear thatr sister is okay. thanks stkpwroeupbg us with that update from nairobi. now chinese authorities have accuracy at this straighted the second highest level emergency response, for typhoon usagi. the most powerful storm this year making its way slowly across the southeast of the country. it's expected to hit hong kong late sunday or early monday. local airline cafe pacific have canceled owl flights in cut off thout ofthe city. it has already caused widespread flatting in taiwan and philippines, robert looking miserable weather where you are. how is the island preparing for this onslaught? >> reporter: it is as you say weather has deteriorated especially in the last hour or so the weather has deteriorated badly is usagi moves closer. sheet is very much almost in a kind of a state of lock down if

you like. the streets are becoming increasingly decertify. people are making their way home. they are taking pray changeses at home. taping up windows, san sandbaggg doors of businesses they are expecting flooding with the rains. down here at the harbor people are taking some of the last ferries home to be outlying islands here and as we know also obviously the airlines are going to be badly affected. we are expecting hundreds are people will be stranded at the international airport overnight. hong kong international is obviously a very dig transport hub it will have a lot of affect to other parts of asia and the transport networks as well. as we brace for the arrival. >> they have had a look of what might come if they look at the taiwan and the philippines. >> reporter: that's right. we know how bad it is because we have seen what it's done there.

50 centimeters of rain being dump in 20 hours, monster seize, eight-meter waves and so on. so we are expect this is to be a bad one. people are checking the record books here how bad is this compared with previous typhoons, hong kong is no stranger to them. people still talk about the typhoon hope of 1979. as being one that was particularly bad here, 12 people died. hundreds injured, millions of dollars worth of damage. people are saying this could be up there, this could be the worst typhoon for 34 years. laura. >> okay. rob, many thanks for that. and we'll follow the storm closely. well, still adhere on al jazerra, mexico trying to find dozens feared buried under a landslide. we'll have that report coming up. plus. >> reporter: i am john in kansas where there is a new movement to stop america's small towns from becoming ghost towns. more on that coming up.

on august 20th, al jazeera america introduced a new voice in journalism. >> good evening everyone, welcome to al jazeera. >> usa today says: >> ...writes the columbia journalism review. and the daily beast says: >> quality journalists once again on the air is a beautiful thing to behold.

>> al jazeera america, there's more to it. on inside story, we bring together unexpected voices closest to the story, invite hard-hitting debate and desenting views and always explore issues relevant to you. >> hello again, reminder of the top stories this hour here on al jazerra. army reinforcements pour in and gunshots heard again inside the west gate shopping center in nigh robeism it's now almost 24 hours since al shabob fighters stormed the mall killing at least 39 people holding an unknown number of hostages. in china former communist party chief has been sentenced to life in prison on corruption charges, a court found him bit difficult

i of accepting bribes and abusing power. slow lasri lanka's tamal party n elections. the first vote since the government feeted the tamil tiger rebels in 2009. people have gun voting in germany's general election. opinion polls suggest the turns can'tly merkel will return to power for a third term. but she may struggle to keep her coalition's majority in parliament. let's go straight now to nick who is there. in central berlin. and first of all, just give us an idea of the voting. poll have been open just over about an hour now. >> reporter: it's a sunday here in berlin, which is not the most dynamic of german cities, so i think we can safely say there has been a steady trickle of voters who have been coming in. thithis has been a campaign that many germans have said they have found boring, expressed

sentiment of feeling a bit blaée about the whole thing, you know the expression if you are not interested in politics, well, politics is interested in you and that's resulted in a photo finish pretty much it would appear if we go by the latest polls, between the big block on the left and the bick block on the right. an blah la america leading the christian democratic union is hoping to fet in to power again with the free democratic party, that could be up in the air i have to be careful about expressing any tendencies because of the laws about reporting. on the left you have the green party and the left party, they are neck and neck according to latest opinion polls from yesterday, nothing we can provide from today. the latest polls they were at around 45% each. >> why is it that when she so popular that her coalition might struggle to keep its majority? >> reporter: well, this is a parliament red light rhode island system, it's different

from what people in the united kingdom, canada and australia might know because it's not just a first pass the post system of you get two choice on his your ballot, first you elect your m.p. that's the first box you tick, secondly another box you tick for the party you like, you can pick a party that's not the same party as the p.m. so the seats in the parliamenting designated directly by the first tick. another half of the seats in parliament are designated by the box you tick for party list. so even though merkel's party is scoring, as been scoring i should say over 40% in the opinion polls it doesn't many that she's going to get an absolute majority or anything like that in parliament. because there is, of course, the other half of the ballot. one more thing you need to keep in mind is that you need to get past 5% of the votes expressed across the country i to get any seats at all in par large. so you can have and parties that are doing kind of well, say around 4%, but they are totally eliminated from the equation and

there are small parties particularly angela merkel's free december krafbg parties whicdeck contract being partywhe today struggle to go gets past the 5%. if that happens sh won't form ao vision and could be forced to form a coalition with the opposition, back to you. >> could be a more interesting election than many voters gave it credit for nick thanks so much phoning us from berlin. mexican president has visited villages affect bide twin storms on the pacific coastline. entire srel questions are covered in wet mud and rocks due to land slights. more than 100 people have been killed across the country. he told survivors the villages will be built and relocate today safer locations. >> we have had extraordinary rains throughout the country.

unfortunately, this was the most affected. the highest numbers have suffered losses there and families have been affected. and what has happened here here is terrible. with the number of family deaths and the way in which it happened. >> david mercer reports now from that village. >> reporter: rescue teams solely begin town earth what lies beneath a disaster zone. the mudslide is huge. and there seems to be little chance of finding survivors. here they locate the body of a woman, one of many they expect to find in the coming days. survivors say the mudslide hit without warning. >> i lot my never as nephews, grandchildren, the whole house is gone i lost my entire family they were baking bread when the mumudslide hit 67 the hill slide collapsed sunday, brought on by

tropical storm man well. tons of mud and rock collapsed burying dozens of houses more than 60 people are still missing. most survivors were evacuated to the shelter in nearby acapulco. although people are safe here, they say it's impossible to forget what happened. >> i never want to go back to that town it took way my mother and sister but need to go back to give them a proper burial. >> reporter: the government says emergency aid is ready to be delivered. more than 50 communities have been without food and without fore water fora week. washed out bridges and flood-damaged roads means the only way in is by air. but here, too, there are challenges. >> we are doing all that we can to bring much-needed assistance to the remote villages. the biggest problem that we face is the weather. >> reporter: on thursday, a rescue helicopter went missing in stormy conditions, two days

later it was found crashed with no survivors. but the operation will continue. and with help from the government, many communiques in need could recover. but for resident of here, their down no longer exists. david mercer, al jazerra, mexico. >> getting some breaking news out of pakistan where at least five people have been killed in a suicide bombing. let's go straight now to our croppedder joining us on the line from islambad. we are just seeing some of latest pictures coming out chaotic scenes people carrying children and trying to get way from the scene. what are you hearing about what's happened there at this site of the bombing? >> reporter: well, we have heard that this particular explosion took place inside the compound of a christian church, that church situateed in a very busy

part of the city. we are told that a suicide bomber tried to get inside the church and then detonated killing a number of people, wounding over two dozen as wom women. now at this take team all we know is that the secure forces are cordoning off the area. people are being rushed to the hospital. with he also know that this particular area has not been -- we have not seen any attacks against churches in the city, so it is indeed a deadly attack at a time when people were busy in sunday prayers. we also are hearing reports that the death toll may climb because a number of people who are wounded are in serious condition. the hospital facility iies are overwhelmed and we are getting reports that the target was indeed the church.

>> okay, we will of course cross back to you as we get more updates on that story. clearly it sounds as if the death toll at the very least will be rising thanks very much for the update on that bomb blast in the city. targeting a church in the northwest part of pakistan. russia says it could drop its support for syrian president bashar al-assad if he reneges on his commitment to detroit chemical weapons. chief of staff to president putin saying the position could change if it was certain that assad is cheating on giving up his chemical weapons. meanwhile, international investigators have begun reviewing information syria has provided about its chemical weapons arsenals, damascus has agrees to destroy its chemical arsenal under a joint russian-american proposal. the prohibition of chemical weapons said syria did meet the deadline to provide the detail s

by the end of saturday. ttwo he jeeps soldiers have egyn injured, 16 were arrested. including the man want today for aababu ayyub al-masrabductingsi. the body of a missing israeli soldier has been found in the west bank, it was found in a village well. it really officials say the soldier was lured there and have arrested a 42-year-old palestinian man in connection with the killing. in the united states young professionals often leave the countryside for cities in search of work and excitement. but an increasing number leaving urban lives behind and choosing to go rural. john has been to kansas to find out more. >> reporter: mike is the face of

the new counter culture. as millions of young americans trades in their small town roads roots for the city. bosh moved his web design company to the countryside. he's among 121 young people that formed a group called power up, they gone rural by choice and encouraging others to do the same across rural america. >> what we have done is created a network the 20 and 30 year olds and leaning on each other and saying what do you need to be successful in your town, what does your community need, how can we help. i believe that we have a moral competitive advantage. we have work ethic, that we are where a lot of the folks are coming off the farm. >> reporter: hits staff lives out that creed owe nearly all are under 40. but across the u.s. young americans are increasingly abandoning small towns in 1970 nearly a quarter of 18 to 29 year olds lived in rao*u rural bergs with populations of less than 2500 now 14% do. throughout the u.s., many small towns are dieing off.

and when young enough people leave they become ghost towns there are hundreds just like this across rural america. ashley is trying to change that. she runs a western fashion boutique in the aptly named down of our eek ourof eureka. >> i love the involvement that you have with your customers, you are busy but w you have the one on one first name bases being in a small community you get for know the people. i work in larger communities where the door swings and you don't get to know anybody. going rural mean countering the stigma of going home. >> some young people want to move back to rural if they have left, but their friends call them losers. it's a great place to raise their families. it's safe, there is no crime. there is family to help raise the kids, but also a young person is interested in making a difference. and you can do that in a small dowtown of200, 500, 5,000, morey

than you can in, you know, a big citiful. >> reporter: for the small towns, the difference they make can mean survival. john, al jazerra, quincy, kansas. >> a peruvian bishop has been removed from his post by the vatican because of allegations he sexually abused children. the former president of the country's bishops conference told local media that pope frances zero tolerance policy on child abuse was being implemented. he was dismissed in a poor region of southern peru. well, three-quarters of the people that live in afghanistan depends on agriculture to survive, poor roads and lack of infrastructure mean many crops never get to market. but there is one american nonprofit group would be to go change that. replacing land mines with grapevines. >> reporter: on the plane it's almost time to harv he have.

anharvest and this year there is a bumper crop thanks to a group that brought california grapes to afghan that. >> we want them to grow better crops and they double their income so it's a good deal. >> reporter: when the group came here 10 years ago they were growing grape on his the ground and dragging this em to market on burlap sacks, they taught them how to build trellises and prune the branches. >> it's good for us, with these trellises the grapes o are safe. >> reporter: before anything can be planted here, the ground had to be cleared of land mines. this whole area used to be the taliban front tpro*pbt line, ino be a giant bomb crater here it took week to demine the area toe these vines could be planted the problem is the brainchild of american whose organization has cleared mines all over the world. >> by removing the land mines

and planting the grape vines we are turning spears in to pruning hooks. it doesn't just hope farmers grow fruit it helps them sale properties, its built coal storage units and packing facilities. >> today with this market center and with the villagers containers and system, our grapes and the farmers are able to ex-part export from here to e market as well to indian. >> reporter: a nearby school was built or kuhn's daughter collected 50 million u.s. pen i so children wouldn't have to study under a tree. there were a few dozens kids then and 605 years later. the organization works with 50,000 farmer in all of afghanistan's provinces these are the lucky ones, only about 1% of farmer have access to cold storage so much of their crop will be sold locally at low prices or rot before it gets to market. kuhn and the 300 afghans who work with her, want the seeds of

hope they are planting here to flourish and spread. jennifer glass, al jazerra afghanistan. >> quick update on that death toll in pakistan, associated press news agency are saying 25 people are now dead. keep up with the latest on that story and kenya on our website.