heavy gunfire in a shopping mall as the military is trying to bring the standoff to a quick resolution. hello, i'm elizabeth with world news from al jazeera and also on this program. ♪ celebrations for merkel and she is short of an absolute majority in the german election. the 25 people are killed after

typhoon usagi slammed into southern china. and first there was hollywood and dolly wood and china is getting some show business glitz. ♪ there is an increase in military activity outside the shopping mall in kenya where al shabaab fighters have taken hostages and fire fire is heard in nie robe by and the army is trying to bring about the quick end to the standoff. so far the 68 people are known to have died. meanwhile al-shabab is threatening to kill people if something is not done and tell us what you have been seeing and

hearing. >> a lot of activity has been going on throughout the morning. we have been hearing heavy gunfire. and right now is silence. what is happening is there is a lot of military helicopters hovering around and some activity and we show a lot of military personnel moving around that area of about 200 meters behind me where -- [gunshots] those are more shots we are hearing and there has been gunfire in the last hours at intervals and we just heard some of the gunshots which shows really that this operation is really intensifying. i was listening to the military spokesperson earlier today who was saying they wanted this to end today. of course we will have to wait and see. but this operation is really

intensifying, elizabeth. >> and of course we could hear that gunfire and you are relying on -- aren't you, on what you are hearing because there is not much the military can reveal at this stage. >> yeah, that is very frustrating, there is not much. this is a security operation and this is a matter of national security and they can't really tell us much, just that the situation is going to be contained and people are calm and yesterday we had one briefing and we are waiting to see if we will get another briefing and we are just relying on what we are hearing and what we are seeing along this road. and we saw a military ambulance that was carrying a soldier who was injured. they suffered some losses as well. i understand that two military personnel have been killed. there are several injuries as

well. and of course the concern really is with the hostages that are still other people who are hiding there. i just received information that there are people who are hiding in a bank, in the strong room of a bank and we don't know if they are attackers and hostages and don't know if they are civilians hiding there, there are parts that are not secure and we don't know if people are hiding there. it's very difficult to verify the numbers, elizabeth. >> thank you for that update kathryn, we are joined from outside that mall in nairobi. let's take a look at how we got to this point and peter reports. >> reporter: from the moment the gunman launched the raid on the west gate mall shocking images of the attack are filtered out. now this footage is emerged of shoppers in the super market trying to kind cover among the aisles. panicked families called out to

one another as shots echoed through the halls. [gunshots] they dashed the exits as gunfire grew louder. a mother and her children were on the floor pretending to be dead and the man on the other side of the screen wants to kill them or rescue them. eventually he convinces them he is a police officer and guides them to safety. in another part of the mall police move from shop to shop searching for others in hiding, constantly watching for attackers and guide the survivors out, swiftly checking that none are fighters trying to escape and on day two of the crisis with 68 dead kenya's president stood with the former prime minister and told the nation that justice would be done. >> they shall not get away with their despicable and beastly acts.

like the cowardly perpetrators now call out in the building and we will punish the master minds swiftly and indeed very painfully. >> reporter: soon after the appearance activity at the mall increased. military helicopters circled low over the building and reenforcements moved into place and it was part of what the kenya military described as a major operations. >> most of the hostages have been rescued and taken to safety and that they have taken control of most parts of the building. >> reporter: the group of al shabaab said it carried out the attack in retribution in parts of samalia. >> unspeakable words in the hands of insurgents and they

have come in there with an objective that they wanted in the first place. >> reporter: outside the security court and the mall the desperate man confronts the police, his wife and child are still inside and he tries to breakthrough to find them before the police drag him back. it may be some time before this crisis can be declared as over. even when the military has finally caught all of the attackers and freed all of the survivors it will take time for them to go through the building and thoroughly search it and declare it to be at an end. and kenya will face hard questions about the preparations for an attack and al shabaab doesn't know what to expect from nairobi. >> reporter: security and terrorism analyst with global research and company and she is live from london. now it's very good to have you with us. you are a security and terrorism

analyst. is al shabaab going to negotiate with the kenyan military here? >> i would be really surprised if they did. if not really their mode and i think they will fight up until the end. and the risk of course is that they can possibly try and think of killing the remaining hostages and the fighting up until the end with the kenyan forces now in the building. >> so how does the kenyan military deal with a group that will not negotiate, how do they go forward here? >> it's difficult from of course the presence of special forces of other countries, helping the kenyan forces, trying to break the deadlock in this moment.

at this point in time the only thing that they can do is try really to close in, you know, around the militants and try really to possibly isolate them. but of course we don't know whether they are still together with the hostages and so that becomes really difficult at that point for security forces to isolate the hostages from the building and the militants inside the shopping mall. >> the fact the attack in the shopping mall could have been carried out, when al shabaab has been warning for years now of such an attack in kenya, do you think that the group has been under estimated? >> well, in resent years the group arguably suffered heavy setbacks in samalia and the

group may have been degraded but actually that has not been the case. the group has got thousands of fighters and most importantly they still got supporters and possibly fighters in there. but also in kenya because they actually have been able to recruit quite significant numbers of kenya nationals and somalia in kenya from the community. of course, their targets are shopping malls and restaurants and cinemas are soft targets and very difficult to secure. you can always secure the targets after a certain point and easy to do with government buildings and more sensitive targets. the kenya operations have got this very difficult task to try to control this but they were able for example and they were successful in constructing a similar plot two years ago to

carry out attacks on restaurants and this time around we will see the group succeeding. >> that thank you very much, and jane is janing us from london, thank you. well, as we already heard al shabaab threatens to kill if force is used and this is a recording released in the past few hours. >> come up and released him. >> translator: and he said the pressure and attacks coming from them so from this point forward they have permission an order them when they come under attack they take action against the hostages they are holding. >> reporter: other news and germany chancellor went to a third term in the elections and merkel will take over for margaret thatcher as the longest leader and won't 41.5% of the

vote and the best result in 23 years. the opposition of social democrats took just over 25%. and merkel's coalition allies to free democrats had a terrible night and winning less than 10% and no seats in the next parliament. the party had more cause for celebration and both taking more than 8% of the vote. let's go to our correspondent spicer who is covering the elections for us in berlin and how likely is a grand coalition with the opposition with a social democrat? >> well, we will be finding out a little bit later today, possibly, when merkel speaks to the media about how she will use the score in the federal elections and she may choose to keep the cards close to her chest and wapt wait until they

hold a congress on friday and they will talk about what kind of conditions they would impose on joining a grand coalition. there is another option which is a bit of an outside one is that merkel decides to align herself with the greens and invite them in a coalition and that is made possible by the fact that merkel decided to end the use of nuclear energy in germany and something the greens have long been calling for and something merkel decided to do in the wake of the fukushima disaster in japan. >> there has been fighting with the greens, there seems to be a lot of public support for a grand coalition but what kind of ativdvances would bring this ab? >> the grand coalition despite being something both parties did not want while campaigning does have some advantages and in particular for merkel. first off the social democrats control the upper house of

parliament which was not involved in yesterday's election. they would therefore be able to appro approve legislation paced in the grand coalition in the lower parliament and if she wants to pass a low she doesn't have opposition in the upper house because she is governing with the people who control the upper house as well. that is something that is helpful and it's also helpful to have the social democrats on board when it comes to meeting europe. when you look at the french president who has been kind of taking the opposite stance to germany in some respects to austerity and calling for more growth and efforts to solve the problem of youth unemployment and german socialists in government as well and they would no longer be able to sort of claim the mantle of leading european socialists. german socialists who would have a voice and be able to bring

that to brussels as well, so it would strengthen merkel in ways but you give up ministerial portfolios and compromises on what they want which is less austerity in europen more done for the working poor in germany and talks take weeks and eccgo and prestige involved and policy making involved. we will find out what the chancellor decides today and may decide not to say anything at all and this process will take a while. >> reporter: nick spicer joining us from berlin. coming up, on al jazeera, the years have been a symbol of booking a flight to new york and the united nations is in need of drastic reform. and from deep oceans to tropical forests the challenges facing scientists regarding a new

climate change report. ♪

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.

♪ good to have you with us, these are the top stories on al jazeera. the kenya military increased the presence around the west gate mall in nairobi and gunfire is heard in the past few hours. and the army says it's trying to bring about a quick end to the standoff. and the somali group al shabaab is threatening to kill the remaining hostage if force is used and 68 people are known to have died in the siege which entered the third day. and in other news the german

chancellor is returning to an office for a record third term with merkel. at least 25 people have been killed in southern china after a too foon usagi made landfall and the deadliest storm so far this year and winds 165 miles per hour and grounded flights and forced the closer of roads across the region. usagi has been downgrade to a tropical storm and scott has more. >> reporter: this is eastern china and this is a community that bore the brunt with severe typhoon came ashore sunday even and 20 were killed and 13 from the community and that is despite the fact that 250,000 people were evacuated and that included 8,000 fishing vessels brought on shore when they heard the massive typhoon was coming

ashore but this had the biggest with 13 dead and the storm continues to track its way west through china and the concern is less devastation like we see in this community and more about flooding and possible mud slides because of the infra -- infrastructure and there is concern about that but right now in communities in eastern china it's all about the cleanup. >> reporter: and a man shot by a suspected rebel and another was injured according to police in the market in the city and no group claimed responsibility. relatives in france of 81 killed in a suicide attack in pakistan gathered to bury the dead and it was after the explosives were detonated outside of a church on sunday and 100s were injured and

they took to the streets earlier in protest against the violence and we have more on those protests from pashalad. >> in pan stack there is considerable anger at the attack on the christian church in the city here. behind me you can see the protectors, they want justice and say that the government was unable to give them the security that was required. however, the attack comes at the time when the government was to initiate a peace dialog. that peace dialog may be jeopardized because of the incidents there. and the christian community comprises about 4% of the country's total population across the country. today you will find the christians persisting on the streets of all major cities in pakistan. >> reporter: now the next few hours a cairo court will rule on

whether to ban the activities and confiscate ethics and if the court rules against the group it will pave the way for people taking part in protests like these and large rallies have been held in egypt after the former president morsi was over thrown by the military in july. an israeli soldier died after being shot in the neck in the occupied west bank. israeli army is searching the area for the gunman and the prime minister responded with an order to permit settlers to move in a controversial building in the city and it contains the tomb of abraham and a site for both jews and muslims. the world's leading climate scientists are meeting this week to put the finishing touches to a u.n. report on climate change and the last report in 2007 established that the evidence of global warming was unequivocal

and said it was very likely to be the result of human activity and we report. >> reporter: from the sun's rays to the polar ice caps, from the deepest oceans to the vast tropical forest, it's a dynamic system and measuring changes to it and understand what is driving them is important and challenging. which is why every six years the u.n. brings together hundreds of climate scientists. >> this is the most comprehensive international review of the the climate science and what the reports have done is provide increasing evidence about the scale of the changes that human activity such as burning fossil fuels are having on the world's climates. >> reporter: authors are a mass of scientific research relating to climate change and 850 experts have been working on its 14 chapters and the document

comes in at more than 2000 pages and the last revision received more than 30,000 comments from contributors and as chapters focused on the atmosphere and clouds in the oceans and seas and looked at climate models and considered projections for long and near term change. the last report from the panel on climate change concluded that climate change is occurring and the emission of greenhouse gasses is likely to be the cause. a small number of errors were used by skeptics to cast doubt on the report and said it over played warming predictions, sea level rise and the role played by greenhouse gasses. the last u.n. report had risks to a broad range of human and natural systems. this report is expected to build on that, taking in more scientific data to give the

world's governments, businesses and citizens the best possible idea of what is happening to the earth and what is likely to happen in the years ago. al jazeera. >> reporter: and the president says he will attend the u.n. general assembly despite being wanted by the international criminal court on genicide charges but she didn't say that the united states granted him a visa yet. >> translator: attending the general assembly is our right. it's our right of the united states itself cannot do anything. there is not a single law in america that gives american authorities the right to take action against me. i've taken a permit all the way from here to morocco and from there to new york god willing and i already booked my hotel in new york. >> world leaders are booking the flights to new york for the annual u.n. general assembly which begins this week and it was founded after the second

world war reflect modern realities and james has been finding out. >> for 60 years this is where world leaders made their speeches the words of kennedy and kristofft reagan and others were heard in the room and now it's closed for renovation. this is the building where this year's meeting will take place, a conference room converted to a u.n. chamber and there are likely to be calls not just for the modernization of u.n. buildings but the whole system. when the united nations was first set up in the aftermath of world war ii the main power was given to the u.n. security council and it has 50 members but only 5 of them are permanent. only 5 have the veto and those countries were on the winning side when the war ended.

>> things are changing and should rise to the occasion. the system that was up at the time was a good one, but over the years things have changed and those realities should be incorporated. >> reporter: the u.n. system works when the five major powers are in agreement, but when they disagree there is deadlock for 2 1/2 years there has been no progress at all on syria while over 100,000 have died. observers say it shows all the flaws that exist in the system, one of those voices is a former uk diplomate who now advises the syrian opposition. >> one of the things i experienced when i was on the council was one group of people you could guaranty would not be consulted on what was discussed in the security council were the people most effect so iraqis or syrians, they represent the legitimate representatives would never get a chance to have a say

on what they thought the council and the world should do. >> leaders have been arriving in new york and there will be much talk over the next week about reform of the whole u.n. system but there is little chance of concrete progress on what so many people are much needed changes, james with al jazeera the united nations. >> reporter: and china's wealthy man is announcing a movie city to join his empire and we report on the star-studied launch in china. >> reporter: a splash of show business glitz of hollywood a-listers in the port especially for this event, the launch of the city's oriental and biggest event in history. >> i'm happy about that. she is very beautiful.

there will be more people coming here to make films and attend the film festival. >> reporter: the man behind the project is the richest tycoon who completed a 2 1/2 billion buyout of america's a mc cinema chain. >> translator: the cultural and entertainment industry is a higher level industry model and in the west it slowed down but china it's a sunrise industry that is just starting and we have great hope. >> reporter: the project which will incorporate 20 sound stages as well as hotels, shopping malls and an amusement park is seen as his biggest move yet into the entertainment industry and also seen as further evidence of the growing importance of the chinese market to the world's film makers and to make stars like nicole kidman to say high in chinese and more

red carpets leading to china's door in hong kong. >> the story and the rest of the news including much more on our top story of the siege in the kenya mall can be found on our website al jazeera.com.