on al jazeera america >> >> the head of syria's main opposition has been sacked. >> hello, this is the world news from al jazeera. >> passengers safe and hijacker arrested after an ethiopia jet forced to land in switzerland. >> washington expresses support for an opposition protest leader. >> the winners from the british film industry's top awards.

>> the head of the main opposition fighting force has been sacked. he was the head of the free syrian army, but had spent most of the last year outside of the country. more on that from our correspondent in istanbul. tell us about this one. >> yes, well, according to a statement made by the supreme military council, said it replaced the general with a brigadier. now, the brigadier used to head the f.s.a.'s operations in the israeli occupied golan heights and played a major role in fighting the assad forces during the syrian revolution. the statement also says that the decision to sack him was prompted by the effectiveness of -- ineffectiveness of

command. as you mentioned he spent most of his time outside syria and is the recognised face of the military struggle. everybody says he represents the moderate face of the fighting force in syria. however, nobody, given him the equipment to succeed - not the u.s., britain nor the world. this is one of the demerits against him by his fellow fighters inside syria, that he failed to give them promised weapons. >> something else i want to ask you about, i'll bring the viewers up to speed first, to do with the u.s. secretary of state john kerry, who urged russia to stop supplying arms. he said this in indonesia, blamed bashar al-assad for the peace talks in geneva. we'll read you a quote.

>> it drops barrel bombs. i regret to say they are doing so with increased support. russia needs to be part of the sol use, and so many more weapons. so if they enabled it to double down. how do you think it will be received. it's not a new position, but where are the russians at. >> well, the senior member of the syrian opposition says that he welcomed the remarks made by secretary kerry, however, he said that the americans or the u.s. in particular needs to turn their words into action, but they have heard statements way before - we are about to enter the third year of the syrian revolution, and everyone is accusing the russians of backing president bashar al-assad.

remember the chemical attacks last year, and then it was followed by a threat of military site. the americans and the russians prevented the regime from a u.s. strike. now everybody was hoping that the geneva talks succeeded. i don't think any of the remarks or statements made by the americans, nor by france and britain will change the russian's position because they are staunch allies of president bashar al-assad, and they are reliing on the iranian and russian backing, and trying to win more territory on the ground. >> that's the way it's been for a long time. >> thank you. we'll look at some other news. a man has been arrested in

geneva, for hijacking a plane. the jet landed safely in switzerland, no one on board was injured. the european traffic controllers confirmed that geneva airport is open for departures, at least. >> 23 soldiers held hostage since 2010, they have been executed. the taliban says it's in retall yags for the kill -- retaliation for the killing of its soldiers. a military source dismissed this as creating panic. >> president nicolas maduro is aaccusing them of conspireing against their government. they issued an arrest warrant. we report from caracas. >> time and patience are in short supply for these vepz , fed up with -- venezuela, fed up with nicolas maduro, and his

revolution. refusing to back down, they say they'll continue defying a government ban on unauthorised protests. >> there's a lot of division, but we have to be strong and not go into chaos or step into the boxing ring and fight against each other. >> even as they stood together some questions showed how united they really are. >> translation: we are tired of crime, censorship and people being killed every day. >> there is a challenge for the opposition movement, determining who may lead it. >> the widespread anti-punishment threw lopez into the spotlight, taking a hardline stance into the government. they helped organise the student

protest, which turned deadly. hours after police were looking for him, he sent out a video for his supporters, telling them to keep up the fight. >> we are on the right side of history, justice and truth. stay strong, don't lose faith. >> his growing popularity is a challenge to opposition leader enriquo lopez. the former presidential candidate called on the protesters to show restraint and called for calm. >> translation: we are losing our focus. we fought hard to get this far and try to get change in venezuela. we are taking a step backwards. >> with the two leaders with different views the opposition movement could be taking two paths. >> there's a division between the moderates and radicals. some believe the only way to fight is to build the majoroity

and election, others believe the only way to change is to move to the streets. >> opposition members intera on one thing - that they want to see a change in the government. with elections fist years away, the majority of venezuelans are supporting the president. it's unclear how it will make it happen. >> defectors from north korea told amnesty international how political prisoners are tortured, starved and murdered in hard labour camps. it comes as the united nations is about to publicly accuse the leaders of committing crimes against humanity. this has some of the prisoners disturbing accounts. >> it's a place that would make your hair stand on end. no words will help you to understand what this place is like. >> this woman spend nine years in a brutal prison camp.

>> translation: from sunrise to sunset you work, there's no set working hours. you get up at 3am, working until dark. she escaped the country, giving evidence to the united nations in the seen capital of seoul, for their year-long investigation into the secretive regime. according to a leaked summary of the u.n.'s report, it accuses north korea of torture, widespread abductions and murder. defectors spoke of external nation camps. >> translation: i escorted a father and son to camp 16. the relatives are sent to camp 11. that's called exterminating the fully generations of a family. i witnessed two killing methods, one is getting a prisoner to dig their own brave. the son is the prisoner comes into the office, is told to take

a seat. behind the screen are two people holding what looked like a rubber rope. it's wrapped around their neck. >> north korea has a guilt by association law, whole families locked up often with no knowledge of their crime. >> i may be the culprit but the other six members of my family were forced to go to the prison camp without knowing the charge. >> more than eight were at the commissions. many spoke of starvation. >> people got so hungry they ate anything from dog food, cattle feed and beans on the ground. i heard some peopleate them from animal dung. >> more than 200,000 were locked in camps. north korea denies crimes against humanity are taking

place. >> live to canberra to speak to a korean studies researcher at the australian national university. i believe you have spoken to a member of the commission that conducted the investigation. do you think that, or you, would be surprised by what is in the report. shocked, but not surprised? >> yes, indeed. just last week before justice kirby, a former high court judge left for geneva to present a report. first of all we discussed a number of issues which could open the avenue for this report to reach out to the north korean leadership, the issues of how can the report help north korean people, and how north korean people can learn more about the report. the question about the - how much surprise, how much the shock might be given to the

readers of this report and other rely difficult. the groups, particularly the activist grournings the human right -- grournings the human watch, they have been monitoring for a long time, not a year, but decades ago they monitored in north korea, the external nation camps, the massive human right abuse and abduction of sit dispeps from other -- citizens from other countries. >> that's the thing. the report will come out - can anything be done. the recommendation is to go to the icc. it's not blaming individuals. can this be acted on, do you think? >> that's what our discussion with justice kirby focussed on.

the whole government needs to be looked at holistically, and the problem is not just one country being nasty to its citizens, it comes in the legacy of colonialism in the region, the legacy of the war, the legacy of the cold war and the corian war, which has not been complete or ended. i believe that in order to address the issue of human rites in north korea first of all the korean war has to be ended. it's not up to one country. south korea, pyongyang must be responsible and beijing and moscow. tokyo and moscow need to look at the problem. whether they need to be

diplomatically rectified. this report is a perfect piece of research. the worst case intern would be to see the report shelved and collecting dust. the report must be used by the policy makers in a larger negotiations. plenty of things which north korea could take on board in improving human rights in north korea. proible more engagements. we thank you very much for your time. >> in the news ahead, 11 illegal miners are arrested. how many others are they hiding. we meet a man waiting to become

italy's next youngest prime minister.

>> so the top stories for you on al jazeera - the head of the syrian main opposition fighting force, the free syrian army, has been sacked. he'll be replaced by the person leading the faa operations in the golan heights. >> venezuela's president ordered the expulsion of three u.s. documents, accused of conspireing against him as anti-government protesters held

a fifth day of protests. >> a hijacked plane in geneva - the copilot of the plane was seeking asylum in switzerland, and surrendered himself to them. the copilot took control of the plane when the pilot went to the toilet. after they landed he - well, see that open i understand there, he came out through the window on a rope, and surrounded himself to the police. the original claim is that he was seeking asylum. that's the case. the flights are open out of geneva after it was closed. no passengers or crew were injured. >> that's the latest. >> let's look at libya. thousands of libyans gathered in martyr square to celebrate the third anniversary of the movement that toppled muammar gaddafi. >> monday marks the day on which protests began against the former leader.

the governments that followed failed to improve the security information as war-time militias operate independently. >> the revolution fervor is live. now it threatens to turn on libya's new government. >> we want our government to leave. they haven't done anything for two years. people who work for them, they ask them to go. >> after 42 years of muammar gaddafi, many libyans are unhappy with the experiment in democracy. >> the transportation system is bad, the health system is disfunctional at best. those things are the - that gets to the crush of the matter. unfortunately the general national congress have not been

able to remedy those matters. >> in the blifian capital -- blifian capital and across the country, the revolution is over. >> it's great that we can see peaceful demonstrations in a country where we had something like 20 million pieces of arms, of small arms in the country. we still see no shooting there. that's great. but my worry would be if it start, you can start the killing. but it would be very difficult to stop it. >> a surplus of arms and an unhappy populous makes for a volatile combination. >> the government combatted the state. militants attacked journalists. in november in tripoli, a militia fired on a crowd,

demanding they leave town, kiing 50. and -- killing 50. and last year they briefly kidd nonparole period the president. unity among libyans has unravelled. >> it's been three years since the revolution. this is what is left of the compound. home to the homeless. there are many who are happy to keep it this way, a fitting tribute to the leader. we have, the libyans, agreed to bring down muammar gaddafi. unfortunately, we did not take enough time to decide what to do after that or the kind of libya they want. we'll find our way eventually, provided that we keep the arms away. >> but with rising political dissatisfaction, and a kalache

ni cove in nearly every home, for libya security is beyond the horizon. >> four people have been killed in a tourist bus bombing in egypt's sinai peninsula. an israeli camera recorded the moment when explosives were detonated. three south koreans, and one egyptian are said to have died. >> many have been treated in hospital for serious injuries and no one has been injured in the apack. >> part of the accused are charged with having links to the group. peter greste, mohamed fadel fahmy, and mohammed badr have been held for 50 days, accused of having ties to muslim brotherhood. there's abdullah al-shami from our arabic sister channel, in custody since last august and is on the 29th day of a hunger strike since his detention.

al jazeera rejects all charges and demands the upconditional release of its staff. >> 11 rescued miners in south africa are facing charges. it's believed others are still hiding underground, fearing they'll be arrested too. from johannesburg, we have this. >> desperately trying to save lives, these workers were on a dangerous mission to rescue miners trapped in a mine shaft. >> at this stage rescue operations have seized on the site of the incident or has been handed over through to the mine securities. 11 minors have been removed from the site. they have been checked by the medical operations. in these cases what we worry about is severe dehydration. vital signs are table, from

there they have been moved through to police custody >> more people could have been trapped in the mine. illegal miners may be scared to come out, fearing arrest. >> industrial operations pded several years ago. the miners were 30km east of joez are. unemployment levels are high. some of the miners risked their lives to make ends neat. it wasn't enough to feed their families. >> the illegal miners entered the mines to find pieces of precious metal. this is the only way some can make a living. >> we don't know whether they steal more. those are the 11 people that we had there. >> mining is one of africa's biggest industries. workers brave unsafe conditions below the ground.

some are involved in organised crime. still illegal mining for some seems to be the only way to put food on the table. >> a meeting monday morning is expected to confirm italy's nest prime minister. it would be matao renz. >>, whichedly expected to ask to form a new government. we have this report from rome. a much-anticipated summoning to italy's presidential palace. the president will meet 39-year-old matteo renzi, expected to be appointed the next and youngest prime minister. a former buoy scout matteo renzi made his first public appearance in 1984. since then, luck seems to have been on his side.

he moved on to become tuscany's governor, if appointed prime minister. he'll be the third premier to be appointed by the president without a vote. he will have preferred to win elections outright, not until a new voting law is introduced. >> i think that matteo renzi betrayed the trust of electors. he disappointed the majority that would have voted for him. >> italy needs a young leader. i hope that matteo renzi is backed by the government. questions remain whether his youthful enthusiasm will win over the establishment. economists say he represents italy's last chance to recover. >> 234 some sense italy does everything, and trying a new generation is the last chance

for the country. even this chance - if it fails, probably they'll be left to believe there's no way out. >> if on monday. president asks matteo renzi to form a government, he's expected to receive the backing of the parliament by the end of the week. it's unclear how long another government appointed by the president can last before voters demand new elections. >> it's been a tight race for british films at the bafta awards "12 years a slave" the best film. but the best british film went to "gravity." the oscars take place in los angeles next month. phil la velle is with the stars in london. >> the biggest movie stars in the world need help staying smart now and again. hollywood's royalty were over

the bafta red carpet. there's your best actress, cate blanchett, a certainty for her role in "blue jasmine." prince william turned up to make this woman a fellow, who once won on oscar far playing his grandmother. >> "gravity" took best film and director. the entire cast, all two, are american. the movie is set in space, but it counts as a british film. here is? a. yes. >> it wasn't filmed in outer space. the fact of the matter is film making is an international endeavour. it happens that british film making involves talent from europe and both sides of the

atlantic. oprah winfrey is a famous woman, she missed out on best supporting actress to jennifer lawrence for "american hustle", best supported actor to a somali pilot against tom hanks "captain phillips", it was one of the four big hopes, with nine nominations to "american hustles" 10, and prizes for "12 years a slave", about a man abducted and sold into slavery. it took $30 million and five weeks in the u.k. alone. it missed out in numbers for prizes, it took two big ones. bafta's best actor, and this was the best picture. so that is is it for another year, the first if many where there was not one, two, but four strong contenders. will we have the same ruts at

the oscars, who knows. there's not long to wait. the academy awards take place in two weeks time. >> plenty more news online. head to aljazeera.com for the latest headlines. the video on demand, the live blog. you are in "the stream." we'll break down the trans trans-pacific tonight. ♪ our digital producer wajahat ali is here bringing in all of your live feedback.