>> these are the main stories we'll be covering this hour. >> thailand's military chief seizes power after political factions fail to break the deadlock. it's a 12th coup in thailand since 1932, a nationwide curfew has urfew has

beginning to go after.

>> a major break through in the city of aleppo. the siege of the jail by opposition forces. troops began by capturing the town of hilam, it's northeast of aleppo city. and it means that the president's forces are now within reach of costello road. and that links it to the northern countryside. in and around the prison, it means that asham's government will be able to cut off weapons to the rebels on the outskirts of the city and the turkish border. next to the prison, five miles northeast of the 50. in terms of the ongoing conflict, monitoring events from

nearby beirut. and the military balance in this conflict, which is over three years old now. >> on the one hand, the capturing of this prison, it has a strategic location, and it will help the government to cut off the rebel's ability to supply the weapons and more rebels and men. and at the same time, this has become a very critical battle. and it has been going on for 13 months. deadly crashes have been taking place for months now, and the rebels are adamant that they want to recapture the prison. they have held a siege for months, and they have tried to bomb it, and get into it with suicide bombs and into the compound. but they have failed. and one advantage that the government and the troops have had, the area of bombardment.

they have sentiment hundreds of barrels with explosives in and around the prison to prevent the rebels from taking it over, and now they have succeeded. the syrian army is in full control. the they are retaking many areas that the rebels have done so before. it's crucial to do that to give the next credential election on june 13 as much credibility as possible. now we go to the u.n., and the ambassador promises that his country is going to veto both sides of the conflict with the criminal court. and the french council is expected to be put to the vote pretty soon. live in new york, james, we're

expecting that resolution to be put on the table any time now? >> yes, in just under an hour's time, we know the outcome, and we know that the russians are using their veto for the fourth time. some estimates have 600,000 people dead, and they agree that a wide range of crimes in syria, but looks like the deadlock around the council table means that it won't be referred to the international critical court. we'll have to watch that when it takes place, and how other countries vote. is china going to join russia in its veto? i think that diplomats fear that it will. they have been watching this, because we have just had that

high level russian-chinese summit. and the ten permanent members of the security council. some of them are wavering. it will take place in an hour or so. >> we'll have the vote as it happens at the security council. on this news hour, living on the front line of a 50-year conflict. why people in this town are sceptical. plus, the crisis in the ukraine is hitting the big screen at the cannes. and one of the biggest stars may not make it to the world cup. all of the details coming up in sports.

preparations for egypt's elections are in full swing. they will be held on the 26th and the 27th of this month. now, this will be the third transition of power in as many years. >> in three years, first hosni mubarak. and it came to an bankrupt end. in three weeks, demonstrators in the square, demanding a change. and they got their wish.

mubarak stepped down, handing power to the armed forces. mohammed became egypt's temporary head of state. and he was the head of the armed forces. and it ruled egypt and then in 2012, the elections. muhammad was removed. and morsi was put in from the freedom and justice. the group had been banned but tolerated. and now it had to get a country which had been through an extraordinary revolution on tract. but it couldn't do it fast enough. a grassroots movement or rebellion formed. calling on president morsi to step down.

and on june 30th last year, hundreds of thousands of egyptians went to the streets to protest morsi. he was removed from office. morsi was arrested and the muslim brotherhood declared a terrorist organization. once again, the military was back in charge. and appointed an interim president. now the egyptians are getting ready to elect a new president. they can choos choose. now for everyone watching egyptian politics, the last years have been about change. no one is sure whether this election will lead to it stability. nicole johnston, aljazeera. >> the president of mali is calling for a ceas ceasefire ine north where separatists are reportedly resisting an attempt by mali's army to take control.

several soldiers were killed in fighting on wednesday. the renewed stress ends the efforts for peace talks with rebels, who want independence for mali. hundreds from nigeria have joined the search for the schoolgirls kidnapped weeks ago. armed with guns and poison spears, their mission is to rescue the girls. they were chosen by the government because of their knowledge of the terrain. flood waters have finally started to recede in the balkans. at least 51 people were killed. and many more made homeless by the worst flooding in history. aid into bosnia and indeed to serbia, is proving difficult because of bureaucracies at the border. >> reporter: left to fend for themselves, aid may be reaching

the larger towns, but here, hundreds of other small villages, aid is not getting through. the people are becoming increasingly desperate. she was -- she escaped with her life and now she has nothing. >> we need water, food and clothing, relost our house, we have nothing, we need help. >> locals have been arrive with diggers to try to clear. but here, it's the worst floods to het the balkans in living memory. it will cost billions to repair t in western serbia, two people died when torrents of mud ripped through buildings. in this area alone, hundreds have been made homeless. >> i started to cry, what else could i do? this is a catastrophe.

>> reporter: some of these villages will vanish forever, rebuilt elsewhere, away from the rivers. in many places, drinking water is contaminated, there are carcasses of dead animals, and mines from the war have been dislodged and could go off. in bosnia a family cat, believed dead, is rescued alive from the wrecked family home. >> so what does the weather have in store for these poor people? here's richard to tell us. >> you see from the shots, the good news, they have great weather for drying at the home. temperatures high, and the humidity is low. the question is how long is it going to last? currently, we have temperatures in the upper 20s across much of the area, in the whole of

central and eastern europe, very warm weather. and the humidity is low. how long is it going to stay like that? but if you look at the forecast, you see the low pressure over italy. and then additionally, dry conditions as we get to friday, and it will be fine w as we head to saturday, showers across the region. and there could be thunderstorms. isolated and very large rainfall totals, but nothing suggests anything more widespread at this stage. the temperature over moscow, it should be 19 and it's 33°, so very warm weather through tuesday of next week. over china, rain, 4-6 millimeters of rain in taipei, and they should get half of that in the month, and it has caused problems across the island and severe flooding is expected in the next 2-3 days. >> richard, thank you very much.

and now in chicago, police have arrested more than 100 mcdonald's employees protesting for better pay. they were rallying ahead of the vote by shareholders on executive pay increase. demanding an increase in salary from the current $18,000 a year. >> . >> the auction website ebay is ordering it's 145 million users to change their passwords after a cyber attack. an investigation is underway. >> wildfires, threatening 4,000 homes. high winds are fueling the fires in sedona. more than 500 firefighters are battling the blaze from the ground and in the air. people across here, choosing the next european parliament. this is the first since the

region's financial crisis. spain was one of the worst affected countries. it was on the receiving end of huge austerity measures from the eu. they said those spending cuts will lead to economic growth. 55% of young people can't find a job, and according to the charity, nearly 30% of spanish children live in poverty. from the capital of madrid, we have this report. >> at this school, the 10-year-olds have been drawing what they have seen their country going through. a man looking through the window at the restaurant. a woman shivering. and thanks to health in services, children sharing a sandwich. the parents can't afford to feed or clothe them properly. >> in the winter, you wear summer clothes, and then you can

they don't have the right material to be in the class. >> spending money on spanish children as it does on asia or latin america, this is what austerity has done. >> it was not taking place, it's not what we're working with. we're actually working with a segment of the population that's directly affected by the crisis. >> any school child has a fundamental contradiction inside of spain at this month. it has 30% child policy, that's the second worse in the whole of the european union. the only worst is romania.

corruption involving famous people. money hidden in swiss bank accounts. the prime minister wants his conservative friend to be the next president of the european commission. banks are reconstructed. and austerity is fierce in the money markets. >> thepologistses -- don't believe those who are telling you -- >> it doesn't pay to be working here. >> you cannot have growth by accumulating def set. >> for other reasons, it's two teams will play each other in the cup final. the thousands of spanish children being relegated to young lives. the joke is no one knows when

the elections will be. >> we continue with a sporting theme, coming up, the spurs take droll of the western conference final, thanks to french artistry.

>> welcome back, a reminder of the top stairs. taking control of the government, the coup is necessary to restore civility and order after six months of political deadlock.

the nationwide occur fee will come into effect in 90 minutes. >> china's president has promised to punish those behind and attack that killed more than 30 people, injured when attackers plowed two vehicles into a market and decimating explosives. >> south korea's military on alert after the military fired shells in disputed waters. no ships were hit in the exchange. let's carry on with that story. we can talk now. he joinses from the southwest having gland. thank you for talking to us again. two rounds ofar tilly fire that missed a south korean war ship. should we be alarmed? >> always potentially be alarmed. i wouldn't want to be complacent. i think north korean do know how

to shoot straight and fit missed, was done on purpose. vehicles crossed the disputed border, the northern limit line and fired shots at them. the north warned they will retaliate without warning. i think weaver seen that retaliation. >> 14 kilometers southwest of their disputed maritime border, close to the island of, which of course has already seen where some north korean provocative action, some would say actually went wrong and deaths ensued? >> yes, but i don't think they did go wrong. on the whole, that is all fairly calculated by both sides, which doesn't mean people can't recalculate. yes, you're referring to an incident, 2010 was a bad year, an incident in the same disputed waters where there are southern controlled islands quite near

the coast. sailors died when a warship miss citiously sank. the south blamed the north, the north denied it. shooting on the island, four people were killed in november of that year. the south didn't retaliate with full force, although that's now four years ago. the feeling in the south is that they put up with a lot from the north, so the worry is if the north were to go too far, the south might order an attack. still the word's most heavily fortified border, 2 million troops, slightly less on each side, counting on land. really, you don't want anything to go wrong. >> how would you assess the state of relations between the north and south today? however away are we from the relative golden days of the sunshine policy? >> we're a very long way away from that basically, the previous south korean

punishment, the first after the sunshine policy was quite hard line and the north responded in kind. the current president had actually visited north korea, met the late father of the present leader, kim jong-il. she wanted trust politic which for various reasons hasn't worked. the north is calling her names that i'm not going to repeat on a family radio station and in offering various things which they shot back in her face, it couldn't be worse at the moment. >> always good to talk to you. thank you very much indeed. >> at least 11 government soldiers have died in ukraine after pro russia separatists attacked an army check point. thirty others were injured when government opened fire in the eastern village. ukraine is due to hold presidential elections in three days. meanwhile, local volunteers are

forming military units that they call battalions in the eastern part of the country. we report now from the town. >> it's by the side of the road that they make final adjustments before starting the operation of the day. they are heading to the regional council with a new man in charge. the men in black as they're known here are part of the battalion, a recently formed militia that fights pro russian separatists in eastern ukraine. >> they are voluntary important, because people are worried. they will protect the regions and districts during the elections so people can vote in peace. >> this group of volunteers say it's feeling the vacuum left by police who mean feel have offered little more than mild resistance in the wake of pro russian takeover of government assets. >> they forget they gave an oath to this country and its people.

if they don't execute it, they should leave the police. they are traitors. >> the site of yet another group of armed masked men on the streets is worrying many here. >> the next stop is the city council where they'll talk to the mayor. the mission is to make sure that the upcoming elections go on with no disruption. >> the mayor monitored them storming the building. when they entered his office, he seemed to welcome them. it's not always so smooth. after a short drive, we reached the town. here, the mayor gives them a frosty reception. he's accused of being pro russian and comes under attack for not allowing a pro unity rally, something the men in black won't tolerate anymore. the battalion has had some success since it was folder,

taking check points from the pro rugs and handing them over to the ukrainian military while they continue operations to keep ukraine united. >> maybe the government is busy with something more important. i don't know what it could be. >> battalions operate with the tacit acknowledgment of the government in kiev. >> the iranian president has indicated that a final with world powers over it's disputed nuclear program could be reached before the july deadline. he has met his chinese counterpart. western nations accuse iran of trying to build a nuclear weapon, but it insists its nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes. >> the result of sunday's

presidential election in columbia could be detrimental to peace talks between the government and farq rebels. the polls so far predict defeat for cantos and it's feared his rival could freeze negotiations. we visited a rebel strong hold where locals are doubtful about peace brought expects. >> heavily armed soldiers walk past remains of a car bomb meant for the nearby police station. colombia's 50-year-old armed conflict has attacked almost every armed wall. at the local school, the youngest are used to hitting the floor when the shooting starts. >> since we're so close to the military barracks, we are caught in the crossfire when the army and rebels fight each other. >> in this town where the

majority of indigenous colombian, people distrust both sides. edward was a child when the fighting started. his home looks normal enough, but recently, he took drastic measures to protect his family from the bombs and mortars. he has built a bomb shelter, a bunker under his house where he, his children and wife come to seek refuge, safety along with their neighbors. thirty people fit here. there are toys for the children, books for the adults to read. that's because when this town is under attack, it could last for as long as three days. >> yet like so many here, he is skeptical about the peace negotiations with the farq. >> the problem is that the war in our country is not just about bullets. it is caused by hunger and need and if the government doesn't invest heavily to solve the enormous social needs of people here, we won't have peace.

>> she last her father to the car bomb and since no town needs peace more, yet. >> personally, i don't think there will be a peace agreement, because while the rebel bosses are negotiating in cuba, the rebels keep attacking. that's not peace. >> perhaps it's because there have been so many promises broken so often by both sides that even here, where peace is needed most, skepticism is far stronger than the belief that colombia could actually be free of war. aljazeera, colombia. >> trusted community members in the united states have been arrested in a crackdown on child pornography police in new york seized computers and videos. we have the report. >> the arrests are part of what federal investigators call operation kyrene.

among the suspects, police officers, paramedics, nurses and a rabbi. >> these crimes are hideous and reasonable people cannot fathom such depravity. >> some possessed videos numbers in the tens of thousands, featuring sexually abused children. district attorney of new york stanton island makes it clear there's a big difference between porn and child porn. >> pornography is usually between two consenting people. those videos featured defenseless children being repeatedly raped and or sexually assaulted by adults. they are nothing more than videotaped trial screens watched by predators. >> according to prosecutors in and around new york, the arrests include a youth baseball coach and boy scout leader. some of those arrested are accused of seeking to abuse, as well, including the one woman arrested who allegedly produced

videos of her own young son. >> the arrest represent five week's work for homeland security investigations, the nypd and other agencies infiltrating peer to peer file sharing networks for people who apparently often hide in plain sight, but who secretly possess, and distribute explicit image little of children on the web. >> the investigation widened after the former police chief of mount pleasant new york in january. he has pleaded inning to federal child porn charges. the latest arrests were carried out mainly in new york city and surrounding suburbs. hundreds of other arrests around the country are expected to follow once agents examine the data from the 600 computers, tablets, smart phones and laptops that they seized. aljazeera, new york. >> the italian navy rescued more than 100 children from boats off the coast of sicily.

they were among around 500 migrants trying to get to europe to seek asylum. the italian authorities say many were from sir yes and african countries. >> more to come on the program, including the blackhawks slip up on the road to defending their stanley cup crown. we'll have the details.

>> now inroducing, the new al jazeea america mobile news app. get our exclusive in depth, reporting when you want it. a global perspective wherever you are. the major headlines in context. mashable says... you'll never miss the latest news >> they will continue looking for suvivors... >> the potential for energy production is huge... >> no noise, no clutter, just real reporting. the new al jazeera america mobile app, available for your apple and android mobile device. download it now >> the two remaining presidential candidates in afghanistan are resuming their

campaigns for the run off voted next month after failing to get 50% of the votes to avoid a runoff. more than 3,000 election staffs have been fired after being accused of fraud. we report from the afghan capitol. >> preparation preparations for afghanistan's presidential runoff are well underway. these workers are prepare to go seal ballot boxes for delivery to polling stations across the country. there are more than 12 million eligible voters for the june 14 poll and coordinating votes at 20,000 polling stations will be a final logistical challenge. a political analyst warns that's not the least of it. >> the situation is very unpredictable. as i see it, we are hearing a lot of indications that taliban are going to disrupt this round, security may be the first

challenge and the biggest challenge. >> last week, the taliban began it's so-called spring offensive, marking start of the fighting season. the group has threatened to disrupt the poll, describing it as fake. >> the only option for the afghan people for the organization in afghanistan, this election, but we know that probably the taliban and some other insurgents try to sabotage the forces. we know that too, the people of afghanistan want to conduct an election in afghanistan. >> others are not so sure, although a record number of ballots were cast in april, the increased threat of violence ahead of june's runoff mean voters may stay home on polling day. aljazeera, kabul. >> time for the sports. >> we start with football and

one of the potential stars of the world cup could be out of the whole show before a ball is kicked. in uruguay, the top striker injured his knee. he is believed to be having keyhole surgery to repair meniscus damage. he could be ruled out if there are complications. the second world cup game will be against england who have begun in portugal. manchester united striker wane rooney is determined to shine in the tournament, following two disappointing campaigns in germany and south africa where he failed to score a goal. >> he realizes what a good player he is. he knows that really as in england, the nation places faith

in him. he knows england if not the rest of the world's eyes are on him and he will try to do the best he can to make certain he brings out his best qualities. >> nba now in san antonio secured their second win against oklahoma city to take a 2-0 lead in the western conference finals, the spurs were out of site by the fourth quarter. tony parker hit 22 points for top scorer on the night. danny green sunk seven three-pointers as the spurs ran out 112-77 winners, game three is on sunday. >> we had some key stops and pushed a ball, got two big threes from danny and on the second quarter, gives and you say boost and third quarter, we just kept making stops and pushing the ball and got some easy lay ups. >> tony, he runs the engine for

us. his aggressiveness and ability to find people both at the same time really keep us aggressive and active offensively, and defensively, he worked very hard at it. >> we got our butts kicked, but we have a good opportunity to come back and win game three. we have to play a well balanced multiple effort 48 minute game to beat this team, but it's very possible. it's not something that we have to play special, but we're going to have to play better. >> now to ice hockey, the los angeles kings have made it one game apiece in their nhl western conference series with the chicago blackhawks. the defending stanley cup champions took a 2-0 lead in the second period wednesday night. from then on, it was all downhill. l.a. came back to win it 6-2

with jeff carter scoring three goals. they become the first visiting team to win in chicago in this year's playoffs. game three is saturday night in los angeles. >> at some point, they're going to lose a game at home. they're not going to win every one. the only difference, they played better in game one. it's goals against, three against them, you're in trouble. >> i really liked how we played for 38 minutes, doing everything we were looking to do. they got a little momentum at the end of the period, scoring a big goal for them in kind of an innocent play and gave them some life and you know, took a couple of. thes and both in their net and that was it. >> nine months after the nfl was forced to pay a $760 million settlement for down playing the risks of concussions, it faces another lawsuit launched by retired players who say they were illegally given pain

killers so they would play through injuries. the suit from eight former nfl stars seek compensation for long term injuries as well as financial losses, pain and suffering and monitoring of future medical expenses. the league is not commenting on the lawsuit. >> nfl intentionally over drugged their players to get them out on the field when they were hurt and shouldn't be playing, and they used drugs to mask the pain. they hid severe injuries from players in order to get them on the field. they put profits before players. >> that's a cricket and a thunderstorm halted the one day national between england and sri lanka. england made 101 for two before 20 overs for lightning. torrential rain came down. this is the first of five

one-day internationals. >> check out our website for all the details. >> thank you very much. i want you to explain to me and the rest of the world what a meniscus is? >> using my vast medical knowledge, it is basically the bit of cartilage that keeps the knees together. >> he really knows. thank you very much indeed. lots more to come, of course, here at aljazeera, including despite being in the midst of political conflict, cinema is helping to build bridges between russia and ukraine from the cannes film festival with that we report. >> it's been a place for protests, now it is fueling film. what happens in kievs independence square has filled news bulletins for months, but news like this if if i es cine, too. the movie is being screened at

cannes film festival, an important place to tell an important story. >> i believe what happened in ukraine teaches a lesson to the whorl world. the people paid with their lives for freedom and dignity. >> there are four ukrainian movies on show here this year, different titles, different directors, same story, same goal, sell the rights to show the films, get them out to a wider audience. there's a slight problem in doing so. cash, or more to the point, a lack of it. >> this is number 102. this is the official ukrainian residence here in cannes. the government in kiev spent the amount of money it's spending on the film industry. all of these countries have their doors open, trying to grab people, looking for business, trying to sell their films. the ukrainian office, this place has got absolutely nobody inside. it's locked up. it's been like this for much of

the time. this office can only open on a part time basis. >> supporting ukraine, they have -- >> up the road, russia's sales office is open for business. the feeling in cans is that the two countries are friends. last week, russian film bosses came by to say hi and had ukrainian flags to show solidarity. >> ukraine is a very important market for russian companies and vice versa. everybody is expects one political issue will stop. >> conflict and reality are two of the big themes at cannes this year. ukraine's hope is that the reality of conflict will bring the crowds in.

aljazeera, at the cannes film festival. >> much more to come here. don't go away.

>> more american troops are heading to africa to finder the kidnapped girls. the republicans might be able to skip the minority vote and still make it big in the mid terms. how colleges could be hurting a new generation of graduates. an rawnan video ha iranian video, celebrating happiness could be anything b