>> tech know. >> we're here in the vortex. only on al jazeera america. >> heavy shelling in eastern ukraine, despite a ceasefire between government forces and separatists. hello, i'm sammy, you're watching al jazeera live from doha, also ahead as aid agencies provide a life line for thousands in gaza, the palestinian president accuses hamas of running a shadow government. >> president obama accused of backing away from immigration reform a disease which affect young and old in nigeria.

why doctors are hopeful of a breakthrough. a ceasefire between ukranian government forces and separatists has been breached. a government checkpoint in the port city of mariupol came under fire overnight. it's the first serious violation of the truce declared on friday. harry fawcett has this report from mariupol. >> reporter: it took a little more than a day for ukraine's ceasefire to go up in flames. this was the result of a heavy assault on mariupol, closer to the center than anything that came in the proceeding days, when pro-russian forces swept in from the east. what is clear from the event of the last couple of hours is that the ceasefire is over. what we did see was a deal of damage inflicted on ukranian forces, positions around the area. it could be that the russian

backed forces are trying to make the most of that. earlier the ceasefire appeared to be holding, allowing a view of what hours earlier had been a battlefield. it was a battle waged amid the villages of this territory. brought to the doorstep of a kinder gatterb, this is one of three tanks that took up position here. >> translation: how can the ukranian army, our defenders hide in a kindergarten. there was no warning. what if there'd been children inside. the heroes hide in the kindergarten. where are they now. they have left us to our own destiny. >> reporter: a lesson for the children who won't come back soon, children who feel sick when they see a soldier in a street. a tank is split in two a few streets away, and soldiers

guarding more mangled metal. nearby, a no man's land. many families decided to get out. the rumours were more shelling was coming. given the power of the onslaught a day earlier, the fear was understandable. this was one target. late on saturday they salvaged a field gun and took it back to town. it was a sensitive operation. seconds after we filmed the images, the soldiers fired shots to warn us away. it is clear they had every reason to be jumpy, the enemy making the most of their losses. mariupol under greater threat of falling out of ukranian's hands. harry fawcett is live in mariupol. what is the situation now. has it quietened down again?

>> it has for now. we are standing where we were, reporting overnight. and where you saw the pictures of the flames around the area - what we have seen is reinforcements really, or soldiers regrouping around the checkpoint which came under attack. the city hall says one soldier was injured in that attack, and there were tanks in the checkpoint further down the road behind me. we saw them for the first time around here, fanning out, taking up defensive positions in some of the trees around here and cops cess. there is concern that more fighting could come their way. we spoke to residents close to larger apartment buildings. they were terrified when the artillery came in. a man drove past saying "it's

war." >> i guess no other signs of a ceasefire, or the terms of a ceasefire implemented right now. >> not right now. we are waiting for a reaction from some of the key players in all of this. petro porashenko, for one, the president of ukraine. vladimir putin, the president of russia. we did get a statement overnight. while shortly after all this happened from the leader of the donetsk people's rub lible, the self-pro -- republic, the self-proclaimed area around donetsk, and the prime minister saying that the ceasefire had been breached and the fighting continued. also on the twitter feed, saying they had taken mariupol. all of that leads to the suggestion that what has been happening here is qualitatively different from the minor breaches we saw in the earlier part of the ceasefire. the question is how both sides react to this. whether this jeopardizes the process, and it's back to

fighting generally, or whether they can, at this late stage come to an arrangement to stop this fighting in its tracks once more. >> harry fawcett there from mariupol. thanks. >> now, the iraqi army says it's launching an offensive to retake the haed iffa city and dam. it's targetting islamic state fighters. u.s. air power is believed to be involved. kurdish peshmerga forces in iraq have he taken control of a stratagic hill top. the mountains fell in june with fighters pushed inside the kurdish territory. the syrian air force launched attacks on the golan heights, on the syrian site. it reportedly did not enter the demilitarized zone. rebels from the al qaeda allied

al nusra front took control of the area last year. government forces in syria launched air strikes. they left 25 people dead. this video released by the rebel fighters is showing the aftermath of the attack, part of an offensive by the is group occupying large parts of syria. a french journalist held hostage by fighters in syria last year says one of his captors was a man suspected of a deadly attack in brussels. >> it's been kept secret for a long time. afterrevelations in the french press, he has spoken out. >> french journalist held captive says a gaoler was number of amouche. he was accused of shooting dead

at the brussels museum. >> translation: after the arrest of namouch, i was shown audio documents allowing me to identify him. the way the legal authorities decided to keep this secret. >> a reason for this was when he and three others were freed, a number of hostages was left behind. he is one of a small number of french fighters, a forerunner, supervising dozens in aleppo. >> namouche was fierce. >> namouche mistreated me. i don't know if he mistreated other hostages, but i heard him torturing other prisoners. >> namouche was arrested in france and extradited to belgium. the lawyer that represented him

says he's surprised by the latest allegations, saying the question of namouche travelling to syria was never raised. >> there was no question of the role he played as a gaoler. it surprises me. if this is the case, and with people's lives at stake, why didn't someone ask the question. >> namouche is facing trial. a belgium judge is due to rule on his detention at a hearing on friday. now, palestinian president mahmoud abbas is accusing hamas of running a shadow government. mahmoud abbas wants a single authority and system of rule. he's critical of the way hamas manages gaza and signalled out execution without trial. >> are things falling to pieces between mahmoud abbas and hamas? >> it seems that tension between the organizations is ratcheting

up. we had the statements from mahmoud abbas - very, very strongly critical of hamas, supposedly the new unity partner. what is happening in the west bank is an arrest of a large number of hamas supporters. a spokesman claiming more than 30 have been rested in the past week, amid rumours that hamas is plotting a form of a coup. certainly the context, the atmosphere in relations between hamas and fatah is serious. the comments made by the palestinian authority president aimed at a warning shot across the bow of hamas, intent on forcing them to hand over a greater degree of control within gaza. >> all etcanada.can/coming as m seeks arab support. what does that mean for the

plan? >> the plan is dependent on getting a large situated of arab support behind it. only in that will it have integrity and authenticity. israel has virtually rejected the plan out of hand. there has been no reaction. source are are making it clear it will not ply. the u.s., it's understood, that the palestinian negotiator had a meeting with the secretary of state, and the u.s. unhappy with the plan. mahmoud abbas needs the widest arab support to get a traction behind the plan, and critically he needs the support of egypt. the relationship between egypt and the palestinians open to question at the present, due to the regime change within egypt. the support of egypt for the plan is the critical factor for mahmoud abbas. mike hanna there from ramallah, thanks for that. still ahead - backing down.

why the u.s. president has delayed his immigration reform. >> the pigeon sat on the branch reflecting on existence. few critics understand what it's about, but a surreal movie from sweden takes the prize at the venice film festival.

welcome back. let's recap the headlines. the ceasefire between the ukranian government and

pro-russian separatists have been breached. the government checkpoint in mariupol came under fire in the first major violation of the truce. u.s. and iraqi army helicopters are striking islamic state fighters around haed eacha, trying to -- haed eacha, trying to protect the security of the dam. it provide water to millions, and is the second-largest dam. mahmoud abbas accused hamas of running a shadow government, critical of the way it runs gaza. >> palestinians in gaza in desperate need for humanitarian release. israel destroyed much of the strip's infrastructure during a month-long bombardment. what remains can't be repaired due to limited supplies. >> delivery runs like this are as crucial now as they were in

the war. aid agencies are providing a life line for tens of thousands of people. this is drinking water that is filtered and safe. those returning to damaged homes, when the water supply is working, there's no electricity to pump it to tanks and wells. gaza's only power station was hit repeatedly by israeli shells. its fuel store and treatment plants was destroyed with generate and turbine damage. full repairs will take a year, and a temporary fix will offer a fraction of the power needed. before the war, it only had the capacitity to give gaza 60% of its power. some of the shortfall made up by supplies in israel and egypt. >> it's a kat as trophic situation before the law. right now it will be more severe. >> without a power supply gaza's

sewerage is untreated. the coastline is polluted with outlets like this, pumping out raw sewerage 24 hours a day. aside from that there's a health risk from bomb damage to sewers. this area was filled with raw sewerage, singing deep through the sand. nothing could be done to repair the pipe, or to treat the sewage for a whole month. there are fears that under groundwater supplies for a highly populated area may have been contaminated. >> talking about what leaked into the aquifer. taking resources, and contamination of resources. >> reporter: that is one urgent need of any. the fighting may have stopped. little else changed. people have no option, but to try to cope with the hardship.

an egyptian prosecutor charged deposed president mohamed mursi with endangering national security, accused of leaking state secrets and sensitive documents to qatar. qatar offered egypt financial support during mohamed mursi's tenure as president. he was toppled in a coup led by abdul fatah al-sisi, who has become egypt's president. mohamed mursi faces several other charges. >> al jazeera is demanding the release of its three journalists who have been detained in egypt for 253 days. peter greste, mohamed fadel fahmy and baher mohamed have received long sentences after a trial seen by moan observers as politically motivated. they are appealing their convictions, and the u.n. secretary-general raced the case with the egyptian president. qatar's government confirmed its

security services detained two british human rights researchers. they went missing seven days ago while researching living conditions for nepalese workers. they are accused of breaking the law. qatar is criticized for its treatment of the construction workers for the 2022 football world cup. the foreign military released a statement saying: al-shabab named its new leader, after the former leader ahmed abdi godane was killed in an air strike on monday. he will be replaced. aid workers say a 3-day lockdown in sierra leone trying

to contain the ebola outbreak will make the situation work. doctors without borders warns that the lockdown could help spread the disease, because new cases will go unattended. the shutdown will make is easier to chase suspected cases. >> they may be right in what they are saying. they are talking about it from security point of view. looking after the sick. they are caregivers. what we are more concerned about is the social mobilization. 0.02%, 1,000 people have been affected by this. we have 5 million, 9,999,000 people who are not affected. these are the emergency, the ones we must keep safe. 40 million in nigeria, a quarter of the population, are at risk of going blind. they threatened with a disease that can be contracted by

fetching water from a river. this report from northern nigeria. >> reporter: this is a village deep in the jungles of northern nigeria. it has lush corn fields, concealing a village full of blindness, a disease that blinds victims. children leading the blind is a common site. this 50-year-old is a victim of the blindness. >> translation: what hurts me most is i cannot work or help myself. i'm at the m.e.r.s.ry of others. i want to do much for others. i can't. >> also known as river blindness, it's a leading cause of pleasantable blindness. >> it called river blindness, black fly, it breeds along the river banks and bites people as they draw water or do their watching. 130,000 people are believed to

have been blighteded by the disease. >> river blindness caused disruption for the community. many children are forced to drop out of school to care for blind relatives. >> the disease has been a curse. you see young men and women wasting away. they are so weak they cannot form or work or earn a living. as a result agricultural production dropped significantly. >> drug administrations programs are under way to stop the river blindness, for those with a chance to regain site. >> we have come far. there's a lot of people at risk of the disease, not only do they get the drugs to treat them, they are donated free. they are getting treatment. we begin to see good signs. >> government, aid workers and individuals are dedicated to the

same active. elimination of the centuries-old scourge. more heavy rain forecast in pakistan, where blooding killed over 100 people. the pakistani army is using helicopters and boats to evacuate people from the affected areas. 50 relief camps have been set up. council pours are causing some of the worst flooding in decades. more than 4,000 homes have been destroyed. >> in indian administered kashmir, floodwaters are receding to guard against water born diseases. firefighters are battling wildfires in the u.s. state of california. 700 home owners have moved to safety near yosemite national

park. emergency crews say a quarter of the blaze has been contained. activists are accusing u.s. president obama of reversing a promise to reform the immigration system. 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the u.s. in july, republicans blocked a bill to ease the log jam of citizenship applications. in june president obama said he'd legislate any. it's likely to be delayed until after elections in november. [ chanting ] >> reporter: for months immigration activists marched in protest at what they say is a lack of political will by the white house, to make a decision on what to do with the more than 11 million illegal immigrants living in the united states. it's a problem that has been getting worse as thousands in central america showed up in recent months at the u.s.

southern border. most arrived without parents, saying they were fleeing drug-related violence in their country. the white house rah asked congress for billions to deal with it. they got a fraction. >> i expect the recommendations before the end of the summer, and intend to adopt the recommendations without further delay. >> it was a pledge reiterated last week. friday, as the president spoke at the close of the summit. he said a decision was coming. >> i will make an announcement soon. >> reporter: on the flight back to washington president obama changed his mind and says he will not act until after the u.s. congressional elections in november, to ensure republicans don't poll it size immigration reform. >> i will act because it's the right thing for the country.

it is sustainable and more effective if the government understands what the facts are, what we have done on children and why it's necessary. >> fear of votes is a likely reason to cause a delay. members of the party are at risk and could lose control of the senate. >> you have democratic candidates for the senate, worried about keeping their seats. they have been getting through to the white house, saying "don't do anything", hold on, wait a few months. if you act, we could be doomed. >> activists are disappointed with the decision, saying this is not about politics, but people. >> more than 60% of voters know someone who is not documented - family or friends. we are experiencing in the flesh the effects of making this a political football which has been done so by both parties at different times.

>> that inaction will continue. white house officials say immigration reforms is not likely to happen before the end of the year. >> well, the legacy of the late venezuela president chavez took on a religious tone since his death. the lord's prayer was rewritten into an owed and read by a socialist leader. the archbishop denounced the rewriting as a profan itty. the counter venezuela president nicolas maduro has defended the rewrite. >> translation: the bishops have not given up on the love for hugo chavez. they cannot overthrow hugo chavez. they want to persecute the people's spiritual love. that's the truth. >> a quirky movie from sweden has won the top prize at the venice film festival.

as phil lavelle reports, describing what the film is about is far from straight forward. >> reporter: they love a surprise and something random at venice. >> a pigeon sat on a branch reflecting existence. >> reporter: this is the reaction as the golden lion winner was announced. this was the press area. look at all the journalists and critics clapping, even though few understand what this film is about. a pigeon sat on a branch reflecting on existence touched people here. few get it. the plot is completely surreal, but it is beautifully shot and many rooted for the dark comedy and are happy. >> it's great. so funny and so clever. the pigeon is the point of view from which the pigeon saw our legal existence. >> also a good night for this

film, the postman's white night taking the silver lion. best director - for a half drama, half documentary set in a secluded part of northern russia, a place that hasn't moved on from the soviet union past. "the look of silence" tacking the grand jury prize sh the only documentary. a raw look at the indonesian mass murders of the 1960s. the film has been well received here. >> reporter: so the world's oldest film festival wraps up for another year. it was not a shock result. it was a feel-good result. the film that critics loved took the top prize. many admit they couldn't follow it. this was a more subdued festival than last year. fewer came, less money was spent. many leave with smiles on their

gayses is a few be -- faces and a few bewildered, puzzled looks. many wondering what it was about. if you want more on the stories you know where to go - aljazeera.com. see the front page with the lead story on the situation in ukraine.