>> more killings in libya. bombs explode in the east killing at least 45 people. i'm lye from al jazeera's headquarters in doha. also ahead on the program. [ sirens blaring ] al-shabab claims responsibility for a deadly attack in somalia's capitol. government officials are among the victims. ukraine remembers the victims of the protests one year ago that lead to the downfall of their president. plus -- >> i'm phil lavelle in los

angeles, a long way from russia and as this city gets ready for the oscars, find out why edward snowden is causing a stir on this side of the pacific ocean again. ♪ the somali armed group, al-shabab has claimed responsibility for two explosions in the capitol mogadishu. around 20 people have been killed in the attack including two government officials. the central hotel was the target. it is popular with somali officials because it's near the presidential palace. >> translator: i was in the mosque when the first blast went off. i escaped through the hotel's rear exit and saw a lot of people lying dead on the ground. i couldn't believe it i was shocked. >> reporter: a somali spokesman updated us on the situation a little while ago. >> the terrorist group al-shabab

has attacked a hotel, and then they [ inaudible ] in a mosque inside that hotel. so far we are trying to get the confirmation of who is injured and also who was killed. it is very clear that al-shabab [ inaudible ] the intimidation of somali and we are going to fight theater -- the terrorism. a blast took place in libya, 250 kilometers east of benghazi. fighters claiming loyalty to isil have reportedly claimed responsibility. hoda abdel hamid has more near the libyan border. >> reporter: now we know that a police station, a gas station, and it appears also the

home -- or the residence of the speaker of the dissolve parliament or, i.e. the parliament that is sitting in tobruk, the u.n.-recognized one, cuba is its hometown and he said speaking to some media, that this was in retaliation for the air strikes carried out by egypt in the eastern town of derna. it's make or break day for greece as euro zone ministers meet in brussels. they are expected to decide if they will grant the request from athens for an extension on their loan. john psaropoulos has the latest. >> reporter: the greek prime minister issued a statement saying that greece had done everything possible in order to present a proposal to european counterparts that will be acceptable, and he said he felt

that therefore it will be accepted. the concessions the greeks have made are substantial. the letter that finance minister on thursday sent to the euro group chairman says that greece will work within the flexibility provided by the existing program. a key phrase that the german proposal had included on monday. in that is now being borrowed and used in the greek proposal. the greeks are also promising to drive towards a completion of the current program. another key german demand. and the greeks are reiterating that they do plan to repay all of these loans in full but they do want to renegotiate the period of time over which that will happen. the greek side is hoping that by offering all of these concessions which are legal and political, and also by promising to allow monitoring inspections of the economy over the next six months, something that the ruling party here in athens had

promised would cease after the election, the greeks are hoping that with all of these concessions, the europeans will have the confidence to meet them halfway. diplomatic efforts to try to stop the ongoing violence in ukraine continue with the leaders of france and germany meeting in paris. both countries said the terms of the minsk agreement must be observed. the agreed ceasefire was to start five days ago, but has been repeatedly broken. ukraine has accused pro-russian separatists of breaking it dozens of times. >> reporter: in central donetsk, the sound of explosions varies in intensity, but never really stops all together. ukrainians and separatists have been exchanging tank and artillery fire. on thursday night, school 58 in donetsk took a direct hit from an artillery shell.

the school only reopened three days ago after repairing the damage from a previous attack. five times in the last six monthses this school was caught in the crossfire between the separatists forces and the ukrainian army. repairs have been made they just spent more than $2,000 putting new windows back in and waited until tuesday to reopen because they hoped that the ceasefire would provide some degree of calm. no one was killed but the sense of grievance is enormous. >> so much of our hard work. changed all of the windows. the money was collected by the parents of the children. we tried to bring the school back to normal but you see what happens they shell us. thanks very much poroshenko. >> reporter: hitting this school accident evenally could scarily be more counter productive.

the geography teacher has spent 20 years assembling the artifacts here. >> translator: the souls of my ukrainian ancestors are here she says. it was so beautiful and now they tell me i'm a separatists and a terrorist? it's unbelievable. >> reporter: helping the clearup effort are these 15-year-old cousins. they say they don't understand why this is happening. >> translator: we feel all emotions simultaneously but most of all we feel insulted. everything was normal and then they came and started shelling us. >> translator: the fact is by shelling us, the ukrainians are shelling themselves. >> reporter: a few streets from the school another of thursday night's shell strikes landed in front of this residential block. many residents had already fled other parts of the city. a few returned on friday to survey the damage. and all the time the sound of nearby shell fire continued.

>> translator: it's very difficult, when you come out to the street you are afraid. i tremble with fear. i'm scared of a shell landing next to me and tearing me apart. in all my life i never felt as scared as i do now. >> reporter: the experience only these people contradicts those who claim the battle of debaltseve has been the only significant violation of the minsk piece agreement. for now, the only lesson being learned here is that in ukraine, ceasefires work only on paper. paul brennan al jazeera, donetsk. and ukraine is marking the one-year anniversary of the event in central kiev's independence square when over 100 protesters were killed. these are live pictures from kiev, ukraine's capitol, where thousands are gathering to commemorate those who dies. the president had earlier been

addressing the crowd. the uprising toppled the former president and is part of a chain of events that had lead to the current situation in the eastern part of the country. jonah hull is in kiev in independence square also known as mydon, and he joins us from there. now, we know jonah that poroshenko had been addressing the crowd a little bit earlier. what did he have to say on this anniversary? ♪ >> reporter: well as you can perhaps hear the national symphony orchestra firing up. the president spoke a few minutes ago, and he had to strike a balance, really between the sad remembrance taking place in this square of these events exactly a year ago when all of the protesters were killed and so much help that came out of those i events in the mydone contrasting what has happened in the course of the

last year with war now raging in the east of this divided country. he spoke of a rousing remembrance for those who died for a united motherland and united ukraine, and the european future for this country, and he then very pointedly turned the tables on russia. he said that mydan now seems so symbolic of the first thrust of aggression of russia towards ukraine when it turned to president yanukovych against the e.u. trade agreement that he was to have signed. that of course sparked these protests. he said this has been a victory by the people against russia's first aggression the enemy then turned their tanks on ukraine. he then sounded positively like a wartime leader in a country, of course, that is at war. he said we are faced by a strong enemy. we are outnumbered, but we are

stronger because truth and god are on our side in a just war, and he said that was something that was recognized by the whole of the world, and the doors of the european union was still open for ukraine. >> this day one year ago some say was the bloodiest day ukrainians had seen in modern times. what has hand to those responsible for carrying out those killings? >> reporter: well there hasn't been a great deal of progress, in short. a long-running investigation is still running. no one knows really who ordered those killings, only two low-ranking police officers are currently in custody, facing murder charges. another senior officer was bailed. he fled the country. but the other suspects are thought to have fled to russia or crimea taking with them vital weapons the armaments and ammunition used and the fear is

they did so with the conniving of police officials. family members with dismay and disappointment, point to what they describe as an epidemic corruption in this country? law enforcement, in the rootsover government and the civil service. that the government despite its best efforts have simply not done enough to reform. it is entirely possible that there may never be justice for those who died here in mydan. >> jonah thank you. there's plenty more ahead on al jazeera, a new weapon in the fight against ebola, a rapid blood test is approved by the world health organization. plus -- >> i'm in istanbul explaining

why every piece of baklave must now pass a new height test before it is considered authentic turkish baklave.

>> start with one issue. add guests from all sides of the debate and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get the inside story. >> ray suarez hosts "inside story". weeknights at 11:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america. ♪ you are watching al jazeera's headlines, and at least 45 people have been killed in three car bomb attacks in the eastern libyan town. militants claiming loyalty to isil have reportedly claimed responsibility. somali armed group, al-shabab has claimed responsibility for two explosions in the capitol mogadishu. around 20 people were killed in the attack including two

government officials. ukraine is marking the one-year anniversary in central kiev independence square. the uprising toppled the former president, and is part of a chain of events that has lead to the current situation in the eastern part of the country. u.s. mill stair commanders are preparing iraqi and kurdish forces to recapture the city of mosul. the operation involving 25,000 soldiers is being planned for april or may. the u.s. will provide training and air support, but there has been no decision on whether they will provide boots on the ground. now mosul is iraq's second largest city which was once home to a million people. it has been held by isil fighters since last june. imran khan has more from bagdad. >> reporter: for the last month or so the ground has been prepared for an all-out assault

against mosul city itself. coalition air strikes have cut off a major supply route, and mosul itself and kurdish peshmerga forces have taken key bridge heads in preparation for this assault. however, getting 25,000 troops that's how many the u.s. say will be needed in place will take a while. also the iraqis from learned from the defeats they have faced against isil and they say they are much better prepared now to take on isil fighters. but there is a big issue, one of civilian casualties. in the places that the iraqi army has taken from isil fighters, the civilian population have fled. that's not the case with mosul. there are millions in the city of mosul itself effective lilyly being held by isil. so civilian casualties are going to be a very big issue for the

iraqs. the prime minister said we do welcome this help but we need to avoid civilian casualties. rival political factions in yemen have agreed on a people's transitional council to help govern the country. the u.n. mediator says it will help guide yemen out of its political crisis. it's the first break through to reconciliation since the houthi takeover earlier this month. thousands of people from myanmar's ethnic chinese haan minority are fleeing fighting in the northeast. an armed group which says it represents the people there is battling government troops. at least 30,000 refugees have already boss crossed into china. >> reporter: some 30,000 refugees are said to have fled across the border from myanmar into china during the last nine to ten days and many have come

here. they are being accommodated in what is normally a convention center. now some 25,000 are being accommodated here. they are getting water and food and shelter. but none of them knows how much longer they will remain here because the fighting is still going on across the border. now this is a very tricky problem for china, because the rebels who are ethnic chinese are fighting the army of myanmar. now, some of these rebels have appealed to china to provide aid, because they say we're ethnic chinese. but china has said there is no way that will happen. but myanmar is not so sure. a few days ago, a government minister said china should do all that it can to prevent chinese soil being turned into a base for terrorists to launch cross border raids into myanmar. that's the sort of language that

will engage beijing. china has always scoffed at notions that they will provide aid to the ethnic chinese rebels. it's worth remembering that a few years ago, china was probably the only friend that myanmar had. in that is a friendship that is now being tested here on the border wheen these two countries. the u.n. independent international commission of inquiry on syria has published a new report on war crimes in syria. let's get the details from james bayes who is at the u.n. james we know there have been several reports on syria in the past what is different with this one? >> reporter: yes this is the ninth report into human rights abuses in syria, and the situation continues to get worse and worse and worse. really is very grim reading. that really is not the key news though, out of today's report. the key news is the recommendations that come out of this report and two very new

things are being recommended by this commission of inquiry. in the past they said there really was only one route to justice, and that was to send the whole file of syria to the international criminal court. but there's a problem with that. only can you do that if the syrian government actually refers itself to the international criminal court. in that is not going to happen. or the security council refers the situation in syria to the court in the hague and that's not going to happen because russia is likely to veto. now a -- recommendation. an ad hoc tribunal which is a special court on syria, and that something that they are saying people should consider. and the other very important recommendation. this commission has been compiling a list of names of those it believes are the perpetrators, those who are carried out these war crimes crimes against humanity. it has compiled four lists and

is working on a fifth list. they are now considering reading them out loud and they say they were weighing the pros and cons but if they decide to do that, that announcement could be made when the human rights council meets in geneva on the 17th of march. >> if this list is currently being guarded with high security in a safe what are the implications if this list is made public? >> well i think it could change things a great deal because this is the main human rights investigation of the united states. it carries a great deal of weight. the human rights council set it up. so all of the countries of the world that sit on that council, and the wider international community tends to support this commission of inquiry. having said that there is one country that no longer supports this commission of inquiry, the

syrian ambassador making it quite clear that he believes this commission is tainted. i asked him specifically about this list of names and said was he worried that senior syrian leaders, including the president could be on the list and he said this was all an attempt to demonize his government. >> james thank you for making that clear. james bayes from the u.n. a new rapid test to diagnose ebola has been approved by the world health organization. the rest is easy to use, and results are available within 15 minutes. the current test takes between 12 and 24 hours with results, and requires a laboratory with specialized equipment. but the new test is less accurate. the number of people killed by the virus in west africa is approaching 10,000. just over 2,000 from died in guinea, more than 3,400 in sierra leone, and liberia is the country worst hit with close to

4,000 fatalities. well robin is a scientist at the world health organization, and she joins us from geneva. this is what she had to say. >> the process is that this test can actually be used quite close to the patient, as opposed to other tests that are commonly used at the moment in west africa. the test requires a blood sample to be taken, and this is usually -- it can be done either by finger prick, or by whole venus blood. and with a finger prick, of course this means that you don't need big equipment, you just need a safety set, and cotton and an alcohol swab. the blood that is collected goes straight on a little strip. so where we have cases where we know that there's a high probability that the patients have infection, but we need a test it will give us a very

good prediction of whether the patient has ebola or not. if we're investigating maybe a potential flair-up where there may be five people with similar symptoms, this test is going to give us again, a very good idea whether it's ebola we're dealing with or something else. ideally this test should be confirmed. in venezuela a major critic of the president has been arrested. the mayor of caracas is accused of being involved in a coup attempt. maduro says the supposed plot was backed by the u.s. another opposition leader has been in prison for a year. baklave is a nutty sugary sweet, loved not only in turkey but around the world. and now the government has introduced strict criteria for@

for -- at then tick baklave. >> reporter: this is one of the most famous baklava bakeries and cafes in istanbul. the dessert made with lots and lots of sugar. but some have been substituting pistachios with dried peas using vegetable oil instead of butter so the turkey standards institute has stepped in. and it has created standards for the perfect baklava. amongst other things it should have this nice golden top that you can see. it shouldn't they say leave a sore throat when you have eaten it. and it needs to meet minimum height requirements of 35 mill meters. so we'll test out the height. and yep, they are in fact a little bit more than 35

millimeters. and we'll give it a try. um. that is delicious. for me that is the perfect piece of baklave. the journalist who helped edward snowden explosion the nsa's mass surveillance program says she believes he will be able to return home one day. phil ittner caught up with her where her film about snowden is up for an oscar. >> reporter: a security services insider on the run with top secret information on the other side of the world. they love this kind of film at the oscars. but this is not fiction. "citizenfour" is up for best documentary this year. this is him, the man who infuriated the u.s. national security agency by revealing its

mass surveillance program. and this is his story from the start. >> we were given instructions where to meet. it was in a public area in a mall and we were told we should be there at a certain time and a man would walk by with working on a rubix cube. so that was the first meeting. >> reporter: the film shows snowden's caution as he revealed those secrets. here an intermittent fire alarm visibly spooks him. he knows his revelations will have repercussions. would he do the same thing again in >> he has no regrets. he wanted people to know what the government was doing, and i think he feels he has accomplished that. he feels that programs like this shouldn't happen in secret. >> reporter: do you still believe you are being watched >> you don't know those things

right. i have heard -- sources have said that my communications are lit up like a christmas tree. >> reporter: snowden's actions would change his life forever. going back home to the u.s. was out of the question. he fled to russia. >> i hope europe comes forward. he has a lot of support in germany. >> reporter: do you think he will ever come back to the usa? >> i think he will. i think he will. >> reporter: security around this film has been pretty tight. it was edited in germany because the filmmakers were concerned the fbi may turn up and take their equipment away. and the footage was held on highly encrypted hard drives. there have been attempted to block it. one to take the oscar nomination away. and against all odds it is here in hollywood at the oscars.

edward snowden might not be popular with everybody, but he's not going away any time soon. phil ittner al jazeera, los angeles. if you would like to find out more about phil's story or the latest news and analysis you can always go to our website. that's at aljazeera.com. afghanistan's future grows increasingly uncertain as years of foreign aid and intervention come to an end. in the jostling for money and power, competing forces are fighting for the wealth buried deep in the hindu kush mountains. that wealth is precious rubies which fetch a handsome sum especially when smuggled across the border. i'm steve chow. on this edition of 101 east, we look at the lives of afghan ruby miners who are risking it all chasing crystal dreams.