hat she was saying... >> crack in the system the battle rages on in the syrian city of aleppo as the u.n. envoy to syria heads back to the country with hopes of ending the fighting. ♪ ♪ i am jane cut and unyou are watching al jazerra live from our head quarters in doha. also coming enough this program. two al jazerra journalists are back in a cairo court for their retrial. security crack down in australia, prime minister tony abbott unveils new counter terrorism measures. and the winner is the oscars are hand the out in hollywood. we'll tell you who is taking

home a staff you he had. ♪ ♪ we begin in syria where rebels fighting the government of bashar al-assad say they have killed 300 of his soldiers in the past week. dozens more have been detained by the al-nusra front and other factions. assad's troops had captured the northern suburbs of a hleb owe in a surprise attack but within a day we were over run by the rebels. these areas are strategic because the government would have cut the main supply lines for the rebels in aleppo ending the siege on two main pro-assad villages. the u.n. special envoy to syria is headed to damascus to try to lens the fighting. he has had some assurances from the go of the that they will stop all arian bombardments on aleppo for six weeks a

diplomatic editor james bays has this report. >> reporter: this is the fourth time he has visited damascus since july when he took over the job of finding peace in syria probably the hardest task in global diplomacy. he has already received an initial commitment from president assad for a six-week freeze in aleppo, a it is special of aerial and artillery attacks in syria's largest city. but hasn't got agreement from opposition groups and in a recent al jazerra interview he said he knew many believe the odds were against the success of his initiative. >> my chances, i hope are not super slim because that would in a way also reflect the chances of the syrian people to see hope at the end of this time. but one thing i can tell them, the u.n. will never give up on the syrians. >> reporter: al jazerra has learned details of the plan, the special envoy will next travel to istanbul for talks with

opposition representatives. before the beginning of march. a small u.n. team is supposed to travel to aleppo. the idea is for a halt in all aerial bombardment and attacks using heavy weapons. of at the same time, they aim to completely freeze all fighting on the ground in one distribute in the southwest of the city. beam in a hleb owe have been suffering so much the hope is humanitarian aid can be distributed and the freeze can be extended. the special envoy has been working closely with the u.n.'s humanitarian chief. >> if he's able do what he would like to do, which is to deescalate the violence, that is good for us. because it means that there are more places that we can get to. he is trying to -- once that violence is deescalated to focus on trying to bring some normalcy to aleppo. trying get people to restart

their livelihoods. >> reporter: there has been nearly four years of war. about 200,000 people killed. here at u.n. head quarters, no no one is particularly oop at this mystic about the plan, but right now it's the only plan there is. james bays, at the united nations. in iraq u.s.-led coalition air strikes have supposedly killed 63 isil fighters east of mosul. isil has controlled the city since june when it made large gains across northern iraq, kurdish forces are planning an offensive to retake mosul with the help of u.s. strikes. egypt's president has called for joint or you arab military forces to point groups like isil. he defended his decision to launch air strikes in neighboring libya and accepted that up september people may be in egyptian jails. a matter he urged the interior ministry to look in to.

>> reporter: president abdul fatah el-sisi insists egypt doesn't want to invade aura it can other countries but he says he will use his armed forces to defends his nation. >> we launched an offensive against 13 targets subject today strict and accurate surveillance, intelligent information was gathered in secrecy and accuracy. >> reporter: egypt launched air strikes in libya last week after 21 egyptian christians were killed there by a group loyal to the isil. although sisi says great care was taken about the accuracy of the strikes, people in the eastern city say civilians were also killed. >> translator: there was no militant presence here. just families lived here. the family, the mother and their children were auld killed. it was a gentlemen who was also killed. there were about eight killed in the neighborhood in addition to four who are still seriously injured. >> reporter: sisi also talked about the neat for a joint arab military force to tackle the

threat of groups like isil. and he praised the leaders of some gulf states who offered to sporty i didn't want. >> translator: our friends in the gulf region should understand that we have all respect, appreciation and lover for them. >> reporter: egypt president also spoke about descent in his own country since the overthrow of president morsi in 2013, egypt has launched a massive crack down on the muslim brotherhood and supporters. many of whom are students. >> translator: a number of young people have been detained for expressing their views. i told them i don't deny that some of em will be innocent and in a few days time we will release the first batch of detainees. >> reporter: president sisi's highly staged managed address was to show that after seven months on on the job he's very much in control. critics say he i was quick to focus on what he regarded as the government a chief little but failed to mention some of the challenges facing his country.

al jazerra,. the coptic christians murderers in libya caused many other egyptian to his fear for their lives. more than a thousand have crossed the border back in to egypt or escaped to neighboring truetunisia. 1,200 people were blown in tunisia back to egypt on sunday. the retrial of two al jazerra journalists resumes in they just a minute capital cairo later on monday. they are accused of helping the outlawed muslim brotherhood. charge they deny. victoria gatens by reports. >> reporter: a rare moment of good news. day one of the retrial and the judge freed the men on bail with fahmy order today pay a security bond of just over $33,000. bahar mohamed didn't have to pay bail because he's an egypt citizen. fahmy gave up his egyptian citizenship to speed up his release. the men were free after 411 days behind bars. bahar went home to his wife and

their three children. he had missed the birth of his son while he was in jail. >> it's finally i am home. the children was different. it was like -- it was something different. as soon as they saw me they saw me on the stairs. they suddenly jump and we -- so i took them and start had you gone hugging them and we start praying and i think i start crying. and this is the first time and my children start telling me, stop going to work. don't leave again. you spent too much time at work, so don't go again, we want you to stay. >> reporter: meanwhile, mohamed fahmy returned home to his family and his fiancé. but their ordeal is far from over. the men stand accused of aiding the muslim brotherhood who was declared a terrorist organization just four days before they were arrested on december 29th. , 2013. in the months that followed, they stood trial along said their colleague party guest never who legal experts called a as far as. on june 23rd.

they were found guilty and sentenced to between seven and 10 years in prison. six other al jazerra colleagues were sentenced in absentia to a decade each behind bars. the global journalist community demanded their immediate release in a string of protests around the world. 2015 brought new hope on january 1st the court of cassation threw out the men's convictions and ordered a retrial. meanwhile diplomatic efforts to deport australian peter greste paid off. on february 1st after 400 days in jail he was sent home. he more than anyone aware that the campaign to free our two remaining colleagues must be louder than ever before. >> we have a platform. people have identified us with the cause very strongly. and you know, i think it would be' abrogated of our responsibility to walkway from that. i like to keep talking about it. it's important it's worth discussing.

>> reporter: effort today deport mohamed fahmy to canada have proved unsuccessful so far. now their fate lies again in the hands of the egyptian judiciary. victoria gatenby, al jazerra. houthi rebels in yemen have rejected a call to move u.n. brokered peace talks from the capital sanaa to aden. president hadi made the request for his first tv appearance after escaping house arrest on sunday. mohamed reports from aden. >> reporter: this is the first time president hadi has been seen since his escape from san all. he is shown on tv holding a meeting with the army and pro provincial government in the south. his statement left many questions unanswered. most importantly on whether he still wants to resign from office. but after this meeting. the governor of aden said. >> president hadi insists that

he will continue to carry out his political duties because he has an obligation to towards the citizens and voters in order to implement the transitional phase and the outcome of the national dialogue. >> reporter: the new element here is the call for government minister to his move to aden. which implies that aden will be a de facto capital of yemen for the moment. but hadi supporters are still asking him if he has withdrawn his resignation. his escape from house arrest dealt a blow to the houthi who had just agreed with their partner on his a road map that suits their goals, now the talks are stalled. >> translator: we are now talking about a president that's not legitimate. this is a president who count on the outsiders on the foreigners. this is a president who refuse today deal with the southerners and the southern is sensist movement when he have the sole can debt in the presidential elections, beyond what he is trying to accomplish by fleeing to the south and asking them for

helpful. >> reporter: point to go a real issue for hadi in the south historically is he has been seen as a southerner who failed to do much for the south while he held the highest office in sanaa. this means he may need to work hard to win back the hearts and minds of southerners before he can rule effectively from aden. hadi's escape from house arrest was received from he is tune that much from many parts of the country. many political parties and powerful tribes gave their allegiance to him. there is an element of frustration among those supporters because in their few his messages are still ambiguous and he needs to show more resolve. al jazerra aden. still to come on the program, dozens die after a firry capsizes in bangladesh raising new questions about the industry's safety. pakistan registers millions of prepaid mobile phone cards in a bid to prevent terrorist activities.

>> next sunday, the parents of captured american reporter austin tice. >> austin went missing in syria. >> campaigning for his release and maintaining hope. >> austin tice is alive. >> find him and get him home. >> a special "talk to al jazeera". next sunday, 5:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america. again here are the top stories on al jazerra. syria rebels say they have killed 300 soldiers in the past identity weeks they captured aleppo but within a day they were over run by the rebels. egypt as president abdel fattah sisi is calling for a joint arab military force to fight groups lie isil and has also defended air strikes in neighboring libya and acknowledged that sin sent people may be in egyptian jails.

houthi rebels in yemen have rejected a call to move u.n.-brokenned talks to aden. president hadi made the request in a tv appearance, and stressed that he is the country's legitimate leader. iran and the u.s. have held their highest level meeting in more than 30 years to discuss teheran's nuclear program. iran's foreign minister and the u.s. secretary of state john kerry med on the sidelines of a geneva summit. john kerry said significant gaps still remain ahead of the march deadline for ideal. iran's president rouhani says he's determined to reach an agreement. >> translator: it is not possible for a country to develop in isolation. no one can isolate us, but with that insight, we are likely to isolate ourselves. if we are united and move ahead wisely, no power in the world can isolate us. we have our position in the

world. australian prime minister has unveiled a range of new national security measures. tony abbott says they are part of a strategy to counter a long-term era of terrorism. the measures which follow a report in to last year's attack on a cafe in sydney include strengthening immigration laws and revoking the citizenship of suspected fighters. andrew thomas sent this update from sydney. >> reporter: in his speech, tony abbott says the threat to australia of a terrorist attack had never been greater. he said there are 400 high priority cases being looked in to right now and that that is double the number of potential threats that there were just a year ago. he said there are 90 australians who have traveled to the middle east to fight alongside islamic state fighters, those people could pose a threat were they to come back. and he also said that there have been two so-called terrorist attacks on australian soil since september last year. one an attack on policemen in melbourne and a sync in siege on a

cafe in sid any. he said too many teams benefits of the doubt have been given to individuals that seek to do harm to australia. and the balance needs to shift away from personal feed immaterial towards the community as a whole with that in mind he is announcing a rash of new measures, for example stripping of australian citizenship to people who have dual nationality, two passports if they are thought to pose a throat australians. he also said as well he is looking to ban group that his don't condemn attacks elsewhere that perhaps encourage in his words, attacks elsewhere. there is a group here which while not encouraging attacks hasn't been seen to condemn them enough and tony abbott said those groups could be bans and also called a muslim leaders to do more to condemn rad alism. >> i have often heard western leaders describe islam as a religion of peace. irish more muslim lead woers say that more often. and moon it.

everybody, including community leaders needs to speak up clearly because no matter what the grievance violence against innocence must showerly be a blasphemy against all religion. the he those comments are proven controversial. muslim leaders say they condemn all kind of violent attacks and to suggest she don't tars the muslim move i a is a had hole. members of al shabab have called for attacks on shopping malls in the united states, canada and europe. in a video message they urged muslims to attack the west including the large he have mall in the world in minnesota and europe's largest one. in 2013 al-shabab members attacked the west gate mall in nairobi. more than 60 people were killed. to ukraine where two people have been killed at an explosion

in a peace rally in kharkiv. the blast happened as thousands in kiev took part in a march to commemorate protests last year in which more than 100 people were killed. jonah hull reports from the ukrainian capital. >> reporter: in the eastern city of kharkiv not far from ukraine's conflict zone, people garth ford a peace march. then. a bomb blast more lives lost. the authorities are treating it as an act of terrorism they say instructed by russia. some will fear that the war in the east may spread further in to the country. in kiev, another march remembering the street protests a year ago and their victims. president poroshenko was joined at the head of the march by some european leaders and other lower level guests. it wasn't the turn out he may have hoped for after promising the crowds on friday that

presidents and prime ministers would attend. that the doors of the european union remain wide open to ukraine. and that there will be victory in the east. president poroshenko is under immense pressure, domestically the state of the economy and huge losses in the east demand a response internationally he's expected to hold the line in a shaky ceasefire despite repeated transgressions by the other side. for now many believe the president is doing all he can. >> i think he does his best. and of course there are different ideas what he could do better but i wish him good luck because it's very difficult situation. and if somebody knows what to do else let them go and do themselves. >> something more could be done, but he is doing his best in the circumstances in which our country is under different circumstances you can do this, you can do that, and history has

no if. >> reporter: the u.s. ambassador agreed that there is no real idea what will happen if the ceasefire fails. >> there is no reason why russia should feel threatened by a ukraine which is moving towards europe, which is developing higher standards of democracy transparency and governance. >> reporter: there is talk in your country of possibly arming ukraine against russia. >> it's the russian government harassed been engaged in this extraordinary campaign of aggression. >> reporter: the president showed his guests the captured armor and artillery that they say is material evidence of russian aggression on ukrainian soil. what he cannot show either the inter naginternational the community or his own people is a way out of the ukraine problems. the number of victims in a boat that capsized in bangladesh has risen to 69. it happened 40-kilometers of the capital. the country's shipping ministry has ordered an investigation.

joining us live from there, what have you found there? >> reporter: well, i spoke to the local fire inspector he has confirmed that they have recovered so far 69 people. however, he also said that there might be more missing. although not that many because nobody can confirm how many people were exactly aboard. he has been saying hundreds, some people saying 150. because none of the companies maintain traffic log in this overcrowded passenger boats. rescue teams work around the clock, it's an all too familiar operation. ferry accidents due to over crowding and did he if he can five ships have become commonplace in bangladesh, authorities have been criticize the. as news of the accidents spreads for the second consecutive day. hundreds of family members and friends gather long the river.

>> translator: our brother. i don't know where my son has gone, oh brother, he was just one year old. oh brother i love my son along with my wife. oh allow. >> reporter: earlier this month at least five people including a mine hor were killed whether an overloaded ferry capsized south of the country. local authorities. an investigation has been launched to find out how and why the accident took place. the exact number of passenger was not immediately known. as the ferry company does not maintain passenger records. officials here say as many as 150 people may have been on the ferry when it sank. >> translator: the ferry sank in the middle of the river after being hit by a cargo ship while crossing the river with passengers. about 50 to 60 people imagine today swim to shore. villagers also landed them think up until now the rescue teams

divers from the fire brigade and coast guards traced the ferry. >> reporter: both said the main form of travel in the rural areas which have more than 230 rivers that's why calls for the government to enforce tougher safety standards within the industry are getting louder. the rescue operation continues throughout the day since last night an all too familiar sight in bangladesh, passenger accidents here are common due to lack of enforcement of safety standards or managing the overcrowding passenger launches. the government has been criticized severely for not enforcing these and maintaining safety standards across the industry. only in last month at least five people were killed when 200 passenger loaded passenger boat capsized in southern bangladesh.

last august 50 people were killed when a crowded passenger ferry sank in rough weather. the government now has set up operation center here to find out about the missing person they have also set up an investigation committee to find out the reason for the accident. >> the shipping minister himself yesterday visited the area to manage the rescue operations. the number of passengers carried by this boat usually are hard to come by because none of the companies here manage traffic logs which is why it's very -- okay. >> okay, thank you for that. thank you. pakistan's mobile phone operators have until thursday to verify more than 100 million prepaid sim cards think the government launched verification scheme after a taliban attack on a school killed 145 people in december. over 70 countries around the world have made the registration of prepaid users mandatory. countries like afghanistan and china are considered the same

steps. nations including canada, the czech republic, new zealand romania and the u.k. have rejected the measure. in it's most recent report the association of mobile operators says there is no evidence of a lack of sim card registration increases the risk of criminal or terror i felt activityies. kamal sent this update. >> reporter: under the government's new action plan. the ministry of interior has made it mandatory that all phone providers within pakistan will have to reverify the sims that are issued to its customers. people who have numbers right now in pakistan will have to go show that identity paper, you can see people queuing across pakistan at the tariff company offices in order to insure that their phones are not blocked. after the deadline, any unverified sim will be automated blocked. the people will have to bring their national identity card.

they have to go through a biometric process. the government says that it's doing this in order to insure that these sims are not used to commit crimes and acts of terror in the past many of the bomb blasts have that have taken place in pakistan have taken place through mobile telephones. the government wants to now ensure that there are no loopholes left there. buff importantly it has to deal with 103 million sims. a hurricane you you can leanne task by any stretch of the manage. >> the biggest night in hollywood is over for another year. with ""birdman "taking the top prize. >> reporter: when the announcement came it wasn't much of a surprise, it was always inevitable that it would be either birdman or boyhood that took best picture when the director was crowned as best director minutes early that was an early indication, because best director and best picture offense go hand in hands.

as for best actor michael keaton did stand a chance, but in the end he was overtaken by eddie redmayne. his performance as professor steve hawking has been described as absolutely phenomenal in the theory of everything. his speech was slightly clumsy, slightly awkward you can tell he's just getting used to being in the lime line in a big way on the stage at the oscars but he was incredibly grateful and dedicated his award to the family of professor steven hogging. as for best actor it went to julianjulianne moore, it was universally praised so her inning was no surprise. patricia arquette took best sporting actress and took the opportunity to make a very political statement. she stood on the stage and demanded equal rights, equal pay for women in the united states of america. american sniper didn't do well. didn't get best picture or best actor for bradley cooper. that was a film on the outside but didn't do too well tonight.

brand budapest hotel did. it got a lot of behind the scenes awards like makeup and costume. in the end the academy did what it does, there were controversys about film made it and some that didn't. the academy pictured the pictures it wanted and ultimately -- six >> louisiana's bayou, 70 miles southwest of new orleans. this is the heartland of the native american houma tribe. and it's one of the most valuable ecosystems in the entire united states. >> we go to the bayous to provide for our families. everything's there...