♪ german parliament giving overwhelming approval to extension of greece's bailout. ♪ you're watching al jazeera live from headquarters in doha and also ahead, the search for lost lives, a grim recovery operation in northern afghanistan following an avalanche which kills around 200 people. iraq's heritage destroyed, i.s.i.l. fighters smash priceless statutes dating back more than 2000 years. and the hong kong maid abuse

case and a woman jailed six years for mistreating her indonesia domestic helper. ♪ just within the last few minutes the german parliament has overwhelmingly backed a four-month extension of greece's bail out program by international creditor, the yes vote was expected after chancer angela merkel ruling coalition with similar opposition parties voiced support for it. more on that in a little bit right here on al jazeera. but moving on to other news nearly 200 people have died in an avalanche in northern afghanistan, homes, schools and mosques were buried in the northeastern province of panjshir and soldiers and volunteers are desperately searching for any survivors but

deep snow and remote location are hampering efforts and the risk of more snowfall is raising and nicole johnston is in panjshir with an update. >> reporter: the government of panjshir say there are dozens of villages they cannot contact at the moment and isolated villages high newspaper up in the mountains and down in panjshir and estimated 200 families un unaccounted for at the moment and they have tried to reach the areas and helicopters in but unable to land and have seen a large convow of 600 vehicles from afghan security forces entering into panjshir today and already 1,000 troops in the area trying to clear the main road there is only one road in panjshir which is a big part of the problem. afghan security forces are also hampered by the fact they don't have all of the necessary equipment that they need or the

expertise. afghanistan's president asraf ghani will be visiting the area and the government is under a lot of pressure to try and do something and try and help the situation and get supplies to people who desperately need it. panjshir is an area a lot of the political elite in kabul come from and that is putting extra pressure on the government. i.s.i.l. fighters seized control of a bridge which links two cities in iraq the seized bridge connects haditha and baghdadi by a u.s. and iraqi base and reports said 20 iraqi soldiers killed in the battle u.s. allies saying the total is lower. air strike killed civilians and more and this is a attack in western iraq and hospital staff say 9 civilians and i.s.i.l.

fighters killed and i.s.i.l. commanders among killed. a masked man threatening to be head westerners in iraq and syria shocked the world and now identified as a kuwait born british citizen from london his name is mohammed emwazi lawrence lee reports. >> reporter: by the time the reporters turned up at the mohammed emwazi family home in west london they were long gone the police had already been around and reports emerged their son was a murderer and you can understand why they didn't want to be there. >> we donated 100 million to kill our women and children to destroy the homes of the muslims. >> reporter: some weeks since the american security services said their voice recognition software helped them identify the man who the newspapers called jihadi john a slightly ridiculous sounding name with a man involved in be heading several captives and aid workers and journalists, people who could not defend themselves and

who had not gone to fight. he became the aims of an organization which tore through iraq and syria as much of the world looked on in disbelief. inevitably the question is being raised as to what if anything the british security services knew of mohammed emwazi but neither they or the police would comment. but this organization which routinely hears complaints from muslims about their lives in britain did know mohammed emwazi and told them he repeatedly was harassed by security services and blocked him from returning to kuwait where he was born the man who knew mohammed emwazi described him as a beautiful person enraged by his treatment of british authorities. >> this is a problem we have here we have created here in the uk an environment which the security agencies can act with impunity and destroy the lives of young people without any recourse to being able to challenge them in an effective way. >> reporter: to add to it all

cage linked him with michael the killer of the british soldier lee rigby a man angered because of experiences at the hands of british security. they say they can't talk about specific cases but their efforts to maintain safety in the uk are always proportionate to threats. whether or not the security services here did try to stop mohammed emwazi from returning home to kuwait from london they certainly seemed to know who he was and the question is how dangerous they thought he was because after all this appears to be a successful young man far removed from the stereotype of the isolated loser apparently at risk of radicalizing influences. >> well educated as well and chimes with a lot of the research we have done in terms of looking at the profile of people who go to syria, overwhelmingly they are educated and social mobile people and knot

knot -- not coming by bad backgrounds. >> reporter: this is mohammed emwazi and until he takes the hood off it won't be known for certain and his parents don't believe it's him but that is understandable, lawrence lee in london. a man described by prosecutors as one after al-qaeda early leaders convicted of conspiracy by a court in new york with involved in the u.s. embassy bomb ings in kenya in 1998 which killed 224 people and prosecutors saying the saudi arabia was one of bin laden closest age, 13 people arrested on charges and the suspect including four women were involved in a killing of four policemen near the algerian border and estimated 100 people arrested in the last three days as part of government's antiterror initiative.

duma the rebel held suburb east of the capitol damascus under siege for two years, almost 300 civilians died because of food and medical shortages during this time. and in the first week of february alone more than 100 lost their lives in what is the heaviest air attacks by the government and zana reports. >> reporter: she was just over a-year-old and died of malnutrition and not the first victim in duma the rebel held capitol of damascus under siege by government forces for almost two years, during that time activists say 264 civilians died, 188 of them children. >> translator: we couldn't find medicine. we couldn't find milk. and when you do it is very expensive and we cannot afford to buy it. >> reporter: people are not only dying of starvation duma has been a battle grounds for years and much of it has been

raised to the ground. duma is 7 kilometers northeast of the center of do damascus and it's under siege and the first in the area of damascus to see anti-government protests and four years later it's main opposition stronghold surrounding the government-controlled city. in the first week of february 100 civilians killed in what was described as one of the heaviest aerial attacks on the city that lasted for days. but he survived but wife and 7-month-old daughter didn't minutes after he left the house government aircraft targeted the neighborhood and the sustained and intense air campaign was in response to a rebel attack on central damascus. >> translator: on that day my wife was staying home alone because of air strikes and she took my daughter and i went to her sister who lives next to us and led them there, a few minutes later i heard the plane

and explosion and came back to the house to see it destroyed. >> reporter: some people in the opposition did question whether causing civilian casualties in damascus had military or political benefit and he was not one of them and blames the government for targeting civilians and despite losing his family and home he still believes that the struggle should continue i'm with al jazeera, beirut. returning to that breaking news from berlin and german parliament's approval of greece bail out extension crossing over to berlin and bringing in nick spicer to talk about approval nick, was it expected? >> it was expected and it was massive, 542 votes in favor, 32 again with 16 extensions and those nay and hesitant voices coming from angela merkel the democratic union for a large extent the german finance minister and driving the hard

line agenda with athens over these past years said it was time for greece to realize that it had to convince the financial markets, not germany that it was able to continue achieving competition without any kind of external support. it was up to the greeks to realize the standard of living and minimum wage and other european countries was actually lower in other parts of europe and that they needed to achieve some kind of reform if they expected solidarity from european countries and germany approving the extension here and this is the last hurdle for it all to be approved to go forward for the new greek government. >> speaking of other european countries nick how will this all play out with brussels? >> well i think it will be greated with an sigh of relief and this is what the european union leaders want to see happening. i think it's worth pointing out this is not just the sort of

fiscally conservative part of the country and it's the countries going through rigorous bailout programs and spain and portugal when it received the second bailout and in germany it's worth pointing out despite the majority 1-5 germans wanted parliament to vote this way, there is serious bailout fatigue evening though there is no money on the table here and athens has to go hand and hand with brussels and convince german it will be an up hill battle for angela merkel to persuade them. >> nick spicer reporting from berlin you are with al jazeera and plenty more ahead including we will tell you where these

ethiopians are thriving but the locals are not too keen on them and we hear from cuban american belly dancers of what they think of the cuban and the u.s. cozi coziing up to each other.

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♪ the top stories on al jazeera within the last hour the german parliament has overwhelmingly backed a four-month extension of greece's bailout program by international creditors and yes vote expected after chancellor angela merkel ruling coalition

and smaller parties voiced support, 197 people are confirmed dead in a avalanche in afghanistan, more than a thousand soldiers are helping in the search and recovery operation. a court in hong kong sentenced a woman to six years for an i bruising her maid and the victim erwiana solistyaningsih has come to judgment but insists more reforms are necessary, her former employer was convicted of 18 charges ranging from assault to not paying wages, high-profile trial and we have more from hong kong. >> reporter: six years in prison for law-wan-tun and the judge dismissed her claims by her defense attorneys that she was a good wife and mother and that her obsessiveness with the cleanliness of apartment which

led to the way she treated her domestic maid was only because of a skin allergy being suffered by her son. the judge said there was enough physical proof to substantiate erwiana solistyaningsih abuse and virtual slavery at the hands of law and guilty of a previous hearing of 18 of 20 counts and relating to erwiana solistyaningsih and another maid. during the sentencing mrs. law kept her head bowed showing no obvious reaction in what was a packed courtroom. this is a case that has gained international attention, many media were inside the court and advocates and erwiana solistyaningsih herself and there for the original judgment and had come back to hong kong for sentencing and came out of the court to give her reaction to this case. she has said in the past that she might at some point be able to forgive mrs. law but in the

meantime wants to see the maximum sentence passed on her, in passing sentence the judge said this case could have been avoided and further cases like this could possibly be avoided if domestic workers had greater legislative protection in hong kong and erwiana solistyaningsih is a focal point for not only a campaign in support of her but also the rights of migrant workers and a third of a million migrant workers mainly in domestic service, cleaning apartments of hong kong people and mainly from indonesia and philippines who groups say they are almost treated as second-class citizens. >> reporter: 15 people missing after a boat sunk of the coast and 19 people are said to have been on board that vessel including 16 suspected illegal migrants and state media saying four swam to safety from mainland china and strong currents are hampering rescue operations. bangladesh a blogger known for

speaking out against extremism is murdered in the capitol daka and yet to say the suspects over the death and we have more. >> reporter: bangladesh born american bloggers hacked to death last night at daka campus and the wife injured in attack and no one knows what is behind the attack but his family is saying that religious fanatics behind the attack and a prominent blogger writing for a decade about religious fanatasism and when the attack took place at the campus during an annual book fair rally there were police and on lookers there and crying for help but no one came across for help and under the banner here which translates

to mass people surprising are gathered her to protest and to demand the government to arrest attackers. they said they will continue to protest here until the attackers are arrested. this comes at a critical time in bangladesh with serious political unrest going on and gunman no doubt will be under serious pressure to quickly apprehend attackers. the indian government released the annual economic survey and says growth will be 8% and saturday they will release the annual budget and they rely on the government to fund the massive food aid program and we report. >> reporter: for as long as he can remember he has sold most of the wheat he grows to the indian government but he worries his son won't follow him in the family business because politicians are talking about changing the state-run public distribution system he says if

the government decides to buy less grain it will ruin him. >> translator: the farmer sector will be destroyed, we are an agricultural economy, 70% of people here are associated with family, if 70% are broken they become defaulters. how will the country operate? >> reporter: the government feeds hundreds of millions of people buying food at a set price from farmers like him, food is a sensitive issue in india and states like pinjar and talks of the scheme makes political allies nervous. >> translator: we have given them time and if they will not implement changes by the previous commissions and roll back the food scheme it will be dangerous for them and the country. >> reporter: india's food aid program is said to have cost the state $20 billion a year and 70% of the population benefits from it the public distribution

system is considered by some economist as a huge burden on the economy. faced with opposition from disgruntled farmers and political allies the government will have to act discretely as it decides future cost of action but not everyone is willing to wait and some farmers thinking creatively and moving on. and he moved on a long time ago and it has been 15 years since he decided to invest in high-tech farming methods and earns hundreds of thois a year by selling high-quality produce and farmers need to adapt if they want to survive. >> translator: a farmer is happy with the profits and increasing land but not finding ways to live in a market and if he doesn't go to standards he will be left behind. >> reporter: he says he will not completely withdraw schemes like the public distribution

system that support the poor but to prepare for the future and farmers here may have to grow through innovation to remain profitable i'm with al jazeera, pinjab. ten people killed and nine others injured after wild elephants rampaged in the eastern western gulf state and people in the area say the elephants seem to have been in search of food and they caused severe damage to homes in the process. a team of rangers has been tasked with leading the animals back into the forest. u.n. is condemning destruction of iraq's ancient history by i.s.i.l., priceless statutes some more than 2000 years old have been smashed to pieces director of the mosul museum has confirmed the new video with men with sledgehammer and saying it's genuineagain genuine and they called for emergency meeting on attack over iraqi heritage.

>> destruction of artifacts as we are seeing in iraq today is reprehensible. it is also in violation of the latest security council resolution we have just seen resolution 2199. the director general of unesco just asked the president of the security council to convene an urgent meeting on this matter so that the security council can address the destruction of artifacts. as you know when history is destroyed, you also destroy the future of a country and fuel sectorism and fuel more violence robbing the millenial culture of iraq puts its future at risk. a growing number of people from tomorrow ethiopian roma tribe are going to another region and say they are being marginalized and persecuted back home and we report where many are trying to set up new lives despite a crack down by security

officials. >> reporter: the message is clear, they are not welcome. somali soldiers willing to enforce this with force if necessary. every vehicle entering this town is searched for migrants drivers bringing migrants in risk jail time or a hefty fine. >> translator: most of them come by foot because most vehicles refuse to bring them here, and we deported many of them and we will continue sending them back we cannot call for reduced number of migrants. >> reporter: these men told me the threats of deportation will not stop them from trying their luck. and this is a performance to get here along with ethiopian migrants he found a job on the farm also owned by ethiopian. >> translator: i chose to move here for security reasons and found a job, this is my second time coming back here and i went

to find work and was deported i'm staying here. >> reporter: this neighborhood is ten years ago and this part of the city was exclusively inhabited by somalis and today it's not only home to thousands of ethiopian migrants but restaurants and shops. many migrants help boost the local economy some local leaders want to see them deported. >> translator: we are not happy with their presence and brought problems in terms of help and don't know what health issues they may have and brought criminals to this town like people smugglers and putting pressure on the job markets. >> reporter: and this is not home but he is not going anywhere soon he will have enough money to bring wife and children mohamed, al jazeera, somalia. in mexico a mass rally has been held to mark the five-month anniversary of disappearance of 43 students and there were some

scuffles between protesters and riot police to the end of the protest in the capitol and mexico attorney general says investigators are certain the students were killed after police handed them over to a gang. a truck driver strike in brazil disrupted food for the past few days and blocking roads in nine states and demanding a cut in diesel fuel prices and means milk, fruit and vegetables are not reaching supermarkets as part of negotiations the government offered to extend a year of free financing for vehicles, a group of tourists in peru after flooding caused a foot bridge in the ruins to collapse emergency workers built a temporary pulley system to rescue the group. diplomates in u.s. and cuba will meet for a second time on friday as they move to normalizing relations, in a historic breakthrough in december the two sides said they would reestablish embassy in the

countries but there is skepticism with renewed hope and andy talked to two belly dancer whose defected to the u.s. ♪ this is the brandon city ballet in central florida, a small dance company with big ambitions. the autistic director martin wants to bring ballet to the masses and dancers like torez only here four month, the 23 year old came to the u.s. alone and most of his family is still on the island and like many in his situation he is nervous talking about u.s./cuba relations. he tells us he hopes that any changes are positive for both countries but he especially wants change for cuba its people and his family.

like ricardo, diaz made the difficult decision to deflect to u.s. and left friends and family behind to pursue dancing career but a clear goal in mind for the future. ♪ . >> translator: my ultimate hope and dream is my family joins me here in the united states if the situation were better in cuba and it's a personal decision and understand if they didn't want to leave the country. >> reporter: in all the city ballet is home to three dancers who recently defected and came to the u.s. for a better life but those who came before them they are realistic about the pace of change. >> it's going to take time from both countries in my humble opinion to kind of get to a good relationship and you know something that can be really good for the cuban people. >> reporter: all three of these cuban dancers that made the long and dangerous journey to the

company are watching the process carefully and with caution and three people have bright futures tempered with expectations of what might happen in the months ahead, i'm in brandon, florida. more news on our website, al jazeera.com. next. hello, i'm ray suarez. the clock is ticking down to the hour when the department of homeland security runs out of money. tens of thousands of federal employees working in a wide range of security agencies will either by forced to work without pay or told not to work at all. an all-republican showdown is pushing the agency to the brink, with the help of a shove from the democrats, who don't seem particularly interested in helping the g.o.p. walk back from the ledge they climbed out of.