>> mexican police capture the country's most wanted drug lowered with the the teacher turned cartel leader, known as la tuta. >> this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up: >> rescue workers struggle to reach remote villages in afghanistan after an avalanche. >> protests over the murder of a blank ledecky blogger who spoke out against extremism.

>> leonard nimoy dies at the age of 83. >> police in mexico arrested the drug cartel leader called the knights templar. the government offered a $2 million reward. his cartel ruled through extortion and intimidation, but had recently been driven out of many areas by vigilante groups. the arrest is the latest success for the government, two others leaders were captured last year. we are in mexico city. what made him stand out from these cartel leaders? >> well, la tuta gomez of the famous for being in a very horrible and grizzly way an

innovator. he made two cartels that dealt with drugs and movement of drugs to the u.s., moved that on in terms of extortion. he was extorting lime groves to give the knights of templar extorting lime growers avocado growers, businessmen in the town were paying a certain amount to the cartel to keep operating. they even delves into iron ore exportation, all the way allegedly across to china so they had lots of different activities going on there. he was at the heart of them. he also really enjoyed his public relations. he was perhaps the only cartel leader that liked to appear in national and international plead i can't giving interviews, sometimes phoning up local radio stations to weigh in on issues, so he was a different figure, but again a man who nevertheless was interested in

kidnapping extortion and murdering people, as you'll see in our piece. >> one of mexico's most wanted men, taken without a shot. gomez, known as la tuta allegedly ran one of mexico's post powerful criminal organizations, the knights templar. >> in recent years it branched into extorting farmers and anyone they could squeeze protection money from. he maintained he was a man of the people. >> i was a born criminal, drug trafficker, i took risks had my bit of main they wanted to steal from me and kid and a half my family and i would be the allow that. i'm not going to compare myself to anyone in history. i'm not making the comparison, but why did pancho villa raise his weapons? there are things this run off

course, because do not establish the rule of law you. >> the core tell was under threat the last years first from vigilantes, then from a federal offensive in the state. gomez had been in hiding for more than a year as authorities conducted man hunts across the state to find him. his capture could give a boost to the president on scandals of the on going disappearance of students. mexican officials have proclaimed victory in the state and the arrest of gomez will likely be held up as proof. a recent wave of killings in the state, though, show the state's problems go beyond just one man. >> you alluded to the future there. do you think it will improve the situation if he's gone from the state? >> well, what has tended to happen occasionally in the past is when a powerful cartel or

figure is taken out by mexican federal forces, it creates a power vacuum in which smaller groups seize their chance to take over what they call heres a the plaza the area in which they can sell and extort and kidnap. in this case, it's slightly unusual. even before gomez was captured, even a year before that, this cartel, the knights templar was already start to go crumble. other leaders, powerful leaders from the cartel had already been arrested and he'd been on the run as you saw in that report for a year now so that had already begun in the state as different small groups were beginning to seize their chance. that could why the homicide rate in 2014 in the state was higher than enyears before, despite the fact that many federal troops and police were sent into that area. that power vacuum, that struggle for control may have started

already long before gomez had been captured and of course the question is now will that affect in any way in lowering the violence and if these groups continue to gain power and influence, then it seems unwise to say that the violence will lower in the state for the moment. >> thank you very much reporting live. >> meanwhile, the man in charge of the investigation into mexico's 43 missing students is stepping down from his passion as attorney journal. he has been widely criticized for his handling of the case. since the students were abducted last september in the southwestern city of i iguala, they say they were taken by corrupt police with links to a local drug gang. >> rescuers in afghanistan are trying to reach villagers buried

in the snow after avalanches in the north. 200 have died, hundreds more are missing. we have a report from panjshir valley. freezing weather and a lock of machinery are hampering efforts to reach those trapped. >> the panjshir what seen snow before, but this was something different, meters and meters of it turning jagged mountains into smooth white slopes and valleys into silent gorges. in the provincial capitol, it was anything by quiet. helicopters buzzed overhead. hundreds of troops trudged uphill to secure the peaks, and the convey of military vehicles blocked the only road through the valley. why all the commotion? the president ashraf ghani was flying in to check out the rescue efforts. the problem is, the only bit of rescuing we saw was a lone

grader struggling to clear the main road, meter by painful meter. >> this is as far as emergency crews can get. the road has been blocked by snow, meaning dozens of vision have been cut off and right now they are not getting any help. >> at this rate, clearing the rest of the road, over 50 kilometers could take up to 10 days. this man is desperate for news. his wife and children are in a village they can't reach. >> all my family is stuck up there in the canyon. i've had no contact with them for a week. i keep coming up here in case someone comes from the other side of the pass. >> the government says it's doing its best. 1,000 security forces have been dispatched to the area. the people are getting angry as how long it's take to go taking to clear the snow. >> 18 members of my family are under snow.

they are getting no help. cars and helicopters are on the hill for sightseeing. >> panjshir is dotted with tiny villages, all caught up pi the heavy snow and dozens of avalanches. >> the bulldozer doesn't ever chains on the wheels. if we get strong machinery, we can clear the road quickly and focus on the villages. >> down in the valley, people are getting used to living with snow, but high up in the mountains, thousands of their countrymen wait urgently to be rescued. al jazeera, in the panjshir valley. >> bangladeshis have been protesting after a blogger was hacked to death in the captain. he and his wife were attacked while returning from a book fair. we have a report. >> his family says the religious extremism he protested against may have led to his death on

this crowded sidewalk in dhaka being la deash. he and his wife were but should by two men with meat cleavers. his wife was seriously injured. >> i saw an unknown person bring out a knife and hit him on the head and showed. i shouted for people to help, but nobody came to save him. nobody came. >> police found the meat cleavers but haven't said who might be behind the attack. his family and friends say they have no doubt his believers and writing made him a target. he was a professed atheist tearing down at a naticism. his family said he'd been threatened before. >> it has turned into a den of militants. i demand that the government stopped activities and punishes them. >> after this gathering to

express outrage over the murder, some painted themselves red. roy is the second bangladesh blogger to be murdered in the last two years. he's been called courageous and eloquent defender of reason and free expression in a country where those values are under attack. al jazeera. >> germany's parliament has approved the extension of greece's bailout, 542 members voted in favor of the deal, while 32 opposed it and 13 abstained. extension gives greece financial aid for another four months in exchange for government reforms. >> the greek prime minister has been laying out his economic plans in front of the cabinet. when the bailout expires, he said his country won't ask for a third one. >> some people have bet on a third memorandum in june. i'm sorry but they'll be disappointed. they can forget a third bileout the goal at the end of the

period is a mutually acceptable agreement from our allies, the detachment from this country of that program. >> what else did he have to say? >> hello well, the first bill, there's a clutch of bills going to parliament next week that are going to be dealing with the humanitarian crisis, they are going to be legislating for some 300,000 families. we need electricity and food to receive that assistance gattis from the state and for 30,000 some add families who need shelter to receive a subs defor that because they are homeless or in danger of being homeless. the other area where the government will move first is to help ruffle 90% of taxpayers settle their arrears with the state, because for that proportion of taxpayers the -- those arrears are very little, very small. they're 5,000 euros or less. he wants to first of all decriminalize that scale of

debt but also give people, help people enter installments to pay it off. this ought to be music to the ears of greece's creditors, as well, because hopefully the government will gather the money it needs between now and may during which time it doesn't have any bailout installments available to it and has to reach debt repayments. the final area mentioned was of course tax evasion for big tax evaders, with where the government said it is going to be very harsh. >> while he addressed his cabinet, we saw the communist party demonstrating outside parliament how is that going the relationship with other parties for him? >> the communists are seeing an opportunity here to move in as the new anti austerity alternative, which of course he was until the last election. what they want to do is ease away it seems leftwing, pick up votes on the street, possibly a few m.p.'s in parliament if they can and they're already influencing the party stance,

because the government is not acting as a unified whole. there have been statements to the effect that one or two ministers will not abide by the austerity terms the government has now agreed to be bound by as its predecessors were, even though it is going to be moving in a new direction. they may have an effect on government policy. >> still to come, the woman who's become a champion for domestic workers after her abusive employer was jailed. >> we speak to venezuela journalists who believe the shrinking media landscape is another sign of critics being silenced.

>> a flawed investigation... >> do you feel that the police has been as fair? >> and a missing child. >> i hope that the person that has her just bring her home. >> now, "america tonight" investigates the search for relisha. tonight, 10:00 eastern.

>> mexican police captured the countries motor wanted drug lord, la tuta was arrested in the capitol oh of the state. >> villagers are feared buried in snow after avalanches in the north of afghanistan. 200 of known to have died, most in panjshir province, where hundreds more are missing. >> a bangladesh critic of religious extremism has been killed in the capitol dhaka. he had been threatened before his trip to the country. >> in iraq, isil forces are threatening to demolish the bridges connecting mosul with the rest of the country. the group has destroyed the city's only airport runway. isil has attacked one of iraq's

holiest shia cities, gaining control of the bridge. the group said its suicide bombers blew up their vehicles and took over an iraqi army checkpoint. >> in syria kurdish forces have pushed isil out of one of the group's key strong holds in the north. it has been under the control of isil for more than a year. the kurds managed to retake the area after six days of intense fighting during which 175 isil members were killed. >> at least 12 people have been killed and dozens injured in a car bomb attack northeast of da mass kass, syria the bomb detonated near a mosque as people were leaving after friday prayers. the town is controlled by rebels, who have agreed to a ceasefire with the government. >> douma east of the syrian capitol has been under siege for two years. over 200 civilians ever died because of foot and medical

shortage the. in the first week of february, more than 400 lost their lives by what is described as heavy air attacks by the government. >> she was just over a year old and died of malnutrition. she wasn't the first victim in douma, the rebel-held suburb of the syrian capitol damascus has been under seen by government forces for two years. during that time, activists say 264 civilians died, 188 of them were children. >> we couldn't find medicine. we couldn't find milk and when you do, little very expensive and we cannot afford to buy it. >> people are not only dying of starvation. douma has been a battleground for years. much of it has been raised to the ground. >> it is just seven kilometers northeast of the center of damascus. just like other suburbs of the capitol, it is under siege. it was the first area in the damascus province to see anti-government protests.

four years later, it is the main opposition strong how old surrounding the government-controlled city. >> in the first week of february, more than 100 civilians were killed in what was described as one of the heaviest aerial attacks on the city that lasted for days. this man survived, but his wife and seven-month-old daughter didn't. minutes after he left the house government aircraft targeted the neighborhood. the sustained and intensive air campaign was in response to a rebel attack on central damascus. >> on that day my wife was scared to stay home alone back of the airstrikes. she took my daughter and i went to her sister who lives next to us. i left them there. a few minutes later i heard the plane and explosion. i came back to see the house destroyed. >> some in the option did question whether causing civilian casualties was a military benefit. he was not one of them.

he blames the government for target the civilians. despite losing his family and home, he still believes the struggle should continue. al jazeera beirut. >> goodluck jonathan paid a surprise visit to the north of nigeria. s visit comes a month before elections. a suicide bomber killed at least 17 people at a bus station. along with tackling corruption and economy the fight against boko haram is a leading election issue. >> i wanted to see for myself. it is good as a president for you to appreciate yourself -- >> representatives from the organization for security and

cooperation in europe have told the u.n. security council there's been a deescalation in fighting in eastern ukraine. the ukrainian troops and pro-russian separatists appear to be showing signs of retreat on thursday. crane's ambassador to the u.n. said violence continued overnight. >> the militants from luhansk keep shelling. soldiers were killed, seven wounded, there is no exact vision that their side is preparing to move the heavy weaponry. that's why there is serious concern if they are going to seriously take their obligations under the minsk agreements. >> russian's president vladimir putin said he is cutting his staff salaries by 10%. politicians go ahead end up with lighter pay packets.

the russian economy is struggling because of low oil prices and western sanctions over russia's role in the crisis of ukraine. >> a judge in moscow upheld the sentence of opposition leader sentenced to 15 days in custody for handing out leaflets to promote an anti-government protest rally on march one. he was the driving force behind rallies against president vladimir putin in moscow in 2011 and 2012. >> a woman starting a six year jail sentence in hong kong for beating and starving her indonesian maid. the court found her guilty of 18 charges, including griefous bodily has really, assault and failure to pay wages. the victim ariana welcomed the judgment and said the jail term isn't long enough. she was only allowed four hours sleep a day and beaten so badly she was knocked unconscious. >> we aring hong kong. the case has highlighted the

need for workers to be given better legal protection from abuse. >> in addition to prison, nearly the maximum able to be given in this case, 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 her apartment which seemingly led to the way she treated her maid was because of a skin allergy bunk suffered by her son. this is a case getting international attention. many media were inside the court and rights advocates and ariana herself. she said at some point she might be able to forgive her employer. in passing sentence, the judge also said that this case could have been avoided and further cases like it could possibly be avoided if domestic workers had

great have legislative protection in hong kong. she has become a vocal point in campaign for rights for migrant workers here. some third of a million migrant workers in domestic service cleaning the apartment the of hong kong that people and mainly from indonesia and the philippines who rights groups say are almost treated like second class citizens. >> leonard nimoy has died at 83 from a chess position. he first began playing spock in 1966 and continued over the following decades right up until star trek movies in 2013. he was an accomplished actor and director. there have been attributes from around the world and from space. the international space station said live long and prosper. >> funding for the homeland security department is in limbo

after nearly running out of money. paychecks for hundreds of thousands of government workers will stop unless a deal is struck by midnight. >> the u.s. and cuba have been holding their second round of talks on normalizing relations between the two countries. negotiators from both sides met in washington, d.c. on friday. cuba is pushing to be removed from a u.s. list of state sponsors of terrorism. washington said it will be reviewed separately. president obama wants embassy sees in both counts to open by april. >> scaling back circulation and putting journalists out of work, it is called yet another sign to governments are silences voices of dissent. >> the last issue following a handful of very costly lawsuits that some say were politically

motivated, it is forced to scale back to publishing weekly. for many working here, this is another example of how the government has silenced dissent. there are fewer and fewer space to say criticize what is wrong. they have tried to create not only a single unified message for the country becomes a single narrative for abroad. >> during the last 15 years it has chronicled the countries france formation under the late hugo chavez's project. heeditorials and a letter said to be written by the president's

daughter has been part of the publication. >> i still don't feel defeated. i feel cornered and threatened, but not defeated. venezuelans have a great spirit. i trust the kindness of our people. i trust in those who built this country. this country didn't just pop up out of nothing. >> dozens of jobs are at stake and faced with fewer and fewer options, many here talk of emigrating, yet for the news editor, the greater risk lies in seeing a great institution of the country vanish. >> i will have fewer options to consider. this effects the quality of our democracy and i believe it makes a small country more provincial and backward. we will become a nation that looks backwards instead of forward. >> it is now one step closer to joining a long list of

opposition media that have shut down in recent years. its closure could see the variety of opinions disappear anded added risk of losing some of the country's bright effort minds. al jazeera caracas. >> villages in eastern india face increasing danger from ham paging elephants. ten have been killed in the last two months in west bengal and residents are resorting to desperate measures to scare them away. the animals are hunting for food. the deforestation is blamed and increasing familiarity with humans. >> a particularly cold winter continues to bite in new york. extraordinary images have he merged from a boat attempt to go navigate the hudson river. large ice flows have filled the water way affecting transport.

february has been the coldest month since 1950. >> plenty more stories anytime for you on our website at aljazeera.com. you can watch us by clicking on the watch live icon. jazeera", musician, songwriter, producer akon, the senna galees american artist that sold for than 30 million records. >> first i'm a businessman. >> akon is an activist and philanthropist and spend a lot of time promoting peace in areas congo.