♪ thousands turn out in moscow for boris nemtsov's funeral and some politicians are barred from attending. ♪ story making the news on al jazeera jazeera, one of iran senior military commanders helping to direct the iraqi army assault on i.s.i.l. in tikrit. nuclear negotiations continue in switzerland as the prime minister prepares to make his case against a possible deal.

plus. >> i'm nicole johnston in afghanistan where helicopters are finally starting to reach the region that has been cutoff from avalanches. ♪ thousands of mourners paying respect to russian opposition borris nemtsov shot dunwoody on friday and long cues at the center where people fired past his coffin and several european politicians and one of vladimir putins critics has been barred from attending the funeral and we will go live to rory live in moscow and we know that nemtsov was known internationally for his activist who is attending his funeral? >> reporter: well a number of high-profile dignitaries from the european union. when i was down at the center

earlier where his body was being laid out in a memorial service thousands of people filing past leaving flowers and candles and people like john major there the former british prime minister. but as you say there are certain notable absences as well. the polish senate leader was turned away from the immigration at one of russia's airports because that person was on the sanctions list a tit for tat is what is happening in ukraine but what is happening next with the day's events is that nemtsov's body is being brought here to this cemetery on the outskirts of moscow and i have been out to have a look at the grave site where he is going to be finally laid to rest on high ground at the top of the cemetery and snow is covering the ground here as winter comes to an end and this seems like a mournful place as someone laid to rest finally.

he will be in lots of company here because a big cemetery and there are people buried here from good of soviet life and other opposition figures from russia's past and the famous russian journalist shot dead in 2006 is also buried here. >> we know the investigation into nemtsov's murder is underway. any development on the case so far? >> reporter: well the investigation of the panel looking into the murder releasing statements like we are examining cctv footage and see various bit of evidence where opening up numerous channels of investigation and examination, they are also hypothesizing about what the motives have been for borris nemtsov's murder but

not hearing much over the moment are hard leads or specific developments in the investigation itself. we know that the woman who was with borris nemtsov when he was shot dead, a young ukrainian model who had been questioned extensively since the murder on friday night she now has been released, she was never a proper suspect but obviously questioned as the main witness and she has been released and left russia and going back to kiev and ukraine but of course if you speak to many people who are close to borris nemtsov or involved in the opposition movement they will say that it's very unlikely that whatever investigation happens into his death will turn up anything substantive in terms of justice. >> rory stay on the investigation into opposition figure and nemtsov's murder. a suicide car bomb attack in afghanistan killed at least 14 point and joint army and police

patrol targeted in the province and ten security personnel and four civilians killed, at least eight people were injured. a force including iraqi army shia malaysia and peshmerga say they are making gains against i.s.i.l. in tikrit on the mountain range overlooking the city and u.s. is not providing air support but one of the most senior military commanders is helping to supervise the attack and operation billed as dry run on assault on mosul, iraq's second largest city and under i.s.i.l. control and jane reports. >> reporter: the attacks started with shelling. these mortars were aimed at paving the way for soldiers and fighters to advance to tikrit and central iraq the iraqi military with shia malitia pushed back from cities and

towns and hussein has more significance. >> these are for rats and we will cross them in tikrit. >> reporter: this is the biggest single massacre by i.s.i.l. since it seized the territory last june gunman killed 1,000 military recruits at the camp spiker and blame some of the neighboring sunni tribes for supporting i.s.i.l. prime minister abadi saying they will not be targeted by the malitia but he told parliament those who did not support the government fight were supporting i.s.i.l. in this fight and previous ones iran is playing a role and who they are advising are more equipped than other units and say iran commander mani is helping coordinate the operation from the front lines. in the air it's only iraqi

aircraft according to the military and united states is helping in other ways but is not backing this major offensive with u.s. air strikes, about 2000 sunni tribal fighters have joined the battle but as iraqi forces fight for tikrit the question is how many more sunnis will join them. they see the battle for tikrit as a launching point to move further north to take back mosul but as the battle moves back to sunni provinces there is deepening iranian involvement and potential to be bogged down in sectarian conflict jane with al jazeera, baghdad. activists say at least four people have been killed in government air strikes in syria. they reportedly hit the town of ibta in the countryside, other regime air strikes hit the town north of there. tr lebanese armed group hezbollah fighting against the

syrian government for sometime but the battle against armed rebels in the southern corner of syria is different and the aim is not only to protect the capitol damascus and if succeeded hezbollah will extend the front line with israel to the golan heights. >> reporter: government on offensive in the southern corner of syria, it wants to reverse rebel gains over resent months but not fighting alone and backed by iran fighters with the group hezbollah and this territory is streakic and it's a short drive to the seat of power in damascus and close to rebel supply lines from jordan and bordering hezbollah controlled territory in lebanon as well as israeli occupied golan heights and hill -- military says it's

no coincidence they have man power to invest in these regions. >> translator: hezbollah extending front line with israel the south lebanon front is approximately 70 kilometers, if they are able to extend this to golan it becomes 150 kilometer front and put pressure on israel. >> reporter: hezbollah suffered casualties in syria while its deployment there helped keep the syrian government in power the group maiden my-- made enemies across the world and does not shy away from saying it has a greater military presence on the israel border and hinted that south lebanon and golan are now one front against israel and said the group would no longer comply with the so called israel and attack on the convoy in the syrian sector in january and seen as a message that israel

would not tolerate iran and hezbollah on border and then targeted a convoy on the farms. >> hezbollah and israel raised stakes to a degree israeli perspective fear hezbollah and iran gain more and more power as compared to the regime itself in syria, they increasingly see that regime control of areas bordering the occupied golan is tantamount to hezbollah control. >> reporter: hezbollah fighters spread across syria, iraq and lebanon and some argue the group cannot afford a major escalation with israel it is already on the front line of the regional sunni/shia conflict but if it captures this it will push strongholds from lebanon and hezbollah have a new front on the border.

u.s. president called the speech to u.s. congress a distraction to nuclear negotiation with iran and benjamin netanyahu is expected to tell congress why he is opposed to a possible nuclear deal and secretary of state john kerry holding talks with iran foreign minister in switzerland and set a march 24 deadline to reach agreement on iran program and tehran consistently denied it wants to build a bomb but many countries worry it wants the capability to make one. conservative politicians in both countries are trying to scuttle the deal and republicans in u.s. congress pushing for more sanctions against tehran and u.n. watchdog iaea says iran is slow to cooperate with investigation into its nuclear program and they have not talked about tests and other measures

that could be used for weapons research. correspondent barnabie is following the events and has an update. >> reporter: lake geneva and a lake side hotel the building behind me the setting for crucial talks between john kerry and iranian counterpart sharif and met twice on monday and resumed talks on tuesday and could well talk until wednesday when john kerry is due to leave for saudi arabia and they are nervous and need to be reassured as talks with iran reach essential stage and john kerry in geneva yesterday said the clock is ticking and remarks no doubt intended to talk about israel they are back in the united states and stressed a bad deal would be much worse than no deal at all. plenty more still ahead on al jazeera including no where to

go, thousands left homeless as fire ravages one of manila's poorest districts. ♪

♪ welcome back let's take a look at the top stories here on al jazeera, mourners in russia lining up to view the body of murdered opposition leader boiris nemtsov and was shot in a drive-by shooting in moscow on friday. combined force including iraqi army shia malitia and peshmerga

are taking control of the mountain range overlooking the city. u.s. secretary of state john kerry continues to hold talks in switzerland with iran counterparts trying to strike a deal and set to address the u.s. congress in a few hours detailing his case with a popular deal with iran. african leaders meeting officials around the world to discuss the ebola crisis and it's more than a year since the outbreak of disease and the spread is slowing but far more needs to be done to wipe it out and life for us in brussels is jackie and we have had several ebola talks in the past what is the difference with this one? >> well this conference is looking forward, not just looking at how to continue tackling the virus with the goal of having zero new cases but also looking forward ahead, how

to prevent, how to guard against future epidemics and also to look in a wider way at the impact that the virus has had on those key effected countries looking at the way in which it devastated the economy looking in ways in which it disrupted things like the education system, the fact that farmers have not been able to plant seeds, the fact that markets and cross border trade have all been effected so to try and look at ways of getting agriculture working again, getting trade working again in order to support those countries because clearly the toll of tackling the virus has had a huge cost on local economy so the time the economy has been effected and very much looking at ways to help the economy and support those countries in the future and particularly so that they can guard against recurrences of the disease. >> and jackie just give us an

idea as to who is attending this conference conference. >> reporter: it really is a huge gathering, bringing together leaders from the effected countries, from the region, also people who have been caught and for example the eu contribution un and un development program and also as well a number of the key nongovernmental organization people like the international and other organizations have been very active on the ground of implementing not only emergency response to this but also looking at ways of working with the local communities trying to support those local economies. >> jackie, thank you, thank you for that that is jackie roland speaking to us from a very traffic wrought traffic in brussels. a leaked recording suggests that

egypt's military sought to use one of the country's biggest ever construction projects to gain a political advantage in elections, the recordings were made when abdul al-sisi was minister under former president mohamed morsi and joint project with the army aimed to build one million homes for families with low income and land provided by the military and sisi is heard saying he will collect a fee for electricity although it's not clear if he is talking about himself personally or the army. more than 200 people have died in northeastern afghanistan and what is being called the worst series of avalanches to hit the country in 30 years, the military started flying supplies to some stranded villages but other areas are still cutoff and nicole johnston is from the panjir areas one of the worst hit areas.

>> reporter: the scale of the disaster unfolds, village after village covered in up to three meters of snow and it's still falling. communities are cutoff from each other, roads have disappeared, everything is white except for the houses the ones that have not been lost. the village of abdullah survived but 30 people who lived in it did not. they were buried beyond the trees, in two mass graves. we meet 13-year-old who shows us around and points to the houses where people have died. >> translator: the avalanche hit at midnight when everyone was sleeping and i was scared and heard a great noise and i was sad because my friend died with all of his family. >> reporter: this boy looks alone in the world and their bedroom crumbled under the weight of the snow. in many ways this village is now

one of the lucky ones helicopters are able to land here and the main road has almost reached it but there is still dozens of remote villages far off in the mountains that the government simply can't get to. in the district the weather has closed in. helicopters can't reach it. >> translator: the most important issue for us are areas we have not reached by road and trying to help them by air but the aid we are dropping is not enough for everyone. >> reporter: the government is giving cash payments up to $1800 to relatives of anyone who died in the snow storms. the oldest man in the village said he seen avalanches before but never anything like this. recovery will take a long time many people are still in shock. >> translator: from midnight to 5:00 a.m. we work hard to take the dead bodies out of dust and

snow and people were so frightened you would think it's dooms day and no hope for life and never thought we would sit together again. >> reporter: here the snow has been cleared away to make room for to freshly dug graves. cousins, young boys they died when the roof collapsed. the panjir valley is bracing for more funerals before the snow melts, nicole johnston. a war plane owned by forces at the capitol bombed an oil and airport north of the country and from a security u.n. recognized village in tobruk it is by the oil part and folks man for forces protecting the oil's infrastructure says the attack caused only minor damage jason pack is a researcher of middle eastern history at cambridge

united states and president of libya analysis.com and joins us from london and thank you for being with us and can you tell us a little more about this tripoli force, who is backing them and who is funding this force and the government there? >> well since about august 2014 we've had two rival governments in libya and this had to do with the malitias which call themselves libya dawn concurring tripoli, kicking out the elected parliament to tobruk and establishing their own pseudo government. however, as time has gone on they controlled more territory and become more institutionalize institutionalized and got support from turkey qatar and sudan and in the last few months we have seen this conflict in the oil crescent region and that is the region to the east of

cert and west of benghazi because these troops know that the oil wealth can be used by the tobruk government against them so they are trying to either destroy it or deny it to their enemies. >> right now you have been calling this a proxy conflict you have just told us that the government in tripoli is backed by qatar and by turkey we know that the government in tobruk is supported by the u.n. take us through the implications of libya's political turmoil that it will have on the middle east. >> well libya has been something like a petri dish for the region-wide war that we've seen over the last 2-3 years. in a way it started first in syria whereby some actors famously iran backed the assad regime and a whole range of sunni arab states backed the

opposition, but within that you have a struggle between the saudis and egyptians in the west who support moderate and the cut and the turks who support the muslim brotherhood elements and we have seen that struggle inside egypt where morsi was supported by turkey anicka -- and qatar and with uae and saudi arabia is trying to see is defeat of muslim brotherhood throughout the entire region and cutters and the turks who work through the muslim brotherhood regionally are trying to prevent that from happening. >> we will have to leave it there thank you so much for being with us researcher of middle eastern history at cambridge university. firefighters in south africa are battling to put out wildfires in cape town strong winds and hot temperatures are challenging efforts to contain the blazes and the fires are causing widespread damage to thousands

of hectres of land. thousands of homes have been destroyed by a massive fear in the philippines, most of them were poorly built and the government says it's unable to determine the cause of the fire. and we have the latest now from manila manila. >> reporter: joel tries to put on a brave face. everything that his family has built for decades has been reduced to this lost in a fire that destroyed the homes of over 2000 other families in downtown manila. >> translator: i can't express my brief when i look around me and cannot explain what happened, there is nothing to say except this is a tragedy and we just have to start over find a job, work again, rebuild everything. >> she lost her home too and does not know how long she will have to live in this temporary shelter along with nine members

of her family. >> translator: we will be grateful for anything we can get, not just for my family but for all of us here we hope that those who can will help us. >> reporter: according to the local government 80 homes are destroyed here everyday due to fire. majority of these are in areas like this one, in shanty towns where electrical wires is bad and this has long been a problem and one in four in 16 million residents lives below poverty line and most left provinces in hopes of a better life in the city and has left manila extremely congested. >> you have to put these for the families for isf to a different place where in they could have they could build residential houses and they could have worked and they do programs in

this area. >> reporter: this is one of the most impoverished and they are scavengers in rubbish dumps living on $3 a day and they thought life could not get worse but fires destroy who they have left but say they have to start over again, in manila. the collarful indian festival of holly has kicked off. people cover each other with powdered paints and in north india women beat men with wooden sticks all in the name of fun and holly officially starts on thursday to celebrate the passing of winter and the start of spring. financial magazine forbes released the ranking of the world's richest people despite global economic difficulties by

falling oil prices and weak euro there never have been so many billionaires and gerald tan has been taking a look at the list. >> reporter: the richest person in the world once again is microsoft founder bill gates, his net worth is $79.2 billion, he topped the list 16 times in the past 21 years. 290 people have made it on to the billionaire list for the first time most of them from china, most of them in the technology sector. the youngest newcomer is also a tech tycoon and 24-year-old spiegel cofounder of the messaging service snapchat and worth $1.5 billion and he has got a long way to go to catch up with number two and three on the list mexican telecom carlos and american investor warren buffet whose fortunes surpass $70

billion and makeup 1826 billionaires, a record number of the world's ultra rich. ♪ pass hello, i'm ray suarez, when the fund that pays social security, disabledy insurance runs short. the gap is filled with an infusion of cash from the old age community funds. tucked away in the new business for congress was a quiet tie bomb. congressional forces cut the quick fix, now benefits will need to be cut. are people abusing the programme.