>> four years of blood misery and death in syria aid agencies accuse the united nations of failing to protect civilians. hello, you're watching al jazeera. also on the program, two police officers are shot during a protest in ferguson after the police chief resigns over allegations of racism. >> sri lanka's president pledges a war crimes inquiry but rejects international pressure to involve the u.n. >> a russian shopping center

where he could by fire. many are trapped under the rubble. >> four years of killing, four years of destruction and four years of civil war in syria the united nations has failed to act, failed to protect civilians from the consequences are war say 21 leading aid agencies. >> while the international community looks on, barrel bombs are still falling on communities like this one in aleppo. crude weapons branded illegal by the u.n. that kill indiscriminately. a u.n. backed report said the war has cost syria $200 billion and plunged most of its people into poverty. the u.n. estimates more than 220,000 people have been killed so far. 7.5 million are displaced inside syria and 4.5 million are said

to be trapped in besieged or hard to reach areas. almost 4 million people are registered as refugees. the battle for aleppo has split the city into government and rebel controlled areas, as part of our special coverage to mark the conflict entering its fifth area, zeina hodor reports how it was once a commercial center. >> it is one of the oldest cities in the world its historic center is now in ruins. aleppo has been an urban battleground since the summer of 2012. syria's largest city has been divided by many front lines and on many of them, sheets and drapes are used as cover from snipers. the government controls territory in the west and the opposition controls the east. the only crossing point that allowed people to move between

the two areas is now a waste land. this was closed by the government last year. dozens are killed because of sniper fire, but it was a lifeline for state employees who were relying on their salaries to survive. >> the crossing was vital for civilians. now when they need to go to the regime areas, it is a 12 hour journey. this crossing used to allow people to visit their relatives. >> society has been torn apart. in many areas in the rebel-held east, there is little sign of life. last year, tens of thousands left when populated areas were continuously hit by barrel bombs. many others were wounded. those have lost their life livelihoods were left to help themselves. >> we need to go to turkey.

we are forgotten. we need someone to help us. >> also in the rebel held east, the people of the area managed to set up makeshift hospitals to deal with the effects of war but they are not up to standards. >> we don't have surgeons. most doctors were either killed or fled. we don't have medicine for diabetic patients. >> the health system has all but collapsed. >> the syria war is entering its fifth year. neither side can claim victory. an initiative by the united nation to say freeze the fighting in the city of aleppo didn't achieve much and the people on both sides of the divide remain trapped in what many describe as a deadly stalemate. >> it's a daily struggle. it doesn't just take hours to buy bread government planes have targeted crowds standing in bakery lines. for the wars sides, the battle for aleppo is strategic but it

has destroyed the lives of those living in what was once syria's commercial capital. >> let's bring in zeina live. nearly five years in and the situation is getting worse it seems, with no political solution in sight. >> no, like you mentioned the situation is getting worse. the syria with war is entering its fifth year and there is no meaningful political process underway. there were attempts last year to get the warring sides to reach a deal. they failed in geneva. the russians have been trying to convene their own peace process. there has been no break through. you talk to sir you know, today they are tired, feel helpless. they've lost their livelihoods and want some sort of solution. there is no military solution to this conflict, there are many lines in this war there are many wars within the syria war.

what we heard was a change in heart from the head of the syrian national coalition the main opposition in exile now saying that we need to find a way to revive the peace process and they are even backing down on their demands for syrian president bashar al assad to step aside as a precondition before talks can begin. there is as growing realization there is no other way forward. they need to get this political pros on track but the war has become a war with regional and international players involved. unless they agree, you are not going to get a settlement to this conflict. >> we can barely here you but for the wind there. >> in iraq, government forces are fighting in the center of tikrit backed by shia militia and tribesman trying to capture the area from islamic state of iraq and the levant. the government controls several areas, including the local area hospital. the battle is seen as a dress

rehearsal for an attack on mosul, held by isil since last summer. >> two police officers have been shot during a protest in ferguson in missouri. they've been treated in hospital. people are gathered outside the city's police headquarters after the police chief quit, after a report found widespread racism in its department. stephanie decker reports. >> just as the protest was breaking up around midnight, the shots were heard. >> as we were about to pack our cameras up, we hear what we thought were fireworks up the street. it turns out happened three more times. it was gunfire. we saw the muzzle fire from a gun on top of the street, so we all just kind of ducked down and once we ducked down, we saw the cop was shot right next to us. >> one was shot in the face, another in a showed. it happened at a protest outside ferguson's police department in the hours follow the announcement that police chief thomas jackson plans to resign.

jackson long maintained there was no racism on his watch but following a damning report on his police department, he became the sixth official to resign in the small midwestern city accused of systemic racism. his resignation had been called for after the shooting of michael brown. the report said police force and courts saw the african-american community as a way of making money for the municipality. millions of dollars were raised by targeting ticketing, jail and keeping poor black people in what has been called modern debtor's prisons until they were able to pay fines. the nationwide movement that has developed since last summer under the slogan black lives matter is about far more than ferguson. it's become a nationwide rally

the belief that racism is engrained in american society. 600 kilometers north, there have been daily protests since the killing of unarmed 19-year-old tony robinson last friday. >> this is a bigger issue than tony. thises how law enforcement procedures have been carried out. >> protestors are protesting against a system they say is racist and unfair. the resignations in ferguson will be welcomed by many. ferguson is a tiny city of 21,000 and a change in its municipal personnel is unlikely to be enough to satisfactory those wanting greater equality and change. stephanie decker, al jazeera. >> some news just in to us, in bangladesh, 100 feared trapped under rubble after a factory collapse. it is southwest of the capitol dhaka. we are joined live now by phone.

>> it was under construction and the roof collapsed where 150 workers were working there. thirty people were injured. 150 people were working when the roof collapsed. there will be much more casualties than we are getting right now. >> yet another factory collapse in bangladesh. >> sri lanka's president has a

plan to set up an inquiry but refusing to bow to international pressure to allow u.n. investigators. it seems like this the investigation is expected to examine towards the end of the war, this makeshift hospital was shelled, patients seeking help killed by the government. for 26 years many had been fighting for an independent state and were accused of attacking civilians executing prisoners. the government has been accused of the same crimes, but it's and would they ramped up their attacks at the end of the war. it's claimed they used heavy weapons like these to fire shells into the specifically created safe zone which contained civilians. the fighting ranged around them and they remained inside until the army defeated the tamals in

2009. the government denies committing war crimes. the executive director at the center for policy alternatives to us. >> the main difference here is this the previous government rejected any cooperation any engagement with the high commission to human rights with respect to the investigation they're conducting on the allegations of war crimes. it was an attitude of dismissal rejection, defiance, and the argument was that the international community was indeed biased and wanting to get a verdict of war crimes so that he and his cohorts would be taken in some kind of international tribunal. >> where does this leave transparency, will this appease sri lankans. do they think they'll get a fair investigation. >> i think there are some who will still insist that only an

international investigation and only an international tribunal will bring justice. i think the point needs to be made that in order to be able to go to any kind of international mechanism, all domestic remedies have to be exhausted. what the government is saying is that in respect to its credible mechanism, it can reach out to who the united nations -- and the council's special procedures to insist and inform whatever domestic process there is. >> what do you think they'll find when they start this investigation? >> i think that is pretty much the evidence that there have been crimes in terms of crimes against humanity and war crimes. forces of the government in ve tang as well as the aggression tribes. it's going to be a test as to whether this domestic, credible

domestic mechanism will work. >> how important is this reconciliation in the country and giving victims's families the closure they need? >> it's temporal to any notion of national unity and consideration. people want an official annualment of what happened to them and they want justice. >> lots more to come on al jazeera, no signs of release why migrants arriving in greece are being given indefinite detention. >> a bubble in this once boom mining town, has it now burst?

>> thanks for being with us. the top stories on al jazeera 21 aid groups have accused the u.n. security council of failing to protect syrians. >> more than 20,000 people have been killed. >> in bangladesh, 100 people feared trapped under rubble after a factory collapsed. four people have been killed. the cement factory is southwest of the capitol dhaka. >> two police officers have been shot during a protest in the u.n. city of ferguson in missouri. one officer was shot in the face the other in the shoulder. many of the ferguson's police chief quit over widespread racism in its department. >> cambodia's government is accused of failing to protect workers in clothing factories. many are women who make clothes.

they are often forced to work overtime and face discrimination if they get pregnant. it says the government isn't enforces labor lawyers and accuses companies of hindering efforts to monitor safety. a lawyer who works for human rights watch which has published this report joins me now from phnom penh. thank you verythank you very much for join us. tell us more about what you found in this report, please. >> one of the things they found in the report as mentioned is forced over time, workers can't refuse overtime work. there is retaliation. a key driver of this problem is the fact that a lot of factories systematically used contract,

repeatedly renewing contract and threatens not to renew it if they don't obey factory orders. that's a key part of the systemic use of contract -- this is something that we see repeatedly with france. contractors from france go to them outline their findings and we've got responsibilities. they callle conduct admonishing them. we vice president heard what they will do -- >> i imagine it's also very difficult to impose any sort of changes suggested by these

factories. >> sorry? >> i mean, how do you impose laws on those who break the laws? how do you get them to tow the line? >> one way is for the labor inspectors the government to take a strong stand and actually inspect and enforce the law make the laws clear that factories cannot issue these contracts repeatedly and renew them for over two years and that's been happening again and again. the other way is for brands to enforce their own course of conduct. some of the brands that we looked at have strong -- in their court of conduct. we can make their the brands follow their sewed of conduct with regard to contracts avoiding paying benefits to

workers using the contracts and so on. that's what the brands can look at what they're suppliers are doing more closely. >> good to talk to you, thank you. >> thanks so much. >> in russia, the daughter of a murdered politician boris nemtsov said vladimir putin is responsibility for his death. she said the president must bear responsibility for his shooting. nemtsov, a fierce critic of putin was gunned down in central moscow last month. putin called the murder vile and vowed to find the killers. >> in russia, 25 trapped under rubble after a shopping mall fire. dozens of thought to be dead and more injured. we have more. >> for several hours they fought to control the flames. about 4,000 square meters of a shopping center, an area almost as big as a football pitch is burning. rescuers pulled carpets anything that can catch fire

from the collapsed building. terrified shoppers watched helplessly. 600 of said to have escaped but some have been trapped inside. >> my friend was probably left behind inside, too under the rubble. >> anger grows in the official response. >> it all collapsed on them. we are standing here to clean the mother's wounds because she has wounds to her head and leg and they are moving aimlessly about here. there is only one ambulance. >> some witnesses say the roof collapsed. others say it folded like an accordion. this shopping center is just four years old. witnesses say the fire began in a cafe. eventually, the fire is controlled but with smoke still rising, questions are already asked about the safety of the center's electrical wiring. al jazeera. >> greece is seeking a deal with a massive wave of migrants, facing an estimated 50,000

arrivals each year. many of them are refugees. as we report from athens, the government wants to change how people can apply for political asylum. >> this is comfort food petitioner muhammed, a simple bread made from flour and water dipped in broccoli stew. he shares it with others. he is trying to wash away the taste of the detention center where he just spent nine months and what happened there to another pakistani detainee. >> he had been locked 20 months. he was released and given a month to live free, but was arrested again. he told police he needed to work and send money home to his mother, brother and sister, but they wouldn't listen. thee hours later. they brought him in. he hung himself. >> the second suicide in as many months here, testament to the failure of a policy of indefinite detention for people who aren't criminals. it even apply to say minors.

flaunting europe's pretrial day tension limit of 18 months was greece's method for dealing with migrants. >> the council criticizes greece. the change in government has brought a change in policy, this camp wound down, inmates being released at the rate of 30 a day. >> they enjoy a deportation waiver. the new leftwing government is thinking of turning detention centers into open carps allowing economic migrants to work in the fields, but greece faces an estimated 50,000 arrivals each year, many of them refugees. it wants europe to change the rules and law people who need political protection to apply anywhere in europe, not just in greece. >> we are 10 million indigenous people plus a million migrants. this 10-1 ratio doesn't apply in other european countries.

don't they see the problem? in the midst of a crisis, it's not a question of racism, we just can't take it anymore. >> these camps were meant to act as a deterrent. that plan failed, because people fleeing war and poverty are willing to face detention. legal residents is unlikely under such pressure, even under a leftwing government. he just hopes his luck will turn. al jazeera athens. >> there are reports of casualties in somalia. we'll bring you more details on that. >> south africans president brushed back a cause to investigate state funds spent on row believe his home. he was heckled in parliament by opposition members when he refused to explain how and when

he plans to repay the money. he's been asked to return more than $20 million. >> thousands of employees at a shoe factory in china are back at work after a three day strike. nearly 6,000 employees walked out of the factory over concerns about government benefits and payout. the factory supplies several international fashion houses, including guess burbury and prada. >> four years ago australia's economy was the end of the world, but now there are clouds on the horizon. unemployment is above the levels seen in the united states and much of europe, and australian dollar that fallen 30% from its peak. behind it is the collapse of commodities like iron ore. >> he is spending time in his garden. until last december, he was a geologist in the mining industry but as commodity

prices plummeted jobs, including his, have been cut. >> hi, what do you do? >> i'm looking at new opportunities. >> so are thousands of others. three years ago this house and land in the mining town sold for $1.3 million. >> i wouldn't have called them crazy days, but they were way above the average. >> today the house is on the market for less than half what it was sold for in 2012 and it hasn't found a buyer yet. as australia's mining industry boomed so did this area. the iron ore price peaked at over $180 a ton but since slowing growth of china the price has been brought tumbling down. >> the trains that rumble across

the landscape can be almost three kilometers long and can hold more than 32,000 tons of iron ore. four years ago that meant that the cargo in just one of those trains was worth around $6 million. today, its cargo is worth about a third of that. >> so now port hedlund is much quieter. fewer people are needed to run infrastructure than build it. >> the port itself is busier than ever, on average, six huge ships arrive and load up each day, their across get a couple of hours onshore before starting the 15 day trip back to china. >> we vice president felt it in the mining industry, because all the carriers are still working. >> the volume of iron ore being

exported is higher than ever, but with prices low it affect the workers and government. the boom days are over. >> three astronauts have spent nearly six months in orbit on the international space station have returned to earth. the american and three russians arrived in a capsule. there are still three astronauts at the space station with three more due to join them later this month. >> scientists identified almost 1500 new creatures in the world's oceans in the past year and believe there are many more out there. an international orders of the seas discovered two new dolphins types and new cat agree of giant

jelly fish, and a star gazing shrimp in south africa. it's eyes are fixed in an upward direction. if you'd like to look at our website, the address is aljazeera.com. >> good morning welcome to aljazeera america. we continue to breaking news coming out of missouri, two police officers are shot during a protest outside the police department. according to the st. louis county police chief the two officers have serious injuries but have been conscious. one st. louis officer has been shot in the shoulder, another in the face. all of this happening after midnight. right now