w for today, i'm ali velshi, thank you for joining us. gunmen attack a university in northeastern kenya, killing at least two people and injuring dozens of others. ♪ ♪ this is al jazerra live from our headquarters in doha. also coming up. saudi-led air strikes force houthi rebels to pull back from the yemeni southern city of aden. isil fighters are pushed back from the refugees camp near the sear general capital. and combating a childhood killer india's new vaccine targets the roto virus.

kenya's military has been deployed to the university where police say attackers are holed up in student hostiles, crossing over to djibouti. there are reports maholm ahead of people that have been injured and possibly killed as well. what are you hearing about the situation right now whether it's still unfolding at the university? >> reporter: well, doreen, i have been on the phone with local officials and residents of the town who tell me that the situation is still ongoing. the police and military who are often criticize today a slow response to the attack on the

college are said to have cosh cordons off the compound of the university and now are dealing with some of the gunmen who carried out the attack are said to be hold up in one of the hostiles together with students whom they have taken hostage according to officials the attack happened at down around the time the muslim faithful were saying their morning prayers they started it have at the mosque where they are said to have shot students doing their morning prayers and headed to the hostiles where students were asleep and they were attacked. the kenya red cross have so far confirmed nearly 40 injured taken to the hospital, some of them critical. four of those who have been critically wounded are said to have have been air lift today nairobi in the past few minutes. now, these attack accord to this less dents of the town were square carried out by five hooded men believed to be

members of al that lob. >> who would be the motive the gunmen? has has there been an official claim of responsibility from al that lobelthatalshabab. >> reporter: no official claim. but these attacks have the all harks of al shabab attacks they have carried out more than 150 attacks not this magnitude but similar ones in kenya. since 2011, when the kenyan government sent its forces in to somalia to fight al-shabab on so ma isomalia's soil. al-shabab said they will continue to avenge for the forces of al-shabab there. it's why al-shabab carried out that brazen attack in september 2013 in nairobi on the

west gate mall and this seems to be the case, however there seems to be a departure from the norm when it comes to after the change of leadership at sal shabob since the current leader of al-shabab took over he has been concentrating most of the attacks on northeastern kenya. we had that incidents where people were taken off the bus and shot at point blank range at the border of somalia and kenya last year. a week later there was the attack on the quarry and now we have an attack on the only institution of higher learning in the entire northeastern region an institution that has students coming from all parts of the country. this is one of the reasons maybe they chose the college to attack. now, one of the reasons why they

might be concentrating at tack on the north region is it's very easy for these men to mingle with the population who are almost exclusion i feel somali and also the border between somalia and kenya hundreds of kilometers long is porous and manned by corrupt officials who receive bribes and allow anyone who wants to come in. there are also the issue you have a half a million somali refugees sitting in between the town and also the border which is only just 80-kilometer as way and movement between not only the border and the refugees camp but also is quite easy and why al-shabab is taking advantage of this. and another point just to finish is "america tonight" that there is a disconnect between the public and the security officials because there has been so many bad blood and it's carried out by the population between the kenya forces and very little trust between them.

>> thank you. mohamed reporting from djibouti. saudi-led air strikes are forcing houthi 11s backed by forces loyal to the former president saleh. the air strikes have now entered their second week. the coalition is demanding houthis surrender. now the latest. >> reporter: these are what the saudi army says are ammunition depots in areas controlled by the houthis. the saudis say houthi rebels have acquired a huge number of weapons over the past few months. they worry these weapons may be used in revenge attacks against saudi arabia. all of the targets are destroyed. a dairy factory became an inferno. dozens were killed. on monday evening an air strike hit a refugees camp killing many

people. the united nations condemned the attack calling it a violation of international law. the houthis blame the saudi-led coalition for targeting civilians. accusations dismissed by the coalition. >> the houthis were the ones that attacked the dairy factories our sources confirmed they used weapons in attack and people killed. houthis use propaganda to win the support of the yep own is butyemenis butthey know we are trying to free them from the houthis. >> reporter: forces loyal to deposed president saleh and houthis are pulling out from areas. intense ground fighting has moved to the port city of aden. a secessionist group says it has helped take over the southern city's international airport and the surrounding area.

the secessionists are just one of a number of groups now might go the houthis on the ground. each has its ona general own agenda. players include the president and various tribes. they say regaining control of yemen won't come easily but the region's stability depends on it. the saudis are building international support for their military intervention. foreigners trapped in yemen are desperate to leave. about 350 indian citizens left for djibouti aboard this indian navy ship last night. for all of those who remain, there are growing concerns about a humanitarian cries discuss no sign of a ceasefire any time soon. >> the government says the main

problem isn't the houthis but the former president saleh. >> the main problem is if the saleh forces stop fighting with them they will start to retreat. our main problem now is not the houthis. they are rebels, they are few they have only light weapons which most of the yep own yemenis don't know about it. but the saleh forces have heavy artillery and weapons, they are the ones. >> joining us here on set. is mohamed he has covered yemen extensively. how much coordination is there between the former president and the forces who are loyal to him and the houthis on the ground? >> so far we have seen coordination signs of yard nation we don't know the details, but we know that before the strikes ban about a week ago.

there was perfect coordination because saleh has a lot of loyalty among the army for three decades he's been recruiting his army from the northern tribes. these are also shia and they are pro-saleh. because he's one of them by the way. he has been preparing for whether it was by design or by coincident for a long time. these people are in between their loyalty between saleh. they have been hoping the gates for the houthis before the air strikes began that's how they were able to span across the country and take a lot of bases and a lot of cities in yemen. now after the strikes began we see also that they are continue to go fight alongside each other. the a attacks a aden, heavy weapons, the attacks and so forth. the houthis are not that many, in numbers.

they are being supported by the army and the signs of that are clear the fact that they have been able to storm aden a couple of times and attack other cities and take it for sometime. it's a very strong sign of cooperation between the two sides. >> talk to us about the significance of aden. what it means. >> aden is significant some pollackly because it was once the capital of southern yemen and it's the economic capital of the country. it has the port the aden. you understand that, you know, we understand that, you know, huge part of the international oil traffic passes by there. and also as i said, strategically, this is -- this is southern yemen. it was an independent republic once and it has many groups who are opposed to the idea of a united it emunited it yemen and groups

not loyal to hadi. if they can coordinate, they can have the footing there in aden. they might be able to create a lot of troubles for the alliance and for the -- their opponents in the country. >> okay, mohamed, thank you joining us here on set. gunmen have killed at least tenney description soldiers and 10 egyptian soldiers and injured 19 others. a number of attacks against security forces since the overthrow of the egyptian president mohamed morsi. isil forces in syria have retreated from the palestinian refugees camp after taking control of its western part. anti-had of government forces defended it. >> reporter: smoke rises from what is said to be the refugees camp in damascus, those living nearby listen anxiously to the sounds of gunfire activists say

isil stormed the western part of the camel on tuesday fighting with anti-government palestinian militias. it was the last thing the desperate people needed. since early afternoon there were fierce clashes fierce clashes in the vicinity of the 18,000 civilians who were there. now, remember, amongst those are 3,500 children. and their lives are in danger. the pal tip general refugees camp has been under siege since 2013 with tiny amounts of aid getting through. human rights groups say women are dieing in childbirth and children of starvation. isil has fought with free syrian army around the camp before but was pushed out in to nearby district. activists are concerned that though isil has left the camp this time around, its fighters are bound to return in a bid to push in to the center of the

damascus. >> there you can see did he sieged by the fighters and the other syrian opposition fighter like the free syrian army. from the areas like east of and south. >> reporter: across the country the syrian government is continuing its aerial bombardment. this was the scene in newly rebel-2nd city of idlib. activists say the regime is still using chlorine gas a claim damascus denies. the u.n. says more than 220,000 people have been killed in the con next so far and the most vulnerable are often the victims. al jazerra. marathon talks over iran's nuclear fusion are continueing in switzerland two days past their deadline. france's foreign minister says negotiations are close to the

finishing line, but the final steps are the most difficult. world powers are trying to reach a ground-breaking deal. aimed at blocking iran's capacity of mixing a nuclear bomb in exchange for lifting sanctions. here is what's to come. concerns over china's female rights after five me fail activists continue to be detained after months. plus. >> reporter: i am erica wood in south africa. i'll tell you how the country's electricity rice us is crisis is putting people's health at risk.

>> weeknights on al jazeera america. >> join me as we bring you an in-depth look at the most important issues of the day. breaking it down. getting you the facts. it's the only place you'll find... the inside story. >> ray suarez hosts "inside story". weeknights, 11:30 eastern. on al jazeera america. ♪ ♪

the top stories on al jazerra, gunmen have stormed a university in kenya's northeast and are holding students hostage. police say two guards have been killed and the attackers are hiding in the student accommodations. the red cross says 32 people have been injured. saudi-led air strikes are forcing houthi rebel to his pull back from the yemeni southern city of aden. the sowed saudi-led coalition wants the rebels to vender and president hadi to be reinstated. isil fight versa taxed a palestinian refugees camp in syria but have been pushed back by other rebel forces. aid agencies say those living in the we signinged camp are struggling to survive. world leaders have been hailing nigeria's democrat i think spirit following the peaceful presidential poll. goodluck jonathan has been the first pred to succeed there. he wants this to be part of his

legacy. we take a look back at jonathan's time in power and what may have caused his defeat. >> reporter: when goodluck jonathan was elected president in 2011, people people were convinced he could fix nigeria's problems. he was the former vice president, he was highly educated. with a ph.d in zooology, but he inherited serious challenges like corruption and the boko haram crisis in the north that had been raging for two years. he promise the to deal with them swiftly when he was campaigning but his critics say the problems only got worse. >> the area that he did worse of all was the area of securing nigerians, it's a very sad thing as so many people died. and it was as if the government didn't care. at the end of his tenure, corruption became the culture of nigeria. of course the oil sector became a wash with corruption. >> reporter: thousands of people died under jonathan's watch and

hundreds of thousands were displaced. weeks before facing reelect the government says it reclaimed all the territories once controlled by the group. >> president jonathan did not invent the boko haram crisis, it was an inherited problem and i imagine that, you know, there will always be security challenges as we speak for now, you know, all the territories that have been taken over by boko haram have been more or less taken back and the security forces ahead. >> reporter: when economy seeded defeat he said he will be remembered for setting the country on a path of true democracy. >> i promise the country free and freer elections. i have kept my word. i have also expanded the space for nigerians to participate in the democratic process, that is one legacy i would like to endure. >> reporter: jonathan will go down in history as the first sitting president in nigeria's history to lose an election and

handover power. but also to have presided over the worst peace-time crisis in the country's history. boko haram. many of president jonathan afternoon old allies are now working with mohamed buhari and so many people are hoping he will be able to deliver what he's promised, al jazerra abuja, jai nigeria. it's been more than a week sin the nigerian military detained two al jazerra journalists they were embedded with the mill tear i before they were detained last tuesday, they have been kept in their hotel since then. al jazerra is demanding their immediate release. a russian troller has sunk killing at least 54 people. more than 100 were aboard the ship when it sanction off the coast of the peninsula. search teams worked in freezing water to rescue survivors. reports do suggest that drifting ice may have hulled that vessel. critics say that since chinese president came to power

in 2012, the a least 500 human rights activists have been jailed. of now there is growing concern about the fate of five female activists detained more than three weeks ago. they were arrested ahead of a protest being planned for international women's day. adrian brown reports from beijing. >> reporter: this is way ting ting one of the five activists now detained. a high-profile advocate and game and women's rights. in often cheeky stunts she and other campaigners have help raise awareness on issues ranging from domestic violence to more public toilets for women. they were planning a protest against sexual harassment when they were arrested almost a month ago. her lawyer says he's astonished by developments. >> translator: i was shocked. such a gentle way of expression could be cracked down like this. and could trigger so much response from the government. i am puzzled.

they send us a message. >> reporter: it's address that she and two other activity vitts are being held at a detention center northeast of beijing can t* can accommodate 4,000 inmates, another two women have been moved to a police hospital. she is being treated for hepatitis. she has a heart condition. the women are affiliated to a nongovernmental organization whose offices were raided by chinese security agent last week. they took away files and computers before changing the door lock. police wouldn't respond to our request for comment. the women are accused of disturbing social order. or in the words of the police, picking quarrels and provoking troubles. it's a crime with no clear definition but it allows police unlimited discretion to detain and arrest suspects for almost any action. >> detained on a charge of picking quarrels and making

trouble when the event that they were planning was two days way so even by chinese legal standards there is ab slutzly nothingabsolutelynothing to detain them on because the event they had been planning hadn't even taken place yet. >> reporter: as international pressure mounts on china to free the activists beijing has warned that no one has the right to ask china to release relevant persons. if the women are charged and convicted they face up to three years in jail. the mother of one of the activists had agreed to talk to us but when we arrived at her village outside beijing police were guarding the only entrance and told us to leave. adrian brown, al jazerra beijing. a new inexpensive vaccine is set to be introduced in india to help prevent child death from the wrote a rotavirus the vaccine is due next month and is the first to be produced in the developing word faiz jamil reports.

>> reporter: it's children who live in poor areas like this one in new deli who are most at risk of infection many of them preventable. her five-year-old daughter died a few months ago from severe diarrhea. she says it's impossible for people like her to protect their families from threats like this. >> translator: of course i am angry because if the water was clean, if the outside was clean why would my daughter die? why would my children fall ill. we don't have money to treat her in a fancy hospital for poor people like us, this is what happens. >> reporter: unsanitary conditions lead to mourn 300 khaoeugd deaths from diarrhea in india every year, one-third of caused by this. the wrote a vie us, which causes severe sigh rhea in infants and young children, most the india's poor don't have access to available vaccines, now this lab has developed the first vaccine for the rotavirus made outside

europe or the u.s. vaccines are too expensive for most families. the virus developed this lab will cost about $3 making it more available for those likely to be affected here in india and across the developing world. in clinical trials the new vaccine has shown to be about 58% effective. similar to other wrote a virus vaccines. but its makers say it's only part of the overall solution. >> it's just impossible to clean up everything. but this part of the sanitation program. if you combine with this and the sanitation, you will get instead of fit 8% you mate get 100 percent efficacy. >> reporter: who is who work with the poor agree saying simple steps can make a big difference. >> like boiling water, hand washing breast feeding is also

really important because mothers use dirty without we are milk faughter so wepowder so we can make a big dent. >> reporter: health workers are trying to deliver that message on the ground. hoping that along with the potential of a cheap vaccine children in these areas won't become another statistic. faiz jamil, al jazerra new delhi. in south africa, aging power plants are having a detrimental effect on people's health. the state-owned power company has been given five years to meet air quality standards. erica wood has more. >> reporter: this wind farm is south africa's newest show piece for renewable energy. the government says it wants 42% its lex are electricity to come from wind and solar power. more than three-quarters of the country's electricity needs come from stations fueled by coal. but those living nearby say they

are getting sick from all the polluted air. >> translator: i am suffering from asthma. >> reporter: the environmental charity greenpeace says katrina's symptoms are common in this area, she dint have access to electricity but the district where she lives is home to 11 coal-powered stations and another is under construction. this region is built on coal mining and colborneing. as soon as you arrive in the area, there is a real noticeable difference in the air quality. in fact something researchers say it has some of the dirtiest air in the world. greenpeace says allowing a state-owned power company and other big polluters an extra five years to meet carbon emission standards could cause the premature death of up to 19,000 people. >> you can't actually put a price on human health and the deem of environmental affairs has clearly gone against south safe can's constitutional right to a healthy environments.

so by approving all of the postponements that they are applying fox, they are really putting the people living in those coal areas really at risk. >> reporter: the ministry of environmental affairs admits it didn't carry out a health assessment before it made the decision. it says it wasn't in its mandate to do so. >> we all knew what we are doing. and when the applications of postponement arrives in front of us we shouldn't be told that, no leave those and now go and do this air study. it is not even in our purview we were doing what our law and regulations say we should 2k0678 the minister says the government has a difficult task balancing environment health and economic issues to cope with south africa's power shortage. she says her decision was based on sustainable development of the country. >> translator: before i was not sick. when i moved to this area that's when i start today get sick. >> reporter: but those living near its power stations believe their health is being sacrificed for the economy. erica wood, al jazerra south

africa. well, just a reminders you can always keep up-to-date with all of the news on our weapon side aljazerra.com. there you will find the day's top story stories. more on aljazerra.com. very few people get up in evil. what evil can i do today? >> he wrote the epic novel, a song of fire and ice, the basis for the hbo series "game of thrones" now in its fourth season, george r.r. martin is working fotin issue the series. >> there are days i wonder if i bit off more than i could chew. did it have dotcoms? >> his characters are often consumed with power struggles making them blind to t