♪ scenes of devastation in nepal after a 7.9 magnitude earthquake causes sites and buildings to collapse. hello from doha. this is the world news from al jazeera. in search of a better life we meet ethiopians determined to cross land and sea just to reach europe. a month after iraqi forces drove ice ill fighters out of tikrit many residents are still too scared to go back. we will find how successful canada has been in asserting itself in the arctic region.

a terrible situation in nepal this saturday. hundreds of people killed after a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck near catmandu. have a look at it on the map, an avenue in between the capital, katmandu and pokhara but tremors felt in india. the capital, new delhi and across in bangladesh in dhaka, they felt this. we will start off with this report from nicole johnston. >> reporter: a powerful 7.9 magnitude earthquake has rocked kathmandu valley being felt as far away as india and bangladesh. buildings collapsed, homes lost under tons of concrete, steel

and power lines. temples were also damaged and destroyed. >> it went on forever. it just went on forever. even the building stood by not one jolt. it was a continuous wave. >> reporter: the city's 19th century tower has been knocked down. only a stump remains. it's believed some tour wrists climbing the tower when the earthquake struck. dozens of people are trapped there. the wounded are being pulled from the rubble. hospital beds have been set up. around two and a half million people live in kathmandu valley. it's a depositionly-populated area. there are reports whole villages have been destroyed. getting help to them will be even more difficult than in the capital. over the next few hours, the scale of the devastation in

nepal will become clearer. many people are still in many people are still in

shock. there are a lot of people preparing for a night outside. everyone was so scared. so, it's still very unclear

exactly how many have died in this earthquake but it looks quite scary. >> the pictures look a little chaotic, certainly from here. hospital beds on the street. people moving rubble. is that effective and are e hermaning mergency services able to get in and be effective? >> reporter: in some areas yes but most of the old part are quite difficult to go there in the best of times, and now it is next to impossible to get to certain areas. people are walking on foot, climbing over rubble to try to get to places. it's not going to be easy the next few days when it comes to rescue. >> just what time is it there at the moment?

i want to get a handle on, you know when darkness is going to be falling and how long these workers have got to really make some headway. >> reporter: immediately they will try to do as much as possible. it's quite difficult to see how long they have. the sky looks ominous. it might rain. they might have to pull -- they might have to stop for a while. the weather has been very unpredictable. so, i am afraid i can't tell you exactly how it's going to go or how soon these rescue recovery efforts are going to happen. >> that's fine. i am thinking about time tables. i checked. what is it? almost 5:00 in the evening. 10 until 5:00 so it is come okay for nighttime. >> yeah.

>> thanks sabine a from kathmandu. firsthand accounts of what's going on in the recovery efforts, excuse me n nepal. indian states bordering nepal have been affected. an update on two things: one, what it was like there, death toll, et cetera and the amount of help which is being promised from the indian government. >> yes, absolutely. well as you have been saying there is at least 13 dead. we have brought it up to 20 across the northern belt and all the way east up to west bangol. we are also hearing interestingly of the press trust of india that the state of sikham on the him layan range has experienced several landslides following the earthquake there in nepal. there are suggestions in the report by the press trust of

indian that it had experienced several tremors for approximately three days. that's interesting if you look at the context before this major quake in nepal. in terms of the relief effort a high life level meeting is ongoing in new del e as we ends. tons of aid is on its way and 18 national disaster relief compressions experts are also on the way. the nepalese ambassador has requested mobile medical assistance services. >> certainly shows some very quick requests on the nepalese side. there will be interesting news lines coming up for us as this meeting comes to an end in new delhi shows the depth and range of the service india will be offering keeping in line that this is range is of sensitivity and a big issue for both countries and all countries who have it in the region across

south asia into china. it will be interesting to see just what the regional response will be going forward. >> thank you, live in new delhi. from her, we will go to bangladesh to talk to marta zdar. what it was like what after effects and can bangladesh join in the aid effort? >> reporter: immediately after, as the earthquake was happening, it was quite anique thing for a lot of bangladeshis because while there have been tremors felt as far south as the capital, capital, it's never been anything this strong and this long. it was a very sustained earthquake. people felt it 20 seconds, 30 seconds, nothing like that has been here before at least in recent times. and so there was a certain amount of panic. people had rushed down try to get out of buildings.

everyone started calling each other, relatives, friends, checking with each other to make sure everyone is fine. we do have one person confirmed dead in the west of the country. it was an elderly woman who was walking on the street when the earthquake happened and she fell and died. other than that there have been buildings that have started leaning. there is a high-rise building not too far from where i am actually that has leaned and we are hearing that there has been a defendant particular -- there has been more damage done in the older part of the city where many of the buildings are fairly ancient. some of them are over hundreds of years old, over 100 years old and we are hearing that a number of buildings there have also started to lean and what's particularly resonant is that a number of people have been injured. dozens of garment workers have been injured rushing out of

their factories when the earthquake took place. this is an earthquake almost exactly two years to the date that the factory collapsed and it's just a reminder that it doesn't really take a strong earthquake to make some of the buildings in bangladesh come crashing down. it is an open secret that a number of the buildings -- a number of the buildings here don't adhere to safety codes and so i imagine it must have been particularly terrifying for the garment workers involved. but from what i am talking to -- from people i talked to we see that after the initial panic ended, everyone talked talk turns to kathmandu. everyone's thoughts are with the people of nepal at this point. >> paul thank you for that live from dhaka. so that's around the area with our correspondents. back to nepal.

spokesman for the red cross in kathmandu. thank you for your time especially on what i am sure is a very busy time. tell us what efforts are underway at the red cross just right now. >> well at the moment, it's still -- it's an instance of the earthquake. it's still a case of working at what's happened where and where we can be most helpful. >> where can you be more helpful? what's your plan of attack from here? >> the red cross is a community based organization. so for the last years, we have been putting in place earthquake preparedness projects and much of it involved training thousands of members of local communities here within the kathmandu valley in first aid and light search and rescue. so those trained volunteers and members of the community will be hopefully at the forefront of the efforts to get people out of the rubble. >> excellent. what about reinforcements. you are going to be calling in plenty of it suspected at this

stage working in conjunction with other aid with other aid

organizations? >> ♪

♪ the top stories on al jazeera hundreds of people -- excuse me -- have been killed in nepal after a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck near the capital kathleen: rescue operations are underway. the quake also caused an avalanche at the space camp that killed eight people. officials say at least 20 people are dead and dozens have been injured. two of kathmandu world heritage sites have been destroyed. 50 people were trapped in one of them which is a 19th century tower that collapsed in the quake. a look at the war in yemen, houthi fighters and forces loyal to the former president are pushing their way in to more areas in the south.

the rebels are trying to gain more ground in the district near aden. on friday sala urged houthi supporters to end the fighting so coalition airstrikes can end. government officials say at least 28 people have been killed in the south. >> the yemeni government spokesperson is in doha for a conference for the arab center of research and policies. we are speaking to him through a translator. thank you for your time sir. can you tell me first of all, is the government willing to sit down with the houthis and start talking about solving this? >> there is no doubt the government believes that a diplomatic route is the only way out. we are willing to engage in negotiations with any party provided the other party is

genuine, serious and will be committing to the outcome. if the houthis declare to commit by the recent resolution handed down by the security council paving the way for a diplomatic solution and a new round of talk in case the houthis fee claire to commit to all of the conditioned laid down by the security counsel. do you have the former president is genuine when he talks about asking the houthis and his supporters to pull back and end their feeding so that the airstrikes can end as well. sala is a party. he is not an adversary. he was supposed to ask the houthis to lay down arms. he himself, also showed laid

down arms. he is a big ally to the houthis. he is implicated and involved in fighting in the south. what he has been doing is nothing but political maneuver. to clear his image before the international community. the criminal courts now. >> in the meantime until he or his supporters decide to talk and you decide to talk what do you make of ongoing airstrikes? are they going to achieve anything? the air campaign under the military campaign has shifted the balance of power on the ground. the houthis consider themselves together with sala and his loyal

malitias as to be having the upper hand. now, the balance of power has shifted, and if we are engaged in a new round of talks, it will be different from the previous talks sponsored. >> a yemeni government spokesperson speaking to us through translation. thank you, sir. it's been almost a month now since iraq's government forces drove isil fighters out of tick rit. many reports are still too scared to return fearing sectarian attacks. first fighting between isil and the government forces backed by shia militaries. there are signs of looting and arson attacks carried out by the malitias. the government admits some members of the popular forces

committed these acts. it says it will hold them accountable. security forces say all pera militaries have left the city. they are calling on the people to return home. i tell the people to return. we are your brothers. the conditions are good. your neighbors are returning. >> al jazeera's request to accompany the popular mobilization forces on a trip to tikrit has been pending for almost two weeks. our camera person got in and was able to film inside the city center. no families were sound. the signs and flags may reflect the sectarian nature. some residents we spoke to on the phone say the burning of property is still ongoing. many live outside of the city. they fear attacks if they return. shia military militants are in tikrit away from cameras. isil fighters are also present

and still fighting in the surrounding areas. the big battle for tikrit could be over but within the trust -- losing the trust of residents is not easy. >> the people can't return now because there is a lack of basic services. water pipes are broken. there is a shortage of electricity. there was a battle in tikrit that's destroyed. security is good but no popular mobilization forces. >> on the outskirts of tikrit we found this family? >> we came back three days before tikrit was liberated. there was talk of fighting. we came back to our home thank god. >> the fight against isil is not over. many people feel they are caught between isil and government forces backed by shia pera militants. >> there were fears what happened in tikrit would be replicated in the city of mosul and anbar prove incident. is i will remains strong there. winning back the people of

tikrit could be harder than winning this war. al jazeera baghdad. >> iraq's interior ministry says three car boxes have gone off targeting security forces with jordan. the blast reportedly took place at the border crossing in the western part of the country. no word yet on casualties. syrian activists say rebel fighters have taken control of a strategic city in the country's northwest. the fighters took control in idlib prove incident after four days of fighting. the rebel group is targeting nearby towns. italy's coast guards rescued 238 migrants from the mediterranean sea. thousands risk their lives every year in the hope of reaching europe. they face smugglers, desert and sea crossings and of course the possibility of death. why are they so desperate to

leave? >> almost every here knew least 5 young men killed alongside the migrants, by isil in idlib next week. they are headed through a well traveled smuggling route to italy. in the neighborhood where three of them grew-up, many joined their families in mourning. they were inconsoleable, their pain hard to describe. >> they were looking for a better life. many of their friends here are also desperate to leave. those we talked to say that life is difficult, staying in ethiopia is not an option. these are some of the childhood friends who saw them off. they hope to follow soon. even as they grief, they have not abandoned that plan. >> it's better than being stuck

here i know my life will be better when i go. >> he never got to his dest medication. he says smugglers fail to agree on a payment for president border police. the smugglers are brutal. they don't care about anyone. they only care about money. they beat us. ethiopia has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. it's a poor company. many are unemployed. some analysts believe it's a mentality rather than poverty that drives people to leave. >> this mindset, collective social psychology of going to dreamland countries of destination with plenty opportunities have been a defendant driving factor. >> but in the neighborhood the vigil goes on even as some of the young people here dream of

plans to leave the country no matter what. catherine soy, al jazeera. >> canada is the second largest world, almost half in the arctic it is u.s. russia and scandinavian countries set up nine years ago to work on environmental, shipping and other issues facing the arctic. daniel lak reports from canada's northern most city. >> reporter: the discovery of a sunken british ship from the mid 19th century was a triumph for archeology and the history of the north. for canada it was an assertion of sovereignty and announcing the fight.

a history buff and a man with a plan for the north. >> then there is the arctic council which canada's only indigenous cabinet minister has cheered for -- chaired for the past two years. among her achievements she said setting up a northern council, looking for ways to reduce some carbon emissions. observers say canada's council chair is mixed at best. >> it came in with a modest agenda, didn't seek to do very much. it hasn't done very much. but it continues to support and maintain a body that provides a space for western countries in russia to work together on arctic issues in that respect. the canadian chairmanship has been a defendant success. >> the canadian government's low-key approach to the arctic council contrasts with its repeated promises to bring more jobs to the north, to bolster canada's sovereignty in a region crucial to the country's future.

here some see gaps between rhetoric and realty. >> canada has made some commitments that have come through and others that haven't. but i think the rank and file people are waiting for some real bread and butter issues to be acted on, more than the arctic counsel. >> temperatures are rising faster than anywhere on the planet. ways of life are threatened. doing something being that is becoming ever more urgent. the northern coastal communities are bearing the brunt of changes up here whether it's unpredictable winters or ice-free summers. residents here can only look forward to the next two years when the u.s. is promising to use its lighteadership of the arctic council to do something positive about climate change in a place where it's being felt most acutely. daniel lak, al jazeera. a giant cloud of ash from an erupting volcano in chile has been blowing. airline flights arehave been

disrupted 1600 kilometers away. a boarder has been closed. thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes near the volcano. plenty more news for you only at aljazeera.com. breaking news and video on demand, whenever you want it. ♪ civil rights leader julian bond. >> here are these ordinary people, innocent people doing nothing at all, walking down the street bam, bam, bam, please policemen jump upon them beat them, in this hor inc. way. >> as the 50th anniversary of the voting rights march from selma to montgomery and bloody sunday was, protesters across the country today are calling for an end to what they say is rachel