that's ali velshi, the news continues next, live from london. a sawyer yeah arabia closes cools and canceled flights because of the fighting. hello there, this is al jazeera live, from london. also coming up. syrian government forces and rebel fighters were accused of committing war crimes in aleppo. scrambles to survive thrown from a vessel. and we meet the south africans who are determined to protect people from attacks.

hello. shelling by houthis rebels has forced saudi arabia to close all schools in the southern border region. all flights to and from the region's airport have also been suspended. and during a meeting of gulf cooperation leaders a human aaron aid center would be established. even before the conflict, ranking 150 fourth in human development. element half the people had no access to safe drinking water. food and security has also worsened the latest figures show that as many as 12 million do no have enough to eat the u.n. says it needs more than $273 million in

emergency funds but saudi arabia has promised to provide. that summit has also been suffering other issues including iran's nuclear ambitions. and this is what the foreign minister has to say. the leaders have stressed the importance of reaching a final and comprehensive agreement that can guarantee the peacefulness of the nuclear program along with ensuring that the countries of the region would have the right according to the standards and under supervision of the agency. >> well, al jazeera can join us live now. mohamed, what else has been said about the issue of iran at this. >> yes iran has been on the radar of the gulf nations for some time. they have been watching those talks in geneva between iran and western powers and they were concerned that the agreement that was reached

though it was preliminary may lead to another agreement that might give a leeway to iran to pursue a kind of nuclear program that may finally help it or allow it to have a nuclear bomb. leaders today reiterated the right to have a nuclear program, like anybody else, including gulf nations. but iran shouldn't cross the line or should be allowed to cross the line, and that's because they perceive iran as country that is willing and ready, to interfere in the region there syria to yemen to iraq. it has been very much concern that iran is laying the role as the super power in the region being considered by the americans as a partner to

talk to. and these issues will be taken by the leaders next week to the united states to be discussed with president barack obama. sew the summit today has really layed out the points that they want to talk to barack obama about and iran is on the top of that agenda. >> another key issue is the subject of syria, and there has been some talk, hasn't there, about a conference being held where you are at the moment, for some of the syrian opposition groups. >> yeah that has been mentioned today for the first time, and there were no details about when this conference may be held here and who are the groups that will participate in it, and whether it will have a place on the negotiation table even though the title of the whole statement of the

proposal is syria after asaad, so there is no place for asaad in the thinking of the gulf. they would like to marry sure that as it crumbles suddenly there must be a road map, a plan there ready to implement in syria toy void total chaos. like what we saw in libya and early on in afghanistan and other countries. and this is an indication, perhaps or affliction of a feeling in some other countries that asaad regime might be -- the days of asaad regime may be counted and limited gauze of the momentum that the groups in syria have dwayneed they have been able to unify iraq to push on several fronts against the regime of syrian president with the hailest there from

that summit, thank you. the u.n. humanitarian agency has called on the saudi led coalition to stop targeting sannal airport. the agency estimates that about 646 million have been killed and another 1,364 injured. since the air campaign started. the coalition has targeted the airport so that thend laking strips are inoperable, and no planes can come in. this is one of the only entry points few hoar plantain aid to come in, there are hundreds of thousands of people that need life saving aid. a leading human rights groups

says war crimes are being committed on a daily baseness syria second city aleppo. amnesty international has condemned the use of barrel bombs in rebel held neighborhoods. it says the devices killed more than 3,000 civilians in aleppo last year alone. rebel groups have also been criticized for using weapons such as mortars that killed at least 600 civilians in the city. in 2014. russia hopefully refocused the attention on the political track earlier this

year from moscow 1, and moscow 2. there is also a youthful meeting in cairo. and last week, the security council fully expressed to me unanimously that another attempt to politically try to resolve the conflict should be made even if, even if, odds of success are indeed low. the only way is to test the willingness of the parties to narrow the gaps and if they are ready to narrow the gaps. >> al jazeera correspondent sent this update from geneva. >> given the fanfare, that greeted stefan at his news conference here in geneva, on tuesday morning and the pead yeah presence that was there he was actually rather modest in setting out the aims for the next four or five weeks the work that he had ahead of him, he described this not as geneva e. that, but as consultations. he said there would be closed

one to one he described it as not a one off meeting but low key consultations. he described the talks as a situation report a reality check was another phrase that he used. what he wants to find out if there's any room at all for compromise and negotiation. he will speak to at least 40 different syrian groups. he is also going to speak to 20 regional and international stakeholders. and that includes the syrian government itself. so you can see he is casting his net as wide as possible in the hope of finding some ground to base some meaningful peace negotiations on. but the indications are not positive. he admits that he is not optimistic, nor pessimistic but what eh did say is he had a duty to try. he said given the situation

that there is in syria there is a crisis not to try. >> the dramatic rescue operation to save people crammed into a boat which looks to be sinking. which came to their rescue. it is believed to have happened on sunday, between libya and sicily. it is not known how many people are saved. or indeed anyone drawned. meanwhile, hundreds of others are brought to shore in southern italy. nearly 7,000 people have been pulled out f the mediterranean sea in the past few days. >> and hundreds of migrants have also been pulled from the sea by fisherman and coast guard but unlike neighboring libya, they are leaving the shores for europe. >> they tried to reach europe by boat, now they are back where they started.

in africa, these people are among almost 500 rescues by does thesians since march. the u.n. is helping those from somalia but these people are being sheltered in the town are west africans. and registers as economic migrants. that makes it difficult for them to claim asylum. >> our countries are no good. we need help. >> tunisian is no longer an eskate rout for migrants. that's because it is it's borders are securer and coast guard vessels patrol the waters. but does thesian authorities say they are worried that law lessness, and fighting will send more people out to sea. these fisherman are concerned too, they are trying to make a living but often end up rescues boats in trouble.

>> each trip costs $5,000 but we have to stop our fishing and return to shore with lost souls. >> the european union wants to takele it at the source, mainly in africa. it plans to target the smuggling risks south of here in the a ha rah dessert, a controversial idea is to try to persuade transit countries like morocco egypt, to help register and process people. >> tunisian is one of the few organizations helping. it says europe's can't outsource it's problems. >> it can run to the limits that is high unemployment here and most of these people are not happy to be here. they want to be in europe. >> many here walked through the dessert to reach libya. some people this is their second or even third failed attempt at crossing. this is why they keep trying. >> there's a big difference

in africa, and in europe. when you get to europe, everything will be okay with you. >> go home, or return to libya. risking their life again to reach a new continent. al jazeera. >> okay, still to come on the program, going to exam why foreign policy has been largely ignored in the lead up to the u.k. general elections. plus the latest from the remote region in nepal where a home village has been wiped out, leaving only ruins.

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hello, again. the top stories here. shelling has forced saudi arabia to close all schools at the border region. flights to and from the airports have been suspended. human rights group says the use of barrel bombs amounts to war trials. it says the explosives killed more than 3,000 in aleppo last year. and new video has emerged of a dramatic rescue operation to save people crammed into a rubber dingy which appears to be sinking. the pictures were shot which came to their rescue in the mediterranean. well a british navy ship is

starting operations to help with the migrant crisis in coordination with the italian navy but the u.k.'s foreign policy has largely been out of the picture as voters head to the polls in two days time. lawrence lee reports from london. they are having some work zone on it's a good time for it the civil servants work goes on hold when they try to gets elected. who will become the leading diplomate, and will other countries sit up and take notice. >> there is no real surprise that foreign policy hasn't played much of a role during this campaign, as usual it's mostly been about the economy. but there is a question about the extent to which the two main parties here continue to have a big strategic vision for the u.k.'s place in the world, and indeed the extent to with the rest of the world values the u.k.'s opinion on

many of these things. >> consider some of the biggest issues in the middle east. both labor and the parties have ended up opposing an iranian backs government, while supporting an iranian backed government in baghdad. the supporters help get rid of gaddafi but neither it nor the labor party anticipated that revolutions usually lead to an exodus and the doors to people like syrian refugees remain closed. the conservatives wouldn't offer us a single politician to interview the labor has this to say. >> many people talk of the role that libya plays on tony blare and gordon brown some due mention iraq war as a positive role, you might be surprised to hear that. burr certainly britain's roll in afghanistan in getting rid of the taliban. >> if isil is such a threat, why is the u.k. shrinking

it's army and yet spending $150 billion on nuclear weapons. these things have become a gift to the new insurgent parties particularly in scotland. >> i am sure that an s.m.p. are large enough to influence different thinking could help free the labor party or so many people in the labor party from their recent flirtation, frankly with a tony blare new labor center right approach, which is what they have done in recent years. >> and so if you say the palestinian ambassador, and you know that a majority of citizens want recognition of the state you wonder, why haven't the politician done it. >> how democracy can wronger there is no sin christianization between the analysis in the system. and that's why we have become

so reticent in accepting the democracy, because it is so outlandisch, it is full of contradictions. >> the criticism is that it no longer guides events and increasingly looks to richer countries. the question is how impressive all that still looks. >> lawrence, foreign policy does have ratherser use implications doesn't it. >> yes very much so and particularly if you are considering your british citizen and considering pledging conservative, you are automatically voting for a referendum on weather britain stays in or leaves the union.

they are very much against the union it would also trigger almost certainly root independent referendum in scotland, because scotland will want to stay inside the european union as an independent country. people are going to go to the polls almost in the end without having had the chance particularly by the media, to consider the gravity of the decisions that they are going to have to make here in a couple of days time. >> yes, it is proving to be a

fascinating and very close election, lawrence lee, thank you very much indeed. police in nepal saying nearly 200 people died in an avalanche that following the earthquake. 120 people including then lebanese nationals and foreigning thatters are still missing. but recall hopes of anyone being found alive in the district have disappeared. andrew simmons has flown there with an army team and sent this report from what is left of the village. >> it is a valley that leads to one of the most popular places in that pal few would want to go there now. what you see below used to be a large village. trackers from all over the world travels here. they made a good living out of their presence, now there is nothing left. one earthquake follows by an avalanche, destroyed everything. >> the massive place came crashing down, within seconds of the earth wait, completely anay yaleing this village.

no one here survived. it is a grim atmosphere. and for the recovery workers hard to imagine what they are going through. >> a spanish search team has now arrived to help, so far they have only found body parts. of oowe found about 42 local bodies. ten people from outside. of and ten foreign tourists bodies. >> lined up foreign embassies are anxiously trying to trace missing people, but an enormous if not impossible task, lies ahead. finding and identified all of the bodies. a launch number of people

living here, have sent their children to boarding school, leaving many orphans. >> the problem for them, they have lost their family, property everything, so really a shock for them. it is difficult to survive. >> the only positive here is this building ahead of the village still standing backed up against the mountain side. two elderly people and three people survived. they have now left, leaving only the bodies and searchers behind. >> constitutional court is cleared the way for president pierre to run for a third term. protestors have been rallying on the streets of the capitol for more than two weeks demand he back down. critics insist that his plan to stand in the poll is illegal. malcolm web reports. not his real name, says he is terrified by what is written in these letters. they have been pushed under

the doors at night by memberring of the ruling party. he belongs to the ethnic tootty minority, and the letters illustrated with coffins and graves say tutsy men, women boys and gives will be killed if the president does not run for a third term. they chant songs that threaten us. saying that will smash anyone that stands in their way. they say that thousands of people have fled to marry boring rwanda. and that they left about two months ago and they sold them from the roof of their house. you can see what they left on the floor we have spoken to several more, that say they want to leave but they are

trying to get the money together for the transport. >> he denied that they are sending the letters or making threats. >> this is a lie. there are no names or signatures on the letters. the opposition may be writing them to make him look bad because they fear our popularity. whoever wrote the letters seems to want to create ethnic tension. the protests and the political stand off are not along ethnic lines. the ruling party was once a houthis group it now include as small number ovatorsties. opposition politician led the. >> laest group which was largely along ethnic lines he told us he is against the third term, and said his and his supporters lives are in danger. he said the president supporters are trying to use

ethnicity to gain popularity. >> i am a houthis but what kind of treatyman am i enduring from him and his governor. his government. back in the country side, this man's a member of another opposition group he has been hiding here in a friend's house and know he is leaving for rwanda in secret. he only pack as few possessions so he can pass uno tied. many hope ten years on from the war his ethnic hate speech won't catch on, but many more feel the speech of ethnically targeted violence is very real. al jazeera. migrant workers have been a target of zen aphonic attacks but there are also locals who are protecting foreigners from the violence. charles reports from durban. >> the city escaped political violence and came to south africa in 2006, he says he was the vick testimony of attacks against foreigners to years later and his

restaurant was destroyed. recently, he was attacked again. >> in my country if there is peace, i have to go back to my country and die, where will they bury me nicely. >> his wife died given birth to their 6th child. he said he applied for political asalem, but has given up waiting for on answer. he brought his family to this camp and says he has little interest in the offer to reintegrate and to south african society. >> the government says we have to go back in the community, so there's peace now, and then we went back in the community. and it has not happened any more so it happen again twice. >> we have come to the area where his family used to live, now the vast majority of foreigners have fled the recent attacks however we found that a few foreigners that are still here, and say

they are living in fear. >> we found from ma law we close by, she came to south africa five years ago and says she can't afford the ticket back home. >> i feel in pain in my life. that's why i am feeling -- >> that's why we are still here. >> the government says it is hopeful of regaining the trust of foreigners here. the program involved working with our committee members church leaders. and other nongovernment organizations. to basically work with the communities to reintegrate people back. we as a country have take an decision that we will treat in the human rights culture all asylum seekers and

refugee status seekers. it is time to look for a new life elsewhere. al jazeera, turban. >> much more on our website the address to click on aljazeera.com. >> nominated by the president, general joseph dunford is set to become the next chairman of the joins chief of staff. a surprise and historic trip. touching down in somalia and a damming lotter on the war in gaza, israeli soldiers speak out against their own military command.