astronauts would aboard the spacecraft if it were to explo during launch. ♪ >> the last day of campaigning before the u.k.'s election.

>> and disappearing act the new zealand glacier is retreating at an alarming rate. >> thousands tried to escape fighting in aid. that followed heavy fighting there have been more than 40 strikes near the saudi border. and there have been more strikes in the borders with mortar attacks that killed three people.

secretary of state john kerry is on his kay to saudi arabia where he'll push for a humanitarian pause in the fighting in yemen. riyadh is considering a truce to allow the aid delivery. we have this account in the after math of the attack on civilians in aden. >> many of the dead bodies were recovered, and including from the street to the military hospital. they are indiscriminately hurting citizens. reports confirm the mills the

criminal forces loyal to ousted president saleh are shelling artillery mortars and tank shells on dozens of households. and families who are displaced. >> we're live in riyadh. gives us a broader picture of the fighting and casualties in aden. >> yes as we have just heard in the intro fighting has intensified in the city of aden and the latest development is that forces loyal to former president saleh have been able to gain ground. this is a strategic place and it is a dangerous development because it is full of civilians. we have seen civilians fleeing any way they can.

and near aden a boat was attacked and people were killed. there are calls from every corner in the world for a humanitarian truce. the u.n. spokesman today asked for that and said that the secretary general of the united nations is pushing for a humanitarian truce and calling on all sides to make that a reality. the ports should be open. the airports, particularly the airports of aden and sanaa the two cities mostly affected by the fighting now are the city of aden and the city of sadaa in the north. that's a stronghold for the houthis. there is urgent need for the cease-fire. we know that the saudis have been talking about this, but there must be a formality for the cease-fire. it may not be favorbly accepted by the other side, it must be

agreed upon by two sides. >> u.s. secretary of state john kerry is headed to riyadh. >> he'll have a discussion with the saudis, and he's one of the people the americans are among the sides asking for the cease-fire. we know that he'll ask the saudis to make it a reality. but because of the recent developments and attacks of houthis on the saudi cities where three people were killed in the latest attack, and also renewed attacks today, the saudis will have a problem. actually deciding a complete cease-fire. i mean, cease-fire across yemen. they'll probably talk about specific areas where this can be done around aden, but also the situation is getting more complicated in aden now. there are no guarantees that it will be respected by the other side. they want to create safe zones

for humanitarian goods to be shipped and distributed but they have to protect those humanitarian areas and it's a subject of discussion. we'll see how the saudi also respond to it, and how the americans are going to push further for it. >> thank you very much, that live update from riyadh. thank you. >> syria's president bashar al-assad has described recent military losses as mere setbacks. speaking for the first time since the idleb's pro convention capital,. >> we're waging a war not a

battle. war is a number of many battles. when we talk about the war happening in syria across thousands of kilometers and across thousands of kilometers along it's boards and inside syria. >> the leader of lebanon's hezbollah group said that their group will launch an offensive in the region. [ gunfire ] >> coalition of syrian rebels say that they have taken more regions from the hezbollah fighters. these are the mountains near the lebanese-syrian borders. it is considered a strategic vantage point by all sides. the leader says that an battle

in the galamunt region is coming. >> everyone will know that this operation has started. with regard to its goals limits location of where it's heading that will be left at the right time. we will not declare it now. >> fighters including al-qaeda-affiliated al nusra front has been more in control in recent months. seven lebanese soldiers have been captured. the captive soldiers warn that lebanon will pay the price if action is taken in al nusra-held areas. meanwhile, inside syria government aircraft are continuing to control areas in homs and other areas. this is something that the government denies it is doing the use of shrapnel bombs. there have been videos of

thousands of like these where it shows helicopters dropping bombs. >> the problem is sometimes the barely bomb attacks hit the same place in what so-called double tap strikes where there is a barrel bomb attack and then a second barrel bomb attack 15, 30 minutes later which kills those who try to rescue those killed in the first attack. >> this shows a whole family killed in in a barrel bomb strikes. they say these blankets are used to gather scattered body parts. as tension rises on the lebanese border civilians in the area will again be hit the hardest.

al jazeera. >> iraq has september reinforcements to the beiji oil refinery after heavy fighting. it's on the road to isil's stronghold of mosul. >> afghan judge has sentenced four men to death for the murder of a woman when was lynched and beaten to death in broad daylight. she was attacked after being wrongly accused of burning the qur'an. there is concern about the speed with which the verdicts were reached. >> the murder trial has been closely watched in afghanistan. the trial was broadcast live on national television. 49 people including 19 policemen were accused. four of them have been given the harshest punishments. >> we have sentenced each of you

to capital punishment, death our decision on these people are not definite. they have the right to appeal. >> the 27-year-old was wrongly accused of burning a qur'an. she was brutally attacked bay mob in central kabul in march. they beat and kicked her then set her body on fire. hundreds of people watched. some people even recorded it on their phones. that evidence was used in the case. her family were in court. her brother has told al jazeera that justice has not been deserved. human rights activists agree they say not everyone was brought to trial. >> the real criminals are still free and i don't believe it was a fair and free trial. announcing the death penalty or imprisoning or letting free most of these people was a hasty decision. >> however the trial has successfully convicted people involved in.

>> this case will be taken seriously that we have lots of cases where him women were publicly stoned and killed and everybody watched and no one was brought to justice. >> a sign is put up where an attack happened, and a shrine has been put where she was burned. thousands of people demonstrated in afghanistan and other parts of the world calling for justice. many of them were angry not only at the crime but that it happened in public while the police were present. 19 policemen are also on trial. some of them say that they called for back up, but none came. their verdicts and possible sentencing are due on sunday. caroline malone, al jazeera. >> one of india's biggest bollywood stars has been jailed for culpable homicide. he was sentenced to jail after

running over five men. the actor has denied being behind the wheel and blamed his driver. the judge ruled that he had been driving without a license and while under the influence of alcohol. >> bollywood is very hurt by the judgment. it's very sad news. not only for his family but for the millions of fans across the world. >> the sentence has hurt not only me but everyone associated with our ministry and those who know him and his family. however, at the same time i honor the adjustment of the court. >> still to come, the retreat of a glacier here in new zealand could give clues to the extent of global warming. stay with us.

[ gunfire ] >> syrian rebels say they've taken more areas from the government as president assad place down the loss as a minor setback. and four afghan men have been sentenced to death for their roles in the murder of a woman beaten to death in broad daylight. the 27-year-old was lynched in march after being falsely accused of burning the qur'an. ♪ >> a day away from the u.k.

election and voting is on a knife edge. many believe there is a hung parliament, and that could mean days of horse trading. tell us what has been going on lawrence? >> yes intriguing developments. right at the end at the election campaign. if a party wants to form a government the rule says he has to get the majority. the confidence of parliament as it's known the body can then go to the queen. she says fine, off you go. that's how it's supposed to work. but in that the scottish natural national party is proving to be a thorn in the side of david cameron and his supporters in the conservative party. they have such an extraordinary and successful campaign that it looks inevitably as if it will

hold the balance of power and none of the other parties will be able to form a government without their support and david cameron seems close to implying that the threat of the secessionist party in westminster may be such that the public may want to consider a minority government rather than a majority one if that majority involve the scottish nationalists. north london very wealthy and liberal. they're trying to hold on to the constituency. but in this era some labor supporters don't like the idea of their party doing deals with those who would chop down the united kingdom. >> would you vote labor if they didn't have to get the support of the scottish nationalists. >> yes definitely. >> but you don't want them to deal with the nationalists. >> you've hit it on the head. >> this election uniquely in the u.k. is forcing the parties as different as apples and oranges and that makes things

potentially very messy. the labour party could but only with the support of the scottish nationalists and they, after all, want independent from the united kingdom. and this late in the day that is leading the conservatives to question the moral authority off legitimacy of that arrangement. the conservatives in newspapers are full of talk of constitutional crisis. the scottish enemy holding the leader holding the leverage of party. they've taken to the airwaves. >> that's what this moral high ground to effectively repel all of this, but he still has to

have a healthy number of mps. >> but civil servants have been hard at work reminding them that rules are rules and the majority in parliament will count at the end. >> the idea of excluding the snp. scotland is voting for them, they vote for them. that's a fact of life that has to be taken into account. >> if all of this was simple then the party with the biggest gang would declare victory, but this is not as simple as at all. >> these are live pictures coming to us now. you can see the shirt sleeves rolled up and lots of energy being put in to get those final votes sewn up. is there any dangerous of the snp attitudes any more. >> the strategy is to frighten

the english voters to vote for him instead of the labor or labour party, but many say it's an incredibly dangerous game. remember last year, they said that's it, that's the will of the scottish people. they have to be part of the u.k. whether they like it or now. but if they win 55 seats in parliament and then they say we don't like you being in westminster very much, then surely that's sacramento didly what the snp can take to scots next year when there are scottish elections saying we tried to have a voice at westminster, but they don't want us there either. there has to be another independence referendum because they don't want us there at all and we have to go our own ways. it's very, very dangerous tactic by mr. cameron at this point. >> and sir laurence, you said

they need to be cautious with this. is this strategy--i guess it's a built too late for them to change their minds on this, is it? >> well, i think what really what mr. cameron is saying he wants to do is to make sure they get close enough to having power by themselves and repel the scots as presented in that report. the difficulty is that civil servants, people who write the rules, have said that the rules are the rules, and you have to get a majority. now what mr. cameron is suggesting is to trying to massage public opinion after the vote and say come on, england we would rather have the scots out and keep the united kingdom together. but it's never been like this before. it's completely new ground that he's trying to offer to people. and he'll have to use his friends in the media particularly the newspapers that threaten the scots itself is worth ripping up the rule book and keeping them out of

westminster. >> thank you very much indeed. >> last year 38 million penal people have been displaced from their own countries. in afghanistan nearly 1 million people have been forced from their homes. and we have reports from kabul that number is expected to increase. >> he came to kabul six years ago. brutal fighting between the taliban and nato forces forced him out of his village in helmand province. >> i believe we're safer here. there is no fighting. it is calm here. no one will bomb us. but life is very hard here. >> he said that there isn't enough work to earn enough to feed his family. the common problem in this sprawling camp on the edge of the capital. most here thought it would be a temporary stop, like this man who has been here for five years. >> i didn't think we would be

here for long. i thought i would be for a month or two. we hoped that our village would be peaceful so we could go back. now we don't even think about going home. >> there is no school. most of the children are illiterate and for many this is the only home they've ever known. 850,000 afghans are displaced because of war. and the continued fighting means that more will leave their homes this year. >> this woman fled with her family from the fighting. and at the same time in northern afghanistan, hundreds of taliban fighters launched an offensive whereby thousands of a damage soldiers at least the civilians are caught in the middle. >> our entire village has fell into the hands of the taliban.

>> 10,500 families have left their homes in a matter of weeks. there are no displaced camps so people have moved in with relatives or friends. some living 20 to a room. local officials say that no aid has arrived yet. the united nations anticipate as many as 150,000 more afghans will become displaced in their own country this year. where there is conflict, one official says there, is displacement. jennifer glasse, kabul. >> construction work is underway in nepal following the earthquake that is now known to have killed 7,600 people. they've been working to save builds from further ruin. nearly hundred heritage sites have been damaged and the work is going on to restore essential services including power and water supplies. nigeria's military said that it has rescued another 25 women and children from sambisa

forest. it's not clear if they include some of the school girls kidnapped a year ago from chibok town. government and opposition rifles are holding crisis talks in burundi to try to end deadly demonstrations. demonstration. the protesters are unhappy with the president deciding to run for a third term in office. a dozen people have been killed, including police over the past week. french investigators have discovered that the co-pilot of the germanwings plane who crashed a plane in march practiced. all people on board were killed in the crash in the french alps. a man was killed in germany after a tornado swept through the country.

roofs were ripped off buildings and debris was strewn across the street. scientists in new zealand have discovered one of the country's most iconning glaciers is retreated at an alarming rate. it is melting and leaving behind unstable rock walls. >> glacier are one of nature's a-inspiring features. they're scantly changing and and in this case retreating quickly. >> we're stunned to see quite a few changes on the hill slides themselves it's all happening at an incredible rate. >> a group of university scientists released series of images taken over ten years. and in this time lapse shot over just a few months shows how is the ice melts the valley walls

become unstable and collapse. now for safety reasons visitors aren't allowed to climb on the glacier from the bottom. it has made some tour operators have had to adopt. >> we've had to adjust our business. all of the trips now, well most of the trips fly up on the upper ice fall. >> since the late 1800s as the earth has warmed up the fox has retreated three kilometers over all but it fluctuates and in recent times the features have speed up. the fox glacier has a large area that flows down to a very steep and narrow gully. campaign that with high levels of know and rainfall. any changes here at the stop are magnified down below. >> what we're seeing now is not unprecedented. scientists know it was about the

same side in 1983 because of low snowfalls in the preceding years then it had a huge growth spurt. what they don't know what will happen next. >> we know that glaciers retreat and advance and retreat and advance in a cycle but it's possible that we won't see it readvance to the same position it readvanced last time in 2009. >> it's also a possibility that it will keep retreating unless the volatile patterns that surround this country align to decrease temperatures and increase know fall. wayne hay, al jazeera, at the fox glacier new zealand. >> commercial space exploration company spacex has taken another step putting astronauts into orbit. >> carrying a dummy high in the

skies above cape canaveral in florida. it came back down to earth. the test was to prove passengers would be kept out of hammer's way should there be problems during launch. they plan to put passengers into orbit by 2017. for more go to www.aljazeera.com. >> some say the trial wasn't fair. >> i'm jennifer glasse in a camp for displaced afghans in kabul. some 850,000 people displaced by war and that number will continue to grow.