the devastation as 100 people die in syrian government air strikes on a market in the opposition held town of duma. good to have you with us. you're watching al jazeera. i'm david foster. coming up in the next 30 minutes on this program, a taliban-linked group says it carried out a suicide bombing that killed a pakistani politician and ten other people. hundreds of thousands turning out in brazil protesting about the president's government. the remains of this indonesian plane that went

missing with 54 on board have been found in papua. syrian activists say over 100 have been killed by government air strikes targeting a rebel-held town. more than 200 were wounded in the attack. this is a crowded market in douma far from the capital of damascus. syria's air force confirmed it did carry out the air strikes in douma and in the nearby area. a deal to move thousands of people out of besieged areas out of syria has collapsed and fighting has resumed. with more on that here's al jazeera's dana hoda. >> reporter: it was in the opposition-controlled northern

province of idlib. a temporary ceasefire classed. rebels resumed an assault, and thousands of people are there mostly supporters of president al-assad and are shia. it's difficult for the government to protect them. that's why it wants to transfer them to safer areas as part a deal, but the opposition pulled out of negotiations. the rebel group that was negotiating on behalf of the opposition said the government's main ally, iran, wants to partition the country. over recent days there were talks to give rebels trapped inside the town in the damascus countryside safe passage, but according to the opposition iran demanded that the town's residents leave as a way to get sunni muslims out of the damascus countryside and areas along the lebanese border. >> we've seen for some time now that pro-regime forces in syria focus on securing the most

strateg strategically valuable territory around this town and key transport routes west towards lebanon. we've seen all the way since the summer of 2013 to some extent that policy beginning to take shape. >> reporter: for the government and it's allies, the town is important. recapturing it would help to secure the international highway that links lebanon and steer ya and further consolidate their control of an enclave that including the color moon region on the board and the coastal cities home to many ail allowites loyal to the president. they can't defend the bier country. the forces have been withdrawing to lines they are able to defend. even the president acknowledged there's a lack of manpower, which means they have to pick their battles in areas of strategic importance. syria has been partitioned with

front lines, separating people according to sexts and loyalties. the deal to trfrn the besieged sunni and shia communities may have fallen apart. but the effect that a population swap was on the negotiating table shows there is a new syria emerging, one with different borders and where forced migration may be policy. more news out of pakistan where the minister of punjab province was killed along with ten others as a result a suicide attack. simon mcgregor-wood reports. >> the attack took place as they hosted a local political meeting in his home. the force of the blast caused the building to collapse, burying the minister and trapping many of those waiting

to meet him. local volunteers worked with special rescue teams and brought in heavy machine to help in the difficult task of removing debris including huge concrete slabs once part of the building's roof. >> translator: the explosion was very loud. after a while, i knew the blast had targeted the home minister. when i got here, i saw his men working here. they were rescuing bodies and injured. then the priests arrived. >> reporter: he was a retired military man and political ally of the prime minister. he was leading a crackdown against militant groups responsible for sectarian attacks. his tough approach earned him enemi enemies. his name was on the hit list of one local group al qaeda affiliated and responsible for attacks against local shiites. its leader and two sons were killed. committee condemned the attack

and announced a three-day mourning period. >> let's go to our correspondent from islamabad. this minister, how important would you say he was in trying to tackle extremism in that part of pakistan? >> reporter: he had an extremely important job after the government decided to come out with a national action plan under which it was to go after all these bad organizations, particularly in the provp ins of the punjab, for which he was responsible. he was a marked man here. he had already spoken that he had received threats, and therefore, there's tremendous criticism as to the lapse of security because this was a very high-profile man. he was the spearhead against those militant outfits, and therefore, eshld have been provided more security. >> in terms of the response, what could we expect from pakistan's authorities here?

>> reporter: well, the pakistani government is saying they will go after the perpetrators on a day when the military aircraft have been busy along the border. they have been bombing positions of fighters in region. 40 fighters were killed according to the military. the military is on the offensive, but this shows that those outfits the government is going after are still able to conduct strikes and able to penetrate and break through security cordons. the ease with which the suicide bomber was able to go into the political office shows and says everything about the performance of the government. >> indeed. thank you. well, indian and pakistani troops have dredded fun fire for the seventh day in a row in the dputed region of kashmir.

pakistan's army says two civilians have died on its side. despite a 2003 ceasefire, the two neighbors regularly exchange fire. kashmir's decided between india and pakistan but claimed in its entirety by both. anti-government protests taking place across brazil. rio and copy cabana beach has been seeing protests. this is the third nationwide anti-government rally this year, and president rousseff is less than a year into her second term. her popularity ratings are at hif rick historic lows. let's go to rio. they saw her popularity ratings are extremely low, and i read that two-thirds of the population of the brazil say they want her impeached.

>> reporter: yes, absolutely. this is what we heard here all along during that protest that went down the road a bit. they've been calling for dilma, for pt, meaning out to dilma, out to her workers party. it's the main message of the protest in rio. at the moment there are also demonstrations going on in 44 cities across the country mainly in the southeast and a little bit in the northeast, which is usually per stronghold. now, the organizers have called for these protests in about 100 cities. it's still early. sao paulo has not gone to the streets yet. that protest should start in about aan hour, and that will be a huge test really for dilma rousse rousseff. it's usually where the largest protests have happened so far this year. now, everybody is looking very

closely at the turn out here. organizers are already comparing the numbers of today to those of march when the first protests started and we had this large turnout of 1.5 million brazilians on the street. >> what has gone wrong? >> her popularity in this country is very low. >> what has gone wrong for brazil? it was six years ago that dilma rousseff's predecessor louis decivil va said the 21st century would be brazil's century? >> reporter: what has gone wrong is country is plagued with this huge scandal, the petrobar scandal still unravelling. more than 100 people have been indicted in the scandal. some including from her own party, the workers party. there is no direct link to far between dilma rousseff and this petroban scandal, but her party is plagued. then there's the economy.

a lot of people here on the streets. we're talking about the shrinking economy, about all these brazil sort of flourishing as people come out enjoying this growing middle class. all that has stopped. the local currency, the real, has been devalued by 30% since she took power in her second term ten months ago. unemployment is on the rise by 7% so far this year. so it is mainly the economy and also people fed-up with corruption. they say this country has always been plagued with this corruption, and that has to stop. >> the economy and its corruption and this petrobra & and all that. why has brazil tanked when it was part of a brick group of countries that said we're taking over tr the west, and we're on the way up and nothing will stop up? what has gone wrong? >>le with, i've been asking this

to people over and over again, and i've been pointing out to the fact that this krpgs, the fact of this mingling of politics and business has brought this country to a stand still. you know that there was a world cup last year. that was highly unpopular among many bra sdmrilians because they thought it was too much money spent to that, and that money could have been invested in a much better way to improve people's lives here. now, dilma rousseff is basically failing what happened before her. this scandal started when she was not in power but was under her predecessor. that's when her popularity really took a downturn. it's going to be very difficult for her now, and even though she's not impeached because you can't get impeached just because of a high turnout of people on the street. you have to have some legal wrongdoing for that. she is being investigated at the moment by the audits board for

some government expenditures last year in 2014 around the world cup. so far the investigation is going on. if there's any wrongdoing in that, then they could be a basis for impeachment. otherwise, she'll have a very hard time. she's supposed to put forward next week some austerity measures. they're very unpopular among the people here. there's going to be very, very tough for her. >> okay. we'll leave it there for us. still to come on the program on al jazeera, the indonesian passenger plane crashing in the isolated jungles of papau with 54 on board. the remains was plane have been found. the smolder going on at the site of china's explosions, but anger is building up, too, about the way the disaster has been managed.

good to have you here. i'm david foster, and these are the global headlines this hour. at least 100 people are said to be killed in syrian government air strikes in a crowded market in douma, a suburb of the capital of damascus. he was a key figure leading the campaign against the taliban in the region and has been killed. a massive protest in brazil as thousands take to the beach and elsewhere to protest about

president dilma rousseff and the state of the brazilian economy. more on the main story. the air strikes in syria. we have the latest now from beirut. >> reporter: the opposition is calling it really a massacre like you mentioned. dozens killed, dozens wounded. it targeted a marketplace many douma. this is a rebel stronghold not far from the syrian capital, the city center of damascus. we understand that there was an air strike, and then people gathered at the site of the impact to help evacuate people, and then more raids hit, and that's why there was such a high death toll. now, this area regularly comes under attack by syrian government war planes like i mentioned. it's a rebel stronghold, but some are linking this to the recent developments on the ground. yesterday a number of opposition groups promised to, quote,

ignite all front lines with the government. why did they make that statement? it followed their decision to end negotiations with the government on a ceasefire and a possible deal on two other front lines in syria. one in the north and one in the damascus countryside. so the opposition says this he plan to push forward with offensives on many many front lines. this could be a message we're still here and still have power. at the end of the day these negotiations really were about population swap, which is really almost an unprecedented development in the course of the syrian conflict. we understand from the opposition that the government was demanding that the residents, the sunni residents of the town be moved to the rebel-controlled north and that the shia residents who were besieged by rebel forces in the north be moved to

government-controlled areas. >> that was dana haller reporting from beirut. the crash site of a missing plane has been found by villagers in the country's isolated papau region. it lost contact, and on board were 49 passengers including five children and a crew of five. the mountainous region is covered with dense jungle, and there was bad weather at the time the plane went missing. villagers reported seeing the plane crash into a mountain. indonesia's transport ministry say villagers have found wreckage, but official confirmation is still needed. >> translator: according to the information the trigana aircraft was found in the mountain region. the information was provided by the local residents who said that the flight crashed into the mountain. the details are still under

investigation. >> we're being joined on the phone from indonesia. you heard what i read out and heard what the gentleman we just heard from had to say. what more can you add? >> reporter: well, so far as wep flight il-257 has not been actually found. the plane has not been actually found. it's true that people in the area villages have seen it crashing in this mountain just ten minutes before it was supposed to land in this very small town with a very small airport. the weather was apparently really bad in the area, and it's basically notoriously bad around papua for flying. conditions are always very unpredictable according to pilots there. so most likely the 54 people on board haven't survived the crashing. tomorrow morning rescue workers will go into the areas and into the mountains.

apparently it's a 25-kilometer walk. it will be a challenge to actually really locate the plane very quickly, and there will also be planes flying over the area. so hopefully in the early morning the first vision of the remains of the plane will be seen. >> we'll leave it there for now. thank you very much. the chinese government confirmed that large quantities of toxic sodium cyanide was kept in a warehouse in tianjin. about 700 tons was being stored, 70 times more than the center was permitted to hold. adrian brown reports from tianjin. >> reporter: some survivors have compared this disaster to a nuclear explosion. close up that's what it looks like. the toxic pull from smoldering fires are still shrouding the industrial zone.

the government has now confirmed the lethal chemical sodium cyanide was stored here. there was an added urgency to the search for survivors on sunday as the toll for the dead and missing continue to rise. along with the anger among families of the missing, and those made homeless. for the second day they attempted to protest outside of a hotel where government officials were briefing journalists. >> translator: we want the government to tell us the truth and help us find a proper home. >> translator: what we need most now is for the government to take care of us and to keep us informed. >> reporter: the government still doesn't know what caused wednesday night's mults pell explosions, but officials now admit that sodium cyanide has been identified at two locations yet insist their readings show the air is safe for those outside the exclusion zone. >> translator: if you are

outside of the 2-kilometer zone, these numbers should be within normal standards. this should not have any effect on people's lives. >> reporter: gas masks are now the most precious commodities in tianjin. this he don't protect from sodium cyanide. >> it's very professional material of protection. i don't think -- i don't know. i don't think this can do that. >> reporter: china's well-oiled volunteer machine moved into action. thousands of volunteers have come to this city from all over china, and here they're handing out water, food, clothing, all of it vitally needed. the list for the missing is getting longer. the majority of those yet to be found are firefighters and police. officials say the explosions were so powerful that so far only a few bodies have been identified. adrian brown, al jazeera in tianjin.

>> the tianjin the environmental protection bureau says it has increased monitoring of the site for any sign of hazardous chemicals. >> translator: the environmental protection department put in protections for ambient air and one marine monitoring point. among the 17 air monitoring points, numbers five and 6 at tianjin port deekted twice with hydrogen cyanide exceeded the standards. >> the number of people who are known to have died when they became stuck in the hole of a boat carrying migrants across the mediterranean went up to 49. hundreds were rescued in two different operations and arrived in a sicilian port and picked up close to the libyan coast. more than 1 hundred 0100,000 mi arrived this year and they have called on the international community to do more to help.

staff on board a passenger boat chartered about i the greek government have started to process migrants. the ferry was sent to the island where hundreds arrive every day. the vessel will provide accommodations for up to 2 1/2 thousand and priorities to syrian refugees. not everybody thinks that's right. >> if i tell him i'm from iraq, they tell me to go from here. you're from iraq. you're from iraq. iraq is good. you don't know what happened in iraq. >> an iraqi parliamentary investigation says former prime minister al maliki is among 37 people responsible for the fall of mosul to isil last year. questions were raised about the ease in which they took the cities in june 2014 and ramadi last may. current prime minister ordered military commanders to be court

martialed for abandoning their posts in ma maudedy. we have more from baghdad. >> reporter: a parliament panel in iraq formally recommended that former prime minister ail maliki be formally prosecuted for the fall of the city of mosul this past year. not just nouri al maliki but dozens of other officials in the province where mosul city is. they recommended that they're also to be charged and prosecuted for the fall of mosul. this panel has investigated this for months and made their recommendations and passed it on the to the speaker of parliament. he passed on the recommendations to the mros could you teller general here. it rests solely in the judiciary what happens next and very much up to the jude hear in iraq. nouri al maliki hasn't made estimates since these abbing sflagss and recommendations were made. he is traveling in iran.

this is the fist time that the parliament lobbed these acquisitions towards nouri al maliki, showing a deepening of resentment for him here. it's interesting tuz how this gopping, at this particular body in parliament doesn't have that much forward as far as going forward. there is resentment that has built 2004towards nouri al mali. it could be a lepty process, if there are formal charges made and a case, this is something that could take months and possibly years to happen. they sentence 26 officers on charges of attempting to overthrow the government. that he was charged with spreading muslim brotherhood ideas within the army and they've been sentenced to between 10 and 25 years in prison. two senior muslim brotherhood leaders were sentenced to 25 years in prison in their absence. south sudan's government

will push on with peace talks to end a 20-month civil war. the president is in the ethiopian capital where it's hoped he'll meet the rebel leader. both sides are under pressure to strike a deal before monday's deadline or risk possible sanctions. tens of thousands have been killed in the conflict. we have more from the region. >> reporter: serious questions here as to whether this peace deal will be signed in time for the ted line tomorrow, monday. we understand that the south sudanese president has arrived. there are questions as to whether he would participate in these talks. he has said that he wasn't going to speak directly to bashar because of two rebel generals that seem to have split from mashar's group. we spoke to a rebel spokesperson here who says this is evidence of the south sudanese government ewing that as a pretext not to sign this deal, but certainly to

try and delay it. the spokesperson aulgs also said there was only one person he could talk to, and that was him. he described this split by two generals as being an administration matter. something a lot less serious than certainly the president was suggesting. now, we know that the south sudanese government had reservations about this proposal since the very beginning. they have serious concerns about the power-sharing in the upper nile region, the oil-producing states calling for this proposal. the rebels get 53% of control of that area. also, the southern sudanese government have been problems with this proposed de mille tearization of jubal. this poses problems in terms of sovereignty and also certain disagreements over the timing of the bringing together of both armed forces here but the rebels and the army into a fun fieed

army. certainly a lot of pressure here to get this deal signed, a lot of international pressure. certainly at this stage it seems increasingly doubtful. >> that was charles stratford reporting. more on that story on our website, aljazeera.com. >> this is "techknow". a show about innovations that can change lives. >> the science of fighting a wildfire. >> we're going to explore the intersection of hardware and humanity, but we're doing it in a unique way. this is a show about science... >> oh! >> oh my god! >> by scientists. >> tonight, techknow investigates vaping. >> whoever bought this got way more than they bargained for. >> yes they did. >> it's everywhere... in clubs, street corners and cars. they say it's safe, it can help break the cigarette habit. >> if i had to say what is more dangerous;