♪ syria's latest air strikes in damascus are a massacre as they say the crisis can only be solved by syrians. ♪ and i'm jane in doha and coming up, in the program stiffer sentences and fines for journalists, egypt's president has tough new security laws. they go to the polls again with a controversial former president having to make political come back and displaced by civil war we meet the families praying for

a peace deal with talks in ethiopia. ♪ conflict in syria has been one of the issues at the top of the agenda between russia and iran ministers and sergei fedorov has been meeting as diplomates during the conflict in the fifth year and talks in moscow comes as the syrian launch more air strikes in the rebel held damascus and zaina reports. >> reporter: the plane dropped the bomb in a crowded marketplace. it is an all-too familiar scene for the people of the rebel stronghold of duma, this town is regularly targeted by syrian air strikes but sunday's attack was the worst yet. civil defense workers and others gathered at the site of the

explosion to help move the wounded when more air raids hit. more than 100 were killed and dozens were wounded and doctors at the field hospital struggle to help those who survived and many of them were critically injured. according to activists on the ground they were civilians and women and children were among them. the observe forry for human rights said it was deliberate and did not mention the attack on duma but a military force said the airforce carried out air strikes in doo may that targeted the headquarters of the rebel group the islam army. a day earlier the group had announced the offensive against forces and captured an army base. fighting around the capitol damascus has escalated in resent days. duma has been out of government control for years but the military still controls the

skies and civilians more observe than not have been targeted. and like duma is at the doorsteps of the seat of power and why sunday's attacks are seen as a message to the people of the area, the government will consider them responsible for the actions of the opposition, beirut. more on the meeting between the foreign minister and his russian counterpart sergei fedorov and both countries have been strong allies of syria's president bashar al-assad and said the conflict must be solved without syrian interference. >> translator: the issues of overcoming the syrian crisis should be resolved and negotiated with the syrian government and opposition which would represent the whole spectrum of opponents of the leadership and the steps, reforms, decisions and negotiations should be taken based on the mutual agreement of the government and its

opponents. >> we visited the sites of last week's explosions and 114 people were killed in the blast which were centered at a warehouse with the highly toxic chemical cyanide and the explosions were so strong nearby houses were destroyed making people homeless and now the people have started protesting and adrian brown explains. >> reporter: gathering outside the hotel where they were briefing the local and international media have not yet dispersed and demanding a meeting with government officials and protesters have relative and family of those who are still missing as well as 6,000 people made homeless as a result of wednesday night's multiple explosions. some are carrying banners that say we support the party, we support the government but please buy back our homes, our homes are worthless and we cannot live there any more. i spoke to a woman who returned

from the united states to live with her father and she told me they had no idea the dangerous chemicals like sodium cyanide were being stored so close to people's homes and this is what she had to say. >> i can't believe the entire thing. we just thought it was like a port. there was a curious. no chemical, nothing there. >> you had no idea. >> no idea, i think everyone didn't know a danger of chemicals there. just a port. >> reporter: demonstrations like the ones taking place here today are very rare in china. what is different this time also is the fact that the authorities, the police and the soldiers who are here watching over the crowd allowed us to interview and film protesters. in the past the authorities moved quickly to shut down demonstrations like this with the media often being rounded up and briefly detained. that has not happened and it's

as if the authorities here received orders from high to show or get the illusion of transparency but it is a significant moment. for one thing the authorities will worry about is if these demonstrations were to grow in number and if the grief was to turn to more widespread anger. >> egypt's president passed a new security law that introduces special courts and harsh penalties for people seen as a threat and come through following the assassination of the prosecutor general in june and has been ratified by the president sisi so those guilty of forming or leading a group seen as a terrorist entity by the government will have stiff sentences including the death penalty and groups will carry a penalty of life in prison and journalists can be fined for contradicting versions of attacks and members of security forces get extra legal protection carrying out their

duties and we have an assistant and egypt rule of law association and explained to my colleague abraham what the new law will mean for journalists. >> reporter: media that would deny the national narrative would also be fined and the law goes further into not just muzzle the media and prevent this forming it's a special course where essentially they are to circumvent the law. if we remember what president sisi said earlier this summer he said that there are so many obstacles to the work of the judges that i need to begin to circumvent them. >> i want to bring it now to the question of immunity because this legislation does seem to provide immunity for those acting in the name of the court, be they judges, security personnel, the question is what checks are in place to ensure that these powers are then not

abused? >> absolutely. so part of this new law is the protection of police officers and security forces as they carry out their new duties and so they will not be prosecuted if they are deemed going above and beyond the law. and so the law here is a system that is not protecting the citizenry and rather protecting the states and this is indicative of a larger pattern of consolidation of power in the hands of executive and there is not a check on his power but his avenues of the dissemination of force. parliamentary elections, 50 million people are eligible to vote in the poll that has become more about personality than policie policies. back in january presidential elections he ruled for nine years with the rival and the new president then called for early parliamentary elections after his reforms were blocked by

lawmakers loyal to paksa and run for parliament against the wishes and if they have majority he could become the president but the rivalry between city and roger has created a split in the sri-lanka party and timing of elections is report and the war in the north is due for release soon after the vote. and we are in the city in the center of the island and explains what the big issues are. >> voting got off to a brisk start in sri-lanka's northwest including the rural areas of the district and people are lining up at the polling booths to take advantage of the election day holiday. how much access we had to cover, the polling centers has been

relatively limited and there is tight security and told by one election officer in a polling boost the media has to be 500 meters away and makes observing what is going on and what we see of voters is particularly challenging and heard of reporters being detained in the south trying to cover proceedings at a voting booth there. the big issue in the districts here is what is the voter turn outgoing to be and that could potentially determine the result of former president who is trying to make a political come back as well as the balance of power in parliament which could perhaps present some challenges if it's not in the favor of the city center. more coming up, on al jazeera, precious workbooks wither in the sun and turn to classrooms as education becomes the latest casualty of iraq's

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>> "inside story" takes you beyond the headlines, beyond the quick cuts, beyond the sound bites. we're giving you a deeper dive into the stories that are making our world what it is. >> ray suarez hosts "inside story". only on al jazeera america. ♪ hello again, the top stories on al jazeera, russia foreign minister says the conflict in syria must be soft eed -- solv and has been meeting with the counterparts in moscow and both

are strong of the president of bashar al-assad and inside syria the airforces launched more attacks in duma and damascus and comes a day after more than 100 people died from air strikes in a market in the same district. voting in parliamentary elections and could see the former president make a come back and he is running for prime minister and was in power for nine years as president until his defeat in january this year. the villages in jordan demanding protection from the war in syria which is spilling over the border and many homes hit by stray shells and rockets and we report from the village closest to the border. >> reporter: this is a village in syria across the border from the jordan village and the residents say fighting between syrian troops and opposition fighters are forcing them to

live in a state of war. two weeks ago a stray mortar shell hit the home and it flew through the house, penetrated the walls and floors and landed outside. no one was injured but he says his family suffered distress and fear when the rockets struck when everyone was asleep. >> translator: any pregnant daughter was sleeping downstairs when the rocket hit and worried about the baby and children face horror and some people moved to other places after the attack because the children were terrified of sleeping here. >> reporter: launched an investigation and no compensation to repair the blast damage. villagers along the border have become use to a stray mortar shell that lands near them but there is increased panic here because tighting recently has become more intense and frequent. in june rebels announced the start of fighting to push syrian troops out of the city and all sides expect it to be a long

battle. the family lives closer to the border. the impact of more than four years of shelling in syria has cracked walls and smashed their windows and they demand more protection from the jordan government. >> translator: if there was an early warning system i would be able to evacuate my family when i hear the siren and let it hit the home but not my children and we want to intercept stray rockets and mortar shells. >> reporter: the 370 kilometer long border is protected from the side after troops withdrew from all border posts and increased pressure on the army to stop cross border infiltration. >> we are taking and employing any measure possible and could be taken in these circumstances in order to prevent attacks and in order to stop any breach on our borders. >> reporter: the first jordan

caused where a rocket hit his workplace last june and the vast majority of jordan people back the rebel fight in syria the protected fighting is frustrating and frightening villagers. south sudan president is in ethiopia for last-minute peace talks with his former deputy the now rival and negotiations were in doubt last week when he failed to show up for the ongoing negotiations. east africa nations have a deadline of monday to secure a peace deal or south sudan could face international sanctions and we are live in south sudan's cap to duba and what are the expectations and some of the problems they are facing? >> well, jane, there is actually not a lot of opposition that a deal is going to be signed

today. look at today's newspapers and kinds of give you a snapshot of the mind in the country, this says peace at their doorstep and look at this one, this is a headline referring to the fact that the government spokesman is calling the group of east african leaders gathered in ethiopia to try to hammer out a peace deal dictators and speaks man says the sovereignty won't be compromised and not bullied into signing a peace deal and this gets to the crux of the matter uk warning of an arms embargo and a huge concern and the foreign office released this statement yesterday that if the two sides don't come to reach a deal the u.n. arms embargo and international sanctions target international sanctions would be considered and we have been here for the last two weeks speaking to people and i think it's safe to say that no one wants peace more than the two million people who have been displaced by the

fighting. tucked behind a market in duba something more than the shelters is being built on this patch of dirt. here at the camp displaced people from four of south sudan's tribes are learning to live peacefully again and they come from different villages their journeys are similar and you find it's not only one who is lost and many people who have lost. >> reporter: meet a mother of eight. she came from malakal one of the towns in south sudan decimated by fighting and the family had to abandon their 14-year-old son to save themselves. the last time they saw him he was walking in the bush to check on the family cattle. >> translator: sometimes my heart tells me he is alive but sometimes i get depressed and think negative thoughts but lots

of people told me other people faced a work fate than you and stop thinking about it and left it up to god. >> reporter: she and others like her at the camp are neighbors with people from tribes who are killing each other elsewhere in the country. in fact, in other camps for displaced people within u.n. compounds the tribes are segregated and tension is high. but here they are building a community. on common ground of shared needs, fears and hopes. that's not to say members of different tribes don't fight but when they do each leader of the tribe gathers them together to mediate. >> later when we are able to solve this problem they can sit together and they have good friends. >> reporter: this conflict began two years ago with the dispute of the president and his vice president and people here say they are desperate for peace

because peace means they can go home again. but she says she doesn't want people to go back to the way they were living before the civil war. >> translator: what happened has happened, it's in the past. what we want is for peace to come. >> reporter: the end of the war could also mean she like so many mothers could finally find out what happened to her son. al jazeera, duba, south sudan. bath weather forced indonesia to suspend attempts to reach the wreckage of a plane and the airplane with 54 people on board lost contact with air traffic controllers half an hour after taking off and it was heading to a settlement about 280 kilometers south. and three days of mourning declared in pakistan punja province after the killing of the prime minister who died in the suicide bombing on sunday

holding a meeting and 18 others killed in the explosion and nicole johnston is there. >> attack on the prime minister took place. as he was meeting people from the village. what is so significant about it is what it represents. this was a minister who was leading the campaign against armed groups inside the province and this had really, this crack down had started after the peshawar attack in december and he was a major target of the groups and there were threats against his life. one of his biggest achievement had been taking out the leader and his two sons of a group and in the end it was supporters of that group who carried out this attack. there are three days of national morning in the province and attack has been condemned across the political spectrum by politician, leaders and

military. the big question is now who will replace him and take on his job of fighting militant and armed groups which are based inside. number of people displaced by the conflict in iraq is more than 3 million and i.s.i.l. forces and allies are fighting for control of large parts of the country. humanitarian crisis is threatening to claim yet another casualty and children's education and we report from baghdad. >> reporter: in a climate that makes concentrating near impossible and handbooks don't distract from the heat, these internally displaced students are doing their best to learn. >> translator: we used to live in our own neighborhoods and it was like heaven. we used to go to schools and these schools would have proper roofs but now we are studying here. >> reporter: while the boys here worry the world has forsaken them, they are determined not to give up on

their education. according to unicef there are approximately 850,000 internally displaced school-aged children here in iraq, of that number 650,000 have missed at least a year worth of classes and why schools like this are so important now. he fled with his family when i.s.i.l. fighters took it over in april. he is one of the students who has been forced to miss months of school. >> translator: if we were back home i would wear a proper uniform to school. i wouldn't dress like this and we wouldn't live now in tents. >> reporter: or studying in them either. teacher says the situation is even worse than it looks at the idp camp. >> translator: most basic requirements for classes are not available. we have 90 students and three different classes and only 30

textbooks were distributed. how can you teach 90 students with 30 books? >> reporter: he tells me although 20 teachers should be working here now a lack of funding men only five make it everyday. and his wife teaches english to another group of students in an adjacent tent. she expresses even more concern. >> translator: we feel that this is a crime against those poor children. what did they do to deserve such harsh conditions and they are a bit happier than before because they have a makeshift school to go to but lack the basic requirement to teach them adequately. >> reporter: studying english the kids recite numbers written out for them. on a white board propped up by cinder blocks. despite support from unicef and other aid groups 12-year-old mohamed says much, much more is needed. >> translator: it's very, very

hard, they come and then it goes and sometimes it doesn't come at all, the electricity. >> reporter: outside the next class cues up and tattered workbooks wither in the sun and the encampment has hunger and the school is not quenched. the beach in rio was at a stand still as they marched for the president and this is an anti-government rally to be held this year. the illegal mining, of tin has becoming rife on two islands and high demand for the metal, vital components for mobile phones and laptops and stephanie decker reports the mining, activities

are having a devastating effect on the island's environment and its people. >> reporter: caked in sand, it's almost as if they have become one with this pit. this is an illegal tin mine and you can find them everywhere on the island and it's dangerous work and 70-100 minors die every year. >> translator: sometimes they are buried for days before we can recover the bodies. sometimes four to five people die. if you dig like seven or eight meters then there is of the sand falling on us is much higher. >> reporter: this job is the best paid on the island and are willing to take that chance. young children often help their parents, some have died around these mine pits too and he ends up with companies such as apple, samsung and sony and used to

make our laptops work and one of your gadgets includes tin from here and illegal mining, is making more money than legitimate companies but the island is being torn apart and you don't get a damage of what tin mining, has done to the island from the ground but take to the sky and the consequence of the world demand for tin is clear and the landscape is scarred by abandon and active mines and we are showing you a small part of it but it's like this across large parts of the island. >> translator: there are so many old mine pits, almost 20,000 and then they started mining, the sea in 2006 so now we have noted we have lost at least 75% of coral reef around the island. >> reporter: the lie tide and visiting the mines at sea. mining, in water is more dangerous. here too the sand walls collapse. there is a difference.

they can't see it coming. >> translator: if you ask if it's worth the risk which is our life than no but what else can we do, the other jobs don't pay well and with this job i can even save some money. >> reporter: divers can make three times the minimum wage but there is no compensation when something goes wrong and that is something the government is now highlighting and want to legalize the mines and admit they are losing a lot of money because of them. >> legalizing the mines we can save mines and the environment and we can manage the property. >> reporter: we are told and seen little is done by the government, the companies or the people to fix the land after the mines are abandon and the damage at sea could be even harder to fix. the tin will run out one day. the question is what will be left of this island to provide for its future generations. stephanie decker, al jazeera.

for the "inside story" and what is going on around the world and events developing on the ground go to our website al jazeera.com. >> i'm ali velshi. "on target" in philadelphia, tonight, black votes matter. why so many african american men are missing in the polls. plus history in havana, how so many americans could profit from opening of diplomacy. the watts riots in los angeles started when a white highway patrol officer stopped a black motorist suspected of drunk driving. on lookers rusin