♪ weeks of speculation and russia confirms it is sending forces to syr syria. also coming up, wielding police try to push back hundreds of refugees in macedonia as europe remains divided on how to cope. a periless rescue is fleeing people from their homes and scientists found remains of a new species of human in south

africa. diplomatic speculation for weeks and now russia confirmed it is flying military equipment to syria and the russian foreign minister says the shipments are being made alongside aid with existing contracts and russian contract are in the port city of latakia and hundreds sported there with construction work taking place and several russian ships unloading equipment at the navel bass in tatoose, 100 meters south of latakia and backed president assad for the 4 1/2 civil war and must be included in a settlement and we have more. >> there is a major russian military backup in papoose and

air field in the providence of latakia and it's to help president assad and forces and foreign minister sergei fedorov admits russian aircrafts are delivering military supplies and humanitarian aid and denies military build up. >> translator: we have helped and will continue aiding the government in equipping of the libya and other side events that occurred because of obsession from the western partners with ideas of changing unwanted regimes. >> the city in opposition and u.s. officials say russia is sending ships, armored personnel carriers to syria and there are unconfirmed reports of russian troops already fighting on the ground in syria, russia is sending more naval vessels to the mediterranean and they maintained the port of palpoose

along mediterranean since the 1970s and after the collapse of the soviet union it was eager not to lose the spot and eastern syria fighters from islamic state of iraq and levante say they are making gains, the video from aisle shows the group over running a small base near the military airport and also to control of military positions including a rocket regimen close to the airport and i.s.i.l. and government forces in at least three neighborhoods. most of the city is under i.s.i.l.'s command but government forces still control several areas but they are struggling on multiple fronts. the government relies heavily and shia malitias which are the main fighting force and remains on them for political surviving. al jazeera. live to patty in washington d.c. and patty the u.s. worried

about the build up and what are they concerned about? >> i have to tell you loren a somewhat muted response from the u.s. when it comes to russian admissions and not going so far to acute russia of doing anything only saying if they are, in fact, helping the military of the assad that it would not be helpful and again reiterating there needs to be a political solution and not a military one and saying if russia wants to help be constructed in the fight against i.s.i.l. they would welcome that and insist that the assad forces are not targeting i.s.i.l. and incredibly muted response from the u.s. officials not wanting to escalate the situation and talking to allies and behind the scenes they are pushing to deny over flight rights. >> white house has an indication of number of refugees they may take in from syria. >> that was interesting. the white house press secretary came out recently and said they are going to look to up the number of syrian refugees to 10,000 in the next fiscal year

and what i can answer is the state department said they will try it and is it 2000 and said he didn't know what the state department had said in the past. there have been some and response from the administration and if they want that they can fund bringing in additional refugees and right now they are putting the focus on really the aid that it gives it and it's $4 billion and one thing that is important to mention the ten, 0 th,00 ten,00010,000 and they didn't answer of the ten,000 it's going to take the u.s. between a year and two years to get them from the time they are selected into the country because of the vetting process and because they are screened so thoroughly and a lot of people said in the past

crisis like in the united states has simply brought in tens of thousands of refugees and housed them in camps and did the vetting there and it's not an option for the obama administration. >> thank you very much indeed, fighting continues and dozens injured by government air strikes and pictures here show the aftermath of attack and barrel bombs were dropped on the city in idlib providence. footage with police using batons to hit refugees on the border of greece and records of numbers are streaming into hungry as they are bitterly divided over how to cope with the refugee crisis and we have the latest. >> it is a journey made much harder in the rain. they have taken enormous risks

to get to greece and traveled the entire length of the country including many kilometers on foot to the macedonia border. only to be confronted with this. violence from the macedonia police, there is little comfort ahead, the journey through hungry on the road to austria is equal and with so many people passing through austria has been forced to suspend on ward rail services. >> translator: and budapest and people take the police and hold you for three days, everyone is going through the forest homeless and sleeping on the floor getting lost. >> described conditions as horrific and people are being treated like animals on the

doorsteps of europe and it's a charge hungarians deny and people will leave hungry as soon as they can, most heading to germany. there chancellor angela merkel holds the door wide open and thursday she stressed the importance of teaching child to refugees at kindergarten. >> translator: worth making an effort for every child, so much enthusiasm among them and want to give them a good future. >> reporter: the pressure on society though will be enormous, germany has already registered 450,000 refugees and migrants this year, 105,000 in august alone. not all want to stay in germany, on wednesday den mark briefly suspended train services from germany carrying hundreds of people toward sweden. europe's refugee crisis is spreading northward and it's getting bigger.

>> for my son and my wife and my life because in syria don't have li life. >> reporter: the latest eu plan to share out 160,000 refugees between states would be the block's biggest formal gesture yet. but with more than 3,000 people arriving on the beaches of greece each and everyday it's no where near enough. al jazeera. hungarian border with serbia and we filed this update. >> reporter: at the beginning of the day weather conditions here were miserable and only have gotten worse throughout the day. tonight it is still raining. the temperature is dramatically colder, behind me you can see refugees, dozens of them being put on to buses and going to be taken to a refugee camp just a few kilometers away from here, now we have tried getting access to that camp so we can talk to the refugees there in and see

how they are being treated and not being able to gain access to the camp and neither can journalists with the refugee crisis and other aid organizations say that conditions in that camp are terrible, they are appalling and the hungarian government must do more to help the refugees and all that being said the hungarian said they may, may be imposing a state of crisis or a state of emergency in the next week that would effectively make it easier for the government to deploy troops to the southern border with serbia and know they planned to do so and are told it could happen as early as next week and want to staunch it from serbia into hungry and there on the border yesterday and we are here today and doesn't seem as though the influx will stop any time soon. >> u.n. general assembly will vote on whether to allow the pal

stint palestinian flag to be raised and if approved it will be a symbolic move as they push for statehood and currently has nonmember observer status at the u.n. granted in november 2012. diplomat diplomatic editor james base is here and do you think this is going to go through? >> it is looking quite likely from the sounds we have been taking that it probably will go through which will lead to a highly symbolic moment of the palestinian flag flying at the u.n. in new york and other significant u.n. offices. what is going to happen in the next few minutes or so is when this meeting is called to order all the 193 countries of the u.n. will get a vote, it's a simple majority here they have to get for non-observer member states like pal stint and the

other vatican to fly in front of the general assembly and palestine and other arab countries who came up with the draft for resolution and put into it the idea that the flag could fly if the resolution goes through and must fly, in fact, within 20 days. that puts us right in the middle of the u.n. general assembly high level week, happens every year, all the leaders from the world come here to new york, president obama will be here, president pew tin -- putin will be here and 20 days when they give the speech to the u.n. and speaking to the palestinian ambassador to u.n. and some are staying it's a bit of a stunt and he says no, it's over a year since the devastating war in gaza and what the palestinians need is a little hope in their journey or attempted journey to statehood and this would give it to them. >> you say from the simplism

does it mean a concrete step to the statehood that you mentioned? >> well, i suspect it is certainly in terms of the optics shows they are making progress on the move to statehood if this goes through and it's controversial, we are taking soundings but remember there are 193 countries, to show you how controversial is it it's worth telling you lauren that the european union had said it wanted a united position on this. while they were having meetings until just a few hours ago on that united position they can't come up with the united position so we understand the eu will be divided and understand the eu will have some countries that abstain which doesn't affect the numbers for the vote and some that will be voting for so i think even though the eu is divided on this that decision to abstain and support will probably help this motion. there will of course be countries that are opposed to

this. right near where i'm sitting overlooking the general assembly right now is the seat of israel. they will obviously vote no. we are not entirely sure but indications suggest that the u.s. probably will vote no as well as will canada. >> keep an eye on the vote and thank you very much indeed. still to come on al jazeera, sanaa under attack, the yemen capitol hit by what is described a series of air attacks in the conflict. and trouble up stream, this hydropower producing in zambia is running low causing big problems for the local community. ♪

♪ top stories on al jazeera, russia confirms the flown equipment to humanitarian aid in syria and after days of speculation there is a build up of russia presence in the country. macedonia police have been filmed using batons against refugees who gathered on the border with greece. president obama said the u.s. will make preparation for taking on 10,000 syrian refugees last year and sanaa has been hit by what witnesses describe as the fearest series of air attacks in the five-month conflict and jets hit the houses of houthi leaders and military bases in and around the city and no immediate reports of casualties. severity of the situation in yemen prompted the u.n. to

discuss if a round of peace talks are in the cards and this is in a closed session at u.n. and kristen is there for us and what more do we know about this session? >> well, we do expect that the u.n. eastern envoy will have a new round of talks before the holiday of eat on the 23rd of september and we know the security council is actually working on a statement to welcome these new talks. obviously the international community is very interested in getting the situation in yemen under control. and in that statement they are calling on all of the sides to come together without preconditions for a new round of peace talks. now, what we also know though is that yemen's ambassador to the u.n. has told al jazeera that his government won't agree to these talks unless the houthis agree to abide by security council resolution 2216 which is a resent resolution on the situation in yemen which calls

on the houthis to withdraw their forces and go back to the negotiating table. now we are seeing signs and getting signals from the houthis that they are willing to do that, certainly they lost a lot of ground in the resent campaign by the saudi-led coalition to regain territory in yemen. but we don't know that for sure and i should point out that the last time direct talks were announced by the u.n. both sides ended up going to geneva, more than two months ago and never got in the same room together so while we are expecting these talks to be announced today, how this proceeds is still very iffy but there does seem to be momentum and reasons for the houthis to come to the table and while we do see the saudi-led coalition intensifying its air campaign and talking about ground invasions and so on in yemen we also know the civilian toll from the conflict is rising as well and could be incentive on the other side also to come

to the bargaining table and work on a political solution for yemen giving there is so much civilian suffering happening in yemen as a result of this ongoing conflict. >> kristen thank you very much. floods in eastern japan affecting up to 800,000 people. at least 100,000 have been forced from their homes and the flooding has led to a leak of radioactive water from the nuclear plant and we have more from tokyo. >> reporter: another natural disaster strikes north of tokyo, this time it was an inland sea of water which hit the area just after lunchtime, taking everything in its wake. the muddy wall of water uprooted trees and shook houses from their foundations. in the city rescuers couldn't keep up with the desperate pleas for help and only a lucky few were moved to safety.

as it unfolded live on television the national broadcaster urged people in cars and houses not to give up hope but do whatever they could to survive. >> translator: we have had heavy rain in the past but i've not seen this much water in decades. >> reporter: the river broke its banks after a second day of unusually heavy rain. some areas in the region recorded double the usual september rain in 48 hours and the weather bureau says it's the kind of rainfall that happens once in half a century. the typhoon has now moved off the coast but the rain lingers across the effected area. >> translator: these heavy rains are unprecedented, we can say this is an unnormal situation and there is imminent serious danger, serious disasters like landslides and flooding occurred and are still happening. >> reporter: prime minister urged local governments to be as ready as possible for the

disaster. >> translator: the heavy rains are unprecedented and likely to continue, the government will prioritize people's lives and take everything possible disaster measure. >> reporter: more than 800,000 people have now been urged to evacuate their homes while the rain has eased, the forecast continue into tomorrow. rescue authorities are now waiting to see what daylight brings. rachel with al jazeera, tokyo. american house of representatives voted to allow a debate on the iran nuclear deal and they will discuss the multi national deal that was decided in july and stated that iran must accept curbs on the nuclear program for sanctions relief, let's get the latest on capitol hill is kimberly and how important is this vote coming up, in the senate? >> well, all eyes are on the u.s. senate because that is where the next vote is set to take place and nothing more than procedural vote but could potentially become the pivotal vote in the u.s. senate on the

iran agreement, that is because we talked about it earlier in the week the president celebrating a victory of sorts when more than 40 senators indicated they were supportive of this deal, if they decide to ban together they could potentially in what is known as a filibuster prevent this from advancing any further, cutting off the debate and that would really block the republican efforts in the senate to try and derail the agreement on the iran agreement that has been negotiated by the six world powers so that is what is happening in the u.s. senate and everyone watching that very carefully there is a possibility that could not happen and then we would have another key vote likely tomorrow. in the meantime the house of representatives doing a different strategy choosing not to vote on this resolution now to reject the agreement outright and instead taking this kind of three-prong strategy and laying out a potential legal challenge to the agreement saying that the president in the negotiations that the obama administration

conducted the iaea to put together some side deals that have not been disclosed to the u.s. congress and as a result this really potentially lays out a legal challenge. we heard from the top republican and the house of representatives earlier and basically what he said is that the republicans will use every tool they can to stop slow delay, the implementation of this deal. so a lot of legal and legislative may maneuvering taking place and will know in 30 minutes how it will play out. >> thank you. a drought in zambia saw the largest manmade reservoir drop to lowest in years and it's a major source of hydroelectric power receded to half the normal capacity forcing power cuts. and anita miller reports. >> reporter: the golden shores and waters of the lake and the local communities the lake is

part of their everyday life and the dam provides thousands of mega watts of power but the drought left the lake at the lowest level in years. >> the cycle normally is that in february the lake at the minimum and begins to rise but in february of this year the lake didn't rise and just stabilized and instead of coming up, we actually kept going down so we have lost probably another two or three meters since the beginning of this year when we should have been gaining water. >> reporter: steve thompson owned this lake side lodge for 12 years and says it's once before he seen the lake so low and is worried. >> if the lake gets too low then they will not be able to generate power and take the whole of zambia and that is the big issue. >> reporter: according to official data the dam is just under 40% full. impacting the hydro possibility to generate power.

>> imported power from south africa, south africa has its own issues and challenges with regards to load sharing and electricity supply so it has been importing power from mozambeke and no quick fix and structurally there are challenges with electricity sector and take time to resolve. >> reporter: introduced country wide power cuts and rationing to manage the crisis. smaller towns just like this one and bigger cities across zambia develop demand for electricity continues to grow and on the borders the lake and the dam businesses and residents here rely on its waters to keep things going. local businessmen says without electricity his print shop will come to a stand still but his worries don't end there, at home he quickly collects water before its supply is cut for the day. >> people do it by grace of god, that is all we can say about

that. >> reporter: for paul and this community there are few things more valuable than this water. they say without it life would be impossible. anita miller, al jazeera, zambia. conflicting reports coming from turkey about the number of people who died in a town currently under curfue and 30-32 fighters and one civilian died in gunfire in southeast town and the pro-kurdish people democratic party says 21 civilians have been killed in the last week. scientists discovered the remains of a new human-life species in a case in south africa and this could have evolved 2.8 million years ago and tonya page reports. >> reporter: it was unveiled in front of the world's leading scientists and media, a new link in evolutionary chain, this is homeowner one of our earliest

relatives, a new species of primitive, and part ape and part human. >> walks on two legs like you and i do and the feet are like you and mine but if they were standing next to us right now you would not think it's a human, they are 5 foot tall and a tiny head, the size of my fist and the brain is the size of my fist and the indentation would be small and primitive in shape and high shoulders like an ape. >> reporter: fossils found in the unesco world heritage site in south africa two years ago and never before have so many fossils been found in one place and there were 15 partial skeletons but what is almost more significant is what it tells you about homeowner's behavior, scientists say the remains were put there deliberately, suggesting a burial ritual. that is something until now scientists thought only we homosapiens did. >> no evidence of symbolic

behavior they are doing but yet that emotional basis and social basis some recognition that a dead member of their own group, their own species is special in some way. that seems to be what we are seeing here. in some ways maybe it's one of the first steps towards humanity. >> reporter: homeowner is revolutionary in other ways and they thought the brain grew bigger before or at the same time when the body became more like hours but in homeowner liddy it's is other way around and in a species it could be 2.8 million years ago and walked the earth at 100,000 years ago. south africa's deputy president was clearly as delighted as the scientists. homeowner liddy confirms south africa as one of the world richest sources of answers to the greatest mysteries where and from whom did we come, tonya

page cradle of human kind south africa. much more for you any time on our website, the address for that is al jazeera.com and don't forget you can watch us live by clicking on the watch now icon, al jazeera.com. ♪ dollars year and growing. "the slaughter is being fueled by demand from asia... ...where rhino horn is status symbol and believed to even cure