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tv   News  Al Jazeera  September 29, 2015 5:00am-5:31am EDT

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♪ a u.s. air strike hits a taliban target outside kunduz as afghanistan sends in special forces to take back the city. ♪ hello from al jazeera's headquarters in doha, i'm jane dutton and barack obama and vladimir putin meet to discuss the war in syria but deep differences remain. typhoon lands in eastern china. and rotten roots and look at brazil's growing corruption
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problem. ♪ u.s. military planes have hit taliban fighters on the outskirts of afghanistan's northern city of kunduz, and a nato spokesperson said the strike was to eliminate a threat to coalition troops and afghan forces. taliban fighters seized the city after an early morning raid on monday, afghan special forces are still advancing towards the city despite having been ambushed by the taliban, local hospitals have received 16 dead bodies and treated 172 injured and afghan soldiers are set to have retaken the city's main jail and the police headquarters. let's get an update from the story from bagland in afghanistan south of the city of kunduz and what is happening in the city of kunduz right now?
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>> the latest update we are getting is reenforcement security forces and special forces they were trying to advance kunduz city and turned back because simply they said there were too many ambushed on the road and suffered one dead and one injured and they turned back now it seems like it will be very difficult for them to advance to kunduz city and we are also hearing from kunduz city the forces there are in one side of kunduz city and trying to get into kunduz city, they couldn't because of strong resistance and now we are hearing that taliban are the ones controlling the city, the kunduz city. >> what have people been saying those who have been caught in the city and what has been happening to them? >> there is a big panic. you could see families leaving the area and if you talk with
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the normal people they say even if taliban were here and strong after this big jail break that over 600 prisoners were there and most of them were with taliban fighters but this number they will get stronger in this area and it will be different for afghan government to fight them in this area so it's a big panic among normal afghan people between the two fights. >> are you getting a sense the aim of the mission, one of the aims was to target that person to release the taliban fighters? >> it was very easy to understand this attack had two aims, one was this jail break with over 600 prisoners were released and the second was a message for international community and also for afghan and look like they are living in another part of afghanistan that taliban and now they are able to
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attack and put control of the capitol and now they are holding it for taking it over. >> thank you very much for that. the leaders of the u.s. and russia have held face-to-face talks on the u.n. general assembly in new york how best to resolve the conflict in syria but barack obama and slade -- putin cannot see eye to eye and our editor james base reports. >> reporter: russia's president usually avoids the national gathering of world leaders at the u.n. but came on a whistle stop trip and planning not to spend a night in new york, the center piece of his speech. >> translator: we propose discussing whether it's possible to agree on a resolution aimed at coordinating the action of all the actions that face
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i.s.i.l. and other terrorist organizations and this should be based only the principles of the u.n. charter. >> reporter: that reference to the u.n. charter is important, syria's seat at the u.n. is still occupied by a sad ambassador and a coalition including the assad government and on its terms. the u.s. would never accept that but it and some western allies are moderating their position on a sad's future floating a compromise idea that perhaps he could stay on for a bit in a phased transition to a new government. >> yes realism says compromise will be required to end the fighting and ultimately stamp out i.s.i.l. but realism also requires a managed transition away from assad and to a new leader. and an inclusive government that recognizes there must be an end to this chaos so that the syrian people can begin to rebuild. >> reporter: that idea seemed to be immediately dismissed by
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france and by the first gulf country to speak here qatar. >> translator: is there tourney in the world and is it possible to allow an alternative to grow and develop under its shadow do? >> translator: i can see diplomatic efforts being made to incorporate bashar al-assad in the process but you can work together and cannot put together victims and people who are killing them and assad is part of the problem and he cannot be part of the solution. >> reporter: in damascus there could be some concern about the speech made by their staunchest ally and iran wanted the resent talks to be a model for diplomacy on syria and president rouhani then added this. >> translator: as we aided the establishment of democracy in iraq and afghanistan we are prepared to help bring about democracy in syria as well as yemen. >> reporter: the real business
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here takes place away from the speeches and the general assembly chamber and this is a formal lunch of the secretary-general of the u.n. sitting between the russian and u.s. leader. president putin and president obama later held another meeting to discuss the situation in ukraine and after four years of war in syria it's hard to be optimistic but this is the first diplomatic push for 18 months since the collapse of peace talks in geneva, everyone knows a fresh effort to end the conflict will face immense hurdles, james base, al jazeera, u.n. u.n. secretary-general condemned air strikes that reportedly killed up to 135 people at yemen and local officials and medics say the strikes happened in a village near the red sea port on monday and saudi arabia which is
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leading a campaign against houthi fighters in yemen denies any involvement and let's bring in our correspondent who reported extensively on yemen and if it's not them who did it? >> basically saudis have maintained the air strikes against the houthis and not targeting civilians accusing the houthis of using civilian aerials to launch attacks and there was attack targeting a wedding in the village in the port city of mecca and it's a segregated community and they have been two, one targeted and one mostly female women and children and the other attending the wedding and why the secretary-general was harsh and criticizing them saying we need an end to what is going on in yemen. >> that is not coming any time soon and we have more fighting
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in the area, what happened there? >> there is an operation underway in the province there and coordinated air strikes with ground troops have shelling positions on forces loyal to saleh and it's obvious from coalition forces they would like to take the east that ties in the south to lay with the capitol sanaa and from there they can push to the capital but it's a long way to go. >> and how will it end and the war sanctioned by the international community. >> the biggest problem of the international community is criticized for not doing enough to put an end to the conflict and gathering in geneva with aid agencies and activists saying we need to hold those who have been killing and targeting civilians accountable and at the same time we have to find a way out of the crisis, a political solution and we need to put an end to the
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fighting. >> thank you. central african republicans president left the u.n. general assembly early to deal with the worst violence of the year and 40 killed and over 100 injured in the capitol bongi in the last three days and armed muslim and christian groups attacked each other and hundreds of prisoners also escaped from the main jail typhoon hit the southeast coast of china and made landfall on the province on tuesday morning with wind speeds of up to 119 kilometers per hour and ports are closed and flights have been cancelled. in taiwan the storm has left three people dead and more than 300 injured, thousands of homes with no electricity and water and we report. >> reporter: we are in taipei's biggest train station just a day
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after the typhoon struck taiwan, operations here have gone back to normal and businesses are still closed as well as schools and offices most of the roads have been cleared of debris and more than 7,000 people were evacuated in preparation for the typhoon. the mayor said they are prepared as they can be but it's very difficult to assess the damage of this one, however, if you look at the situation now and how quick the government has responded it seems to be how other countries should also respond in disasters like this one. more than 300,000 are still without power but most of the seven have been evacuated and able to return to their homes. by the end of today the typhoon has already left taiwan's area of responsibility and it's just a matter of time before every operation here is back to normal as well. still ahead on al jazeera life on mars could be a real possibility, scientists reveal evidence of flowing water on the
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red planet. and we will look at why more elderly people are having to fend for themselves on the streets of the philippines. ♪
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>> what do you want american's to understand? >> there's so much injustice. >> workers are being injured constantly. hello again the top stories on al jazeera, afghan military reenforcements heading to the northern city of kunduz turned back after being ambushed by taliban fighters and kunduz was seized by the taliban in an early morning raid on monday, meanwhile there are fears hundreds of prisoners released
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from kunduz jail by the taliban may join forces with the armed group. the u.n. secretary-general condemned air strikes that reportedly killed up to 135 people at a wedding in yemen, the saudi coalition which is fighting houthi rebels denies involvement. syria has been high on the agenda on the first day of the united nations general assembly and u.s. president barack obama and russia president putin discusses the conflict and remain divided on the issue of bashar al-assad's future and it's a year since he took power and unemployment is increasing and security is weakening and as jennifer glasse reports many afghans are not happy with the government's performance in the first 12 months. >> reporter: mohamed's brooms sell for 80 cents a piece and
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business is terrible and many customers cannot pay bills and last year he had expectations for the government and now he says it's the worst of times. >> translator: there is no work, no business, so i have to take my children out of school to work and i wanted my children to be educated but i need them to help support the family. >> reporter: ashraf ghani are working on corruption and depends on aid and women rights and his wife has taken a prominent role rare for a first lady and they are making progress and afghans say they don't see it. >> translator: we haven't seen any support of women's rights. there is actually more violence. women without education sit at home, there is no work for them. the youth of this country have already fled, nothing is left for the people. >> reporter: afghans are
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leaving in record numbers because they can't find work or are worried about security, there have been deadly suicide attacks in the heavily fortified capitol and taliban are fighting in many areas around the country and nato says 15 died or injured in the first months of 2015, a 30% increase over last year. >> on the security side the afghan forces are struggling with a high number of casualties which is not sustainable in the long run and politically it's not functioning. >> reporter: it took the government nearly six months to agree on cabinet members and in fighting between president ghani and chief executive abdullah abdullah and the minister is unfilled with acting minister making security decisions and afghan president have repeatedly asked the afghan people to be patient and it takes time and things will get worse before
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they get better and this time last year he had two things he lacks now momentum and the people support, jennifer glasse, kabul. afghanistan's politics and says failure to reach consensus before president ghani and abdullah abdullah has been stifling the economy. >> one of the major problem has been this difference of opinion between the two leaders because they have not been able to come together on an unique strategy or policy for the afghan government and there has been some arguments particularly with senior government officials and that has certainly hurt the government performance and the economy has collapsed in the past one year because the economy is not functioning and the government is also lacking the capacity to generate enough
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revenue for itself because it will be even more dependent on the international assistance and financial assistance for its operation and the government has no plan for it and unfortunately there are other serious issues that is taking priority and particularly security to follow kunduz, an important city in the north and it's a priority for the government and in that worsening of security in the entire country, it will not allow the government to look and focus on economic and financial issues. the mayor of a small brazilian town turned herself in after being on the run for a month and 25-year-old was accused of stealing more than $4 million from public funds, a second mayor in the same state is also being accused of miss appropriating funds set aside for school buses and virginia lopez reports in the state of morino. >> reporter: in brazil's northeastern state is a sort of
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quiet agricultural town of which not much is ever heard. it also has the type of local government which under brazil's federal system can lead to a catastrophic use of public sources and a year ago eight students were killed in a car accident on their way back from school and deaths might have been prevented if they were riding in a school bus for which there were funds available but the bus was never bought, instead they rode home in the back of this pickup truck. the expense of local corruption became painfully evident. >> translator: she was my little girl. i wish i had been there to yank her out of the truck and i want justice but nothing here changes and the mayor should have been condemned and should have bought the school buses. >> reporter: instead of justice they received death threats on their phone. >> translator: they can send all the threats they want, i will not give up. >> reporter: but this is not an isolated case, almost half of the mayors and other local
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authorities in the area have been accused of corruption. >> translator: in communities with greater needs the amount of money coming in is higher and often times funds get deviated and our judicial system is plagued with loopholes and even if found guilty they can return to power. >> reporter: 17 students survived the crash but memories of the night's event changed them forever. >> translator: my life will never be the same and always dreamed of being a fire woman and now i'm sad and remembering my friends and thinking how sad their parents are. >> reporter: although school buses were finally purchased other public works like these have stopped and while they are allocating funds and this was built to honor the eight victims that died here and relatives of the victims says it stands of endemeanoric corruption in the
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area, brazil. blatter says he has done nothing wrong and no plans to e resign after being investigated by the prosecutors and police and questioned the governing body fifa of criminal miss management and miss appropriation and 79-year-old accused of making a so called disloyal payment to the head of european football and platter says the payment was valid compensation and nothing more. iran's president accusing saudi arabia of incompetence in its handling of the hajj stampede disaster and saying the response as various countries struggle to identify their dead, foreign diplomates have been given around 1100 photos of the dead and 769 pilgrims died and have not explained the discrepancy in the turtles. >> translator: i'm speaking on
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behalf of a great nation who is mourning the loss of thousands of muslim pilgrims and hundreds of its own citizens who had come together in the grand and global spiritual gathering of the hajj but unfortunately fell victims to the incompetence and miss management of those in charge. due to their unaccountability even the missing cannot be identified and the expeditious returning to their families have been prevented. due to discuss the refugee crisis this a few hours and the european commission president and the french prime minister emmanuel will meet in paris and thousands of refugees have been cueing up at the croatia/serbia border going north to other countries and more than 100 buses carrying refugees have been at the town and over 70,000
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people entered the country in the last few days. >> there is more and more people who are old and vulnerable that are coming and also a lot of pregnant women who give birth on their exodus and a lot of whole children under five years. mostly they are healthy but they suffer from injuries that was due to this road that they took and also something they can't prevent, hygiene related diseases. scientists at nasa found strong evidence of liquid water on mars and means life could exist on the red planet and john hendron reports. >> reporter: nasa scientists
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say the red planet is not the desolate, dry place they long thought it was. >> today we are revolutionizing this planet and rovers are finding there is a lot more humidity in the air than we imagine as we ingest the soils they are moist and hydrated, full of water. mars is not the dry arid planet we thought of in the past. today we are going to announce that under certain circumstances liquid water has been found on mars. >> reporter: researchers say a few billion years ago mars was covered with rivers lakes and oceans where a small amount of frozen water remained and nasa says it shows water on the planet, a basic building block of life and say there is a water cycle that changes over the course of a year much like the water cycle on earth. >> these are dark streaks that
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form in late spring, grow through the summer and then disappear by fall. >> reporter: that raises the possibility of life possibly microbe life and makes it easier for explorers to sustain themselves when exploring the planet which nasa wants to do by 2030. >> a really fascinating result about current water on mars is one of the reasons why i feel it's even more imperative we send people to mars to explore the question of is there current life on mars. >> reporter: the possibility of life on mars has been envisioned in science fiction but largely dismissed. >> it's weird, there is nothing here. >> it's mars. >> reporter: the finding also raises the possibility that despite wildly varying temperatures that range from 56-21 celsius it might be possible to grow food in greenhouses on the surface and nasa managers say it leaves many mysteries unresolved and don't
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know where the water comes from and what besides salt is in it, john hendron, al jazeera. in the philippines relatives expected to look after family until they pass away making the idea of retirement homes for the elderly a foreign concept but that is now changing as we report there is growing concern over how many of the country's seven million elderly are being left to fend for themselves. >> reporter: she is 101 and for 40 of those years she has worked on this foot path, a widow with no children lola as she is known says she will stay here until the day she dies. >> translator: i don't want to be too much of a bother child, one must do what you can do and if you can't you must suffer through it, that is how life is child. >> reporter: lola's situation is rare in the philippines where the elderly are usually cared for by extended family but more
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people are now fending for themselves, many wander the streets until they are found by social services. this is the largest of four government run centers for the elderly in the philippines spread across ten hectors and look like a village there are 240 clients here at the moment and get their needs tended to for free around the clock. to be accepted they have no where to go and no family to care for them and the numbers were always small but that is no longer the case and government says close to 1.5 million elderly people have been left on their own and social workers are concerned that many have been abandon on purpose and institutions like this will take them in at no cost to the family. >> the main reasons why they are here is they were abandon by their own children because of no
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work outside of the home, their children want to earn and nobody left behind to kate tear the elderly needs. >> reporter: she has been here since her husband died three years ago, as best she knows her children are working in the u.s., she lost touch with them years ago. >> translator: even if i'm not with family i'm grateful to god that i was brought here. i am lucky. i don't go hungry. we have medicine and someone to care for us. we have everything here. >> reporter: more families are asking the center to take in their relatives, some are even willing to pay. it's a development social workers say is reflective of a change in philippine society and in the heart of town lola prepares to sleep for the night, she won't be moved she says no matter how much the world changes around here. al jazeera, manilla.
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that is it for us for this bulletin. but all our stories which are updated all the time can be found by logging on to our website, you can see our lead story there on afghanistan, what is happening in kunduz, thanks for watching, the address al jazeera.com. i'm ali velshi. "on target" tonight, stranger bed fellows. like it or not, america might need russia to defeat i.s.i.l. even with an oppressive regime. a man who knows all too well when you cross the kremlin. world leaders have descended on new york to address the united nations general assembly. it is an annual event of pomp, fo