we agreed that the military should get into contact with each other very soon. >> defense officials on the u.s. and russia could meet as early as thursday after moscow launches air strikes in syria. >> hello. also on the program, a symbolic moment, the palestinian flag raised for the first time at the united nations. >> afghanistan says its forces have retaken one of their cities from the taliban plus, show casing the rich history of india through its

fabric in an exhibition in london. russia and the united states have agreed to talks over syria. both sides said their military should get in touch after russia launched its first strikes outside the borders of the old soviet union. moscow says it targeted isil but the oaths and nato have expressed concerns over its real intentions. >>reporter: russian fighter jets flying around the city. moscow said it was targeting isil fighters in and around the central syrian city. president vladimir putin said he was committed to helping his country defeat the group. >> we will support the syrian army only in its legitimate fights specifically against terrorist groups. secondly, the support will be from the air without ground

operations and such support will be limited in time as long as the syrian army is on offensive. >> the air strikes started just one day after u.s. and russian military leaders agreed to hold so-called deconfliction talks. but instead of talks, what the u.s. got on wednesday was a verbal notice one hour before russian jets took off. the defense secretary was not pleased. >> fighting isil without pursuing a parallel political transition only risks escalating the civil war in syria. and with it, the very extremism and instability that moscow claims to be concerned about and aspire to fighting. so this approach, that approach, is tantamount, as i said then, to pouring gasoline on the fire. >> but carter said he was not

surprised given the russian's recent build up of helicopters, fighter jets, and troops at the air base. the administration has long suspected russia of doing so to help al assad win a long-running civil war. the secretary of state warned russia not to use isil as an excuse to keep assad in power. >> assad has really chosen himself to fight isil. as the terrorists made inroads throughout syria and iraq, raping, enslaving, and murdering civilians along the way, the syrian regime didn't try to stop them. instead, it focused all of its military power on moderate opposition groups fighting for a voice in syria. >> it's not clear what it will do if future russian air strikes go not after isil fighters but instead after the fighters opposed to al assad.

russian foreign minister and the u.s. secretary of state have both agreed to further talks over sere i can't. >> we all want syria democratic, united, secular whose rights are guaranteed. but we have some differences as for the details on how to get there. >> we agreed on the imperative of as soon as possible perhaps even as soon as tomorrow but as soon as possible having a military to military deconfliction discussion meeting conference whichever. whatever can be done as soon as possible. >> the russian parliament have granted vladimir putin permission to deploy the air force if syria. let's look closer at the targets. moscow said it carried out strikes against eight isil

targets. >> but it appears that raqqa was not hit. the syrian opposition says bombs were dropped in other places and the raids focused on command posts not held by isil. russia said that it did not hit civilian areas in the attack but the head of the syrian opposition said 36 civilians were killed. >> we urged before that the russians are intervening in syria not to fight isil but to prolong the life of al assad and support the continuous killing on a daily basis of the syrian civilians >> gulf states japan and members of the g 7 have pledged $3.3 billion on the sidelines of the u.n. general assembly to help refugees. the u.n. says money alone is not enough to stop the flow of desperate people. >>reporter: with images of entire families on the move and countries struggling to deal

with the influx at times brutally, the u.n. is under pressure to deal with the worst refugee crisis since world war ii. four years of conflict in syria have exhausted the resources of the u.n. refugee agency limiting the assistance it's been able to provide particularly for the more than 4 million syrians that fled to camps in jordan, turkey, and lebanon. >> we were financially broke and this was one of the reasons why we're witnessing more and more refugees moving onwards because it was impossible to sustain their lives in their first countries of asylum. >>reporter: half a million asylum seekers have already crossed into europe this year with some 3,000 dying on the way. it's become a problem world leaders can no longer ignore. >> the largest number of refugeeings in the world. >> the more refugees. >> millions of refugees today. >> the refugee crisis has emerged as the center piece of the 70th u.n. general assembly.

against that backdrop, the secretary general convened the nursed high level meeting on migration and while countries are stepping up many say more needs to be done to prevent people from leaving home in the first place. and while talk at the u.n. has largely focused on a compassionate response, governments at home revolve experiencing greg anti-immigrant sentiments. >> no one country alone can carry it and we always say the international community must work to stop the root of this refugee movement. to stop the war in syria on an international level. >> until that happens, the international community will have its hands full with an increasingly complicated emergency response effort as it continues to deal with a refugee crisis that shows no sign of

waning any time soon. meanwhile, iraq's prime minister has told the u.n. that development efforts by his government are being hampered by terror groups. >> we in iraq achieved tangible progress in decreasing -- improving living standards. however, the terrorist organizations which is al quaeda and isis obstructed our process and brought death and destruction to people and infrastructure. the u.n. has raised the palestinian prague for the first time. it's a moment of symbolic importance. the palestinian president used his speech at the u.n. general assembly to attack intoxilyzer reel for what he saw as a breach of the oslow accords. the agreement was meant to provide a basis for peace. >>reporter: raised for the first time at the united nations, the

flag of the state of palestine following a decision by the u.n. general assembly observer states, there are two, palestine, and the holy city, are now allowed to fly their national flags. the ceremony was attended by the president of palestine and the u.n. secretary general. >> i sincerely hope that a successful peace process will soon heal. among the family of nations as a sovereign member state of the united nations. >> however, the political process to lead to that day is deadlocked. in his speech the president put all the blame on the israelis. he said he needed to raise the alarm about recent violence in jerusalem which he says was caused by israelis and told the

chamber that israel has not been abiding by the oslow accords and he would not do so either. >> they leave us no choice but to insist that we will not remain the only ones committed to these agreements while israel continuously violates them. we therefore declare that we cannot continue to be bound by these agreements and that israel must assume all of its responsibilities as an occupying power. >> so is this the bomb shell he said he'd drop or just an empty promise. there are now more questions than answers. how will it change the way his palestinian authority work on the ground in the west bank and what will be the reaction from palestinians there and in gaza? al jazeera spoke to an official from hamas. >> i think it is just words. just a speech. because all the time you are talking about the end of the occupation of the palestinian state, two state solution, peace

process. peaceful negotiation. but all these things were lies. >> the israeli palestinian conflict will remain in the u.n. spotlight and the israeli prime minister speaks to the general assembly thursday. al jazeera's -- occupied west bank and sent us this report. >>reporter: ahead of his speech to the u.n., the president of palestine said he was going to drop what he described as a bomb shell in that speech. instead we got a warning. a warning to israel that the palestinians would no longer be bound to the oslow accords. something he says israel has consistently failed to do for the past several years. but what does this mean on the ground? is the this stage, we don't know. there's a lot of ambiguity here.

does it mean anded to the security cooperation between israel and the palestinians? will we see an end to the palestinian authority? we just don't know at this stage. but the message is clear to the israelis. he's looking for a way forward. he's attuned to the anger on the street here in the occupied territories and the occupied west bank in which two-thirds of palestinians want him to step down and want a new leadership to move forward. so he finds himself in a very tricky situation. and that's why we're perhaps hearing these strong comments. but what it will mean practically we just don't know at this stage. >> it's taken three days but the afghan army says it's recaptured the center of a city from the taliban according to a statement from the interior ministry.

>>reporter: we got confirmation from the president of the city and also from afghan security forces that they now have the control of the center of the city but they are facing a heavy resistance from the taliban. they're telling us that last night there was a heavy bombardment around the city of the city and taliban have suffered big casualty numbers and that's why they left the center of the city. afghan security forces are saying that they're continuing to clear the central area of the city from taliban. it is quite significant that they're now able to get control of the center of the city. >> when we come back, for the first time, a man is to be tried

for war crimes for destroying precious cultural heritage. >> i lived that character. >> go one on one with america's movers and shakers. >> we will be able to see change. >> gripping... inspiring... entertaining. no topic off limits. >> 'cause i'm like, "dad, there are hookers in this house". >> exclusive conversations you won't find anywhere else. >> these are very vivid, human stories. >> if you have an agenda with people, you sometimes don't see the truth. >> "talk to al jazeera". saturday, 6:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america.

welcome back. a quick reminder of the top stories here. russia and the united states have agreed to talks over syria. both sides say their militaries should get in touch. moscow says it targeted isil but the u.s. and nato expressed concerns over its real

intentions. afghanistan's government says security forces are in control of parts of a taliban-seized city. they're facing heavy resisance. u.s. and nato forces are supporting the afghan army in its battle to retake the city a man accused of destroying historic sites in northern mali has appeared in front of the international critical court at the hague. he's accused of war crimes over the destruction of tombs and a mosque. >>reporter: destroying precious cultural heritage. he listened to the charges against him at the international court in the hague and identified himself.

>> i am from the tribe. i was born about 40 years ago. i graduated the teachers institute and was a civil serva servant in education for the mali government beginning in 2011. >>reporter: they set about destroying a number of tombs and mosques which offended their own strict interpretation of islam. hundreds of years of history smashed into dust. according to the prosecutor, he was a zealous member and he could become the first man to be tried for war crimes committed against buildings and culture. although human rights groups hope that courts will examine other allegations against him and his colleagues. >> these atrowsties include

rape, sexual slavery, and forced marriage. so we believe it's very important for the office of the prosecutor of the international criminal court to take into account the credible evidence that's been provided within the national system about these further scopes of crimes. >>reporter: in its day it was a center of islamic learning suffered badly during the occupation. he will next appear in court in january, 2016. the icc hopes that the case against him might deter others who destroy cultural treasures in other parts of the world. 16 turkish construction workers have been freed nearly a month after they were kidnapped in iraq. they were abducted by suspected shiite gunmen from a stadium they were building. the kidnappers said the decision to release them was made after the u.n. backed a deal to free

syrian villagers. >> i'm reunited with my family and that's all i ever wanted. thankses to our statesmen. that's all i can say. i didn't think about myself. i thought about my family. >> we were always longing and yearning. they treated us very well. we didn't have any problems. we were released because of the government. we're very thankful. >> a director of an oil company in yemen is warning of a looming catastrophy. the alliance has been launching air strikes against houthie fighters since march >> in india five men have been sentenced to death for the train attacks nine years ago. 189 people were killed in seven explosions during the evening rush hour. seven others were sentenced to

life in prison. at least seven people have been killed in a series of explosions in the southern chinese region. letter bombs were sent to multiple locations including government offices in a rural area. police say the blasts were a criminal case and not a terrorist act. reports say a suspect is now in custody. the attack comes on the eve of china's national day. >> now they're both known for building the fastest trains in the world. now china has beaten japan to a $5 billion contract to build a high-speed rail link in i understand knee that. it will -- indonesia. here's that story. >>reporter: the train journey now takes around three hours an 15 minutes. that will drop to around nine hours when the new high speed line opens in three years.

>> for our businesses this will be a lot more efficient. they'll have the option to take the high-speed train. >>reporter: the awarding of the contract to the chinese state company called china railway is being seen as an embarrassing loss to japan which had expected to win. indonesia says china was chosen because of the cheaper cost. the train will attract more visitors. >> maybe people from all over indonesia will come to see the high speed train because it's something new they have never seen before. this could mean we will be profiting a lot. >> the project has already raised questions about what's more important, a superfast train or connections in other parts of the country that until

now are even lacking roads. the government insists no state money will be used for the project but many are questioning the government's decision. >> this train is not a priority. more importantly we need a trains, roads, harbor, a connection between islands. public infrastructure which is more productive is more needed. >>reporter: they need $450 billion to build infrastructure nationwide and revive the economy at its lowest point for six years. confidence in the japanese economy is slipping among many factories and consumers. that's according to a survey by the central bank. the prime minister of japan's much wanted stimulus package is also unpopular among some small

businesses. >>reporter: this small family-owned company has been making light bulbs here for 77 years. they're switched on my companies in japan and exported around the world. the japanese company has managed to keep its doors open despite the market shift towards more modern leds and being left in the dark by the japanese government. >> is there any support for us? there isn't. there is no financial aid either. you have to do it all and fend for yourself. he also says the prime minister's economic stimulus package has not worked and businesses like his are feeling the pain. after a bruising couple of weeks in domestic politics, the prime minister is trying to switch the focus to the economy. important growth figures are not due out for another six weeks but the signs are not too positive. there's speculation that flat

growth figures could prompt the government to pass a supplementary budget later in the year in the hope of boosting the economy. >> given the recent unexpected growth trend the chance -- budget is rising. >>reporter: last year's sales tax rise hit the japanese economy after years of de-flation the rise kept shoppers away. while china is causing some economic headaches for japan on the one hand, chinese tourists are keeping some sectors of the economy alive on the other. there's already been more than 3 million chinese tourists this year. each spending more than $25,000. luxury handbags and jewelry, chinese visitors seek out high

quality household appliances such as rice cookers or take home high-tech toilet seats. while the shopping districts are doing well in a northern suburb of tokyo, one company is hoping the japanese economy picks up more broadly before the lights go out. on wednesday, brazilian oil company announced it will sell gasoline at international prices. for years the government subsidized the price to control inflation. the move could hit ordinary brazilians who are already suffering under a struggling economy a group of protesters have set two police officers on fire in northwest argentina. this mobile phone footage showed the moment demonstrators from an

indigenous community confronting riot police. both policemen suffered significant burns in the incident mexico has extradited 13 prominent drug trier of the facts traffickers to the united states. along with drug trafficking, they face charges for several violent crimes including murder >> british prime minister david camron has ruled out paying reparations for britain's role in the caribbean slave trade. he made the remarks on a trip to jamaica. earlier the prime minister of jamaica raised the issue. now from clothes fit for indian royalty to modern-day saris, a new exhibition in

london is show casing textiles. >>reporter: a portable palace used for pleasure trips around the country. a swap of a blanket from the third century. well preserved shreds of fabric with contemporary patterns. the fabric of india show includes 200 different items. the majority from the victoria collection. luxurious clothes intricately designed and pain stakingly well made wall coverings. parts of bugs embellish a skirt. the show is not just about beautiful textiles. part of the exhibition is devoted to explaining how fabric became a symbol of protest, national identity, and even inspired ghandi.

cheap machine made fabrics put thousands of indian fabric workers out of work. a resistance movement grew encouraging people to buy indian products. >> this message was important and inspired ghandi to ask for self-rule. he saw how fabric could become the symbol of national identity so he called on the nation to spin, weave, and wear their own cloth. modern saris, an increasingly global demand for indian design all part of the dynamic nature of the fabric of india. now a disabled teenaged refugee from syria whoa made the trek to germany has been recognized by her favorite tv show, the u.s. soap opera days

of our lives. she said she learned english watching the drama. when one of her favorite characters died, the star returned from the dead to film this segment just for her. al jazeera.com with all our latest news. >> on "america tonight." second chances? >> from the sounds of it, you would assume it was a crime against kids. >> "america tonight's" adam may on the penalties low level offenders must pay even after they've been punished. also ahead, hangup. the most valuable number an inmate can have and how some prisons are profiting from it. >> how much money do you think you spent in total? >> i easily could have spent up to $500 a month,