>> putin had to go into syria not out of strength but out of weakness. >> the u.s. president speaks out about the war in syria, criticizing moscow's growing involvement in the conflict. it comes as syria's government thanks russia for bombing isil and encouraging it to coordinate with its forces. hello, you're watching al jazeera. live from london. also coming up. four major sponsors call for him to step down. u.s. police release images in

the college shooting in which nine people were shot dead. ander and colombian police kill one of colombia's powerful drug traffickers. barack obama said that the best way for peace called on russia to work with the u.s. he reaffirmed his commitment to target the islamic state in iraq and the levant in syria by reaching out to moderate opposition forces. only said that the attack on the opposition would hinder the transition and in effect any chance of peace. >> it is true that the united states and russia and the entire world have a common interest in

destroying isil. but what was very clear and regardless of what mr. putin says, he doesn't distinguish between isil and a moderate sunni opposition that wants to see mr. assad go. from their perspective they're all terrorists. that's a recipe for disaster. and it's one that i reject. we're not going to make syria into a proxy war between the united states and russia. that would be bad strategy on our part. this is a battle between russia, iran, and assad defense the overwhelming majority of the syrian people. well, earlier they said that airstrikes against isil are useless unless coordinated with his government's forces. only russia is having an impact against isil because it was invited to intervene.

the u.s. and it's allies are bombing the armed group but without president assad's permission. >> terrorism cannot be fought only from the air, and it has only led to its present outbreaks. airstrikes are useless. the only force in syria that is combating terrorism. >> we have more from the united nations president assad does not come to the gathering of world leaders. instead, he said that he fully supports the airstrikes and it's supported by the military. a military that he says remains

strong. >> syria will continue to fight terrorism, and they're capable of cleansing the army from those terrorists. despite all of the high prices paid. >> a very different view comes from the syrian national coalition. it's president in an interview with a talk to al jazeera program told me that he believes that bashar al-assad's regime was on the verge of collapse when the russians intervened. >> the russians came to help bashar al-assad, and to prolong his lifeline. >> do you think if russia had not started these airstrikes and moved some of its forces to that base.

>> yes. most observers believe those talks broke down because they were unprepared to discuss political advance significance in syria. >> let's look in more detail on what is going on in syria, but specifically they began to target other syrian rebel groups. it says that the military intervention will only make matters worse. they have met to discuss

operations and buil whether mr. bashar al-assad should stay in power. >> the russian defense ministry says that it is destroying isil command and control centers along with arms dumps. >> the russian airstrikes are determined after verification of whether the targets belong to terrorist structures. >> but on the ground the syrian opposition tells a different story. it says that the russian airstrikes have been targeting civilians and armed groups belonging to bashar al-assad and the aerial campaign is part of preparations to launch a counter offensive to recapture lost territory. >> airstrikes could effect the opposition but not that. the syrian government has been hitting the north for months, but it did not stop the rebel advance. now there is more.

>> a tart only recently captured by opposition forces. it had been one of the last government strongholds in idlib province. it is not only close to latakia, but to the aleppo province. here the government has struggled to maintain a grip on a region that leads to the sea. and further south the northern countryside of homs, the last rebel strong old. the kremlin made it clear. it said that the aim of the airstrikes is to help the armed forces in their weak spot. they believe that is exactly what the russian military is doing, but it is not clear if the airstrikes will be able to

change the balance of power on the ground if it is not accompanied by a ground operation. but there are those in the west including the united states who are quietly supporting russia's actions. >> washington does not want to end the war and the situation is more complicated. in fact, the west is colluding with russia. what is happening now is efforts to end our revolution. >> opponents of assad say that the intervention could give the government an advantage, and they believe that is the objective. to use military force for diplomatic gains. whereby president assad could negotiate a political settlement from a position of strength. al jazeera, beirut. >> well, the questions mount over who moscow is targeting with its airstrikes in syria. president putin has been discussing the crisis in ukraine. they've been joined by leaders of in paris by the government of ukraine.

the civisince the minsk agreement has been the most progress because it has been respected. today we were able to create further progress. >> neave barker has been following the latest in paris. >> this was the first contact between vladimir putin and western powers since russia began it's bombardment of targets within syria. but at the end of the day, the normandy four decided to focus on the ukraine peace process and the implementation of the minsk accord. it wassagely signed in belarus earlier in the year but largely fell by the way side amid heightened fighting between the separatists and ukrainian army. now, though, as the french and german leaders have suggested, all sides are willing to put

some of these 13 points the minsk a cord agreement into practice including the withdraw of weaponry and reestablishing the border between russia and ukraine, and also elections under separatist controls. reconciliation, though, is still a very much a long way down the road. >> news coming in to us from routers reporting that two bombs have gone often in the nigerian capital of abuja. it said that the number of casualties are not known, and will continue to follow the story bringing you more details as it comes in to us. meanwhile, at least ten people have been killed in a series of explosions in nigeria's northeast. 39 others were injured when four suicide-bombers blew themselves up in the city of maidugari. boko haram have used bombers to target civilians in a city. less than two weeks ago 117 people were killed in a wave of

attacks in maidugari. now fifa president sepp blatter said he will not stand down despite calls from three major sponsors for him to quit. coca-cola, mcdonald's and visa want blatter to resign immediately. coca-cola said that the reputation of fifa is continue to go tarnish with every day that passes. earlier we were joined by a critic of accept blatter. >> he needs to go and he needs to go now. >> well, other sponsors follow suit in calling fo for sepp

blatter to quit. >> yes, four u.s. sponsors have made the call. what is he going to do. they must be feeling sensitive with their bran. it might be difficult for them to call for him to go. >> how can the sponsors then given blatters determination to stay, t. >> that is one step. we're really talking about mega threats here. this has never happened before in sports federations. >> there is still much more to come for you in this half hour. we'll bring you the latest from

afghanistan by taliban fighters are still in battle with the army for control of the crucial city of kunduz. >> also, i'm on mexico's south pacific coast where hundreds of thousands of turtles arrive each year, but the majority of their eggs are being stolen. >> "inside story" takes you beyond the headlines, beyond the quick cuts, beyond the soundbites. we're giving you a deeper dive into the stories that are making our world what it is.

>> welcome back. you're watching al jazeera. let's take you to our top stories now. the u.s. president has spoken out about the war in syria. he has criticized moscow's

growing involvement in the conflict while also calling on russia and iran to work with him to resolve the crisis. syria's government, meanwhile, has thanked russia and wished it would coordinate with its forces. sepp blatter said he will not step down despite calls for from four major sponsors who want him to step down immediately. nine people are dead and 600 are missing in guatemala after a mudslide david mercer joins us now. nine dead. hundreds are missing. what do we know about efforts to find survivors? >> well, that's right. rescue efforts are going on. it's a frantic search for

survivors, and they have said that there are survivors who are buried under tons of mud and rock. now at the same time we've been hearing just in the last hour or so reports from emergency workers, works unconfirmed reports of the number of dead have now risen to 16. it has not been confirmed yet, but those are reports that we're hearing from rescue efforts at the site. as we say it's really a race against time right now to see if they can dig out whoever they possibly can before nightfalls. there are si 600 people right nonow work in rescue efforts. >> well, we've had a solid week of rain. consistent rain that has led to the conditions that created this

mudslide. right now the skies are clear. that certainly is good news for rescuers. of course, there was a fear that while they are in these risk zones another slide comes down. they're happy that the ground does not get more saturated. the area is a deep ravine surrounded by hill slides. the ground is saturated, and a lot of these houses tend to be built to specifications of other countries. there have been centers set up by people in adequate ball ma trying to get food assistance, trying to get cleaning supplies, blankets, anything that could help out, the dozens much people who will need emergency shelter tonight. as you say, the real efforts are

on the rescue efforts in trying to find as many survivors as they can in these critical hours after the slide. >> thank you very much. david mercer joining us by guatemala city. the death toll has now increased to 167, but hundreds are miss as rescue efforts continue looking for the survival. the community has rallied to remember the dead. nine people were killed in the tight-knit community on thursday. it's the latest in a long line of shootings in the country prompting anger from the president as allen fisher reports. >> this was a day like no other. flags fly at half-staff. after the horror comes the reality, the pain and the questions.

>> i feel numb. it's a mix of exhaustion and denial, did this really just happen. >> the shooter has been named as chris harper mercer. be six guns, plenty of ammunition and a hate-filled note. >> i continue to believe that those media and community members who publicize his name will only glorify his horrific actions. >> the police are going through th his social media and argumenapartment. they want to know what drove him to much such horrific actions. >> this will not change until the politics changes and the behavior of elected officials changes. and so the main thing i'm going to do is i'm going to talk about this. on a regular basis. and i will polite size it.

>> the new academic year in the united states got under way just a few weeks ago in august. since then there have been 24 school shootings. this is now the latest. >> many gather where mass shootings took place and were left scared. >> now high-level talks at the united nations have failed to come up with a peace plan for libya. the country's two rival governments have not agreed to the deal drawn up by the u.s. usa and other member states. we have details from the u.n. >> with deadline after deadline come and gone, the united nations had hoped that this would finally be the moment for representatives of libya's two rival governments to come together as one. the u.s. secretary of state came to push the case. >> each party has to live up to the responsibility of this critical moment. that is reaching agreement on

the names of new leaders not tomorrow, not next week, but now. this could happen. and we hope that the process can be completed within a very small number of days. >> john kerry said that the time to negotiate was over, but members of the congress tell al jazeera that they're not happy with the deal on the table. >> this is for libya only to say we welcome the help. >> he said that they want sharia law enshined in the deal which they have not formerly endorsed either. >> political instability and armed conflict are taking the

toll on the people of libya with half the population of in need of some form of humanitarian assistance. making lack of a government a concern not only for the people of libya, but also the entire region. kristen saloom, y, the united nations. >> troops recaptured most of the city on thursday, but they've pushed the army back. they have been denied by the afghan government. >> with go to kunduz where the fight something taking place. >> there is heavy fighting going on right now. security forces confirming to us that they have received the reinforcement from kabul and

tonight they're going to launch their biggest attack o to retake k unduz city. more than half of kunduz is still under the control of taliban. just a few hours ago taliban control of another district afghan government confirm that, too. in the past three days the fourth district they're capturing from afghan government in the neighboring provinces. they're telling us that it is impossible to survive in kunduz city any more. it's not only the heavy bombar bombardment and artillery, there is the shortage of food, water and lack of electricity.

that's why the residence are leaving. >> children in niger are increasingly being forced into marriage. often it's wealthy nigerians who offer big dowries to families of young niger girls. >> a traditional wedding. the women here are known for their stunning beauty. but behind the celebrations and joy lie days of abuse. poor and uneducated, most of these women have been forced to marry while still children. many are promised to rich nigerians. this woman married a nigerian, but she could not get used to life in nigeria.

she returned home poor, the single mother of a daughter. >> the reason why i got married was to financially help my poor father and improve our living conditions. but the marriage collapsed. i have a daughter i need to raise and care for. >> child marriages are common practice in this part of the world. parents can't resist the big do youries, but child brides often end up suffering mistreatment. there is abuse and stigma when they return home divorced and humiliated. >> niger has the latest rate of child marriage in the world. 25% of girls marry before the age of 15, and 75% before the age of 18. unicef has sought dialogue within the local communities. we're telling them that child marriage has a huge negative impact on society.

we're also educating girls to put an end to the practice. >> but ending the practice in niger, one of the worldest poorest countries, has a long way to go. this woman had deified her family, who wanted her to marry a wealthy man. many others cannot especially in the face of overwhelming poverty. al jazeera. >> colombian police have killed one of the country's most powerful drug traffickers. he's known as megeteo. reports say that several of megateo's men were killed in heavy fighting with police. now moving to mexico's pacific coast beaches. prime nesting sites of sea turtles.

>> they arrive one by one. it's only by a sliver of moonlight. turtles clamber on the beaches each year one of only two species to stage this mass invasion of nesting season. they lay their eggs and quickly-dug hallows. it's their only protection against the dangers of the night. like these men known as horsemen. they scour the beach swooping on legs to sell as delicacies. even as mothers lay them. it's illegal, but they say they have little choice. >> i'm here because i need this work. we all have families. we don't have education or the papers to get regular jobs.

over 70% of the eggs laid on the beach are taken and the number of these turtles has halved over the last 40 years. >> apart from human predators, we're also at risk from animals and birds and less than 1% of them will make them to adultho adulthood. >> middle men sell the eggs for ten times or more what they pay the horsemen, in the market where it has been part of traditional cuisine for centuries. the navy used to guard these beaches year round, but now the government is stepping up protection efforts again. >> we've just signed agreements with the navy, federal police and the army to support us. and we also use drones to protect the turtle.

>> the government also offers occasional work programs to give poachers other options. while full-time job full-time jobs are scarce and eggs seemingly plentiful, it's hard to resist temptation. >> al jazeera. mexico. >> president obama's address on gun violence raised interesting questions with few good answers. he noted other countries are vie leapt crime and murders and mental illness. tonight, we are asking why.