the u.k.'s foreign minister says there is a significant possibility that a bomb brought down a russian passenger plane iin egypt. ♪ ♪ hello, this is al jazeera live from doha, i am adrian finnegan. also on the program. egypt's president dab del fatah sisi is in the u.k. on his first official visit i but there are questions being asked about his poor human rights record. the syrian government says that it's taken a strategic road not are you diamondback subsided city of aleppo. plus mexico's cannabis club the supreme court there makes it legal for one small group to use

the drug. ♪ ♪ britain's foreign secretary says there is a significant possibility that isil did bring down a passenger plane in egypt. the british government is hosting egypt's president right now on an official visit. but has sent its own i've jags experts to assess the security of the airport in sinai. it has suspended all flights between the u.k. and the egyptian resort and says it will not resume until the assessment is complete. egypt's foreign minister has reacted angry saying any decision before the official investigation is complete is premature. all 224 people on board were killed when the russian operated air bus a321 came down. neave barker reports now from london. >> reporter: since saturday search teams have been scouring the site where flight 9268 came down. and where 224 people were

killed. it's a difficult task with wreckage strewn across a wide area of desert. russian investigators are using drones to try to identify anything that could answer questions about why the air bus 8321 crashed. there are constant reminders that this was a plane packed with tourists returning from their holiday. the flight is thought to have broken up in midair. a sinai-based armed group affiliated with isil said it shot down the plane. >> translator: trying to prove we didn't bring it down or how it was brought down, we are the ones at that brought it down, we will expose how we brought it down when we choose and like. >> reporter: the egyptian government denied it but the u.k. government it says may have been brought down by an explosive device, it's now sending a team of aviation experts to assess the situation. and help british tourists staying there. the u.k. leadership has also convened the cobra emergency

committee here at the cabinet office. the most senior security committee of its kind in the united king come it's chaired by prime minister david cameron who on thursday will host the egyptian president abdul fatah el-sisi. >> they have concluded that there is a significant possibility that that crash was caused by an explosive device on board the aircraft. earlier this evening we delayed the return to the u.k. of british-bound flights that were on the ground. while we conducted a review of security at the airport. we have people on the groundworking with the egyptians and i would like to pay tribute to the egyptian authorities who have been extremely cooperative throughout the day and have moved heaven and earth to meet our demands on the ground. >> reporter: at the crash site. u.s. satellite imagery has detected heat around the plane before the crash. egypt's civil aviation ministry

says it didn't receive a distress call from the pilot. investigators are analyzing the contents of the two black box flight recorders. in and armed the russian city of st. petersburg from where so many were lost. there is still a sense of shock. and questions about how and why this could have happened. the youngest victim was just 10 months old. neave barker, al jazeera, london. >> live now to london and al jazeera's charlie angela. charlie, it seems from what the foreign secretary was saying a few moments ago that britain's got some specific intelligence on what downed this aircraft. what more do we know? >> reporter: well, that is as much as we know at the moment. we do know that as of last night, britain hadn't shared that intelligence with their egyptian counterparts. and you heard that angry reaction from the egyptian official saying this decision to suspend the flights is premature and unwanted and the british official says to be fair he

hasn't seen what i have seen. perhaps that's intelligence they'll share at today's meeting. just to update you on what has happened this morning the minister has come out and reiterated that the government has changed its security -- hat not changed its security rating for the sinai peninsula itself. he is stressing that holiday makers there are safe and nba their hotels and resorts. they have, however, changed the travel advice in and out of the airport. advising british nationals against all but essential travel while those u.k. aviation experts scrutinize the security protocols that are in place at at the port. we are still waiting for the black box data records, one it still analyzed but the cockpit recorder was very damaged. it will take sometime to repair before they can get in to it and really extract the data that's needed to give us more information about what happened to this flight.

>> charlie, president sisi is there in london as you said a moment ago there been a meeting between him and prime minister david cameron. how will these developments affect that i have meeting? >> reporter: i think diplomatically this couldn't have come at a worst time. this invitation was extends today president sisi months ago in, june before this incident. but we know that the two men spoke on the phone on tuesday evening with david cameron trying to seek assurance that the tightest possible security checks were in place at the airport. no doubt press sisi gave him those percentage assurances yet this suspension of flights was still put in place that, will be quite an awkward discussion between the two men think as we said the egyptians have reacted furiously over the decision, it will affect their tourism industry tremendously. british tourists account for some 20,000 there at the moment. who will be grounded.

so it's a tricky time between the two countries and we'll bring you details of that meeting later in the day. >> charlie, many thanks indeed. charlie an los angeles in london as charlie said the meeting with britain prime minister david cameron to take place in the coming hours. the visit is being seen by some as pretty continues very shall due toy egypt human rights record more from london. >> reporter: he's the former military strong man who would now like the world to see him very differently. as a democratically elected leader. a statesman fighting what he calls terror i felt. egypt as president abdel fattah sisi. but nobody in egypt has ever been held accountable for this. the 2013 massacre of hundreds of unarmed protesters as they gathered in the capital cairo. and since then, according to international human rights groups, 10s of thousands of opponents of sisi have been impressed.

hundreds sentenced to death. she and her three siblings were amongst those detained. she spent several months in jail before being released however her brother who was only 17 years at the time remains behind parts. >> i can't understand it. more than 40,000 remain behind bars, i am able to talk about my brother today, but other people are not. >> reporter: she is amongst hundreds of protesters who gathered outside downing street on the eve. sisi's visit to london. she says prime minister david cameron should never have invited the former general. >> knowing that the u.k. caring for human rights yet the man who arrested my brother and put him in jail for two years, over two years and a half, he is invited to the u.k. >> reporter: london isn't sisi's first state visit to europe. he's already enjoyed visits to france, and more recently to germany. ♪ >> reporter: european

governments may say they don't approve of much of what president sisi does at home, but they feel he provides a degree of what they call stability in a troubled region. and as paris and berlin think, so does london. >> we should not have any illusions about government's priorities which are usually in descending order, security both domestically spins nationally and economically. and we also should not forget that governments usually can only look no further ahead than the next elections. which means that when we are in office, they will have to talk to the people who happen to be in power or in office in other places as well. >> reporter: but it's a view that those opposed to sisi and the egyptian government's crack down on descent say is deeply flawed. >> this is always the argue that is used about having relations with dictators and ou out contrs and regimes like the sisi regi

regime. the truth is the opposite the reality of the crushing egyptian revolution and through that the derailing of the whole arab spring was a massive increase in jihadism. a massive increase in air tourism. a massive increase in violence across the middle east. >> reporter: while sisi will be getting the red carpet treatment when he meets david cameron here at downing street on thursday, there is a different type of welcoming party that will await him on the other side of the street. protesters opposed to sisi's visits will also be gathering once against. their message is that a man they view as a dictator is not welcome in britain. al jazeera. london. syria's government says it's regained control of the a strategic highway in to the divided city of aleppo. it has full control of the route in to the west. the eastern part is controlled by rebels. isil forces cut off the highway from aleppo last month.

the government can now link areas that it controls in parts of homs. and also allow push eastwards towards isil's base at al raqqa. rebels are claiming advances. they say they control a town. threw there are reports i've government counterattack and continued fighting there. analysis now from al jazeera's zeina khodr in beirut. >> reporter: the recapture of the road is undoubtedly a strategic win for the government in syria a long with its allies. it is the only lifeline for the government to send military reinforcement to the western controlled part of the divided city of aleppo. it is also the only supply line if the government wants to send food and aways i can surprise to the people who live in those districts inside the city. a few weeks ago, isil captured this area, there have been fierce battles but now the

government seems to be in control of this highway that really links aleppo to government-controlled cities further south. the cities of hama as well as homs. it's not the only front in aleppo and not the only offensive underway in syria. when russia militarily intervened in the conflict the sear i don't know government and its ally on his the ground launched a number of offenses in the homs countryside in the hama country side. really the military objective has been to protect the province which is a government strong hold the rebels were advance towards that province before the offensives began. and another objective really is to clear the highway so that they are able to link cities further south to cities further north. all right, still to come here on al jazeera. myanmar's opposition leader says there have been irregularities in advanced voting ahead of sunday's historic election there. we'll tell you why. and a roman wreck it.

politicians, business men and criminals are going on trial accused a major swindle in italy's capital. we'll tell you more.

>> "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. ♪ ♪ held going. the top stories here on al jazeera. u.s. and european security officials are suggesting that an on-board explosive device could have been behind saturday's plane crash in egypt. great britain's government has sent it's own aviation experts to assess secure a it the

el-sheikh airport. that is likely to top the agenda when sisi visits britain. it's become criticize booed i some due toy joint's poor human rights record. the syrian government says eights taken control of the strategic rode in to the divided city of aleppo allowing them to supply the forces based on the western part of the steed this road had been cut off last month. israel has freed a palestinian detain i after holding him for a year without trial he was arrested in love last year n june he began a two-month hunger strike that brought him cloth to death. he was protested against the israeli practice of administrative di detention whih allows it to hold suspects without charge for months at a time. the search is so for up to 150 people trapped after a factory collapsed in pakistan. at least 18 people are confirmed to have been killed on wednesday.

it's too early to say what caused the chance but there are -- there was structural damage in the area after last week's earthquake. more now from al jazeera's kamal hyder who is there. >> reporter: a major rescue effort is underway. the government has sent in earth-moving equipment, trains, they have also sent in hundreds of rescue teams to try and save lives here at this collapsed factory building. the four-story building did not stand a chance and despite warnings construction was still continuing while the factory workers were busy producing shopping bags. now, as you can see, the big challenge is to try and cut gabeing holes through the concrete slaps to try to reach the lower floors where most of the people are said to be trapped. their relatives are waiting outside the factory for news of their loved ones. but this is going to be a

cumbersome operation because it is a tedious operation, a very critical operation in which the attempt will be to try and save lives. however, the fear is that as time passes, hope will be fading for many of those who were wounded badly in the collapse. the big challenge, of course, will be thousand remove all of that rubble and find those people buried under it. the important thing is that despite the fact that people are now working at a faster pace, because it is daylight, it appears that this operation will last for several days. and it will not be clear as to how many people will killed in this building. taiwan's suppress meeting with his chinese counter part remember he denied the talks are related to next year apt elections he said they were for the well being of the next

generation. >> translator: in the future when we look at cross-straight relations passively went to reduce hostility and not stray way from the right path. actively went to expand cross straight relations and deeper cooperation. so this time by hosting a meeting went to establish the first step for a normalized meeting between leaders from both sides. this is conducive of further improvement of cross-straight ties. benjamin is a research manager of china policy. he says that many taiwanese people are still prize surprised that the meeting is going ahead. >> for the president there this is a big p.r. win. but the reality is that there is a very significant constituency in taiwan which is deeply, deeply suspicious of warming ties between taiwan and mainland china. he has talked up relations and

it's welcomed by the taiwanese business community. but many young people this warming relationship is seen as potentially a threat to what is considered to be taiwanese defecator independence even if taiwan is recognized as an independent state by the international commune thank you. the historic significance between a meeting between a taiwanese let lead and are a mainland chinese leader, the problem for for the president there is that all he can really do is shake hands here. if he was to agree to anything substantive with beijing at this meeting there would ab a colossal backlash in taiwan. the taiwanese people have been surprised by the advent of this meeting and for there to be significant results it would be too much of a surprise i think. myanmar's opposition leader says there have been irregularities in advanced voting for sunday's election. he she's the process hasn't been

entirely free or fair. her party is favorite to win the poll, but she's barred from becoming president under the contusion. [ inaudible ] which i hope we do and i have already said that we want to win 100 percent, [ inaudible ] 90 or 99 if we can get 100. even if we win 100 percent we would like to make it a government of national reconciliation in order to set a good precedent for our country. but it should not be some game of winner taking all. and losing losing everything. this is not what democracy should be about. >> more than 90 political parties are registered to take part in that election on sunday. nearly 2/3 of them represent ethnic or religious minorities. across myanmar there are eight prominent ethnic minorities out of at least 135 ethnic groups. all eight ethnic minorities have armies and there are dozens more

armed groups fighting government forces. that conflict began in 1949 soon after independence when power was unexpectedly handed to the majority bermans, excluding numerous ethnic minorities. myanmar has experienced civil war ever since with many 10s of thousands of people killed and injured and numerous thinks of abuse. millions of people from ethnic minorities have been displaced or are refugees in neighboring countries. nicholas fairly is director of the myanmar research center at the australian national university. he says bringing six decades of armed conflict for an end will be an enormous challenge. >> it's going to be really hard for whoever particulars control after the election to his try to hammer out the set of comprises that will be sensual to a permanent and comprehensive peace agreement. everybody has ideas of about how this should be done, she herself has strong views on the to him i

can but has yet to be in a position to implement any of her ideas and the ideas of her national league for democracy. i think whoever takes power after this poll is going to need to work really hard to be conciliatory, to get it all the right people around the table and see what kind of concessions are possible to try and end this simply tragic and traumatic history of i want ethnic strive. >> there is always a chance that the old system could return. myanmar could have a coup. it will probably be many years before we can be utterly confident that myanmar's military has surrendered it's ambitions for direct political control. in the meantime, though, what we see is a country that has gone through simply i want credible transformations this past half decade. if you take mobile phone penetration and internet

penetration has changed just out of sight. nobody in myanmar had consistent access to those technologies since a big tell co from the middle east and europe arrived. we have had literally 10s of millions of subscribers signed up playing in to the election dynamics of the weekend, this is the facebook lex, the election that the myanmar people are getting to look at flew their own the smart phone screens as they try to get to grips with what the various candidates and policy portfolios will mean for that i futures. in italy dozens of business men, politicians and alleged gangsters will go on trial on thursday accused of being part of a mafia-like network that rigged lucrative public contracts for years. claudio reports from rome. >> reporter: 2000 years ago rome was known as the capital of the ancient world. today it may have become the

capital of italy's criminal under world. over the past 11 months, authorities unearthed evidence that the city was run by a network of criminals, businessmen and local politician who his used ex-pours, racketeering, and money launder to go rig public services contracts worth millions of dollars. tactictactics summitly's criminl syndicates the investigation was re-branded capitol mafia. >> translator: it's a classic mafia method. in rome members of a former criminal gang manned to condition local politicians and corrupted the local administration to win public service contracts and if someone didn't cooperate at the used violence. >> reporter: the network was led by this man. massimo, a corner right wing convicted criminal nicknamed the pirate. after he lost one eye in a shootout with the police in 1991.

from thursday, he and his accomplices will mace charges of siphoning off millions of dollars destine today street cleaning and garbage collection leaving the city with substandard or nonexisting public services. >> translator: they should throw them in jail. not only the criminals also the politicians. put them in jail and throw away the key. they didn't kill anyone but they hurt all of us who pay faxes. >> translator: public transports don't work. the city is dirty, dark, the capital cannot be left in these conditions. >> reporter: the crime syndicate also won contracts to manage migrant veeps centers exploiting the growing refugees crisis in the mid train vinnie mediterrao lucrative they called it more profitable than drag trafficking. the former mayor is still under investigation for his role in the scanned. he his successor was forced to

resign recently due to a relatively minor expense scandal evening though he handed over all the proof of years of corruption in the city's administration to the authorities. now the city is in the hands of a commissioner appointed by the government. who will have to manage a city left in financial and moral ruin. claudio, al jazeera, rome. canada's lib rat party leader justin trudeau has been sworn in as prime minister. half of his cabinet post have his gone to women. trudeau swept to power in elections two weeks ago ending almost 10 years of conservative government. he's promised it to take more syrian refugees and to row store canada's reputation as a peacekeeping nation. the u.s. has reject aid request to delay the review of a controversial oil pipeline linking canada to the u.s. trans canada the company building the pipeline asked for the delay. president obama is now likely to make a decision on whether the

pipeline should go ahead before leaving office in january 2017. many people think that he will reject it. critics say the that transcanada was hoping the next u.s. president would be more favorable to the planned pipeline. mexico's supreme court has opened the door to making marijuana legal in the country the court has ruled that a cannabis club can grow the drug for a personal use. >> reporter: in concrete terms mexico's supreme court decided that a small group of mostly business men and lawyers could produce and smoke their own marijuana. that's against mexican law right now. but, of course, this case is bigger than just that. it sets a precedents and if there are many more similar cases about four more cases like this, and it changes the rules in mexico so that anyone can grow and smoke their own marijuana. so this case has been provoking a lot of debate. the president of the country

enrique peña neito got involved in a flurry of tweets he said that it would open conversation and open discussion about this important issue in the country. of course the people that are pushing this case want this to go further. they are looking for widespread legalization of marijuana in the country and they say that that will help wrestle control from drug cartels who control that industry and lower the violence in the country. that is their end goal and there is a lot of discussion here over whether that would or would not happen. but mexico is still searching for solutions to try and bring down the drug violence that still affects it. now, nasa has released new and breathtaking video sun. take a look. it was created from still images taking by the solar dynamics observatory. the state of the art telescope orbits our star. just like we do. and captures images across 10 wavelengths of invisible ultra

ultraviolet light. the result as you can see is this rather beautiful depiction of our sun. there is much more real news from al jazeera along with analysis, comment, video and link to his some of our best programs on our website aljazeera.com. ♪ >> they work in the darkest depths of the earth, your honor seen and unheard by the world above. >> the air is toxic and the