after 60 years o60 years of mistrust,s of china and taiwan. >> hello i'm jane dutton. russia suspends all flights to egypt, after black box clues a violent explosion caused the plane crash. an environmentalist celebrate as president obama says no to the keystone xp

pipeline from canada. two men and a historic handshake. the greeting between chinese president xi jinping and tie taiwan's leader ma ying jo, a sign of how difficulty this relationshidifficult thisrelatih other mr.. sahil raman has the latest. >> it's taken over seven decades for the leaders of these two political groups to finally sit together under one roof. the handshake between president

xi and presidential ma, a chapter in a very long walk that has seen fraught relationship between the mainland and this island nation. what that means to those in china and in taiwan will be interpreted in the coming days and weeks but certainly for the moment it couldn't have come at a better time for president ma of taiwan. he will soon be heading to national polls not only for the presidency but in the legislative poll. it seems that the anti-china coalition may win for all intents and purposes the next general election. the handshakes the meetings and the conversations they will soon be having behind closed doors, at a time when china is exerting its influence and its strength in the south china sea and upsetting its regional neighbors. it will be interesting to see what comes out of these press

conferences on saturday and whether they allay the fears ever china's neighbor and encourage the international community that these two countries are trying to find and forge a way forward. >> sahil just told us this is the first of a meeting between the two. this schism goes back to 1949 when the chinese nationalists were defeated on the mainland. rob mcbride has more. >> the meeting between the leaders of china and taiwan picks up a relationship virtually on hold since the founding of their predecessors. in 1949 after a bloody civil war mao zedong declared the republic of china on the mainland.

and chiang kai-shek and his followers created their own government. >> translator: the taiwan strait became a cold war frontier until 1979 when china said it wanted dialogue. >> reporter: as the cold war ended and mainland china transformed itself economically the gulf between the two had opened markedly. the preliminary differences remain. china's one party system and its strong state control versus taiwan's multi-party politics and its vibrant free speech, the two leaders come together knowing their differences, even how they address each other is a problem with neither recognizing each other as the president of china. at this meeting they will simply be mr.. the fact that the two sides at

least acknowledge each other's presence is progress. >> translator: as long as the confrontation is over china is effectively unified, this is not how other countries solve their problems. the process is very chinese. >> reporter: the summit could set a precedent for future contacts, or could be a one-off with each changing back to their fractious ways. but the handshake between mr. xi and mr. ma is about to make history. rob mcbride, al jazeera, beijing. >> an expert on international politics, what do you make of the timing of this meeting? >> well, the timing is very interesting, because what you see here is very, very active xi. he's gone to a number of places,

not necessarily easy ones. before here was vietnam, obviously there are issues there. so i think he's really reaching out. he's showing that china has a very broad perspective, that they're able to put differences aside as they discuss the economics of the future. >> do you think he's trying the pull taiwan into his sphere of influence, china's sphere of influence? >> well, i think there's some popular misconceptions. i notice in your broadcast you're talking about anti-china or china hostility. really what it comes down to is the r reunification question. both sides are trying to come to some understanding. mostly political not economic, that boat has sailed. when your economy is 40% dependent upon china there is really no way that you can say we are going to give up and go

home or find something else. it's a very big issue, it's really an emotional one and it will have to be solved probably over a period of time. >> okay but it's not going down well in taiwan. we've got correspondents there, thousands of people protesting there, they're having nothing of this, what's up? >> well, if you take olook at the polls, over 70% oa look, its existed through history. a lot of the taiwanese have felt that their economy has been subsumed by this enormous china. from 20 years it's gone from became of nothing to the second largest economy in the world. this is a little overwhelming,

china isn't coming on strong deliberately but they are coming on strong economically. so politically the questions are still out there and people are trying to get comfortable about how they feel about where that is. and right now most of the taiwanees are not comfortable with a fast paced reyoourvetion. reunification. >> we'll leave it there. we'll speak to you after mr, makes a public address. active video shows the aftermath of fighting in akshan. syrian forces took over the village just last month. days of relative calm, an elderly palestinian woman was shot by israeli forces at a petrol station in hebron. the autopsy of the 72-year-old

showed she died later. israeli forces said she was shot speeding towards a group of soldiers. a 22-year-old palestinian man has been shot by israeli soldiers, died by a single shot to the head. 30 other palestinians have been wounded. and israelis wounded this a shooting and stabbing attack. since the beginning of october. 76 palestinians and 9 israelis have been killed. russia has suspended flights from egypt, data from the black box flight recorder suggests a violent sudden explosion caused last sunday's crash, the u.k. started to bring home thousands of its citizens stranded at the egyptian resort of sharm el sheikh. >> reporter: there is a major

exodus from sharm el sheikh, 20,000 british citizens will now be joined by 40,000 russian tourists. the question was what changed the kremlin's mind? based on intelligence that made it more likely than not that a bomb was responsible. the head of russia's fsb gave no details only that it was expedient to suspend all flights until reasons for the downing of the flight are known. >> translator: it applies first of all on the tourist channel on the one hand and on the other hand we believe it is necessary to cooperate with the egyptian authorities to investigate the reasons for the crash. it's been suggesting that these pock marks ton inside of this

rear door could be the result of shrapnel originating within the aircraft and there are other similar photos too. the metal hull of this appears to have peeled outwards, intaicting thaindicating that te from inside. >> the good news is it's not under water, you have put all the jigsaw back together and that will tell you if there was an explosion whether the explosion was outside the fuselage or inside the fuselage and that means it was a missile or a bomb inside. >> there is a stern spotlight on the egyptian security and particularly over baggage handling. the italian civil authority is advising to carry out their own security checks in addition to those done by the airport and british passengers being repatriated by the u.k. will be only allowed to bring essential

hand luggage with them. >> particularly we're putting additional security measures in place beyond what is normal and moving up the number of flights normally expected out of this busy airport by quite a lot. so aspiration is to get as many home as possible. >> that is not an easy challenge. had hoped to operate 15 planes, in reality just five departed and just eight in sharm el sheikh in total. egypt said it couldn't cope with any more than that. >> egypt will cooperate fully with the u.k. authorities to bring back those tourists but we want to make sure that they come back safely and the planes are dealt with in a professional way. >> the search for the sinai desert is continuing, children's books a jewelry chain, what

hasn't yet been found is definitive blame for the crash. but the range of possible option he is narrowing. paul brennan, al jazeera. >> a young man has been rescued after 50-hour ordeal under the rubble of a collapsed building in pakistan. he was pulled out hours after authorities said hopes were starting to fade of finding any more survivors. the four story factory in lahor collapsed on wednesday killing at least 35 people. >> translator: the rescued man was able to talk and he crawled and came out himself. we didn't have to pull him out. he only complained he had a pain in his foot. we are hopeful he will recover soon. >> kamal hyder is in lahor with the latest. >> this particular boy was rescued 50 hours after the building collapsed.

interestingly, his family had already been given a body of a mutilated laborer, and they wurieburied him thinking they hd buried their son. they were shocked but relieved to know their son was alive. that has given hope to the rescue teams that there possibly are more survivors although so far there is a steady flow of dead being recovered from the factory. however people are not giving up hope. it is a delicate job but one thing that is coming out of this tragedy is the fact that the labor department which was supposed to enforce that no child laborers were involved in this factory were not doing their job. also the fact that this building owner had authorization for only two stories. so the building control authority was also found negligent. and so far we can see the rescue effort still continuing.

>> plenty more still ahead on al jazeera, including as the world watches the people of myanmar get ready to go to the polls in the first meaningful election in a generation. plus more than a dozen people still missing after a dam burst in brazil endwustles engulfs ad and debris. debris. >> tough that the country gave up on me. >> look at the trauma... every day is torture. >> this is our home. >> nobody should have to live like this. >> we made a promise to these heroes... this is one promise americans need to keep.

>> hello again you're watching al jazeera, the top stories, the leaders of china and taiwan have met for the first time. xi jinping and ma yung jo met

for the first time. u.s. has stepped up security at u.s. airports with some inbound flights. data from the black box flight recorder suggests a violent explosion caused the crash in which 224 people died. 50 hour ordeal under a collapsed building in pakistan, a four story factory in lahor collapsed on saturday killing at least 35 people. these are the live shots coming to us from singapore. we've been listening to ziang jejun, he called it a historic meeting. an expert on international politics, what happens next?

>> well, we have three issues on the table. politics, economics, and culture. and right now, the politics is emotional, and the cultural aspects are symbolic and the economics are real. so the question is how do they go forward when they're mixing up this potent batch of feelings, emotions and substance. >> all right we're going to leave you then, thank you for the time. going to andrew thomas he's in taipei taiwan joins us from there now. from what i've been seeing the demonstrations behind you andrew not so much enthusiasm there about this meeting. >> reporter: well, the processes here are set against this summit taking place. they're holding up signs like here, crossed out president xi and president ma, they want ant

internationally recognized as such, they think the president is selling out taiwan, by building bridges with china. both president xi and president ma want a reunified china, these people don't. i stopped a bunch of people in the streets and asked them what they thought about the summit and broadly speaking, they were much more pragmatic about the talks than these people here. >> translator: i'm pleased it's happening, i think it's a great break through for taiwan. i hope something positive comes outs of it for this country. >> translator: we need taiwan to forge peaceful negotiations. >> translator: it's a good idea and well timed. i have faith in the president. i believe this can open a new chapter for taiwan.

>> andrew do you get a sense of how this might affect the elections in january? >> well, the people i spoke to yesterday, i spoke to about a dozen all up. they were fairly split between ruling km party and the dpp party, that would like officially independent long term. certainly as you say an election due in january, the opinion poll suggested the dpp opposition party is likely to win that presidential election and win it well. interestingly though, they are not part of this protests. that's because they want a serious party of government that can talk to beijing even though they fundamentally disagree with a future for taiwan. they want to make it clear for the people of taiwan that they can engage in that level. and they think perhaps taking part in protests like these might suggest something else and that polite be what lies behind the timing of this summit. it's been suggested that the chinese leadership and the leadership of president ma want

this summit happened now, to make the ty walshees people that they can be concerned that the dpp got into power they might push things too far, provoke beijing, and perhaps leave it in context. >> let's leave it there andrew. politicians have left their final pushes in myanmar. the opposition says the hill try has unfairly stacked the deck. scott heidler has the latest from yangon. >> reporter: myanmar is just hours away from heading to the polls. an historic vote the whole world is watching. most of the cities and towns have seen extensive campaigning. something the 50 million people

here have not witnessed in a quarter of a century. a general election with all political parties running. especially the national league for democracy, the party of nobel laureate aung san suu kyi. the party boycotted the 2010 election a year before the transformation to the current somewhat civilian government. but da tontenu did participate in the polling, five years ago. one of the 95 parties participating this these elections. her father unu was the first and last democratic prime minister removed by military coup in 1962. >> for nearly 50 years we were under the military rule so now you know not within five years, within five months we wanted to have changes. not soft changes we wanted to see but as for my father, as he was a seasoned politician so he

might not have this kind of you know frustration. >> reporter: she feels the nation needs to channel some of her father's patience. as the ruling party wraps up its campaigning, this is their last rally, some feel that despite predictions of a big win for the opposition and aung san suu kyi this is just part of the process to full democracy. that destination is still far away and they also think this election is neither free nor fair. >> this is a very important step on the road to democracy for myanmar. but it is only a small first step. even if opposition parties were to win 100% of the seats elected that are available to them, the military has a constitution in place that is stacked in their favor. >> reporter: and that includes barring angst ann from become

president and from giving the military 25% of the parliament. uncharted territory, exact predictions of myanmar's political future is probably as accurate as the fortune tellers at yangan farmers market. dozens missing in a dam collapse. reporting from mariana. >> it's hard to believe there used to be 200 homes in this area, now there are only ten after a mitigation of water mud and mining material flooded the area. this is bento rogz southeastern brazil. bento rodriguez, southern brazil. those who lived here hardly

believe what happened. >> i went out and saw what looked like a volcano. i don't know how i survived. i saw other people running. >> what passed through our house was worse than a tsunami. hundreds were shouting, just shouting. >> emergency situation, like this gym in mariana. 12-year-old victor can't put the horror of his experience into words. the family hid out in the woods to wait to be discovered. >> environment groups are claiming that the flood is spread mercury and arsenic all along its path. however the company is denying there is any toxic contamination in the area.

>> it's important to note that the fluid will spilled out of the dam is iron or smelt which is inert. >> the dam is operated by san marco. the company says a small earthquake may have caused the dams to burst. rescue teams are flying over the region but as every hour passes hopes that they'll find any more survivors are fating. al jazeera, ma mariana. >> president obama has rejected the bid for a canadian company to build a pipeline across the united states. rosiland jordan has the story.

>> first reason: economics. >> the pipeline would not make a meaningful long term contribution to our economy. so if congress is serious about wangtsd twanting to create jobss not the way to do it. >> reporter: the other reason, u.s.'s credibility on ending global warming. the u.s. is set to attend a climate change summit in early december. >> frankly approving this project would have undercut that groabl leadershiglobal leadersh. glj this pipeline would have connected appliance within alberta with those in united

states, despite opposition from environmental groups obama hinted he might approve the plan back in 2012. >> today i'm directing my administration to cut through the red tape, break through the diplomatic hurdles and get job done. >> but the state department got involved and decided the pipeline does not meet the country's purpose. >> today misplaced symbolism was chosen over merit and science. rhetoric won out over reason. >> we've helped him stop arctic drilling, we're going to help him stop atlantic drilling, keeping fossil fuels underground. this is not what the president

is done in a vacuum, what he's pushed to do. >> looking ahead to whoever replaces him in the white house. rosiland jordan, al jazeera, washington. >> that's the end of our bulletin. still more on the address, aljazeera.com. aljazeera.com. >> it's still months before college football season kicks off, but the team at northwestern university is in the middle of a 40 hour work week. >> they are traveling more than even 10 years ago, they're being asked to sacrifice more they're asked to treat their sport as a year-round endeavor. so the demands on them are so intense that it has put them in a situation where it's like a fight or die situation.