russia carries out scores of air strikes in syria and helps retake key territory from rebel forces. with the world news from al jazeera. on the first anniversary of arab spring, we're in tunisia where many believe it all began. >> reporter: with a story of mohamed bouazizi, a street vender who sparked a revolution.

the u.s. federal reserve raises interest rates for the first time in a decade. russia's air force says it has hit more than 200 i.s.i.l. targets across syria in the past 24 hours. russian air covers also helped regime forces retake a strategic price in latakia. it is an area over looking the main rebel stronghold and aleppo. the syrian army says it captured the mountain after breaking through the defenses of the al-nusra front armed group. we will get a look ahead from peter sharpe, the fact that russia is keeping up the pressure here. >> reporter: russia is definitely keeping up the pressure. this was sold to the russian

people. it is a very short-term engagement. they started bombing on 30 september with 30 fighters and then last few weeks they've brought in super sonic jets. these are big fighters, strategic bombers that can unleach their missiles well out of syrian airspace. at the same time the russians are extending their operations, their footprint on the ground. they're taking over two new air bases. they've got an air defense system that covers most of syrian airspace. russia does not seem to be in any way over extending itself yet, but there seems to be also at the same time no clear thought through exit strategy any idea what putin is going to be saying about all of this in his annual address in the next couple of hours or so? >> reporter: well, he will be covering a lot of subjects.

i mean, this address is going to last more than three hours. i think here is going to stress as a result of the talks between himself and john kerry and sergey lavrov momentum in the peace process has been maintained. there are fears that the talks in new york tomorrow and friday are going to be scrubbed, but they are going ahead. kerry, i must say, was pretty generous in terms of how he described russia-america's relationship in relation to the talks. he says we have got a lot of common ground. i think that will be stressed by putin. he will also be talking about turkey and the problems there, and he will be talking about the war against i.s.i.l. he is going to come under pressure on the economy, on corruption. it's going to be a very interesting four hours thank you for that, peter

sharpe. human rights watch has published photographs of thousands of people who died in syrian government detention centers. the group says it is damning evidence of crimes against humanitarian. some viewers may find the following photographs disturbing. these images were smuggled out of the country by a military defector. they show some six thousand people who died in custody, many of them tortured or starved of the human rights watch has identified 27 of the people photographed. rival parliaments in libya are divide against a u.n. back deal which is meant to be signed in morocco in a few hours time the president says anyone willing to sign the groument has no legitimacy-- agreement has no legitimacy. >> reporter: it did not authorize any of its members to participate in or sign at the meeting in morocco.

any attempt to impose non-agreed outcomes will lead to more clickss in the polite cal scene the ceasefire in yemen is could be at claps. the ongoing fighting between houthi rebels are a threat to under mine the talks in switzerland. five years ago a tunisia street vendor set himself on fire that started a revolution in his country and spread to many others. the story of mohamed bouazizi set a chain of events. we returned to the city to find the family and friends of the young man who died, how they feel now.

>> reporter: he says his cousin was trying to sell his fruit and vegetables but the police kept moving him on. he didn't have a permit, but there were no jobs and his family relied on his income, so he had to take the risk. >> translation: the police decided to confiscate his cart and scales. when he went to the municipality to meet the governor, he was turned away. he refused to him. >> reporter: he had a few simple goals, he wanted to get married and earn money for his family. he felt humiliated after a policemen slapped him or hopeless about the future. whatever his reasons, he decided he wanted to die, right outside the be officials of the officials who-- offices of the officials who treated him so

badly. >> translation: mohamed bouazizi set himself on fire because he felt discriminated against. i was in front of the building. i saw him on fire and i saw people surround him and try to put the flames out. it was such a painful thing. >> translation: he felt lonely. he was suffering a lot at the time and had many problems. no-one was there to listen to his concerns and worries. >> reporter: his friends and family took to the streets. this man was the first to upload the photos on facebook >> translation: we were able to raise slogans like "employment is our rightquote, and "you gang of thieves". we spoke out about the injustices and mohamed's fate. >> reporter: there were out breaks across the country because people were suffering from the same frustrations.

he died on 4 january 2011 in hospital. ten days later. the president zine el abidine ben fled the country. >> translation: i remember how things were straight after the revolution. people stood together. unfortunately, politicians make promises and fail to keep them. we're asking for more national unity. we hope our region gets its share of development and the state reaches out to people here. >> reporter: people here are tired of the slow pace of change since the revolution. many here say that life is more difficult now. the death of mohamed bouazizi did give the tunisians the freedom and dignity that eluded this man all of his young life china's objecting to a 1.8 billion dollar arms deal between the u.s. and taiwan. beijing has threatened to impose

sanctions on the firms involved. china regards taiwan as part of its territory. the u.s. is defending the deal saying the policy has been consistent and has helped maintain security in the region. political commentator says asian foreign policy is confused >> it is difficult to understand it. u.s. recognises the one china policy and that would include taiwan, but it also insists on going on with the tie be want's-- taiwan's relations act which says it will give arms to taiwan to defend itself. this is equivalent to saying to the state of georgia, since you're involved in the confederate war, china is going to continue to arm you although we recognise the u.s. is one country. there have been a military to military talks and engagement. from the u.s. point of view it is very difficult to see. the u.s. has not articulated a

comprehensive foreign policy which involves both asia, europe and the middle east and this has been a bit of a hindrance. american exceptionalism is a rationalisation but it doesn't necessarily tell people where you stand and what is becoming a multi poe lair world asian- - it polar asian banks, with rates near zero in an attempt to boost the economy, it is likely to strengthen the dollar and increase investment in the united states. >> reporter: it was a sign of confidence in the u.s. economy. the federal reserve raised interest rates a quarter a per cent >> this action marks the ends of an extraordinary seven-year period during which the federal funds rate was held near zero to support the recovery of the economy from the worst financial

crisis in recession since the great depression. >> reporter: the increase was justified she said because infacial was held to below 2% and job rate to 5%, half of the level when u.s. economy was tanking. markets closed higher and the rate could hurt american expo s exports. >> common wisdom says if they start raising rates the market will be awkward. reality is i think it reduces uncertainty. >> reporter: the rate increase was widely anticipated, so much so analysts say it was already factored into the markets ahead of this announcement. the question moving forward is how high will the fed go and how quickly that answer could

further shake things up here on wall street and on main street. from credit cards to car alones, higher-- loans means it could impact all. >> we are not going to see immediate down shift in consumption spending. consumers are benefitting enormously right now from the huge drop oil prices and gas prices still falling pretty rapidly. that has freed up cash flow that they're spending not only on retail goods, but services, people are spending more on recreation, leisure and entertainment. >> reporter: future increases would be gradual over the next year fed promises, news that is keeping investors happy, at least for now adrian brown has more on what the u.s. interest rate cut could mean for china. >> reporter: i'm in the city in north-east china, a committee economic center where business leaders like business leaders elsewhere in the country are now trying to assess the likely

impact of this rise in u.s. interest rates. the last time it happened obama and president xi jinping had yet to become presidents of their countries, china had to yet host olympic games and china was not the second largest economy. the good news for china in this rise in rates will help with exports, because the their dollar will fawn against the dollar. the chinese government owns a sizeable chunk of the u.s. economy in the form of debt, some 1.2 trillion dollars of treasury bills sitting in a fund and that will go up. the bad news, a lot of big chinese conglomerates have borrowed in chinese dollars. there are also other items

exposed. china economy has been continuing to slow. the government has been cutting interest rates, not raises them and that has called the yuan to fall in value. this is not the rise but the timing and size of future rises in u.s. interest rates that are worrying still to come on the program we meet women in ethiopia who tried to escape a life of prostitution. plus. >> lift off china sends a rocket into space in search of the elusive dark matter that makes up much of the unverse.

>> we have people who are desperately in need of jobs. >> hear from citizens caught in the crossfire... >> we want freedom, freedom! >>...and what america can learn from chicago's ongoing gun violence. hello again.

a reminder of the top stories. russian air cover has helped syrian regime forces retake an area over looking the main area of latakia and aleppo. china is opposing 91.83 billi billion-- 1.83 billion deal. u.s. has raised interest rates by a quarter of a%. the first rise in seven years. the federal reserve says it's in response to improved job data. it is likely to strengthsen the dollar but it could be damaging to emerging economies. baltimore's mayor is calling for calm after a miss trial in the

freddie grey case. he died after sustaining neck injuries while in police custody. >> reporter: freddie grey's death had a roar nerve in a country that has a history of racial issues with the police. >> if some choose to protest, they must peacefully demonstrate. that is their right. i want to be clear about any potential disturbances in our city. we are prepared to respond. >> reporter: 25-year-old freddie grey suffered a spinal injury after being arrested allegedly for possessing an illegal knife. this video appears to show porter looking on as grey is shackled and placed in the van. >> the family's position has been that they want justice.

they know that the only people in a position to bring about justice is the judge and that jury. you have heard that that jury could not reach a verdict. you know now that that doesn't mean anything about the future. >> reporter: according to court filings, the driver of the police van stopped at about 9am and asked porter to check on grey. according to a report in the baltimore sun newspaper, grey asked for medical help. the van made another stop to pick up another suspect. paramedics were not called until 9.24 when the van reached the police station. grey's statement and all of those officers accused likely to raise questions in court when porter's trial resumes and the other trials get underway next year. grey's death led to protests around the area. a curfew was imposed and the national guard was employed here

to maintain law and order. >> reporter: people is the simple question, who will police the police. crave rights campaigners saw the trial as a test of whether the justice system values black lives or not brazil supreme court is expected to decide on the next stage of impeachment proceedings against dilma rousseff late on thursday. people have been reallying on her behalf. -- rallying. >> reporter: what you see here is president dilma rousseff's political party and it forms the face of her support. there are a lot of public employees here. they don't necessarily support dilma rousseff, but what they do support, they say, is the democratic process and they say

the impeachment process is not that. they are saying it is a coup. they say there is no wrongdoing to her part. people here say they believe that this impeachment is purely political. >> we must respect the domestic cease. i'm not here because i love hum human. >> reporter: you will see the name here, and it is about the impeachment being pushed by a rival of dilma rousseff. he is also being investigated. they say it is he who needs to be removed from office. >> translation: we know better than the rest of the country because he is a politician from here. he was involved in corruption scandals in state companies a few years ago. so we know his past.

>> reporter: the idea of impeaching a president is nothing knew for this country. in 1992 the president resigned in the midst of impeachment proceedings. he was facing similar allegations spain's prime minister was attacked while campaigning for the upcoming general election on sunday. he was meeting voters in his home region when he was punched in the head. the attacker as seen here is believed to be a miner. he was arrested. the prime minister posted a message later on social media saying he was fine several africans have taken to the street to force the president to design. >> reporter: dramas set the beat of the zuma must fall. these people say president zuma

should step down or be sacked by the congress >> he is too associated with corruption and corrupted individuals. the steps that he took of sacking the finance economy is considered wreckless and done great damage to our economy. >> reporter: he fired the finance minister last week and instead put in another one who only was there for three days. the credit rating went from stable to negative, just as when many people marched around the country. this is starting with the crowd crossing nelson mandela bridge.

like most south africans, this man supports the anc. the party of nelson mandela is a political power house but he feels it has lost its way. >> it really stands for the people, it stands for bettering, stands for the youth development, stands for a better society. >> reporter: in the face of unprecedented protests against the president, the anc's leadership has voiced its support for zuma, but many say he was been weakened in the fiasco of the finance minister. one man didn't march, but this student is worried he won't get a job. >> ever since he stepped up as president, the economy has fallen. there hasn't been a lot of job creation and a lot of houses

that were promised to a lot of people haven't been built. >> reporter: while the marchers want president zuma out, he has the support of other south africans, and he enjoys his party's support in ethiopia many women are being driven to a life of prostitution. the country's deeply conservative culture makes help hard to find, but a new community radio project is trying to change that. charles stratford reports. >> reporter: this girl describes how she was around 13 years old when she started working as a prostitute. that was 15 years ago. her voice will be broadcast on a radio program reaching out to prostitutes across the country. she was made pregnant at 14. she was forced to give her baby

away to a stranger. she couldn't afford to raise her and she hasn't seen her since. the radio program is run by an association set up by former prostitutes and mainly funded by an organization in the netherlands. >> translation: the church, of course, says this work is a sin, but the women have no choice because of poverty. the fact is many people use prostitutes and these women have no money. >> reporter: around 80 women come here every day to take classes in hairdressing and sewing, training that is hoped will pave the way towards a better life. the deal with the local bank helps them to put aside modest start up savingss. ethiopia is a deeply conservative society. many of the women say they battle social stigma made harderer when the role of religion in society is so strong. >> translation: after each program i get calls from women listeners. some even saying that the program has persuaded them to

the to work as prostitutes. >> reporter: the country has made some impressive economic gains averaging around double digit growth in the last decade. it remains one of the poorest countries in the world. poverty remains the root cause forcing women into prostitution into prostitution these days. she has been living with hiv for five years now. she has been unable to change her life and still works as a prostitute. every night thousands of women work the streets and bars in some neighbourhoods. her voice reaches out to them across the air waves. a warning to women like her who have so little choice. charles stratford

a new space craft developed by the chinese academy of sciences has launched its mission to scan the could cosmos for an understanding of unseen dark matter. >> reporter: launching on board a long rocket, china's dark matter particle explorer is said to give the country's scientists a view none have had before. the space craft will orbit the earth at an altitude of 500 kilometres. the telescope will be searching for high emergency game array, electron and coulds seismic race. using a series of deckedors, the craft is able to map the direction, energy and electric charge of these particles as they travel through space. from these scientists hope the telescope will see evidence of what is known as dark matter, which has never been seen or

directly detected, but by looking at the movement of galaxies scientists have concluded it exists and it makes up 80% of the mass of the universe. >> the distortions of light from galaxi galaxies, these measurements of these distortions is telling us that there is an additional amount of matter in the universe that we cannot see. >> reporter: the space telescope is the first of four the chinese academy of sciences is developing to explore the universe. it is expected to start sending data back to earth within a few weeks and it's hoped these ultra high resolution images will provide scientists with a new and previousliesly unseen view of the cosmos the golden burial mark of

the king tutankam en is back. after nine weeks work, the mask has been restored to its former glory ah. -- glory. >> on "america tonight": the stung truth. flint michigan's water so toxic it's led to a state of emergency. and fear a generation has been poisoned. >> to know that this is something that could have been prevented, it wasn't bought people lied and didn't do their jobs makes me sick. >> "america tonight's" are lori jane gliha, investigates and asks who will take responsibility. >> yes we're concerned. >> you won't say you're sorry? >> i -- >> thafo