♪ attack on a pakistani university leaves at least 19 people dead. ♪ hello i'm in doha also on the program top diplomates from the u.s. and russia try to iron out their differences and keep the syria peace talks alive. we are in davos where the world's movers and shakers are talking about the challenges for the global economy. ♪ experimenting with a new language, students in some schools in south africa are learning mandarin. ♪

hello, army operation to stop gunmen at a university in northwest pakistan is now over hours after they stormed the bacha-khan in charsadda killing people and the head of the pakistani taliban has condemned the attack on the university. earlier a splinter group of the organization claimed responsibility and kamal is live for us and kamal bring us up to speed. >> reporter: well, that military operation is now indeed underway after several hours of gun battle we are told that the attackers put up a determined fight but the death toll of course still remaining low because of the swift response from the military after that

attack took place at about 9:00 a.m. local time which is about 4:00g 4:00gmt. >> security forces now patrolled the fields alongside bacha-khan university and gunmen had taken advantage of thick fog to scale the walls, storm buildings and open fire on students and teachers. >> translator: we heard firing from the back of the campus and we thought maybe some people were fighting then the gunfire increased and we said stay in the rooms, don't go out and then the security forces came. >> reporter: classes at the university had begun for the day, 3,000 students study here. there were hundreds of others at the university too. 600 special guests were celebrating the birthday of the man who the university is named after. the university is in charsadda the same region where fighters attacked a school in december

2014 killing 134 children. that attack was links to the pakistan taliban. reaction spurred pakistani government officials to crack down on the taliban and other fighters, hundreds of suspects were killed or arrested. gunmen are among the dead in this latest attack, security forces are still combing the university looking for more. commanders say the nature of the attack in wintry, foggy conditions means it is difficult to know just how many attackers there are. al jazeera. kamal as we heard this is unfortunately not the first time an attack of this kind has occurred in pakistan, what questions are now going to be raised about the security forces and the intelligence services about their preparedness for this? >> well, there is no doubt that the security forces were not able to prevent the attack, however, the quick response from

them was able to save precious lives, now the challenge this country is facing is the fact that the military is involved in a major operation close to the afghan border against the taliban and pakistan and at the same time the threat against soft targets and widespread across the country so you cannot physically protect every university, every school in the country against such attack, the attackers were well armed, well trained and it took several hours after efforts by the special forces and the elite police force after they met stiff resistance from attackers that the area was brought under control. >> kamal live for us there in charsadda. now u.s. secretary of state john kerry arrived in zurich to meet sergei fedorov and russia and the united states disagree on who should be at the negotiating table on bringing about an end

to the crisis in syria. the talks were supposed to take place in geneva on january 25th but there are now doubts of whether they will go ahead. the talks expected to focus on the set up of a transitional government. paul brennan has this update now from

running parallel to the riyadh group and pulling all the sites together is going to be very difficult indeed and the fact they have not scheduled a statement to be made, they have not informed the press there will be a statement at the end of the talks in the hotel behind me i think is an indication they are not really expecting a conclusive outcome from this and simply hope they may be moving slowly towards progress but no actual breakthrough. >> air base in syria's province is now ready to be used by u.s. war planes after the completion of a runway expansion and syrian observatory says u.s. helicopters began operations from the airport and also be headquarters for fighter jets carrying out air strikes against i.s.i.l. controlled areas in syria. now defense ministers from seven countries part of the coalition against i.s.i.l. are meeting in france. the u.s. and france are jointly hosting the meeting for the countries that contribute most

in the fight against the armed group and although i.s.i.l. lost control of ramadi and other key territories in resent months there is no timeline for retaking the strongholds in mosul and raqqa and jackie roland has more now from paris. >> reporter: this meeting which is jointly hosted by france and the united states is bringing together the seven international powers who are most heavily engaged in air strikes against i.s.i.l. and also in the training of forces on the ground who have been fighting the group. now, they are looking at ways to accelerate and intensify that fight and in particular they have been looking at ways in which to cutoff i.s.i.l.'s financing and why we have been seeing attacks directed against oil facilities and also looking at ways to interrupt and to break the supply routes over the ground through iraq and syria which enable i.s.i.l. to get the resources they need to carry on the fight. now france has been taking an

increasingly prominent role in the international coalition against i.s.i.l. since the attacks here in paris in november. it is already immediately after the attacks called on other european union countries for support and what we have seen germany and the netherlands picking up some of france's military burden in africa where it very much has been tied down with peace keeping operations in mali and central african republic to mention two places and doing that it is freeing up france now to take a more active role in the fight against i.s.i.l. one country though which is notably absent from the talks in paris is russia which is obviously involved in air strikes as well in syria although its targets are largely identified by the syrian regime and have tended to involve attacks against insurgents rather than against i.s.i.l. >> i.s.i.l. fighters destroyed the oldest church in iraq, satellite photos say the

monetary reduced to rubble and it was built more than 1400 years ago on a hill above mosul and mosul fighters who control large parts of iraq and syria have already destroyed historic buildings they consider contrary to islam and staying in iraq at least 21 people killed in two separate attacks and i.s.i.l. fighters targeted army barracks and kim killed soldiers southeast of fallujah and 13 civilians killed and 18 others injured when iraqi forces tried to storm the village and much more ahead when we come back china detains a swedish rights activist for violating laws it claims put national security at risk. and the charity efforts of the world's second richest man have been criticized and we will tell you why. ♪ the only way to get better is to challenge yourself,

and that's what we're doing at xfinity. we are challenging ourselves to improve every aspect of your experience. and this includes our commitment to being on time. every time. that's why if we're ever late for an appointment, we'll credit your account $20. it's our promise to you. we're doing everything we can to give you the best experience possible. because we should fit into your life. not the other way around.

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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. ♪ hello again and the top stories on al jazeera, gunmen have killed 19 people at a university in northwest pakistan. military has ended the operation killing four of the attackers at the bacha-khan university and top diplomates from the u.s. and russia are discussing how to end the war this syria and john kerry and sergei fedorov meet and there is growing uncertainty with talks of the syrian government and the opposition group also go ahead as planned next week. defense ministers from seven countries are meeting in france for intensify the campaign against i.s.i.l. in iraq and

syria. rival political factions in libya have announced the makeup of a new unity government and it's under pressure to provide stability and encounter the growing threat of i.s.i.l. and critics say it doesn't represent libyans fairly and rob matheson reports. >> reporter: a significant step forward in libya's struggle to end political deadlock, the creation of a national government hoping to unite the country's two rival parliaments. >> translator: this was not achieved easily and assure you we went through major difficulties, challenges and sometimes slip ups we knew we had the to address because were equipped and because of what we are going through requires self-control. >> reporter: convince all armed groups to put down their weapons and join the national army and it will have to move quickly to try to end libya's humanitarian crisis. >> like to encourage the other stakeholders who still have difficulties with the agreement and with this new government to

take responsibility because the people of libya deserved it, the humanitarian situation is dire. >> reporter: many members of the general national congress and tripoli and the u.n. security council recognized parliament in tabrook still don't back the agreement. critics say libya's factions and groups are not fairly represented by the 32 ministers appointed to the new government and it will have to take on the growing threat from i.s.i.l. which continues to expand along the libyan coastline but u.n. which has been coordinating intense talks in morocco sees this as the best chance so far of reuniting libya which has been fractured by fighting for nearly five years. rob matheson, al jazeera. protesters demanding jobs in tunesia confronted by police and a night curfew is in the providence and three other cities as well, protesters are

demanding work after the resent rise in unemployment. a jobless man committed suicide two days ago and the arab up rising happened when a person took his life. they are in the swiss ski resort of davos for the world economic forum and the annual meeting over shadowed by the plunging price of oil and there are growing fears for the world economy after the imf cut its growth forecast and we are in davos and has this report. >> so we woke up to two things on the annual meeting of the world economic forum and one is snow and news that oil had talent to below $28 in the united states and crude and chinese markets were now down 15% over the entire year so far and that only has been about a month leaving people with a lot to talk about at the world

economic forum and the oecd is who we heard a comments from and the chairman william white with the chairman of the review committee who said quote the situation is worse than it was in 2007 and macro economic ammunition to fight downturns is essentially all used up and scary thought to think they were worse than before the crisis in 2007 and the fact we can see the crash coming now and are seemingly powerless to do anything against it and i put it to the oecd's secretary-general a little bit earlier. >> the only question is we continue to rely on the central bankers and they have run out of ammunition or because they have been the heros over the last four or five years. now it's a time for the finance ministers, for the trade ministers, for the environment ministers, for the innovation minister and education ministers it's a time to go structural. it's a time to go green, it's a time to go institutional, it's a time to go social, it's a time to do all the structural

measures that we did not take in the last four or five years and depending simply on along term things and which is good. we have to think long-term and also have to brace ourselves for a short term crash. >> kamal if we had to say these were long-term issues in 2008 and 2009 or touring the fight in the short term perhaps we would now be in better shape. >> so not the most positive news to come out of the first day of forum but remember it's a networking event, not something like the g7 or g20 to come up with some sort of communication at the end but certainly the focus is moved away i think from the foreign stated goal of talking about what it calls the fourth industrial revolution and how to handle that and more on to more pressing concerns in the global economy. kamal there in davos and eu expressed its concern over detention of european nationals in china, a swedish man detained

for endang endangering securitd we have been following the developments from beijing. >> state media portraying his detention and confession on state t.v. as part of a successful police operation and smashing and illegal organization. now reporting on his confession said the organization is involved in training and hiring workers to gather and distort and fabricate information about china, information that would hurt china and also accuses the group of stirring up disputes of instigating public confrontation with authorities in short activities that would jeopardize the national security and the organization that peter darling works for and cofounded is the chinese working group and it promotes the rule of law in china and does that providing legal aid for people who say

human rights are trampled on and trains lawyers here in china and issued a statement saying it believes saying the accusations against peter darling and the organization are baseless and it's nothing more than an attempt to criminalize human rights work here in china and also appears to be part of a bigger and worrying trends, a crack down on lawyers and defenders taking place since mid 2015, amnesty international estimates more than 250 human rights defenders and lawyers have been arrested since then, more than 20 are still believes to be in custody and only nine have been formally charged and these figures are hard to verify because of how opaque the criminal justice system is here but they do indicate a broader and more worrying trend, a crack down on human rights activities and suppression of various civil rights elements in chinese society. >> school kids in south africa will soon be speaking chinese,

pilot program is being launched to teach the chinese language in some schools and critics are questioning why the children are not learning african languages instead and harry reports from pretoria. >> reporter: welcome to an mandarian chinese class in south africa and the children are learning one of china's popular languages. ♪ what is the song about? >> it's about three little kittens that are singing together and they are working together. >> reporter: but the seven-year-old admits it's not as easy as it seems. >> if you say this for instance you can't just say this because it's not the right word. >> reporter: the government is piloting the project in at least 30 schools in the province. >> the children are like sponges

and they can just absorb and the thing and the best part is they can remember for a long time. >> reporter: children here have to learn two south african languages in school and any foreign language is a third additional option. south africa has 11 official languages and most people speak at least two, people who don't want mandarin say children won't get a chance to learn and speak the other indigenous languages. the education department says mandarin is not being forced on children. >> the schools learning an african language now has to offer an african language and as a compulsory language starting from grade one and incrementally introduced and next year is grade two until the whole system does at least one indigenous african language. >> reporter: china is the biggest trading partner and some

teachers are not impressed with introduction of mandarin in the curriculum. >> government not emphasizing debt of china or chinese people should also learn our languages. we looked at it as perhaps another form of colonization. >> reporter: other feels south africa schools have other priorities like textbook and facilities and says there are huge challenges in the education sector and say exposing children to other languages could mean more opportunities for south africa's future generation. harry with al jazeera, pretoria. roadblocks set up in haiti by protesters demanding new elections and a day of unrest dispersed them near the capitol porto-prince and boycotting the runoff alleging rigging.

governor of michigan apologized for the water in the city of flint and facing resignation over claims he mishandled a water contamination problems there and pipes poisoned with lead after taking water from the river, pollution in the sea, the world economic forum says there may be more plastic debris than fish within the next 35 years. the forum found a third of all plastic packaging escapes waste collection systems. the spending on charity by one of the world's richest americans is being criticized in the uk and british campaign group is accusing the microsoft founder bill gates of being too powerful and failing corporate interests and from london lawrence lee reports. >> bill gates for so long the world's richest man who announced he would give most of it away and spend his time and resources on the world poor. his foundation worst more than $50 billion run with his wife

and warren buffet has success and tackling malaria, tb and aids in the world and they gather in davos the warning what the gates foundation has become too powerful and may not be the force for good. so many world leaders say it is. the study from the pressure group global justice now paints a picture of the gates foundation as part of the corporate america desire to get money from africa and the damning effects. >> you can have a case where the research is done by a gates founded institution and media talking about how well it is conducted and done as the media out let and maybe a journalist from a media program and then the program is implemented worldwidely by gates founded ngo. there are very interesting circles here. >> reporter: among the many critical criticism is problems

of the world and should poor farmers be trapped in debt using chemicals or fertilizers under written by offshoots of the foundation and private initiatives like the one behind the hospital here paid for partly by mr. gates philanthropy is under at tack and 50% of the entire health budget and aid experts warned repeatedly focus of high profile diseases under mines wider attempts by african governments to reduce the poverty that causes them. >> they have not been interested in looking at strengthening the health system as a whole. what they have been much more interested in has been around the delivery of very specific interventions, all be it interventions that are important but they have not considered the long-term requirements for sustainability and also the requirements for all the other diseases and interventions that

are also important in south africa. >> reporter: global justice now had this response from the gates foundation to its report. >> private sector has access to innovation for example in science, medicine and technology but can save lives and we believe that the road of philanthropy is take risks where others cannot or won't and the good news is working together in this way we made incredible progress. >> reporter: supporters of philanthropy would order it can get past corrupt governments and produce results without the bureaucracy of the u.n. and critics of mr. gates asks if it right with more money than african countries should wield so much power and influence, lawrence lee, al jazeera, london. in the u.s. tea party favorite sarah palin officially backed donald trump as the republican nominee for president. >> our support for the next president of our great united states of america donald j

trump. >> reporter: the highest republican so far to endorse any of the candidates, palin the party nominee for vice president eight years ago. backlash against this year's oscar ceremony is growing with more stars including george clooney criticizing the award ceremony, no black actors nominated for two years and critics adopted the hash tag oscars so white and rob reynolds has more. >> reporter: after an all white roster of best actor and actress nominees for the second year in a row the motion picture academy is under fire, the academy overlooked performances including michael b jordan and creed and alba in beasts of no nation. >> what are you doing here. >> reporter: and the critically acclaimed straight out of co compton among others. >> what up, i got something to s say. >> reporter: activists called

on african/americans to tune out of the broadcast and the coproducer of the broadcast who is african/american says he is upset. >> what is especially frustrating is when movies like out of compton or movies like creed, you know, when the cast of star wars gets overlooked you just go oh, man! many people took to social media to vent their anger with the hash tag oscars so white trending on twitter so why are the oscars so white again this year? well some observers say hollywood just doesn't provide enough good roles for black actors but many others cite the makeup of the academy itself whose 6200 members are overwhelmingly older, male, and white. the president of the academy said she is trying to boost

diversity. >> what is important is that this entire conversation of diversity is here and that we are talking about it and i think we will not just talk because people will say we don't just talk, you got to do. >> reporter: british actor alba says lack of diversity is not just a u.s. problem. >> i didn't come to america because i couldn't get parts, i went to america because i was running out of parts. >> reporter: we went out to hollywood boulevard to ask the public what they thought. i don't think it's good. i don't think it's right and there is a lot of black-black talent in hollywood. >> many of the oppositions producers, directors, executive producers and up, it's very much still a white neighborhood. >> this is not like the black guy is not performing, it's like when it comes down to the oscars and everything they get the short end of the stick again. >> reporter: hollywood and the film industry worldwide now

being forced to take a hard look at itself, rob reynolds, al jazeera, hollywood. plenty more on our website, get the latest on all the stories we are following there, plenty of news, analysis and perspective is all there for you al jazeera.com. i'm david shuster in for ali velshi. an update on the nomination race. establishment fears are growing that donald trump may b unstoppable. two weeks until the iowa caucuses and there is now every indication that democrats there and in new hampshire are feeling the burn in the race for the