john kerry says he is confident that talks to end the fighting in syria will take place next week as planned. also to come in the program tunisia's prime minister holds an emergency cabinets meeting as protests spread over growing unemployment. the grim fallout of zika the mosquito-born virus. >> reporter: i'm in south africa i'm going to show you what a love bank is and how the concept

is helping save lives first, there seems to be a diplomatic push by the u.s. right now to find an end resolution to the war in syria. vice president joe biden is in turkey meeting the prime minister there and secretary of state, john kerry is in riyadh and he has been meeting g.c.c. foreign ministers. he said he is confident that scheduled talks will go ahead although there is more work to do. >> reporter: we want to keep the process moving and put to full test the readiness and willingness of people to live up to the two communications and u.n. resolution and begin the

process of bringing the transition council, transition governing process of syria into a reality the saudi foreign minister shared some of that optimism that a deal could be reached in syria, but jabir did raise concerns over continuing regional positions with iran >> we understand that they're challenging, but the work that we're doing is all designed to bring about peace, security and stability in the region and much of that work involves pushing back iran's aggressive actions in the region so they have been talking about the situation in syria in this meeting in saudi arabia. as i mentioned earlier, vice president of the u.s. joe biden is in istanbul. bernard smith, our correspondent, is there. he is meeting the prime

minister. what element of the complex mix in syria are they going to be grappling with today? >> reporter: well, they will be talking about all aspects of the syrian conflict and the meeting is going on at the moment, but we know that one of the main items on the agenda is a practical help to keep the two to increase turkish border security. there's still a 90 kilometer section of border that the americans have been continually complaining is still not as secure as it should be. it means that i.s.i.l. fighters are able to come and go, perhaps, between turkey and syria. it means some foreign fighters are still able to get into syria through turkey. turkey has done a lot, particularly in the last six months or so, to tighten that border security, but there might be more practical help from the u.s. there might be technology that allows them to scan for tunnels under the border, there might be

these balloons that allow them to monitor large stretches of the border so that america might come forward with that sort of technology to help turkey keep the borders secure. turkey has come around to the idea that that border is an issue that it needs to tighten is mr biden likely to delve into matters of a more internalal nature. for instance, about the turkish government's handling of the kurdish question and about freedom of expression? >> reporter: well, yes. there has been this crackdown at the moment by the turkish security force in the south-east, the kurdish dominated areas, particularly d acres abacu because the pkk has been involved in urban battles there with the turkish security forces. the first time the pkk has done this. this is trapping civilians in between the fight, in between the pkk and the government. the government has been accused

by about a thousand sore so academics, domestic and foreign, are being heavy handed in its crackdown on the pkk and catching civilians in that fight. last week more than a thousand academics signed a petition accusing the government in the crackdown, urging the president accused them in turn of producing propaganda for the pkk. that prompted joe biden to speak out on friday in a meeting saying that more than a thousand academics are accused of treason, that's not the example to be set in the region. it probably won't go down very well, i think, with president erdogan thank you for that. in syria itself medical sources say that dozens of civilians have been killed in i.s.i.l. controlled areas. it clues two villages in deir az

zchlt or and at least 13 children are among the dead. the i.s.i.l. stronghold of raqqa was also hit. at least 27 people including women and children are thought to have died there. russia is also being accused of targeting areas that are not in the control of i.s.i.l. activists say at least eight civilians were killed in air strikes on the town of somada close to the turkish border. >> reporter: russia says its air strikes are targeting what it and the syrian i can't government call terrorists, but the pictures on the ground tell a different story. this is is in north-west syria. the group is mainly in eastern syria. instead this area is dominated by rebel groups that oppose president bashar al-assad, a russian ally. volunteers search for survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings. they're from a group called the

syrian civil defense. it was formed two years ago and now has more than three thousand volunteers. in the absence of a functioning state, these volunteers take the injured to hospital and clear the dead from the streets. they keep working despite russian bombs dropping around them. saudi arabia has criticized the russian air strikes and demanded that moscow stop them. western governments, including the u.k. and the u.s., also question president putin's intentions. the russian government has dismissed those concerns as part of a propaganda war. it says i.s.i.l. positioned the targets along with other groups. it has added layers of confusion to an already complex civil war now to iraq where i.s.i.l. says it has killed 72 soldiers in ramadi.

the iraqi army has been battling i.s.i.l. for control of the city. they recaptured the city from ramadi and pushed the group out of the area tunisia's prime minister is holding an emergency meeting discussing the issues of the unemploymented. he cut short a visit to france on thursday. a curfew has been in place across the country since friday. live to our correspondent who is in the tunisian capital. is this emergency cabinet meeting still ongoing? >> reporter: it is. it is still underway where we expect the prime minister and members of the cabinet to come out and say something in public about what's next, particularly what are the decisions to be taken by the government to contain this which has been spreading across the country. there are thousands of people who have taken to the street

saying that the government has abandoned them and that what they need for the time being is job opportunities. the government through the president, the prime minister, tunisia may not have all the funds to be able to provide job offers to all the tunisians, but it will do its best and it will start taking decisions in the near future to tackle this problem. there is also the problem of corruption. so there are delicate tasks facing the government in the near term given the battle state of the economy, the government has admitted that it's going to have a real problem providing the jobs that the people want and need. so what can the government do? what options does the government have? >> reporter: the only option they have for the time being is to ask for more international support. the prime minister received a significant boost yesterday from

the french government which says they're going to give the tunisian one billion dollars. they are also saying that they will reach out to different countries in the near future to help, saying that tunisia is an emerging democracy and if it gets more support that would prevent any further dissent towards more instability. this is why the president yesterday was stressing the fact that groups like i.s.i.l. are seizing the opportunity to further destabilize the country. but the problem here is that people are waiting for immediate decisions to be taken by the government. they voted for the government about a year and three months ago because they had hoped that this government would tackle corruption, poverty and offer job opportunities for almost a million unemployed tunisians. we know that the government does not have the funds, does not have the capabilities to tackle this particular issue. so it's going to be an extremely

delicate situation for the political elite in the near future thank you for that. israeli say a 13-year-old girl. she was supposedly attempting to stab a guard. at least 25 israelis and 147 palestinians have been killed in various incidents since october last year. a gunman has killed four people in saskatchewan in canada. two others were injured in the incident in la loche in a community school. the suspect is in custody. >> the country's heart is breaking for the people of la loche and saskatchewan today. obviously, this is every parent's worst nightmare. when i spoke with the community leaders they, obviously,

expressed that the community is reeling and all of us across this country's hearts is going out to the families and to the whole community daniel lak is our correspondent in toronto. >> reporter: this took place in a very remote spot. the town of la loche is about 600 kilometers from the nearest city, but the federal police service, the mounted police, have confirmed that at least four people have died and unspecified number were injured. they also said that they had locked down and were investigating two locations. a residence in la loche and the school itself. they said something happened in that residence, a shooting, and then a little bit later someone started to shoot both outside and inside the community school. not much is known about the victims or the motive for this, but it's not something that happens a lot in canada. mass shootings are quite rare here. la loche itself has had problems

in the past with gun crime, gang violence, but nothing on this scale. we're hearing that the community is quite devastated. everybody there knows one another. it's a very tight-knit place. so until the reason for in emerges, if there can be one, people are quite frightened and worried about what has actually been going on in their community we've got a lot more to come here at al jazeera, including honoring mother earth in libya. plus oscars organisers announce a diversity drive after a backlash over this year's nominees. nominees.

>> we tend to band together, so we have a voice. >> we're just surviving. it's really hard. welcome back.

a look at the top stories here at al jazeera. tunisia is holding an emergency cabinet meeting after four days of violent protests over the lack of jobs. the president says the protesters' demands for jobs are justified, but he warns that neighboring i.s.i.l. could take advantage of the unrest. u.s. secretary of sfat john kerry seize-- state john kerry says he is confident the talks will take place next week as planned. he was in saudi arabia speaking to gulf leaders to try and reach a common position ahead of those talks. pour female have been killed by a gunman at a high school and a second location in canada. the suspect has been arrested. the prime minister says the country is heartbroken. the top u.s. agency for disease

prevention has now issued a warning to pregnant women not to travel to 20 countries that are infected with the zika virus. it is a virus that has been linked to verse birth defects. women in el salvador have been warned not to get pregnant for two years. there have been 5,000 cases in el salvador since last year. colombia is also issuing a similar warning. we spoke to christian lindmeyer. how alarmed is the w mo at this point about the virus and the spread predominantly in latin american countries? >> a very situation going on right now. we have two separate incidents as we see at this moment. we have the outbreak, a huge increase in zika infections

through the same mosquito that carries dengue, chicken gunya. normally it is not a very dangerous disease, it is self-limiting with mild symptoms, but what we see in brazil right now is that in lots of the areas where we have zika infections, women have born babies with smaller heads. it is not new. it is a disease where babies get born with reduced circumference of the head and this goes along with reduced-- this is a serious birth defect, but my question is what is pho doing about it? does this constitute a serious public health issue yet? >> yes. the most important thing is to establish the link here. is it the zika virus alone or a

combination. there are other infections, things like down syndrome and many other causes. we only sisi birth defects in other world. we have zika in other parts of the world, yet we have not seen any cases outside brazil apart from the two or three which occurred in the u.s. but where women travelled to brazil in their early pregnancies. it is to establish, and we're working with organizations around the world, to establish what the cold factors are because something, this - we know way too little about zika and the issue of small heads

thank you very much for talking to us here. bolivia's president has delivered an address. his speech comes ahead of a vote on a referendum that could see him running for another term. >> reporter: honoring the mother earth. it is the religious center of the ancient culture. we see the symbols of power here when he became the first indigenous person. a decade later he is back to celebrate and thank the people. >> translation: i don't know how long 10 years have gone by working for our revolution. 10 years of changes. brothers, leaders, reflect. you have given us the stability that brought prosperity to the country. >> reporter: his supporters say he has been one of the best

presidents this country has had. >> translation: we saw him doing a lot for the one. he should stay. >> reporter: that's what he wants. he changed the constitution once to allow for his re-election. now he has called a referendum in february to ask for lenience. they want him to run for another term. his fourth. >> reporter: in the past 10 years he has brought political stability and social inclusion like never done before. his critics say that he has gained so much power that it is very dangerous for this democracy. around the country opponents are citing to protest against his plan and asking people to vote no to prevent him from running in 2019 for another five years. >> translation: his objective is to say.

i think it's too much after 10 years in office >> reporter: critics say they don't believe in his promises. >> translation: he has said twice he wouldn't seek re-election and hasn't kept his word. maybe after a fourth term he will ask for an another term and a fifth term and so on. >> reporter: on this anniversary in a six-hour address, he recounted his achievements from the economic growth to investments in education and poverty reduction. he said the country needs continuance. mipors, women groups voice their approval. back here he had been flanked by supporters. they raised their palms to receive the magic of the first rays of the sun. he said it's the energy to go oon

the south african government is trying to encourage more mothers to breastfeed as the country has one of the lowest breastfeeding mothers in the world. our correspondent reports. >> reporter: every day this woman donates some of her breast milk to a child in south africa. she doesn't know who gets her excess milk, but she is happy it is for a good cause. she still has northern enough to feed her six month old daughter >> i think it is a good feeling. you think it's going to a baby who needs it more than what we would need it and it's going to help and grow and nurture them, so yeah i think it's very important. >> reporter: the donated milk is collected or dropped off at human milk banks across the country. this is one where milk is tested for hiv and other diseases.

then it is pasturised and fed to orphans. more than 2800 babies received donated milk last year. paediatricians are encouraging these. >> it is about growing breastfeeding rates in a country like we have low rates. only 7.4% of our mothers breastfeed their children. lady's baby was born premature. she is too sick to leave the hospital. she can't produce enough milk so she needs the dough medications. >> i'm grateful. if they weren't there, i don't know how me my baby to survive.

milk from the shops is not right for the babies. >> reporter: 34 new born out of 1000 die before their first birthday in south africa. these could save more lives more than 6,000 farmers have blocked highways across greece because of pension reforms. protesters tractors drove their-- tractors to block intersections. an order to stop so-called teacher sick outs that have closed dozenss of schools. teachers have been call in sick over what they say problems in the schools. >> reporter: in detroit this is where young minds are formed. a crumbling mass of mouldy

floors, falling ceiling tiles and rodents. >> it's not safe. it's not a scale that you would want your children going to. >> reporter: many skills are so run down the head of the union tells the teachers might have to call a strike, a violation of state law >> i'm not above walking out of here if it's right for kids >> reporter: so there could be a strike eventually. >> there could be. i'm not going to lie about it. right now i don't female it's the time >> reporter: even though there's a law against it? >> an unjust law is no law at all. >> reporter: teachers of called in sick-outs causing schools to be shut down. when school managers asked for a restraining order to stop the sick-outs, the judge on thursday said no. teachers say they will go on. >> we are teachers period, who teach in detroit and love our kids and because of that we are sdrptd and we are tired--

disrespected. >> reporter: the public education is run by emergency manager, appointed by michigan's snyder. >> i hope he gets on it. i can guarantee you their offices don't look like these kids do. >> reporter: schools here are broke. they could be insolvent by april. >> unfortunately there isn't a lot to do when you're in a financial situation like we are. work stoppages are not the answer. >> reporter: most families who can leave have fled, some to experimental charter schools, some to the suburbs. enrollment has plunged. >> this doesn't look outside too

bad, some missing tiles and rust on the roof. it's on the inside where the problems really lie. it was a sight the mayor saw for the first time this week >> certainly they're very disturbing things we saw here tonight. >> reporter: disturbing conditions and april standoff with no end in sight a huge blizzard is hitting the east coast of the u.s. it's expected to bring as much as 60 centimeters of snow. thousands of flights have already been cancelled and people are being told to stay indoors until the worst of it passes. organisers of the oscars say they will double the academy's membership of women and ethnic minorities by 2020. there has been criticism among diversity of nominees. it's the second year that no nominations for minorities or black people.

hollywood director says change is long over due. >> this is a generational process here. hollywood was started by caucasian communities. we're having a major shift in demographics in u.s. and in europe. so many people in asia are watching movies. we're feeling the pressures of change. we need to understand that the academy and the oscars are a public relations instrument of hollywood. the power structure is the movie studio. they're the ones that choose the actors and directors. until the hollywood studios start creating more content for global audience with a more diverse cast, more diverse film makers, we're going to have this problem coming up again. it really is an issue of the power structure.

if you look at performances of the minorities, it is up there with the best. i think people feel there's a disconnect from what the audience was responding to and what the decision makers were responding to in who they gave the nominations to. velshi. "on target" tonight the billion dollar holding system, private companies that are making a huge profit off of immigration detention centers. plus, lost in mexico. a generation of children born in the u.s.a. who are fighting to survive miles away from their american dream. america's immigration system is broken making it a hot button political issue on the campaign trail and