♪ emergency cabinet meeting in tunisia as protests spread over rising unemployment. ♪ this is al jazeera live from london also coming up, a diplomatic push to end the war this syria and leaders from turkey and the gulf states hold meetings. state of emergency in seven u.s. states as a huge blizzard hits the country's east coast. >> i'm harry in south africa and i'm going to show you what it looks like and how the concept is helping save lives. ♪

tunisia prime minister held an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss this week's wave of protest by unemployed and cut short france on thursday following four days of violence and nightly curfew has been in place across the country since friday and ministry says more than 400 people arrested in the last few days. let's go live to tunis with our correspondent and hashem is anything emerging of what they might do to take control of the situatio situation? >> reporter: basically the government says that it faces two major issues, one the need to maintain stability and stem the rise of processes that have been threatening to spin out of control. and the number two issue is to address the issues of poverty and unemployment but the government says that it does not have quick fixes. it's going to take some time

before it can tackle the whole social development project programs that people have been asking for. it's quite a delicate situation for a government that has been given some promises for a better life, just a few years ago now to find itself struggling with different issues. tunisia's prime minister faces the toughest challenge yet to his government. he has been in power for almost a year but his authority has been challenged by this week's unrest which has seen angry protests across the country. some of these protests turned into looting and attacks on security forces and government buildings. >> translator: many enemies do not wish to see true-tunisia people and trying to disturb the

history and the transition period tunisia has seen and the transition is inevitable and the transition is irreversible. >> reporter: the opposition blames the government for the unrest saying it has failed to implement genuine reforms. on the streets people remain divided over how to solve tunisia's discontent. >> translator: i'm totally against imposing a curfew. there are people who work at night. by imposing a curfew you compromise their future and want this government to go. >> translator: we have heard many promises in the past. now it's time for major decisions, the government must take concrete steps to find jobs for the people. i do not know how but that is their job. >> reporter: calls for a government shuffle or new elections have been dismissed by commentators as a risky step. elections were last held in october 2014.

many fear a new vote could lead to more instability. for the time being life in tunisia would be punctuated by a curfew that starts at 8:00 p.m. each evening and ends by dawn. a few months ago a state of emergency was implemented following an attack that took the lives of 38 holiday makers in the resort of zeus so the security forces have extensive powers in curbing unrest and tackling the rise of armed groups. the state of emergency also puts restrictions on public gatherings. by imposing an ongoing curfew nationwide the government hopes to contain the violence that has been threatening to spin out of control but a curfew would hardly solve the problems and trust in political leaders seems to bewaring thin. >> you mentioned earlier there are no quick fixes but what in

the short term can the government do anything to ease the tension in tunisia? >> reporter: this is the biggest challenge facing the government. you are talking about an economy which has been in tatters. its main sources of revenues are terrorism which was hit hard by the deadly attacks targeting tourists in the past few months and the agricultural sector so the government was hoping to have some revenues to be able to spend on social development programs and this may not happen this year. the maximum hope of the government is to be able to achieve growth of 1-2% which means that it won't have enough cash. its only option for the time being is financial aid. the french have committed to $1 billion. yesterday and the tunisia people are hoping to get more financial aid from the international community to be able to address the top priority which is

basically to offer jobs to 700,000 young unemployed tunisia people, a very delicate task ahead for the government. >> okay thank you very much indeed for the live update there from tunis. ♪ the u.s. is making a renewed diplomatic push to find a resolution to end the war in syria and secretary of state john kerry is in saudi arabia meeting leaders from the gulf to ease concerns about warming u.s. iranian ties. kerry says he is confident the peace talks scheduled next week will go ahead but did not confirm the day it will start and vice president joe biden is in istanbul and meeting the turkey prime minister and the war is in the fifth year and forced millions of people from their homes and turkey will host more than a million syrians and part of a u.s. led coalition launching air strikes in syria against i.s.i.l. speaking after his meeting with

foreign ministers of the gulf states in riyadh john kerry says he is confident that monday's scheduled talks in syria will go ahead but still disagreements over who should attend. >> one of the things we did today which i think is really important is we set up a clarity for how to proceed forward in the initial steps of the negotiations on syria and we are confident that with good initiative in the next day or so those talks can get going and that the u.n. representative special envoy staffan de mistura will be convening people in an appropriate manner for the proximity talks that will be the first meeting in geneva to begin to lay down the process to try very hard to implement the geneva communication and have a

transition that takes place according to the u.n. security council resolutions as well as the communication of the syria international support group. >> reporter: the u.s. vice president joe biden says the united states and turkey are prepared for a military solution against i.s.i.l. if a political settlement is not possible and speaking from istanbul where he met the turkey prime minister. >> today we discussed how we can improve the support of local sunni arab forces working to cutoff what remains of i.s.i.l.'s access to the turkish border and that is a priority for both our nations so that we can prevent new fighters and equipment from reaching i.s.i.l. and conducting attacks against syria and so that the control now and after we defeat i.s.i.l. of the border is within turkey's control, that it's secure, that there are no separate state sitting on your southern border.

>> translator: there should be no uncertainty about the representation of the opposition in syria and yesterday with mr. ban ki-moon we discussed this as well. we are happy the united states also shares this vision as we believe that on the opposition side there should be the legitimate syrian opposition. >> reporter: al jazeera bernard smith has more from istanbul. joe biden said something they wanted to here and pkk and separatist group fighting here is just the same as i.s.i.l., it's just the same as al-nusra and are terrorist groups and what turkey wanted to hear but what prime minister spent a lot of time saying in his press briefing after their meeting was this pkk in turkey is just the same, ally to connected to and linked to the syrian kurdish fighters, fighting against

i.s.i.l. in syria. biden explicitly did not make that link and that is simply because for the u.s. vice president for the u.s. the ypg fighter syrian kurdish fighters are the most important group fighting on the ground against i.s.i.l., u.s. sees them as an important partner. what worries turkey is that because the ypg is seen as an important partner for the u.s. the u.s. will sort of turn a blind eye or ignore any sort of territorial ambitions the kurds may have on syria and that worries turkey because it believes the pkk here is being embolden by what it sees happening in syria. state of emergency is in force across seven states in the u.s. as a blizzard dumps huge amounts of snow across the country's east coast. thousands of flights have been cancelled and transport in major cities is ground to a stand still and more than a thousand car crashes connected to the

snow with at least nine dead. more than half a meter of snow has fallen in the capitol washington d.c., from there al jazeera's tom ackerman joins us live now and what is the prognosis after the storm? >> well, they really are prepared to first of all here in washington you've got the entire metro subway system locked down. this is i believe the third, only the third time in its 45-year history it has been completely shut down for an entire weekend and that was thanks to the advanced notice that was given to the authorities here. what the other concern here is ice, not just the snow but the ice that will accumulate on power lines. so far we have heard about 150,000 households, mostly in the carolinas that are without power but we expect that number

to rise as the ice begins to accumulate and we should and some of those outages can last weeks as we have experienced in previous incidents events such as these. there is also the potential of flooding along the atlantic coast especially in new jersey which of course is very wary since the super storm sandy and this doesn't approach that kind of fierceness but nevertheless the authorities are taking all precautions and along that coast in delaware in particular the governor there has ordered all cars off the roads. well, here in washington you can see that there are practically no cars to be seen on the streets and very few pedestrians. the winds are gusting up to 95 kilometers per hour in some places and, in fact, we still have at least 15 or so hours to

go of this kind of snow hitting washington until it ens on sunday. that is the forecast. so we will still be seeing a lot more accumulation and a lot more digging out. people are not waiting until the snow accumulates here. you can see that the sidewalks are being swept periodically because they are aware of the kind of detail, the kind of burden they are going to have if they just let it all accumulate. >> tom ackerman thank you very much indeed. still to come on al jazeera, mosquito-borne virus that triggered travel warnings for pregnant women. and documentary at the sun dance film festival and why more people are going to see factual films. ♪ w,here technology

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♪ hello again and reminder of the top stories on al jazeera, new secretary of state john kerry says confident talks on syria will go ahead despite on going disagreement on who will represent the opposition. tunisia prime minister held emergency cabinet meeting to discuss this week's wave of protests by the unemployed and state of emergency in place across parts of the u.s. as a major blizzard dumps huge amounts of snow across the east coast. i.s.i.l. says it killed 72 iraqi soldiers in three separate suicide attacks as it fights to hold on to the territory in ramadi and they are battling to eradicate strongholds after

recapturing the strategic city and ramadi is 100 west of baghdad spent seven months under i.s.i.l. control after capture last may. 13-year-old girl shot dead after a stabbing attack on israeli security forced and happened in the occupied west bank, 162 palestinians and 25 israelis have been killed in the latest wave of violence which started at the beginning of october. four people have been killed in canada's worst school shooting for a decade. after gunning down his two brothers the shooter opened fire in a high school in la-loche saskatchewan killing a teacher and assistant and condolence in davos and an update from toronto. >> details about the victims and the fact that a young male is in custody have emerged but what is

not clear at all is any sort of motive for this. rather chilling exchange on social media as emerged in canadian press reports where a young male tells his friends i've just killed two people, now i'm going to shoot up the school. and the reply is why, bro why? so it's really not clear in any sense what happened here and why. more details will have to come out. this is a very remote area. there has been some gun crime there in the past. some problem with gangs, high unemployment, various problems with substance abuse but really nothing like this. there is going to have to be a lot of questions asked, a lot of agonizing and right now a real sense of shock in the community itself and across the country. >> two workers connected to the water contamination crisis in the u.s. city of flint in michigan have been suspended and residents relying on bottled water after the city water supply was contaminated with lead in 2014. al jazeera's andy reports. >> good morning says the girl.

>> reporter: the day starts early for jennifer and her two kids jennifer and adrian and for months it started more complicated. >> mom has water heating up over here. >> reporter: lives revolve around bottled water and boiled water. >> all right i think it's warm enough. >> reporter: teeth brushing, cleaning, hair washing become like chores. >> you got to take care of your kids the best you can because one day we're not going to be around and they are still going to be affected by this. >> reporter: about a year ago stevens came down with strep throat, she blamed the tap water so she started relying more and more on bottled water. >> i kind of feel like we are camping. >> reporter: just about everyday stevens joins the steady parade of flint residents who pick up free wall given by the national guard. some critics have questioned just how bad the flint water problem is. >> over blown in the sense it's been described to the state and the nation and world for that matter as being like city wide

catastrophe, everybody's water is poisoned, that's not the case. >> reporter: doctor aaron who heads the michigan state university research team that blew open the flint water controversy says yes some flint neighborhoods like these in red tested highest for lead levels. >> if you had a small amount of water in your tap water but you drank a lot of water it would add up. you have to figure out how much you were exposed to, how much you actually got into you and over what time period. >> reporter: as for the city leaders who signed off on the disaster switch the flint water supply and the local, state and federal officials now blaming each other stevens is disgusted by all of them. >> they were lazy and wanted an easy way out and wanted a cheaper way out, you get what you pay for. >> reporter: and she has no faith they will undo the damage in her life. >> if you are calling related to the city of flint water situation. >> reporter: that they put into

motion. >> iran and china have agreed to increase bilateral trade to 600 billion dollars in the next ten years. it came during chinese president's xi jinping's first to tehran and the first leader to visit since international sanctions lived last week as part of the nuclear deal. >> translator: terrorism, the war on terrorism extremism and violence actually is in the region and these are the topics that came up for discussion and emphasized on. to ensure security and stability in the middle east consultations offering help to countries suffering from this like afghanistan and syria and yemen and a cry for terrorism were among other issues discussed today. >> reporter: leading agency for disease prevention based in the u.s. is warning pregnant women to avoid traveling to more than 20 countries affected by the zika virus and the mosquito-borne virus links to a

rise in birth defects causing brain damage and death and health professionals through the americas say it's not worst the risk and we have more. >> reporter: mosquito-borne zika virus has been around for years in africa and southeast asia and in that time it barely registered as a problem. that was until it turned up in brazil. in just nine months there have been half a million cases of contagious with the virus and suspected link to a dramatic rise in birth defects in babies. >> normally zika is not a very dangerous disease, it's very 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 microencephaly. >> reporter: it's a condition in which a baby's brain and head don't fully develop.

back in 2014 before the virus arrived in brazil there were 150 non-cases in the country. since october that has jumped to 4,000. the link to the zika virus still has not been confirmed but it's enough to prompt senior u.s. health officials to act as if there is one. >> we are quite concerned about the potential complications to the fetus of zika virus infection of pregnant women and so we really are advising that pregnant women seriously consider postponing travel to these areas if possible. >> reporter: those areas cover 20 different countries throughout latin america and the caribbean and they have already been a handful of cases in the united states. health officials are still not clear why it spread into an epidemic so quickly but worried the olympic games in rio next august could provide the conditions for it to spread even further. >> translator: it's the olympic

games and a lot of tourist will arrive in rio and they will be exposes to the risk of getting a virus so zika has consequences not just for brazil public health but the public health worldwide. >> reporter: as yet there is no vaccine or treatment for the zika virus and officials in brazil, columbia and el salvador took the unprecedented step of advising women not to get pregnant at all for now. zika is spread by the same mosquitos that carry denge fever and other diseases and thrive and breed in small amounts of still water. health officials say avoiding or limiting exposure to the mosquito is the only answer making the mosquito er ratification programs like these all the more important, al jazeera. south africa is one oof the lowest levels of breast feeding in the world and now the government is trying to persuade new moms away from manufactured milk and we are in johannesburg

where encouraging breastfeeding include setting up human milk banks. >> reporter: everyday she gives some breast milk to a child in africa and doesn't know who gets the access milk but happy it's for a good cause and has more than enough to feed her six-month-old daughter. >> it's a feeling you get and every time you fill up a bottle you should think that is going to a baby who needs it more than what we would need it and it's going to help them grow and nurture them so that is very important. >> reporter: donated milk is collected or dropped off at human milk banks across the country. >> this is a milk bank where the donated milk is tested for hiv and other diseases. it is then pastureized and fed to orphans who do not live with biological mothers. >> reporter: breast milk reserve has 40 milk banks nationwide and 2800 babies received donated milk last year

and pediatrician and government experts are encouraging breastfeeding instead of milk that has nutrients and antibodies. >> growing south africa where we have dangerously low breastfeeding rates and 7.4 of mothers exclusively breast feed children at six months. >> reporter: her baby girl was born premature and too sick to leave the hospital and needs donations from the milk bank because she cannot produce enough milk. >> because if they were not there i don't know how my baby is going to survive so maybe i'm supposed to buy them from the shops but they receive milk from the shops is not right for the babies. >> reporter: 34 newborn babies out of every 1,000 die before their first birthday in south africa and more milk banks could help save more lives, harry, al

jazeera, johannesburg. streaming platforms seen audiences flocking to documentaries and a strong contest at the entrance at the largest independent film festival in the u.s., the film festival and rob is there in park city, utah and spoke to some of the entrance. >> one of those parts of us that are so deep that no storm can take them away. >> reporter: how to let go of the world and love all the things climate can't change is one of dozens of documentaries premiering at the sun dance film festival and director josh fox spent six years on the project and meant to have action to slow climate change. >> when we say let go of the world what i mean is this world that is based on greed and competition and in many cases violence and what we have to do and when we face climate change is base our society on things that are much more sustainable.

>> reporter: the sun dance documentaries deal with gun violence, race relay and abortion. >> they are for good because we ask questions of ourselves. >> reporter: he talks about foley the american war correspondent kidnapped by i.s.i.l. in syria in 2014. director brian oaks was a close friend of foley's since their childhood. >> he was not there, you know, to be the story. he was trying to tell the stories of the syrians. i wanted this film to help jim bring those stories back to the surface and show people like what he was doing over there. >> reporter: the story of an rap music loving teenage girl from afghanistan growing up as an illegal immigrant in iran when director learned the girl's family planned to sell her as a child bride, she stepped in.

>> her mom came to take her back to afghanistan my film maker was very excited and happy but then my human side was like oh, i'm not going to see sonita any more and her life will be ruined so i entered the movie myself. >> she now attends school in the u.s. and campaigns against child marriage. >> the movie has changed my life and now i'm able to change the life of other girls. >> reporter: it's a good time to be a documentary film maker thanks to new platforms for distribution. television channels like home box office and internet streaming services like amazon and netflix are buying up documentaries and putting them in front of a wider audience than ever before. >> with netflix and hulu and all these big, new companies, it adds so many more options and doors to film makers. >> challenging themes and bigger audiences, part of a new golden age for documentary films, rob

reynolds, al jazeera, park city, utah. plenty more stories any time on our website, the address is al jazeera.com and details of tunisia holding an emergency cabinet meeting after a curfew was imposed. ♪ in india, a woman's fate can take a cruel twist when her husband dies. >> they would beat me, both my daughter in law and my son would beat me.