♪ >> russian airstrikes blamed for killing dozens in the city of darizul. ♪ >> lauren taylor. lashingsz live from london. iraq's army steps up its push to retake ramadi. >> a call for early elections. setbrations after a short film from kosovo gets an oscar

nomination. hello. 63 people are believed to have been killed in syria's strikes apparently carried out by russian planes. the observatory for human rights says nine children are among the dead. raids on the village of kishan have killed scores in tfew days gerald tan has the latest. >> reporter: they gathered to search for bodies, to sift through their belongings and what's left of their homes. villagers here in the countryside say airstrikes on saturday killed relatives and friends, just ordinary citizens. >> this man could only muster a prayer, calling on god to help his people. rights groups, russian jets, they say, are responsible for the strikes and that this isn't the first time. dozens of civilians are reported to have died from the bombing. russia launched its military

operation last september at the request of assad. since then, russian planes have flown an estimated 5,700 missions. rights groups say more than a thousand civilians lost their lives at that time. moscow continues to insist campaign is directed at isil and other armed groups. it rejected that aircraft have hit civilians saying instead it uses planes to drop humanitarian aid to those living in besieged areas. >> i think today, there is not a single army in the world who will talk about this military operation so thoroughly. russians have in syria. i would like to stress it's an operation against international terrorism in this region. isil controls most of the province. it's kept the remaining pockets of government held areas there

under each is for the past year. this week, it's been on a punsh to capture those areas. they say the intention bombardments are to capture that push by the issim fighters. the people say it's all been at their expense. gerald tan, al jazeera. >> in the rest of the country, government forces are recaptured more tear territory in latakia. the offensive is being backed by russian airstrikes. doubt over whether indirect talks where the syrian register e-mail and the opposition will take place. our diplomatic editor james bays has more. these talks were always due to start on monday. it's pretty certain that's not going to happen. the best we can get is a news conference from the u.n. envoy that he could there confirm he has 70s out the invitations. the controversial thing behind

the scenes has been who will make up the opposition, john kerry, the u.s. secretary of state has been meeting his saudi counterpa counterpart. moscow had problems with the list. we understand mr. kerry has been speaking to his russian counterpart, sergei lavrov. it will be up to the opposition whether to attend on the list that's been agreed by the international community. i know they will come under a great deal of pressure because i think they will be told that if the syrian government is there and you are not there, it will look like the opposition is the one that doesn't want peace. so, i think it's more likely than not that some sort of talks will take place laudser in the week. i am told those will be proximity talks. the opposition in one room and the syrian in the other with the u.n. envoy shuffling between the two. i am told initially, they will be looking at possible cease-fires in syria and trying to alleviate the humanitarian

situation and particular those areas of syria under siege. at least 20 policemen have been killed in ramadi. suicide attacks hit the headquarters of the police. isil killed 72 soldiers in three separate suicide attacks in ramadi. the iraqi army says the latest fighting was in isil's last stronghold in the area. imran chase khan reports. >> iraqi soldiers to what they hope is the last remaining stronghold, isil fighters have so far managed to slow the ramie forces' assault and in the last 22 hours, battling to hold their positions. the armed group has boobby trapped biddle and used suicide car bombings against the iraqi

security forces. heavy shelling, u.s.-led airstrikes cannot be used effectively as civilians are strapped inside at a time neighborhood. most managed to escape to places outside the city other wait. we ask the security forces to remove ieds from central ramadi. we want to get rid of any isil signs in the city and we want to return to our homes. >> some say the conditions here are so dire they just want to leave. others are just fed up. getting back home will be a long and difficult process. >> iraqi police say they need to mount patrols in the open police stations before people can come back. what will they be coming back to? bombed out buildings and devastated infrastructure and this is before anybody has really talked about reconstruction. imran khan, baghdad. >> the bodies of a group of iraqi refugees who died trying to reach europe have been repat

treeiated to kirkuk. relatives waited at the airport for, for his three sons, daughter and brother to be returned home. they drowned last week while attempting to cross the agean sea. only his wife survived the journey. the iraqi federation say they know of more than 50 refugees who drowned last friday. most were iraqi kurds. today is another example of people drowning in the sea. they are actually lucky because at least their bodies have been returned because we have had thousands whose bodies have been lost at sea and others who have not been able to return. >> jordan's army says its border guards have killed 12 people trying to cross over from syria. the statement says some were armed, and another 24 fled. the army also confiscated 2 million drug capsules that were left behind. jordan's rules of engagement

allow guards to shoot and kill anyone who tried to cross the border. a funeral has been held in the west bank for a routine age girl shot dead by an israeli security guard. hundreds of people attended the funeral for the 13-year-old in the village of yeta, near hebron. israeli police say the girl had a fight with her family and tried to stab the guard of the settlement. 162 palestinians and 25 israelis have been killed in the latest wave of violence which started at the beginning of october. yemeni journalists have proceed protested bukari's what they believe has been abducted. al jazeera is demanding their immediate release. voting is taking place in portugal to elect a new president. ten candidates are running for the role, largely ceremonial but can be an influential voice. hoping for more political stability following two months of a shaky alliance in the lower

house. >>fein,000 people are protesting in the maldovan capital. they claim the government has failed to carry out reforms after being in power for the past 6 years and renewing a call for an investigation to the banking scandal. robin foriestier walker has more. >> reporter: the cold weather has not stopped thousands of maldovians, angry, furious with their government. accused of disruptions on an incredible scale. they are also fewurious about t way in which this government has been handling the country's economic problems. >> patience is urged after a week of nationwide protests. pledging to tackle high unemployment, around 30% for young people. while some have taken to the streets in frustration, others

are taking a more practical approach. a report from northwestern tunisia. this is how amed starts his day: he collects milk from nearby farms and urges his workers to hurry up. after relentless job hunts, amed, who graduated with a master's degree in management abandoned hopes of working for a government-owned company. with just about enough to start his business, he has become a cheese maker. >> this is a dream come true. i was born in a family of farmers, top browsers. i said if milk i can make cheese and if it works, i will expand. his family is around to support

him. this is the launch day. as soon as work is over these were active during the 2010 proceed democracy uprising. now, they say, they want to help build a new tunisia our goal is to lead the country in the future. we want democracy. we want to see young tun easeians at the highest echelons. they are all active in a local young leaders counsel. ngos that are growing fast in tunisia and whose influence is spreading. we are training young people to start their own businesses instead of waiting for the government to help us, we chose action. we are not going to spend the rest of our lives waiting for

promises. >> a long way lies aedz for these young activists. they remain determined to offer hope to those frustrated over the lack of opportunities in tunisia. >> tun easeians expect tough years ahead. 5 years after so many risk their lives under the former emergency e-mail in northwestern tunisia. >> ahead on access, a big freeze in the big apple. the latest as new york and other parts of the u.s. east coast struggle in the wake of a massive blizzard. a political process in haiti, while key elections aren't taking place right now.

a reminder the top stories here on al jazeera. the u.k.-base truck driver observatory for human rights say russian airstrikes killed at least 63 civilians. >> iraqi army is trying to drive isil, responding with suicide blasts killing 20 policemen and thousands are on the streets of the maldovan capitol calling for early elections citing a lack of reform by the country's prime primary. a huge clean-up and restoration program is in the eastern united states after snowfall from a massive blizzard ended. new york and baltimore have

lifted travel bans. the heaviest in west virginia where there were reports of more than a meter of snow in some areas. tom ackerman has more. >> the sun was out again on sunday, and so were lots of people looking for help to dig their cars out of mountains of snow. new york city lifted the one-day ban on all vehicle traffic imposed so thousands of workers could clear away a near record amount of snow. it was new york's second largest blizzard in the past century and a half. baltimore broke its record, 75 sentence meters all it takes is one car to get stuck. >> road is not passible. the plows cannot plow that road and the situation quickly descends into chaos.

>> flights were cancelled while new york's airport struggled to resume operations, those serving washington remained closed until monday. so was the capitol's metro train system. road accidents canned for most of the casualties. at least six people died from exposure to the cold or heart attacks from shoveling snow. along the new jerseyshow shore, the bliss arrested whipped up tides. some homeowners who suffered from hurricane sandy find themselves having to rebuild again. despite the inconvenience, some people were still able to make the most of the blizzard of 2016. tom ackerman, al jazeera, washington. gabriel is on new york's snow-covered streets. what's the latest on the travel situation there? >> reporter: at the heart of

mid town manhattan. a little bit of a seen of what it looks like right now. by penn station, one of the biggest train stations in all of new york, madison square garden. a travel ban has been lifted. as you can start to see taxis, buses are back on the roads again. subway system coming back on line as well much the big problem is the outlying areas. two things, number 1 is states like new jersey, for example, it's still going to be another hour or so until they get their buses, trains, back operating again. that's going to be important as they try to get this city ready for the rush hour coming on monday morning when hundreds of thousands of commuters and people that work in the city try to use public transportation to get in here number 1, trying to get the basic public transportation back up and running, which they are doing

slowly. the second thing is the airports, more than 10,000 flights have been cancelled all up the northeast corridor. the big airports here obviously, j.f.k., laguardai, unclear if they are going to be opening today. however, the governor said expect that the three major new york/new jersey airports, the vast majority of the flights will be cancelled. united airlines, one of the big carriers here said they are going to try to start getting flights out again in the afternoon, but there are tens of thousands of commuters or travelers that are essentiallitrannessentially stranded, not able to get in to new york, in the airports, not able to leave yet. it's a mess. there is a lot of work to be done. at least here in new york city, starting to get back to normal. at least a little bit. >> gabriel, some warning about the storm. has the scale of it taken you by surprise? >> it did. new yorkers heard on friday that

they were expecting 10 to 15 inches. when they went to bed friday night, it was kind of the estimations were going up to 18 action maybe 20. now, it turned out to be 26.8 inches. at isn't central park t within span of just a few hours, they got almost -- almost double the amount of snow that they were expecting. it did take a lot of people by surprise. it's not om here in new york, in general, as well. hit hard. coastal flooding. new yorkers and people from this region are very resillient, used to bouncing back quickly after things such as this, but this was a historic, historic snowfall. make no doubt about it. the second biggest snowfall since 1869. 1869. so, it was very big, and it was the wind as well. i mean this wasn't just snow. it was a real blizard here

definitely caught a lot of new yorkers by surprise on how intention it wasblizzard here definitely caught a lot of new yorkers by surprise on how intention it was that's why surrounding stateswhy surroundi step to shut down. thank you very much indeed. people in south korea are also feeling the freeze. south korea's government issued a cold weather warning for seoul for the first time in, in five years. temperatures minus 18 agrees degrees. flights on it. uju island were cancelled for second day because of snow and high winds. there has been more violence on the streets of haiti's capitol as protesters demanded the president step down. the clashes happened after a poll to choose a new leader was postponed again. andy gallacher reports. >> reporter: it was the thread of widespread violence that held to the planned election being called off. this is now a nation in limbo

threatening to destabilize the nation. >> you think it will be a struggle? >> yes. he is happy the president cial run you-up has been postponed because haiti has some serious challenges ahead. >> i have a good feeling. we made a big step in the resurrection. we still have a long way to go. this fight is a lot more complicated than people think. >> leadership struggles aside, people are haiti are growing impatient with the entire electoral process.

he said most live in inhumane conditions, an open wideley held on the streets of port au prince. according to the constitution, the president has to be out of office by the beginning of february. the time frame gives those in power little time to act decisively. >> we are less than two weeks from february 2nd. there is no way to have an election before then. it will be up to the parliament elections have never been an easy thing in haiti but it has enjoyed political sustainabilitity. all of that has begun to unravel in the past few months. perhaps the most important thing for the future of this country is the next leader has legitimacy. >> there is more at stake here than a smooth hand over of

power. haiti is still struggle to go recover from the devastating earthquake. unemployment and poverty are ramping. but leaders can't run free and fair e legs, these people may ultimately pay the price. port au prince, haiti. >> in nigeria, trying to reduce violence, many victims of crime say am nenesty is not enough. tribal and ethnic tensions have left hundreds of people dead. owners won't be charged. armed am 234e69 city aimed at cutting crime. fighting started here during last year's election. on and off ethnic tensions over landownership have played the state for years. many have acquired weapons to defend themselves. hundreds have been killed.

the husband and son was shot and killed in separately politically motivated attacks. i heard boom, boom twice. shots continued for a while. she said amnesty improved security. gana, as he is known, has handed over 84 rifles. >> many victims are worried criminals are not being punished. many of the community affected by crime and violence say the government needs to do a lot more than the amnesty program. they say they need help dealing with the impact of crime.

>> tell them amnesty. >> reporter: state government leaders defend the amnesty. >> the security council yeah. of the state, they are there. we are working together. we are finding how we can make life more meaningful and better for our people. >> training and educational programs will be provided for anyone who is griffin a pardon. victims of crime say the priority should be giving them compensation so they can rebuild their lives nigeria. >> iran said it will invest heavily after international

sanctions were lifted. the transport minister said $250,000,000 u.s. dollars will be spent on a project in the next five years. a deal is expected to be signed with airbus for 114 new aircraft. iran hopes the first will be ready by the end of march. >> eight have been charged for negligence for knocking off king tutancham's. after the glue was removed and attached the beard using a more traditional methodist of beeswax. in mexico two volcanos have thrown ash into the air. the kolimo erupted 12 times in 12 hours on saturday. he rulingsz were seen in the east of the country after the volcano threw smoke and ash into the air. block busters competing for

honors a short film is kosovo, "shock" is the title, that translates "friend" ." paul brennan reports. >> reporter: >> "shock". >> the moment the nomination was confirmed. cheers, tears and sellbrations. recognition of tan extraordinary story. the film's two 13-year-old stars are being recognized everywhere at the moment. >> everyone here knows about the nomination. when i go to a shop, people say to me they are proud of us. the short film is a true story of two boys and the friendship pushed to the limits during the kosovo conflict in 199 yeah. >> i had difficulties from my part because i hadn't lived through the war but through the help of my parents and their

friends, it got easier. >> he remembers the war well and it reflects his experiences of how albanian speakers were treated. >> i remember traveling by bus when the police stopped us. they asked me in serbian to show my id card. yes have an id at the time because i was only 14 and didn't speak serbian. i knew the policemen spoke albanian and told him i was travel to go school. he hit me and told me if he met me again some other time, i would have to speak serbian. >> personal experience is in the film. >> just making the film has been a defendant major achievement. being nominated is an inspiration to other film makers. >> this is the first time ever koso kosovo has been nominated. it might increase more film for making -- interest in making films about kosovo. >> it uses a cast of local actors, just 21 minutes long. win or lose next month, this

short film is set to have a long lasting impact. paul brennan, al jazeera. >> quick reminder. catch up any time with our website. the address for that is aljazeera.com. and you can watch us by clicking on the "watch now" icon at aljazeera.com. we're lookingback at 2015. >> to push as hard as i can to make it as far as i can in the ballet world so that they will have an easier path. >> in the last year, we've spoken to best-selling authors and global leaders. you've heard from actors, composers& ♪ i am a man who will fight for your honor ♪ >> &and musicians including one of the most recognizable singers of a generation& ♪ hey mr. sister you've got the world on your shoulders ♪