to stip meals as they struggled to succeed. that would be really third rail. -- skip meals as they struggle to succeed. that would be really third rail. rd rail. this is al jazeera welcome to the news hour live from hour headquarters in doha. coming up in the next 60 minutes. the syrian regime takes back the last opposition stronghold in latakia. political turmoil in moldova. protesters rally to demands early elections. new york begins the clean up after one of the biggest snow storms recorded. >> reporter: i have all of the sports stories for you and

update on the massive game taking place in denver. also arse nol seeing red as the chance to be number one are dashed by the london rivals. -- arsenal are seeing red the syrian government has taken the last i.s.i.l. stronghold. it was backed by russian air power. while the president bashar al-assad's forces make advances on the ground, talks in geneva appear to have been delayed. rob matheson reports. >> reporter: this is a small town, but its capture to mark a big setback for armed opposition groups. >> translation: units from the national armed forces have been able to take control of the area in the northern countryside of latakia. a series of successful

operations have led us in the last two days to regain control of 18 towns and villages. >> reporter: the streets are now patrolled by troops loyal to bashar al-assad. it is a stronghold of the community to which bashar al-assad belongs. it has been a key place for fighters. it is estimated 20,000 people have fled from the homes in the turkman mountains. >> translation: it was one of the opposition's biggest strong holds. it was where they kept their supplies, ammunition and weapons for the area. also many villages west of here were considered safe havens for the groups. it gave them safe pass aenl to the border. >> reporter: the forces have been supported by russian air attacks. the taking means the regime and the russians are now stronger in latakia. they may now turn their attention to idlib still head by opposition fighters, including the al-nusra front. talks to finding a solution to

the syrian crisis are planned for this week. there's still doubt about whether those talks will go maid, but in latakia syria's front line is being redrawn. rob matheson the united states says it is confident that planned talks will go ahead in geneva this week, but disputes over who will attend are still to be resolved. our diplomatic editor james bays has more >> reporter: these talks were always due to start on monday. i think it's pretty certain that's not going to happen. the best we can get, i think, on monday is a news conference with the u.n. envoy and the fact that he could there confirm that he has finally sent out the invitations. the controversial thing behind the scenes has been who will make up the opposition. john kerry has been in riyadh meeting his saudi counterpart. saudi arabia was drawing up a list with a list of opposition.

there has been problems with that. kerry has also been talking to lavrov. it will be up to them to decide they will attend on the list agreed by the international community. 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're 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 later in the week. i'm told initially those will be so-called proximity talks, the opposition in one room and the syrian government in the other with the u.n. envoy shuffling between the two. i'm told initially they will be looking at possible ceasefires in syria and trying to alleviate the humanitarian situation and particularly those areas of syria under siege joining us now is joshua-- joshua landers. how disappointing it that these

talks which were due to take place on monday, we have been waiting for them for a while, won't be starting? >> it's very disappointing to many who were hoping to see some kind of peace brought to sar i can't the opposition we've heard from an officer saying that there is pressure to give up the syrian people's legitimate rights. the delegation is being pressured to head to negotiations without any clear agenda giving up improving the humanitarian situation, which has nothing to do with politics. he has also said that we can't tell our people that we gave up your rights and headed to geneva without stopping the air raids, lifting the siege, releasing prisoners or sending aid. are those concerns before heading to peace talks or are these issues that should be addressed at peace talks? >> they're very legitimate concerns. this is the problem with russia joining bashar al-assad and the

russian air force has changed the momentum on the grounds, balance of pour. we know-- power. we know what a modern air force can do particularly when it teams up with a central army like bashar al-assad's. we have seen this in 1990 in the gulf war when the u.s. destroyed the work. we saw it in 2003. we see it now in i.s.i.s. a modern air force in a dry desert area like syria is devastating. that has changed the balance of power and it makes it difficult for the opposition in saudi arabia to come up with an answer do you think that the syrian regime would have been able to make the military advances that it has lately in the province, the last opposition stronghold, without the russian military and how likely is it that the syrian regime will be willing to make the concessions necessary for peace talks to take place when they have the upper hand

militarily. >> that's an excellent question. i think the syrian regime spokes people have been saying we're going to go to p geneva not to negotiate. we're going to listen but not negotiate. we're not giving away any concessions. this puts the opposition in a terrible position because they don't want to go and sit there and start making concessions if the regime isn't going to make concessions. this is the reflection of the balance of power. it is like israeli palestinian peace talks in the past where the israelis can make commands, go into the talks and what can the palestinians do? they're weak. it's a terrible - you know, this is the balance of power on the military field reflecting the talks is there anything that the powers that are backing the syrian opposition can do now to address that balance of power, to shift it in any way to have

peace talks and have them be successful? >> reporter: when the opposition met in riyadh over a month ago with the saudi foreign minister opened the meeting and said there is a military solution to syria. if bashar al-assad does not agree to leave power. i think the opposition has gone to these peace talks because saudi arabia has asked them to and insisted, but that's because saudi arabia has promised that if they don't go forward, saudi arabia will do something militarily to solve their problem and that's what i think they're all waiting for is for saudi arabia to give them arms that can change the balance of power. how saudi arabia can do that when it is in a war in yemen, when the gas provides has fallen below $30 a barrel, when saudi arabia is not in the driver's seat here, and is saudi arabia just bluffing? are they willing to take on the

russians and outbid the russians in syria? this is the problem that the syrian opposition faces today is where are they going to get that superior military power? because, of course, the americans have said that they will not get involved in a proxy war with russia and syria. thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thank you for asking me on moving on to other news. iraq has summonsed the ambassador. the armed groups increasing sectarian divisions. iraq's government is defend its youth of the militia. he opened the embassy in baghdad last month after a 25-yeah closure. former israeli president has been rushed to hospital with chest pains. the 92-year-old had an operation after suffering a heart attack ten days ago. he has twice served as prime

minister and held the presidential post from 2007 to 2014. he won an noble peace price in 1994 for his role in reaching an interim peace deal with palestinian leaders. protests in support of three missing al jazeera journalists in yemen has taken place. al jazeera correspondent and his crew were last seen in taiz on monday night. al jazeera network says there are indications they were abducted. it is demanding their immediate release. a massive clean up operation is underway in the u.s. east coast after a snow storm brought cities to a standstill. more than 80 million people have been affected. at least 28 people have died in storm-related incidents across several states. the governor has declared a state of emergency in new york but has lifted a travel ban. thousands of flights have been cancelled.

people are out clearing the snow ahead of monday morning's commute. our correspondent has more from washington dc >> reporter: the sun came out again and so did lots of people looking for help to dig their cars out of mountains of snow u >> anybody stuck, anybody trying to get out, some people have patience and some don't have patience. when you go through a neighborhood, if you see anybody come outside clapping. >> reporter: new york city lifted a one-day ban on all vehicle traffic imposed so the thousands of workers could clear away a near record amount of snow. it was the second largest blizzard in the past 150 years. baltimore broke its record, 75 centimeters. >> all it takes is one car to get stuck and now that road is not passable and the ploughs can't plough that road, and the situation quickly desends into chaos. >> reporter: for some of new york's homeless, the designated shelter were not a haven

>> i had to spend most of my time in the downstairs station due to the cold >> reporter: more than 11,000 flights across the u.s. have been cancelled since thursday. they are resuming to begin services. those in washington remain closed until monday. so does the metro train system. road accidents accounted for most of the casualties. >> i'm happy to report that there are so far no deaths in new jersey connected with this storm. >> reporter: at least six people died from exposure to the cold or from heart attacks as they shovelled snow. along the new jersey shore the blizzard whipped up tides that flooded many neighborhoods. some home owners who suffered losses in hurricane sandy are finding themselves having to bimd once more. some people were still able to make the most of it. cities are often under fire for

ill-preparedness. in this case they rows well to the-- rose well to the occasion going to the correspondent in new york now. we can see the city, new york at least coming back to life. >> reporter: it really is. a very good evening to you. it is a little after 6 p.m. we're joining you from the heart of the town. we have been here for well over ten hours and what a change we've seen just today here in new york city. when we got here, it didn't look anything like this this morning. the roads were completely covered by snow. there was nobody on the side walks. it was a city that was essentially totally shut down. now you can see it different. it has come back to life t you can see people out and about, the roads are opened, the travel

ban has been lifted. you might see people over there shovelling snow. that's still happening. the mayor actually said they have so much snow to shovel that they actually have called out that anybody who wanted a job to come out and start shovelling snow. that's what you see people over there doing. you see a lot of the have activity because this is the famous station. it is one of the busiest train stations not only in new york but in america. it was closed down for over 15 hours. no trains were coming, no trains were going. that has all changed as the train system here in new york. the bus system has closely come back on line as this city and really the entire north-east has tried to dig themselves out of this really historic storm that hit this part of the united states it did hit on the weekend. how did people cope going back to work on monday?

>> reporter: that's going to be the real challenge of how well this storm clean up has gone because you will see another snow plough just went by to plough some roads, but that will be the big challenge because millions of people across the country will be going back to work and they will be challenging the roads and the public transportation systems that were shut down over the weekend and are now coming back online. the big problem is the airports. in washington dc, the international and local airport closed down here in the new york region. others are open but i can tell you that they are not operating even close to full capacity. in fact, united airlines and several other airlines have said they won't be getting back to somewhat normal operations until late monday at the earliest. over 10,000 flights have already

been cancelled. just sunday alone nearly four thousand cancelled. another three thousand has been delayed. it is a domino effect. lots and lots of people still stranded, trying goat home or into the north-east of the u.s. also washington dcr while the subway is working here in new york, washington dc's metro train system is still closed down. they're saying it could be a couple of days before it gets fully operational again. so lots of problems still because of this storm thank you very much for that. elsewhere in the north-east these are pictures from washington dc where there's a massive snow ball fight taking place. many children and some adults too throwing snow balls at each other there in washington dc. hong kong is also experiencing

some remarkable weather. temperatures have plunged to record lows. many hikers hoping to see the snow from the city's highest mountain were left stranded and had to be rescued. the government warned people to go out, but many couldn't resist a rare sight of frost and icicles. china has been hit by the cold snap. trees and roads were doused with snow and ice. the coldest level recorded since 1961. stay with us on the news hour. still to come, on the front line with the the army as it tries to push i.s.i.l. fighters out of an eastern province. awards fever in kosovo. how a short film is putting the

country's film makers on the map. havoc with england's batting. we have that on sport coming up. ming up. save the children is calling on the united nations to do more as ethiopia faces its worst draught in 50 years. they say it represents a big threat to children's lives as a big a threat as the war in syria. 400,000 children in ethiopia are suffering from severe malnutrition. john graham is head of save the children in ethiopia. he has told al jazeera that 9100 million dollars received from international donors is not enough >> it is acute malnutrition, the last stage the children have in malnutrition. what we have seen in the areas where the animals have died, the children were cut off from milk

and so on, they just lose all their nutrition. when you get into severe acute malnutrition. as you say, we're expecting 400,000 children to fall in that this year. if you don't get therapeutic feeding and assistance, then the mortality rights are very high. we have a great opportunity this year to head off the kind of suffering that we have seen in previous years, especially in 1984, but we have to have the resources. frankly, the window is getting narrow. if we don't get food aid pledged by march of this year, only a little over a month away, then the food will simply not be able to arrive in country in time to be distributed to people during what we call the hungry season. we have to be very direct now. this is not a time to be nice, to be diplomatic. children's lives are going to hang in the balance. we have to say thank you very much to those who have contributed already. the united states, the u.k., european union, but that's only

a fraction of what is needed here. you've got to do more. for those countries who haven't done anything yet, countries like japan and germany and france who have contributed little or nothing, step up. the secretary general, step up. push so that we can get those resources and prevent the suffering and push now. we haven't got time to wait the afghan government has held unofficial talks with the taliban. the group said that its political office in doha was the only intent authorised to carry out negotiations on its behalf reinforcing the authority of its new leadership. the taliban first opened an office in doha in 2013. >> translation: it is a chance for us to announce to the world that we want peace and dialogue. we want to resolve the problem of afghanistan through a peace process. this is our main message. unfortunately, we are being accused of not wanting peace and

insisting on war. we want peace and dialogue and the other parties-- if the other part wants it. if the other part insist on war and displacing people, then we will react >> my assessment is that it was a good beginning. it was a positive spirit from all sides. a number of key issues were discussed. i could see that there is a common ground that we can build on and if we properly build on those common grounds, i'm hopeful that it will lead to a formal peace talk the pentagon has given wider authority for u.s. troops in afghanistan to hit target links to islamic state in iraq and the levant. meanwhile the afghan government is making progress against i.s.i.l. two weeks after the group carried out a suicide attack on the consulate in jalalabad.

>> reporter: on the front front line, this runs through a vast mountainous area near the border with pakistan. we had a strong army escort up to this military post. the government relies on these villages to keep i.s.i.l. at bay >> translation: we are defending our country. it is our duty. off camera this tells me this man says he doesn't have enough bullets to fight. i.s.i.l. is not far from here. the flal says it all. this is i.s.i.l. territory-- flag. they are mainly in the east of the country. afghan leaders say it is mainly made up of foreigners and that it has attracted to its ranks former members of the taliban and al-qaeda. it is not too long before we hear the first bullets. the army's 50 millimetre calibre

guns are capable of subduing the incoming fire. tense moments follow and fighters take their position. there has been fighting and clashes for the last half hour or so. we are about 1 diagram away from the village-- 1 kilometer away from a village where i.s.i.l. is present. they have flagged that camp and it is clear who is in control of that area. now the afghan intelligence, military intelligence, sources have told us that there are about 4,000 fighters from i.s.i.l. based in the province there on the border between afghanistan and pakistan. it is a very mountainous terrain. there are over 10,000 afghan security forces based in the province here. they are tasked with fighting i.s.i.l. and the taliban. the commander says i.s.i.l. will will be defeated soon. >> translation: they posed a

serious threat in the beginning, but we will clear the areas and defeat them by march. >> reporter: the afghan ministry of defense says more than 1 the 0 i.s.i.l.-- 190 i.s.i.l. fighters have been killed in the last two months. not far from the base this market is busy. for many here i.s.i.l. is more than a threat. it is a reality. >> translation: the government controls the main roads and their bases. i.s.i.l. controls the rest. they're carrying out executions. >> reporter: the afghan army is already over stretched fighting a resilient enemy, the taliban, but its battle with i.s.i.l. is different and won't be over soon center right candidate has been elected as the new president of portugal. the victory comes months after an anti austerity socialist

government came to power. the president conceded defeat after picking up around 23% of the votes. the new president has pledged to build political consensus. norway will hold talks with russian on monday to sdes deportation of refugees. since last week they have sent back 2030 refugees. moscow said it won't allow any more asylum seekers to return. there have been protests in the french port city of calais over the impact of refugee crisis on the economy. locals fear that tourists are avoiding travelling through the city because of regular disruptions to train and port services. thousands of refugees and migrants are living in camps in calais hoping to cross into the u.k. moldova is in the grip of a political crisis. thousands of protesters have ralg eat to demand snap elections. they're accusing the prime minister from taking orders from

business tycoontycoons. >> reporter: many people here now believe a mafia is running their country. so they came onto the streets of the capital despite the cold. >> translation: there is no democracy. there is one gang in power that stole our rights, our well-being, our money. >> reporter: opposition party wants the tycoons out and new elections. that's about all they have in common. there's a pro-european faction while two other parties have a different foreign policy objective. >> translation: the position of my party is that we should have a closer strategic partnership with the russian federation. >> reporter: sunday's rally was a show of unity without party politics, just flags of the

republic >> reporter: the people on this stage have a different background and different interests. they stress that the change in the country has come from the people down there not from moscow, brussels or washington. after violence earlier this week, police were a visible presence on sunday. protesters brought flowers, yet the opposition is now threatening a more active phase, acts of civil disobedience, highway blockades unless their demands to change are met coming up on the news hour, security is tightened in egypt's capital ahead of the anniversary of the revolution that toppled the former presidential. an award winning design from chile that could be the design

of the future. and sport is coming up.

it's good to have you with us on the news hour. our top stories, syria's government has retaken the last i.s.i.l. stronghold in latakia. talks in geneva to end the conflict appear to have been delayed. in moldova thousands of people have demanded snap elections. a massive clean up is underway along the united states east coast after a snow storm brought cities to a standstill. at least 28 people have died in relation to storm-related incidents across the state. to egypt where the president has said democracy needs time to grow. his address came ahead of the fifth anniversary of the revolution. >> translation: we're moving ahead on all fronts, domestic and international, launching

projects including small and medium sized enterprises to meet the needs of youth. we're developing utilities, addressing compelling issues, electricity, and we're doing all that we can to fight terrorism and establish security and order there's a heavy security presence on the streets of cairo. protests have been banned and human rights groups queues the government of a crackdown on descent. >> reporter: the army is on the streets. there is a stepped up security presence ahead of the an verse see of egypt's-- anniversary of the revolution. activists have been jailed and thousands of homes searched. the crackdown is being carried out in the name of the security. human rights groups say it's part of a campaign to silence the opposition >> five years after the uprising, hope is given way to total oppression. the authorities are terrified of another uprising.

the arrests of activists that we've seen over the last few days and weeks are warning shots. >> reporter: it has been five years since the protest unseated the president who had kept an iron grip on the country in decades. this was the mood when he announced he was stepping down. the years that followed brought little change. soon the space that had been the center of the revolt was no longer a place where people came together and celebrated. the square became a place where opposing sides of the divide raised their grievances. at first the chance called for the downfall of the man who had taken over from mubarak. he failed to bring about democrat issues. power was eventually transferred to civilian authorities.

elections were held. the muslim brotherhood's candidate became the first elected head of state. it didn't take long for the protesters to return to the streets. the opponent accepted he was pursuing a religious agenda and strengthening his grip on power. calls for him to step down grew louder. the military stepped in. it dissolved the government and arrested many leaders. a krifian interim president was installed. -- civilian. those who had defended what they believed the government were suppressed. action gathered on the third anniversary of the revolution to urge the man behind it to run for president. he did. his supporters say he saved the nation. his opponents accuse him of authoritarian rule.

>> you have forces that have tried to hijack the revolution. you have major idea logical and social cleavages in society. you have a divide. >> reporter: hundreds have been killed. thousands, including journalists, locked uchl. the authorities say they are committed to democracy. the opponents believe otherwise. for them the security state is back for more on this we're joined by the middle east director for human rights watch. very good to have you with us. we're looking at pictures of heavy security presence in cairo's square ahead of the fifth anniversary ahead of the revolution. is that presence warranted? >> frankly, i'm not in egypt, i'm not in cairo so it's hard to say conclusively, but it seems to me the situation in egypt is not on the verge of an uprising

like in 2011, or anything like that. i think we're looking at a government that the president has zero toleration for descent. there would have been celebrations of 2011 and denuns yagss of 2013 and his election and so forth. that seems to be what the government is afraid of or what they're termed should not appear to the streets of cairo or anywhere else in egypt on the an anniversary is it because of the fifth anniversary, given protests are banned and so many people are critical of the government, they are already in prison and as far as we can tell no-one is really calling for more protests, and yet we're seeing-- >> that's not exactly true. among those people arrested in the past few days are people who

managed facebook pages that were calling for demonstrations. whether there would have been mass demonstrations is another story, but they were calling for demonstrations. that was clearly why they were arrested. i can't think of a time under mubarak, under the 30 years of his reign, where you had a situation where police were raiding thousands and thousands of homes as they have in cairo just in the last few days. this is kind of unprecedented despite that we heard from the president earlier who said that democracy needs time to grow. can it grow in an environment like this where repression of any descent is so rife? >> absolutely not. i mean it's clear that the president's interests is not in democracy. whatever the nice words he might have on the eve of the anniversary. it is clear that he is all about

suppressing any manifestations of democracy outside of people who are ready to follow him over the abyss. that seems to be where he is leading egypt thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you eight museum workers in egypt will face court over scratches on the tutankam en mask. his beard was knocked off and glued back on. the head of egyptian museum and the chief are among those who will be on trial for gross negligence. thousands of people have demonstrated in the capital in morocco on planned cuts to the education system. teachers marched defiant a public ban. hundreds of others were stopped

to travel there to take part in the march. china's president xi jinping's tour of the middle east is one of the first world leaders to visit iran since the lifting of international sanctions, signing multi billion dollars agreements there. it is a balance to boost ties with regional rivals. >> reporter: it is the first visit by a chinese president for 14 years. iran is happy to roll out the red kargt >> translation: today we negotiated over the preparation of a 25-year comprehensive document on the strategic ties between the two countries as well as setting up bilateral relations for 600 billion dollars in the effects 10 years. >> reporter: they have agreed to work together on regional security issues, including those in iraq, syria and yemen. those are the three countries that iran views are in conflict

with others in the region. president xi jinping's tour of the middle east saw him signing agreements on economic issues and some on strengthening security. >> translation: the saudi kingdom and china are aiming for enhancing security and stabilitied in the world and we appreciate efforts in this regard. the challenges that are facing the world particularly that of terrorism require international community to counter it and to stroes the principles of the-- stress the principles and particularly non-tin terror feerns with other countries. >> reporter: china says it's foreign policy is based on nonintervention. critics would like china to remain less diplomatic. the chinese president postponed a trip to saudi arabia and egypt. he had to send war ships to

rescue hundreds of chinese and foreign nationals from yemen. china's so-called no enemies policy doesn't stop it from selling military hard ware and expertise in the middle east. >> translation: i would like to express egypt's appreciation of the distinguished agreement with china it has been created in record time for the economic and military cooperation which has reached unprecedented sightses. >> reporter: it means that the core of china's policy, that includes the energy sector and infrastructure from iran to saudi arabia. the goals in the region, china is walking a tight rope between rivals but similar promises to all sides child china does business in iran, iran is looking to do business in europe. the president is leading a 120 strong delegation including iranian entrepreneurs and oil and gas officials to italy and france. it is his first overseas trips

since sanctions on iran were lifted. an analyst says they will find it easier to do business with europe than it will with the u.s. >> it is important because sanctions relief has happened over the last week, there is still some reticence around the banking and other areas in getting these deals done. the business community and the political class in america is much more sceptical about iran. europe has always been iran's biggest customer, particularly in oil and gas. this is about reviving that relationship, that business relationship a protester wearing atur ban

has been thrown out of a gathering. he was removed and cheered by the audience. it is often referred to as the mobile friz important architects. this year's prize has gone to an architect from chile for a project that could be the future of social housing. more from our kranlt. >> reporter: this man is an architect obsessed with the needs of his time. a time whereby his calculations two out of five billion people will be living understand the poverty line at 2030. >> we will have to build many cities per week. >> reporter: he has already started here in chile with the revolutionary social housing design that has made him one of the youngest recipients of the

world's most prestigious architecture award >> the problem is that the scale, speepd and means with which we have to respond to this phenomenon has no precedence in human history. >> reporter: when he was hired to rapidly rebuild a city destroyed by the 2010 earthquake and tsunami, he came up with a novel solution. >> instead of producing tiny units, we asked ourselves why don't we think half of a good house and we thought it was efficient to make the half that a family will never be able to achieve on its own. then allow families to do their other half in their own timing according to their own needs. >> reporter: it is called participatory expanding design. poor residents moved from this to this. homes that families built on by adding more bedrooms, or a terrace or balcony or a shop.

not only in the outskirts of the city, but in one of the wealthiest districts. the residents used to live far away and tral for hours to get here. now they work and live in the same area which improves their quality of life and in turn reduces the inquality gap. that is a point. although his multi million dollar prestige projects have won him critical acclaim the world over, he seems most proud of his social architecture which clues public spaces alongside public houses >> reporter: public space by definition is what improves or not the quality of life for free in cities. >> reporter: architecture that he hopes will ultimately stand the test of time we have the sports news still ahead. reaction after a third attempt

for the car rally champion. hampion.

kosovo will be watching the ceremonies after getting its first oscar nomination. it is bringing film making to a wider audience. >> reporter: the moment the

oscar's nomination was confirmed. cheers, tears and celebrations in the area and recognition of an extraordinary story. in fact, the film's two 13-year-old stars are being recognised everywhere at the moment >> translation: everyone here knows about the nomination. when i go to a shop people say to me they are proud of us >> reporter: the short film is a true story of two boys and a friendship pushed to the limit in conflict in 1998. >> translation: i had some difficulties with my part because i haven't lived through the war. with the help of my parents and the crew who told me what happened, it got much easier. >> reporter: the producer remembers the war very well and the war reflects his experiences of how albanian speakers were treated. >> translation: i remember travelling by bus when the police stopped us. they asked me in serbian to show my id card. i didn't have an id at the time.

i new the place man spoke albanian and i told him i was travelling to school. he told me i would had to speak serbia and he hit me. that experience is in the film >> reporter: making the film is an achievement but being nominated is an inspiration to other film makers >> translation: this is the first time ever that kosovo was nominated for oscars. it means a lot for our film industry because it might increase interest from hollywood and europe for making more films about kosovo. >> reporter: the film was shot on location and uses a cast of local actors. it is just 21 minutes long, but win or lose next month, this film is said to have a long lasting impact it's time for the sports news here. here is robyn. >> reporter: thank you. we will start with the n.f.l. play offs where the game between denver and the new england

patriots more than lived up to suspicion. daniels scoring the game's first touch down to put the side to an early seven nothing lead. jackson responded for the defending super bowl champions with a touch don't. defense tight in the second half. new england scored a crucial touch down with only seconds left on the clock. denver holding for a win. premier league champions chelsea has spoiled their opponent's win. they made the one man advantage count. they were costar with the winner. >> it was, of course, frustrating, but it is a decision we had to get on the

chin and get on with our job and that's what we did. i think the team after that was resilient. they tried to the last second. despite the disappointing result, we should come even more belief in ourselves today after the game. >> reporter: >> even when they were one man down, they have always visibility to surprise. so it was - we were very pleased to see the attitude, of course, but also the way of play. >> reporter: arsenal dropping down. manchester city is on 44 points. a bit of a shock coming from everton struggled. up in spain it has been a disappointing day.

there was a chance to retake top stop for madrid. real madrid also dropped points. it was the struggling team's first goal in eight games. a point for real madrid. one one was the final score. barcelona continues to lead the way in the spanish premier league on top 48 points, but second place real madrid only separated by and up in third. south africa's cricketers in the test against england. day three of the batting line-up. the best bowling figures of 7 for 112. they were bold out for 42 for

one in the second innings. they have a 175 lead. the defending champion novak djokovic says he suffered brain freeze in his fourth rain match at the australian open. he was chasing a six title in melbourne. >> reporter: joko widodo has looked unstobl-- novak djokovic has look unstoppable this season. the defending champion appeared to meet his match. he made 100 unforced errors and was taken all the way to five sets by the french man. the five time champion% veed tlur four hours and 32 minutes to reach the quarter finals. -- persevered for four hours. >> translation: i was pleased to win the match. the last point counts, but in terms of the performance itself,

i haven't done well at all. >> reporter: no such problems for roger federer. the four time champion beat his opponent in straight sets to set up a quarter final clash. with 21 grand slams to her name se refreshings ena williams just three short of the record held by margaret court. as the australian tents legend watched from the stands-- tennis legend watched from the stands, williams won. she was rarely troubled in her victory over her opponent as she got her place in the quarter finals with the rest of the day for herself. >> i haven't been doing anything. been spending time worrying about myself. it has been kind of sad. i've been alone a lot.

it's boring >> reporter: what have you learned about yourself that you didn't know two weeks ago? >> i think i hate being alone. >> reporter: at least she will be reunited with old foe. the russian's game was in sharp contrast to williams. she clinched the seven five seven five victory. she sealed it with a successful call on the baseline to fend off her opponent. >> reporter: jason day and two others could soon become the fab four. that's if ricky continues his form on sunday. he began the final round in a five-way tie for the lead, but moved in front with shots like this one on the eighth.

he was held back by world number three who chipped in nor a birdie and then had an eagle and finished in third with two shots back. fouler sealing a one-stroke win. peters on the final hole. it was his fourth title in nine months. moving up to fourth in the world ranking rankings. >> it was a lot of fun today. it was a bit stressful at times. thomas was playing well. we had a good time and it was good to be on top >> reporter: the focus to motor sport now with three-time defending champion has won the rally of monte carlo. his closest rival meke from britain had a broken gearbox.

he didn't take any unnecessary risks. he still won the final stage and ending up clinching the rally by almost two minutes. >> i'm emotional to be here. i was winning. it's so great. >> reporter: just a day after breaking the record with a 36 victory, american skier lindz say vonn has been at it again. she lindsay. she is a favorite of the former olympic champion. sun's win broke the resort record too. that's where we leave you at sport. back to elizabeth thank you very much. that does it for the al jazeera news hour, but i'm back in just a few minutes with another full news bulletin. thank you for watching.

for watching. coming up at the top of the hour on al jazeera america, the blizzard clean up is underway and is expected to last for the next few days from airports to flooding along the coast. the syrian peace talks are in jeopardy with the lead negotiator is standing in the way of moving forward. plus big changes are coming to the sat college entrance exam. we will breakdown the list of changes. all that straight ahead on al jazeera america. keep it here. >> this is al jazeera america live from new york. >> at 7:00 - "news roundup". tony harris gives you a fast-paced recap of the day's events. >> this is the first line of defense. >> we have an exclusive story tonight. >> then at 8:00 - john seigenthaler brings you the top stories from across america. >> the question is, will these dams hold? >> and at 9:00 - >> i'm ali velshi, on target tonight... >> ali velshi on target. digging deeper into the

issues that matter. >> i'm trying to get a sense for what iranians are feeling. >> coming up tonight, we'll have the latest... >> does the government give you refugee status? >> they've marched to the border. >> thousands have taken to the streets here in protest. >> this is where gangs bury their members. >> they're tracking climate change.

this is al jazeera america. here are today's top stories. from the south to the north-east millions of people are digging out from the deadly blizzard that broke records. syrian peace talks may not go on as planned tomorrow in geneva. john kerry tries to convince opposition leaders to attend. a multi billion dollar trade deal for china's influence in the middle east. big changes are coming to