♪ the battle for aleppo a plea for help from syrian rebels as civilians try to escape to turkey. ♪ hello i'm nick clark in doha with the world news from al jazeera and also coming up, new allegations of sexual abuse by u.n. peace keepers in the central african republic, a u.n. panel rules in favor of wikileaks julian assange and will he walk free in london? now it's one on one and see who fairs the best in the u.s. democratic rivals first debate. ♪

so we begin in syria where war rages in the northern providence of aleppo and tens of thousands are fleeing for safety and diplomatic talks on ending the crisis are on hold and saudi arabia now plans to send in ground troops. well syrian government forces backed by russian air raids have stepped up their offensive in the east of aleppo, opposition fighters have appealed for help as their main supply root to turkey is under pressure and the syrian human rights observatory say 40,000 civilians are making their way to the turkish border and gerald tan has the latest. >> reporter: out of their homes, out of aleppo and out in the open, they spend the night under the sky on the border with turkey hoping to get in. over the past few days syrians in the tens of thousands escaped aleppo since the sierran

government and its russian allies began a new offensive in the province. >> translator: under pressure like never before syrian rebels issue a call for general mobilization to defend their positions in aleppo. the countryside here is the last remaining base in the north for groups allied with the secular free syrian army, for the past 3 1/2 years aleppo city has been divided and controls the east and government forces the west, the regime is trying to be siege rebel held districts and cut the supply line from turkey's border to the north, the development is raising new concerns. >> we are tying to end the siege of a number of besieged areas across syria and yet what is being done now by russian and syrian forces could create a new siege so this is incredibly hurtful in terms of real lives,

it is a major obstacle to the pursuit of the political solution and it needs to stop. >> reporter: another siege could mean another madaya starvation, malnutrition and mass suffering. once a holiday resort this town outside damascus has become the most dire example of what happens when cutoff from food and humanitarian aid by be sieging forces. it's a path nobody wants for aleppo. gerald tan, al jazeera. let's now speak to zaina live for us on the turkish side of the syrian border and zaina intensifying air strikes, tens of thousands of civilians on the move, the situation is just getting worse and worse. >> reporter: yes, nick and we are witnessing syria's latest humanitarian crisis, like you mentioned tens of thousands on the move according to the observatory for human rights and

40,000 people have fled their homes as a result of the on going government offensive in the northern countryside of alep p and thousands reached the turkish border and they are approximately behind me but the gate is closed and the authorities have so far not allowed them in. these people are appealing to turkey to let them cross in search of safety but the problem is turkey is under a lot of pressure, it is already dealing with more than 2.5 million syrians in the country and turkey officially yes has an open-door policy for syrians but they also have security concerns so thousands of people behind us here waiting to enter, thousands of others are taking refuge in the kurdish enclave and others heading to the western countryside of aleppo. those who have fled their homes come from villages and towns in the countryside which really has become waste land now, a lot of these towns have been abandon

and so far have not seen a max exodus from inside the city. the 200-300,000 people who live in rebel controlled eastern aleppo but not a mass exodus from there yet. >> and meanwhile the fighting continues. >> well, yes, nick we can actually hear explosions behind us in the distance and russian air strikes are continuing and providing air cover to forces on the ground, the syrian army and their allies as they try to take more territory. two days ago we saw them lift the siege of the government, pro-government towns but the objective now is to push further south to reach a critical junction really in the northeastern entrances of aleppo city. if they take that road they are able to cut that road then they ensiringel aleppo city and the eastern parts of the city will be besieged and the question is what will happen to the

200-300,000 people there? already what we understand is that prices are on the rise because the rebel supply route to the turkish border has been cut and the ground offensive is continuing in aleppo but we have to make it very clear that this is not the only front line in syria, the government is also on the offensive on the other front lines like in the southern province and central providence of homs and what is clear is that the government is doing its best to make as much strategic gains on the battlefield because at the end of the day who has the upper hand on the war has the upper hand on the negotiating table. >> zaina thanks indeed for the troubling situation. more than 100 people reportedly trapped under ground after a gold mine collapse in south africa, dozens of workers remain unacquainted for after the cave in at the gold mine east of johannesburg and mrs. miller has more from johannesburg. >> reporter: rescue operations are continuing at the lillie

gold fields which is about 400 clim -- kilometers from johannesburg and 125miners were trapped and rescued 49 of them and they say they are not sure of how long these rescue operations will continue. those rescued have come out with minor injuries and the area does remain unstable. it is a shallow mine and so emergency services say they have to be as careful as possible to ensure they rescue as many minors safely. south africa has had a fairly decent mining, safety record in resent years. the country has tried to reduce the number of minor deaths by 20% over the last 10-15 years and we've seen 24% reduction between 2003 and 2010 in terms of how many miners killed under ground and emergency services

are fairly optimistic about the rest of their rescue operations which at this point continue. >> some news coming to us from mali a u.n. peace keeping base there is under attack. residents and military sources say the assault began on the outskirts of timbuktu on friday and base is used as military check point and bring you more on that story as it comes in to us here on al jazeera. the u.n. peace keeping mission in the central african republic says it has identified seven new cases relate to sexual abuse by troops and human rights watch says victims including women and girls were gang raped and u.n. peacekeepers deployed to the central african republic to restore order in 2013 after a spike in religious violence and the latest claims come on top of more than 20 allegations last year of sexual abuse by u.n. peacekeepers. >> due to the gravity of these allegations and given the information collected through the initial factfinding the united nations has decided to

take immediate measures including 120 soldiers from the epic of congo who are deployed from the 17th of september to the 14th of december 2015. this repatriation will occur after investigation is carried out and the soldiers will be connined to barracks. >> reporter: u.n. panel ruled in favor of wikileaks founder assange held up in ecuador for more than three years and trying to avoid extradition to sweden over allegations of sexual assault and we will speak to baranabie and we have heard from the swedish and british governments, any news from julian himself? >> no, we expect him to speak within an hour or so, nick. as you said reaction here in london and in stockholm has been very vehement and damning of the

u.n. findings and phillip hammond said it was a ridiculous decision by the u.n. panel and britain willfully contest it and they are deeply frustrated by this situation. the swedish government likewise say they reject the findings. undoubtedly this is awkward both for britain and for sweden. it is a moral victory for julian assange and he is back in the news but it's not clear how much else has actually changed. >> the working group maintains that the detention of mr mr. assange should be brought to an end, that his physical freedom of movement respected and should be entitled to an enforceable right to compensation.

in its official opinion they said he had been subjected to difrpt forms of deprivation of liberty, detention in london followed by house arrest and then confinement in the premises of the ecuador embassy. >> reporter: and as you say despite the ruling his options remain pretty much the same, don't they? >> they do. i mean i'm not sure if you can see it on the t.v. picture but the police van is there and the metropolitan police here in london say that if he is to step down from his crime confinement in the ecuador embassy on the first floor and perhaps you can see the ecuador flag he will be arrested straight away. you would have thought behind the scenes diplomatically there is greater incentive however for britain, sweden and ecuador to

resolve a situation which if it wasn't so serious, if it didn't involve a rape allegation, the loss of mr. assange's liberty over the course of many years and millions of pounds of british tax money that is in the vicinity of the embassy you can describe it as farsicle. >> media interest there as we can say and we will be back with you as soon as that press conference takes place. thanks a lot. to the united states where democratic presidential holefuls hillary clinton and bernie sanders have squared off in the most contentious debate so far and heated exchanges on the subject of campaign funding and kimberly has more from durham, new hampshire. >> reporter: outside the debate hall in durham not a hillary clinton sign in sight. new hampshire is bernie sanders' territory, among young voters he enjoyed 85% support especially when it comes to issues of

income and equality. >> the rich are getting richer and i absolutely would like to see a candidate who supports radical changes in the economic structure to create more equality and justice. >> i just honestly don't trust hillary. think she has been flip-flop on issues and a lot more genuine for bernie and consistent. >> reporter: the issue of reforming the economic structure is where the two hopefuls argued mosts and criticized clinton for receiving 675,000 to making speeches to one investment bank on wall street suggesting her corporate funded political campaign makes her ill suited for the kind of reform he is promising. >> one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk but walk the walk. i am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a super pack, who is not raising huge sums of money for special interests.

>> there is this attack that he is putting forth which really comes down to, you know, anybody who has ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought and i just absolutely reject that senator. >> reporter: but when pushed for transparency to reveal whether promises had been made to corporate america clinton dodged the issue. >> are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? >> i will look into it. i don't know the status but i will certainly look into it. >> reporter: polster andrew smith says clinton edefiance may not be enough to convince new hampshire voters. >> she has to prove she is as progressive as bernie sanders is and has arguments to say you are not and one of those that has been most effective is they are taking money from major corporations and financial institutions at a time when many people in the democratic party especially the more progressive left wing of the democratic party is really angry about

that. >> reporter: clinton has little time to change the minds of new hampshire voters, the primary is now just days away and clinton trails her opponent and some polls by as much as 30 points. kimberly with al jazeera, durham, new hampshire. quick look at the program loyalty and a high profile governor is removed from his post. falling senses and why the first feature film in bangladesh is getting a mixed reception. ♪

>> "inside story" takes you beyond the headlines, beyond the quick cuts, beyond the soundbites. we're giving you a deeper dive into the stories that are making our world what it is. ♪

hello again and welcome back reminder of the top stories on al jazeera, tens of thousands of syrians fleeing to turkey border for safety and fighting intensified in aleppo province following government offensive backed up by russian air strikes. both uk and swedish governments have rejected a u.n. ruling in favor of wikileaks founder julian assange and up in the ecuador embassy in london for more than three years and believe he has been detained arbitrarily. more than 100 people are trapped under ground after a gold mine collapse in south africa. dozens of workers remain unaccounted for east of johannesburg. zimbobwe has a state of disaster in rural disasters hit by drought and left tens of thousands of cattle dead and many dams running dry and foot

shortages effecting a quarter of the population, 200,000 people fled burundi since the unrest of the controversial bid to be reelected last april and half have gone to tanzania and refugees told al jazeera that agents at the burundi government are hunting down people they believe to be opposition activists in u.n. run refugee camps and we report from there. >> reporter: the camp in tanzania is home to more than 40,000 refugees who fled on going violence if neighboring burundi, when we visited we were only allowed to interview from the refugee agency and the u.n. said it was for the refugees' protection and several other people wanted to speak to us about security in the camp but were not allowed. so we contacted them by phone after we left.

>> translator: the camp is currently not safe. we live in fear of burundi government malitia who are in the camp. >> reporter: we have spoken to many refugees by telephone who say similar things and many of them name particular individuals who they say are agents sent by the burundi government to the camp to track members of the opposition. they say those agents have attempted abductions and killings and they say those incidents have been reported to camp officials but many of the agents are still at large. several more refugees said a group of dozens had left the camp in november, believing they were joining an armed rebel group in burundi and later learned it was a trap set by government malitia and people in burundi said most in that group were killed and one was among them and gave a detailed account and says he escaped. >> translator: some of our group were tied up and loaded on to a truck and driven away, my friend and i jumped off and ran away to the border where we met more government malitia that

killed my friend but i escaped over the border. >> reporter: the burundi foreign minister told us on the phone that the allegations are baseless. in the capitol the u.n. said any of the refugees should have been allowed to speak to us and that senior u.n. officials were not aware of these particular cases. >> because if we had solid evidence of course it would be our duty to try to do something about it but through the government we are not responsible for actually security and safety. >> reporter: the screening the constant flow of new arrivals in the camp is not easy and here the police search their baggage for weapons and the government says it also was not aware of allegations but it's doing all it can to make the camp secure. >> the government has been really strict and whenever we have supported any kinds of activity that they are trying to say they have a recruitment and actually have taken serious measures, only last week only some refugees were actually

apprehended and taken before the courts and searched. >> reporter: meanwhile a leaked u.n. report accuses them of recruiting burundi refugees to fight against the burundi government in this refugee camp in rwanda and they deny it and in tanzania the u.n. and government says they are short of funding to deal with the burundi refugees and the refugees say they just want a place to be safe, malcolm web, al jazeera, tanzania. pro-government forces in yemen continuing offensive against houthi rebels in the sanaa province as they push to the capitol they are surrounding a rebel base close to the city and we have been watching as government forces repel houthi fighte fighters. >> reporter: you can see artillery shelling, the national army hopes to take control of the base in the coming hours.

however they are worried about the ieds and the land mines there, the base is essentially powerless and not useful for the houthi and sanaa forces as they are under tight lock down. the national army is hoping to capture the space so they can control the road to the capitol sanaa. al jazeera. a spokesman for the yemen army said offensive of sanaa has take end houthi rebels by surprise. >> this is one of the last scenes before the big metal and fighters there have to surrender or flee. we are entering the last phase before we launch the battle to liberate sanaa and after that the airport will be under our fire. pakistan airlines suspended all foreign and domestic flights and follows strikes by employees whoro tested against government plans to privatize the company and kamal has more now from islamabad. >> reporter: employees of

pakistan international airlines are continuing to focus across the country that brought all flights domestic and international to a grinding halt as far as this airline is concerned. now the people here are protesting against the moves by the government to privatize its airline. the government says that it has $3 billion and costing the national another $300 million annually to sustain this particular airline. however, after the killing of two of their colleagues in karachi earlier in the week the problem now is a conflict, hundreds of passengers are stuck overseas and now the government is trying to charter a foreign airline to bring their passengers back. south korea's foreign minister meeting with ambassadors in seoul because of growing concerns about a rocket launch by north korea and

meeting with united states, japan and eu and australia comes after north korea says it intends to launch an observation satellite and comes after widespread condemnation of north korea's fourth nuclear test in january. the governor of china's province has been dismissed part of an anticorruption drive-by the president and he is accused of disloyalty to the ruling communist party and adrian brown reports now from beijing. >> reporter: the governor of one of the most important provinces in china, this of course is a province where the former paramount leader hailed from and has been accused of violating party discipline and what you hear over and over again in today's china and also been accused of failing to rectify his wrongdoings. now, this of course follows events on thursday when the man who was the deputy governor of

another very important province in china was also removed from his post accused of violating party displain. in the case i think it is connected to the president xi-ping contract down on it because he was a close associate of the former security czar here in china who was jailed for ruptured shun just last year. chinese police detained three hong kong book sellers missing in october and in total five disappeared late last year and all have reemerged in china and they worked for publishing house known for criticism of china's communist party and chinese authorities say the three men are being investigated for illegal activity and it raised questions over china's commitment to hong kong's autonomy. hundreds of chilly people have take end to the streets of the capitol angry over the resent signing of a trans pacific

partnership or tpp. the deal involving 12 pacific rim nations aimed to/tariffs and trade barriers for 40% of the economy and tpp will cost jobs and hurt the sovereignty of asia pacific countries and it marks the end of negotiations and member states have two years to approve the deal before it does become legally binding. demonstrators in the united states capitol also protested against the deal and dozens of people gathered outside the headquarters of a major drug research facility and protesters say the tpp will make it difficult for patients to get access to life-saving medication. a film is looking at the culture in bangladesh and unlikely to get a commercial release in the country where it was made.

film festivals are rare to promote the movies and not just for bangladesh themselves and they are in decline with crowds dwindling since the 1990s. the old cinema halls are dying and the new theatres have not replaced them in that way so this is one crisis that you cannot show the film to the larger audience. >> and they are receiving more recognition abroad but the bangladesh film with most international attention this year will not be screened at home any time soon, my bicycle the first movie in bangladesh about the indigenous communities is getting trouble getting clearance and the director is from the indigenous community another first for the country's film industry. >> translator: we finance the film by asking around, my wife and friends gave money and the crew worked for free so that was

financing and a crowd model. >> reporter: he showed us a letter from sensors showing us that they are not getting it shown and trying to win independence and in 1997 but the army presence is heavy in indigenous areas and riots are common. it is pretty difficult for any kind of independent film maker in bangladesh to get their movie screened in theatres like this one but the stakes are particularly high with my bicycle and it's a rare glimpse into the lives of the country's indigenous minorities who are usually ignored in mainstream media and community leaders where their culture is in danger of disappearing. >> translator: the language survives through its use and we can't afford to print books in our language the way that they are spreading and we can't keep

up with it. >> reporter: it's a state of affairs and he hopes his film will help change but for that to happen he needs a board of sensor whose are little less sensitive. al jazeera. all the news is on our website al jazeera.com. i'm ali velshi, on target - the crude reality of falling oil prices, good for you when you fill up at the pump, but maybe bad for your 401k. falling oil prices are wreaking havoc on oil producers and workers. this week royal dutch shell said profits fell 56% in the last three months of 2015 compared to e