facebook and twitter. come back, we will have more america tonight tomorrow. break away region. >> occurrekurds are also people. they deserve to have a home. >> revealing its plan to establish its own territory, further complicating the syrian peace talks. deadly shootout. belgian policing uncover a cache of weapons and an i.s.i.l. flag,

a manhunt is underway for two other suspects. growing tensions. morocco accuses the hid of the urn of taking sides in a territorial dispute and threatens to pull out troops. >> he is coming, he is going to help. we are going to look at returning to growth and responsibility. >> brazilian presidential dilma rousseff appoints the former president la da silva. >> declaring the region an

autonomous federal zone. the assad government and turkey want syria's borders to be maintained. adding a new layering of complexity to the talks in geneva. the leader of the syrian government delegation ruled out direct talks with the opposition. bashar al jaffari. >> lawrence lee has the latest there the turkish syrian boat. >> the syrian town of kobani was almost fought off. which would stretch all the way to the border with iraq. on the turkish side of the

border, there's support for the ypg. just as much backing for kurdish awm. all. autonomy. not on just day 3 in geneva have the kurds even though they weren't invited managed to insert themselves back into the talks. the announcement also comes just a few days before kurdish new year. could it be the kurds want to announce autonomy in syria as new year's celebrations? in aleppo many said partitioning of the kurdish area went entirely against the aims of the revolution as one syria for alll

irrespective of one side side oe other. >> this is really bad. the cushedz ar kurds are part on people like anyone else, what if the druds or the alawites say they want their own territory? it's unacceptable. >> turkmen or arab citizens just like kurds and their federalism could be a model for them to follow. but for once those in aleppo and in damascus have something to agree about. they all insist partitioning syria is a mistake, making things worse than they have been. lawrence lee, al jazeera, outside kobani on the turkish

border. >> our diplomatic editor james bays reports from geerch. >> as the talks in geneva continue, the group that's not been invited force themselves onto the agenda. u.n. envoy staffan de mistura decided t exclude the pyd. dde mistura's deputy told al jazeera, the issue should be for the representatives at the talks. >> every syrian i talk to stands for the unity and the sovereignty of the inflation. >> the head of the pyd sallah

muslim actually showed up after he found out he wasn't invited. >> only when they openly announced that they are gis engaging with the regime, completely, only then will they have place in the opposition delegation in geneva. >> ambassador are the russians abandoning you? >> the syrian government chief negotiator bashar al jaffray ignored my question, since russia started pulling out its forces, later he explained that was a joint decision. >> our friends and allies the russians came to syria by a joint decision. and the day they will leave, it will be done through a joint syrian russian coordination action. >> reporter: he then used the opportunity to attack the high

negotiations committee who had been at the same podium a matter of hours earlier and in particular, mohammed allouche, who is a prominent member of the committee. >> translator: it's not an honor at all to sit with a terrorist in direct talks. he belongs to a terrorist faction that hit embassies and killed citizens. that's why we will never have direct talks unless this terrorist has apologized for what he has done and withdraw the suggestion. is. >> and then he should shave his beerd . >> those most undiplomatic comments showing the mistrust behind the scenes on a day when the announcements by the pyd only make this protest even harder. james bays, al jazeera at the united nations in geneva. >> an iraqi official and a syrian activist group confirm that a prominent i.s.i.l. leader

is dead. police in brussels tonight are searching for two men who escaped a police raid, one of the two could have been connected to the paris raids. an i.s.i.l. flag was found in the apartment. emma hayward has the story from brussels. >> teams carefully cd examined the apartment where gunmen had opened fire hours earlier, aiming to establish exactly what they were doing there. by day light, those who witnessed the events unfold were trying to understand what happened in the house opposite theirs. >> you heard a lot of shooting. you at some time i heard an explosion, too, and i really didn't know what was really happening. >> reporter: police have identified the gunman shot dead during the operation as mohammed

bell khaid, an algerian living in belgium illegally. he was known because of aette of theft in 2014. >> next to the body was a kalashnikov. no explosives were found. >> when they arrived at the apartment in forest they expected to carry out a routine search of an empty apartment. instead they crowned fierce resistance, lasting several hours. two of the suspects are still on the run. >> making their escape in that direction. what's not known is how mohammed bell khaid is linked if at all

to the paris attacks where 130 people were killed. it is known though that the paris plot was planned in brussels, four months on questions remain about the intelligence failings leading up to the attack and belgium remains at the heart of the investigation. emma hayward, al jazeera, brussels. >> in france, authorities have arrested four people including one who may have been planning an attack on paris. al jazeera.'s jacky rowland has more, including informing about one suspect's checkered past. >> a 20-year-old frenchman of moroccan origin. he was arrested in 2012 as he was planning to board a flight ogo to syria. suspected of wanting to go and fight there. now, he is only just been released in from prison in october of last year in fact he was already being held under house arrest since the end of

february as part of the state of emergency here in france. now, he was arrested as were three members of his ento your , french nationality but of turkish origin. no actual weaponry was seized, just computer material, usb keys and also a safe. apparently the arrest took place within the be heightened state of alert in france at the moment. it is not clear to what extent any plans they might have had were actually being prepared or made concrete. certainly one commentator on french media has been describing it as an intellectual project rather than something advanced further than that. in the current climate, especially given those arrests linked to the paris attacks that

took plagues in belgium on tuesday french police decided it was better to be prudent in the current circumstances. >> jacky rowland reporting from paris. a powerful explosion in pakistan today, at least 15 people died when a bomb went.off on a bus carrying mostly government officials in a building in peshawar. death sentences for 13 taliban members convicted in several previous attacks. suicide bombers struck a mosque, in the birth place of the boko haram group. one detonated a bomb inside the mosque, the other waited outside, until people tried oescape. the same mosque was -- to escape. the same mosque was attacked five months ago. the north african one of morocco, reducing support for

peace keeping campaign in the country in the sahara. al jazeera apri's sheebal jazeeb ratanzi has the story. >> stop helping fund it and reconsider all of its other u.n. peace keeping operation he. hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of morocco's capital rabbat angry from away they said was the pe perceived impartiali. >> we are obviously taking note

and we'll have to deal with the decisions they've taken. but the secretary general said what he said, he doesn't walk away from it. from what i expressed yesterday he expressed regret that there was a misunderstanding of the use of the word, but that's it. >> the secretary-general also no longer plans to visit morocco in the near future as previously announced. morocco took over much of mineral and perhaps oil rich sahara in 1975. it fought a local independence movement until a u.n. brokered ceasefire in 1991. a key portion was self determination, but backed by u.n. security council member france, they are only prepared to offer western sahara autonomy.

>> translator: no peace and no stability in the region as long as the sarawi people are denied their right to self determination and to independence. >> for decades, a humanitarian emergency has unfolded, and some people here worried whether ban had simply had enough in his final years of office. response to north korea's nuclear test and rocket launch earlier this year. u.s. is also calling for an immediate release of otto warmbeer, who was convicted of stealing a propaganda banner from his hotel. looking at saddam hussein

gassed his own people. also, the women prom patrollinga refugee camp in south sudan.

this. >> the world's worst ever chemical attack in 1988 scarred and killed thousands. it's the focus of our in context segment tonight. 28 years ago today, saddam

hussein's forces gassed the town of halabja. roundly condemned as an act of owner terrorism. >> white and yellow smoke rose as high as 150 feet. iraqi aircraft clug including ms and marrages, including the nerve gas serin and cyanide. at least 12,000 have died in the years since. various marking the tragedy have drawn protests in recent years with are kurds angry over the lack of rebuilding. halabja is about 150 miles northwest of baghdad.

it was seen as resistance to saddam hussein's regime. it was part of his plan of annihilation against the kurds called the ansal campaign in the 1980s which killed an estimated 100,000 people. seven defendants including saddam and his deputy, nome as chemistry ali, but saddam was executed in 2006 in a separate case before he could be progression cuteprosecuted for . courtney kealy, al jazeera. >> for more on the 28th anniversary of halabja, you i'm joined, the attack off halabja, iran-iraq war which is the

longest war of the 20th century. no easy feat, how did you get there and what did you see? >> well, at first, the thing i have to say there is a lot of confusion that followed the attack, or attacks. and so it took a long time before the world really got a solid idea of what had happened there. it took us maybe five days after the attack before we actually set foot in halabja. this was a time when as you said, the iran-iraq war was moving towards a close after eight reality painful years for both sides, a million people sol jergsoldiers and civilians killn both sides. the soldiers were weakened but had enough people left to be very active up in the kurdistan border of iran.

and they had gone across the border to halabja which is maybe five or ten miles inside there. it took us a flight from tehran and then a helicopter ride from an iranian base inside ira irano get there, the whole thing was delayed a bit because we had migs in the air around where we stopped to change to helicopters and also after we got to halabja. >> you were already an experienced war correspondent. how did what you witnessed compare to what you had seen in other fighting? >> you nerve get used to that sort of thing antonio. i had seen a lot of dead people in my life. this was perhaps one of the greatest numbers i'd ever seen in one place. have but it'but it's the way it,

it was just hugely depressing. there were children and young children babies at all times just plain ordinary people lying all over there and this was remember five days perhaps after the attack. and still all the bodies hadn't been taken away. so it was a very depressing experience. and i don't like to do that very often. >> now, you sat down with saddam hussein and joint interrer for the early days of the gol gulf . he denied using chemical weapons in halabja and you challenged him. >> they had been using chemical weapons for some years antonio. in fact man in charge of the

iraqis northern campaign was ali hasan al maji dfertionjid, a cof saddam, known as chemical ali. this was like interviewing a potato, he was about that responsive. i asked about halabja and he responded by asking me, oh what was it like? one of my big mistakes of my career, as i didn't say it was terrible and you were responsible. no, i just described what it was like. and he tried to shift the blame to others. >> in fact declassified statements showed that the u.s. was well aware of iraqi use of chemical weapons used before

halabja. the reagan administration looked the other way because the u.s. because allied with saddam in the war against iran. >> that's right, the united states was still very much against iran, this was still less than a decade after the taking of the u.s. hostages in tehran, and the iranians were not the favorites of the united states. later, as operation desert storm drew closer, of course, the opportunity was taken to shift the blame where it belonged. >> now the kurds have faced i.s.i.l. chemical weapons, the syrians have faced chemical weapons from the assad regime, red lines president obama's threat against assad. having witnessed those horrors

how dismayed are you about what happened? what should world leaders do? >> that's a big one. i think that -- i don't make a lot of difference between somebody who's dead from a chemical weapon and somebody who's dead from napalm, i've seen plenty of those. that's a hard one for me. i'm just a reporter. the iranian troops who were in the area were certainly shocked and horrified by this, and one reason i didn't believe, really, the blame placed on the iranians because i had seen the iranian doctors who were caring for wounded and carrying away the dead in halabja and they were weeping, antonio. >> it's awful to hear. but it's important to hear. especially given what we've seen over the past couple of years. form he cnn correspondent

richard blystone pleasure to have you with us. thank you. as the eu tries to solidify a deal to send many others from greece to turkey. coming up documentary film americas share their experience, spending one month in a syrian refugee camp. and shielding her predecessor, dilma rousseff gives her predecessor a cab complete post.

is. >> welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm antonio mora. coming up in this half hour of international news, argentina moves a step closer to closing the books in billions in unpaid debt to u.s. creditors. but first a look at the stories making headlines across the u.s. in our american minute. president obama has selected federal appeals judge merrick garland to fill the open spot on the supreme court. one of the country's top legal minds. but republicans want a influence president to affiliate seat vacated by antonin scalia. shut down following a series of recent fires, inspectors found 26 defects in cables that

powered the third rail of washington, d.c. hundreds of thousands of daily riders were forced to find alternate transportation. newark, new jersey's mayor blames rusting pipes in for high lead levels, some over 100 years old. it will begin testing the systems this week. military personnel have been apparently disciplined for the bombing of a doctors without borders hospital in afghanistan. instead of on a kabul command center a quarter of a mile away. u.s. authorities said it was an avoidable action. none will face criminal charges. suffering the war has caused in syrian is unlikely to end any

teem soon. al jazeera's stefanie dekker reports. >> there is announcemen anonymi. then occasionally there are moments when the world does want to know your name. this mass forced migration is a result of the five year war in syria. a war with many different allegiances and groups. on the ground, and beyond syria's borders. three and a half years ago, the man who first tried to resolve the conflict resigned and had this to say. >> at a time when we need, when the syrian people desperately need actions, there continues to be finger-pointing and name-calming uh calling in the security council.

>> that hasn't changed. nobody seems to have a solution to end this war. so-called red lines were crossed. >> firsthand accounts from humanitarian organizations on the ground. these all strongly indicate that everything these images are already screaming at us is real. that chemical weapons were used in syria. >> reporter: syria's civilization has been described as one of the most ancient in the world. full of archaeological treasures some that have survived for almost 2,000 years. parts of it entirely destroyed. be civilians forced to leave not just their homes but their country. nobody wants to be a refugee and there is little international appetite for the flow of syrian from this war. their view is uncertain. they long to go home but no one knows when that day will come and what syria will look like when it finally does.

stefanie dekker, al jazeera. >> the european union's dealing with turkey may hinge on ankara recognizing sy press arecognizi. the deal is contingent on turkey getting more money from the eu and visa free access to europe. but now the president of cypress says he will veto the deal if turkey does not recognize the cypriot republic. in 1972 turkey illegally occupied about a third of cypress and the island remains partitioned. macedonia, on monday the refugees he left a squalid refugee camp and hiked for hours through mud along the banks of a river in order to get around macedonia's border fence but were apprehended by macedonian border police.

mohammad adow is on the island of lesbos. >> reporter: with the macedonian border closed to all but a trickle, greece is a giant holding pen for refugees. on the island of lesbos live in proper camps but those from other countries are roughing it in a tented camp set up by volunteers from over the globe. the only welcome they have received and perhaps the warmest they will get. >> some people are facing the greek problem. they are not taking a breath just like that. what is going on, i have no idea. it is a crucial time for me. i have never ever faced this situation in my life history. >> reporter: those here are mainly from afghanistan, be pakistan and morocco. the european union considers them economic migrants and therefore unqualified for refugee status. the number continues to rise

every day. it is now a place of limbo for hundreds. they fled their lands but cannot go any further. the northern border is closed to them. every day the volunteers struggle to give the most basic of humanitarian assistance to the desperate people. kamala is from denmark. >> i'm amazed by these humiditieshumanities. i'm amazed they can still smile, when you only hear there's no solution you will not be recognizes. it is hard. >> be presenting a deal with turkey, many here feel they will be returned. when you have just left and risked everything to get here return may seem inconceivable. >> translator: we can't go back to our countes. what will we live on if we return? >> the game of cricket in a dull

setting. their future in the country hosting them offers a bleak prospect. mohammad adow, al jazeera, lesbos, greece. >> documentary film americas many chris and zack spent a month in be lebanon refugee camp. salaam neighbor, their worst look at the crisis since the second world war. great to have you with us. one thing that is extraordinary about this film and there are many, you were the first film makers that were allowed to live in the camp in a tent. some of the refugees thought you were crazy to do that voluntarily. >> yeah, it was an interesting thing walking into this camp and really the purpose of our journey there wasn't to replicate their own experience but it was to become -- talk at a deeper level about what it really means to be forced to

flee your country and have to restart your life in a new home land. >> it is incredible to see the pictures of zatari from the air it looks like a significant city, in fact it is the largest refugee camp in the middle east. you said you felt paralyzed by the scale of the humanitarian crisis you found. >> you come into this scamp and all you see in the horizon are tents. about 85,000 living there. what surprises us the most is amidst this refugee population it wasn't just people sitting around waiting for handouts all day. they had actually built this camp into what you said, a city, over 3,000 businesses having popped up, huge multimillion dollar economy, there's even a pizza delivery system inside the camp, incredible and very human in the way that people are rebuilding their lives. >> you highlight a bunch of stories, some of which are positive, people who reestablish

their lives with a new economy. how many for a better life in jordan or home in syria some day. >> now that we've hit the five year mark of this crisis there's a lot of frustration. and we -- it's amazing to see the resilience that our neighbors have shown. one of the main characters in this film name is ishmael. he looked just like my dad. seeing him he used to be -- studied to be a french teacher back in damascus, forced to flee his country. now in this camp, he is forced not to pursue his education but now is getting these young children back to school. >> what he went through in particular it with really was you the most heartbreaking story you have. there is a little boy who's ten

years old wants to be a doctor, when he gets to go to a school at the camp, he breaks down, can't go in because his school in syria was bombed. zack i know you really struggled with that. >> yeah, i mean we both did in this moment where we realized, day 1, raof when we come into the camp he was our first little guide, he was there helping us set up our tenlt tent, showed ue the bread distribution was, showed us where the bathrooms were. he hadn't been in school for two years, there was that moment where he couldn't cross the threshold into the classroom because his school had been bombed in syria. for so much of this population are those stories, those tragedies that are really holding people back acknowledge where the psychosocial support

and education comes in. without that who will. >> often we have discussed how the rest of the world simply can't relate to the scale of what jordan, lebanon and turkey face. jordan's population has swelled by about a sixth with the refugee influx. that's comparable to the united states receiving 50 million refugees. most of those refugees actually live outside the camps in jordan but they are struggling as well. >> absolutely. one of the characters in our film follows a woman who had three young children, used to be a nurse in syria but living in a city outside the camp. her experience is representative, 25% of the refugees are women with children. it's so important to support host countries so they can help these large populations of syrian refugees in their countries. jordan, lebanon, turkey, iraq,

brought in most of the refugees. >> you brought in more than 100 screenings set up in the united states, many in college campuses. what message do you want to get out? what do you hope to achieve through film? >> we really want this film ohelp provide a human lens in this crisis. that's what it's done for us. oftentimes people fear what they don't know and it's a mistake to gif into that fear instead of reaching out and trying to have dialogue. right now, on our website, salaamneighbor.org, they can bring in school community or come and actually advocate for increasing the access to humanitarian aid money in the region or even volunteer locally within their community. there is a lot of action that we want people to do. the film we hope is a spark and we hope people will run with it.

>> salaam neighbor it's an important film and we thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> all 22 people on bore an ecuadorian aircraft were killed. the israeli built cargo plane was being used for parachute training. no word what caused the crash. brazilian president dilma rousseff last named her predecessor as chief of staff. brafs'brazil averages governmens reeling from a are corruption scandal. >> i'm very comfortable with him. we have six days of reconstruction so i'm happy with him coming.

>> al jazeera marga ortigas has more. >> it's seen as a desperate act by former president lula and president rousseff, facing prosecution charges for fraud and money laundering in the state of suu pau saw paul suu . a way he is trying to regain the confidence of the public. more than 3 million brazilians came out asking her to step down all across the country over the weekend but president rousseff still believes the wider population, the poorer sections of the population as it were are still supportive of her and

lula. that she might stay in power just a little bit longer. >> marga ortigas in brazil. government says it laid off 6200 workers in argentina but union members say that is closer to 20,000. meanwhile, argentina's lower house has approved a payment deal with its creditors. be dlts daniel schweimledaniel . >> the president mauricio macri,

and form he president cristina kirchner, resolution balking the nation's right to protect them from creditors was approved overwhelmingly by the general assembly. creditors were not happy. >> i have been involved with 5 sovereignty negotiations from liberia, ecuador, argentina really stands out as a country that refused to talk. >> one of the largest hedge funds, nml capital, had a frigate embargoed. the debts must be paid and paid with interest. however, a moral argument has arisen. the previous argentine

government, should be able to hold sway in the interest of profit over whole countries. countries often rebuilding. holding out for repayment in full plus interest. some accidents have been paid, with creditors accepting reduced offers. argentina's financial sector said the dispute was a huge impediment to growth. >> i think argentina is slowly but surely coming back under the radar of international investors. they are a still a bit cautious awaiting the problem but there have been many things that have been improving regarding foreign veforts. foreign investors. >> argentina's problems are

still be bad but may soon be resolved. daniel schweimler, al jazeera, owner buenos aires. those helping his rehabilitation were able to give him a trip to meet his hero. >> and pigeons on patrol. why these birds are suited with backpacks and sent to fly around london.

>> millions of people in africa are facing hunger crisis this year. 36 million people will need food aid. unicef is already making plans to treat more than 2 million ethiopian children for malnutrition. zimbabwe has he been hard hit. millions of internally displaced people are languishing in camps. violence surrounds them. now a women's peace keeping force is solving problems. anna cavelle last off the radar report. >> meet mary, a leader of female peace keepers in south sudan. she session she wants to bring a

wave of safety to people. when the war started more than two years ago most are afraid to leave. the people who live here are from the nuar tribe which is generally associated with the we opposition. people say it's not safe to venture out. it was easy for them to hear what's going on. they stop people in the street, catch up on the news and look out for any potential problems. after years of living under tarpaulin, crowds can turn angry very quickly. tempers are running high. the women's peace keeping force can be a soothing influence. they are not threatening to the crowd. the severity of the cases they

deal with varies. in this case it was a boy being bullied by his friends or it could be domestic violence or reuniting lost children with their families. at the end of the day mary and her colleagues reflect on the benefits they have brought to the camp. >> translator: my job is positive. why? because since we started no woman has fought with another woman. the women wearing these pink shirts, if we find people fighting, we stop them. >> they want them to return to their homes. until they do so mary and her team are doing their part to make sure they are safe where they are. anna cavelle. al jazeera. now to our global view segment with a look at how news outlets across the world are reacting to various events. have germany deutschewelle, says for trump the insults were a

strategien for rubio they were an act of desperation and made him look like he wasn't presidential material. argues this may not be the end of rubio but for now his political career is over. china's times says the rise of trump is a product of the republican party's own make, the paper says trump plays on those spheres, fears of outsiders and of the loss ever america's position at the top of the world. it argues that the attraction to trump's make america great again slogan is a slogan of the mythical 1950s where america dominated the globe. a gladiator arena littered with dead bodies. coming up next an authentic recease of the 2016 election.

some scenes may be disturbing. a story of heartache and soccer. a palestinian boy orphaned at five years old. as nah diem baba reports, he could soon get to travel ospain to meet his favorite player. >> be his favorite player is the real madrid striker christian renaldo. his 18 month old brother ali was killed straight away, his mother succumbed to her injuries. >> ahmed asks me every day about his parents. he asks me, where is heaven? how par is it from my house? the other day he looked at his mother's photo. i believe ahmed will need more

collateral help. >> his treatment at this israeli hospital is far from finished but he's surrounded by staff and volunteers who make sure he feels loved and now thanks olots of planning by well wishers he's getting a special trip to spain to visit real pa drid and meet christian reynaldo. >> some of the guys from the soccer association, palestinian guys, said if he loved reynaldo, pain he can visit him. >> of course ahmed faces a much longer journey, his rehabilitation. but at least at the hospital they are trying to give him as much of a normal childhood as they can and that means lots of love as well as a oift

once-in-a-lifetime trip to meet his footballing hero. nadim baba, al jazeera. readings around the city range from moderate to high. 12.6 million people are estimated to die in 2012 living and working in unhealthy environments. denmark scores as the world's happiest country. few natural disasters, absence of corruption or natural events, war torn burundi was last even worse than syria. that's its for this international news hour, on al jazeera america, next, new guidelines for doctors using opioids for chronic pain. i'll be back with more news in two minutes.

you. >> good evening, i'm antonio mora. this is al jazeera america. >> it seems clear that president obama made this nomination not, not with the intent of seeing a nominee confirmed, but in order to politicize it for purposes of the election. >> the republican controlled senate says president obama's choice to fill seat vacated 50 death of supreme court justice antonin scalia will not even get a hearing. >> so if you've been waiting for right moment, now's the time to come join us! >> and there is great anger, believe me, there is great anger. >> a pivotal night in politics appears to put hillary clinton and do