syrian state media claims government forces have taken full control of the ancient town of palmyra. welcome. i'm peter dobbie. you're watching al jazeera. hundreds of refugees are heading towards the greek macedonia border in the hope that it will open. italian police arrest a man with links to the suicide bombers. >> i like to save people and

trees and nature. i love it doing a good turning. refugees in australia are volunteering as firefighters the developing story, some of the latest pictures to show you because syrian state media an monitoring groups say the army has taken full control of palmyra. government forces have been advancing into i.s.i.l.-held territory over the last due days. there have been heavy clashes in residential areas. the syrian army backed by russian air power have reportedly captured the castle which is a world heritage site. palmyra fell to i.s.i.l. in may last year and the group is not part of the agreed cessation of hostilities in syria. palmyra is important not only because of its history, but also because of its geographical location. it is located on the strategic

highway linking the highway damascus with i.s.i.l. held deir as zour. its capture means i.s.i.l. can be stopped moved towards iraq. assuming that they've got this right and it has fallen to the damascus forces, is there anything left in palmyra worth fighting over? >> reporter: no, it's not. what we're hearing from the activists groups is that on the eastern side of palmyra there is some clashes, but they're describing it not as fierce as it was over the last 24 or 48 hours. so pretty much i think the syrian army according to the pictures we showed are in control in at least in a few areas that they shared with reporters.

another activist group have told us that this morning the fighting was heavy but then it all died down. it was a bit quiet. that is another occasion that is all over now where do we think the i.s.i.l. fighters have gone if they are at any level tremendous treating? >> reporter: we have two areas that are not very far from palmyra. to the north you have raqqa, that's an i.s.i.l. stronghold. so this is a possible route for the i.s.i.l. fighters goep and reach their stronghold. it depends on how they do that. then you have another part in the eastern area and that's in der azor so they will go there the government forces will be taking it gentle now because i.s.i.l. has a track record of leaving booby tracks behind when

they walk in the other direction. >> reporter: yes. absolutely. in fact, one of the videos that the state tv showed, the reporter was speaking to a number of soldiers who are celebrating their victory, is that they told how we need to be careful because the soldier told that reporter that the explosions you heard is that the air forces are trying to clear the booby trap. this is i.s.i.l.'s tactic when they leave or evicted from a certain area, they leave a lot of booby traps and iuds. and then later suicide attacks. i think at some stage they will try and carry out a counter-attack is there russian air support involved in what is going on there today? >> reporter: i haven't heard any reports of russian air strikes,

but they've been involved heavily in the last few days, even they struck a number of targets in and around palmyra and that's why they gave the troops on the ground, the syrian army, and their allies from the malicious from hezbollah and also iraq, afghanistan and pakistan, they gave them the ability to advance. today i'm not quite sure because i don't think they need to. in the last 48 hours the russian air power was heavily involved thank you very much. in northern iraq turkey has launched air strikes on i.s.i.l. positions. this follows the killing of a soldier >> translation: after lee sazing with the chief of staff, all the areas have been destroyed. turkey's military presence in that area will continue and we

will continue to maintain our presence that will respond to possible threats again p against our borders even further south refugees are right now marring towards the greek-macedonian border in the hope that it will be opened for them. they've refused to go to government-run shelters for fear of deportation. the camp conditions have only we'res and and 12 thousand people are stranded there still. our correspondent is there with the latest. >> reporter: we saw dozen of refugees and migrants making their way to ido measuring eni carrying their belongings. they left makeshift camps and they're heading here. they said they've been told that the border will be open. who told them that? the social media. what they have not been told, there has been no announcement that the border is going to be

open. what they were not told is the fact that some refugees here are planning a march towards the border. they're hoping to break through the fence. people here are desperate. they're frustrated. they're losing patience so they're planning this march and they need the support they can get. because what has been happening over the past few days, people have been leaving by being transferred to government mf run accommodation centers. some believe by staying here they're forcing officials to open the border. these people are walk kilometers and kilometers to reach here and they have so much hope. we told them that we didn't hear any official announcement but that there would be a march. they said they're going to continue because they don't have any money left and they have no faith in the relocation program of the of the e.u. they believe they will be stuck

here for months italian police have arrested a man on suspicion of providing false id documents to those involved in the recent suicide bombings. media reports have identified the man of algerian descent. he might be extra died to belgium in the next few days. the man who may be the third bomber at the brussels airport attack has been arrested. the suspect and two others have been charged with terrorism offences. meanwhile a big rally planned for sunday has been postponed because of security concerns. paul brennan reports from brussels. >> reporter: the middle here is brahim el-bakraoui. on the left is najim laachraoui. the left is fisel c. the third man's device failed to explode and he fled.

>> reporter: the location of this man's arrest is extraordinary. he may be the third airport bomber, a bomber whose photograph has been all over the belgian media the last few days although he was arrested out front of this area that was crawling with soldiers and police. there are new names and connections emerging evidence day. it is clear that the paris and brussels attacks were the work of one network not separate cells. najim laachraoui was connected by dna evidence to an address used by the paris bombers. salah abdeslam and these three. najim laachraoui is an expected bomb maker and his dain was found on explosives belts. the suicide bomber at brussels metro was khalid el-bakraoui who

had rented the safe house which the paris attackers used before their attacks and also the hide out where salah abdeslam fled after paris. several accomplices are still being hunted, including this man. 101 casualties are still being treated in hospital. four of those killed in tuesday's bomb attacks have yet to be positively identified. it is a difficult and forensic task. >> translation: you have to understand that a terrorist bomb contains small and big metal peezs. >> reporter: the interior minister and mayor urged the postponement of a big rally planned for brussels on sunday. policing that gathering would hamper the bombings inquiries. >> for these inquiries we need a lot of police capacity all over

the country. it is our main priority to let the police in the best circumstances possible do these inquiries. >> reporter: the organisers agreed. the really ee is off, but the grieving goes on. paul brennan bernie sanders has won the democratic parliamentary caucus in hawaii. it is his third win over hillary clinton in three caucuses held yesterday. bernie sanders also defeated hillary clinton in washington and alaska. this is now the presidential race for the democrats stand at the moment. it takes 2383 to win the democratic nomination. despite bernie sanders' victories hillary clinton still has a substantial lead, 1234 pledged delegates there for her.

mr sanders why hoping is hoping to pick up. an editor says these will keep him very much in the race >> certainly they're significant enough to allow bernie sanders to claim some momentum going forward, and most importantly to keep his campaign going. these were not just wins in washington state and alas ka. these were enormous win. he won over 70% of the votes, winning really largely in washington. it allows the bernie sanders campaign to continue to raise money, something they've done tremendously well. it allows him to essentially say you should be a liberal democrats out there, should give pause to others in the party who are still lining up behind hillary clinton. it lets this race continue.

hillary clinton still has a sizeable advantage here. the reason for that is she not only has the pledged delegate lead, she has the super delegate lead and these are the party elders, elected officials on the democratic side who are largely with hillary clinton. if bernie sanders is going make this a contest and find a way to compete for the nomination ultimately, what he is going to have to do is start changing minds among the elder states men of the democratic party, the elected officials who make up these super debt gates. that's a tougher road more to come for you, including more than 100 people are under arrest as china investigates an illegal vacuums seen scandal. a new law designed to protect women from abuse is under attack in pakistan. in pakistan.

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welcome back. the top stories here on al jazeera. syrian state media and monday are r toring group say - diabetes and monitoring group say palmyra has been achieved. ewe mores on social media say refugees left hills to head back to the border crossing. bernie sanders has defeated hillary clinton in washington, alaska and hawaii. he still lags behind hillary clinton by more than 300

delegate pledges australia has a tough policy to deter refugees who arrive by boat, but some of them are making a valuable contribution to the country. some have even become firefighters. andrew thomas from noble park near melbourne. >> reporter: every summer parts of australia go up in flames. in hot windy conditions wild bushfires are common. containing them and stopping them from destroying homes or lives generally falls to volunteer firefighters. not many are from iran, but this woman and her husband are. refugees who came to australia by boat. >> the hoses is very heavy especially with the water on. it gets heavier. for me it is, for men maybe not but for me it is. i like to save people, trees and nature. i love it. >> reporter: a few years ago the

local fire brigade faced a problem, a dwindling number of recruits. five years ago there weren't enough volunteers to run a training exercise like this one, let alone to have enough people on call for when a real fire broke out. the fire service was becoming unviable. >> we had about 12 members in the brigade and that's not enough for what we want to do in the community. we really had to do something to change that around. >> reporter: the fire service made an active effort to recruit from ethnic minorities, particularly resettled refugees. nowadays australia's government deports any refugees who come by boat, but between 120 and 2013 tens of thousands arrived who were allowed to stay. a high number settled to the south and east of melbourne, the very area facing a shortage of firefighting volunteers. today of the 52 volunteers based

at noble park half are from immigrant backgrounds. >> they helped us and accept us to be in australia. so i should do something. i want to do something. it's lining pay back. >> reporter: the firefighters are more representative of the immigrant communities they're serving too >> particularly in a situation where you've got a fire, it is a bad time for people. english not being a first language, quite often we have members responding who can speak other languages and offer comfort and support to people in their time of need. >> reporter: the focus of australian politics recently has been on how to keep refugees out. sometimes over looked is their contribution once they're in. andrew thomas let's return to our top story. the reported fall of palmyra. coming at the cessation of hostilities completes a period

of one month. the u.n. has managed to get medical help and food to fine of 11 besieged areas but these town mz are still cut off. although there has been a pause in fighting, both sides have blamed each other for sporadic violations. on 15 march the president announced the withdrawal of forces from syria. russian jets continue to support the offensive in palmyra. world pours are pressing for a transition of power in syria. talks should begin again in geneva next month. a syrian academic and writer joins us here live. would the cessation of hostilities held as well as it has held if the russians hadn't pulled out 60/07% of their gear that was involved in that theater of conflict? >> i think without russian,

whether it was pulled out or not, it is my the issue, sloppings the russians are having the main say right now in the syrian conflict because we all know that - i mean, they have told the regime that they must abide by this agreement. the cessation of hostilities agreement, and annoy for sure that there have been trying to put huge pressure on the regime in order to not violate, but i think they're trying to show that they can actually pressure their allies in order to respect the agreements which had been reached with the americans over the past actually few weeks, whether concerning the situation on the ground or concerning the political talks in gen ooech a if the russians are driving this, will they drive it as far

as saying to bashar al-assad, your day are numbered, this is a lose-lose situation for you. you have to accept that and process that information accordingly. >> i think the russians are not going to say that until they get what they want from the americans. i think they are using bashar al-assad as a bargaining chip right now. because with the talks between john kerry and putin last week, they were talking about that. the government is using syria as a bargaining chip with americans concerning the sanctions. i think the russians are pushing towards a full package concerning a range of issue. while the americans are insisting on things. at the end of the day the russians will have to tell bashar al-assad he must go because if they are serious about ending the syrian

conflict, and i think they are serious, but they are trying to use the syrian issue in order to get concessions from the americans on other issues when mr putin last july to september time surprised the world, he took his eye off the ball, off ukraine and the whole issue of crimea, he focused in on syria. he is going back to focus on that. he is using him as a bargaining chip. he goes from one area to one area that makes him look strong to another area that makes him look strong and going back to crimea makes him look strong. >> i think it's not about looking strong. it is a title need for russian. if you look at, for example, vladimir putin, it doesn't mean anything without ukraine. when he went to syria, he was

actually trying to achieve so many objectives. one of them is to establish himself as a strong war figure, but on the other hand he was planning to use the whole syrian issue. when he was bombing in syria, he was trying to drive syrian refugees as possible outside of syria into turkey and europe. he was putting pressure on europe, using the refugee crisis on one hand and his eye was never taken off ukraine. he was using the refugee crisis to get something from the european on ukraine. ukraine is the most important issue, i still think, for mr putin to get whatever he wants in ukraine thanks. >> thank you more than 100 people have been arrested in china over the past week next with a vaccine

scam. so far four pharmaceutical producers have had their licences revoked. >> reporter: this woman has pent days worrying after hearing an illegal vaccine ring having been in operation for fours years since 2011 >> translation: i'm worried because i don't know if this is the only case are there are many cases like this in the whole country or whether it will happen again. >> reporter: in april a mother and daughter were arrested accused of being the ring leaders. they had bought vaccines from licenced and unlicensed traders, then resold them to hospitals and clinics. the drugs were made by approved manufacturers, but officials say they were not stored or transported with adequate refrigeration. the w mo and government health bodies have said the vaccines are very unlikely to cause adverse side effects. despite the assurances, many

parents are still angry. one of the reasons why parents are so suspicious is because china does not have a good record when it comes to food and drug safety. on social media sites parents are comparing in issue with cases of tainted formula milk sold in the country years ago. in 2008 six children died and an estimated 30,000 fell sick after drinking milk contaminated. while the safety of the vaccine in this case isn't thought to be an issue, questions are being asked as to how the over sight could have happened. >> translation: there are supposed to be regulations and supervision of vaccine production and use. why was there this lack of supervision? sometimes law and rules are not supervised enough. >> reporter: over the past week police have arrested more than 100 people and are investigating dozens of pharmaceutical companies. parents like leap want to see more accountability. >> translation: the government

supervisors supervisors should be held responsible not just the mother and daumplyt >> reporter: many blame the government for releasing news about in nearly a year after the main suspects were arrested last april a new bill has been passed in punjab that criminalizes domestic abuse. the regional government is setting up a 24-hour hot line and plans to open up a network of shelters for abused women. some muslim religious figures are opposing the law >> reporter: welcome to this leading beauty salon that caters to pakistan's more privileged classes but also offers help to some of its victims. if you look around you can see that most of the trainees here are victims of domestic violence. many have the scars from acid attacks. in woman came up with the idea for the salon which is training

707 students who come from all over the country. >> any crime that takes place has to be taken into account and the perpetrators must be punished and the justice should be given to the victims. >> reporter: last month a legislature here passed a bill that criminalizes the domestic abuse of women. some religious leaders object to parts of the new law. >> translation: islam is a religion that has women with rights like other women. >> reporter: some are worried it could have a backlash. women rights groups across the country have said the unanimous resolution as a major victory. it has sparked a heated debate

with the religious groups. the most powerful religious parties say they were not consulted on the bill and have serious questions. >> translation: punjab women protection bill is against islam. it furthers the western agenda and should be withdrawn immediately otherwise religious parties will move a movement against the bill. >> reporter: the law minister remains defiant and say it is now law and will be implemented in letter and spirit. >> we have to protect women. they're 50% of our population. so this bill will not be withdrawn. however, we can improve it, we can delete anything if there is grounds to doing so. >> reporter: pakistan's constitution says that any legislation which goes against lamb cannot become law. no-one knows if the government will back down or hold its

grounds on the contentious legislation, but one thing it can't afford amount is continued opposition and the threat of street protests you can keep right up-to-date with all the top international news stories on the website. aljazeera.com genetic modification, incredible science in the lab usually means this. it can be controversial, it can also be extremely beneficial. >> just like that, i'm genetically modified the mosquitos that carry two