only on al jazeera america. pakistan to launch a paramilitary crackdown after the lahore park bombing - 29 children among 70 killed. thousands rally again in support of pakistan's blasphemy laws. this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up, the first pictures emerge from inside palmyra since isil was driven out of the ancient city belgium police released cc tv footage from belgium airport

as the judge frees a man charged over the attacks taking out the law men - mexican police believe they have caught one of the sinaloan's key money men first, we start with breaking news out of the u.s. capital washington d.c. where gunshots have been reported at the capital business center. we are getting more reports coming in as we speak. the white house on lockdown knoll jing reports of a shooting on capitol hill -- following reports of a shooting on capitol hill. we understand from reports, from reuters, for instance, the gunshots were reported in the u.s. capital visitor's center, according to the u.s. senate sorters and workers in the capitol building was told to shelter in place, which is the procedure brought in when the central security alerts happen.

we are getting reports that a police officer has been wounded, and also we know that capital police have been trying to move people on outside the capital complex, telling them to take cover. these are live pictures coming in from that area in washington d.c. people being moved out of the way. and people, as i said, told to shelter in place inside their offices as the incident is being investigated. we don't have more details of whether it was one person responsible for a shooting. there's a certain amount of fear as people run from the area. clearly this is an area where many tourists congregate. our correspondent will appear shortly on this breaking news story in washington d.c. you can see the police searching the area. these are live pictures of the

incident. just to remind you gunshots reported in the u.s. capital visitor's center, and workers in the capital building told to shelter in place. we are working to get you more information from our correspondent at the scene as soon as we can let's move on to pakistan. at least 70 people in lahore were killed. most of home were women and children. the paramilitary has been given special powers to conduct raids. gerald tan has the latest. >> reporter: lahore is the political power base of the prime minister sharif. he travelled to the city and visited the hospital.

he gave this warning. >> i have a good idea of the message these people send to make they say people a soft target. i promise every ounce of blood lost will be accounted for pakistan is in mourning. funerals held for the dead. many killed were women and children. hundreds injured. some critically. witnesses recounted the moments of the explosion and the chaotic aftermath. >> i was standing near the seesaw when the blast went off. it was loud. there was a bool of blood and people laying everywhere. the park was parked with families celebrating easter sunday. the bomber used four ball bearings for impact. the pakistan taliban said it carried out the attack and was targetting christians. >> no one is safe from the

taliban, they proved to choose soft targets, and the softest of the softest are the minorities, with little to protect them. >> reporter: the military said it launched a series of raids. attacks like this are not new in pakistan, the government has been battling armed groups for more than a decades. lahore largely escaped the violence. the latest bombing sending a reminder that the fight is far from over let's take you back to the breaking news. the situation of a security alert at the capital building in washington d.c. we understand one capital police officer has been shot, but not seriously, according to reports, and the shooter in custody. let's bring in our correspondent who has been monitoring this for us. what happened? >> all we know is pretty much

what you reported. this was a shooting at the visitor center in the capitol hill building, the congressional building at washington d.c. limited to a visitor's center. one security guard was shot. but the gunman has been custody, possibly shooting himself. that's all we had. we have the white house under lockdown. information sketchy at the moment. we have to be careful about anything that is said. we know what can be said in the heat of the moment can turn out not to be true. the information from reuters, the person responsible for the shooting has been custody and this is over. the place was under lockdown, the buildings were under lockdown. it was limited to the visitor's center remind us, what kind of alert that area would be under

at the moment. >> well, by lockdown they mean no one should move outdoors. sheltering in place, i believe, used by the capitol police. if there's a gunman on the loose. >> sorry, what i was getting ot, given the event from the last few weeks, has the security alert levels, they'd been arranged or had they stayed the same? >> the last time i checked, security levels had not been increased. around the time of the last incidents in belgium, we were told there was no increased security threat. i'll have to check that. prams the newsdesk can give confirmation as to whether in recent days - last time i checked that wasn't the case. clearly there's a state of

heightened alert, at least psychologically over the fairs matters in the week. perhaps someone in my ear will tell me in a moment. >> thank you, the latest update on the situation at the u.s. capital, which is on lock down. we'll come back as soon as there's more information. to return to event on the second day, pakistan has been trying to gain control of protesters that flooded the streets of islamabad. protesters are rallying in support of blasphemy reports. imran khan reports. >> reporter: this defiant program seemingly came out of nowhere. thousands came to celebrate the life of the karvery. a police officer killing a man he was to protect. he took up the cause of a

christian woman who was accused of blasphemy. his support of her case angered some. kadri was executed for that crime on february 29th of this year. since then he rallied in his support. they have spoken out against the government, and knows that they are against islam. >> translation: people from within your ranks will kill you, your body guards, your servants. people will rise up. no one is safe. the people will not spare even the prime minister. god put hope in their hearts. >> the protest brought the center to a standstill. the army is on the streets trying to contain the crowd. the mobs attacked anything they saw as symbols of the

government. they were put there to stop people coming in. and it shows you how angry they were. look at the damage around you. demands are clear. they wand kadri to be declared a hero. and the christian woman to be rearrested. and wants those in gale to face the same fate. >> it's unlikely the government will accept the demand. their voices are heard across the nation nonetheless iraq's parliament extended a deadline for the cabinet to deliver a reshuffle spurred by protests. prom then cleric muqtada is staging a sit in. he wants diversity, but the party says it's around attempt to marginalise them. >> reporter: some waited a life time for this moment. shia cler irk mukhtar al-sadr,

normally seen on video, standing in front of them in baghdad, promising a new era. >> translation: my beloved followers who live in luxury, forget about the poor and insist there's no sign of corruption, but i insist otherwise. >> reporter: across the city, sadr's followers had been waiting for his word to storm the green zone. instead, sadr diffused the threat, but seized the spotlight. >> translation: i'm the representative of the people by the grace of god. i will sit in the green zone and use it outside the green zone. everyone remain in their tents and stay in their places. his followers obeyed. iraqi military officials led sadr through concrete barriers.

an iraqi army general in charge of green zone security kissed his hand. sadr says he will leave only when there's a new cabinet. the prime minister haider al-abadi said he is trying but will need a few days to get the ministers to agree. this challenge is different to the one sadr imposed in 2003 and 2004. that's when the militia fought american soldiers and iraqi forces in the street. the militia played a lead the role in iraq's sectarian war. sadr disbanded the army to create a new political movement. knew he says he speaks for all iraqis. for two weeks, they camped outside the green zone. they are mostly sadder followers much.

people here want what they thing people in the green zone have - a share of the oil wealth. protesters are keen on dismantling what they see as keeping them poor. >> reporter: this man comes from a poor area of iraq. >> we have a lot of widows, orphans, poor, unemployed. people with university degrees, working as labourers. >> reporter: sadr has capped into anger. they have this nothing but promises. they are demanding that the government deliver still ahead - calls for somali's government to do more to fight al-shabab. plus... >> i'm in the rocky mountains in alberta. i'll go underground to find out how caved sail, beneath the

surface of the earth, could be helping us to beat drug resistant bacteria.

>> we're here to fully get into the nuances of everything that's going on, not just in this country, but around the world. getting the news from the people who are affected. >> people need to demand reform... >> ali velshi on target. the top stories on al jazeera - a police officer has been shot and part of the white house and u.s. congress placed in lockdown after a gunman was in the visitor's center. a gunman has been detained pakistan is to launch a crackdown to help authorities crackdown those responsible for the suicide blast that killed at least 70 people, most women and

children iraq's parliament extended a deadline for the prime minister to consider a cabinet reshuffle. prompts mass protests experts are assessing the damage that isil did to palmyra, now that it has recaptured the area. these are the first pictures of the ancient ruins where isil han in control for a year. photos suggest the damage is not as bad as many feared it's a different story in the museum, where the damn is worse than expected. a number of artefacts were smashed before the group fled the area. the antiquities were thousands of years old. belgium police released one of the men arrested after the tuesday bombings in brussels, and are asking for help to identify they are spec and released a video. a man in a hat was seen with two

attackers. police believe he dumped the suitcase bomb and fled the scene. it comes as four more died in hospitals, bringing the total number of victims to 35, not including the attackers. nine saudi prisoners have been swapped for yemeni nationals. yemen's groups made an exchange with what it fold faux riyadh. groups have been fighting for two years. a ceasefire is set to come into force on april 10th, as well as police talks on the 18th. >> the somali government captured towns and cities. >> soldiers have been killed and others were injured. they said they have been abandoned by the authorities. we have this report from mogadishu. >> this is the image that

somali's government wants you to see. hidden away from the public, soldiers who have been wounded in the fight against the armed group. they are struggling to make ends meet. no longer able to fight the soldiers have been abandoned. >> translation: i was wounded by al-shabab in 2010. i was badly injured and left on my own. my rights have been neglected. i paid for the hospital bill. they stopped paying me. i need to be taken abroad for treatment. i can't afford that. >> today i was injured. it was the last time i heard from my stars. i was not able to walk. my wife left. i could not provide for them after they were injured. >> government troops pushed

al-shabab out of most towns and cities. >> many of the soldiers come knowing they have not returned alive. most are bread winners. they know they may not receive their salary at the end of the month. these soldiers tell us they do it for the love of their country many families say they have left on their own. >> translation: no one came to check if he had a family. we would have received condolences and financial compensation. because he was a somali soldiers no one cares about him or others like him. >> the somali government denied they had neglected their soldiers.

the ghost spends 50% on security. we are doing is to make sure troops are met. as they begin a career, fighting an armed group with the government. considering it an object cuba's retired leader fidel castro wrote a letter critical of president obama following his visit to havana. they wrote we don't need the empower to give us presence. fidel castro led in 2009 to 2006. he didn't meet obama last week. he handed over to his brother raul castro a money man is believed to have been arrested in mexico.

he was believed to look after the finances of the the sinaloa drug cartel the key to fighting some super-bug infections may come from underground. scientists have been digging deep to take on the bacteria. daniel lack reports from a cave. >> reporter: a deep gave beneath canada's rocky mountain, it's dark, wet. they can't stop humans reaching the caverns. >> reporter: there's life in the soil that hasn't been exposed to the drugs and diseases. it's part a scientific effort to beat super-bugs. >> people are looking at the extreme environments, especially

underground. >> the dirt from deep down end up here at thompson rivers university, the department of microbiology. microbes isolated are put in petry dishes. they are having a startling effect. >> hundreds of bacteria my students isolated. they chose promising activity. we have filed a good group that produced metabolites that killed multidrug resistant bacteria. >> it's been decades since new bacteria has been found. the growing prevalence of super-bugs could speed things up. >> i believe that we still need to widen our toolbox.

if you think of it as a toolbox, i mean to have oint biotics -- antibiotics as a toolbox. we are running out of tools. we need to fill the box. >> she ventures into the elaborate deep and fascinating caves. >> we are fighting new ones, continuing exploring and discovering things. we can go back to some of the new caves and discovering a new species that no one noticed before. >> reporter: cavers have known for years mysteries of the deep. much of what is found down there could be use. to the rest of us. >> now forms of life, possibilities buried under ground, coming to light.

>> ittal wan coast guard -- italian coast guard are guard res toured people -- recued people in rubber dingies. the pictures have been released by the italian navy. they were crowded into six rubber dinghies, including 118 women and four children. they've been taken to sicily on an e.u. vessel refugees and migrants stuck at the northern boarder of macedonia are refusing to be moved to government-run shelters. the occupant have been protesting calling for the e.u. countries to open their borders. scuffles broke out. police stopping them crossing north to macedonia. many refusing to go government shelters let's take you back to the breaking news out of the u.s.

capital where gunshots have been reported. let's go to our correspondent. what has been the latest update on this? >> we received a defeat from d.c. police staying there's no active public threat. it was an isolated incident on capitol hill. we are getting varieties other reports. the problem with social media is it's very - the news is aggregating and it's not clear in what order a lot of tweets are coming out in. so we have to be cautious about this. initially we heard there was a shooting at the visitor's center on capitol hill. congress is in recess. that was the main matter we can be confident about, a shooting taking place on capitol hill, we have reports as to whether a police officer was injured. initially there was a report that a police officer was injured. now we talked to staffers suggesting a police officer was not shot. but they say that whoever was

responsible for the shooting has been custody, and it might be the person that did the shooting that has been taken to hospital subsequently. the white house went into lockdown as well. we understand that is no longer in lockdown. we have had reports from some areas that there was an unrelated incident at the white house. someone may have jumped over the fence, the white house is no longer in lockdown. let me break it down again. we know there was a shooting out of the center. we understand the person responsible for the shooting is in custody, we are not clear as to whether a police officer is injured, and the white house was put under lockdown as a precaution u but is no longer under lockdown, and the washington police said there's no active public threat. and the sergeant of arms had

asked people to shelter in place, to remain in place as investigations continue you mentioned there's no active threat now. as we see from the pictures, the effect of this is a big-scale operation to clear the area. a lot of nervousness about what could have been a bigger incident, i suppose. >> i suppose. the point is, you know, there's that sort of - the capital police go into their procedures as on as there is a shooting and isolate the area, and the call goes out for everyone to stay in place indoors or take place in they are outdoors. right now it's been contained. it was one person with a gun at the business center. and the information will drift out. we have to be cautious as to how we beef together the narrative. >> thank you, that was the

latest live from washington d.c. thank you. now, a 15-year-old girl escaped from an apartment in japan after being held captive for two years. show got away when her kidnapper failed to lock the door of the tokyo flat. she called her mother who contacted police. a 23-year-old man has been arrested one of the most active volcanos in alaska erupted triggering a red alert. a u.s. geological survey triggered tremors on the ground and it spewed ash 6.5km into the air and mexico's volcano has come to life firing gas and sash 2km into the skies. the last major eruption was 16 years ago when 40,000 had to

leave their homes. officials are encouraging locals to breathe through a moist towel you can catch up with the stories we are covering by checking out the website. the address aljazeera.com. and watch us live by clicking on the watch now icon. aljazeera.com. >> in japan, funerals are big business. with an aging population and more than a million deaths in the country last year, finding a final resting place can be difficult and expensive. but the funeral industry is stepping up to the challenge finding innovative ways to send their clients into the afterlife. i'm steve chao. on this episode of 101 east we