paul brennan reports. >> it's been seven days sent metro jet fell out of the sky. flowers were laid at the crash site in the desert. after a week of leaks and rumors, finally an official statement. >> debris is scattered over a wide area. more than 13 kilometers in length which is scifn consistenh an in-flight breakup. some parts of the wreckage are missing and it is hoped to locate them in the in-coming days. >> confirmed metro jet 9268 was 28 minutes and 14 seconds into its journey. it was traveling at 2 yawn knots. the auto-pilot had been engaged. then the cvr, cockpit voice recorder. >> a noise was heard in the last second of the cvr recording. a spectral analysis will be carried out by specialized labs in order to identify the nature of this noise. >> a team of 47 investigators from five countries are working on the various aspects of the inquiry. and additional group of airbus viruses bring the number to 58 people. there had been no question whether the trace residue was tested. the ban for bringing tourists out of egypt will continue. thousands of stranded t

the police are at last starting to make some progress in that direction. >> and that is paul brennan for us in brussels. nato by the way saying it has adjusted its headquarters, some staff members asked to work from home and visits to the area has been cancelled. in the capital city of bamako, guards rescued more than 150 people, 19 civilians killed along with two gunmen. mali's president disputing the claim that an al qaeda group is responsible. he says the messina liberation front is behind the assault. >>> occupied territories at least two palestinians and an israeli killed. in jerusalem a teen was shot and killed after stabbing a fellow palestinian. mistaken for an israeli. shot and killed the palestinian they believe was responsible. russian president vladimir putin is in tehran this morning there for an oil and gas summit where he met with the supreme leader, ayatollah khamenei. as al jazeera am rory challands reports, syria is the main topic of discussion. >> a jam packed to tehran for vladimir putin. speaking at the gas exporters summit meeting with the supreme leader from ir

paul brennan reports. >> police swooped in with overwhelming armed strength and taking no chances.heir focus was number 47, rowe de la noir in the brussels neighborhood of mollenbeck. their suspect, salah abeslam. the so-called 8th attacker. >> translator: i saw the police rushing in they put the barriers in place. i was wondering what's going on. then they pushed everyone away, they asked us not to go outside. >> reporter: this is the phrase of the most wanted man in europe right now, and police believe he is hiding in the mollenbeck district. officers barked orders through loud speakers, specialist units took up positions on rooftops overlooking the targeted address. explosive charges were also used to clear the premises but it was a false lead. news spread that the suspect had not been found. four hours after launching the raid the police began to withdraw, leaving behind a shock and bewilderment amongst mollenbeck residents. >> the word shock is too soft. i'm talking to you in the sense we have one foot in reality and the other in a sense, we are lost. in the next 48 hours when

paul brennan, al jazeera, new york. >>> i'm stephanie sy. the news continues next live from london.ave a great weekend. ♪ >>> after a seven-hour siege in a mali hotel, all of the hostages have been freed, but there are conflicting reports as to whether gunmen are still inside. ♪ >>> hello there. i'm felicity barr, and this is al jazeera live from london nflt also coming up, the siege has been taking place a week after the attacks in paris where the death toll has now risen to 130. >>> e.u. ministers agree to tighten checks on people entering and leaving the border-free zone. >>> and russia

paul brennan, al jazeera, brussels. >> well, in the last hour the belgian prime minister has said the alert remains at the highest level and will be reviewed later on monday. he says services will begin to reopen on monday. >> we want to do everything we can to return as quickly as possible to normal life. it was decided that schools will be reopened as of wednesday, with additional security measures around schools, and that the metro would be opened also, after wednesday, it's possible that the opening of the metro may be progressive. but everything may be done so we can open it as extensively as possible. >> neave barker is live for us outside the prime minister's office in brussels. so neeive, wha neave, what elsef this news conference? >> translator: >> reporter: well finally the irnlings request that we were waiting for, security levels will remain at the maximum here in brussels until at least monday although he said that by wednesday, they hope that the metro and schools and universities will reopen. currently the threat level is at number 4, it's at number three in the rest of

paul brennan, al jazeera. >> plenty still ahead on al jazeera. as the people are watching, they go to the polls in the first meaningful election in a generation. >>> and odam burst in brazil and a town is engulfed in dirt and debris. debris. heroes... this is one promise americans need to keep. >> "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 you're watching al jazeera. the top stories, the leaders of china and taiwan have met for the first time. xi jinping and ma yunung jo have met in singapore. the general election is due to be held in january in taiwan. >>> russian has suspended all flights and data from the black box recorder suggested violent explosion caused the crash in which 224 people died. >>> a young man has been found under the rubble of a collapsed building in pakistan. he was pulled out hours after authorities said hopes were starting to fade of finding any other survivors. the four stor

paul brennan, al jazeera. >> india's ruling party the bjp has conceded defeat in a key state.ajor political event in india this year. the vote was held in five phases in october and november. belar was one of the most poor and populace states. key reforms nationally. >>> in burundi, bu abuja bujumbe spoke to a freelance journalist in bujumbura that we are not naming because of security reasons. >> the people are afraid, most of the people living in the suburbs, the suburbs that were known to have a lot of opponents in their midst, they're not just fleeing. the army and the police are searching homes now and everybody is expecting the worst. there was already a first wave of refugees that went to rwanda, congo and also to tanzania. the people that are leaving the capital now leaving to the country side. most of them have relative in the country side and that's where they go. so they leave their homes behind. sometimes, the husbands they stay there just to watch over their possessions over their homes but most of the homes are empty. they can say that they're defending themselve

more from al jazeera am paul brennan. 's paul brennan. >> as the negotiable leaders gather, london saw the biggest single gather hing.ing. colorful costumes and a unified demand for a comprehensive climate deal. >> we need to change and no better than now. >> we got sure haven't we? >> i've never done anything like this ad at all like this beforen my life. >> the oscar winning actress emma thompson and peter gabrielle. >> a lot of people are worried about this issue and feel it is a serious threat and hopefully they will respond. that is part of the aim of this march and these marches going on all over the world. >> what's like thing i strikingr of different groups coming together. animal conservation charities, and do a deal and do a deal that will last. the atmosphere in paris host city of the cop 21 talks began peacefully. with public protests banned since the paris tacks some 10,000 people instead placed pairs of shoes in the place de la republic. around 100 arrests were many expressing solidarity with the marchers ba

al jazeera's paul brennan is following the latest developments out of london. >> the situation at sharm el-sheikh is described by the british prime minister as difficult and fluid. the airlift, which is going to be organized to try to get nearly 20,000 tourists out of that resort and back home has been ridden with difficulty all day friday because of confusion as to how many aircraft will be allowed in to bring those tourists out. airways have been loud to take aircraft into sharm el-sheikh, british one aircraft, man narc three. eight aircraft refused, now it is raised to a diplomat i want. now they say little too much for the airport to cope with. although the eight aircraft will not fly in today, it does appear that the tourists who were going to be evacuated in those aircraft will be out within the next 48 hours. the tragedy unfolded on friday and we are no clearer nothing the cause. president obama saying it most likely is a bomb or strong possibility it was a bomb. the british prime minister, david cameron has said it's more likely than not that it was a bomb. the russians are bein

paul brennan al jazeera, brussels >>> since the events in paris, the u.s. says it will increase intelligence cooperation with france. secretary of state john kerry is in the state capital for talks with francois hollande. he gave a speech after he arrived condemning i.s.i.l. >> they rape, torture and pillage and call it the will of god. they are, in fact, psychopathic monsters and there is nothing, nothing civilised about them. so this is not a case of one civilization pitted against another. this is a battle between civilization itself and barbarism, between civilization and medeval and modern fascism both at the same time >>> the tower has been lit up in tribute for the victims. it's one of many monday ewe meant around the world doing so. the eiffel tower closed on friday and opened on monday. the commissioner for human rights says the world is facing a crisis. >> this is a dark time, a time of great turmoil in the international - in the world of international relations. paris bleeds, so too does beirut and aleppo and countless other cities >>> the attack

the west, but said sergei lavrov saying it is not crucial for syrian president to stay in power paul brennanas more on what that means for u.s.-russian relations. >> reporter: in september after a series of dpeets at the handing of rebel groups and isil, russia started carrying out air strikes inside syria, supporting assad's government forces. >> we think it's an enormous mistake to refuse to cooperate with the syrian government and it's armed forces, we are fighting terrorism face-to-face, we should finally acknowledge that no one but president assad's forces are truly fighting the islamic state and other terrorist organizations in syria. >> reporter: most of russia's air strikes have not been aimed at isil, instead targeting rebel groups trying to overthrow assad. assad travelled to moscow to meet with putin, his first trip outside of syria since the start of the war. u.s. officials say russia's ramped up military role in syria speaker louder than words. >> russian actions so far in syria have been to prop up the regime. >> reporter: when or whether assad should go is one of many sticking

paul brennan reports from brussels. >> level 4 emergency status sees the brussels underground system closed for a third day. main station staff try to direct people to alternatively routes. the knock down effect of the security count down has been enormous. >> they say the buses drive normally but i just asked, and apparently they drive normally, but a lot of drivers didn't come to work out of just because they are scared. >> i go to work in hospital. but the metro no, no metro, so i take tram, and tram, and tram and tram, so it's much later to go in hospital for work. >> lock down around belgium's iconic grand place on saturday night, part of a series of coordinated raids related to the paris attacks. armed police and mass security forces block the streets. search and arrest persuasions. and little progress on the manhunt, police pounced. it was past midnight when police gave the details of the crack down. >> specializing in terrorist cases ordered a total of 19 house searches in the brussels region. until now, no firearms or explosives were found. salah abdeslam is not, not among t

algeria's paul brennan live for us in brussels.ger it goes on without any kind of attack, in a sense, the more difficult it is for them to justify extending the state of emergency. but the they wobbled right to do so. >> it's a tough call, extremely big dilemma for the prime minister and those meeting in the building opposite behind me. what they have to do is judge, as we enter the working week on monday, whether the dasstruction is work the risk. you have -- you are well wear the threat level is raised to maximum possible. a threat level 4 in brussels but in the 48 hours since that came in to being, no arrests have been made. n none of any of the real prime suspects they are searching for. they have announced it's not just sulah al-islam. there are a number of acomplaces although they haven't released names. they have to work out whether the metro system and the other shutdown areas that adviseing people to stay away from crowded places, whether they should keep those restrictions in place. a tough call indeed because if they dec

paul brennan, al jazeera, brussels. >>> as you know turkey is a strategic regional power in the middleshares borders with syria and iraq, and has taken any more than a million refugees from the conflict. ali velshi is in turkey to take a closer look at the economic challenges facing the country. >> reporter: i'm here in us tam bull, turkey, an important local in the fight against isil. that's asia right over there. for many years, really since the 1920s, this has been a western-facing country. it has embraced western values. there was a real separation of church and state -- or i guess mosque and state as you would call it. but about 13 years ago, with the election of the president erdogan, turkey started to turn a little bit more to the east, while still looking at the west. since 2005, turkey has been a candidate for membership in the european union. it is always a nato member. if you are nato it is really convenient to have this massively armed strategically located country in the middle east, but it has never been allowed to become a member of the european nation. and a lot of turk

paul brennan updating us from brussels there. jams learned that the-- we have learned a boat within 200 metres of christmas island was turned away by the navy. the australian government is refusing to comment on that. andrew thomas reports from sydney >> reporter: we've spoken to a number of people who live on christmas island and saw this boat early morning friday their time just off christmas island, a small green and white body. they weren't able to say how many people were on board, but they said that the boat was intercepted by an australian navy boat just a couple of hundred metres from shore and then escorted back out to see after which they lost sight of it. australia's government won't confirm or deny any of this. their policy is not to comment on operational matters, but if it is the case the boat of refugees has got within just a couple of hundred metres from australian territory then it's significant because it will be the first time that that that has happened in well over the year. australian government has made muc

saying they are worried about an attack on brussels so the city all but shut down and al jazeera's paul brennan is there. >> reporter: on the face of it major success for the belgium authorities on sunday night total of 22 coordinated raids all within minutes of each other and 16 suspects arrested, a judge will decide whether or not those arrests should turn into longer detention and may well be that some of those 16 end up getting released but nonetheless the police and the authorities after many days of extreme pressure to make some progress do appear at last to have made a breakthrough. one thing to say though is that salah abdeslam the prime target of the authorities has still slipped through the net. he is still on the run at the moment. and that means that the terror threat here in brussels, the alert level remains at level four and it's not quite locked down and probably can see with the trams and buses been schools in brussels are shut today and the metro and under ground rail way will remain shut. no way they can lift the threat and level of alert until they get the prime suspect, the

paul brennan, al jazeera, brussels. >> i spoke to the security george redding.said it suggests to him isil is developing new tactics to target europe. >> the initial indications are the raids in brussels are something to do with what happened in paris. this is, in essence, part of the same cell. that's the initial inindication. it's verisom sophisticated cell, a large one with many parts to it. it's also possible that there is more than one cell operating in paris n brussels. what we are seeing at the moment is the launching of a new tactic by islamic state of attacks in europe. they have certainly spent time e establishing capabilities in paris. they have probably done it in other cities as well. >> in paris, itself, security is being further increased after the deadly attacks there. another 1,000 soldiers are being brought on the streets of the french capital as the investigation continues. more from andrew simmons who is there. >> reporter: on the platform, searching starts immediately at the station when any train arrives from belgium. security in paris is g

paul brennan has the latest from belgium. >> the authorities have the opportunity to arrest him on saturday when he was stopped by french police close to the belgium border. but at that time it's understood that the police did not have his name, and therefore he was not on any watch list or arrest list. and it was only subsequently that the police released the importance of him in the over all scheme of things in relation to the paris attacks. we missed one opportunity to detain him as quickly as possible. the attention has focused here on brussels, and they put huge resources in. plane clothes units, uniformed units, dog unites and a clad pair military unit all involved in this operation here. although they may it seems that early indications now that they may not have been able to arrest him here at this address, they will be searching the addresses here because the reason why they came here is undoubtedly because the address has some kind of significance or connection with the suspect that they're hunting for. >> well, paul brennan in belgium. in the u.k. britain is to get 1900 new spice

let's agree live now to london, al jazeera's paul brennan is there for us. at's the latest on the investigation in to the crash? as far as british authorities are concerned. >> reporter: well, the british authorities are being extreme streamly cautious about the definite cause for this tragedy leaving sharm el-sheikh. and what the transport secretary, has said is that he wants to see the definitive outcome of the investigation, which is already under way with the russian authorities examining those black box data recorders before he gives a definitive conclusion. however, david cameron, the british prime minister, when he was speaking just thursday with the egyptian president said it was more likely than not that a bomb was the cause of that aircraft breaking up just 23 minutes if to that flight and as a result of that, he said it would be less than brew did he want if the british authorities did not stick to these very stringent flight restrictions and baggage restriction that his have now been imposed. so although we don't yet have a definitive cause, it is

severe blow to the tourism industry which contributes significant revenue to the country and paul brennan >> reporter: this month should have been the start of egypt's peek tourism season and the loss of 224 lives in a suspected air bombing is shaping up to be a financial disaster as well as human tragedy and russian and british tourists are the backbone of egyptian market and both have travel bans and several other countries have followed suit. >> immediately the russian market which is about 3 million people a year i think will be very, very hard hit and of course an awful lot of holiday makers from britain and germany and italy are going to be very worried about the message that they send out. >> reporter: tourism makes up nearly 15% of egypt's company and 12% of them work in the tourism sector and recent years have been tough and 2010 egypt saw 14.7 and then it fell to 9.9 million and tourism revenues peeked to 12.8 billion in 2008 but 2015 is unlikely to exceed 7 billion dollars. russian tourists who booked for egypt are being offered alternative holidays in turkish resorts, the knoc

paul brennan, al jazeera. >>> the u.s. says it's tightening security on flights from some overseas airports. tom ackerman joins us live from washington, d.c. what do you know about further measures the u.s. is taking to safeguard its flights? >> reporter: the announcement by the secretary for homeland security mentioned that there was no outcome of any kind of investigation, so they were making no conclusions about the actual cause of the explosion, but out of an abundance of caution they did announce unspecified enhancements of certain security measures at foreign airports that had already begun last summer, and this is how the white house press secretary explained it. >> the united states still has not made our own determine about the cause of the incident. while we can't rule anything in and out, we have to consider the possibility that a potential terrorist involvement here. out of an abundance of caution now and mindful of that possibility, secretary johnson earlier today announced a series of interim precautionary me

paul brennan, al jazeera. >>> egyptian analysts omar says the authorities in egypt have been unwillingcept the possibility the plane was deliberately brought down. >> the hypothesis from beginning there was technical failure and the pilot's mistake and surface to air guided missile and there was the grenade ied and from the beginning it seemed that the egyptian authorities were dismissing the terrorist activity whether a missile or a grenade and when prime minister cameron was saying that this is the most likely cause of the crash, he was heavily criticized by the egyptian media, by the egyptian authorities and foreign minister came out and stated this is very astonishing for him to hear that and surprising for him to hear it and from the beginning they were not willing to accept there was a security issue, there was a terrorist cause for the crash mainly because this has political costs, it has and destroys the narrative that sinai is under control and the present city kept on mentioning a few times that he came to secure egypt after a period of very unstable transition and also it ha

we can cross now to paul brennan who is in brussels for us. we think one of the attackers police are still looking for was last scene heading towards the belgium borrowed der. >> reporter: that's the information that we have, yes. he has within named a wanted poster has been circulated by the police in farrise and brussels. his name is salah abdeslam. he is extremely difference and people are not to approach him but contact police as soon as possible if they manage to spot him. he has been searched for, been hunted since the attacks happened. in fact, since saturday. it does appear that there were some kind of information mix-up because it has eau mermgd that on saturday-- emerged that on saturday salah abdeslam was stopped in a car near the belgium border by french police apparently returning from paris. at the time it appears that they did not have him on the list to be detained. he was checked out, him and two other men in a vehicle, and allowed to go. now, there's a lot of soul searching and gnashing of teeth about this. ita appeared he co

paul brennan, al jazeera. >>> u.n. security council is to meet later to discuss the recent violence in burundi. police in the east african nation are searching for a gunman who killed nine people in the capital. the attack happened at a bar sunday just hours after a deadline for civilians to give up weapons. security forces have been conducting door to door searches for weapons. violence hit the country since the president's controversial and successful bid for a third term. burundi's security minister said the measures are necessary to secure peace in the country. >> there's a new technique to support forced disarmament of civilians, giving us the ability to take the weapons. this operation will take as long as it takes. the only thing is that there were rumors which made civilians flee. >> hundreds of elderly people in kenya are murdered every year after accused of witch craft often by their own relatives. charity working with the elderly say traditional beliefs and ignorance are other threats. our correspondent malc

several governments warned against travel there and let's cross live to london for the latest and paul brennanthere and does this apply to easy jets regular flights or just the additional repatriation flights. >> just the repatriation flights and it has been confusing and fluid in the last 70 minutes and an hour ago i read the statement that easy jets said the following egyptian authorities currently suspended uk airlines from flying into sharm el-sheikh and in 12 minutes they clarified with the following saying the situation for uk flights in sharm el-sheikh remains fluid and advised the egyptian authorities will allow a restricted number of uk flights from sharm el-sheikh today two of which are easy jet flights. after the initial statement we phoned around some of the other airlines and monarch and british airways to find out if their flights are effected and are not, british airways will fie a delayed flight in sharm el-sheikh to pick up passengers and bring them out later on friday and monarch airlines has two planes on the ground on sharp sharp and two additional to repatriate passengers

. >> paul brennan has more from brussels. >> it's been extremely tense for us here in brussels for the past few days, there have been police cordons placed around, all the media of here and you could see essentially what we've done is concentrated down on the main police station there for three hours. not very far. you can see the tower there. that is the town hall of brussels. so we're right in the center, extraordinary state of affairs. but the announcement on sunday by the prime minister, that the state of alert was going to stay at 4, that the metros were going to be closed on monday, that the schools also are going to stay shut on monday, gives you an indication of just how tense people are here. the authorities are on a high state of alert. they're convinced that there are people such as salah abdeslam and potential accomplices who have weapons and explosives and taking no chance whatsoever. >> paul brennan in brussels. now to france, where the city of sommes had ordered people to be at home at night. but only in an area that is mostly muslim. >> all the raids they've been conduc

paul brennan is live for us in brussels. paul, brussels because obviously a lot of the better are leading from the par i seeian -- from the french scalptop to the belgian one. >> indeed, barbara, the more we know about the background of thestangers and the way that they went about carrying out that attack, at bataclan and restaurants in the center of paris, the belgian connection has become overwhelming. in the last hour, what we have had from the national police of france is a warrant issued and a wanted poster effectively publicized from the -- if we just correct that light there. it's just gone across. it means that prime suspect, that they want to find, he is outstanding. he is not currently in custody. he is not thought to be one of those people who were killed as part of that, those attacks. his name is sala abdalam. he is 26 years old, born hear in brussels although he is thought to have french nationality and as i think we heard jackie a short while ago mentioning "the washington post" reporting that he and his brothe

. >> paul brennan live for us in brussels.uess that means the metro is going to stay closed with the start of the working week a few hours away. >> a major disruption. i think the prime minister felt he had no choice but toker on the side of caulk. on friday, there was a raid in the area of mulenbeck where a cache of firearms was found. we also know from an associate of salah al islam who collected him from paris and drove him back to belgium >> he has told police that he believes that he may have had the explosive vest, suicide interest, if you like, still on him and it may be until possession of explosives. you put that together with the fact they haven't arrested him or made any great headway on arresting any accomplices or additional suspects, and you can see that the risk against infrastructure, strategic sites, the metro schools potentially, the risk was just simply too great for the prime minister to take. so he's taken the safe course of action. he has decided to keep the metro closed to keep the threat level at alert

and the capitol is on lock down and al jazeera's paul brennan is there. >> reporter: on the face of itajor success for belgium authorities on sunday night 22 coordinated raids all within minutes of each other and 16 suspects arrested. a judge will decide whether or not those arrests should turn into longer detention and may well be that some of the 16 end up getting released but nonetheless the police and authorities after many days of extreme pressure to make some progress do appear at last to have made a breakthrough. one thing to say though is that salah abdeslam the prime target of the authorities has still slipped through the net and still on the run at the moment and means the terror threat in brussels and alert level is level four and not quite lock down and there are trans and buses running over ground but schools in brussels are shut down and the metro and under ground will remain shut. in way to lift the threat and level of alert until they get the prime suspect, the police are at least starting to make some progress in that direction. >>> paul brennan reporting from brussels

paul brennan, al jazeera, mollenbeck, brussels. >> britain is going to overhaul the aviation security. after what happened in paris. prime minister david cameron says his country has managed to twawrt several threats in the last few month. to thwart several threats in the past few months. >> more than double in five years. now efforts to defeat i.s.i.l. topped the agenda at that g-20 summit. it's finished, and in turkey, recep tayyip erdogan has held what he calls the resolute stance in the fight against terror. david cameron has urged russia to intensify air strikes against the armed group. when the conference had all finished, u.s. president barack obama said while the there will be set backs against i.s.i.l. there will be successes too. >> the terrible events in paris were obviously a terrible and sick thing said back. even as we grieve with our french friends however we can't lose sight that there has been progress being made. on the military front our coalition is intensifying our air strikes, more than 8,000 to date. we're taking out i.s.i.l. leaders, commanders, their killers,

paul brennan has the story from belgium. >> reporter: belgium soldiers now patrol where once was the police. the city woke to a security level not seen for a decade. the p.m. is in contact with his intelligence chiefs through the early hours and called a special session of the cabinet to brief the ministers. he did not reveal the exact nature of the danger but urged the public to avoid crowded places. >> translation: the analysis of situation leads us to identify particular locations. we believe shopping malls, events, demonstrations and transport are the main targets. the whole of the brussels region has gone over to enhanced threat level four. >> reporter: all four of brusselss main undergrained metro lines have been shut. brussels is a city on edge. people here have become used to seeing police and even army on the streets for the past few days. the closure of the under ground system ramps that up to a new level. it is the weekend here, so the disruption is less than it could have been, but the longer they're closed the bigger the potential for problems. on friday a third brussels

live now to brussels and our correspondent paul brennan, so, paul, crucially they are still looking forey still haven't found him. >> reporter: indeed. a big search, major set of coordinated rates late on sunday. 16 people arrested. 22 raids in all. 19 in the brussels area. and three more in a city not so far away from here. clearly coordinated. actioning on intelligence. a major sweep. there were unmarked police cars flying around butses here with their lights flashing last night. and the police obviously under he minutes pressurimmense pressa breakthrough because of the threat level be at four and the destruction that would call. but they did not get their prime man. saleh abdeslam repains on the run. no clear indication where he is, the 16 people that have been arrested will be questioned at length. a judge will decide later on monday whether or not to keep them in custody. i have to caution that people have been arrested previously have been released. seven people were arrested in one sweep. five were released without charge, we'll treat the 16 headline figure with some caution unti

. >> al jazeera's paul brennan joins us now from brussels. the capital is very nervous at the moment, and we believe there are police operations ongoing? >> reporter: indeed. a city very much on edge for the past -- well, over three hours now there's been an operation, and as you say, it's still ongoing based just off the famous big major tourist square in the center of brussels. police cars were flying around the cobbled streets here, unmarked police cars with blue lights flashing and sirens blairing and a wide cordon was thrown around the area. it has condensed down to an year a few hundred meters by a few hundred meters. the police searches are ongoing. what they don't give us details of is what has been found or anybody arrested yet. nevertheless you can see over the shoulder a police van and tape and the operation that i can see is still ongoing here. >> earlier, of course, we heard from the belgian prime minister saying that the state of alert remains at level four, the highest possible state of alert. on monday the start of the working

and the metro is also shut as part of the increased security measures and paul brennan has the latestbrussels. >> on the face of it major success for the belgium authorities and 22 coordinated raids all within minutes of each other and 16 suspects arrested, a judge will decide whether or not those arrests should turn into longer detention and may well be some of the 16 end up getting released but nonetheless the police and authorities after many days of extreme pressure to make progress appear at last to have made a breakthrough but the prime target of the authorities has still slipped through the net. he is still on the run at the moment. and that means that the terror threat here in brussels, the alert level remains at level four and it's not quite locked down and there are trams and buses on the ground and schools in brussels area are shut today and the metro and under ground rail way will remain shut and no way they can lift the level of alert until they get the prime suspect but police at last are trying to make some progress this that direction. >>> paul brennan reporting there,

paul brennan >>> harsh words for russia today from u.s. defense secretary ash carter in a speech at the ronald regan presidential library. carter accused the former cold war enemy of endangering the world order. >> in europe russia has been violating sosereignfy and actively trying to intimidate the baltic states. proceed longing a civil war that fuels the extremist russia claims to oppose. at sea, in the air, in space and in cyber space, russian actors have engaged in challenging activities. most disturbing moscow's nuclear say behr rattling mazes questions about russia's leaders' commitment to stability. their respect for norms against the use of nuclear weapons, and whether they respect the profound caution nuclear age leaders showed with regard to the brandishing of nuclear weapons. we do not seek a cold let alone a hot war with russia. we do not seek to make russia an enemy, but make no mistake, the united states will defend our interests and our allies, the principle international order and the positive future it affords us all. we'r

these departing tourists may never return, paul brennan, al jazeera. >>> much more to come for you afterncluding refugee arrivals in greece and economy of the island of lesbos is getting an unexpected boost. find out how the republican parties unlikely presidential hopeful got on when he took over an america comedy show. and nearly 40,000 people take part in the 13th beirut marathon and we will have more on that in your sport. ♪ >> tough that the country gave up on me. >> look at the trauma... every day is torture. >> this is our home. >> nobody should have to live like this. >> we made a promise to these heroes... this is one promise americans need to keep. welcome back and watching the al jazeera news hour in london and take you through the top stories voting passed off smoothly in myanmar's freest election ever and the league of democracy is expected to win most of the vote. palestinian has been shot dead by israeli security forces in the latest wave of violent incidents in the occupied west bank. in burundi nine people have been killed in attack on a bar in the capitol. moving to yem

paul brennan has the latest on the investigation from brussels. >> reporter: the police swooped withlming numbers and over powering amounts of armed strength and they were taking no chances. their focus was number 49 and the brussels neighborhood of molenbeck and the target was abdelhamid abaaoud the so called eighth attacker and wearing masked, heavily arm and dog units in support it was a massive show of force. >> translator: i saw the police rushing in. they put the barriers in place, i was wondering what was going on. then they pushed everyone away. they asked us to not to go outside. >>> this is the face of the most wanted man in europe right now and police believe he is hiding in the molenbeck district and barked orders and the house of number 47 to open the windows and surrender and specialist units took out positions on rooftops overlooking the target address, explosive charges were also used to clear the premises but it was a false lead. news spread that the suspect had not been found. four hours after launching the raid the police units began to withdraw, leaving behind a s

paul brennan, al jazeera. >>> u.s.nse secretary ash carter minutes nod words today about russia in a speech at the ronald regular an presidential library he a cased former cold war enemy of endangering the war order. >> in europe russia has been violating sovereignty and actively trying to intimidate the baltic states. meanwhile in, syria, russia is throwing gasoline on an already dangerous fire. prolonging a civil war that fuels the very extremism russia claims to oppose. at sea, in the air, in space, and in cyberspace, russian actors have engaged in challenging activities. and most disturbing, moscow's nuclear rattles races questions to russian strategic that bill. their [ inaudible ] for norms against luke lahr weapons and whether they respect the profound caution nuclear age leaders showed with regard for the brandishing of nuclear weapons. we do not seek a cold, let a loan a hot war with russia. we do not seek to make russia an enemy. but make no mistake the united states will defend our interests and our allies,

paul brennan, al jazeera. >>> so what do we know about the investigation so far?h investigators looking through the flight recorders and a sudden explosion is reported and chatting normally and talking with air traffic control until the explosion and u.s. satellites picked up a flash from the plane pointing to a possible explosion. reports from the u.s. suggests intelligence involving armed groups in sinai may support the theory and seems to suggest there is damage inside the aircraft possibly from an explosion and denying a passenger get missed a ground missile in august and pilot of a thompson airways plane carrying 189 passengers from london saw a missile heading to the aircraft and moves to the left to avoid it and the plane was never in dang danger and involved ground the ground fire and wasn't a targeted attack but part of exercises being conducted by the egyptian military in the area at the time. 3 million russians and million britains visited egypt last year and tourism makes up 15% of the country's economy, around 12% of egyptians work in the tourism sect

paul brennan is live for us in brussels. paul, brussels because obviously a lot of the better are leading from the par i seeian -- from the french scalptop to the belgian one . >> indeed, barbara, the more we know about the background of thestangers and the way that they went about carrying out that attack, at bataclan and restaurants in the center of paris, the belgian connection has become overwhelming. in the last hour, what we have had from the national police of france is a warrant issued and a wanted poster effectively publicized from the -- if we just correct that light there. it's just gone across. it means that prime suspect, that they want to find, he is outstanding. he is not currently in custody. he is not thought to be one of those people who were killed as part of that, those attacks. his name is sala abdalam. he is 26 years old, born hear in brussels although he is thought to have french nationality and as i think we heard jackie a short while ago mentioning "the washington post" reporting that he and his broth

paul brennan has more on what that means for u.s.ussian relations. >> reporter: in september after a series of defeats at the handing of rebel groups and isil, russia started carrying out air strikes in syria, supporting assad's government forces. vladimir putin suggesting that bolstering assad was simply the only way to defeat isil. >> translator: we think it's an enormous mistake to refuse to cooperation with the syrian government and its armed forces. we should finally acknowledge that no one but president assad's armed forces and the militia are truly fighting the islamic state. >> reporter: most of the air strikes have not been aimed as isil, instead targeting rebel groups trying to overthrow assad. last week assad travelled to moscow to meet with putin, marking his first trip outside of syria since the start of the war in 2011. as for the new suggestion that moscow might be willing to see a syria without assad, officials say their ramp up speaks louder than words. >> i would refer you back to the government of russia for that.

paul brennan, al jazeera. >> a young man has been rescued after 50-hour ordeal under the rubble of a collapsed building in pakistan. he was pulled out hours after authorities said hopes were starting to fade of finding any more survivors. the four story factory in lahor collapsed on wednesday killing at least 35 people. >> translator: the rescued man was able to talk and he crawled and came out himself. we didn't have to pull him out. he only complained he had a pain in his foot. we are hopeful he will recover soon. >> kamal hyder is in lahor with the latest. >> this particular boy was rescued 50 hours after the building collapsed. interestingly, his family had already been given a body of a mutilated laborer, and they wurieburied him thinking they hd buried their son. they were shocked but relieved to know their son was alive. that has given hope to the rescue teams that there possibly are more survivors although so far there is a steady flow of dead being recovered from the factory. however people are not giving up hope. it is a delicate job but one thing that is coming out of this

paul brennan, al jazeera. >> douglas laird is the former head of security for northwest airlines. he says if there was an explosive device to take down the plane it is likely an employee got it on board. >> it is more important, probably the easiest avenue would be an inside, an employee of an airline or the airport. that basically bypasses, they don't go through security like passengers do. that is problem pretty much throughout the world. i've heard all the media reports that various countries are going to upgrade their security for flights leaving certain airports in egypt and the mid east. there's only so much you can do. the real effect of things take years to implement and part of the problem is, if it's not -- if the device was not put there by an insider then the issue is, what technology do you give to the screeners to give them the ability to find what it is they're looking for? >> the operator from a mine in brafs says brazil says an earthy have caused two dams to burst. raraphael marioni reports. >> this is bento rodriguez, those who used to live here, can hardly belie

. >>> paul brennan sent this update from brussels. >> there is a joint task force based in brussels involving french and other security services looking at how the terrorist network gathered ammunition and material to launch the attack on friday night in paris. the attention is not just focused on one suspect, sala, who is undedetected. he may be in paris. he was born in brussels. a large amount. effort will be directed at that. there's the reality that the french and belgiums need to work closer together. all that is a result of a high profile meeting between interior ministers on sunday. and they came out with strong intention to work closely together. >> translation: we specially need to intensify our collaboration. those in bellium and contributed to the organization and execution - most were not known to the french intelligence services. the second point, is subject that have been on the agenda, marked as urgent have not been dealt with quickly u. >> with records to the fight against terrorism and other subjects of importance to the e.u., like migration, the time to make and implement de

al jazeera's paul brennan is live for us now in brussels. paul, what have they been saying there?reporter: they have been essentially reiterating many promises and pledges and policy statements which were actually made earlier this year, back in february. but in the light of what happened in paris a week ago, the justice and interior ministers came here to brussels to demand a fast acceleration of the implementation of these proposals. the headline grabbers are of course border control, but there is going to be a beefing up of the financial investigation unit of various member states to hit the funding of these radical groups, and try to cut off the funds to the groups. there is also going to be much greater coordination between counter terror units within each of the states, but the headline grabber is certainly the border controls. from now on, e.u. citizens who fly in from non-e.u. countries, will be checked exactly the way as e.u. citizens. previously e.u. citizens could just fly in with a cursory glance at their passport, no longer. and there will be fingerprinting and securi

paul bre brennan, al jazeera, brussels. >> neave barker is there for us. what more do we know? >> that's right, well, the prime minister john michel who is expected to give a news conference any moment now, in which we should have a clear idea whether or not the highest level of security risk or threat level is likely to be sustained for any longer than it already has been in place. this is now third day here in brussels where threat level is been at level number 4. there's a level number 3 nationwide. that basically means that here in the capital, there is a security threat, the security threat rather is viewed as being imminent nationwide, is viewed as being probable. in the last 24 hours we've seen really a flurry of activity from personnel not only in brussels but two other towns cities in the country also. raids here in brussels have focused on the notorious mollenbeck district as being the sight of raids over the last ten days. described by if belgian media as an incubator of jihaddism. further raids of town of leige, and in charleois, $25,000 were seized by officials the

paul brennan, al jazeera, london. >>> well, the process of reaching an agreement on claim ahead change challenging. al jazeera's nick clark sent us this report from paris. >> reporter: final preparations are made, the finishing touches applied, in a bizarre tradition of the world of diplomacy this little corner of france becomes u.n. territory for the duration of the conference. and it is indicative of just how anticipate third degree events is, when the u.n. climate chief is pursued by the media throng just go going on a tour of the site. well then what, can we expect? >> what is being finalized here in paris over the in effect two weeks is none other than the second legally binding instrument under the convention that will then go in to effect in 2020 once we are through with the protocol. >> reporter: but many are asking to what extent can any paris agreement be legally binding? there are no end of obstacles in the way. this time world leaders are coming at the beginning of the conference rather than at the end which is normal procedure in a bid to build much-needed momentum. leam,

paul brennan reports from russells. >> the belgium prime minister nose his country was hit with a chorus of criticisms since the paris attacks. criticized for allowing radicalization to grow. blamed and accused for a failure to elaborate on security issues. the premier came before parliament with a plan, 427 million to improve the intelligence services. measures to champ down on propaganda, and a front line to i.s.i.l. fighters who return. >> preventing young people from leaving for combat or training zones is not enough. we must also prevent those that are not belgium from returning to the territory, and for us the rule must be clear, the jihadists that come back, their place must be in prison. >> reporter: in molenbeek, the neighbourhood where two grew up, residents rejected their area being a breeding ground for targets. but the disaffected youths, and radical elements have had limited success, in part with the targeted measures being unstigmatised in the area. >> translation: we support the government measures unreservedly. as long as they don't single out any one community. the prop

the french government ask calling for unity >>> paul brennan is live for us now in brussels. tell us about this belgium connection. >> reporter: it has become stronger and strongera and it does appear that the predominant number of the attackers had very strong links with an area of the country. it is a predominantly muslim area. there have brenn issues with radicalisation in that area in the past. previous attacks, for example, the train attack which happened in august where a man was overpowered come out of a toilet by a couple of americans. he had spent the previous night in the area. the investigation is concentrating on that area. not least because the prime suspect or the wanted man as we've heard this man, who is named as salah,ise absalam, here has very strong links. they're having investigations trying hard to find this man in particular and also to try and find any other potential accomplices to those attackers who died in the attack in paris because one of the things that the investigators are very certain of is that it's unlikely that there's seven who died could

. >> paul brennan has the latest on the raised carried out in the belgian capital. >> the authorities had the opportunity to arrest a man saturday when he was stopped by police at the belgian border. police did not have his name and he was not on any watch lists or arrest lists and only subsequently the police realized the importance of him in the overall scheme of things in relation to the paris attacks. they missed one opportunity and that put huge pressure on the authorities to detain him as quickly as possible. we've seen various police units, plain clothes units, khaki clad paramilitary type units. although they may, it seems that early indications now are that they may not have been able to arrest him here, they will be searching the addresses here, because the reason they came here is undoubtedly because the addresses have some kind of cushion s. significance or connection with the suspect that is they're hunting for. >> the french military launched a series of airstrikes against isil positions in syria. the sortes were flown sunday from air bases in jordan and the gulf, fighte