Protests against austerity brings the italian city of rome to a standstill for a second consecutive day. Nine lebanese men are to return home, freed by syrian rebels. The group will cross Southern Turkey from syria. Rebels captured the men in may, who said they were returning from a religious trip to iran. Theres hope two Turkish Airline pilots abducted in bair ute in august will be released. We have correspondents in both countries. Well hear from turkey in a moment. First, Andrew Simmons is live in beirut. What is the situation there . Any word on when they might arrive . Thats the question. No one knows when this will happen. Theres a positive air here that it will happen before long. Im in a suburb of south bair ute, a shia area. All of the pilgrims came from the area, and some of their relatives have been talking to us earlier. Theres a widespread presence of lebanese media and a few International Media waiting for the event to take place. We spoke to a woman who is married. To one of the pilgrims. He is in his 60s. She said, we feel like pawns in a bigger conflict that we have nothing to do with. Shes been frustrated saying, we have been here before, we have had these alerts that relatives will be released. This time she feels its happening but will believe it when she sees her husband and moves on. Right now the way its playing here is this that the lebanese government, from all parties are welcoming what is happening. We are now unsure of the whereabouts of the turkish prisoners who are described as pawns in a bigger game. Where they are now we are unsure. Some say it will be a few hours, a few days. In actual fact theres secrecy over the whole operation. Ed indeed, not only that, what has gone on. The one thing that stands out is that there has been a series of moves involving various diplomatic channels and others as well over the past few days. Thats a reason why theres a banner up there. You should see it. It was put up a good few days ago, which basically welcomes the all of the men back home. Also, that the video was released of the two pilots. That was a key point in the negotiations a demand made that that should be shown thank you andrew for the update. Lets cross to turkey. Well talk about this complicated situation which involves two Turkish Airline pilots the latest on their fate. Yes, we were told earlier by a government spokesman that the two pilots were on their way to turkey within a couple of hours. That doesnt seem to be the case. A senior official within the Turkish Foreign ministerry told al jazeera that the two pilots have not reached the Turkish Embassy in beirut. In a separate development a spokesperson for the Turkish Airlines said an hour ago that their flight is ready to go to beirut, but they are waiting for a call from the Turkish Embassy so they can start the journey from istanbul to beirut. This is a 3way deal. One syrian activist who is close to the Northern Storm brigade the group that abducted or kidnapped the lebanese hostages says that their demands of releasing syrian female prisoners from Syrian Government prisons in syria have been met and now that they are either on turkeys territory, or they are about to reach turkishs soil. There could be around 102 female prisoners. This is complicated and fluid. Things may well change Andrew Simmons in lebanon, and our turkey correspondent thank you for the updates. A suicide bomber killed 16 syrian soldiers on the outskirts of damascus, at a checkpoint in a progovernment neighbourhood. The syrian observatory for human rights said the attacker drove a car at soldiers elsewhere in damascus Government Forces are reportedly storming the rebel held suburbs. There was shelling. Military reinforcements have been arriving. Opposition activists report military airstrikes in aleppo. These are the pictures from the area. There has been a raid on the bahd region. A car bomb exploded in the northern egyptian city. There may have been some injuries. More from our correspondent on the line from cairo. What can you tell us . From what we are hearing the car bomb went off next to the Army Intelligence building, which is an audacious attack, getting close to a central hub there. From what we are told, they set fire to three different cars parked in the area. And we understand a person was killed and 13 were injured according to the interior ministry. The response has been that there has been a sweep of the area. Reports say that another device was found by the Security Forces close by and was diffused before it could be set off. A state of alert has been raised. Check points are being set up around the Sinai Peninsula to capture anyone trying to leave that may be suspected of having an involvement in the attack. Thank you for the update. At least 32 people have been killed after drinking illegally brewed liquor in northern india. Dozens more were taken to hospital. Most were labourers. The seller was held. Government officials have been suspended. The leading Opposition Party in maldooefs is crying foul after Police Stopped a rerun of the president ial election. They cancelled voting because of a Supreme Court ruling. We have the details. For campaigners, it was the news they hoped for. Party leader Qasim Ibrahim was a candidate that called for a halt to the election rerun. Police swooped on election headquarters in mali doing that. There were a lot of Police Officers down at the ground floor of this building and they dont absolve any of our staff taking out ball ot papers or boxes or pencils you know notebooks or anything. Police say they acted on a Supreme Court ruling made after the september election was annulled because the names of dead or fake people were found on the registry. The ruling said all candidates must agree on the voters registry list for the runoff to go ahead. Two of the three candidates refused. I believe if something is going not according to the regulations constitution or the ruling i believe that all citizens have the right to say whatever they feel. Not everyone agrees police are the right to act. The Electoral Commission says they overstepped the marks. The former president Mohamed Nasheed agrees. Mohamed nasheed left office after protests and accusations he was abusing his power. Mohamed nasheed claims he was ousted. This is a coup. If you find a definition of a coup. This is a coup. An inquiry dismissed the claim. Leaders are asked to address the state of disarray. Its a state of panda moanium. What needs to be seen is maintain political parties. They have to agree to run. If not, therell be drama. Candidates have a chance to avoid drama if elections are held before the current president s term ends on 11 november. Protests against government austerity policies are being repeated in rome after a nationwide transport strike. Thousands of people are out on the streets of the italian capital and other cities. Workers are angry at government plans to raise taxes and continue the freeze on Public Sector wages. For the latest we go to Sonia Gallego in roam. What is the situation like there now . Thousands of protesters are prepared to turn up to the square outside st. Johns basilica, which was the starting point for the march. It is proceeding slowly, but is making its way across central rome. It is going near the Central Station there. Now what you do have is certainly a more defined presence of younger italians, far more so than fridays protest. It certainly seems to be more against the government austerity measures. The demand that the younger italians are making is for the government to try and change its tact because what is happening what they say is happening are decisions which are affecting the their future. I know some of the main unions were involved in this, were talking, were coordinating. To what extent will we see mass action that will paralyze the country. Is that a possibility . Well, the unions have voiced their opinions strongly. They are not the only group in the country who voiced disapproval at Prime Minister enrico lettas 2014 budget that we unveiled this week. He faced criticism from his own coalition. Other groups said that these adjustments do not go far enough. Many italians, certainly many that we spoke to here have been saying that what is happening or what is being proposed is minimal, and its not going to change italians life for the better. Italians are used to living in modest circumstances across the years, since the recession. This is on top of having to contend with a decade of slow growth in the country, a country which has limited opportunities for people, certainly the younger people here. A result of that has been a rise in unemployment. Again, most affected the younger generation. We have seen the Unemployment Rate go up 40 . That is a crisis because what it is is laying down the foundation for things to get worse for italians here. Thank you Sonia Gallego there. An Italian Court ruled a former Prime MinisterSilvio Berlusconi should be banned from Holding Political office for two years, following a conviction for tax fraud. The decision must be voted on by the senate to come into effect. A vote next month will decide if Silvio Berlusconi loses his seat in the senate. If expelled hell have to spend a year under house arrest or in community service. Ill take you back to the story in the maldooefs with the Police Killing plans and attempts by the Electoral Commission to hold elections. We are joined by a person from the maldooefs Election Commission. He joins us from mali. Why did you go against the court ruling and try to start elections without securing candidate approval of the voter lists . We worked hard to hold the election today, on 19 october. It is the Supreme Court ruling. It was very much a disappointing matter. The Police Assistance was seized, you know, around midnight. I understand. I will ask you about the police action. First, i want to know why did you go ahead with the elections without fulfilling what the Supreme Court asked you to fulfil first, which is to get candidate approval of voter list . The decision of the Supreme Court was to hold the election on the 19th of october, and then there were other 15 or 16 guidelines. We have a full field, each and every one. There has to be a full field before today but you didnt get aapproval of the voter list, did you . No, they refuse to sign on the voters list, from the two candidates. They said they wanted verification of some of the registration forms, and they wanted 10 of the forms which is going to be over 3,500 forms. It was very clear from the Forensic Department of the Police Services that they would need more than 10 days to verify the the forms so why not wait the 10 days. Youd have time to hold the elections before november 11th, if you had waited. No, i mean the Court Ruling Says that we should hold the elections by the 19th. We are not even, you know, any time before either one of the it was not like that. It was very clearly said that the first would be on this on the 19th, and this is our second round. The second round should be on 2 november all right. This is the Supreme Court, it was not just left for us to decide so you feel you did the best you could in a difficult situation, clearly. It was. Do you think the police acted were they politically motivated by intervening today and stopping the elections . Yes, they stopped it. Do you think it was politically motivated, they did it for political reasons . I dont know what was their intention behind that. What i understand was there was they were supposed to support us. They were supposed to do certain duties in the in the judgment which includes, you know giving protection to our ballot boxes and papers and what were officials of the ballot station, and to keep this and security, you know, at the time of voting. I mean, i didnt find any place where it says that the police has to verify how many people have signed. And the other thing was. If i can jump in. When you organise elections again before november 11th will you try . We dont know. We are going to, you know find a date before. Why dont you know . You are the body that organises the elections. Whose orders are you waiting for . We are the body according to the constitution. You know, theres so much rights given by the constitution was that, you know, was overtaken by the Supreme Court. So, i mean, they overruled our decisions, so we have to make sure that when we come out with a date, that it is going to be a date that will not be rejected by the Supreme Court, which is a very powerful institution who is in charge of deciding the election date now you or somebody else of the Supreme Court . It is a question to us now, because that is why we had a meeting this afternoon with the president of the country, and some of the leading candidate ministers like the defense minister, attorneygeneral and other ministers. So this sound like a real crisis, if not a mess if you pardon the expression that you, yourself, is not sure who is in charge of what when it comes to the elections now . That is the problem we have right now in this country because according to the constitution, we are the authority, the Election Commission is the authority, is to decide on the election date, and even the election result, the election procedures. But, you know, the Supreme Court is a kind of authority here, like, you know like our institution that can override the articles in the constitution because according to the constitution, we were supposed to have the election on certain dates. Three weeks from the date of the first sign of the election. That has been broken by the Supreme Court. It seems that they say they have the authority. Very confusing situation. Thank you very much, fuwad thowfeek. The french president says a 15yearold school girl deported to kosovo may be allowed back, but without her families. High schools were blockaded in paris while Police Detained the school while she was on a school trip. A spokesman said she was legally detained but questioned Police Actions translation given the circumstances, if she makes a request and wants to continue her studies in france, shell be welcomed but only her speaking in response to the french president s hospital, it was said, she will not go back to france without her family. Translation i thank everyone. Its their job. Its not their job to full out a 15yearold from a bus in front of classmates. Im ashamed because they all saw it. I thank france from my heart. One way or another ill go back to france for sure tim friend is live for us in paris. Interesting developments there. What exactly happened today, tim . Well, Extraordinary Events really. If you look back over the last week, this started as a small local issue, if you like a school girl escorted by police off a school bus when she was on a field trip, in front of her classmates. She was alarmed by what had happened. But, of course, it quickly became a National Controversy here. And on saturday you had the interior minister returning prematurely from an overseas trip to deal with the situation, meeting with the president , with the Prime Minister to discuss the whole issue of the 15yearold schoolgirl, and the fallout, the political fall out from it. They have come up with a solution that may or may not mean the problems are over for them politically. As you said, she is being offered a chance to come back to france, but her family must remain. In the last couple of minutes we have heard from the leader of president alains socialist party saying he thinks the whole family, with the exception of the father, should be allowed back to france. Politically its causing the government here enormous difficulties because of this original mishandling of the way in which she was detained you already mentioned the criticisms from within his own party. Imagine this step will inflame criticism from the right too. Well, exactly. Hes caught in the middle of two sides of the argument about immigration. Those who are outraged by the treatment of this young girl in particular, and her family. And those who say, well, a Legal Process was followed and theres good cause for tougher immigration laws. And you are quite right to point this out because this is an argument that has been going on for some time here. The far right are making gains, calling for tougher regulations and the center and opposition are having to respond. Tim friend in paris there. Australia is bracing for more fires as temperatures continue to rise. Nearly 200 homes have been destroyed by the fires in new south wale