until next type, waj and i will see you online. ♪ check >> chaos continues in syria. on the diplomatic front it's not better as iran told it's not welcome at peace talks. >> you're watching al jazeera live from doha. also coming up anti-government protesters and police battle on the streets of ukraine's capital for the second night in a row. >> africa has its first female head of state. can she stop the violence? >> and a new study that says

half of the world's wealth is in the hands of just 85 people. >> after nearly three years of war, the syrian government and the opposition will hold face-to-face talks. opponents of bashar al-assad threatened a boycott of the summit in switzerland, because the u.s. invited its ally to attend. that invitation has been withdrawn. >> iran went back on its word, and that is why the united nations says it's not welcome. >> the secretary-general is disappointed by iranian public statements that are not at all consistent with the stated commitment. he urges iran to join the global consensus behind the geneva communique. >> 24 hours earlier secretly bank ki bank ki mooninvited

russian to attend. >> when it comes to iran, it must be clear to everybody that any participation in geneva ii is conditional to the explicit acceptance of the mant date laid down -- mandate laid down. >> if they are to attend it is vital that the iranian government confirm publicly and clearly that they share this understanding. iran refused. russia said it would be a mistake not to include them. >> australia... . >> translation: among the countries invited are australia, mexico, brazil, indonesia and others. if there's no iran in this list. i think the peace talks about

resemble hip oblige rahsy. u.n. officials hope iran -- bank ki mon was forced to acknowledge there would be no agreement if the opposition failed to show up to the talks. >> let's show you some live pictures from geneva international airport where the first documents started to arrive. the peace conference, which is due to be held in geneva, at the syria peace conference. the u.n. secretary i believe is expected to shortly come off the stairs of the airplane. and the steps of the airplane as he o will be one of the key figures of the peace conference in switzerland on ending the crisis. a total of 30 or so countries are invited to attend. not iran as we heard iran was

sent an invitation by the general yesterday, but that indication is now withdrawn after protests from the syrian opposition and also the united states. so again, diplomat have started arriving in geneva for the syria peace conference coming down the substance of the airplane now is the secretary-general of the united nations ban ki-moon. ban ki-moon, of course, in a delicate position, as he's had to withdraw the invitation he sent to the iranians just a few days ago, an invitation to attend the syria peace conference. but he had to withdraw that invitation a few hours ago in new york after iran refused, according to the united nations, to accept the principals of

geneva one which basically stated that a transition government would be set up in syria. ban ki-moon said that's the reason why the invitation was withdrawn to the iranians, because they would not agree to the principles of geneva one. this coming at a delicate position. he's going into the peace conference in switzerland in a slightly weaker condition after the developments of the last 24 hour. in the last hour we also heard from the russian foreign minister who spoke about the syrian peace conference, and the fact this the invitation to iran had been withdrawn. let's listen to sergei lavrov. >> translation: russia is doing all it can to solve the crisis. tomorrow in switzerland an international conference will

start. we are fighting for a dialogue based on a geneva communique on june 2012. it's up to the syrians to define the future of their country. >> the syrian regime is being accused of committing war crimes. the report funded by qatar is based on the testimony of a former military policemen who captured 50,000 images of it 11,000 detainees. the lawyer says there's evidence of prisoners being strangled, electrocuted. forensic experts showed many were initiated. the fighting rages inside syria. >> more than a dozen people died at the crossing between syria and turkey on monday. two explosions kill six fighters. the rest of the dead were civilians. in aleppo two car bombs exploded

at the headquarters of an opposition group. the attack was launched by a rival rebel group. infighting among rebels killed more than 1,000 fighters in the past two weeks. in other world news the united states and the e.u. started easing economic sanctions on iran as part of an international deal on the tehran nuclear program. iran plugle centrifuges. a 6-month nuclear deal was reached with world powers last november. to ukraine where protesters occupy independence square in kiev after a night of fighting with police. the president has warned that the country's stability is threatened by the violence. fighting broke out on sunday after demonstrators rallied against a new law restricting public protest. nadine is in kiev, and joins us live. tell us about the violence overnight, and are the clashes

continuing this morning? >> this stand-off continued overnight. monday in tuesday. on tuesday morning there were several hundred protesters at the front line near the diane ammo stadium. there have been clashes involving petrol bombs thrown at the police. they are responding with sound grenades. we are not hearing of casualties, but the interior ministry said that they - around 120 police officers have been injured. 80 or so have been tape to hospital with injuries including burns. they say they have arrested 32 people for active participation in what they call riot. this is important. under the new laws rushed through parliament, that is punishable by up to 15 years in gaol. on tuesday a government newspaper publish d the details

of the laws that were passed through parliament. that means they are now, in effect. so a lot of the protesters wondering when the authorities will start to make arrests and implement all of those laws fully. >> the protests have been going on for more than eight weeks. are there any hopes of a political solution to the crisis. >> on monday there were hopes that there would be talks that the government said it was establishing is commission with it representatives of viktor yanukovych's regime, hoping to talk to opposition members including a lot of the different factions. the talks didn't happen. part of the problem was that a lot of opposition activists are angry that president viktor yanukovych said that he would not be attending personally. one of the opposition parties said they wouldn't entertain

dialogue. but another party put out a 6 point demand saying that they want all political prisoners released and they want to talk directly with the president. there's no sign of that happening soon. at the moment i think people are feeling on the act visits, on the opposition side fairly it's pond dent. for the cost viktor yanukovych put out a statement saying he is prepared to hold dialogue. at the same time his message was that the protests ongoing are a danger to the whole of the country. so people are accusing him of putting out the double message. >> that's live from kiev. >> africa has its third female head of state. pans has been chosen as -- pans has performance -- katherine sam ba-panza is the new interim

mayor. >> outside the national assembly everyone was listening. everyone wanted to know who would be the new president. they want somebody they can respect, someone who's authority does not only come from the barrel of a gun. the process was slow. painstaking. if the members wanted to show in this broken country something could be done right. then the announcement and victory for the lady in pink. katherine sam ba-panza, styling herself as the mother of the nation. this was her message to the rivalal militias. >> i launch a strong appeal to my children in the anti-bell abbinga movement. send a signal by putting down your guns and to my children in

the seleka movement - also put down your guns. >> the speech was really received, especially by women. until now the senior political positions have been held by men. >> catherine zam we pansa takes on an enormous responsibility. she is the head of state in a country where the government has essentially seized to exist. if she is to succeed, she will need the support of the international community. >> and there are more promises of help from abroad. in brussels e.u. foreign ministers agreed to send peacekeepers to the central african republic to join french and african forces on the ground. . >> personally i think we should send the battle groups because they were designed for precisely these things. if not now, then when. we hope and clearly need e.u.

forces that help establish. >> back in bangui, the new president was showered with messages of goodwill. in a country that is poised on the edge of an abyss this was a welcome day of hope. >> more to come here on al jazeera, including barack obama joins in the debate on legalizing marijuana, saying it's not more dangerous than alcohol. plus, dealing with pain through humour. the photographer who is focussing on life in the occupied wang. -- occupied west bank.

welcome back. a reminder of the top stories. syria's government and the opposition will meet for peace talks in switzerland. wednesday's conference was in disarray after iran was invited to attend. that invitation has been withdrawn. >> protesters in ukraine continue to occupy kiev's independence square. they are calling for the president to step down. >> africa has its third female head of state. catherine samba-panza has been chosen as the interim president. she's the former mayor of bangui and promises to lead her country out of violence. >> let's get more on the top story and the syrian peace talks due to get underway on wednesday. >> we are joined live from

moscow. demooetry, how disappointed are the russians that iran has not been invited in the end to the peace conference? >> well, sergei lavrov says that the withdrawal of the invitation is a mistake, but not a disaster. sergei lavrov said he was optimistic about the prospectus of talks on iran's nuclear program. he said that slowly the problem is going to be resolved, and he also reiterated the russian position on the syrian question in general. he said that this geneva ii is not about transition to a new power, but having the two sides of the conflict meeting each other and discussions of ways towards peace. it's interesting that he said that he was optimistic given that the expectations from the different sides are so different. the opposition and the west are

talking about setting up a transition government. while the russians are talking about something different. how can they be optimistic in russia when the objectives are different. >> well, i would like to clarify. sergei lavrov was optimistic about talks on iran's nuclear program. he didn't say he was optimistic about the conference. but in general, sergei lavrov said that peace was possible, of course, there are dangers, and dangers that he enumerated were not regional. he said that he was worried about the presence in syria of islamist groups. the islamic front. he enumerated them one more time. but he said that it would be wrong to talk about transition right now. he said that this is not according to international law. this was not the plan elaborated at the conference.

so he was pretty stubborn in his opposition to a first not allowing iran to take part in the talks, and second, about making the resignation of bashar al-assad the main topic of the talks. >> as you say, he thinks the focus of the peace conference is fighting extremists and al qaeda. how much of all this, what we are seeing now is a battle for influence between russians and the americans. what are the reasons. the main reasons for russia's continued support for bashar al-assad's government. >> well, russia said many times he didn't support bashar al-assad personally, but supported syria's sovereignty. what we saw during the last few years is foreign powers directly aiding an armed insurgency inside the sovereign

country. they had a radical operating on its territory, worried about a date, sharing the fate of syria. that is the main reason. i wouldn't overestimate the amount of russia's involvement and the crisis in syria. turkey, qatar and other countries provided more aid to the rebels than russia provides military aid to the government. it's technically not possible. the only way russian weapons is through iran and iraq. it's an unreliable way to supply weapons >> than you for shedding the light on russia's position going into the peace talks. >> a challenge facing europe's largest minority group is education to many roma children, breaking through the barrier of

prejudice and poverty. we found one school in slovakia drawing out the tall ents of its former pupils. >> people say the roma don't send kids to school. they do here. they sit happily with white slovak children in the primary school. all the classroom assistance are roma. this one, who is helping an autistic slovak boy say roma children like coming here because they are not intimidated. >> translation: when they see a roma teacher they feel at home and welcome. it's easier to come to school because they know and welcome us. >> the roma teachers went out to their people and urged them to educate without fear of suffering educational abuse. there's nothing out of the ordinarily. >> it's worth bearing in mind that in recent years the slough

abbing government considered forcibly separating roma children from their parents and making them go to slovak boarding schools. consider, too, how successful the school is by adding roma teachers to slovak ones and how needlessly provocative the political ideas have been. >> as we made our way across slovakia we have heard many times children set up for failure. >> another ethnic slur trotted out is the gypsy children will not mix. at the kinder gart ep they wanted to but weren't allowed to. the slough abbing parents, not the roma, moved their kids as far as possible. >> translation: increasingly only roma children are coming to the school. others wanted to be separated.

they take them inspector else. >> across the border into hungary, and a visit to a place that has solution to problems. the teenages white and roma children are amazed to sit together. other classes use bored games to encourage bonding, with amazing results. this girl became the huping airian draft champion. schools over hungary are trying to copy the place and its ability to draw out the talent. >> the logical thinking that they don't have any problem in this way. all the children from the school go on to study until they are 18. many roma go to university. it demonstrates how many other wasted lives there are. when these children from the mixed school grow up, their nearest high school will be 15km away. most of their parents have

neither a car nor the bus fair to send them there. >> photographs are a throughout inform provoking and controversial in the middle east. armed with a camera. they have captured drag queens in the holily lands. tom ackerman in east jerusalem. >> gaza can be bleak. >> photojournalist has plenty of experience capturing palestine struggle. her latest work focuses on the way they cope with reality. you never know when something absurd, ridiculous or amusing or ominous is going to happen. pictures include young female athletes practicing javelin throwing. beside the israely separation wall. the first female surfer in gaza, a woman with a buicka taking a walk in a tonne 'em, a boy

catching a quick swim in an israeli park, and the furniture makers beside the wall waiting hopefully for a customer. >> they'd sit on the side of the road by the wall. having tea, smoking, and i would think there's something here, something there. >> tania belongs to a collective of female photographers. >> the goal is to shake up stereotypes. woman. region and men. >> tania looks for unusual moments reflecting the resilience of her subjects k like this man. >> people in general are finding ways of releasing the stress through is it hum jar. her work is never meant to drivialize. there is a political context prevalent. >> she's sensitive to the expectations of various viewers.

>> to me, i'm not successful. any of the supportize i do unless i capture a western audience and the audience that i film. >> it's a challenge that keeps us always looking out for that next special moment. >> barack obama has sold an american magazine and believes marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol. marijuana is illegal in the united states. 21 states allow or am about to allow medical marijuana use. they have decriminal used the use of marijuana. uruguay became the first country to legalize the sale, cultivation of marijuana. there's a huge concern in countries like mexico and columbia. the vice president of a council

of americas and says part of the problem with tackling drugs is there's no regional consensus on how to control the drug trade. >> we are in a bit of unchartered territory. some countries are moving forward. uruguay was mentioned in 2012. columbia and other countries called for a hemispheric approach. the hemisphere is going in different directions, but there are countries, not just the united states, brazil is faced with drugs cop assumption issues and others, so it's not a completely unified voice in terms of what should be done, that's part of the issue. some people have some ideas but the consensus in terms of drug control broke down. >> a report released by a leading charity showed half the world's wealth is owned by 85 people. oxfam estimates they are worth

$2 trillion between them. dominic kane has the details. >> this is the indonesian capital jakarta. as in several other countries the economy has grown in recent years. oxfam believes the richest 10% of people in such nations are doing better than the poorest 40%. the global picture is more stark. oxfam says half of all the world's wealth is owned by 85 people. together those 85 people are worth 1.7 trillion. that is as much as the world's 3.5 billion poorest people combined. in europe alone, the combined wealth of 10 richest people. that is $17 billion more than the e.u. spent on two years of economic stimulus plansism. >> it's unsustain payable.

in a world of finite resources to have half of the people own the same as 85 rich billionaires is crazy. the report has been released before the business leaders descend. >> in the past it's been seen by some as an elitist group that caters a little for the problems of ordinary people. >> the founder says that is outdated. >> now it's time to look at fundamental changes which are happening. the technology area, societal field and so on. and to pay more attention to those challenges which we have to face in society, in the economy. >> the ravages of poverty and economic failure seem distant from the picture postcard image presented at this time of year.

>> oxfam says the world's business elite need to do much more to ensure that the poorest in society share at least some of the prosperity. >> there's more news on the website aljazeera.com. the income gap between wealthy and poor is now wider than it has ever been, and now it's putting a drag on the u.s. economy. also we will go to west virginia where the contaminated water is now sinking some small businesses, and we'll take you to california where a ski resort is trying to save a season amist a record drought. i'm ali velshi, and this is "real money." ♪