will not shut down nuclear plants, a key demand of international leaders. those are your headlines at this hour. "consider this" is next. beating in public in sochi. also the focus on sexuality of female athletes, the double standard and its consequences. >> a truce late wednesday in ukraine hasn't stopped the chaos. we'll go to kiev. also pussy riot's shocking beating in public in sochi. also the focus on sexuality of female athletes, the double standard and its consequences. and a satirical new book shines a light on north korea's horrible atrocities. i'm thoiment. antonio mora.

leer is a look at what's to come. >> destruction and violence in ukraine. >> president yanukovych has agreed on a truce. >> many feel there are more trouble to come. >> two public thorns in the side of russian president vladimir putin. >> members of pussy riot tried to film a video and then this happened. >> the sochi olympics again has been a superb showcase for the athletes, the male athletes, anyway. >> the way women are portrayed, the language used and the images used. >> ice bucket, professional athletes, hair and makeup. >> my name is are michael malet. the unauthorized kim jong-il's biography. why does kim jong-il claims he can shrink time? >> we begin with the announcement wednesday that could bring a truce to the awful violence, at least temporarily, to the violence in ukraine.

viktor yanukovych said on his website that he agreed with the opposition to try to stabilize ukraine in the interest of social peace. that followed a ban on u.s. visas an the threat of more sanctions against ukrainian officials. tuesday night wednesday morning saw at least 26 people killed. ukraine's health ministry also counted almost 240 wounded. the local news sources say more than a thousand people on both sides of the barricades had been hurt and most of the fighting took place around kiev's independence square, ukraine's security service reported attacks in many parts of the country, claiming courtrooms had been burned, peaceful civilians killed more than 1500 guns and 100,000 rounds ever ammunition stolen. protesters are demanding president viktor yanukovych step down. for accepting a financial settlement with russia rather than sign a treaty with the

european union. for more, let's go to jennifer glasse. in kiev. did anyone know this situation was deteriorating badly? >> that's right antonio, out of the blue. this evening president yanukovych replaced the head of army. everyone saw that as a very ominous sign. in independence square, the protesters preparing for battle again, after that very fears battle that left 26 dead and hundreds injured with flash grenades, protesters being shot by police, there were dead on both sides. but this truce comes really, really as a shock to everyone, both the opposition and president yanukovych confirming that it is true, that it is indeed that negotiations will start again to try to end the bloodshed. >> do we have any idea of what the conditions of the truce were? >> we don't. antonio, i think actually, it

seems that both sides has seen violence spread to the brink, across the country. there is concern about what might come next. there has been a lot of pressure from the west, president viktor yanukovych under a lot of pressure to try and calm things down to take a reasonable approach. we've heard from secretary of state john kerry today as well as european leaders. certainly a lot of external pressure. but i think, too, you can't look at the violence that happened here on both sides last neither, police and protesters killed in horrific clashes. just a few blocks from here in kiev actually there was a shooting just a block from here last night antonio and i think everybody thought it was in the best interest to try and calm things down. tomorrow is a day of mourning in kiev. we don't know when or if the opposition leaders will meet with president viktor yanukovych put at least certainly there's a ray of hope,

that there is a truce on the table. >> we saw horrific pictures of the horrific fighting on tuesday and overnight into wednesday, more than two dozen killed, hundreds injured. was it more peaceful on the streets on wednesday even before the truce was announced? >> it was. it was a very quiet day. the subway was shut down for the first time in its history, the subway across the city. to preliminary the movement of people so that thousands of people can't converge on the square. many, many thousands came, five, six, seven thousand were in the square, a sense of camaraderie, music. it was actually kind of an upbeat, defiant mood in independence square. around the city, traffic much quieter than usual. a lot of the businesses are closed down, largely because the metro is closed, people can't get around, can't get to work, and i think also, the uncertainty, people are quite concerned about what might happen next so a quiet peaceful

calm but very tense day here in kiev. and i think this sign of a truce, this news of a truce as it trickles down. there's a lot of mistrust, antonio. >> as you mentioned replacement of the head of the armed forces, the interior ministry had also called for an antiterrorist delegation in the country. all that had raised tensions. as far as what's happened now, jennifer i hope we'll get you back and you can keep us potatoes ed in the days to come. thank you very much. >> i'll be here. >> as mentioned, the u.s. has put 120 ukraine officials on a black list. more on that and the ukrainian opposition i'm joined from washington, d.c. by ambassador william courtney who served and u.s. ambassador to georgia and kazakhstan, special envoy to

president clinton, and senior security staff for ukraine, russia and eurasia. are you surprised that these protests that started on november 21st have lasted this long, and the kind of violence we've seen over the past couple of days? >> you know the ukrainians had the orange revolution in 2004 which was successful. didn't take quite as long as this one. but they got under their belt a successful popular revolution, if you will, to change. in that case, the issue was getting a new election in place of an election that was stolen. this has been much tougher, the yanukovych regime has held tight for quite some time. protests have been passionsful. protesters are willing to stay out in freezing temperatures now for a couple of months. but the yanukovych government has overestimated its bargaining power. and what we've seen recently including i think today the firing of the armed forces

minister is another suggestion there may be some cracks in the leadership. >> i wanted to play you a comment that president obama made on wednesday about the situation in ukraine and get your reaction. >> we expect the ukrainian government to show restraint, he can recognizing that along with our european partners in the international community there will be consequences if people step over the line. >> is there a danger that these sanctions would just push yanukovych and his officials deeper into the russian camp? >> it's possible of course that they will see the sanctions as something that may force them in that direction. but the sanctions are not the most important thing in this crisis. the most important thing is for both yanukovych and for the oppositionists to believe that they can have a good future if they share power together. they both could retain substantial influence, compete in future elections and there will be another election next year. so the key is finding a power

arrangement. because that's harder now. yanukovych has held out so long now, he is going to have to make bigger concessions. the only answer is some kind of power-sharing arrangement. >> we have seen all these harrowing pictures from the opposition, and we don't know that much from the protesters. the sides include the all ukrainian fatherland, and the democratic alliance for reform which is led by former boxer vitaly klitschko, and then -- that's freedom party, and then there's the far-right sector, that started the protests in kiev. could any of these or a coalition conceivably take power from yanukovych? >> probably all of them are going to have some stake in the process and that will be needed for stability in the country. when elections take place, next year an election and future

elections, those parties will probably have to build new kinds of coalitions. some may be separate, some may be together. it's too hard to tell. but right now in a situation like this where they're all somewhat united against the party of regents, and will stick together. they'll have to involve all of them as stakeholders one way or the other. >> particularly the right sector, that group has been blamed for instigating violence on its own. many of their group are described as hooligans, the type of soccer fans who trigger riots at games for fun. is it fair to say that some of these protesters bear some of the blame for violence? >> that's certainly true, some of them probably do but also there could be well

provocateurs, ones in russia that put a lot of pressure on yanukovych to crack down on the protesters. as you have seen so far in the last few weeks, the overall leaders, yatsun yuk and klitschko, have called people to remain calm and they have been recently successful with that. but recently as the yanukovych deposit has come closer to cracking down, the radical fringe has played a role. >> and president obama has called for more peaceful demonstrations and he included the protesters when he condemned the violence. let's listen to that. >> we hold the ukrainian government primarily responsible for making sure that it is dealing with peaceful in an appropriate way. we have said that we also expect peaceful protesters to remain

peaceful, and we will be monitoring very closely the situation. >> any hope that that will influence either side of the barricades? >> that will probably have some useful impact. but the europeans probably have more sway than the united states does. three key foreign ministers are from france, britain and, going to kiev to meet with president yanukovych. ukraine trades as much with the european union than it does with russia. they have a big stake both ways. on the other hand, with european support and american support and international monetary fund the financial alternative for ukraine is to make some real economic reforms and get western support. so right now ukraine is nearly bankrupt. but the choice for them is to continue drawing on this $15 billion credit that the russians have promised, or make real

reforms and go to the west. yanukovych hasn't been willing to make concessions on reforms thus far, so he has been forced to turn to the russians. but if there's a power sharing arrangement in which everyone comes together, it is greater to make reforms and go to the west. >> we'll have to see if this truce holds, ambassador william count, thank you for joining us on the show. >> you're welcome. >> report from venezuela last night. there were fresh clashes on the streets of caracas. protesters, angry at corruptions, one of the highest crime rates, shortage and the world's highest inflation. on the other, security forces of president nicholas maduro and in support of opposition leader

leopoldo lopez surrendered to authorities. released by his party on wednesday, a video, he called on venezuelans to end the maduro regime. turn from venezuela. a pending trial in egypt. thursday is the deadline to get out and stay out of the country, that from a terrorist group that claimed responsibility for bombing of a tourist bus. that killed three south korean tourists on sun. the group also claimed attacks on egyptian police in the sinai thursday is also the day three al jazeera english journalists, peter greste, mohamed fahmy and baher mohamed, are going on

trial, accused of spreading false news and aiding a terrorist organization. charges the journalists and al jazeera say are false. for more, i'm joined by charles senate. the correspond for two front line documentaries on egypt's ongoing crisis. great to have you back on the show. >> thanks for having me. >> most notably in 1997, where ayman al zawahiri

killed. new group whose name translates as supporters of jerusalem is going down this road and trying that tactic again? >> yes, it's depressing. i mean this is really sad to see egypt swing back to the kind of violence it had in the '90s. sadat was assassinated by these militants. they would fight back, terrorist bombings, it hurt the tourism industry, it made egypt suffer badly. it is hard to see tahrir square from 2011 to where it is now. >> does this group have any connection with the the muslim brotherhood, the muslim -- and there is no connection between al qaeda and the muslim brotherhood. it is an interesting bit of terrain that most americans don't understand. there is a danger of conflating all of these groups as if they are the same thing. the muslim brotherhood has a

sketchy past, and a checkered history and long history. it embraced democracy. mohamed morsi was elected from that representation. suckers, naive if they ever did win an election that the west wouldn't actually let them rule. so the events that as they've transpired sort of play to al qaeda's argument. there's a bit of we told you so from the al qaeda camp to much of those who are drawn to militancy, who are islamists. they were not good at ruling, the egyptian people spoke out against that. but the military coup in many ways has not been necessarily the wishes of the egyptian people. it is such a confusing complex terrain. there is an important note here not to conflate things but to be precise about egypt's history. they may be gaining ground because of this. the hardest part about this is muslim brotherhood's governance failed. they were not good at ruling, they spoke out about that. but the military coup in many ways has not been necessarily

the wishes of the egyptian people. it's i think an important note here which is not to conflate things and to try to be precise about the history. >> egypt's tourism industry had already been suffering since the end of mubarak's regime. the red sea resorts in the sinai had been a bright spot but now this latest attack against tourists might be a back on that. given this kind of turmoil, do you see the security forces getting the situation under control any time soon >> well, i think there's a clock ticking right now. general alsisi who is essentially in charge, who will run for the presidency and who will win, although i'm 92nd betting man, but that's looking like a very, very real possibility that he will be the

next president of egypt. but the clock ticks on him to fulfill the goals of the revolution. the expression in the street in tahrir, in 2011, it was a call to the military to come to the side of the revolution, which the military did do. the military is a large and loved institution in egypt but there are goals of the revolution which are democracy, but also a change, a way from the police state, away from brutality. towards democracy. and what they're doing with the crack down on the press is not a move to democracy. >> let's address that. because the al jazeera journalists, peter greste, mohamed fahmy and baher mohamed are going on trial thursday, if convicted of the charges, broadcasting false news and aiding the enemy, they

could face several years in jail. is this going to be a show-trial like the ones we used to see in the old soviet union? >> well, i don't know that it will be quite as bad as the old soviet union. but the judiciary is a mess in egypt right now. and it's hard to have faith that rational judgments will reveal themselves. but what is on trial tomorrow is really not peter or mohamed or baher. they are really trumped up. it's really about journalists trying to tell their story. what is on trial really is egypt's commitment to a free press. if they are serious about fulfilling the goals of democracy then there's a lot on the line in this trial storm -- tomorrow. >> and that's a question i want to ask. egyptian authorities say they didn't have official press passes, but al jazeera and the journalists

insist they have not done anything wrong, they haven't been held in anything close to are have humanitarian conditions. mohamed fahmy is waiting for medical treatment on an injured shoulder, he has a dislocated shoulder and he's been sleeping on the hard floor. what's that? >> there's a message that there's a serious crack down on the free press and the opposition, muslim brotherhood supporters, they were also secular leftists coming out of the april 6th movement, like ahmed maher. this is really a crack down, not only on the freedom of the press but also on all opposition. and i think there's really a lot at stake in this trial tomorrow and i think that what is on

trial is the intention of the established military terms, the generals but also the judiciary as to whether or not they're going to fulfill the demands of the egyptian people that were really cried out from tahrir square boat in 2011 and last summer, when they were rejecting the muslim brotherhood, which is the same cry. the cry for democracy, a cry for a new constitution and a cry for a new egypt. >> charles senate we'll have to see what this trial are brings. it's good to have you on the program. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> coming up. sexism in the olympics. why do some female olympians have to sex it up? and our social media producer hermela aregawi. what's trending? >> stirring it up by a single tweet. i'll tell you

what it was, coming up. and join the conversation by tweeting to it @ajconsiderthis. or leave a comment on our facebook page.

>> sex sells. but do female athletes have to pay that today game to compete? pick up a sports magazine ant you'll see male athletes,

the university of california center for feminist research found male athletes get 96% of the air time in nonolympic years. many women who want the gold and the sponsorships find sex appeal matters as much as ability. >> so sprained my ankle a couple of weeks ago, put it in an ice bucket, professional athlete, hair and makeup, model. have to do 15 changes at different locations and it was just such a fun experience. >> and joining us now from minneapolis, minnesota. is mary jo cane. she is a kin ease ideologies. esiologist. we just saw gold medalist alex morgan doing her sports illustrated swim suit shoot. is this something they have to do in order to get these sponsorships? >> well, unfortunately yes they do. and for female athletes as you just mentioned in the setup, because even though they represent 40% of all

participants nationwide in this country and 40% of all scholarship athletes athletes, they only receive 4% of media coverage across the vast media landscape. unfortunately the best way for them to get noticed and certainly to get corporate sponsorships is to be sexualized and to be portrayed in a way that emphasizes their sexuality and their femininity far more than their athletic competence. far differently than mealz. males. >> this is something they have to do to pay for their training over the next few years. >> yeah, and i think that's again an unfortunate thing but i certainly understand why female athletes do this. they get so little coverage, they get so little notice and have such a small window of opportunity to even get sort of you know the corporate sponsorship that they want and frankly deserve. but they're smart and they know

that this is the way they have to do it in order get any kind of recognition. the concern i have and for those of us who are advocates for women's sports is, it may help an individual female athlete with her brand and i certainly think she should not feel bad osh guilty abouor guilty about n many ways it's a double edged sword and she's not going to be respected for her athleticism. and how does it carry the ball for respecting them for their enormously gifted athleticism. >> you have written about all this. do you see this as a bigger issue of sexism in society or is the sexism in the way women are dmoferred sports worse? covered in sports worse? >> no, it's not as if sexism only exists in the world of sport. but it's so much more ubiquitous.

than in any other issue we ever see. sports are on 24-7. because female athletes are covered so little, you know, we really want them to be portrayed in ways that guys their athleticism. so i think the bigger issue really is not much why is it that female athletes feel the need to do this, but why is it that the corporate sponsors say that in order for us to be interested in you, and in order for us to associate you with our brand, we want to sexualize you, rather than talk about your body as an instrument of power, and as an instrument of great on-court competence. >> on the other hand, if you see people in tv commercials, those people are almost always attractive, how is it different here? >> i don't think it's different except in the sense that if you talk about the world of sports, female athletes and their bodies we would hope would be

recognized by their on-court competence and strength and power and not how pretty they are and how sexy they are. and in that sense in general women regardless of what sport they are in but how pretty they are and what they look like. >> but again as you said earlier, we were just showing moments ago pictures of olympians like lolo jones, she has been attacked for leveraging her looks and others have taken a beating for it, including ashley wagner who squeaked into the olympics in figure skating. you don't condemn them for using all this, there is a big debate on social media on this. i want to go to hermela aregawi, for that. hermella. >> in 2007, antonio, lolo jones was one of the highest ranked hurried lers but had no sponsors for that. -- hurdlers, but had no sponsor

for that. >> how many facebook "likes" do they have? from that moment on i tried to make social media a priority. >> and doing that has really worked to lolo's advantage. received this mean spirited tweets. coco says on a scale of 1 to 10, how close to pig-ugly would you class yourself? even on social media do you have to be persuade? >> social media allows people to be anonymously vicious, and to focus on women's physicality, how attractive they are and physically provocative they are, rather than how

smart they are how talented they are and how dedicated they are. and so i think to be fair to female athletes you're right. i don't condemn them for taking advantage of these opportunities. but on the other hand it is a double edged sword, at the end of the day they are often mocked and not taken seriously as elite highly gifted and dedicated athletes. and that's the real problem. >> there's been a lot of criticism about the way the olympics have been covered and so much focus on the way women look and talking about women wearing makeup, under their goggles because they want to look their best. because they need to. is this issue of attractiveness for women in sport something that is persuasive and in effec somehow pushes, gives women who are attractive a big advantage over woman who are not? >> absolutely. certainly in regard to corporate sponsorships. we asked women in team sports at

two division 1 universities, if you were able to receive the same amount of corporate sponsorship, if you were portrayed as an on court competent athlete, versus a sexy babe, females said i want to be portrayed in terms of my competence and respect as an athlete. but that's not the way of the world and in order for me to get recognized, i oftentimes have to sexualize myself even if i don't want to. >> it's unfortunate. and mary jo kane, thank you for joining us to talk about this. >> thank you for inviting me. brutally attacked members of the feminist group pussy riots, after they advertised under a sign that was advertising the olympic games.

>> joining us for more on this is al jazeera america contributor dave zirin, sports editor for the nation, host of edge of sports radio and author of game over. he joins us from silver springs, maryland, dave, as always, good to see you. pussy riot had been arrested and released once. they were getting ready to are perform a song, putin will teach you how to love the motherland. when these cossacks arrived and started to beat them. a desperation attempt from russian security forces to keep a lid on the discontent and keep mouths shut. >> absolutely, those mouths they want shut both inside and outside the olympic village. just to be clear for listeners about a couple of facts about this. cossacks are an extra-judicial military force that have existed in russia going back to the 15th century. and they've disappeared throughout the 20th century but have since reemerged as kind of like the brutal shock troops

of vladimir putin, particularly in the south of russia. so their presence in sochi where security is so tight is a symbol in and of itself. the mere fact that they're allowed just to be in sochi. the second thing people need to realize that the cossacks had their way with pussy riot, with the whips, with tear gas, with batons, for three minutes. it may sound like a lot, but it is an eternity on the question of olympic security. there are a series of other protests that have attempted to happen in sochi but they get picked up literally within seconds. which makes a lot of people think, correctly, i believe, that people think their phones are listened to, and police let the beating happen before they came to stop it and when they did they didn't make any arrests. >> in fact they were arrested just for planning this on monday before this whole thing happened and a member of the band's

entour an said that during this altercation, the cossacks were shouting to them to shut their mouths and they were selling themselves to the americans. do you think this is going to keep happening after the olympics? >> absolutely it is going to keep happening, that's about continuity with these megaevents, particularly olympics but also the world cup. with you see the security stepped up, i think most people understand why the security steps up post-9/11 world, keep it up, the chief in london said, when he was asked about all the surveillance came, it's not like we're going to put them back in the box and send them back, now are we? that is the legacy of the olympics, the security state that exists. in the hands of vladimir putin it will probably be much more vicious than most. >> in that context are you surprised that there haven't been more protests?

because you also write about the international olympic committee itself helping to stop the ukrainian delegation? preventing them from wearing black arm bands for the people who died in kiev. >> gives you an idea how maniacal the ioc is. the only thing you can have on your uniforms are nike swooshes. and corporate sponsors. because there's nothing political about dow chemical. but one of the things you cannot do whatsoever is have a black arm band. even though ukrainian team by all reports is just devastated because of their own family and friends who are back in kiev, of course as you well know as you have been covering, antonio, hundreds are dead and injured, all they want is a showing, to understand we're human and we get what's happening and that's too much for the ioc. >> we have seen virtually

nothing when it comes to protests against the gay -- the anti-gay protests in russia. let's move to hockey. russia suffered a devastating loss, prior to the medal round so the russians are not going to medal in hockey. vladimir putin really wanted these guys to medal. this was a big deal. >> he wanted them to do more than medal. he wanted them to win the gold. the russians, somewhat bewildering, were favored to win gold. i mean there's not a lot of truth to the idea that home ice matters when it comes to the hockey olympics. in international competition. historically the finns, it was finland who beat russia today, it should not surprise anybody that finland went in and took down russia. it was such a blow for the country.

it was such a blow for alexander ovechkin, such a star for the washington capitols. but big ups to musolani who is older than i am who scored one of the critical goals for finland in this game. >> daichdave, great to have youn the show. what's trending on social media. hermella. >> why are you proud to support the nra? tweet us with the hashtag, #iamthenra. >> tom says i am the nra because the five minutes before the police arrive, could be the longest of your life. renee says, i am the nra because rape whistles don't cult it. another tweet, i am the nra because those tweet whistles

i am the nra, the best thing about america is the second amendment. and timothy said, the one time someone defended themselves with a gun are way better than the others. the ones that are murdered by a gun. antonio a lot of strong opinions on this one. >> certainly a very divisive issue, thanks hermella. still ahead, important drugs for men, could they be doing more harm than good? and america's debt has shot up, not all bad news. plus kim jong-il built his regime on lies. but a new book turns those words against him.

>> could prescription medications that have exploded in popularity be causing more harm than good? a study out of ucla and the national institute of health says that testosterone treatments could

double the risk in men over 65 and men with heart disease as young as 40. increasing prescriptions have five fold, sold more than viagra in 2012. so are testosterone supplements safe to use or will the fda have to step in and put new rules on the use of these increasingly popular medications? let's bring in dr. malica marler. graigreat to have you on the sh. >> thanks for having me antonio. >> what are the symptoms of low testosterone or low-t as it has been brand he in recent years? >> so men typically say they have decreased libido, problems with low energy, depressed mood. those tend to be the symptoms that we hear most commonly. >> and what is the difference between a natural decline in testosterone, aging or a serious

million condition that really needs treatment? >> we know that as men age testosterone levels go down. in fact more than a third of men over the age of 45 have low testosterone. that doesn't mean that all those men need to be treat. but we know that testosterone levels decline about 1% a year starting at the age 40. aging isn't, certainly probably the most common cause but isn't the only cause. you can have health problems or chemotherapy that can cause damage to testosterone levels. injury to the testes, diabetes and high blood pressure. >> one cardiologist says it was like smoking one or two packs of cigarettes a day. but it's really amazing, that the increase in heart attacks happen very quickly. >> yes, so within 90 days of use

they actually noticed that there was a twofold increase. and i think we have to be careful, not to assume that the testosterone supplements actually cause the heart disease. but there seems to be enough of a link that we need to take a closer look at that. even men under the age of 65, or with no heart disease have double the risk. so it's something we need to take a closer look at. >> could it be part of the problem that people who don't need the supplements are using them? >> yes, we need to be concerned about that. these prescriptions are doled out to people who really don't need to be receiving treatment. i think most experts agree that the people who need to be taking testosterone supplements are men who have low levels on multiple measurements. men who have symptoms. so if there are men out there

who have low levels but no symptoms, they don't need to take supplements and also men who don't have other underlying conditions responsible for their symptoms, things like depression or problems with their thyroid. there is a specific population of men that really should be targeted with these medications but not aguy who thinks he wants a little -- a guy who thinks he wants a little boost. >> a spokesman for andrajel, say there's benefits for low blood sugar and blood pressure. so does it have benefits that might outweigh the risks? >> well, i think the waters are still pretty murky. there is some suggestion that low testosterone might increase the risk of heart disease. but it play be with its association with diabetes and owe piecity and high blood pressure, like i mentioned earlier, it's not necessarily a direct relationship. now we're worried that too much testosterone might increase the risk of heart disease. so is there some optimal level of testosterone that men should

really achieve in order to obtain optimal heart health? possibly. we need to corroborate that. >> we need bigger studies that -- than we have so far, people say, and others are not convinced. a urologist who said, testosterone for life, the classic case of treating the risk factor for cardiovascular events. a treatment for a condition with the condition. so he's arguing that maybe the study wasn't done properly? >> yeah, and with a lot of things you're going to start of get -- to kind of get people on both sides depending on their -- what their slant is. what we're learning is that medications have side effects and i want men to realize out there that testosterone is not some benign medication that has no side effects, that you

can take to make yourself feel better. it's been beautifully been marketed to make a man feel more like a man by giving them testosterone. >> there are great commercials out there. >> that's right. there are people out there who before from it and feel as if it's doing them service. but there are really men out there that shouldn't be taking it and it might be doing more harm than good. and that's what we're trying to find out. and not even the heart effects. it might be a factor for obstructive sleep apnea. there are other effects that testosterone treatment can cause. again, buyer beware. it's like antibiotics. don't ask your dock for for it unless it's going to be something that really helps you. >> and statins have increased in popularity. can this lower testosterone be part of that growing issue? >> there was research to suggest that people taking statins could cause lower testosterone levels. i don't think that that is

predominantly what men are looking for. i don't think it's the men who are on at tha on statins who sak i have lower testosterone levels because i'm taking lipitor. if you have improved sexual function thinking, i want some of that too many, unfortunately i think it is being marketed to a wider number of people than it really should be. we need to target specific populations with this medication. >> statins used to lower cholesterol. dr. malica marshall, thanks for your time, good to see you. increasing evidence on americans against debt. using satire, agains and a s own words against itself.

>> today's >> today's data dive goes into a bit of debt. overall consumer debt stands at $11.5 trillion. the increase came incredibly fast. americans fell into an additional 2.5% of debt. bank rate.com found that more than 1 in 4 americans have more credit card debt than they have in a savings account. also, more than half of americans have less in emergency savings than they have in credit card debt. that is the highest percentage since they started tracking it in 2011. but is there an upside? the total is less than the financial collapse of 2008.

if more are in debt, it means they are spending more, there has been a recent jump in the consumer confidence index. household spending, higher mortgage balances was the largest reason for increased debt. even more are not debts, foreclosures are lower than they have since 2005. we may have a long way to go but every little bit helps. coming up tearing down a regime by its myths. to happen to american journalism in decades. >> we believe in digging deep. >> its unbiased, fact-based, in-depth journalism. >> you give them the facts, dispense with the fluff and get straight to the point. >> i'm on the ground every day finding stories that matter to you. >> in new orleans... >> seattle bureau... >> washington... >> detroit... >> chicago... >> nashville... >> los angeles... >> san francisco... >> al jazeera america, take a new look at news.

>> oh my! >> in the spirit of laughing to keep from crying, we bring you a new farcical take on north korea. this week a u.n. report compared the country's atrocities to the nazis. its government has now dominated for three generations, by a

family dedicating to myth ol mythologizing its leaders. kim jong-il, the unauthorized biography of kim jong-il, "dear reader." sometimes comedy is the best way to describe just how horrible something is and this is what your book does. you started the fake autobiography. you started the book by "i remember when i -- the day when i was born perfectly." >> he has perfect memory of everything. >> which is totally ridiculous. the way kim jong-il, the father

and now his son have run that country. there is a level of being sinister being this mythologizing. >> absolutely. the idea that he is the only smart person in the whole country. if he goes away, you better have faith in the dear leader or the great leader. >> we have seen it in other communist countries in the past where the leaders have been completely blown out of proportion. but this is just absolutely crazy. and north koreans have to show their respect before the thousands of statutes that exist -- and images of these guys that exist all around the country. >> it's crazy. that's when north korea has been for the past 60 years, going in the wrong crazy direction. >> and how has that propaganda worked? >> it worked for the father, kim ilsung. that's when the famine hit. if you speak to any refugee they have nothing but contempt for kim jong-il.

>> let's listen to the absurdities. kim jong-il could shrink time. >> yes. >> there was an overwhelming outcry supposedly by lawmakers, when his father should be the lawmaker, his son didn't need to be the leader, and the lawmakers say no no no, he has to be the leader. they also say that he doesn't eat, he doesn't sleep, he recreated opera, he hated the mona lisa because it was ambiguous. one of the famous myths was that he shot eight holes in one the first timing he shot golf. that was crazy stuff. >> the absurdity is that this is going on in earth now, in this naziesque sense. and that people are more interested in dennis rodman than the 24 million people who are suffering every day. >> under the circumstances, why do you think he's managed to get he and his father and grandfather have managed to get

away? >> if you are willing to have 10% of your population starve in order to maintain power, what is going to take you out of that leadership position? they have no -- they have complete contempt for human rights. their definition of human rights is national sovereignty. so anyone who contradicts that is contradicting national sovereignty. they have got this great way of manipulating language. for example, they also say, we don't use the word concentration camps, therefore we don't have them here. it is orwellian to a particular degree. >> the concentration camps have been exposed to be absolutely horrific. >> it's been that way for decades. when they take someone to the camps, they take whole family to camp. three generations have been purged. and it is said you have to exterminate, three generations of your family have to be killed. >> kids who are born in the concentration camps their whole lives have no exposure.

>> and they have to learn the propaganda. if they are caught with food in their pocket they are beaten to death. >> schools across the country are focused on telling the stories of kim jong-il and kim il-sung. instead of learning more important things. >> they're learning how to teleport. >> he crossed the water by walking on leaves, we've got a social media question. let's go to hermella. >> antonio, there's a tumblr started in 2010 started of pictures of the late kim jong-il, simply looking at things. a roasted pig, female soldiers, pieces of fish. shortly after kim jong-il died, there was another tumblr, of his son, looking at mundane things, like crackers at a factory. we know that anything that frames our leaders in a negative light, how are they aware of how they're depicted internationally?

>> the regime is very aware of how they are viewed internationally. in fact they liked my book cover on instagram. which was -- >> they liked it? >> i got a "like" so i don't know if that's good or bad. but they frame a lot of the propaganda for external purposes. and if someone is crazy and they have nukes, they might want to set them off. so you don't attack them militarily. and nobody is going to attack someone with nuks. nukes. >> the incredible spending that kim jong-un is doing on himself. it says the regime spent $645 million in the past year and maybe $300 million was spent on him. >> absolutely. they are known as being huge drug producers, counterfeiters, sell illegal arms and all this sort of things.

and kim jong-il was the greatest importer of hennesseys. >> a big fan of cognac. >> you could see how good the regime was doing by the amount of order of hennesseys in a year. >> you have a country that has famine and guys spending that kind of money. don't you think it would come back, so tightly in control -- >> he wanted famine, too many people makes leadership difficult he said. so he regarded this as a useful tool to weed out the controversy in the northeast. he denied food to entire regions to maintain his regime in the '90s. >> it's unbelievable that this kind of stuff goes on, and it's hopeful that it doesn't go on much longer. the show may be over but the conversation continues you can also find us on twitter @ajconsiderthis. or on our facebook or google plus pages.

you can see us at @ajconsiderthis. we'll see you next time. >> hello, welcome to the aljazeeras hour. from doha and london, these are the top stories. another day of violence in ukraine, 20 people die as a truce between the government and protestors breaks down. [ gunfire ] >> evidence is emerging that police have been firing live ammunition, but the government says protestors have also been armed. >> aljazeera's detained