>> and this is the al jazeera news hour. i'm david foster. coming up in the next 60 minutes. searching for a solution for the crisis in ukraine. and talks between russia and the united states. inside an egyptian force al jazeera staff face prosecution. >> reporter: the u.n. mandate reports 260,000 syrians are

struggling to survive as the conflict there rages on. >> a year after the death of venezuela's former president, the new leader is still dogged by protests. >> on one side russia. on the other side the west, and they have been engaged in a day of difficult to say the least negotiations pro russian forces are taking think strangle hold on the ukraine. a group of armed men threatened united nations top envoy to crimea after he left a naval base.

and robert surry is now leaving the region. they have warmed that the there are security implications not just for ukraine but for the entire world. john kerry, secretary of state and his russian counter foreign minister laborov meet in paris. >> reporter: europe and the united states trying to coordinate their position in the face of russian aggression. >> there will be sanctions targeting visas, economic negotiations if there is no de-escalation. >> reporter: de-escalation could come out of talks with the russian morning spin sergei labi

--the russian foreign minister serge i laborov. >> i would like you to explain what you mean by special forces. we do not have power over them. they don't take our orders. over, the russian military, the black sea fleet are in deployment places and some special alert and control measures have been taken over the whole black sea fleet. as the president said we'll do everything to prevent bloodshed. >> reporter: the british raised possibility with the ukraine foreign minister also in paris that this is a chance not only for the west to talk with the russians, but for the ukrainians to do so. >> today we're going to use every diplomatic opportunity to bring russia and ukraine into direct contact with each other at a senior level to make sure that the government russia and

ukraine are talking to each other, and the russians are not prepared to do it at certain levels in recent days. >> reporter: all the activities suggest there is a willingness for dialogue. but the russia and the west and ukraine is vast. russia considers the new government in kiev illegitimatement, led by extremists. the west is going out ever its way to help that government. from brussels. >> there could be an overall support of 11 billion eur over the next couple of years. it is a package exclusive with reforms for the ukraine government. >> reporter: the paris talks will wear over into the evening.

governments had originally agreed to come here to discuss the syrian war, but even that has been shadowed by the events in ukraine. >> holding talks with russian diplomats at the headquarters in brussels. the crisis in ukraine straining relationships between n.a.t.o. members and russia. >> reporter: the meeting is taking place under something rather technically sounds rather dull, the russia n.a.t.o. council, but that organization formed in 2002 actually is responsible for incident mitt military cooperation. for example, russia and n.a.t.o. have an institution in fixes afghan helicopters. they have an operation in afghanistan of narcotic troops. it funds anti-piracy operations.

these are quite important. military collaboration operations. one thought is if n.a.t.o. is sufficiently angry with its russian partner they may threaten to suspend or council some of those organizations and some of those collaborations. we won't know for sure. what we do know is that when the meeting ends we'll have a statement, and possibly some comments from the russian ambassador alexander krushchev himself. >> we'll bring mu more at the top of the top of the news hour.

we cross to robin, tell us what you understand happened to this man from the united nations. >> reporter: yes, the picture is still coming in in terms of what happened to mr. surry. but he was off on a mission to take a look around and see the situation on the ground. we understand that we visited a naval base, and after visiting that naval base he was threatened by armed men, and they tried to make him leave. he said he refused to leave and he walked on foot and ducked into a coffee shop where he met my television crew. they stayed with him as they

gathered outside, and he is now understood to have left in safety possibly with a police escort, and taken to the airpo airport. he is at the airport or making way to fly presumably to kiev or out of the country. we're just confirming where he is at this stage. but there was talk that he had actually been kidnapped because we were expecting him to make a briefing to the media after the hotel, and he didn't show up. i can't say, but really the reception towards the west, towards the west media, the u.n. the security they were here on a

fact-finding mission. the feelings on the street are quite strong, and i'm surprised. it appears he made it away from the problems that he encountered earlier. >> okay, well thank you. that's robin walker reporting on the fact that an u.n. employee that we see on the left, robert surrey, has felt threatened by armed men in the capitol of crimea, and has decided either on his own or with the advice of his superiors that it is unsafe for him to remain in crimea.

there were reports that he had been kidnapped after the fact of this confrontation, and he has decided to leave. >> another military base has been taken over in crimea by pro-russia soldiers. a group of 40 men stormed the baraks. they were armed with machine guns and heavy weapons. this is ukrainian men stranded who have refused to simple allegiance. most of these women are ethnic tatars. they want a swift end to the conflict.

meeting with swedish prime minister carl bildt who has taken a tough stance against the intervention and say it has implications for global security. >> what is happening in the territory of crimea represents a threat not only to the security of ukraine but also to the whole world. the responsibility for such actions lies only with russia. the russian government never had and never will have any grounds for military aggression in the territory of ukraine. >> kiev's independent square the spite of the battles just a weeks ago has now become more of a memorial site. people going to the area to pay respect to those killed in protest. we have more.

>> reporter: this ask the independent square, the location of the protests. people are camping out here and some people have given up their jobs for months to maintain their tent city here. there are people trying to keep warm all the time, trying to keep fed, and others helping out as volunteers. some people have been coming here since last november, so four months of giving up their day jobs in what they call is a call for democracy. many people feel they need to stay here until things really stable glides the reason why we're here, we have to be sure who is elected. we'll stay here until the very end. that's the only way. >> i'm sad so many people were killed. i was walking with someone named andre, he was from another city.

i'm going to put flowers on the spot where he died. >> reporter: mean many people died against the riot police. the riot police are long gone, but this is the sign of the fight of democracy mere. the barricades are still up because many people here feel they need too maintain a presence until the country is stabilized and they feel that their voice is being listened to. >> you can keep up-to-date on everything regarding the events in ukraine around the clock. head to our website for the latest update, the headlines, background and agendas in terms of time lines of who is meeting who at www.aljazeera.com. now a little bit of what is

coming up on this news hour. accused of interference, saudi arabia withdraw their ambassadors from qatar. the investigation that has found more than 60 million women in the european union has experienced sexual or physical violence. and brazilian football gearing up for his first appearance with his adopted country. >> the syrian government accused of waging warfare and starvation against civilians. >> reporter: yes, the report is a catalog of the syrians and war

crimes committed by opposition groups. >> reporter: much like it's spread decemberer december--mucs spreapredecessors, the report ds the plight of a quarter million syrians living under siege in various parts of the country suggested to bombardment, denied necessities. they must choose, the report says, between surrender and starvation. a distinction is drawn between government and pro government force on one side and so-called non-state armed groups on the other and the report is critical of both. it details alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes by both sides including murder, rape, torture, the use of children in hostilities and the targeting of medical personnel

and journalists. the report notes that the warring parties do not fear being held accountable for their actions. it blames the security council for allowing the parties to act with impunity, and it recommends that they act to ensure that they comply with the rules of international law. i asked the chairman of the commission what he thought the security council could or should be doing about it? >> the only key to the international criminal court, that is one of th of the probabs to deal with this is the security council. our commission recommendations,e security council was not able to refer to the u.n. international court. >> reporter: u.n. secretary

general ban ki-moon said there needs to be much stronger leaders to move the process forward. he was referring the others to the united states and russia, of course. but the events of ukraine mean the political will for those two countries to work together on syria may be much diminished. >> germany highway ha has joined international efforts to remove syria's chemical stock pile. damascus has until june 30th for complete destruction of its arsenal, but western diplomats have accused syria of acting too slowly. >> reporter: deep in the german facility experts are preparing for newshipments from the heart of war-torn syria. until now germany had refused foreign chemical weapons on its

soil. the syrian conflict continues the german government wants to play a key part in defusing the violence. 370 tons of neutralized mustard gas was transported by sea to here to be incinerated. >> reporter: they are brought on board a danish vessel to thisship. the ship is fitted with equipment to split the chemica chemicals. and other material is being sent to sam facilities in the u.k. and united states. >> mustard gas effects the skin and mucus membrane.

i think it's correct for us to take part. >> reporter: germany has vast experience in destroying the remnants of chemical weapons. the land is still contaminated with chemical agents used in the first and second world wars. the chemicals that bashar al-assad is accused of using against his own people. >> a new study reveals that 62 million women in the european union has experienced sexual or physical abuse at home and in the workplace and sexual harassment and violence in the childhood. denmark, finland and sweden reported the highest number of physical and sexual violence. i spoke with lee webster, the

head of policy and influencing the group "womenkind worldwide." i started by asking her if she was surprised by the result of the study. >> the "world health organization" statistics show that a third of women globally will experience some form of violence in their lifetime top so what this report is really important when i heard of it. this morning i thought, that is no surprise because that's what we know. >> now how does the e.u. fare in comparison to the rest of the world? i know you look at the global situation, too. >> yes, our group works across europe, africa and asia and america. one in three is a pretty sound stake across the world. >> has it changed much over time? are we making gradual

improvements? i know you say its patriarchcal, what is positive, and what has changed over recent decades is strengthening of laws and violence against women. that's often because women's organizations and women's movements have pushed for those laws at and the biggest single factor in reducing violence against women is strong well well-organized women's groups that change things in their country. but then how that is implemented, and how that really makes a difference in the lives of women sadly there is a big gap still in that. >> we'll have more from europe later in the news hour.

for now, we go back to david. >> thank you very much, indeed. saudi arabia has withdrawn their ambassadors from qatar. they have accused qatar of failing to implement a regional security fact. in its response qatar has expressed disappointment and surprise sayings it is one of the most serious developments in the gcc. 47 million people live in these countries, and the gcc is meant to encourage cooperation on the economy and the environment. those are being tested. the former ambassador to the u.n. said ca qatar, we have notg

to do with egypt. they are free to deal with their own issues, but we will never support. this is unacceptable. we are in the 21st century. egyptian people are our people. so any dictator coming forward through the blood of his own people, and they want us to support that dictator, that's taking us back. these countries have voted for a

dictatorship. if we say, listen, it is your business if you want to support dictators, but we're not going to support dictators. having said that, that should not come back with our relationship. we are opposed to any intervention of outside powers of any of these states. >> let's go to saudi arabia, where we find a columnist a. having a difference of opinion is one thing. being accused of interfering with the internal affairs of

another country, let's take saudi arabia, that's another thing entirely. what has infuriated saudi? >> playing with the mix of islam religion and politics, it is a very sensitive affair. when you see a neighboring country, a an ally for this matr giving a media platform, economic support for a very devious group of personnel that have been using the mix of reasonable and politics to destabilize countries, and to actually become dictators. frankly, i'm astonished at the

previous official in the segment where he says they don't support dictators. there is a dictatorship in the making. muslim brotherhood is an dictator organization. everybody knows that. but creating the proper platforms, that is a very devious and worrisome matter. >> would this had been as bad except here in qatar there i whe they are very critical of other countries of gcc. is he planning insurrection? >> qatar has given him

legitimacy and credibility, and therefore a fan base. a very dangerous fan base. they legitimatize suicide-bombing, and created a lot of verdicts that was against regimes and other countries. if that is not interference in the name of reasonabl religion,t know what it is. he was a preacher before. >> i want to ask you one other aspect which has received very little press, but it is being touted amongst intelligence .

>> that had linkage with muslim brotherhood as well as tie ups that has been what was talked about in the papers, in the press, and expressed by officials of these two countri countries. saudis have investigated some themselves with linkage to the muslim brotherhood. there is enough of a concern. these are not hearsay, these are not gossip that have been circulated. these are security threats to these countries that must be taken seriously. >> well, we thank you very much, indeed. talking to us from saudi arabia. >> thank you. >> invite sizing the police, the findings of a human rights group looking at a deadly crackdown

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>> i'm ali velshi, >> good to have you with us on this al jazeera news hour. i'm david foster here to recap the top stories. john kerry has urged his russian counter part in talks. a group of armed men threatethreatened the u.n.'s ton while he was at the ukraine naval base.

strained relations wit relae russians are worried about n.a.t.o.'s influence in this. this is what the secretary general of n.a.t.o. have to say a short while ago. >> good evening. the situation in ukraine presents serious implications for the security and stability of the euro-atlantic area. so n.a.t.o. decided today to take a number of immediate steps. we have suspended planning for our first n.a.t.o. joint missi

mission. >> that was the n.a.t.o. secretary talking a short while ago in brussels after the meeting that they had with russian diplomats and h n.a.t.o. will meet with the civilian and government. we apologize, the tape was not all in english, but i'm sure you got the gist. let's go back to julie in

london. >> reporter: thank you. it's called toy soldiers for putin where children will be mailing their toys to the russian president along with an antiwar message. >> reporter: toy soldiers for putin. it's unashamed propaganda. but when you say you have been invaded, even recruiting local kiev children and mothers, it's legitimate. it will be posted to russia saying if you want to play soldiers, fine, here you are. but leave my father alone. >> we have toys for our neighboring country president putin, for him to play with them, not to play with real people. >> reporter: as they try struggle to find an end to the crisis, here the battle for hearts and minds has intensified. this is the old battle scarred press center now it's been

upgraded. first guest speaker, the defense chief. >> because of our correct tactics and our people refusal to surrender. ththe blitz by putin has failed. >> another shrine to those gunned down on the alleged orders of former president viktor yanukovych. tim friend, al jazeera, kiev. >> the unfolding events in ukraine and russia are been playing out on tv screens across the globe. but according to many media analysts some of the reports in russia are anti-ukraine propaganda. >> reporter: the world according

to the kremlin played out each night on news broadcasts with a familiar loop on the sound track. the leadership of ukraine's interim government is made up of you will from a national fascists, near nazis and radicals from the west near bent on corruption. >> what the public sees is the picture in which fascist gangs seized tower in kiev. they are dangerous. they are jeopardized the livelihood of hours, russian speakers, russian.co. compatriots, you however it is put, and russia is coming to save these people. >> reporter: in my opinion the

blood spilt in kiev are on the hands of western politician who is are coming to meet with the ukrainian opposition and gave guarantees to them and the whole world that the protest was going to be peaceful. as a result corpses and tied up government. >> reporter: the information offense has been pervasive and hugely successful. >> when you have state-controlled media you have incredible resource that when ever you want to unleash a campaign, just give the command. >> reporter: but at least one journalist on russia today's english service broadcasting out of washington was prepared to medicine fometaphorically readyp the kremlin incident. >> i can't say how strong i am against any state intervention in sovereign affairs, what russia did is wrong.

>> reporter: it's coverage that will be broadly welcomed by many people here. many russians support totally president putin's actions over the ukraine. peter sharp, al jazeera, in moscow. >> pope francis has defended the catholic church of tackling the issue of sexual abuse by priests. this is all from europe at the moment. it's back to doha. >> the trial of three al jazeera journalists in egypt has been enduring trial after hearing witnesses from the prosecution. we can see them in the white uniforms. they have spent 67 days in

prison. they're accused of having links with terrorist organizations and spreading false news. al jazeera rejects the charges. before the hearing perimeter grestes brother speaks about concern. >> i'm hopeful, but i guess anything is possible. i don't understand the system. i don't think i ever will. i have got expectations that they're moderated by the possibility we--these things condition. >> al jazeera is not allowed to report from judgment because of the detention of our staff, but we go to m reza sayah.

>> reporter: they were led inside the courtroom and placed into a cage stock, all wearing white prison jump suits and handcuffs. mohammed fahmy that his shoulder still hurts and if they could remove the cuffs. and the judge ordered them to remove the cuffs. he said would never wish to ordeal on anyone. he has been kept in detention for 67, much of that time without being charged. eventually they were charged with joining a terrorist organization, working without a permit. many are eagle for see what kind of evidence the state has to offer to prove some of these

accusations, and that's what the state started to do today. they presented memory drive, laptop and video, however the defense team complaining that the court did not provide equipment to watch the video. it's not clear why the court failed to do that. of course, much of this region, much of the world watching this trial, rights groups say this trial is a troubling sign that egypt authorities are cracking down on dissent and freedom of the press. many journalists around the world, many are colleagues of these individuals, many are watching and saying these accusations are ridiculous. >> reporter: the charges against our staff are totally baseless without substance, and we refute them absolutely. they are world class journalists simply doing their job covering all sides of the story in egypt.

they continue to be kept behind bars is outrageous. we'll continue to call for their immediate release. >> a human rights group appoin appointed by egypt's government. hundreds rallied in the aware last august. >> the video shows a man firing an unknown weapon. it shows the film in news conference in cairo. the group investigated the violence that killed hundreds of protesters, supporting the deposed mohammed morsi, and found that it was a largely peaceful protest. >> reporter: many testimonies and videos confirm the presence

of armed men in the city and the use of arms against security forces. they took attack position among civilians, using them as a human shield. >> reporter: mobile phone videos like this was circulated on the internet. the report blamed the police for not ensuring a safe exit for protesters to leave the area. >> reporter: security forces didn't give peaceful protesters enough time to evacuate. the warning was for 25 minutes. what made the situation more difficult was that they were not in position to disperse the crowds. leading to clashes, preventing those who wanted to leave the square, it being unsafe.

>> o.j. sunjeev berry, in washington, d.c. you've read the report. from your point of view is it loaded in favor of the egyptian government, which of course commissioned it? >> thanthank you for having me. amnesty international looks forward to receiving the details of the report from the commission. however based on the initial headlines that are making the rounds from the reports' announcement we have significant concerns about the report's findings. to blame the deaths of hundreds of people upon alleged human shields and a minority of protesters holding weapons appears insufficient. >> i'm listening to what you're saying. you're criticizing and saying it appears this and appears to be that. i wasn't aware that you hadn't read the worshi report, so how d you pass judgment.

>> based on al jazeera's invitation to come and speak with you today. we've done our own investigation on the ground talking to people who have survived the attacks. talking to doctors in the area and we've conducted a number of human rights missions in the area. the fact of the matter hundreds of people were shot dead, and it's insufficient for the commission to blame the minority of protesters. as the end of january not a single members of egyptian security forces were convicted from the many deaths that emerged on the square that day? >> who do you think who did it. there were people who were armed protesters in the camp who play have used violence. there were snipers from the anything government and exception security forces and there was a significant amount

of blood shed that occurred. the initial finding reported in the media suggests that the commission has fallen short in terms of going into the details and how much security forces bear in violence that day. >> thank you, joining us from washington, d.c. for that report into the shoo shooting. >> thank you. >> it's been a year since the death of venezuelan president hugo chavez. the u.s. secretary of defense hagel wants to reduce military size. the size of the military to pr

pre-world war ii levels. >> this budget adopts to new realities and physical constraints while preparing for the future. this is not a budget, business as usual presentation. it is a budget that begins to make the hard choices that will have to be made. the longer we go to these difficult decisions the more rick we have to go down the road. the next dod leaders and congress will have to face more complicated and difficult choices. >> chuck hagel now still on the news hour agenda we have the ukrainian football team changing their mind of a friendly football match against the united states. we have more on that.

russia, as long as none of us are inside of ukraine trying to meddle and intervene, certainly not militarily with decisions that properly belong to the ukrainian people. and that is the principle that john kerry is going to be speaking to during his visit. i'll be making additional calls today to some of our key foreign partners, and i suspect i'll be doing that all week and through the weekend. >> thunlike the ukraine the unid states have qualified for brazil. this game will be crucial for a number of players if they try to stake a claim for world cup place. >> this is a huge one for particular certainly players in

europe. the core nucleus of this team is actually still in the united states here getting ready for the mls season. but a bunch of guys in europe, this is a big game. considering the tension around whether it was going to happen, was it not going to happen, i think it's a big moment for the u.s. to show up and show regardless of all the complications they can still go out and get a good result. >> with 99 days until the world cup gets under way in br brazil, they will use wednesday's matches to get an idea of the players they want to take to the world cup, and there are opportunities for new faces in the championship in spain. >> the world champion host ita italy, and spain won.

>> as it has always happened with any new player i have not noticed any difference in diego than any other player who has arrived under similar circumstances. let us look forward to the world cup and hope he is in good condition there. >> the netherlands have fitness concerns ahead in their match against france in paris. >> france coach has brought up players. chile has brought up one of its veterans that could making the headlines. he needs one more goal to

surpass as german's all-time leading scorer. >> well, russia's cup prescription seems to b--russiap prescriptiopreparation seems tog well. let's have a look at some of the days in a few minutes time mesi will place his first game for argentina. they play romania. and uruguay phase austria, and den america against england an. it's been confirmed that vidic

will play inter. he announced his intention to leave old trafford after eight and a half years. >> well, to eurasiaen football now. mamoth scored again adding a third goal eventually winning 3-1. australia have beaten south africa to the third and deciding test match in cape town. and with it, the series, the south african with a target to win, but the day was all about survival for the south african

batsmen. they lost just one wicket before lunch. and then the aussies took two vital wickets in the day's session. however, with just three wickets needed, they were held up. with time running out, they were able to clean up the tail taking the final two wickets in just three balls. giving united states victory with just 27 balls left in the day's play. and they take an incredible series 2-1. >> well saying cricket in england is back on course. they're playing the deciding game of their series, and england looking pretty good after scoring 303 in their 50 overs. they have the host at 43-3 after 7.2 overs.

and in the asia cup, india has beaten afghanistan. neither team reaching the final. that will be between sri lanka and pakistan. in the nba rockets brought lebron james down to earth as they edged out the heat. just managing 22 points against the rockets, houston taking full advantage as divide howard scored 22 points and 16 rebounds to help win. now it's been a busy international football. in the english town they play their own version of the game, but it bears very little resemblance to that game. the football match dates back to

1683. very few rules and no limits in the number of people taking part. the matches either north or south of th, and it takes severl hours to finish. and eventually the team to the north of the river has found its target to win the match. loots more sport on our website. check www.aljazeera.com/sport. details there on how to get in touch with our team using twitter and facebook. we'll have more later. >> thank you very much. we're going to go through the headlines here on the news hour before we finish the program. secretary of state john kerry urge his russian counter part for talks. they were in paris for talks with what is happening in ukraine, we also heard from the n.a.t.o. secretary general talking about the need to engage civilians and the military. that's it from the news hour

team. bye bye. i would like to look into the eyes of those who order that in the ukraine.

. >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories that we're following for you. an u.n. envoy leaving crimea after a tense incident at a local cafe. leaders trying to de-escalate the crisis in ukraine. president obama pushing for a rice in minimum wage. he's expected to speak to the media, when w