>> snoo a deadline for protesters to leave government buildings in eastern ukraine expires. what will the government do. hello. this is al jazeera, live from doha. also coming up in the program - talks to end the violence. venezuela's government meets the opposition. but can they figure things out. >> south korea and the united

states launch their largest air drill as tensions mount with the north. >> here the cost of farming is soaring, but production is not keeping up. >> eastern ukraine protests - time is running out for a peaceful process. a ukranian official is threatening to use force if the siege is not ended. they are armed and prepared for any assault. leaders aren't compromising and the prime minister arrived there from kiev. it's a similar scene where protesters fortified defences around occupied buildings. across the boarder, moscow

warned europe that it will cut off its gas supply unless a bill is paid. 40% of gas is delivered. it goes through ukraine. 18 countries could be affected. some as far away as france and italy. there is a particular concern in

right now they are handing out flyers asking people to come back. no movement here so far. >> that's kim there with a situation in donetsk. let's go to luhansk, where our correspondent is there for us.

hoda abdel-hamid, a similar situation there as well. what are the activists demanding? >> well, they are actually demanding, first of all, that the words of the acting president, the promise of an amnesty turns into an official decree or, indeed, a bill voted by the parliament in kiev. they say at that stage they would really believe that promise, and they would feel safe to go home. after that, what they want is a referendum, and they point out over and over again that they don't want to separate from ukraine. they want a federal system, a system in which they could deal with their own regional issues as they please. they are scared of the idea of ukraine coming closer to the e.u. and western general. some of the e.u. regulations could bring out the life of the

city, which is basically centered around the mining industry. that is what they want at the moment. we asked them about the deadline. they said they weren't worried too much because negotiations are ongoing directly with the government. they wouldn't tell us who, but they have been talking. in about an hour or so, we should hear more from them and their latest tradition. i have to say if the government decides to move into the area forcibly, it will be very risky, because there are a lot of people around this area who are supporting them. on this side... ..cook k, people are sleeping. there are mothers and wives here to support those inside. certainly it would be a very risky operation for the authorities in kiev. >> hoda abdel-hamid there painting the picture in lieu. that is the situation? eastern ukraine. let's go to peter sharp in

moscow and the reaction. vladimir putin said he was not interested in further incursions. what is the rehabilitation in moscow with the pro-russian movement? >> well, russia has been studiously avoiding any encouragement. they say yes, they do - n.a.t.o. says they have 40,000 troops along the border. so far ukraine avoided any use of force against the demonstrators in eastern ukraine, solely, we think, because of the threat of a russian incursion. and russia is happy to sit by at the moment and see how this played out. this is not crimea. there isn't the emotional tug that crimea had with russia. crimea was part of russia for centuries. it's a wait and see game as far

as the kremlin are concerned. we see yesterday, thursday, satellite images of aircraft and tanks and men poised along the border - very much keeping their options open. how serious is russia's threat to turn off the gas supply to europe. >> i think it's very serious. he will have to look back two years to 2009, when there was another dispute over the payment of gas debts, and the russians in 2009 turned the taps, they cut off ukraine's gas supply and at the same time this badly affected europe. the ukraine said to have been syphoning off gas meant for europe, and it affected the supply inside the e.u. to such an extent that britain

was almost prepared to go into its reserves of gas. so it is very much a threat. and it's that sort of scenario that is hanging over europe at the moment. all they can say now is thank goodness that it's not in the middle of winter, we have the summer to go through. it's certainly a threat, one that could be acted op. >> it's a waiting gaum. >> maria sharapova reporting from -- game. peter sharp reporting from moscow. >> president nicolas maduro is hosting opposition leaders, but not the student groups involved in the street protests. this report from the venezuelan capital, caracas. >> there was no dialogue in the streets of caracas. demonstrators marched as a conversation between the conversation and the opposition

began. they don't represent us, and i think before going to the talks, they should know what those fighting for a radical change want. >> students boycotting were the government and political opponents showing mistrust. the president accused the opposition for the violence leaving at least 41 dead, and hundreds wounded and detained. >> you can't burn the university and call it a fair protest. library classrooms, you can't call it a political struggle. you can't say it's peaceful protests. you'll be measured by the way you measure others. if you use violent confrontation, nobody wins. >> in this round of talks. nicolas maduro accused the opposition of ousting him. the government is keeping the opposition centre from participating in the government. >> it's only fair that the country hears what the other side say.

>> members of the union of south american nations brokered a meeting to find a way out of the political crisis that lasted two months. >> this dialogue for peace cannot wait longer. people are hurt because of violence. no matter who is responsible. >> protesters are in no mood to negotiates. >> we will not have a lying og. >> there'll be no negotiations or pacts. >> this will be a debate. protesters say the only way to overcome the crisis is to remove nicolas maduro from office. >> public transport, schools and hospitals have been closed or cut back during a strike in argentina. many areas of the economy were paralyzed by the 24 hour stoppage. trade union members walked off

the job. soaring inflation effects living standards. union leaders are warning of chaos unless the government meets their demands. >> search crews are confident they have found underwater signals from the missing malaysia airlines jet. the single is starting to fade. black box batteries are designed to last a month, and it's been five weeks since the jet vanished with 239 on board. >> we have very much narrowed down the arch area and are confident that the signals detected are from the black box on mm-hmm 3. 70. i don't want to say any more than that because i want to get the most up to date briefing between now and my meeting with the president later of the as a sign of respect to china and its people, and in particular the

154 chinese victims and their families, i would like to save any more detail for the briefing with the president later today. >> south korea and the united states launched their largest ever joint air defense exercise, called max thunder, involving more than 100 aircraft and 1,400 military personnel. north korea condemned the drill as a rehearsal for an invasion. >> harry fawcett has more. >> this exercise is part of the exercises between the u.s. and south korean forces. north korea calls them rehearsals for invasion. this year is nothing like it was this time last year. north korea made similar protests again, and a few days ago during a combined exercise, billed as the largest in

20 years, they chose that date to hold drills, they fired 100 shells into south korean waters. as well as this exercise that we are at today. the united states are launching what they are calling the biggest ever combined air defense exercise, and that is something that the north koreans may want to react to in some way. one other issue of note. this is the day the south korean defence ministry makes public its findings on an investigation into a number of drones - low-flying, low-tech zones discovered in south korea in recent weeks, something that dominated media headlines and minds in the military and defense military. >> the united nations security council voted to send almost 12,000 peacekeepers to the central african republic. sting to come - details of a new force to stop fighting between christian and london.

>> i'm on board a vessel to be used to destroy syria's chemical weapons.

>> welcome back. the top storieson al jazeera. a deadline ordering activists outside of buildings in donetsk has lapsed. >> the prime minister is in the region to discuss the crisis. >> talks to end the unrest in venezuela have been held in caracas and broadcast on state

tv. president nicolas maduro is hosting headers, but not the groups. in south korea, the united states has launched a joint air defense exercise. they condemn the two-week long drugs. fighting between rival factions of the taliban left 12 dead in waziristan. there are meetings in north waziristan. a previous ceasefire agreement expired on thursday. we go live to islamabad, and there's a lot of descension within the taliban at the moment. what is the main source of disagreement? >> well as you correctly mentioned, there was a ceasefire which was a precondition for the talks to get underway with the

taliban, pakistan, the pakistan taliban extended it by 10 days, making it a month and 10 days, that has expired. it comes at a time when there are reports of infighting within the pakistan taliban, pakistan factions. those close to the peace talks and those that want to continue the peace talks. they are expected to meet in north waziristan at a secret location u because this is an area which has been hit by drone strikes, and they will announce another ceasefire. it is expected no long-term ceasefire, but piecemeal offers from the pakistan. expected and obviously the dangerous development being that the factions are fighting amongst themselves. >> thank you for the update. reporting to us from islamabad. >> well, two car bombs in the

shia neighbourhoods of baghdad killed 13, injuring 55 others. the second was in the southeastern neighbour hood. shops and vehicles were destroyed. >> syrian opposition groups near the border - anti-government activists say 51 were killed. they were from the. linked intoes ra front, and the ley have not, known as the i.s.i.l. >> a deadline to destroy all of syria's wep jans can be met. it's according to a spokesman for international weapons. >> we go on board the ship where they'll be destroyed. >> 4,000km away from syria, on the other side of the mediterranean sea is a vessel

about to play a crucial role in the destruction of syria's deadliest weapons. stationed in spain, it spent the last few months being equipped with the next mission. it will be commissioned with decommissioned 365 tonnes. >> chemical materials that come out of syria. >> it's a multilateral mission. the government aims to complete the handover by the end of the month. danish and norwegian vessels will transfer the stockpile. ship to ship. >> we believe that they have the tools that they need to hand, to get on with the removal of the remaining chemicals, and at the same time we feed to stress the time is running out. >> come out of the reactor, down through the mixers, through the pipe and dumped in. what you have to start with is

hot water... >> it's here where it will be handled with the utmost care. here is where the mustard and serine gas will be neutralized. water renders the chemicals into industrial waste where it will be able to processed in commercial plants. >> after the process, those involved in the operations will come here and begin their own decontamination process. >> they'll be watched all over. >> the whole process is expected to take place with respect two months. in international waters of the mediterranean sea. they are banking on syria to live up to its promise of delivering its stockpiles on time. >> al jazeera's demanding the release of its journalists who have been in prison in egypt for 104 days. peter greste, mohamed fadel fahmy, and mohammed badr appeared in court on thursday. the case was adjourned until

later this month. they are falsely accused of providing a platform to the muslim brotherhood. >> fourth journalist abdullah al-shami from al jazeera arabic has been detained since august. he's been on hunger strike for the last 81 days. al jazeera rejects all charges. >> libya's coast guard detained 400 might grants. they pick up -- migrants. they pick up four boatloads. warning shots were fired. migrants were passing through libya on their way to europe. >> the united nations security council voted to send 12,000 peacekeepers to the central african republic. there are 8,000 african and french troops. additional forces will not be ready until september. >> with those in favour of the

draft resolution, race their hand. >> more than a year after the start of a conflict with muslims and christians pitted against each other. the united nations security council authorised a peace-keeping force, 12,000 strong. >> the draft resolution has been adopted. >> it was a move the transitional government sought. >>. >> translation: i had urged the security council to endorse the report of the secretary-general. i'm pleased this has been heeded. it marks the start of the phase in restoring peace and security this the central african republic. >> the resolution was pushed by the french. the former colonial ruler had 2,000 soldiers on the ground. working alongside 6,000 troops from the african union. >> it's a large country, with violence continuing as we speak. what difference do you think this can make realistically. >> the african force, as

deployed now is doing a great job, and doing its utmost with a mandate to stablilize the swags. they are doing it in bangui, and now they are slowly deploying in the rest of the country. >> now with the support of the french and the e.u. force. >> in the past the u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon warned of eth know religious cleansing, a country where brutal violence goes unpunished. the peacekeeper's mandate gives them broad authority to maintain law and order, including the power to arrest and maintain. done at the government's request, and according to humanitarians, with the support of the civilians. >> everybody from the muslim community, the christian community said they want peace and security. if we can have peace and security economic activities can

resume. we can go back to cultivating fields, being with cattle. that's important. >> it took months of debate and discussion with the security council to get to the point, and months more for the additional peacekeepers to be recruited and deployed. the deadline can't come soon enough for a population in harm's way. >> the u.s. health secretary that oversaw the rocky rollout of president obama's heath care law resigned. kathleen sebelius has been health secretary since obama took office. her tenure has been marred by criticism over the cost of the affordable care act and the difficulties the program faced during the launch. >> a big issue in india's election is the rising cost of the food, and the high cost

facing farmers. we have this report from india's rice belt. >> this man is a man of the land. his family has been farming here for three generations. the golden days of agriculture in india are long gone. >> over the past 10 years the amount of rice i produce has found. my costs have almost doubled for tripled. >> he sells the rice he harvests to mill owners. he can only pay farmers $22 for every 100 kilograms they unload. >> i have to follow the government's orders and procure is set amount of rice. it's a raw deal for some farmers. >> half of the rice processed is fed into the food distribution system, which subsidizes prices for the poor. >> the state government

standardized the amount of rice bought from farmers to give them a chance to make a decent live. this is a beneficial scheme. in practice it doesn't help enough. >> the government quota leaves farmers with tonnes of rice to take care of and excess stock stored in warehouses like this is a blessing and a burden for thousands of people like him across india. that's where middlemen like this come in. >> translation: i buy the left-over rice from farmers at a lower price than the farmers offer and sell it to the mills. it's because of the government price fixing that my system survives, it works for me. >> it doesn't work for everyone. ambitious policies like this sow a new set of changes, highlighting old problems. >> a new model has to emerge, where the public and private sector play an important role to

reduce. it's a subsidy, food subsidies. how to bring down the subsidy and the economic cost is important. >> the indian government promised the poor access to subsidised food. that promise means every grain harvested counts. the challenge the government faces is not only finding efficient ways to get food to million of people, but nurturing the farmers that make it possible. >> we are getting in some news now of reuters. there has been a strong earthquake measuring 7.4 - that's been recorded off papua new guinea boeing anville island, according to the u.s. geological survey. just a reminder of this breaking news that just happened. a strong earthquake with magnitude 7.4 has been recorded

off papua new guinea, booug anville island. more details as the information rolls in. you can always keep up to date with all the latest news on the website. that is on aljazeera.com. story. hello, i'm ray swarez. three big countries three big economies. nafta looks at the trade between with the u.s. and canada, and said let's get rid of the barriers.