story." from washington, i'm ray suarez.

>> the villagers thought that they came in with military vehicles and military uniform. so now they're attacking the market area, and there is nothing there, and then anybody cited in that area were shot and killed. they moved into the city anybody

who has been on the street were killed. according to the residents they told me not less than 300 people died. >> russian president has called on separatists he said moscow has withdrawn troops for th froe border. separatists behind the referendum said that they will consider whether or not to postpone it. interesting words from the russian president. it seems to be a change of tact, doesn't it? >> it does seem to be a change of tact calling for a postpon postponement of the referendum that was supposed to be held

this sun, and then welcoming reaction from leaders who say they respect president putin and say they will take his statement under consideration when they meet tomorrow. we might have a confirmation, but that's not the end of the story, however, you have a lot of buildings in the southeast of the country which are occupied by separatist forces so it's very difficult to organize an election under those circumstances. so another key statement from vladimir putin was that he supports the presidential election. now if he's able to influence the separatists to postpone the election, and to leave those administrative buildings or otherwise support the elect elel

process. that would open the door. >> they're looking to opening the door to resolving the tension there. why do you think he's saying this now? >> well look, that's anybody's guess. he's changed his tunes, made promises before and then found out therapy not to be kept. he said there were no russian troops in crimea, and then said actually those were our troops. remember, there was no core mid-april in geneva when ukraine met with russia, the european union and american foreign ministers all gored to come up with something that looked like a deal to come up with security and cooperation and go in and organize elections, and that fell apart. what the russian side is saying thavladimir putin wants to see prove that the kiev government is not going to continue military operation operations ie

southeast of the country, so it looks like he's retreating, but he's willing setting conditions. it's not just the russian president backing down. but th the european union and americans are threatin threatenn more. >> nick spicer in kiev. meanwhile more fighting between government troops and pro russian forces in eastern ukraine. the people there say that daily viviolence is taking its toll. >> there seems to be no natural rhythm, no certainty of what each day would bring. for the. >> i want this to stop as soon

as possible. we are all tired they said they brought it down with heavy machine gunfire. >> he fired off flares. to be honest it was terrifying. in the evening we saw that they blew up their own helicopter. >> now people take turns manning the barricades and keeping a wary watch for another advance. >> there is still some food lefterleft, says this old man, t it's time for me to die. >> reporter: they have surrounded for a week now.

it is certainly not winning hearts and minds. >> it's very hard to take in. even hitler did not go as far as to fire on his own people. i can't go on to describe kiev authorities. we are one with russia, we want to stay with russia. >> the voters will not be balloted on whether or not they want closer ties with russia. simply if they recognize the unilaterally declared republic here. the inevitable consequence of yes result would be closer links with moscow, and kiev is not going to allow that to happen without a fight. >> and a deadline by the russian gas producer orders kiev to pay its death and said it owns

$3.5 billion and ukraine will have to pay in advance for gas supply. and the money ukraine just received from the international fund over $3 billion, so be used to repay the debt. in a landslide many people are missing. on a tour, confronted by villagers angry by the slow pace of aid. karzai promised more resources and set out a plan to deal with the disaster. >> one emergency assistance. second, those who wish to have loved ones, relatives taken out from under the soil, and the

opening of th that was there, ao give new homes. >> voters are heading to the polls in the south africa general election. it's the first time that people born after the end of apartheid can cast their vote. these are leave scenes suewtto right now. the size of the party is being threatened. >> many of these voters families have worked on this land for generations, but they don't own it. despite promises of reform. >> they are out of jobs now, and the government is not doing anything about that. >> last year they protested and

promised that the government would bring in minimum wage. there is still no sign of it. >> it looks set to keep hold of the province although all the rest is dominated by the anc. >> reporter: most people aren't black but of missed race called colored under apartheid. a supporter while he votes democratic alliance. >> what can i say? look around. people cannot get jobs. you can't become a director general under the anc. the only person that the anc is interested is the blacks. >> reporter: there aren't enough jobs and many people believe landownership is the way out of poverty. it's something that the anc knows it must address. >> workers can expect radical programs, and the farmers must share the land in south africa

because of the greed and inability to restore land of what was stolen

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release. abdullah al shammy has been on hunger strike fo and has losa third of his body weight. an assessment of how it

treats its migrant workers. it will host the world cup and that will draw attention to how it athlete treats its workers. first, conditions at workers camps. they're called squalor and cramped. and it's difficult to change jobs or leave the country without an exit permit. and amnesty international said a number of domestic maids are physically and sexually abused by their employers. michael stevens is the deputy director of the royal united services institute in qatar. he said it's too early yet to see if any real improvements are being made. >> certainly we've not seen any substantive legal changes here. we hope that those are coming, and we hope the government is working along with human rights organizations and the u.n. as well.

i think there are top policymakers, and i think they feel hurt by the criticism that has come their way. some of these legislations and ideas take a while to filter down to the bottom, and actually the implementation phase is more complicated, and there we have problems with urgency. there are issues of young men dieing in disproportionately high numbers. in my own research i've uncovered quite a lot of incidents of sexual abuse not being reported to superiors. these issues have to be looked at. i think the big one that everyone is talking right now is this issue about the sponsorship system. this has been heavily debated, and it's a debate which thankfully is beginning it qatar, and it's the first we're seeing a detailed conversation about trying to end this particular system of employment. >> the u.s. state of california is bracing for what is already shaping up to be a severe season

of wildfire. there has been an 200% increase in fires this year. >> reporter: after two back-to-back year of serious wildfires california hoped it would get a respite in 2014. instead, the firefighting season has come early, becoming a year-round operation with 900 blazes logged since january. a rate more than three times the historical average. >> we have not seen these numbers since the 70's. which causes us to really gear up not knowing what mother nature is going to throw at us this year. >> reporter: additional seasonal firefighters have been hired early, and the firefighting fleet, the world's largest, has had to adjust it's maintenance routine to keep it's planes and helicopters on regular stand by. not only is rain scarce, but the snow melt is only one-third the typical flow. so the state directive to cut

water use by 20% applies to the firefighters, too. the tinder for these blazes, the dry brush that grows close to vulnerable communities. >> having it on the ground as you see here will help the fire carry right through homes. >> for several years fire officials have been warning californians to keep volatile under brush ten meters clear of their properties, but it's not much of a margin of safety in times like these. this is an invasive species called scotch bloom, notoriously flammable once it dries up. they've propose up rooting the plant wherever it's a threat. another proposal is the r remonthlremovalof the eucalyptu.

fires have grown six times. it is now $2.5 billion. some experts want to fight the fire with more fire by stepping up control burns that reduce the burn up of fuel loads in the forest. >> one way to deal with that is burning and get fire back in ecosystems, try to manage those systems appropriately, and that should reduce the cost, and reduce losses of life. >> reporter: in the short term california's best hope this year is an el niño weather event to break the drought. but climatologists put the odds of that at no better than 50%. al jazeera in northern california. >> now here is a story after my own heart, two rare 100 carat diamonds are going on auction. they're expected to fetch $25 million. this has been described as a vivid yellow diamond the star of the sale, that will take place in geneva next week.

both diamonds have been taken around the world by u.s.a sotheo create more potential buyers. no doubt my husband might be one of those potential buyers. for more go to www.aljazeera.com. >> the wonder of the world's force is often found in the creatures that live in them. but the rare and precious of animals are increasingly falling prey t to