so you don't just stay on top of the news, go deeper and get more perspectives on every issue. al jazeera america. >> nuclear agreements can be reached within months. hello again. i'm martine dennis in doha. also on the program in the middle isil crisis secretary of defense chuck hagel is to resign. floods in morocco kill

strand hundreds of people and more is coming. and art is headed to the swiss museum. >> now iran and world powers have failed to reach a deal in vienna by their own self-imposed deadline, but no one is walking away. all the sides say they have made good progress towards an agreement on iran's nuclear program and they've extended deadline until july 1st. now the members of the european security council plus iran have been talking for days. they'll meet again in march about before hammering out a final deal with specific details by july. >> we're certainly not going to sit at the negotiating table forever absent progress be, but

given how far we've come over the past year and particularly the last few days this is not certainly the time to get up and walk away. these issues are enormously complex. they require a lot of tough political decisions, and they require very rigorous analysis and concepts. our experts will meet again very soon. we'll have a meeting in december as soon as possible to continue this work and to drive this process as hard as we can. and as the parties continue to negotiate all of the current restraints on the nuclear program in iran will remain in place. now, let me make it clear, our goal in these negotiations is not a mystery. it is not a political goal. it is not an ideological goal.

it is a practical goal. >> okay, let's talk to our correspondent who has been talking these talks in vienna. i was just struck how difficult a task john kerry is having to untake. on one hand he has to manage expect expectation, and then on the other he has to fend over the skeptics who are waiting for him, preparing for a new round of talks with iran. >> that's right. i think the same thing applies on the iranian side. the iranian foreign minister has a similar challenge on his hands. the challenge is to try and reinforce support, as you say, amongst conservatives on both sides of the fence, who are skeptical, suspicious, and don't believe the other side will do what it says it's going to do, and may, indeed, in time try to

scuffle the chances of a final deal. certainly that will be wearing thin after a process that has been extended twice and then now for another seven months without a verifiable sign of progress. that's because they're not giving us information about what precise progress is being made, and what precise problems still remain. john kerry saying we should not and will not discuss details in order to preserve the space for future choices to be made. he knows the number of people who might be working defense the deal, and they're trying to keep information as close to their chests as possible. >> time and again, jonah, we've been told this stage of the process has been going on for more than a decade. this stage of the process is absolutely critical, and very significant, and talking up the iranian cribbs, perhaps more so than the first time i've recalled john kerry commenting, saying that they've worked hard,

they've worked diligently, and with seriesness an seriousness and with purpose. >> again, this is all part of the reassuring that there is a point in continuing this process for another seven months, well four months initially to get this framework of an agreement in place. the point is that the iranians are to be trusted, the process is being built up of mutual trust. as this process continues, the interim agreement that was signed--that was put together in geneva remains in place. the constraints on the nuclear program that john kerry that has already made the world a safer place will remain in place. it's all part of this business of reassurance to build and keep support for this process. >> okay, jonah live for us in vienna. thank you. >> well, the u.s. defense

secretary chuck hagel has resigned. the former republican senator has been pentagon chief since early last year. the u.s. president obama said that chuck hagel will remain in post until his successor is nominator. >> let me just say that chuck is and has been a great friend of mine. i've known him, admired him and trusted him for nearly a decade since i was a green behind the ears freshman center, and we were both on the senate foreign relations committee. if there is one thing that i know about chuck, he does not make this ordain decision lightly. this decision does not come easily to him, but i find myself extraordinarily lucky to have him by my side for two years, and i'm grateful to have chuck stay on until a nominate a successor and that successor is agreed by the senate. he'll continue to lead our

troops at this time. >> his accomplishments as defense secretary. >> we have prepared ourselves as the president has noted, our allies, and afghan national security forces for successful transition in afghanistan. we bolstered enduring alliances and strengthen emerging partnerships while responding to crises around the world. we've launched reforms that the president noted, reforms that will prepare this institution for challenges facing this nation to come. i believe we have set this department, the department of defense, and the nation on a stronger course towards security, stability and prosperity. >> all right, patty is live for us at the white house. are we clearer now whether he went to his own volition or whether he was pushed. there are reports suggesting that he felt rather micromanaged by the white house.

>> yes, and i don't think anybody in this town think that chuck hagel resigned willingly. i think he was pushed, and it made that pretty clear some of the statements coming out not only from the secretary, but from the white house. aides are telling reporters that they didn't think that they were up to the job. this is going to the domestic context. the midterm elections just happened, and the president's party, basically they were wiped off the map. the senate is going to be controlled by republicans, and a lot of people in republican opinion polls is one of the reasons that they have such low approval of the president is that they feel he's not handing foreign policy right, they feel he was slow to combat isil and combat ebola in west africa. the president saying that this is natural midterm timing, but in essence he just did fire his defense chief. >> can i just run this by you. this is a quote by john boehner, the leader of the house, of

course, he says selection of the replacement of defense secretary will be part of larger u.s. strategy. i wonder what he's meaning by that? >> well, that's what he wants. the republicans are saying basically the president doesn't have a strategy to combat isil. and that some people will say behind the scenes that they believe secretary hagel felt that way as well. the president has said he's not going to personally send u.s. troops to go after assad or combat isil. the pentagon believes that's a mistake. the president wants to stick with just air power and training of the moderate opposition. but congress said that is not going to work and they want more policy. the president believes the strategy. he has not shown any signs of changing that despite what the republicans might say. >> patty, thank you very much.

patty live from washington. all right now any ripples in washington particularly in the defense establishment will have significant impacts on iraq and the u.s. activities they're currently. we can talk to our correspondent who is in the capitol. chuck hagel's resignation is about a couple of hours old now. any reaction yet in baghdad? >> well, there weren't any official reaction at all to this. it's not the kind of things that iraqis do, but certainly there will be a lot of people monitoring this to try to read what is going to happen next. that is crucial. that is always there. a very big fear in iraq, that any escalation of the airstrikes into ground troops will mean an occupation by forces. but president obama has been very clear, no u.s. troops on the ground. but given that this is a

republican-scrolled senate, the republicans want a much tougher policy on iraq, and now you have defense secretary effectively resigning will that mean that the next man in or the next woman in will be a lot tougher on iraq and means to fight isil? that's one really big concern here. does that mean an escalation? what does that mean for iraq. people are wondering if the strategy, if something that president obama is not sure about. is he getting rid of his defense secretary, he's resigning, is there a look at what's going wrong in their fight against isil. everybody is looking to the future now. it's about what the americans will do next, and there is simply no idea, no indication of what the next person will do. >> kurdish peshmerga forces

celebrate the taking of jalala city. it was a tough fight with casualties on both sides, but isil fighters have been forced from the area. units were form to liberate the area from isil terrorists. our forces managed to free the entire area. >> iraqi jet fighters led the wave of the attacks in the early hours on sunday on the two key towns. then ground troops swept in checking the area for hidden explosives. >> we want a victory with the joint offenses. now the area is under total control. >> peshmerga casualties were treated in a nearby hospital, despite that there is increasing confidence in the iraqi and peshmerga forces. in june isil took parts of the province. while this operation is not over yet it's already being hailed as

a success. and it's being looked at as a blueprint for future operations. this is a corporate t.v. effort between the iraqi air force, peshmerga forces, and iraqi ground troops, with syria down in anbar province will be the test of whether iraq can beat isil back. this will be more difficult than the fights they've faced so far. >> now to morocco where more storms are forecasted after torrential rain caused devastating flash floods. 31 people are known to have died. others are missing, feared drown. kim has more. >> holding on for their lives the group of men wait to be rescued in the region. others battle the current alone, swept away by powerful water.

rivers in the region have burst their banks and leaders to get help where it is needed. >> yesterday night, sunday night, when all this happened, they have sent the helicopters and they're trying to recover bodies and rescue people. there is a lot of evacuation that is happening from remote villages by the helicopters to take people away from regions that are, you know. >> the area has suffered from drought for the past 30 years. heavy rain means an increased risk of flash flooding. infrastructure in the south is lacking, and it's feared that the worst may yet come. >> the forecast also issued

another alert, saying that more storms are coming to that region, and even maybe that area. >> civil defense teams are warning people not to take any chances. >> still to come, talking business, egyptian leader president if a sal al sisi visits europe in his first visit. >> what is happening underwater. scientists send in robots to find out.

>> protestors are gathering... >> there's an air of tension right now... >> the crowd chanting for democracy... >> this is another significant development... >> we have an exclusive story tonight, and we go live...

>> we'll have a look at the top stories. the u.s. secretary of state john kerry said all parties involved in talks on iran's nuclear program will continue to work towards a deal. western powers, china, russia and iran have extended an agreement until july 1st. secretary of defense chuck hagel has resigned. president obama said he'll remain in post until his successor is nominated. kurdish forces backed by iraqi troops and shia militia say they've taken over two towns where 50 isil fighters died in the battle. hundreds of families in yemen have fled their villages.

they've seen the fighting allegedly backed by al-qaeda. the u.n. estimates there are 300,000 people who are displaced. the situation is likely to get worse. we have reports from the yes w yemeni capitol of sanaa. >> reporter: this family was forced out of its village. they fled the fighting between shia houthi and sunni tribesmen. the lucky ones managed to bring their valued possessions to the capitol of sanaa where they found shelter. >> we led the village because of ongoing problems. we suffered a lot. our houses were destroyed. i came under fire many times. >> reporter: mohammed is hope to go to school in the capitol. he has no relatives here. his only hope is a charity that looks after him and his family.

>> i could not go to the shops for candy or go to school. my parents could in the get out of the house to buy food for us. >> reporter: there are thousands of internally displaced families. >> it's not easy at the moment to reach the people. in fact, the mission faces difficulties because of the villages they want to visit were affected by conflict the day they were there. so they had to withdraw. the work is not over. >> reporter: here on the border of saudi arabia a camp was set up by the united nations to look after families who fled fighting in the province years ago. some of these refugees have spent more than seven years here in tough conditions.

with the ongoing violence in yemen they have lost faith in returning home any time soon. >> violence may spread to provincessers forcing thousands of families to flee, but in a country with so many refugees some of them may never find a safe shelter. al jazeera, sanaa. >> al jazeera is continuing to demand the release of our three journalist who is have now been held in prison in egypt for 331 days. mohamed fahmy, bader mohammed, and peter greste were jailed on false charges of helping the outlawed muslim brotherhood. they're appealing against their conviction. they were given seven years in prison, bader mohammed was given an extra three years for having a spent bullet in his possession that he had picked up from a

protest. the president of egypt has met with pope francis, and he's scheduled to go to france. he'll work to boost economic ties. in the first visit to the vatican by an egyptian leader in eight years. we more now with the president's meeting with pope francis. >> a meeting that took two hours between president if a tall al sisi of egypt and pope francis has just concluded. the meeting centered on the ro roman catholic church and egyptian, a relationship that president al sisi is keen to improve. they discussed the institutions of learning that had a falling out because of comments made by

pope benedict xvi. now they are expected to accelerate their relationship between the university and the vatican and getting peter. now one of the main reasons that president fattah al sisi is in italy is toepiece economic ties with italy. italy has investments in egypt that amount to billions of dollars. now he's accompanied by big businessmen from egypt, and they'r there is supposed to be a trade summit between businessmen on tuesday. >> libya's airport has come under attack from the air at a low flying fighter jet fired in tripoli. it's unclear who is behind the

attack but it's controlled by a rebel militia. on to afghanistan, at least six people have died after a bomb attached to a motorcycle blew up. the motorcycle was parked at a market. the attack comes a day after an attack that killed 16 people in a volleyball match. the world bank is warning that severe weather changes could put the livelihoods of millions of people at risk. a report on global warming by the world bank said that a temperature rise of 1.5 centigrade is already locked into the air's atmosphere. in latin america and caribbean extreme weather and change in weather patterns is effecting agriculture. longer heat waves would put strain on the middle east and north africa. increased rainfall and melting

glaciers risk flooding in central asia and there is expected drought that will effect agriculture production. now we go to understand the impact of global warming. editor nick clark has more. >> reporter: powering through in the name of science a british ice breaker heads south. it's mission is to measure the thickness of sea ice in antarctica. crucial information in the context of climate change. the so-called sea bed robot is deployed. weighing in at 200 kilos, it is designed in the u.s.

as it's submerged into the icy water, the robot as software fires up. the instruments look down at the sea more. this one has an upward-facing sonar. it's controlled remotely on the ship, enabling to perform detailed mapping underneath the ice. >> on the surface we see these blocks but it's hard to see what it looks like and what i underneath all this. we'll drill down and look at the bottom and it will give us a 2d map. >> it provides information about its structure and how it's changing. >> here we see the area of sea

ice is shrinking drastically. we're trying to understand the process. >> this area of sea ice is reducing. >> so far only a small area has been mapped. about the size much 100 football pitches. the sizes say this is an important step in making routine measurements to understand what is happening in antarctica. >> nick clark, al jazeera. >> columbia's government has agreed to suspend some of its operations in order to secure the release of a high ranking general and other hostages. farc rebels said they would not free him because of massive troop deployments in the northern province of choco, the area where the general is being held. there are long-running peace talks with farc until the

capture of the general. a german man's art collection includes art stolen by the nazis. >> paintings that the world thought was lost until discovered i in in a small argument. a billion dollar hoard. he died childless and left the entire collection to the berne museum i. >> the decision, ladies and gentlemen, was far from easy for the board of trust s. there were no feelings of triumph. there would be inappropriate in light of the art collection as history. >> a special german panel is deciding which works properly

belong to the heirs of former jewish owners, but it has only decided on three of some 500 suspect works in six months. >> germany's culture minister said shedding light on the art's origin was the utmost importance given german history. now that the museum accepts the legacy the german government can begin returning stolen works. >> this is a good step in the right direction because it is the first steps towards restitution. however, there are questions about the survivors and heirs. for instance, to whom should they go to, should they go to the german government? >> the decision by the swiss museum does not put an end necessarily to the saga. because his cousin said he was not in his right mind when he wrote his will, and that the collection is rightfully hers.

nick spicer, berlin. >> there is more about one of our main stories, that is the resignation of u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel on our website www.aljazeera.com. there is lots of background as well. . two years ago, buddhist i tore through an area that spread to other parts of the country with little hindrance. now tennesss of thousands are hd under armed guards while others have tried to flee. as jason makma reports, they are being exploian