you. >> the battle for tikrit is on. as iraqi forces push into the i.s.i.l. stronghold. >> we started to retake the neighborhood on the outskirts of tikrit city. >> but the obama administration is concerned allied shia and sunni soldiers could turn on each other after defeating i.s.i.l. and you stack. four years after the start of the war critics say the white house strategy is not working. >> there was a rise of what we call insurgent parties in

england. >> the appeal of the united kingdom independence party how ukit could be disarming politics just weeks before elections in the u.k. >> i still have to earn a living. still need to eat and therefore i need to find work. >> and hard work in the golden years, one city where retirees are being forced to make a living. good evening and thank you for joining us on al jazeera america, i'm antonio mora. >> and i'm stephanie sy. i.s.i.l.'s grip on tikrit is loosening. officials say they are close to taking full control of the city. >> just a few miles north of the city of al alam celebrated,

taking back the city from i.s.i.l. ringing endorsement from the top military officer today general martin dempsey says he sees certain vicity in retaking the city from i.s.i.l. >> but i.s.i.l. pleased a an tack on ramadi. still can inflict pain even as it loses ground in tikrit. stefanie dekker has the story. >> this is northeastern tikrit. the iraqi army together with shia militia and sunni tribesmen are trying to push kyle i.s.i.l. out of the city. >> translator: we want to tell the people that tikrit will be liberated and taken from i.s.i.l. groups. four fronts started to take the neighborhood ton outskirts of tikrit city. we are heading with the help of

god to liberate it from i.s.i.l. terrorist groups and from there we will advance to beiji and mosul. >> a freelance journalist shot these shots on wednesday. the city is on the highway linking baghdad to mosul further north which is i.s.i.l. stronghold in iraq. progress is slow here partly because of boopy traps led by i.s.i.l. the iraqi army is confident it will take tikrit. >> translator: despite my injury and the call by my commander to leave i will not leave. we are in control and we have if upper hand with no casualties as of yet just slight injuries. >> reporter: but there are fears if tikrit falls shia militia can take revenge. both shia and sunni have carried

out revenge killings. majorities shia, the iranian backed militia number around 20,000 and there are around 2,000 sunni tribesmen involved in this offensive. not just if they can fight i.s.i.l. together but whether they can keep the peace after doing so. stefanie dekker, al jazeera. chairman of the joint chiefs of staff says iran trained and equipped some of the 20,000 shia militia fighters in tikrit and as jamie mcintire reports fracturing uniraq along sectarian lines. >> iraqi troops with the advice and assistance of iran, will soon wrest control from i.s.i.l. of tikrit the city known among other things as saddam hussein's home town. they were less sanguine, when

they heard push i.s.i.l. out of a predominantly sunni area. this is joint chiefs general dempsey testifying on smol. >> there is no doubt the forces are going to run i.s.i.l. out of tikrit. the question is what comes after in terms of their willingness to let sunni families move back into their neighborhoods. whether they work to restore the basic services that are going to be necessary or whether it results in atrocities and retribution. >> that is what the you know, and its allies are concerned for more inclusive government in baghdad one that makes all iraqis feel like they are part of the country. it was a point hammered home later in the day in this same briefing room by british defense minister michael fallon, who was

here for meetings with his american counterpart ash carter. >> we have been working to ensure that the iraqi government is genuinely inclusive where they are able to retake ground from i.s.i.l. that they can hold those towns and villages with the consent of the local people. and that means in the training and support we're giving to the abadi government, that means that they have to carry through reforms that they are planning. >> meanwhile the u.s. military reported success on the battlefield in another part of iraq oil rich region of kirkuk. peshmerga fighters took a key ridge line just west of kirkuk, two days ago now they control critical supply routes. another step on the path to ultimately defeating i.s.i.l.

antonio, stephanie. >> thank you to jamie mcintire at the pentagon. meanwhile a spokesperson says the u.s. military looking into report that 40 fighters were killed in ramadi, joint task force says it has no additional information at this time. >> a video reportedly released by i.s.i.l. shows the apparent murder of afternoon israeli individual by a juvenile. his family denies allegation, he disappeared in turkey after traveling there as a tourist. we spoke to a senior fellow at the project about the video. >> we have a very dangerous phenomenon, we have a lot of people in the arab world muslim world who are helpless they do not have a vision towards a

future. what is happening now is the most alarming, the most clear wake-up call for countries like the united states or continents like europe to get involved in supporting an arab coalition to fighting i.s.i.s. >> for more we go to douglas olivavant. just returned from from a trip to iraq. let's start with the comments from general dempsey that there is no doubt american forces will drive i.s.i.l. out of tikrit. which one is it? >> well i think the united states has been perhaps caught off guard by how well the iraqis have been able to assemble these forces. general dempsey is certainly right in his formulation. this is a numerical possibility

here all around tikrit we think there are only between 1 and 2,000 i.s.i.l. fighters, it is not a question of when, it's just a question of what price the iraqi government and militia forces pay to push i.s.i.l. out of here whether this is relatively bloodless or whether they really pay a high price but the outcome is not in doubt. >> as you know probably better than almost nebraska, urban warfare, are you confident they are able to kick i.s.i.l. out of mosul, mosul is the second largest city and what timetable? there is a lot of back and forth on when that offensive will begin. >> mosul is a different animal. tikrit is about the size of richmond, virginia and we think the bulk of its population are now displaced moved out. there are probably less than 50,000 citizens maybe well less

than that left in tikrit. this is going to be a fight. as you point out mosul is very different. i think that's why this fight is important. everyone in mosul looks at what's going to happen in tikrit after the fighting is done. if the citizens are welcomed back if they are treated well if there are no atrocities if the reconstruction dollars start to flow the citizens of mosul might start to think very, very differently about how they might contribute to the liberation of mosul or whether they should riz resist this. >> how concerned are you about the sectarian violence? >> they fully understand they have to make sure this has to be done by the book, there are no atrocities grand ayatollah sistani has said, this is what

he wants. you always think on the front line whether someone didn't get the memo, someone carrying out a blood feud, not someone organized but on the front lines someone who has a personal grudge or didn't get the memo that they are supposed to play by the rules. >> what are the headlines from what you saw in iraq? >> what is really interesting in iraq is how safe things are from baghdad on south. as i describe it, it's like michigan during the civil war. there are they -- they are sernding a lot of bodies out to the front but the fighting isn't impacting them. the way things are progressing in southern iraq, the political process is pretty intact, the real war in the north against i.s.i.l. >> final quick question. is it still going to be a very long war? >> i don't think so. once mosul is done, now we still

have anbar and that is a horse of a different color. any serious analyst, i don't think the forces will push i.s.i.l. out of iraq in one to two years at the outside. syria is a different problem the franchises in other parts of the word are a different problem. let's not make this too rosy but as an organized force that looks somewhat like a state i think that's going to be pushed out of iraq in the next year or two. >> douglas we appreciate you joining us thank you. >> iraq wasn't the only thing on the agenda on that comolz capitol hill hearing. libby casey with more on the controversy. >> it was spoapped or supposed to be a hearing on iraq and syria but

quickly deferred into another territory. >> i want to ask you about iran. iran's goal is to become the most dominant regional power is that accurate? >> reporter: the obama administration's negotiations over iran's nuclear program. >> i believe much of our strategy with regards to i.s.i.s. is being driven oto not upset iran about the deal you're working on. tell me why i'm wrong. >> because the facts completely crick that. >> secretary of state john kerry pushed back against accusation threas he would push back against a good deal. >> this is about nuclear weapon potential, that's it. and the president has made it absolutely clear they will not get a nuclear weapon. >> the president's team appeared on capitol hill amid tension between the warehouse and 47 republican senators who signed an open letter to iran's leaders

critical of any white house action that doesn't involve congress. they're also wary of giving the white house broad authorization to fight i.s.i.l. warning it is a go too far. some democrats have concerns too over how much leeway to give the white house. >> and what i think democrats are not willing to do is to give this or any other president an open-ended authorization for war, a blank check. >> reporter: both parties in congress want to say in the obamaobama administration's foreign policy moves which will mean more fights over just how to respond to overseas threats. libby casey, al jazeera washington. >> iraqi officials are also speaking out about the process of the failed nuclear deal between u.s. and iran, iraq's foreign minister says, the animosities are playing out on iraqi soil. >> iraq will eventually

disintegrate if the american iranian disagreement and conflict continue and there is no regional positive approach to end this issue. there is a number of external factors that will determine iraq's future and above all, the iranian role that is waging its own proxy war against u.s. on iraqi soil. >> the u.s. its partners and iran have in until the end of the month to remove a tentative deal. rebel group boko haram is trying create an islamic across the region of nigeria but now other countries are joining forces to stop them. our nick schifrin is in the country where the tide seems to be turning. >> what we have gathered throughout this region is four maybe reasons the neighbors chad niger cameroon those armies have made deals with the nigerian state and are allowed to move inside nigeria.

conversely, nigerian forcer are chasing boko haram into their neighbors. number 2 political will i think very obviously the government realized in the last few months that they had had a problem that has gotten out of control. number 3 the military itself has brought in new commanders, four not to be underestimated a lot more hardware, a lot more weapons, a lot more machinery has flooded there zone. the nigerian military has brought in quite a bit of equipment from eastern european countries, a lot of that we see in northeast especially in borno and gogi yogi states. >> u.s. is ordering new sanction he against a russian bank, after accusing the separatists of violating the ceasefire from last month. 75 million in nonlethal

assistance to ukraine. does not include the weapons that ukraine and members of both parties in the u.s. congress were asking for. in a separate development the u.s. monetary fund said it would send $75 billion in economic aid to help stabilize corey ukraine's economy. >> boris nemtsov's alleged killer was tortured. nemtsov was gunned down two weeks ago. the man reportedly says he was beaten when in custody. nemtsov was killed near the kremlin one of the most secure areas in mostly cloudy about. up next, critics take aim at white house strategy, and a failing grade on the syrian war response. >> also, the name suspect of opposition leader boris nemtsov may have been forced to confess.

>> sunday will mark the beginning of syria's fifth year at war and the world's leading aid agencies are saying the united nations is not doing enough to ensure that it is the last. >> they say the council has not followed through on its resolutions. >> far from solving the crisis, the report says it is far more difficult to get aid to the syrian people and far more in need. >> the fight in syria has killed 200,000 and displaced more than 9 million others. tonight we put the conflict in context, courtney kealy reports. >> in march of 2011 as arab

spring took place in other countries, bashar al-assad tortureed young boys, some as young as ten years old after they wrote graffiti calling for the fall of assad's regime. conflict spread to other cities. assad's tanks rolled into other major cities by the end of 2011. in 2012 as government violence continued, rebel fightsers calling themselves the free syrian army launched counter attacks. hibbs fighters joined the fight along syrian government forces. the u.n. report concluded assad's army use chemical weapons, a charming he denied. but u.n. inspectors began

destroying his stock piles. more complicated as al qaeda's many syrian branch, jabad al nusra, began fighting. even more virulent i.s.i.l. group, since last summer u.s. and coalition forces have launched nearly 3,000 3,000 strikes against i.s.i.l. in parts of syria and iraq. israel has launched attacks into syria. and a recent u.n. report says the situation over the last four years has degenerated from letting popular aspirations to a conflagration of unimaginable magnitude, victims voices in danger of being lost amongst the conflict approaching its fifth

year. an estimated 9 million syrians have fled, over 3 million have sought refuges in neighboring countries and 6.5 million syrian have fled their towns and cities inside their country to find safe haven elsewhere. experts feel it is the largeest example of mass mieg dprais migration since world war ii. 24,000 civilians including over 7,000 women and children. by comparison in that same time frame, i.s.i.l. killed more than 3500 people, 2642 of them were soldiers 704 were civilians including some 200 women and children.

nageeb gadban. special representative to the u.n. and the u.s. joining us from washington, mr. gadban thank you for your time. some of the atrocities are on display in a photo exhibit at the u.n. i want to show those pictures. there are atrocities by the assad regime, atrocities by i.s.i.l, with the international community so focused on defeating i.s.i.l. instead of being focused on the assad regime where does it leave the victims of the war? >> as your report indicated this revolution has kind of changed from being peaceful are protesting into a regional and international conflict in which so many players are contributing into the fight. but the basic parties to this

conflict on the syrian side continues to be the assad regime and the majorities of syrians who are consistent with their demand for freedom and basic human rights. you mentioned the rate of killing and scope of killing and the scope of the tragedy and that is the assad continues to be the most responsible for those atrocities, whether they are siege whether they are killing, tortured to death using chemical weapons, the other atrocities there are i.s.i.l. and other extremist groups but for the international community they need to know it is mostly the assad regime who is responsible. >> four years on sir the u.n. general assembly statement says this, your group had legitimate aspirations. do you feel your program has been hijacked? >> in a way it has been because the focus of the international

community is on groups like i.s.i.l, they need to be defeated by the way but i think the international community needs to continue to focus on the plight of syrians. the eight 9 million internally displaced and the 3 million refugees who are in need of humanitarian assistance, especially those under siege inside syria. secondly, there is need for a political solution which our group has ambassadorsed since day 1 and the international community, i speak about the security council has failed like they are failing in the humanitarian area to force the regime into accepting and most foreign fighters including the i.s.i.l. are killing syrians but they are killing on aside of the

iranians the syrian group -- >> i want to talk about hezbollah, to battle i.s.i.l. it is not clear how much they will assist these fighters in protecting themselves from the syrian government. what do you think about u.s. policy towards syria is it coherent at this point? >> it is unfortunately -- it's not. and i think you know again while one element of it is fighting i.s.i.l. is good, it lacks the comprehensive approach into addressing the problem which is by ignoring the underlying cause of the rise of i.s.i.l. which is the assad atrocities and the failure of the international community to protect civilians. we demand that it must be accelerated it must be increased in scope and it should not be like all of other -- the previous steps that the u.s. demonstration had done, coming too little too late. at some point had the u.s. supported the free syrian army, we not see i.s.i.l to take

leadership, the u.s. is not alone, there is an international community, they are friends of syria, they can do a lot. i think on this occasion of the fourth anniversary of the revolution we call upon them to take up their responsibilities seriously. >> nageem nagban, thank you for your time. >> economic struggles are fueling the rise of a political party. >> not in the u.s., allow the u.k. independence party is riding a wave of dissatisfaction ahead of may elections. >> and stopping the flow of heroin from mexico. we'll hear from one of the top leaders of the agency.

blop >> welcome back to al jazeera

america. i'm antonio mora. >> i'm stephanie sy. the rising of the u.k. independence party. >> and three young women striving for empowerment around the world we begin with their stories. >> a devastating earthquake and tsunami. there were ceremonies and moments of silence today in many of the hardest-hit areas. japan's emperor and prime minister took place in the remembrances, the 9.1 quake and the melt down of the fukushima plant, many residents have yet to return to their homes. on the hunt for a brazen jewel thieves band. the haul is worth $9.5 million.

>> a korean air attendant is suing the airlines, the way she served nut on a plane. the incident became known as nut-rage. the korean executive is serving a 1 year term for disruption of safety. phil ittner, takes a look at london's union. >> jerald o'brien is canvassing for votes the old fashioned way in the rural english town of ash ford. but he's standing for a party which while comparatively new has been at the forefront of a major shift in british politics. >> you kick parliamentary

candidate. >> ukip has two primary mandates limit immigration and revise britain's role in the eu perhaps to the point of leaving the union. that's led some to accuse u comfortip of ietion isolationallism nationalism. while britain is in recovery now, after hard years of recession, many say the party is scapegoating immigrants. supporters deny that. >> i'm not racist. okay? i'm a true-plu -- blue patriotic person. although mr. cameron has started pulling his socks up and started doing things because he's

frightened, people are worried about the number of people in this small country. >> the party leader, nigel farag, portrays himself as an alternative to the status quo or labor or conservative parties and he's not the only one. >> there was a rise of what we call insurgent parties. in england we have the green party who are to the left and ukip to the right. a major challenge to the two big parties. >> in this situation the scottish national party the smp looked to get some seats after last year's referendum. for ukip it's immigrants and the eu but there is the sense that the current politicians have lost touch. >> the feeling that the guys in the house of commons live in a little bubble, they don't live

real lives as real people do. >> polls suggest that sentiment is spread on all sides of the political spectrum. meaning in parliaments there could be real horse trading and power sharing deals. meaning in this upcoming election the bigger traditional parties may find themselves have to champion causes that they previously would not have had to tackle if it wasn't from procedure of these newer smaller parties changing the political landscape here. phil ittner, al jazeera london. >> earlier i spoke to john brown who served as a conservative member of the british parliament before changing allegiance to ukiukip. after last year's big win in the european parliament elections

now it has more seats than the conservatives or labor. to what do you attribute the success? >> basically to one man nigel ferrage, who has galvanized and led it extremely well with great courage, shrewdness and cares matic speak abilities. >> but the policies too. >> yes. the policies are tremendous. briefly, it's to get out european union and negotiate a trade treaty and financial treaties european union from outside to have a flat tax inside the united kingdom and to have far stricter controls over immigration. not stopping any immigration but having no net increase. in other words somebody can come in so long as somebody has left. >> but that has led to accusations that you're anti-immigrant, that the party is anti-immigrant.

it wants to repeal the human rights act it wants to get out of the european convention on human rights. so again that pop populace form,. >> not the slightest element of racism. but there is an element of not abusing the social security systems of britain with people prepared to learn english and to set the british culture, in other words, not to come into gland to set up their own country in gland but to participate in british events and be british we welcome them. regardless of ethnic origin or anything. obviously -- >> the ukip candidates who have had to drop out, there are only a few who have had to drop their campaigns because of racist

comments are were some extremist bad apples? >> of course. all parties especially national appearsparties have their bad apples. conservatives, liberals all over the place have their people who don't follow party rules or regulations and want to do their own thing and it's an abuse of the party's strength and of course they get thrown out. >> once british prime minister david cameron accused ukip of being part of aloneies and reservationistless. he thought he could eradicate ukip because it is basically the thatthatthatcherrite part of the

conservative party. gave pokses to people in ukip like nigel farage. it would united the conservative party effectively. i mean at the last election we cost the conservatives 22 seats which forced the coalition with the liberals so he knows the real power of ukip and why he wants to discredit it at any opportunity, fruit cakes gadflies and all that. >> that was john brown one of the founding members of ukip. >> the flow of heroin into the u.s. is one of the most compelling issues of the u.s. nowadays. >> we took you to a small town in west virginia where a lot of the heroin ends up.

>> tonight a revealing interview with the dea's chief of operations, jack reilly, sat down with al jazeera's adam rainey. >> i've been doing this 30 years. i've never seen a source country at any time in our history have such a large overall impact on the availability of heroin in the united states, and for that matter much of the world. >> we were in martinsburg west virginia and everyone told us heroin is everywhere, the community is swimming in it. >> when oxy codone was released by a certain company it hit very hard in rural areas. it used to be referred to as the hillbilly heroin. well i think that's really the formulation of what we're seeing today of prescription drug abuse. you're seeing it in communities you've never seen before and you're seeing many cases social services law enforcement agencies, the health care

system, really slow to react with its growth. i'll tell you how i see it and i know there are great stories about treatment and people coming through treatment. but from a law enforcement point of view there are usually two things that happen when you become involved in the heroin business. number one you meet a guy like me and you go to jail and number two, you die. >> but in these towns they define life and death in prison terms and they see their community as totally failing them. what do you say when you hear the dea is totally failing i can get heroin almost easier than anything else. >> what we are dealing with is the new face of organized crime. street gangs migrating off of markets and the shadowy existence of the cartels who would stop at nothing to make a dollar and could care who dies. people need to understand what role they can play to make a

difference. >> heroin you say it is a new face of mexican organized crime. is heroin the biggest challenge for you in the dea? >> for me, no question about it. it goes hand in hand with the flow of parallel money to terrorist-related organizations. those two things keep me up at night. >> we have extended coverage of adam rainey's very powerful mexican heroin series. go to the site, and search for rainey or the global stage. >> how they're lending their voices to the push for progress in their countries. >> and a mugging caught on camera only this time it's a reporter who gets robbed. almost on live tv!

>> muggers in south africa acoftded a reporter as he --

accosted a reporter as he waited to go live on the air. police say the two robbers were armed and got away with lamb tops and mobile phones -- laptops and mobile phones. also in south africa residents are demanding an apologize from jacob zuma, that teenage parents be banished to robin island. where nelson mandela was jailed. teenage parents should be elevated from their babies so they could focus on their education. >> we are continuing the status of women firsthand from girls taking on the fight for human rights in their own countries. the advocacy organization, let girls lead, earlier i talked to the founder denise and these

young women all fighting for rights in their home countries of guatemala eet ethiopia and ma lowf loumalawi. what is like for young girls in guatemala? >> translator: my experience in guatemala one of the big ones is early pregnancy, as well as maternal mortality of girls and sexual assault and violence. lack of education and lack of access to health care. in my community many young girls and many young women even consider committing suicide. >> memory what about you? you are from malawi, we recently did a program on child marriage, i know you have a personal experience with it with your

sister. >> my little sister was forced to get married the time she got pregnant and this is usually the case when you are pregnant you are usually forced to go to the man who impregnated you. >> how old was she when she got pregnant? >> my sister was 11 years old. >> 11? >> yes. the person who imregular nateed her was -- impregnated her was already in his 30s. obviously with this she went into marriage and she suffered a lot of abuse violence and she has no right on her body, because as i am talking now my sister now has three children. but right now she is 16. she will be turning 17 of course. she is very young but she is the mother of three. so usually when you get married early is there a lot of things that are connected that negatively impact on the

girl-child. so this is what my sister's going through. and as much as what my sister is going through i know that i personally i have a purpose i have to do something about that. >> achi, what is i life like for girls in ethiopia? >> we see some improvements because there's more education more health services that are given ogirls today. but we need to do a lot more to reach the heights that we need to be on. because girls need much more. more education more health, more safety, more economic compartment to be where we need to be. >> i need to ask you denise there are a lot of organizations that advocate for organization he and girls around the world what does let girls lead do?

>> we invest in local organizations and strengthen them to develop game-changing solutions for girls. so what that looks like is finding leaders like the girls who are here and enabling them to amplify their voices and scale up the innovative and exciting initiatives that they have to go from reaching one more girl one more girl to really actually transforming their communities and their countries. >> you are from malawi, there is change happening a law unanimously passed in parliament banning child marriage. what future do you envision for yourself and for the girls in your country? >> for this bill to pass, it wasn't just a one thing it took a lot of us, it took a lot of girls collaborating connecting. we came together and talked about our issues. we amplified our voices. and through girls empowerment

and let girls lead they initiated this program in my community, stop child marriage campaign which was a very beautiful tool, a great to mentor young girls like me and actually it is through girls empowerment works and let girls lead have the young women you see today. ache what do you want to do with your life now and are you planning to empower the girls in your country in ethiopia? >> yes, because i believe that even until this age i'm lucky i know that these voices are the voices of my sisters the voices of my friends, the voices of the girls next door. so they become my own story. >> denise, we just heard you know these girls mention tangible change that has come about for girls in their

countries. just recently. how does your organization measure sort of employment? what are the benchmarks? >> yeah, that's a great question. so we got started in 2009 and we had an external evaluation commission looking at what the impacts have been, engaging girls. and now we have a network of 200 amazing leaders who are advocating for girls and have actually benefit ed over 7 million girs -- benefited over 7 million girls in the countries we work in. what the changes have been i think you can see these girls here the changes are enormous and the power that they have and the leadership that they have developed is what creates that change if a very tangible measurable way. >> my thanks to let girls lead founder, and the girls for sharing their stories with us. >> feminist icon yah eye icon gloriasteinem

joined, the walk for peace is slated for may 24th, international women's day for disarrangementment. disarmament. >> we received a letter from pyongyang to support our event. >> it is hard to imagine any more physical symbol of the insanity of dividing human beings. >> the women plan to launch an online possession to call on the u.n, the u.s., north and south korea, to stop the violence. how do you retire? coming up next, growing older and having to work longer in

hong kong.

>> weeknights on al jazeera america. >> join me as we bring you an in-depth look at the most important issues of the day. breaking it down. getting you the facts. it's the only place you'll find... the inside story. >> ray suarez hosts "inside story". weeknights, 11:30 eastern. on al jazeera america.

i. >> afternoon >> an american volunteer grouphas removed garbage from lake titikaka officials have expressed concern about pollution in the lake as the cities around it have had a population explosion in recent years. >> in our global view segment we look at how news outlets are reacting warming diplomatic relations between india and the united states. under the headline toward a new world order a russia and china alignment, would change the international balance of power in the event of a new cold war. >> well, turkey's strained relationship with the sisi

government to destabilize the middle east. the u.s. the columnist says is using propaganda to make i.s.i.l. look like greater threat than it really is. >> and 70 years after it came to an end world war ii is still very many in the news, the korea herald today took japan to task for not doing enough to atone for its actions in the war called on shinnzo abe to openly and fully acknowledge its action he. >> around the world the population is growing older. the united nations believes in just over 30 years the number of people over 60 years will be greater than those under 30. for example the issue of social security funding already appears to be dividing two

democratic candidates. hong kong offers another example. residents are discovering that retirement simply is not possible. on the aging population of hong kong. >> every morning up to five days a week, wong si yeung goes to work. she earns more less than $4 an hour. >> it is not enough but she can still manage to scrape by, i have to be frugal. >> in hong kong there is no pension forthose already retired or over 65 years of age. instead there's what's called the old age living allowance of $280 a month. that is not enough to cover her relevant and basic living. >> i still have to earn a living, i still have to eat and therefore i need to find work. >> in a city lacking much of a

social safety net going back to work after retirement is common. 80-year-old yon yeng has worked this this cobbler shop for most of his life. paying his $200 a month rent. >> if i solely depend on the allowance it's definitely not enough but since i earn some money from my job then together it's enough. >> the plight of the elderly in hong kong is at the heart of this photographic exhibition. 1 million people forced to rely on their savings to survive. >> it's quite expensive. the price is going up. the rent is quite expensive also we are facing the inflation. >> reporter: around one-third of the elderly in hong kong live in poverty. while the government has recently pledged $6.5 billion to face a retirement plan, it has

yet to explain what it is, and ruled out creating a uniform pension scheme. that was the recommendation in a government commissioned report. the author of that report believes that without a universal pension the situation facing hong kong's aging population is unsustainable. >> when they are working they can save very little for the future. i'm afraid that students nowadays cannot support their elderly parents anymore. >> yeung yens indicates he would gladly accept any help but not to be resolved in their lifetime. sarah clark, al jazeera, hong kong. >> handful of north koreans seek refuge in the u.s. every year. we'll take you inside america's

small north korean community. >> that's it for this edition of al jazeeraal jazeera america's international hour. i'm stephanie sy. >> i'm antonio mora. "america tonight" such next. i'll see you again in an hour. >> on "america tonight": >> in the four years since fukushima, life has not been kind to the people who fled. do you believe that fukushima city will ever be a safe place to live again? >> translator: not in my lifetime. not the same fukushima that existed before. >> we ventured into towns inside and around the seclusion zone which remain frozen in time at the moment residents