>> these families have already suffered enough, and they should never feel ignored or victimized by their own government. >> the white house reveals more than 30 americans are being held hostage as it changes policy to allow families to pay ransoms. hello, this is al jazeera. live from london. also coming up. boston bomber dzhokhar tsarnaev is sentenced to death after apologizing for the lives he

took. tsipras criticizes it's creditors for rejecting his proposals. and the fight against malaria. >> hello u.s. pratt barack obama has announced changes in how the government will handle kidnapping of its citizens. 30 americans are being held hostage, and the bill clears the way for families to pay ransom to their abductors without fear of prosecution. families said that they were threatened with prosecution but a ban directly on paying ransoms or concessions to armed groups will remain in place. >> we just learned at the white house that more than 30

americans are being held hostage overseas. this is an i don't on going issue. the families have been incredibly vocal saying that the u.s. government treated them horribly. they came out several times and said often these families were ignored. worse they were bullied. they were threatened to face criminal prosecution if they paid ransom for aiding terrorist group. they're choosing their words very carefully. they're not saying that it's fine to go and pay ransom, they're only saying that no family has been tried criminally for doing so. they said they will not directly aid the paying of ransom. >> as president i also have to consider our larger national security.

i firmly believe that the paying ransoms and risk the taking of more americans. >> the argument is that if he believes getting u.s. government money to hostage takers will put more americans at risk, what is the difference if it's private money? isn't that still an incentive? his advisers have been asked that repeatedly at the white house. they only say it's complicated and they have to stand with the families. now boston marathon bomber has been formerly sentenced to death by an u.s. judge. at the hearing tsarnaev addressed the court with a five-minute speech saying he was sorry for the lives he took and the suffering he caused. a court ordered tsarnaev to die

for the becomes that went off at the finish line in 2013. the appeal will automatically begin. well, still in the u.s. a bodythe body of senator clemente pinckney is lying in state. he was killed long with eight others at a church last week. president obama is due to speak at his funeral on friday. earlier the governor of the southern u.s. state of alabama has ordered the confederate flag to be taken down at the capitol building. it was brandished as a symbol of hate by pinckney's killer. >> france has responded with outrage to revelations to wikileaks website that the u.s.

spied on françois hollande and two of his predecessors. he spoke on the phone with barack obama who assured him that the u.s. is not spying on his calls or other communications. the u.s. ambassador was summoned by the country's top diplomat. here's what he had to say after that meeting. >> i summoned the u.s. ambassador to tell her one this was unacceptable. two, we want to know whether these practices as ceased. and three to ask whether these practices were only used in relation to the present or more generally. while we understand that there might be surveillance concerning terrorists that has nothing to do with listening to heads of allied states and on friends. i ask the ambassador to give us answers rapidly. >> we have more from paris. >> the whole situation comes at a very difficult time in

relations with france and the united states the french president traveled to washington categoryically asked president barack obama to make sure that france would not be spied upon by the united states assurances were given then at a time when edward snowden nsa turned whistle blower, and that sparked concern here in france also. although the latest revelation by which canny through wikileaks, the question is how much did barack obama know had already gone on. >> talks to keep greece from defaulting on its debts have been halted until thursday. they expected negotiations to go

late into the night. ahead of the arrival the greek prime minister criticized its creditors by demanding tougher tax reforms. that meeting is now finished. >> yes, it has. and as days go in terms of trying to source out some of the most profound structural problems in the eurozone you can only describe this as a complete failure. you can see that behind me in the build where the finance ministers mettings were going on. they were supposed to have something substantive to talk about on what they were going to do to sort greece's problems out. now they'll reconvene tomorrow simply because they didn't have anything proper to talk about. simply because the gap between the greek governments and it's creditors seem to be as wide as it ever was. >> greece has decided prime minister tsipras arrived in

brussels with barely a word. not a shred of warmth between him and the european creditor commission. it had become clear that all the concessions, the tax rices for pensioners the tax rises for businesses was not enough for the inf. they wanted more cuts and more taxes or both and there was no way on earth that they could sell all that to those at home. >> we're making progress. there are still some measures in the value of the agreement in price as such. it's about politics and it's about money. i would be very surprised if we were to get a deal tonight. there has been a lot of back and forth between the technical level and the political level. we have not seen a concrete proposal yet and we have to

deal with it very carefully. >> the country that gave the world the philosophy of stoicism stoicism but things are no long longer okay. nothing shocks them. >> even if it means we're a bit strapped at least this way there is a path that leads somewhere. there might be a light at the end of the tunnel. >> bear in mind, too that the bill athens are trying to pay now is less than a third of what it's supposed to pay back over the year. the majority of greeks would prefer to stay in the eurozone than leave it. the country like germany would say well, that means greece has to get used to a new way of thinking about things like work

and tax. prime minister tsipras would ask how do they expect greece's economy to grow with debt leaving people more and more impoverished. the deal would be presented as a success for the eurozone. a chance to move forward. any number of the colonists would say it's more like the greek myth doomed forever to push the rock up the hill. >> lawrence, as you mentioned before there is still a gulf between the greeks and it's creditors especially when it comes to giving way on deeper pension cuts and tax hikes. what can they hope to accomplish in the coming days? >> well, it's very difficult. particularly difficult clearly for the greek government because they are in what they would say the difficult position. if they refuse to bow to the imf and they're faced with default and all the consequences of that, but if they go in and cave in entirely, which seems to be

frankly what the creditors are suggesting they're going to have to do, then they lose their platform. and all these sorts of things, and that's why some inside are on the left in particular think that the over all aim of the creditors is to bring down the tsipras government and one that is more amenable to the creditor's way of thinking. there is another meeting with the european commissioner at 11:00 tonight. but he's not one of the creditors, what will that achieve, i don't know. >> lawrence, thank you very much. laurence lee in brussels where that meeting has now concluded.

at least 12 people have been killed in the somali capital of mogadishu after an attack on envoy of cars carrying officials from the united arab emirates although none of the diplomats were injured. >> witnesses say there was a large explosion completely destroying a pickup truck. it was carrying diplomats from the united arab emirates. a suicide-bomber rammed his car into the convoy. members of the group al-shabab are claiming responsibilities for the attack. >> al-shabab calls them enemies of somali. >> the force is fighting al-shabab. it wants to overthrow the government and is behind many

similar attacks. al-shabab fight percent killed as they tried to detonate a car bomb and shoot their way through a national intelligence training center. al-shabab has lost territory to government forces since an offensive began to push them out last year. caroline malone, al jazeera. >> still to come for you on al jazeera. pakistan's government under fire as the heatwave kills more than 830 people. [applause] >> a dutch court orders the government to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25% in an unprecedented ruling.

>> "inside story" takes you beyond the headlines, beyond the quick cuts, beyond the sound bites. we're giving you a deeper dive into the stories that are making our world what it is. >> ray suarez hosts "inside story".

only on al jazeera america. >> welcome back to al jazeera. let's update you on the top stories now. the u.s. has changed it's hostage policies so families who pay ransom to kidnappers for the release of loved ones will no longer face the threat of prosecution. 30 americans are currently being held hostage abroad. the boston marathon bomber dzhokhar tsarnaev has been sentenced to death for the 2013 attack which killed three people and injured 264. tsarnaev would address the court to apologize for the suffering he caused. well let's go to the listen some of the families, the vickers of the boston marathon attack. the survivors of that attack are speaking now.

>> i don't think it was genuine but that he will say otherwise and that's not going to change my impression of him or what he did to us. basically as was said by people this morning is what this tragedy has done. it has made us stronger as a survival community, and more importantly it has made us more resilient. and we are still alive. here's four people that aren't, but the rest of us are we as a community are going to be stronger, and we'll continue to heal through this. the main thing for me in speaking is that we will not be forgotten. [ inaudible question ]

>> to me being able to finally express what i've been holding in for two years. was very powerful. it gave me the opportunity to let not only the media the defense, the judge even the jurors to have an opportunity to hear from a survivor with injuries. when you see me on the street i look completely normal. when i pull out my hearing aids then you see that i air hearing aids. the brain injury you can't see. it's not something that is visible. the ptsd, you're not going to see that. to be able to express those

feelings that i've been feeling for the past two years and verbally express it to the public. i ran this past year and in 2014 i started running marathons like i did before. >> a sincere apology would have been nice. there was nothing simple about what he said and there was nothing sincere. one thing that was done. you were talking about moving proactive and moving forward. scott and i are both on the border of the resiliency center. we're taking positive steps to unite the community and what we

call our marathon family to continue to grow and continue to heal long after this trial is over. >> all right these are live pictures coming to us right now from often where we've been hearing from the families of the victims of the survivors of the boston marathon attacks saying that given the opportunity to express their feelings to the court today and the public meant a great deal to them. this after we had the first public statement by dzhokhar tsarnaev since the 2013 attack in court. he addressed the court to apologize for the murders and the suffering he has caused. we're hearing from the families of the victims saying that they did not feel that it was a heart-felt apology, and that it was not at all sincere. this comes after tsarnaev was sentenced to death for the 2013 attack in which three were

killed and 264 were injured. let's go to the situation in yemen where officials are saying ground fighting and saudi led airstrikes have killed hundreds in one day. shelling fell on densely populated neighborhoods. it comes as negotiators try to agree on a truce. >> the almost 80% of the population meaning 20 million yemeni need humanitarian assistance. and 20 million do not have access to safe drinking water. we know we have today over 1 million yemeni who are displaced internally. we can go on with the figures. it's dramatic and it's only

deteriorating by the day. >> a suicide-bomber has attacked detonating a car bomb and killing 14 people. isil said it was behind the attacks. many in the province were from a tribe supporting the government in its fight against isil. this as airstrikes destroyed homes in fallujah. eight people guide in the people died in the attacks. now opposition politicians are accusing the pakistani government of failing to respond to a severe heatwave crisis. more than 830 people have now died. doctors fear that the total will continue to climb as many as elderly patients are rushed to hospital. gerald tan brings us the latest. >> they sleep on the streets to stay cool. many residents in karachi are finding no reprieve from the heat and frequent power cuts

mean that they can't use fans or air conditioners. >> our houses are small. cables are damaged frequently, and no one is taking care of the situation. no one from the utility company has taken notice of the complaints. people have fallen sick and have been rushed to hospitals. >> hospitals that are overwhelmed. the searing heat has stretched medical forces in pakistan's commercial hub to their limit and more are filled to the capacity. the army and paramilitary rangers have set up emergency camps across the city to help treat people and to hand out water and dehydration salts. >> when we heard the name of the pakistan army we left everything and rushed here because we were sure that the treatment and care would be better than anywhere else. >> health workers are urging everyone particularly the elderly to drink enough water that many muslims observing the annual ramadan fast for

foregoing food and water from sun up to sundown. >> they have given a fantastic statement saying that karachi is not their mandate. karachi is part of the pakistani federation. and it's part of the whole the pakistan. no part of the country is exempt exempt. >> and frustration on the secrets. people angry over yet another power cut. gerald tan al jazeera. >> a dutch court has ordered the government to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% in the next five years to help fight global warming. it comes after the government's environmental targets were labeled inadequate and illegally. simon mcgregor wood has more on a ruling that could have repercussions. >> the courts have declared that the dutch government climate targets illegal. [applause] >> it told the government to cut its carbon emissions by 25% by

by 2020 up by the current target of 17%. it's great news for supporters of the case. >> they feel that liability has a role to play in addressing the climate problem. >> the landmark ruling says that the dutch government must protect its people from the effects of climate change, and it's current plans simply don't go far enough. the state must did more to avert the imminent danger caused by climate change also its duty of care to protect and improve the living environment. the state is responsible for effectively controlling the dutch emission levels, more over, the costs of the measures ordered by the court are not acceptbly high. the case was brought by the agenda foundation, which insists on a limit to global temperature rise of 2 degrees. greener technologies like wind power and solar farms have taken off here, but carbon energies

have lagged in nery in nearby states. >> we're the first to do this. many are watching, and this could be very helpful for those who are watching. >> the dutch government said it needs more time to study the verdict, and it does have the right to appeal. but it just lost a crucial case in which it's own political decisions on climate change has been judged to be in breach of the law. simon mcgregor wood, al jazeera. >> the fight against ebola looks like it's far from over with the news of a fresh outbreak. the authorities have confirmed three new cases in a poor fishing district 18 days after

the last known infections. liberia was declared ebola free in may but the deadly virus is reported to be on the rise again in guinea because of people moving around. researchers have warned that the ebola outbreak has caused an increase in malaria death. people suffering from malaria stayed away from hospitals because of ebola. the malaria are carried by mosquitoes but in reports from kenya, one of malaria's hot spots, they talk about new technology. >> it is not strange to see people suffering from malaria. one of the highest malaria prevalence. scientists and researchers have been here for decades studying the mosquito and the parasite that it carries that cause

malaria. they have yet to install a solar powered mosquito trap. one of 4,200 that have been installed in the last three years. the project is a first globally. it will apractice mosquitoes before it gets into the house. the mosquito also eventually die of hunger and dehydration. >> more excited about the new light in her house after a lifetime of using kerosene

lamps. the light is a bonus to entice people to allow researcher toss carry out their studies. >> by god's grace i'm still alive but facing health problems. if there are ways to protect my health then i'm glad. i don't have much energy any more and all my ten children have died. >> not far from where she lives this fisherman in the shores of lake victoria have just returned from a night of fishing. that's a time when chances of contracting ma layer why is i contracting malaria is highest. people will contract malaria by going out fishing at night or going out about their person business. >> scientists say they're slowly

winning the war but there is still a long way to go. >> we have more on that story and everything we're covering right here on www.aljazeera.com. wildlife poaching is big business worth more than 17 billion dollars a year and growing. the slaughter is being fueled by