european ministers agree to plan to relocate about 120,000 refugees across the e.u. ♪ hello there, i'm felicity barr and you are watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up. . .. as fighting continues in his country, yemen's president returns from a six-month exile in saudi arabia. angry crowds gather in the capitol of burkina faso after the deadline passes for coup leaders to stand down. and these massive trees have

lived for two millennia, but can they survive climate change? ♪ hello there. there have been developments in brussels at a meeting between european union interior ministers over the relocation of refugees in europe. the majority of countries have approved a plan to relocate 120,000 people. the plan has faced fierce opposition from some central and eastern european nations who aren't happy with the proposed quota system. another emergency meeting is to be held on wednesday. jacky rowland is following all of the day's developments in brussel and joins us live now. jackie somewhat complicated. tell us exactly what this decision means. >> reporter: well the first thing that is significant is the decision was not reached as a

consensus, that's really the way in which european union decision making is made. it was clear that they were not going to get a consensus issue on this highly divisive issue, so in the end they decided to go for majority vote. we understand that the countries that voted againsts the proposal were the czech republic, slovakia, hungary, romania, and finland abstained. the political result is they have the decision, but there will be more bitterness felt by the countries of eastern europe who will feel they were bullied and strong armed into a decision to take refugees they don't necessarily want. and they are arguing those refugees don't necessarily want to be in their countries either. a decision, yes, but at the expense of yet more e.u. division on top of the disarray

and division we have seen in the last few weeks. >> this was a meeting of the interior ministers, but the leaders arrive on wednesday. >> reporter: yes the meeting on tuesday was about what to do with refugees who are already in the european union, how to try to share out just a percentage of those already here. the meeting on wednesday is how to stop more people from arriving in this the e.u. so the leaders, the heads of government will be looking at strengthening border controls. they will also, they say, be trying to look at and address some of the issues causing the flight of refugees to begin with, although, we have heard for years various western leaders saying they would like to try to look at ways of resolving the violence and fighting in syria, and clearly

those efforts haven't resulted in anything yet. but the idea is to look at trying to address the roots of the exodus of people from the middle east and north africa, certainly that will be discussing also development aid to those countries from africa where people are also fleeing to head towards europe, although in many cases europe is describing those people as economic migrants, so they are talking about ways to try to help build the economy in the countries of origin in the hope that fewer people might choose to try to head towards europe in search for a better life. >> all right. jacky rowland live from that meeting in brussels. more from jackie, i'm sure, a little later. ♪ now after months of exile in neighborhoods saudi arabia, yemen's president as finally

returned to his country. he is now back in aden from where he fled six months ago after houthi rebels closed in on the southern port city. his return follows the return of the prime minister and several other cabinet members last week. deeply significant for hadi and his cabinet that he has now arrived in aden. >> for sure, this is a decisive turning point in the whole history of the confront indication after this rebellious groups managed to take over in sana'a, and actually today it's perhaps history and fate are making a mockery of what the former ousted president said that hadi has had the only -- the only choice for him was to take a boat and leave. i think perhaps now it's the

other way around. >> but is he likely to stay there? i have seen reports saying he will stay for two days. that doesn't mean a great deal, does it? >> no. he is perhaps moving from aden going to the states, to attend the general assembly meeting, the general meeting of the assembly, and perhaps be back in saudi just to continue the masterminding the whole effort of the coalition, you know, forces which are aiming at taking over the whole -- getting back the whole of the country, but the whole question is his return is very, very indicative that things have turned around, as -- not as the former ousted president was planning for. >> but the real is, just a day ago, the houthis were out on the streets, celebrating a year since they took sana'a from the

hadi's forces. they are struggling to head towards the capitol, sana'a, aren't they? >> but only seven months ago, these people were bombarding hadi's house and the palace in aden, as well as the airfield in aden. so things are turning around now. we have got more than two thirds of the country belongs back now to the legitimate government, and the forces of the houthis are now actually besieged around in sana'a, and they are facing a fate which everybody knows, you know? >> but a huge -- a huge price being paid by the yemeni civilians because of this internal war? >> well, sure, because of the position of the former ousted president who turned against the outcome of the national dialogue conference. in ten months that national dialogue conference -- the outcome of the conference, these

people turned against the outcome which all yemenis have agreed on. >> there have been talk that [ inaudible ] would be much more acceptable to a wider yemeni audience if you would like, that even some houthis would accept him as the new president. is that still a possibility? >> no. because now the stance of him is quite clear, he is in complete alignment with the president. and that was part of the wishful things of the houthis who were thinking that they could get and drive a rift between hadi and the vice president. on the contrary, hadi is now back at the helm, running the whole country towards the eventual, you know, new constitution of the country, which a referendum should be going on soon. >> the vice president and the

cabinet have been in aden for a while now. what exactly is the cabinet doing in aden, baring in mind, of course it does not control all of yemen and certainly doesn't control the capitol? >> let's not forget this cabinet came into power in november, some nine months ago now. part of the ministers of this cabinet are with the houthis and so on, so it's only nearly two-thirds of the cabinet who are under the control of the legitimate government. i think they are confronting the security sector reform, and trying to help the country in the management of all issues after -- post conflict. so there are a lot of pressing files in the hand of the cabinet. and soon, i think these files will be confronted. the humanitarian aid, and the destruction of the armed forces

and formation of new armed forces. >> it is really great to have you with us. thank you very much for your time. >> thank you. >> thank you. burkina faso's coup leader has refused to heed a deadline set by the army calling on his forces to lay down their arms. the general says he will only hand over power when requested by west african leaders currently meeting in nigeria. army troops have arrive interested in the capitol in a show of force. charlie angela reports. >> reporter: singing the national anthem of burkina faso, residents loyal to the government have poured into the national square to protest against the coup. they were joined by national army troops who entered the industry overnight. their demand, surrender or face attack. but the deadline has passed and

negotiations are still ongoing. the army was welcomed by the people who want order restored quickly. >> translator: we are counting on the army and international community to find a way to resolve this problem peacefully. but as the army has said -- a peaceful solution isn't found, then i think it will end badly for some units. we want with the help of the international community to support all of the people. >> translator: we came to the national square to really support our bothers in arms but also to condemn the behavior of the presidential guard. we cannot understand how we fought on october 30th, and 31st last year, for them to now come and take it out of our hands. we say no. >> reporter: the general and his elite presidential guard seized power last week. he has since apologized and says he is ready to hand over power to civilian transitional

government. returning the country to democratic rule is under discussion in we regone. but their planned poll to restore democracy looks some way off. still to come on the program, endlessly sorry. volkswagen's chief executive apologizes after 11 million of its cars were involved in a test-rigging scandal. and outrage in the kosovo parliament as the prime minister is pelted with eggs. ♪

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hello, welcome back, and a reminder of the top stories here on al jazeera. european union interior ministers have agreed to a plan to share out the 120,000 refugees who have arrived in recent months. yemen's exiled president has returned to aden. this follows steady gains against houthi rebels. palestinian woman has died after being shot by israeli forces in the occupied west bank. israeli media reports suggested that she had tried to stab a soldier at a check point in hebron, but witnesses have denied those allegations. our correspondent scott heidler is in west jerusalem for us, and joins us on the phone line right

now. scott what more do we know about this case? >> reporter: what we know is confirmed from the hospital. she was an 18-year-old palestinian woman, and died just a couple of hours after surgery. what the hospital has been able to confirm to us and this contradicts what israeli security forces were saying and that is that she was not in three areas of her body. earlier in the day, israeli security forces said they shot her in the legs after an attempting stabbing of one of the soldiers at the check point. we latest point out from palestinian sources as well as witnesses nearby what happened at the check point and they said there was no attempted attack by her, there was some commotion, some shouting, there was one account that said she may have tried to slap a soldier but then she moved back, and that's when

the shotting happened. but what we do know is that the hot confirming to us that she died after going into surgery. >> clearly confusion and disagreements. i'm assuming some sort of investigation is underway. >> reporter: yes, we're going to see how this comes through. when you look at the investigation incidents like this, you can imagine there are two very distinct perspectives. you have a military, an army on one side providing their evidence and then interviews with witnesses there. one thing that needs to be highlighted this comes at a point of very high tension in the occupied palestinian territories and occupied east jerusalem, because we have seen incidents at the al aqsa mosque. there was three separate raids by israeli security forces on that mosque, and that really

escalated each incident. and also haze it elevated tension here. that is normally elevated this time of year, because there are several holidays. we had a holiday last week, the jewish new year, and in week we have yom kippur, the jewish holiday that just started then we have a muslim holiday. we have a lot of tense times coming up, so that's why there is a big concern about what will happen after this. there have been thousands more israeli security forces put into occupied east jerusalem to brace for any type of reaction. but right now this is all we're hearing that she did die. >> scott i know you'll keep us updated on this incident, but for the moment, thank you. at least 38 fighters from the islamic state of iraq and the levant have been killed in syrian government air strikes in the ancient city of palmyra.

it is the most sustained attack on the city by syrian forces since isil took control there in may. most residents have already fled the city, while isil fighters have destroyed several ancient works of art. iran says it will work are russia to help end the syrian conflict. its deputy foreign minister made the comments at a news conference in moscow. he added while both countries want a political solution, president bashar al-assad must be part of any solution. >> translator: tehran and moscow intend to use all of their potential together with syria to help it come out of this crisis. iran and russia be will continue their contacts with the syria government. it is now a year since the u.s.-lead coalition entered

syrias war with the ultimate aim of destroying isil. france is expected to launch air strikes in the coming weeks. syrian government forces with russian backing have also been hitting isil from the air. and isil is not only dealing with a barrage of bombs, it battling ground troops. our correspondent sent this report. >> reporter: in the 12 months since air strikes over syria began, the u.s. says 17,000 square kilometers of territory has been taken back from the islamic state of iraq and the levant. central command gives the credit to what it calls anti-isil fighters including kurds and sunny arabs. but they wouldn't have been as successful without air power to back them up. and the u.s. us has been able to intensify its campaign after

squeezing permission from turkey to use its air base. the border with syria is about 120 kilometers from the base behind me. that means more sources and more air strikes than when the u.s. and its coalition allies were forced to fly up to four hours away from bases in the gulf. but to make those air strikes as effective as possible, the u.s. needs more and better intelligence from individuals on the ground who can identify targets to be hit. so the obama administration baum says it is looking at the option of sending american-trained fighters into syria to help direct the air strikes. they might be attached to groups already on the grown like the kurds, but many of these groups are also fighting the regime of bashar al-assad. the u.s. doesn't want to get involved in that fight. and now the air space could get more crowded. russia has sent military equipment, including combat

aircraft and commandos to a new hub in weszern syria. vladimir putin inspected some of the hardware at a major exercise on the boarder last weekend. moscow says it is concerned about isil, but the kremlin along with the iranians back syrian president bashar al-assad. if he is forced from power, they might want more influence over who takes over. the u.n.'s human rights investigator says only a political solution will bring peace. >> i have an example. you remember former yugoslavia, the president, and there was peace negotiation, and they achieved an agreement, he was still president, but [ inaudible ] justice could be done. >> reporter: 240,000 people have been killed in syria's four-year long civil war. the u.s. says this type of

indiscriminate bombing is fuelling support for isil, so if you can find a political route that eventually leads to assad's removal, the white house believes isil would then be weakened. volkswagen's chief executive has apologized for the worldwide scandal caused by the company's rigging of car emissions tests. the vehicle maker has admitted up to 11 million cars were fitted with devices designed to cheese emissions readings. >> reporter: volkswagen pollution cheating scandal spread. volkswagen is facing billions of dollars in fines and a huge recall of its vehicles after the u.s. government found it planted software in its diesel cars meant to falsefy results in emissions tests. the company issued a statement

saying 11 million vehicles are affected. it has set aside 6.5 billion euros for recalls and servicings, and it says it does not tolerate violation of laws, and will make resuming customer trust its top priority. >> we have totally screwed up. we must fix those cars because we prevent this from ever happening again, and we have to make this right for the government, the public, our customers, our employees, and also very important our dealers. >> reporter: german officials have already announced they will investigate. france foreign minister called for a europe-wide probe to include other auto makers. >> translator: while it is being done on volkswagen, i think that in order to reassure people we need to also do it for the french manufacturers. i have no reason to think the french manufacturers will have conducted themselves the way

volkswagen did. >> south korea said it will also conduct an investigation. senior government officials worry that what they called the excel elect reputation of the german car industry will suffer. so seriously is the scandal being taken here as a poor reflection on germany's worldwide brand that the foreign minister felt obliged to address it during an official visit abroad. >> translator: i hope there will be a clarification soon as to what extent data has been influenced. in particularly, who is responsible for this. this is and has to be in the interests of vehicle first of all. and as a second step one has to talk about how to deal with the further handling of this, between the companies and the relative authorities in the united states. >> reporter: on wednesday, a committee of volkswagen's board memberings and major

shareholders will hold an emergency meeting. he expects senior company heads will roll. kosovo's prime minister got more than he bargained for when he addressed members of parliament on tuesday. opposition mp's pelted the prime minister with eggs. kosovo declared independence from serbia 2008, but serbia doesn't recognize it as a sovereign state. the chinese premiere is due to touch down in the u.s. in the next hour. his first stop is seattle. this comes as the chinese leader depends his government over cyber security. technology is expected to be a key point on the agenda when he meets u.s. president, barack obama. our correspondent is in seattle. >> reporter: the chinese

president is on his way to washington, d.c. it's his first-ever formal state visit to the u.s. but he is going to spend three days here in seattle? why the state of washington? it boils down to high-tech trade, airplanes and money. here is the former u.s. ambassador to china talking about the challenges of engaging with china. >> obviously a big concern about cyber security, concern about the lack of a level playing field in china, discrimination against foreign firms as well as the -- the lack of a rule of law, and inadequate protections of our intellectual property, our trade secrets. >> reporter: he is following the example of past chinese leaders. he is the fourth to make a point of putting seattle on the itinerary. we'll have more on his visit and what is at stake during a very

challenging time in relations. four years of prolonged drought in the u.s. state of california are endangering the world's largest trees. jake ward visited the forest to see how giant sequoias are being effected. >> reporter: giant sequoias like this are very, very special. they are ancient. but after four years of drought and the warming effects of climate change. researchers are now worried about their future. >> they were losing their older needles, their older leaves in amounts that were -- i had never seen before. >> reporter: at roughly 2,500 years old, this one predates christianity and islam. it's over 75 meters, more than 240 feet tall, scientists are going to go up in it to try to take water samples, and god help

me, i'm going to follow them. oh, man. this man leads a team from berkeley, he climbs to the very top of these trees to test them for signs of stress. warmer temperatures mean the trees need enormous amounts of water. the trouble is the snow pack which providest water to trees throughout the summer as it melts is now at a 500-year low. the sequoia have survived droughts for thousands of years and are surviving so far, but the combination of drought and rising temperatures unprecedented. >> now that we're in the fourth year of this severe drought, they still seem to be holding up pretty well. if we had another year as severe as this one, i would say all bets are off. >> reporter: this tree was a seedling during the roman empire. the history of the united states is a tiny fraction of its past.

the question is whether it and its kind can survive here in the future. jake ward, al jazeera, see area national park, california. there is much more on our website, and the address to click on to is aljazeera.com. hope francis heads for the u.s. after wrapping up his visit to cuba. security is unprecedented. volkswagen emissionest crisis gets bigger in . and china's president arrives in seattle. as technology and cyber security concerns threaten to overshadow his trip to america.