eu ministers push through a plan to relocate 120,000 migrants despite opposition of four member states. hello there. you're watching al jazeera life 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 capital after the deadline passes for coup leaders to stand down. these massive degrees have

lived for two millennia, but can they survive climate change? hello. european union ministers approved a plan to relocate 120,000 refugees around the eu. the decision faced fear opposition from some central and eastern european countries. hungary, the czech republic, romania and slovakia voted again the plan for a quota system and finland abstained from the vote. under the plan they're moved from greece and italy. european leaders will hold an emergency meeting on wednesday. luxembourg's foreign minister says he's disappointed it wasn't approved by all member states but has no doubt even opponents will fully implement the scheme. >> reporter: on the provisi >> translator: on the provision of 120,000 people in need of

international protection, we have reached an agreement in council with a re big majority that goes beyond the majority required in the treaties. we would have preferred adoption by consensus, and we didn't manage to achieve that. it's not for want of trying. after months of exile in saab saudi arabia, yemen's president has returned to his country. he's ban back in aden after houthi rebels cloesed in. his return follows that of the prime minister and seven ministers last week. he's a former adviser with the last three yemen prime ministers. how significant is the return of the president, or is it largely symbolic at the moment? >> i think it's quite significant.

i mean, to doubt this is a turning point whereby at one time the president had to leigh, you know, after the assad presidency managed to bombard the presidential palace, and aden airfields and all. so his return now is not only symbol symbolic, it surely points out that the direction of events take that turn. it's another turn now. this man is coming back there at the helm with his government underground pending decisions daily as regards security and humanitarian aid and so on. >> how much has the difference has the cabinet now in aden getting along? how much of a difference does it make to humanitarian efforts? >> it's trying its best, ir think, because with all abilities and capabilities we're run down completely, but it started working. let's not forget that a lot of

this work will need a shipment of boots and things all across the country whereby we still have part of the rebellion rebels are still in the ground in areas. no one can reach them. >> for hardy and his forces it's a step in the right direction, but the big prize is the capital of sanaa. we saw the houthis out on the street they were celebrating a fact it was a year since they took the capital city. how far away is the retaking of sanaa? how difficult is that going to be? >> i think it's not far away. it's a question of how much this is going to cost in humanitarian and in lives of people. that's why the houthis and the ousted president feel that they can take the world at ransom by saying they're not going to leave. they don't mind how much casualties are going to be caused by them.

eventually i think things are -- it shows on the ground they're in the forces and take it by force, by hook or crook. the question is, how much this will cost. i think eventually they've got to understand that they're trying understand to say that they're implement resolution 216. unfortunately, they're trying to make conditions on implementing that resolution. there is no other option, and we're going to implement the resolution. we'll implement a special one that closes, which does not need any sort of consultation because i said, we need consultations. how can we pull from the ground and give all this without consultation? but there are like the eventual release of the former minister of defense. they can release him and show

the right track of implementing the resolution. >> thank you so much for being with us. the coup leader has defied an ultimatum to step down warning his forces will retaliate if attacked. he'll only hand over power if requested to do so by north african leader. they have arrived in the capital in a show of force. we have the report. >> reporter: singing the national anthem, residents loyal to the government have poured into the national square to protest against the coup. they were joined by national army troops that entered the city overnight. the earlier release of the prime

minister was welcomed by the people who want order quickly restored. >> translator: we are counting on the army and on the international community to find a way to resolve this problem peacefully. as the army has said, if 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 the people. >> translator: we came to the national square to really support our brothers in arms but also to condemn the behavior of the presidential guard that truly affected us. we cannot understand how we fought on october 30th and 31st last year during the uprising for them to not come and take it out of our hands. we refuse and say no. >> reporter: the general and his elite presidential guard seized power last week. he since apologized and says he's ready to hand over power to civilian transitional government. returning the country to democratic rule is under discussion at a meeting of the

regional bloc. with bur keburk fas looks some y off. life for us in the nigerian capital is where leaders from west africa are holding an emergency summit right now. what are the key issues they're actually discussing? >> first, it's not clear whether the african leaders meeting here are aware of the events on the ground there. the fact that the coup leaders refuse to stand down. what is being discussed here is what should happen to the coup leaders, the presidential guard who launched the coup in the town, whether they should be taken into a democratic process going forward in an attempt to get the country back on the democratic path way or whether they should receive amnesty or whether they should be excluded. now, the host, the nigerian

president along with the leaders of senegal, ivory coast, guinea, toga, and other countries are discussing this as we speak. the leaders of the countries were obviously on the ground in burkina fosa discussing the process and planning a peaceful end to the standoff that there appears to be between the army and the presidential guard. they have been briefing west african leaders here. we expect a communique at the end of the discussions. people we have here are around, and they will say that the coup leaders need to be given amnesty. that any ongoing process or any process in future, any democratic process must be

inclusive. if one remembers the background to all of this, this presidential guard was part of the private army. that's what some people call them of the former president who is ousted in the popular uprising. they're very influential and have a lot of supporters. the conditional process that there has been before this coup excluded them from taking part. so what we understand is that what leaders here will push for, what they will say is that the presidential guard, the former ruling party must be part of the future. must be part of the transition to democracy and fresh elections, which they hope will be back on track. they were supposed to happen on the 11th of october. of course, the coup put an end to that plan. >> we have the latest after the talks there. thank you. a palestinian woman has died after being shot by israeli forces in the occupied west bank.

israeli media reports suggested she tried to stab a soldier in hebr hebron. we have the latest from west jerusalem. >> reporter: what we know is is confirmed from the hospital she was an 18-year-old palestinian woman that died just a couple of hours ago after surgery. what the hospital has been able to confirm to us and this contradicts what israeli security forces said earlier on tuesday, and that is that she was shot in three areas. there are wounds in three areas of her body. one in the chest, one in the stomach and one in the lower body. earlier in the day israeli security forces they shot her in the legs after an attempted stabs of one of the soldiers at the checkpoint. we later found out from palestinian sources as well as witnesses in the nearby where this happened at the checkpoint, and they said that there was really no attempted attack by her. there was some commotion it sounds like at this checkpoint, some shouts. there was one account that said

she may have tried to slap and soldier and moved back, and that's when the shooting happens. again, nothing is confirmed, but the accounts of the events were that the hospital confirmed to us she died after going into surgery. human rights watch says the egyptian military's cap pain against isil in northern sinai is harming thousands of civilians. they have econvicted more than 3,000 families and destroyed thousands of home in northern sinai. cairo is trying to create a buffer zone along the border with the gaza strip. they say isil is using cross border tunnels to move tweeb the two countries. he says that the military's actions are unjustified. >> human rights watch recognizes the egyptian military is facing an armed insurgency in northern

sinai. it's not enough to justify a broad and indiscriminate discussion of property. even if there was legitimate military objectives in parts of northern sinai, they can't do so with an impact on civilians. they need to find a way to target these, and secondly, they need to adequately compensate civilians, provide them with dew point and allow them to challenge these orders and not simply declare a buffer zone that will affect thousands and thousands of families. still to come on the program, endlessly sorry. the chief executive apologizes after 11 million cars are involved in an emissions test rigging scandal. and we're going to be at the film festival where artists are focusing on overcomes the divide between north and south korea.

a reminder of top stories. slovakia won't implement a deal for the 120,000 refugees. it was pushed through in brussels despite opposition by four member states. yemen's president returned to aden after six months in exile. his return following steady gains made by coalition forces led by saudi arabia. the leader of the coup in burkina faso has ignored the deadline. at least 38 fighters have

been killed in syrian government air strikes on the ancient city of palmyra. the observatory says it's the most sustained attack on the city by syrian forces since isil took control there in may. most residents have already fled the city. isil fighters are destroyed several works of art. iran will work with russia to help to enthe syrian conflict. they made the comments at a news conference in moscomoscow. while both wanted a political solution, president assad must be part of the solution. >> translator: tehran and moscow plan to use all the possibilities and potential together with syria to help it come out of the crisis. iran and russia will continue the contact with the syrian opposition and we believe that members of the opposition who want a resolution will be part of this resolution. it's a year since the u.s.-led coalition entered the war. the campaign involves air

strikes in both syria and iraq with the ultimate aim of destroying isil. the coalition includes turkey, some gulf nations, australia and canada. france is expected to launch air strikes in the coming weeks. syrian government forces with russian backing have been hitting isil from the air. isil is not only dealing with a barrage of bombs, but on the ground it's battling with several rebel groups. we have the report now from southern turkey. >> 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. central command gives the credit to what it calls anti-isil fighters including syrian kurds and sunni arabs, but they wouldn't have been as successful without air power to back them up. for the last month the u.s. has

intensified the campaigns after squeezes it from turkey. the border with syria is 120 kilometers from the base behind me. that means more air strikes when the u.s. and its coalition allies are force to fly four hours away from the gulf. to make the 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. the obama administration 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 ground like the kurds, but many groups are also fighting the regime of al assad. the u.s. doesn't want to get involved in that fight. now the air space over syria could get more crowded.

russia sent military equipment including combat aircraft and commandos to a new hub in latakia in western syria. putin inspected some of the hardware at a major exercise near the border with kazakhstan last weekend. moscow says it's concerned about isil, but the kremlin along with the iranians backed president bashar al assad. if he's forced from power they might want more influence over who takes over. the human rights investigator says only a political solution will bring peace. >> we have an example to reach peace. you remember in former yug slave ra yugoslavia and it was a pews negotiation. milosevich was still pressed, president but at the end justice could be done. >> reporter: 240,000 people have been killed in syria's four-year

civil war. the u.s. says this time of indiscripple nature bombing is fueling support for isil. so if you can find a political route that eventually leads to ass assad's removal, the white house believes isil would then be weakened. bernard smith, al jazeera, turkey. the french far right politician la pen is to face trial for compares muslim street to nazi occupation. he talked about some muslims pray in the streets when mosques are full. speaking against it today, mr. penn said it was a scandal a politician is trying for expressing their beliefs. the chief executive has apologized for the worldwide scandal caused about i by the rigging of u.s. car emission test. at least 11 million vehicles are thought to be effect.

he'll work to win back the trust of consumers. >> translator: to make it very clear, manipulation at vw must never happen again. many millions as kro the world trust our brands, our cars and technologies. i'm endlessly sorry we betrayed the trust. i apologize profusely to our clients and authorities and entire public for the wrong going. >> the scandal has seen billions of dollars wiped off the company's share price. the carmaker is facing criminal charges and $18 billion of fines in the u.s. we have the report now from berl berlin. the pow liegs cheating channelled spread. volg wag is facing billions of dollars in fines and a huge recall of vehicles after the u.s. government found it planted software in its diesel cars melt to falsify results in emissions

tests. the company issued a statement saying 11 million vehicles are affected. it set aside 5 billion for recalls and servicing. it said volkswagen will make regaining consumer trust the top priority. >> we totally screwed up. we must fix those cars. thank you. we must fix those cars because we prevent this from ever happening again, and we have to make things right. with the government, the public, our customers, our employees, and also very important our dealers. >> reporter: german officials announced they will investigate. france's finance minister called for a europe-wide probe to include other auto makers. >> translator: while it's done on volkswagen, in order to reassure people, we need to do

it for of french manufacturers. we have no reason to think they have conducted themselves the way volkswagen did. >> south korea said it would conduct an investigation. germany's economy is heavily dependent on the auto industry. senior government officials worry that what they call the excellent reputation of the german car industry will suffer. so sears is the example here, the foreign minister felt obliged to address it during an official visit abroad. >> translator: i hope that there will be a clarification soon as to what extent data is influenced by technical equipment and particularly who is responsibility i believe for this. this is and has to be in the interest of volkswagen, first of all. and the second step, one has to talk about how to deal with the further handling of this between the temperatures and the relevant authorities in the united states. >> reporter: on wednesday a

committee of volkswagen board members and major shareholders will hold an emergency meeting at company headquarters. a board member says he expects senior company heads will roll. rob reynolds, al jazeera, berlin. the chinese president as arrived in seattle at the start of his first state visit to the united states. he'll spend three days mixing business and technology leaders before heading to washington for talks with president barack obama. the security is set to be high on the agenda following apple's recent breach in china. four years of prolonged drought in the u.s. state of california are endangering the world's largest degrees. jacob ward visited the sierra national forest to see how giant sequoias are being affected. >> reporter: giant sequoias like are very, very special. they're the largest organisms on earth and they are ancient. after four years of droughts and

the warming effects of climate change, researchers are worried about their future. >> they were losing their older needles, the older leaves in amounts that were -- i'd never seen before. >> reporter: roughly 2,500 years old this one predates christianity and islam. more importantly for today is how tall it is. over 75 meters and more than 240 feet tall. scientists are going to go up in it today to take water samples and god help me, i'm going to follow them. oh, man. anthony ambrose leads a team from berkeley. he climbs to the top the degrees to test them signs of stress. they need enormous amounts of water. >> a typical sequoia tree might use 500 to 800 gallons of water in a single summer day. >> the sierra snowpack that provides water to trees throughout the summer as it

melts is now at a 500-year low. the sequoias are surviving it so far, put the team points out that the combijs of drought and rising temperatures is unprecedented. >> now that we're in the fourth year of this severe drought, they seem to be holding up pretty well. if we had another year as severe as this one, i'd say all bets are off. >> reporter: this tree was a seedling during the roman empire, and an as less sent when mohammed was alive. the history of the united states is a tiny fraction of its past. the question is whether they can survive here in the future. jacob ward, al jazeera, sierra national park, california. the film festival is under way in south korea showcasing documentaries from around the world. this year organizers have decided to focus more on the issues separating and uniting the two career. harry fossett reports from the

southern korean city. >> it isn't quite the demilitarized zone, but for this film festival it's as close as you can go. inin the buffer zone, and the dnz docs festival gets under way. the film that directly addresses the division on the korean peninsula. >> translator: it tells the story of a north korea defector, who now make equally political and critical works as an independent artist in the south. with his identity hidden to protect his family over the border, it charts some increasing anning sdmriet as plans for the first solo show in beijing begin to attract the attention of north korean officials. >> he's very poetic, but he's also very honest. he has a unique story. he's a defector who still really

loves his homeland. he does not love a lot of things about his homeland, but his heart is -- he says he has a divided heart. >> this film is something of a statement of intent as they shift the focus more closely on interkorean issues. >> translator: it's always an international festival. we certainly never promoted it that way. this year we have brought in the a special dnz session because of a feeling it hasn't received enough attention in the past. >> the goal is to make a small festival sfil in its relative infancy into a sick pan asian document film event. in terms of scale it can't compete with south korea and the international film festival in a couple of weeks time. what it does have is a particular focus, a focus on themes of peace. more than 100 films from around

the world are due to be shown, most united in some way by that theme of peace just a short distance from the most heavily militarized border. and there's much more to be found on our website. the address to click onto is aljazeera.com. pop francis heads to the u.s. after wrapping up his visit to cuba. the security is unprecedented. volkswagen's emission crisis gets bigger. the company is saying 11 million vehicles worldwide are affected. china's president promises reforms, but technology and cyber security concerns threaten to overshadow his trip to the u.s.