>> the al jazeera america promises new sanctions as north korea leader claims he has detonated a hydrogen bomb. >> hello there, i'm felicity barr, you're watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up, syrians'appeal for help. and authorities say police are not doing enough against a group of armed men who have taken over a ranch in oregon. >> a new generation of hot air

balloons are taking flight. >> hello, the united states believes that north korea has carried out a nuclear test but it is skeptical that the device used was a hydrogen bomb. the u.n. security council has condemned the test and vowed to pursue new sanctions. in a state announcement, the u.s. said it doubted north korea has carried out a hydrogen bomb, that it's explosion was not large enough to be a hydrogen bomb, but any nuclear test would be a violation of resolution and leaving it to u.n. security council to determine which

sanctions would be appropriate. >> in a typically staged manner a crowd was arranged to mark what is considered in pyongyang as a proceed achievement. the announcer on state tv gleeful as she detailed the country's fourth nuclear test. >> this i assume they said a more powerful and advanced hydrogen bomb had been tested. experts have cast out on that, but either way it's a clear breach of billion law. >> north korea's nuclear test is a serious threat to our nation's security, and absolutely cannot be tolerated. >> any kind of nuclear test like the one that north korea conducted is provocative and in violation of u.n. security resolutions. not just one but any number of them. >> what chose north korea t

--what caused north korea to choose this time for the test. there is speculation it was timed ahead of his birthday. it's believed he'll turn 33 on friday. in new york a meeting of the u.n. security council was hastily convened. ambassadors condemned north korea and said new action was needed. >> the members of the security council will begin to work immediately on security council resolution. >> japan, which rejoined the security council just a few days ago is one of the regional country's most fearful of north korea said those measures must be tough otherwise the credibility of the united nations will be at stake. what else can the u.n. security council do? there is already a strict regime in place. what is there in north korea to sanction? beyond that everyone on the u.n.

security council knows they need to tread carefully. they don't want to further provoke a leader who makes unpredictable, and some would say rash decisions who may own nuclear weapons. >> we're live now from the south korean capital of seoul, and i mean, scott, south korea has expressed it's huge concern. what is it going to do next? what happens next? >> we know what is going to happen in the next two hours. the defense ministry here in seoul will hold a briefing. now we herds on wednesday they have ratcheted up alert innocence because of this pr provocation from north korea. we're going to see through and we'll see more detail in this briefing coming in the next couple of hours.

we're hearing that there is going to be an anti-noters korea protest here in the capital of seoul. that's what we're hearing which is scheduled for thursday. what is also going to be going on they are going to be speaking with leaders around the world of what is next. there will be an intense viewing of what is going on authorities of the border, and if this was, as claimed to be a hydrogen bomb. the details behind that. the science behind that is going to take some time because of the material in the air to determine if it was a h bomb or not. but a lot of this speculation, this doubt that it was an h bomb coming from the size of the seismic activity when the bomb

was detonated. >> thanks. the international community is keptcal about north korea's claim that it successfully tested a nuclear bomb. they say that the scientific evidence does not stack up. we have more. >> north korea claims it joined an exclusive military club on wednesday when it tested it's first-ever thermonuclear weapon sometimes referred to as a hydrogen bomb. only three our nations have hydrogen weapons. >> it's only a matter of time if they have developed a workable hydrogen warhead to miniaturize it as many other military powers have done. >> they say the physical evidence does not support the claims. first, a definition.

atomic weapons use a process called fission or atom splitting to create nuclear energy. hydrogen creates even more explosive energy. a thousand times more powerful than atomic weapons. h-bombs are far more complex to manufacture, requiring a working nuclear weapon to trigger them. once more, nuclear experts say a thorough mow nuclear weapons would be far more powerful than the u.s. atomic bombs dropped been hiroshima and nagasaki. and wednesday's tremor is thousands of times less in magnitude than what athermal

test would register. you could see enormous plumes of radioactive dust that would drift over large areas. so in the worst case you could see that kind of event. of course, that could cause physical structure damage on the surface. >> scientists say that while this was not a thermal nuclear bomb test, it was a nuclear test of some kinds. north korea's neighbors are worried that it could one day make good on its efforts to have the same nuclear capability as the world's superpowers. roslind jordan, al jazeera, washington. >> 20 iraqi soldiers have been killed. iraqi military sources say that isil was responsible for that

attack. meanwhile, airstrikes against isil have killed 15 of its fighters. the commander of iraqi forces in anbar province said that aircraft history targets authorities of ramadi and in the city center. arctic weather in syria and turkey has brought miserable conditions to the hundreds of thousands of refugees displaced by war. finding enough food to eat and fuel to heat their tents and mistake shift homes is proving too much for some families. >> they thought they were safe. this kurdish family had fled syria and made this makeshift tent in southeast turkey their home. then the snow came. they didn't have the fuel to keep warm. their four-month-old baby died from hyperthermia. >> we ran from the war, and god blessed me with a son. but i lost him to the cold.

i lost him to the war. >> now he fears that his three-year-old son will succumb to the cold. he calls on the world to witness their suffering. they buried the baby close to the tent. across the border outside of aleppo families forage for fuel. it's a daily battle to stay warm. and alive. with cold we never warm up. it's always cold. now it's snowing. we don't have food, and we have no warm clothes either. the bomb something all around. my son screams when they bomb just near us. >> as many as 400 families live in tents here. desperately hoping that the syrian regime claims don't target their camp. at least the snow bring cloud cover and the welcome res spite in the aerial bombardment. this is the fifth winter that syrian refugees have faced since this conflict began.

it's the fifth year that syrian children and babies have fought to stay alive as temperatures have plummeted. but it's the first year that there has been a glimmer of hope that those behind the wall my be willing to sit down and talk. the shadow of syria's suffering will hang heavy over that negotiating table. nowhere is the situation more desperate than north of damascus. the siege by syrian regime forces and hezbollah fighters for over 170 days people here are starving. one doctor told al jazeera one or two people die every day. only a lifting of the blockade and immediate humanitarian aid can save these syrians. their cry is desperate. the responsibility is global. al jazeera, on the syrian-turkey

border. >> qatar has become the latest country to call its ambassador from iran. iraq's foreign minister speaking on a visit to tehran said they want to stop the it from spreading. >> saudi arabia has signaled the breakdown in relations with iran will not effect peace talks over syria scheduled this month. foreign minister made the comments following a meeting with foreign minister. >> it's alleged four underaged girls were assaulted in bangui. >> there are around 11,000 peace

keepers. their job is to protect people in a country that has been mired in religious violence. but new allegations suggest some soldiers may have failed in that mission. for underage girls say they were sexually abused by u.n. peace keepers, the u.n. has launched an investigation. >> over the past week unicef staff from the office in bangui have under taken four visits to meet with the four victims. unicef is working with local partners to help the girls receive medical care and assess their psycho-social needs. >> the report said that the u.n. had failed to carry out proper back group checks and needed to do more to protect children.

>> troops can be vetted. the allegations that we hear can be investigated properly. and those who are deemed responsible for those kind of crimes can be can be prosecuted or should be prosecuted. >> thousands were sent to the central africa republic after a coup in 2013. in april last year a peace agreement was signed between the mostly muslim seleka and the mainly christian anti-balaka groups. the divisions between the communities run deep. votes from last month's presidential election is still being counted but two-thirds of the candidates wanted the process suspended because they say there are irregulates. people in central africa public suffered for years. the u.n. said it has low

tolerance for those who abuse civilians. >> protest towards violence in cologne days after nearly 90 assaults. plus more young couples are delaying having children in cuba.

>> hello again. a reminder of the top stories here on al jazeera. the united nations has strongly condemned north korea's latest

nuclear test and vow new sanctions. they detonated a hydrogen bomb. harsh winter weather has hit the latakia refugee camp covering the area with snow and forcing thousands of displaced people to seek emergency shelter. the latest to recall its ambassador from iran. >> the group of armed civilians is continue to go defy the american government as the stand off enters it's fifth day. the ranchers have taken over a remote state wildlife center in organ afte oregon after accusing the federal government of bullying them into giving up their land. it's been going on for five days now.

they've called for a community meeting in a couple of hours there. what are we expecting to happen at that meeting? >> well, this community meeting should be happening in two hours now. it will be happening in burns. this is the nearest town to where these militiamen have taken over the refugee. it's about 50 kilometers or 30 miles from where we are at now. it is the fairgrounds. this is where the local sheriff is having the local meeting primarily to talk to residents in this town who are worried and very much concerned. this town has been turned upside down because of this, and there is a lot of apprehension about how this could possibly end at some point. schools here in this town and also federal and state buildings here, government offices have been closed as well as a safety precaution because of the situation here. so the local sheriff has pulled together a community meeting to bring everyone together to take

some questions and basically address concerns here in this really unprecedented situation that this town is facing to try to provide the communities some answers on what will happen. now i will say that while the sheriff is very involved, it is the fbi that is the main agency now that is in control of the response to this situation. and i can tell you that here there is a lot of fbi agents in town and the sheriff here as well. but not to door from here where the militiamen have those federal buildings that they have offices that they have taken over, there is no sign of law enforcement there. that's for good reason. law enforcement especially the federal government, has had a really hands off approach. they don't want to antagonize the situation or make it more volatile than it already is. >> gabriel, thank you. the governor of california

has declared a state of emergency over a gas leak. thousands of families have been morsed to move turning the area into a ghost town. the united states says that two prisoners at the guantanamo military prison have been transferred abroad. they have been sent to ghana. 105 detainees now remain at the cuban prison. kenya's garissa university has reopened nine months after al-shabab gunmen stormed the site killing 149 people. >> the first students since the attack in last april come here and registered at his desk just by this gate. and it's through the same gate night months before that five

armed men from al-shabab entered the university in the following 15 hour siege. the university management said that the situation has changed, and they finally got the security they were asking for all along before the attack happened. they wrote to the government on numerous occasions requesting that the police come in here. now the campus is secure, and the students think it is secure, too, and they're willing to continue their studies here. >> the mayor of cologne angered women by saying that women should adapt a code of conduct that keeps strangers at arm's length. that follows attacks on

new year's eve. >> all of a sudden these men around us began groping us. they touched our behinds and grabbed us between the legs. they touched us everywhere. my girlfriend wanted to get out of crowd. as i turned around one man grabbed my bag and ripped it off my body. i thought they could kill us. they could rape us an no one would notice. i thought we simply had to accept it. there was no one around us who could help us or was in a position to help. all i wanted was to get out. >> venezuela's part government is now controlled by the demographidemocratic party that had won its two-thirds vote.

>> landslides and mudslides caused by heavy el niño rains destroyed an important road in central bolivia. thousands of cars, trucks and buss have been stranded for two days. heavy rains have been causing damage in the central region for more than a week. birth rates in cuba are falling faster than anywhere else in latin america. in part two of al jazeera's look at falling birth rates, couples in havana have put their hopes of children on hold. >> they married three months ago. they're living with his grandparents in a tiny apartment just outside of havana dreaming of their own home where they can one day bring up children. >> the economy here makes it difficult for us to fulfill our dream of owning our own home. a house, a car, children, they

are democrats. unfortunately they are only dreams, but we have to keep fighting, studying and preparing to get there. hopefully we'll get there. >> they're typical of many young cuban couples who are delaying to having children or deciding not to have them at all. >> i like to have my own house and the conditions to do that, but i've got to work three more years at a basic salary so we won't be able to fulfill our dreams in that time. >> in 1970, 30% of the population was under 14 years old. now it's just 17% and decreasing. with long life expectancy the elderly population is growing. >> it's normally wealthier countries where birth rates fall. cuba has what they have in education and health systems. cuba is not a wealthy country. and many young couples are believe either leave or decide

they can't afford to bring up their children here. there is lower infant mortality and provides easy abortions. a good education system means more women are aware of their options and are choosing to pursue a career. with the difficult economic situation and an uncertain political future, some couples leave the country while others simply choose to wait and see. >> this is a challenge for cuba because what it has is a very uneven age structure. if you look at the age structure, instead of a nice pyramid that a developing country has or a developed calm that a developed country has, cuba has this bulge. >> young cubans continue to fall in love and marry. but until the economical and political situation changes, many will choose to put their dreams on hold. al jazeera, havana, cuba. >> hot air balloons might an

appear to drift along effortlessly, but it does take hundreds of liters of fuel to keep them a lot of. now a spanish company is working for ways to maintain ballooning more ecofriendly. >> it is dawn in the hills of barcelona, in the still morning air a newly completed hot air balloon is inflated for the first time. the team inspects the rigging and the stitching on all the seems. it's a standard check performed before new balloons are shipped to customers. the spanish company is the world's largest maker of hot air balloons producing 200 each year. the design, color scheme and branding of each balloon is customized and it's stitched together by hand from thousands of pieces of lightweight nylon fabric.

>> our supplier checks that it is good. but we also check it. >> hot air balloons use pro bane gas to heat the air that lifts them. a typical hour-long flight can use up 100 liters, enough to drive a car more than 1,000 kilometers. that means that hot air ballooning is a gas-guzzling sport. that's why this company has developed an ecofriendly model. two pieces of fabric instead of one makes i it better insulate ed and uses less gas. >> you'll fly cheaper, you'll spend less money in a single flight. you can have more capacity of a flight. if you cannot land in, for

example, in the mountains, you'll have ex-try time to find another place to land. >> the company has within working on technology to make it safer. >> despite the technological advances for some it's the simplicity of the sport that makes it attractive. >> it's very quiet. you can feel yourself as you need to fly it gives the feeling that you are alone, and you can enjoy it. >> the ecoballoon is more expensive to make. the company says because it lasts longer and it's cheap for fly it's a cost effective alternative, and one that

insures tha hot ballooning will continue. >> there is plenty more on our stories on other website. find it by going to www.aljazeera.com. >> it's christmas eve and u.s. soldiers are preparing for their last month in afghanistan. about 40,000 are still here. by the end of the year there will be just 8,000. we traveled to afghanistan in the midst of this transition.