caledonians or iraqis. that also will -- will pull the routh -- out from under daesh in iraq, and allow the country and its allies to defeat it. everything else we do is putting scotch tape on an open wound. >> we are bringing you live coverage of the security conference in germany. there you see the saudi foreign minister addressing one of the problems he sees for his region. he calls it daesh. a bunch of psychopaths, he says, who will be defeated. let's go back to the speech now. >> reporter: the humanitarian suffering that exists is a consequence of the houthis and saleh hijacking their people and starving them, and laying siege on their towns in order to score

political gains, but that too will come to an end. it will take time. we will not stop until the job is finished, and our objective for yemen is a new yemen, a stable yemen, a united yemen a yemen that will be open to reconstruction and development, that will then result in a prosperous yemen that will be a good neighbor to us. i think i have said enough. so maybe i'll stop here and take some questions. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you very much. again, we are already over time. so maybe two short questions. who is the first. i see someone in the back. could you identify yourself, please. it's hard to see faces from here because of the lights.

>> reporter: i'm [ inaudible ] of the [ inaudible ] in london. foreign minister i hate to [ inaudible ] in the room, both you and the prime minister of iraq, and king abdullah, all talked about it, daesh being unislamic, isn't -- [ inaudible ] the reality is that the islamic state is islamic, very islamic, yet had attracted psycho paths [ inaudible ] but the region preached by his leaders [ inaudible ] of islam and [ inaudible ] goes on to advise us to base our strategy on [ inaudible ] with that understanding at its heart. and i invite you to comment on

that. >> every religion has perverts and psychopaths who try to hijack it. isil is as much islamic as the kkk is christian. don't do have a cross? don't they do everything in the name of religion and the cross. don't they believe that christ compels them to lynch and kill people of african decent. can one really say the kkk is a christian organization? there are other groups that one can point to. there are other massacres that were committed in the name of keeping certain regions clear of non-christian. there are people like this also in the jewish faith that have nothing to do with jew dayism. there are people like this in

the hindu religion that have nothing to do with hinduism. to argue that daesh is islamic, is preposterous. the quran refeels that you have your faith, and i have my faith. and you are free to practice your faith, and i am free to practice mine. what greater sign of tolerance do you have than this. in the quran, it says he who saves a soul, is as if he saved all of humanity. what better example of compassion and mercy do you have than this. so if you look at what daesh says and you are saying it is in the subscriptions? doesn't the old testament say an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. if somebody does it today would

you say they are christian or jewish? so i caution people, because it seems to have become almost nofl -- not novel, it has become the flavor of the day to read things that are not there. the islamic religion, and islamic civilization was the civilization that preserved the history of [ inaudible ] and passed it on to the west. western civilization would not exist without the islamic civilization. the islamic civilization, and the islamic arab civilization connected china to europe. so if islam were intolerant and

daesh represented islam, would islam have preserved socrates and passed it on to the west? of course not. so i urge you, all of you, to be careful when it comes to making generallizations, or to accepting generalizations that have no basis in fact. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. the final question. >> reporter: ann marie snaud. >> hi, ann. >> thank you for addressing the issue of woman in your country, i think you are right to see that this is an increasing issue for many in the world. i just wanted to make sure i heard you correctly, because i heard you say was there is nothing in your culture that

prohibits the -- or retards the advancement of woman. did i hear that right? >> what i was saying is that in our faith, at least in -- when it comes to issues like women's driving, that this is not a religious issue. this is a societal issue. when it comes to issues like education. this is not a religious issue, it was a societal issue, but we dealt with it, and we went from no schools for women in 1960, to universal education, to where today 55% of college students in saudi arabia are women. i can give you another statistic, but it would embarrass me as a saudi male. more than 60% of graduate students are women. some of our top doctors, lawyers, and business people are women. so the opportunities are there. it's not -- the issue is one that is evolving, just like it is evolving in other countries.

america gained its independence, my mathematics is not very good, 250 years ago almost. it took 100 years before women were given the right to vote. it took another 100 years before a woman was elected speaker of the house. i'm not saying give us 100 years. i'm just saying be patient. people tend to look at where they are now and think they everybody should be with us. again, i will quote america, maybe because i spent so much of my life there. america was independent in 1776. the republic was founded, what two decades later? this it took almost 80 years before slavery was abolished. it took 100 years before there was a civil rights movement, and another several decades before you had real social equality in america.

things take time. you hope in the modern world with technology and communications this process is accelerated, but it takes time and we must acknowledge this and accept this -- >> saudi arabia's foreign minister talking there at a security conference in munich and making the point that if one was to say that daesh, isil, or isis, the islamic state of iraq and the levant is to be called islamic, then you might just as well say the ku klux klan in the united states is a christian movement. we will make advances in saudi arabia. he said we will deal with daesh. we will deal with the houthis in yemen. we will deal with the security situation in our region. and the importance of those comments particularly today is because the russian prime minister had said earlier that

if gulf states increased their involvement in conflicts in the middle east, particularly syria, then there was a risk of another world war. well the saudi foreign minister saying as far as he is concerned, as far as his country is concerned, the fight to bring terrorist organizations in those countries, will continue until the job is done. let's bring in my colleague, zana hoda, in the turkish city near the border with syria. zana, i'm not going to ask you to comment on what he has said vis-a-vis what the russian foreign minister has said, but we're going to go back to this idea of a cessation in hostilities. it was agreed in munich yesterday at a different meeting. and people are in the process of trying to put it together. but it appears to me all we have

got is a couple of leaders saying yes, we think it would be a good idea to have a cessation of hostilities to bring in aid, medicine, and food, but there is nothing concrete to make it happen yet. >> reporter: no david as of yet we haven't heard the final position from the syrian opposition, whether or not they will comply with a cessation of hostilities if it does -- if it is implemented on the ground. we put that question to the high negotiating committee, which is the saudi, backed syrian opposition body, and what they told us was that in the next few days there is going to be a meeting grouping armed factions on the ground, the different armed factions, we know there are many armed groups on the grown. and they will decide on whether or not the cessation of hostilities will take effect. but we have spoken to many people inside of syria, as well as those in exile, and they are

not attaching a lot of hope that this will bring about peace. but at the same time they say they will welcome any agreement that alleviates the suffering of people on the ground. there is a humanitarian not just in aleppo, but across syria as the war rages on. rebel fighters understand the need to hold ground on this front line. if they are defeated the syrian go and its allies will be one step closer to the rebel held east of aleppo city. after losing much territory in this northern province, the opposition is trying to prevent its strong hold inside syria's second largest city from being besieged. >> translator: they are killing us, but we will remain steadfast. we are still on the front lines. we will liberate every inch of territory they have captured. we won't surrender.

>> reporter: within a week the bombardment is supposed to stop. but the deal reached in mun initial is being received with scepticism on the ground. >> translator: i don't think the international community is serious about a ceasefire. they are giving the regime more time to take more ground. it means the rebels won't be able to retake this territory after a ceasefire is in place. >> reporter: in homs, the aerial bombardment is only intensifying, and the casualties are rising. the rebels there no longer control supply lines into their strong holds, and the u.n. is warning that the 120,000 seem inside risk hunger and disease. remembers of the opposition have told us that they have little faith in the syrian government and its backer, russia. they say this will only give them time to make further gains

on the ground and force the armed groups to surrender. but a pause in the fighting and the delivery of much needed aid to the hundreds of thousands trapped cannot come fast enough for the people. the battle for aleppo, has according to the united nations, left more than 50,000 homeless, adding to the millions who have been displaced over the years. >> translator: what have the people done to preserve this. they are not sparing anyone. it has been five years and we continue to suffer from their oppression, this is enough. >> reporter: the conflict has laid waste to much of aleppo and the rest of syria. the government and its allies are confidence they are close to a victory, but claims of victory will have little meaning for anyone without a wide ere peace. russian air strikes have reportedly killed 18 people in syria in the last few hours. world powers say they want to have the fighting halted within

a week. while the president of syria, bashar al-assad has also been talking. >> translator: we have fully believed in negotiations, and in political action since the beginning of this crisis. however, if we negotiate, it does not mean we stop fighting terrorism. the two tracks are inevitable, first through negotiations and second through fighting terrorism. >> now back to zana. he says he likes the idea of negotiations, and a couple of months ago i don't think that would have been his position. he is talking now from a perceived position of strength. >> reporter: undoubtedly. last july in one of his first public addresses in a very long time, he was described as an embattled leader. it was a very rare admission at the time. he told his people we are lacking manpower. we are suffering from a shortage of manpower, and we said that

for now what the army is doing is concentrating on security what he called crucial territories, or what he regime calls the core territories, which is damascus, the coastal heartland, homs, and now what he is saying is that there are going to recapture the whole country even though it is going to take a long time. ever since russia militarily intervened in the con flint, the balance of power undoubtedly shifted in the favor of the government. when he spoke last july he lost idlib, the provincial capitol fell to the rebels. but it's not just the military backing he is receiving from russia, but the political backing as well. we heard him say we have no problem negotiating, but we will still continue to fight terrorist. but that means that everyone who holds a gun is a terrorist, not

just isil, or the al-qaeda linked group, al-nusra front. so the opposition in the time being is fighting for its survival. >> zana thank you in turkey. let's go back to munich to dominic kane. dominic i would imagine syria has pretty much topped everybody's thoughts at that meeting. >> reporter: that's right, david. the -- the sessions are well underway. we have heard from a variety of different key players in the middle east. we heard from the saudi foreign minister, we have heard from the iraqi prime minister, he also spoke about fighting daesh as he called it, and said that daesh wants to encourage a clash of civilizations. we have also heard from the defense ministers talking about

need for nato to take on daesh and isil and others would call it. but earlier today we heard from the secretary general of the u.n., and although he welcomed the agreement that had been reached late last night here in muni munich. he also said now it is important for the russians to take things seriously. >> we will welcome a more constructive role of russia in the fight against isil. so far russia has mainly targeted opposition groups, and they are not isil. and the intense air strikes of russian planes against different opposition groups in -- in syria has actually undermined the efforts to reach a negotiated peaceful solution. >> reporter: well a clear statement there from him, and

from nato regarding russian's intentions, but it is also worth making the point that a meeting is taking place in geneva also. the humanitarian task force in charge of that. and he has issued a statement in which he says it is now incumbent on the powers to get serious, that perhaps a break through can be made, but that all parties to it, needs to up their game as it were. >> thank you. dominic kane there in munich. ♪ thousands of egyptian doctors are holding a rally in the heart of cairo. they are protesting against the release of nine police officers who they accuse of attacking their colleagues. the incident happened at the hospital at the end of last

month. doctors say they will strike if the officers are not held responsible. we are speaking to one of those doctors. go back to the incident in january in which you say your colleagues were assaulted. what do you maintain happened there at this hospital? >> yes, hi, i must emphasize i was not present at this hospital. so it would not be what i say, it would be what the doctor who was assaulted is saying. and what he is saying is that several law enforcement agents assaulted him at his work desk, and then took him to the police station. again, that should be investigated by the authorities, not -- not by us. but there has been some laxity in the process, and very

reluctant to actually take any steps in that manner. >> it has been maintained doctor that this incident is not an isolated one. that this happens on occasion where security forces step into hospitals and man handle or abuse medical personnel. if that is the case, why do you think, in particular they are taking this action, which you allege? >> no, what has been happening is routine assaults by family members of patients. that has been the case. but this was -- oh, we can say that one of the first of its kind, where the person who assaulted the doctor was the person who was supposed to be taking care of the hospital. >> okay. so -- so you are perhaps also

just objects to the safety of doctors. you are saying they are not being treated with enough respect and there needs to be an investigation into the assaults. >> yeah, exactly. the purpose of the rally is to have safety at the hospitals, especially at the emergency department. >> but you are also putting your own safety at risk, are you not? by holding this kind of rally? >> no, not really. this was a formal rally at the syndicate of medicine, very official, and there were no problems at all. it was a very smooth event. there are about 10,000 doctors that attended, and there was a voting as to what should be done if the request for -- you know, prosecution of the -- of the

officer -- not the officer, but security force member who was responsible for that, if there should be any further escalation by the syndicate of medicine. not a formal strike at all, because that would be very harmful to the pash -- patients. so a small scale of diminution of the hospitals. >> thank you. three united nations peace keepers have been killed and another injured at an attack in mali. residents report seeing u.n. helicopters in the sky and an exchange of gunfire was heard outside of the city. no group has said it was behind the attack so far.

the international criminal court case against the kenyan president has been dealt a blow with key evidence being ruled inadmissible. six witnesses have asked for testimony now to be withdrawn. now to my colleague catherine soi in the kenyan capitol, nairobi. charges against the president were thrown out just over a year ago. and now we have this witness testimony withdrawn, does that mean the case against him is probably over. >> reporter: i have been talking to many people here, people following affairs of the international criminal court, people who have been following this case as well. and they are saying there are two scenarios that are likely to happen, a,

the prosecution could drop the charges. she has already said that -- ruled that this evidence was adz missable before the chamber reversed that position. she also said her case would be greatly weakened would these evidence. these six evidences directly link him to some of these crimes that they are being accused of. so she said her case would be gravely effected. she already has 29 witnesses who have already testified before the court. but like she said these five were her strongest witnesses that linked these crimes to the accused. so it will be interesting to see what she does next. but then another scenario that i'm told is likely to happen by these people, these analysts. these people who have been

following the affairs is this case of no - no -- the -- the -- the -- there 's a face that was filed by the defense of no answer -- case of no answer motion that was filed by the defense. basically the defense saying they have no case to answer. that these witnesses who have been presented before the court are basically not telling truths; that they have been paid by agents that have been used by the prosecution, so really there is no case to answer. but the prosecution has said many times -- >> okay. katherine -- >> -- have been bribed -- >> yeah. we're going to have to leave it there. thank you very much. greek farmers have confronted riot police in athens during protests against new austerity measures. this is the scene live in athens right now. tractors on their way being

driven to parliament. the latest in a number of weeks of demonstrations. let's hear from neave barker who is there. >> reporter: protesting farmers attack riot police with sheperd's crooks. plumes of tear gas fill the air, while protesters take pot shots at office windows. many of these farmers have traveled from the island of crete to join a day of demonstrations. from across the country, farmers converged on athens in their thousands. this group came in convoy. farmers have staged at least 70 block aids on highways across the country. >> the country is the people. these are not going to help the people. they are going to destroy them. not only the farmers. most of society.

>> reporter: in athens close to parliament some protesters have pitched tents. they say they will be here for several days. >> translator: we have come here to protest with determination and decisiveness. we won't leave here until we have found justice. >> reporter: the greek government signed an agreement with its lenders, and e.u. finance ministers, that if it introduces a raft of deep-seeded reforms, it would have access to a $95 billion bailout. the greek government says the reforms are not a matter of choice, but a matter of necessity. but the reforms mean tax hikes and sharp increases in pension contributions. farmers say it would make their small businesses no longer viable authorities say buildings were evacuated before they

collapsed in istanbul, and that nobody was inside when they went down. it was close to a pedestrian avenue which is a main shopping district popular with tourists. south korea has cut off power and water supplies to an industrial complex in north korea. now this is the jointly run factory. it's the factory park, the latest flash point in relations between the two neighbors deteriorate, after pyongyang's rocket launch earlier this week. they expelled all workers on thursday, and ceased the company's assets. the south says it is worried the park should be turned into a military base. pope francis is heading to cuba, the patriarch of the

russian orthodox church will meet the pope. aljazeera.com for all of the world news. aljazeera.com, you can catch up on everything that is happening. ♪ world pow ers agree to halting the war in syria, but it is unlikely to stop all of the fighting. >> once i'm in the white house we'll have enough political capitol to be able to do that. >> hillary clinton and ben bernie sanders face off. the w.h.o. announces two promising zika vaccines. plus 48 hours