defiant and insisting democracy has been disrespected. brazil's former president speaks out after being questioned by police over corruption claims. ♪ hello. you are watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up. france's president accusing bashar al-assad of being unrealistic for scheduling elections next month. and the admission from the u.n. over claims of sexual abuse

by its peace keepers in ten different countries. and facebook agrees to pay millions more in tax in the u.k. and pandas everywhere but the wild. 1600 sculptures raising awareness of the plight of the species. ♪ the former brazilian president da silva has insisted he has nothing to fear after being detained by police for questioning over corruption claims. police raided his home on friday, and spoke to him for three hours about a multi-billion dollars scandal involving the national oil company, petrobras. brazilian media say a former senator turned whistleblower has implicated the former president as well as the current president who has consistently denied persistent allegations of corruption. supporters of lula who ran

brazil from 2003 to 2011 clashed with police outside of his house after he was taken away. >> translator: i'm not upset with the journalists, i'm upset with the behavior of certain media outlets. today the headlines are what condemns people. they intimidate prosecutors, the police and politicians. i told my friends, the only way forward is not to be afraid. >> the inquiry known as operation car wash is investigationing accusations that more than $2 billion was paid in bribes to obtain petrobras contracts. dozens of politicians have been arrested or are under investigation. lula is facing questions over his ties with giant construction companies. one line of inquiry is focusing on whether those funds were used

to pay for the development of a ranch and breach-front property used by lula. >> translator: today we are looking at evidence that the former president and his family obtained advantages to eventually perform certain actions within the government. it is still is hypothesis in our investigation. there is evidence of payments, but no plausible reason for those payments. >> reporter: former president lula is no longer in police custody, but the fact that he was brought in for questioning, and that his home and several other properties were raided by police earlier on friday are being seen as the most politically explosive development in relation to corruption investigations to do with the oil giant petrobras which is state run. now lula has denied any allegations of wrongdoing, but police say they have evidence to the contrary. he is one of over 50 high-level

politicians who have been under investigation for receiving kickbacks or favors from large companies in return for contracts with the state-run petrobras. dilma rousseff has yet to officially react to the most recent developments. but people have taken to the streets both in support of the government and those who stand opposed to it, wanting to see them taken down. ♪ the french president has criticized his syrian counterpart saying his plans to hold parliamentary elections in the coming months are totally provacative and unrealistic. his comments come as representatives of several european nations held a cone conference with the russian president. moscow is a key ally to president assad's regime, but has given assurances it will continue to suspect the

cessation of hostilities. hollande says thing on military action tolerated in syria will be against isil or al-nusra front. >> translator: any other action would violate the ceasefire. we have all agreed that there is a communal will on the ground. we have wanted for humanitarian aid to brought to the civilian people. they are the victims of this conflict and find themselves without basic goods. well syria's conflict wasn't the only thing on the agenda in paris. the president french met with the german chancellor to discuss europe's refugee crisis as well. the leaders want turkey to do more to control the flow of people coming to greece. border restrictions in several countries are creating a bottleneck at the greek macedonian border. hoda abdel hamid is at the

border, and says the conditions refugees face has now lead to an outbreak of disease. >> reporter: it has been a difficult day for the people stranded here in this makeshift camp that continues to grow. the late estes mate is there are between 11 and 12,000 people. the crossing there is more shut than open over a span of 24 hours, the latest figure we got was 320 people were only allowed to get through. there is chaos at the border. but that 320 people in a span of 24 hours is just a trickle, probably that amount of people arrive here in a span of two hours. now weather conditions have been also very difficult. there has been a lot of heavy rain. mud puddles everywhere, people are -- in their tents, but they are soaked, and there's a high

rate of sickness among children. this is a crisis that has been building over the past two to three weeks, and every day conditions worsen here in the camp. two syrian men have been sentenced to four years in prison after five syrian refugees drowned including a toddler. they were convicted of human trafficking. the three year old's death sparked a global outcry. now a damming report has revealed a rise in allegations of sexual exploitation, and sexual abuse perpetrated by u.n. staff members. latest figures show there were 99 reports of abuse in ten different countries in 2015. that's up from 80 in 2014.

69 of those were against personnel on peace keeping missions, while the remaining 30 involved other u.n. staff members. military and police personnel accused of sexual crimes come from 21 countries, nearly a third involve peace keepers from the democratic republic of the congo serving in central african republic. the report is now calling for prosecutions to be handled inside the countries where the alleged crimes took place, and for the creation of a dna registry of all underpea underpeace -- u.n. peace keepers. >> i'm a peace keeper of more than 20 years. i strongly believe along with everybody else that anyone serving under the u.n. flag should prey on the vulnerable is

truly an abomination. we will never, never agree to protectors turning into predators. >> let's get more with daniel lak at the united nations for us. we have heard of these allegations before daniel. can you tell us more about the details in this report. >> reporter: yeah, i think this report was about the details. this was probably the most detailed report they have released into these alleged acts in the field by u.n. personnel, by soldiers, by police. it has been around a long time, couple of decades, actually, but it is not going away. when the u.n. did release the report, they said if you took the central african republic allegations out of it, it showed that allegations against peace keepers were going down, but there were quite a few more

against u.n. personnel involved in staff jobs, missions and things. the secretary general is making recommendations, you mentioned some of them, the dna registry of police accused of crimes like this, onsight court-martials, court-martialing people in country, that might be a step forward, but in the main this is a report that says the problem still exists and we have a lot more to do. >> right. the problem still exists and know that military and police personnel accused of these types of crimes come from 21 different countries. if they are going to be tried inside of those countries, is the u.n. going to keep track of this or how is that going to work? >> reporter: that's a big question. but the u.n. is under pressure to keep closer track of many things, including how countries respond if their nationals are

involved in allegations like this. in fact the u.s. is expected to propose a security council resolution that says troops will be repatriated if they don't cooperate or if there is coverup of abuse. but the resolution might be the first step in that fight. >> daniel lak from the united nations, thank you. there is more to come for you on al jazeera. the zimbabwe president says he is taking over all of the diamond mining processes. and we'll look at conflicting theories surrounding what happened. ♪ v

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

welcome back. let's remind you of our top stories. form early brazilian president da silva is adamant he is nothing to fear, despite being detained for three hours over a multi-billion dollars corruption standing involving petrobras. the french participate has criticized his syrian counterpart for calling for parliamentary elections during a truce in fighting. and the u.n. has reported a sharp rise in allegations that its peace keepers and staff have carried out sexual abuse during missions. republican race for the white house has turned ugly. front runner donald trump was

branded a fraud and phony by his rivals in the latest tv debate. time is now running out for the party establishment to stop him from winning the nomination. >> reporter: fewer people on stage more attacks and insults. donald trump put on the defensive straight away. the first question on thursday's criticism from former presidential candidate mitt romney. >> he was a failed candidate. he should have beaten president obama easily. >> reporter: from ted cruz a suggestion trump did not have the experience or talent to be president. >> this is not about the insults back and forth between the candidates. this is not about what attacks we can throw at each other. >> reporter: marco rubio won one state on super-tuesday but insisted republican voters didn't want donald trump as their candidate. >> two thirds of the people who cast a vote have voted against you. they do not want you to be our nominee. >> reporter: then there was this

business sar comment from donald trump. >> look at those hands. are they small hands? and referred to my hands if they are small, something else must be small. i guarantee you there is no problem. i guarantee you. >> reporter: and this exchange sums up a lot of the evening of the republican contest. >> don't worry about it little morrow -- >> let's here it big donald. >> gentlemen, you have got to do better than this. >> this guy has the number one absentee record -- >> i would like to ask a question. >> reporter: donald trump was asked if his position of immigration was simply playing to people's fantasies. >> i'm playing to the fact that our country is in trouble, we have a tremendous problem with crime. >> reporter: and on leading military figuring saying they would refuse orders from a president trump to torture

captives. >> if i say do it, they are going to do it. >> reporter: john kasich appealed for calm. >> there are a lot of people out the on youring for somebody who is going to bring america back both at the leadership level and in the neighborhood where we can begin to reignite the spirit of the united states of america. >> reporter: another republican debate that was all about donald trump. he dominated the air time. and despite all of the efforts to derail him, he still dominates the poll and the race. let's now speak to our correspondent in washington. we have heard that donald trump has dropped out of an annual gathering of senior figures from the conservative world. why is that? >> reporter: because he is a really good tactician. this wasn't going to be a crowd that was very supportive of him.

this is the establish, the republican establishment who have proven to be utterly irrelevant. so why bother? it makes more sense for him to campaign as he is in kansas and florida. kansas he is leading ted cruz by about five or six points. florida of course, marco rubio's state and he is way ahead of rubio in florida. in rubio loses that state his future looks in doubt. >> and what about these efforts to build a stop-trump coalition? have we seen any progress on that front? >> reporter: i mean they are in disarray, aren't they? just looking at that debate on thursday night. hours spent talking about trump would be a disaster for the country, and in the end, cruz and rubio say, but we will line up behind him if he is nominated

as our republican presidential nominee. it doesn't make any sense, does it? there has been talk of setting up a new party, or latching on to an existing third-party. it all seems a bit farfetched right now. but we also have to remember that all of these positions that trump is espousing aren't that different from everything we have heard from the republican party for several decades, racism, hostilities to women's right, muslims, advocating torture, cutting taxes for the rich and spending trillions of dollars on defense. it is pretty much what we have heard for decades, and what trump's supporters are doing is taking those statements to its logical conclusion, and that's trump. >> that's very much. so it's now more than a year since the mysterious death of

argentina's federal prosecutor, albert toe nuzman. as our correspondent reports, conflicting theories on his fate still divide opinion in society today. >> reporter: it was a death that shocked the nation and forced thousands of people on the streets. prosecutor alberto nusman died over a year ago, found with a bullet wound to the head. inofficially they ruled it a case of suicide, now some believe it could have been murder. >> translator: if he had killed himself he would have had gun powder on his hand. he didn't. we did several tests with the gun that was used, and there was gun powder. he has none of his hands. >> reporter: he was found dead a day before he was supposed to go to congress to accuse the former

president of a secret deal with iran. his accusation stated that the government tried to obtain trade recessions in return for covering iran's role in a terrorist bombing of a jewish community center in 1994. the case was later thrown out. his nusman's death there has been a changing government in argentina, members of the judiciary seem to be more willing to pursue an investigation over what happened to the prosecutor. while many believe that he killed himself because he accused the president without proof, others are convinced that he was murdered because he was a threat for the argentine and iranian governments. >> reporter: this is a former spy master with close links with the cia, and israeli intelligence, the only image of him is this picture. he has recently said in court that those behind the killing

were close to the former president, he even suggested that iran could have been behind his death. but this man, who played an active role in the investigation of the 1994 bombing says that he should be investigated as well. >> translator: this man was fired by the administration, and he was angry, and his way of seeking revenge was blaming the government for nuzman's death. >> reporter: analysts say the investigation has been marred with irregularities. >> translator: evidence was destroyed. there was a cover up in 1994, so we really don't know the truth. who killed nuzman, we may never know. >> reporter: and that is something that upsets many people here, that it will be another crime in argentina that will remain unresolved.

peru's state oil company is facing accusations of not doing enough to prevent spills from pipelines its operates. 3,000 barrels of oil have leaks in the latest incident. john holman has more. a very familiar sheen in peru's amazon region. the 20th oil leak in just five years from a pipeline owned by the state oil company. this woman is taking us to see the damage this time around, she is a leader of the indigenous communities who have been hit hardest. we meet this single mom who's fields on the river bank are ruined. >> translator: this is where we grow crops to feed our children. and now it is flooded with oil. who is going to give us food? because we can't eat what we grow here. >> reporter: officials from the

oil company haven't yet inspect here when we visited. relief efforts for local communities had only just begun. >> translator: our authorities are acting really slowly because we're not important to them. we're human being just like them with rights too. now for the first time, we are up in arms. >> reporter: i asked the man in charge of petro peru's cleanup operation why spills have become so common. >> translator: it has happened several times, but because of natural causes in the majority of cases, or because of sabotage of the pipeline. >> reporter: but an exf-director told us the state firm is under economic pressure.

>> translator: the company itself doesn't assign enough resources or carry out the necessary activities to make sure the pipeline operates accurately and security. >> reporter: the people who stand to lose the most say they have grown used to official indifference. there's a real distrust and tension from the indigenous people that live on the banks of this river towards authorities because of years in which they felt they are at the bottom of the government's list of priorities, and this oil spill and its aftermath really hasn't helped things. at worst it leaves people like this woman in limbo, struggling to feed her children with no idea if she'll get help or be able to grow in her fields again. kim ki-jong has ordered north korea's armed forces to remain poised to launch a nuclear launch at anytime.

and issued a warning that their long-range missiles have the capacity to hit targets. claiming it will press ahead with its satellite capability, north korea rejected the u.n. resolution. >> translator: it is the most hideous international crime aimed to isolate and stifle the independent sovereign state under unjustified pretext. zimbabwe's president says his government is taking ownership of all diamond operations. the long-time leader says existing minors have robbed the country of its wealth. >> reporter: in a special broadcast on zimbabwe's state tv the president explains why his government is seizing all diamond mines. >> we have not received much

from the diamond industry, and yet we think that well over 50 or more billion dollars have been mined in that area. >> reporter: so keep track of funds the government is forcing companies to form a single diamond mining company which will be controlled by the state, which will have 51% of the shares. >> we are not going to supply 100% of the capital just so we can earn 49% of the capital on which we'll pay heavy taxes and royalties. >> reporter: zimbabwe was the eight largest diamond produ produde -- producer in the world. most zimbabweans don't know how many diamonds have been found, the value, and where most have

gone. opposition parties don't believe the president doesn't know where most of the money has gone. >> we know this money has made it to very senior people. they have actually had their pockets lined as they made billions of money -- billions of u.s. dollars, and they should simply have that money repatriated back to zimbabwe. >> reporter: this field has been fined by the chinese and locally owned companies. some have tried to take the president to court. but the president says mining companies in zimbabwe have to either comply or leave. social mediaing giant facebook will soon be paying a heavy tax bill in britain. the company faced heavy criticism after allegations it routed sales in england through

ireland where taxes are much lower. a unique exhibition in thailand is getting a lot of attention. the exhibit by french artist events the number of pandas still left in the wild. wayne haye is there. >> reporter: these pandas have been flash mobbing their way around the world, and now they are here in thailand and for the next month they will be popping up at various locations to try to raise awareness about the plight of their real counterparts. there are 1600 of them, because back in 2008 when this exhibit first started that was the number of pandas alive in the wild. the good news is, that number is now a bit out of date, because according to a survey in 2014 carried out by the world

wildlife fun which is sponsoring this exhibit, there are now more than 1800 pandas alive in the wild, but they are still regarded as one of the most endangered bears in the world. you can find more on all of our top stories right here, aljazeera.com. ♪ >> oh, this is so great! >> um hmm. >> annie! >> it is a video that is extremely personal. >> our fears are dancing between us. >> yeah? >> a woman's private pain examined for scientific research. >> it's so healing. >> instead of holding us down. >> she's on one of america's most popular party drugs. forget what you've heard about "molly", "x" or "mdma". >> it makes you feel euphoric, happiness, love.