ukraine pushed government troops aback as nato says it needs to upgrade its presence in the region. iraqi troops takeback two towns. a new report from amnesty international claims to pass three months of fighting and have provoked ethnic cleansing on a massive scale. an emergency meeting in parliament over the ongoing crisis.

-- is still refusing to give in to the protester demands and resign. also coming up, back to school for some 7 million french children. changes to the public school schedules introducing and extra lesson each week is making waves around the country. an embarrassing breach of security for apple's icloud. they are hacks, unleashing intimate photos of celebrities. first, the humanitarian crisis in ukraine is getting worse. the number of people displaced has nearly doubled in the past three weeks to an estimated

260,000. the end it to the fighting seems nowhere in sight. 15 ukrainian soldiers were killed in the past 24 hours. pro-russian rebels have pushed the ukrainian troops out of the airport in the eastern rebel held city of luhansk. >> signs of a retreat by ukrainian government forces on the road south of donetsk. one checkpoint has been abandoned. for locals, dangers remain. >> we are going home. we have to go home. >> we are checking traffic because the road has been -- completely. >> a gave control over strategic locations. the ukraine government is pointing the finger.

>> ukrainian soldiers worked -- were ordered to carry out an organizer tree. -- organized retreats. >> donetsk airport has been abandoned. a goal appears to involve creation along the front of ukraine to establish a land corridor. vowing to adopt beefed-up military doctrine to establish a rapid response team in the east to ward off russia's expansion into ukraine. in other news, more backpedaling from vladimir putin. >> yesterday we were talking

about the statehood common. it was the comment in which vladimir putin called for talks on both sides of ukraine. everyone sees him appointment -- seized on the point that they thought southeast ukraine needed to have statehood. his spokesman had to backpedal to say he was not seeking independence for ukraine, he was saying it was inan internal matter and. he wants greater sovereignty to the people in the southeast of ukraine. today, you woke up to headlines that putin said i can take kiev in two weeks. a came from the italian daily. they reported in a conversation

with the commission president putin said if he wanted to, he could take he has in a few weeks. what you have is a formal denial coming in the form of newswire from the state news agency saying it was taken out of context. what that boils down to, he did not say what he said. it is presidential aide, not the spokesman who did the damage control yesterday. remarks taken out of context what is telling us he is quoted as telling the media irrespective of what he may have pronounced even if he did say that, he did not really mean it. it is not a denial that he said the words, but if he did say them they were taken out of context. that is the just of what the presidential spokesman was saying yesterday. you could say that he is

shooting at the lip and saying what is on his mind and leaving his presidential aides to scramble. is he deliberately saying these things in order to make everyone sit up and take notice? it isn't not deliver? is there really a slip? we can speculate all day. more and more, we are having statements followed by damage control, followed by denial, followed by the kremlin pointing back to the western media and the west saying how can you think what food and is saying is what food and -- how can you think what vladimir putin is saying is what vladimir putin is saying? >> accusations of systematic cleansing in the north. i us fighters are kidnapping and killing mine orders -- killing minorities on in historic scale. islamic state has swept across

much of the north this year, but the iraqi army has made some gains. this week, in one back two towns in two days. >> they ousted another iraqi town. a mix of fighters claim control. it ended organize control in the area. fighters conducted searches to make sure the last militants had been killed or captured. >> we stormed in and we have cleared the area of the islamic state organizations. there is nothing -- the forces. we have secured the whole world. >> the defeat comes after

militants were removed. the siege lasted over two months. maliki visited the town on monday. >> the town has turned out to be the town of martyrs, steadfastness, and challenge. >> significant work remains before the two towns are totally secured. even the main roads are not completely safe. >> is being cleared of the booby-traps. the good news is the siege has been lifted. >> the u.s. airdropped hundreds of bundles of emergency supplies. britain, france, and australia also contributed.

>> tough new laws would tackle homegrown jihadist that go to war zones to fight. >> measures may be -- after britain raised its terrorist threat level. >> we will fill the gap by colliding -- providing police with the passport at the border. they will be able to investigate the concerns. additional measures include internet restrictions and cooperation pacts with airlines. the move comes amidst fears over the situation in iraqi and syria. some of 500 britons are estimated to be fighting there.

the recent video showing the beheading of james foley his killer appears to have a british accent. >> any attempt by you to deny muslims safety will result in the bloodshed of your people. >> david cameron faces some -- with the labor opposition. a former attorney general has sounded a warning, saying a plan to strip suspects of citizenship would violate international law. >> the prime minister of pakistan chaired and emergency meeting. he is under increasing pressure to resign. so far, he says he is not going anywhere. france 24's reporter joins us. what can you tell us about the session?

>> it just concluded almost half an hour ago and has been adjourned until tomorrow. a number of speakers spoke on the floor of the house. the joint session means the upper houses of the senate, they both were there together. all the members of the parliament had come. it was very special to see the joint session because most of these political opposition parties which have been opposing came forward in support of him. they spoke in support of the parliamentary process. they said that they would not allow the protests outside the parliament -- they will not allow them to succeed in their plan of dissolving this assembly

or letting the government go. one of the main key points was the fact that the -- its own president came on a floor of the house to announce his resignation from the parliament and at the same time re-created his statement from last night in which he alleged that imran khan is taking -- from military quarters. >> what about the internal rifts? >> we have seen a bit of dampening of the mood at the protests earlier today. imran khan left and went home for the night. he seemed disturbed. his body language seemed disturbed. he has isolated his own party.

the president had spoken against him. he is listening to the wrong advisers. a lot of his supporters are now confused and not turning up at the protests. earlier today, everything was calm. we were expecting this to give some direction as to whether the protesters would be moved or not. they are camping in front of the parliament building. because of that, we are waiting for the joint session, which would be resumed tomorrow. >> thank you. here in france, a big day. back to school for the almost 7 million french kindergarten and primary school pupils.

this year, children's will have lessons on wednesday traditionally a day off. it is part of a program on national education reform. some principles are not happy. they say they will struggle to keep schools open an extra day with no extra money. an embarrassing breach of security for apple's icloud. they have been hacked, unleashing intimate photos of dozens of celebrities online. >> take a picture here, it shows up there. >> sometimes your picture may show up where you do not want it. after hundreds of intimate photos were posted online, star after star raced to condemn the leaks. >> this is a violation of privacy.

authorities will process anyone who posts the photos. >> knowing these photos were deleted long ago, i can only imagine the creepy effort that went into this. >> some of the photos have been purported to be fake. some users try to sell the data. the american fbi has launched an investigation to find those responsible. >> we are aware of the allegations. we are addressing the masses. >> icloud has not been confirmed as the hacker's target, but they have launched their own inquiry. the scandal has tech companies worried after they marketed products like dropbox or google

drive as a safe haven for user data. >> more military gains for pro-russian forces in eastern ukraine. nato says it needs to upgrade its presence in the region. troops take back towns. the pakistani prime minister holds a meeting over the ongoing crisis there. the sherif is not getting into the protester's demands. >> lots of focus today on the unrest in pakistan where clashes went into a third day.

>> you can see a photo of those clashes. you can see a police officer taking a beating. you can see protesters direct violence appellees. there is a similar photo on the page of china daily. protesters are led by the opposition cleric and him on con. it is getting a lot of attention in the pakistani press. the political crisis remains a fever pitch. there are no deadlines or solutions for now. both sides are refusing to budge on their respective positions. >> one protest leader is getting a lot of criticism in the press.

>> it is very interesting. what is striking about the unrest is how much genuine support there has been for the prime minister. he has gotten support from the business, the media, media classes. all of these people crave stability. the independent appealed, saying call off the protesters, give democracy a try. the nation -- they talk about dictator imran. they talk about how he runs his party. he runs his party with and an iron -- with an iron fist. his behavior contradicts everything he stands for.

>> kids are going back to school and adults are going back to work. in september, it is back to work. 12 milled in -- 12 million students are taking the long road back to class on tuesday. we go into more detail. and we have a new education minister. 2014 is a one of a kind of year for school kids. a program will promote the quality between little girls and little boys, especially the reform of the school's timetable. primary school kids will go to

school five days a week. a timetable reform and the ideas to make schooldays shorter and the workload lighter. >> going to school might seem like a normal thing. >> the whole thing is a mess. according to --, a majority of french people are opposed to the french reform. they are not going to apply the law. the timetable disrupts the lives of millions of people.

>> a lot of papers are focusing on this major league of nude celebrity photos on the internet. -- major leak of nude celebrity photos on the internet. >> it is mainly women, including jennifer lawrence, rihanna etc.. the photos were stolen and posted online. they are calling it the biggest celebrity privacy breach in history. the washington post says this casts doubt on the security of popular online storage sites. >> thank you. sports now. it starts with the news from the u.s. open. >> we start with tennis. -- qualified for the quarterfinals after easing past

germany. like joe wilford, he felt disappointed after losing to virginia. >> this is a defeat that is not easy to digest. i wish i could have pushed him a little bit more. try to have one sets that i felt i had in my grasp. in the end, it was a victory for him. and last of a while. -- played their last match.

[indiscernible] made it safely through. >> i think she played well. she could have played better. hopefully, if i can make it up last -- make it past that, i will have to play better. the 28-year-old was dropped. they opted for united, despite interest from manchester. -- is on his way out. he has completed a deal with madrid.

the mexican international has been -- >> he tried to get him to say no to that player. for me it is a dream come true. i am happy to come here. i'm going to do my best. i'm going to do my best to try to enjoy it, to try to help the team and to win more trophies. he joins --, having scored 59 goals.

newcastle's defender has agreed to join --. they have agreed to enjoy -- on a season-long low. germany will take on argentina on wednesday night. -- as the south americans in brazil in july, thanks to the late goal. germany, they are using the game to sharpen up after they kick off the qualifier home game against scotland. >> is going to be difficult especially after the experiences we have had. everything that has happened, in terms of the players who decided

to and international careers. many things have happened we p1utt

u know, one of those things that really can't be expressed in words? well, here on global spirit, we try to talk about what can't really be talked about so listen closely to what the rabbi, the monk, and the sufi have to say, and decide for yourself. just settle back and join our trusted guide and host phil cousineau for a mostly mystical episode of global spirit, the first internal travel series. [mystical music] ♪ ♪ - throughout history and in virtually all cultures,