r today. a belgian court sense and says the head of a radical -- scented says the head of a radical islamist group to jail. dominique strauss-kahn on the witness stand for a second day. he defends his private life as prosecutors try to prove he helped run a prostitution ring. also coming up this hour, crunch time for greece. a new government has to sell a debt plan to its partners later.

plus, two of america's best-known newsreaders are to step down for very different reasons. brian williams has been suspended for misleading the public. jon stewart announces that the time has come for him to move on. we begin with a developing story off the italian coast. 200 migrants are missing and are feared dead. the migrants left libya on sit -- saturday on flimsy boats. nine have survived and were rescued by the coast guard. details are still upcoming.

ukrainian peace talks. francois hollande and angela merkel are trying to come up with a lasting cease-fire agreement between petro poroshenko and vladimir putin. the latest diplomatic push comes as washington says it is considering sending weapons to ukrainian forces. earlier today, there had been doubts as to whether the meeting would even take place. the four heads of state have confirmed their presence. >> i think the first thing that will be part of this agreement would be a cease-fire, to get the guns stopping firing in the east come on the rebel side, on the ukrainian side. the russians will not admit openly, but also the withdrawal of russian troops that may be operating.

that is the most immediate issue on the table, getting the guns down. then the players and the separatist state in the east -- how much territory is poroshenko willing to give away? how much will the politically cost him back in key have? -- kiev? how will the cease-fire and borders be monitored? the osce has limited and spotty success in monitoring the past cease-fire.

all parties recognize that the last mince ground was not workable. -- minsk round was not workable. representatives in russia are not trusted to abide by the cease-fire. ukraine will be looking for more specific guarantees that there will be a third-party international monitor on the ground to make sure that this cease-fire does not collapse like the last one did. >> is diplomatic efforts rise, so do the violence. petro poroshenko is willing to introduce martial law across the state if separatist insurgency violence continues to rise. 16 people or killed in a rocket strike. -- were killed in a rocket

strike. >> shells landed on this bus station in the center of donetsk. commuters were waiting for their bus to work. some managed to escape when they heard the first bomb. >> when i relies there was no sense standing here, i ran to hide. after that, i heard the shell. then you can see with their own eyes. >> more shells fell overnight but this time 100 miles north. the rockets were targeting the ukrainian army's eastern headquarters. civilians were also killed. ukraine's president rushed to visit the injured. >> this metal part was taken from people here.

this is a crime against humanity. >> southeast lies another town where fighting has intensified. rebels have surrounded the town, which the ukrainian army still controls. >> up there, and enemy sabotage and reconnaissance group has snuck in and we are working on destroying it. >> on the rebel side they are still recruiting. >> we need drivers, mechanics technicians, repair men. >> the fight continues for every meter of land, each side wants to be in a strong position with diplomatic negotiations underway in minsk. >> a belgian court sentenced the head of an islamist group to 12 years in jail. fouad belkacem runs sharia4belgium.

the court ruled that his group was a terrorist organization that convinced people to join the fight in syria. >> 46 people have been on trial and of those on the nine were present in the court this morning. fouad belkacem was sentenced. as the ringleader of the group, he received 12 years in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros. another well-known member of the group, he has been very helpful in the investigation and his father traveled to syria to help get him back here to belgium. he was put on probation for a few months. six other people or given hefty fines and up to five years in prison. this trial has been going on since last september.

the group was set up a number of years ago and has been known for spreading the word about entering the jihad in the middle east. >> tell us about what we know exactly about sharia4belgium the group. >> they set up back in 2011. many young men and the number of young women were on the streets of antwerp spreading the word about converting belgium into an islamic state where one would abide by sharia law. the leader of the group was known for saying things like, lgbt people should receive the death penalty. he is also no stranger to the law. he was arrested in number of

times for petty crimes and for drugs. >> belgium is currently on a level three out of four terror alert after authorities uncovered a plot last month to kill police across the country and it came in the aftermath of the paris attacks. >> in number of people were arrested by the belgian authorities. today, you can still see a number of members of the belgian military because police are still on high alert. there are still a lot of false alarms and police time taken up. almost on a daily basis, the police have to court and off the

streets for various incidents. the police feel that their mission has been successful to stop what could have been a possible terrorist attack that could have taken place here. >> thank you for that. the trial of the captain of the costa concordia may finally end today after 19 months. judges will deliver their verdict. he is charged with -- the cap to mistrust with manslaughter after letting the crew ship run aground. he broke down in tears in court today when he made a last-ditch appeal for judges to clear him from charges. prosecutors are seeking a 26 year jail term. the disgraced former head of the international monetary fund's stars with having links to wait prostitution ring.

dead dominique strauss-kahn know he was sleeping with -- did dominique strauss-kahn know he was sleeping with prostitutes during sex parties? so far, he has been quite calm on the witness stand. how about today? >> it all changed. for the first time, dominique strauss-kahn really lost his nerves when he was asked about his private life and here is what he said. i have had enough. maybe some people disapprove of my behavior. this behavior does not necessarily mean hiring prostitutes. dominique strauss-kahn admits he enjoys sex parties, but said he hates prostitution. at one point, a lawyer said, you can't ignore the fact that there are prostitutes inset clubs -- sex clubs and private sex parties. >>he replied, flying fish do

exist, but they are not the most frequent, prompting a few laughs in the court. former sex workers describe sex with him as violent and brutal. he said that he ask exactly the same way with all women. >> he is defending his private life there. the focuses mainly on one particular sex party that took place in washington. >> very much the case. the focus is on this trip to washington with some of the accused and friends played the visit to the former imf boss. one of his friends paid, invited the former prostitute jade to go with them to washington. she was given a free plane ticket.

she was given a free suite in a luxury hotel, and an extra 2000 euros. this room was to host sex parties and notably dominique strauss-kahn. one of the parties ended abruptly after dominique strauss-kahn was infuriated when one woman refused to have sex with him. jade was asked to have sex with another frenchman who happened to be in washington and who is a celebrity. jade accused lawyers and the court of disclosing too much detail, too much information about the sexual dealings she had with dominique strauss-kahn. she felt ashamed and was angry that her relatives could hear the details about these relations she had with dominique strauss-kahn.

jade stressed once again that she never wanted this trial to be in open court. >> yes, indeed, details are coming out of these sex parties that have taken place. many analysts say it is not about consent between dominique strauss-kahn and the women, but whether or not he knew that they were prostitutes and that they were being paid for the sexual activity and that is what it hinges on. >> absolutely. is he involved in this prostitution ring? his two friends have admitted that they paid, that they brought these prostitutes to washington. they don't say that it was specifically for dominique strauss-kahn or that dominique strauss-kahn knew about it. this whole so-called scandal tarnished his reputation. this is an extremely high profile figure, not just for his work for the imf, during the

economic crisis, but also his work as a politician in france. he was a member of parliament. he was the economy minister. he was once set to become the french president. he was favored to be the socialist candidate to face nicolas sarkozy in the 2012 election. dominique strauss-kahn faces up to 10 years in jail and 1.5 million euros of fines. many analysts believe that he will not get any time. many believe he will not serve any time and he might only just have to pay a fine. >> thank you for that. eurozone finance ministers will be meeting in a few hours to discuss greece's financial issues. the greek prime minister was in athens. to walk us through the details stephen carroll is here. >> this meeting was described as

a very important one for greece's future plans. tsipras is discussing new economic reforms for greece. the prime minister wants help for cooperation and development. he wants progrowth measures for his country. the reforms will be part of a planned that the finance minister varoufakis will present later this wednesday. he will be looking for an agreement on an interim finance plan. >> sticking to his guns, the new greek government is set to present its first concrete proposal as it seeks to renegotiate the terms of its bailout deal. >> what are we asking for in this negotiation? we ask for time and space. the bridge program is exactly this. it is a short-term agreement that will help meet our

obligation until we reach a new agreement on cooperation to vote -- and development within europe. >> athens wants the european central bank to hand over profits made from greek state bonds and wants 8 billion euros in short-term debt as part of its bridge proposal. they call 30% of the current deal toxic. they are asking for smaller budget targets. they have also listed the help of the oecd to drop 10 alternative reforms. the new government is seeking debt relief, too. greece is now considering debt swaps and wants to link a repayment to annual economic growth. the eu has been quick to downplay expectations.

they say if final deal will take time. >> there is much optimism roundabout greece's prospects of getting an agreement today. the german finance minister was asked for his opinion -- or his response rather, on greece refusing the bailout payments. >> good. we never imposed it. refusing it is not a problem. but then, that is it. >> perhaps more headway might be made on the sidelines of the meetings of european leaders. let's look at how the markets are reacting. we demand and higher rates -- weak demand and higher rates.

the athens indexes down by 3.7%. the banks are being hit hardest there. the fear is that of greece fails to reach an agreement on financing, the banks will be the first to be hit by that. the markets are waiting to see what will come out of the meeting later. in london sky's shares fell after signing a big deal for premier league's. let's to get quick look at the other top business stories. apple is broken records in the united states by finishing in the united states by finishing a trading day with a market value of more than $710 billion. that is nearly -- setnearly twice the value of the next largest company. plunging value of the ruble has

sliced 300 million euros from heineken's earnings. increased regulation continues to challenge alcohol sales. net profit rose by 11% over 2014. halliburton is to cut 6400 jobs over the massive fall in oil prices. despite a rise in profit halliburton is facing a challenging market environment. finally, from the bank in denmark, they are turning the industry on its head with its latest decision. it is a response to the danish central bank's negative interest rate. the bank says it makes paying interest on profits unprofitable. their customers a bring asked to

pay them for keeping their money. unsurprisingly, many of them are now withdrawing their deposits instead. traditionally, you give a bank and money -- you give a bank money and you expect to get interest but now they want you to give them money. >> yes, that does not sound like a good deal. it is time for the press review. ♪ a look at what is making headlines in the world. we are going to start with the crunch talks, that peace talks for eastern ukraine that are scheduled to take place later today. it is not even sure they will indeed happen. >> a lot of papers are focusing on this. it is a question of war or peace. nothing less than ukraine's fate is playing out or will play out in minsk. the time has come for peace.

it is a question of now or never. the conflict has reached a crucial moment. a failure to reach a diplomatic solution will open the way to military escalation, which could have dramatic consequences. the u.s. has not ruled out supplying arms to ukraine should things get worse. this is a cartoon from the new york times. you can see people fleeing the fighting that is ongoing. you can see one refugees saying where are we going? not a lot of hope. >> the ongoing numbers in syria have also been grabbing headlines. >> this is about how the obama administration has informed lawmakers that the president is going to seek a formal authorization to fight the islamic state group.

they are seeking a war power bill from congress. congress has not voted to give the president a formal authority for military operation since 2002. >> we have just heard from bashar al-assad. >> he has been giving lots of interviews recently. for interviews in recent weeks after a year of silence. the most recent interview was to the bbc that has been getting a lot of attention. many papers are wondering what he is up to. this is a piece in "the independent." he is waging a media offensive they say. in this latest interview with the bbc, he said his government has been receiving information from the us-led coalition that is battling the islamic state group. there has been no direct cooperation, but there is communication, at least

according to him in this interview. other papers are picking up on this. "the daily beast" says obama and assad have teamed up against isis. "the guardian" is focusing on what bashar al-assad is up to as well. he is portraying himself as part of the common fight against isis according to this editorial and he is getting away with it. the smooth images captured on a bbc camera must not distract us from the lies of a war criminal, according to the bbc. he is ever part of the problem not the solution. >> people covering the news are actually becoming the news. >> this is happening in the u.s. it is happening at nbc. they have suspended brian williams for six months without pay.

brian williams is one of the star anchors for nbc. he draws about 9.3 million viewers per night. he was one of the most trusted names in america, but his credibility has plummeted in recent days after he acknowledged that he exaggerated his role in a helicopter incident and iraq. it is a little bit of a complicated, weird story. >> that is the nbc logo behind brian williams, it is not just psychedelic colors behind him. >> it is a peacock. he will be gone for six months. analysts say it will be difficult for him to bounce back. things are also shaking up with comedy central. this is sad news for some people. john stuart said he is going to -- jon stweart says he will be

leaving the daily show after 16 years. i picked up

on and clean water for granted. yet, just over 100 years ago diseases such as diarrhea and cholera regularly caused sickness and death across britain. yet, these same diseases are killing millions of children across the developing world today.