jamie mcintire for us at the pentagon. there is all the speculation about what exactly north korea is up to. that's because the communist government there runs one of the most secretive states in the world. roger baker, global intelligence and advisory firm, roger good to see you, thank you for being with us. the international community sees this bomb test whether it was atomic or hydrogen as a provocation. they're not necessarily trying to be provocative. >> by using provocation there is a misunderstanding. it assumes that what north korea is doing is following an oiled pattern, where they will walk back to return for some sort of compensation or they're going to try go out and anger people and cause some problems. i think you have to look at the north koreans as carrying out a very calculated series of tests, nuclear and missile tests to be able to create what is a demonstratable viable deterrent. this gives them the security to be able to move forward with other activities such as economic reform in the future. they've

al jazeera 's united nations correspondent jamie mcintire joins me. the white house now says its analysis doesn't fall in line with the successful testing of a hydrogen bomb but we just heard in adrian's story it could take months or even years to prove whether the test was successful. what do you know? >> reporter: well, could take months or years to figure out exactly what north korea detonated at that test site. but it was pretty clear almost immediately afterwards that they had not detonated a very powerful hydrogen bomb or if they did it was the world's smallest hydrogen bomb ever invented and very simply here is the reason why. the yield of this explosion was judged to be about 6 kilotons, 6,000 kilotons. but hydrogen bombs are measured in megatons. the first u.s. dealt necessitated was 10 megatons, a thousand times stronger than this one in north korea. in fact it is not almost as much as it did last time. very consistent with what would be a rudimentary fission weapon, the hydrogen bomb is a fission explosion plus a nuclear explosion. >> we're

blames the fabrication of the media on the troubles in his country jamie mcintire john kerry. >> we need full access and we are raising it with all parties right now. we are pressing it very hard and it has to happen. >> some fowrched people ar 400 e brink of death. it is unclear who might help them get out. al jazeera's james bays reports. >> trucks carrying food and medicine finally arrive in madaya. a town of nearly 40,000 people where they have been eating their pets and after that survive on a diet of soup made from grass. >> translator: we witnessed a lot and suffered a lot. people killed cats to eat them. others ate grass, i see people sitting on garbage and eating it. we need to break the siege. >> reporter: it is reported that nearly 28 people have starved odeath but at the united nations the syrian ambassador seemed to dispute that. >> the information concerning the humanitarian situation in madaya is based on false information. >> we've seen reports of deaths some in the last few hours we've seen pictures of starving people. are those fabrications? >> yes indeed. >> so reports

. >>> >>> james mcintire had inappropriate contact with to special needs student. conduct occurred repeatedly between 2009 and 2015 while mcintire drove the students from their homes to the vanguard school in chester county. he has been band and suspended without pay. the school district released a statement. we will be in contact with the families of students and had provide all necessary resources. we'll cooperate fully. as the investigation continues. >>> tonight rowan students are accused of stealing $35,000. they were using their bucks to exam a 7-eleven. a 21-year-old assigned to. he credit his own 7-eleven noticed and requested information from the college about transactions. they looked further in and saw, wow, they have a lot of returns. >> police say the thefts start this time last year and went on about ten months. >>> five students were at any point away in handcuffs after gunfire erupted inside ben franklin high school. a shot was fired after a fight broke out into a stairwell. school went into a lockdown's a handgun was recovered. no one hurt. >>> a w

. >>> >>> james mcintire had inappropriate contact with to special needs student. conduct occurred repeatedly between 2009 and 2015 while mcintire drove the students from their homes to the vanguard school in chester county. he has been band and suspended without pay. the school district released a statement. we will be in contact with the families of students and had provide all necessary resources. we'll cooperate fully. as the investigation continues. >>> tonight rowan students are accused of stealing $35,000. they were using their bucks to exam a 7-eleven. a 21-year-old assigned to. he credit his own 7-eleven noticed and requested information from the college about transactions. they looked further in and saw, wow, they have a lot of returns. >> police say the thefts start this time last year and went on about ten months. >>> five students were at any point away in handcuffs after gunfire erupted inside ben franklin high school. a shot was fired after a fight broke out into a stairwell. school went into a lockdown's a handgun was recovered. no one hurt. >>> a w

jamie mcintire, al jazeera, washington. >> the u.s. appears to be expanding an airstrip in northeastern syria. that's what satellite images seem to show. the expansion would make the runway usable for larger transport aircraft including the c-130 hercules cargo plane. the u.s. has not denied the report but has said u.s. forces have not taken control of the air field. central command has revealed that dying in iraq and syria, not everyone agrees with the number. rosiland jordan reports from washington. >> back in august 2014, 16 civilians have been killed in those strikes, nine more have been injured. that's a far cry from the estimate from a number of anti-war groups which say that as many as 2400 civilians may have been killed in those air strikes during the same period in both countries. now, the u.s. military says that it has a very low incident rate when it comes to killing or injuring civilians in this conflict, because of the use of precision guided munitions. however, the activist groups say that they are not certain that these

jamie mcintire has more. >> reporter: the u.s. likes to boast that it has more than 60 countries in the coalition fighting i.s.i.l. in iraq and syria but defense secretary ash carter at the world economic forum in davo switzerland has conceded only afew of those countries are doing the heavy lifting. he singled out britain france germany the netherlands, in an interview with cnbc, he said since no country is immune from an i.s.i.l. attack no country should duet a free ride. >> everyone who is on paper a member of the counteri.s.i.l. coalition, many are doing nothing at all. we're prepared to do a great deal because we have the finest fighting force the world has ever seen. we can do a lot ourselves but the united states doesn't ask people for favors. but we don't grant favors either. and so we're looking for other people to play their part. >> the pentagon continues to say it is making slow progress against i.s.i.l. in iraq and syria although noting the operation to clear ramadi is still under way even though the city's liberation

antonio. >> jamie mcintire at the pentagon. the u.n. security council held an emergency meeting today about north korea's nuclear test. al jazeera's diplomatic editor james bays reports from the united nations. >> in a typically staged manner, a crowd is set to celebrate a proud achievement. the announcer seemed almost gleeful as she detailed the fourth test. this time she said a more powerful and advanced hydrogen bomb had been tested. experts have cast doubt on that but either way it is a clear violation of international law. >> absolutely cannot be tolerated. >> what explains the motivation of north korea in choosing this time to carry out or at least attempt a nuclear test, it's a country where one man has ultimate authority and kim jong-un directly signed off on the test. there's speculation it was timed ahead of his birthday. it's believed he will turn 32 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 need. >> the members of the security

jamie mcintire is at the pentagon. >> officially, the u.s. is gathering evidence before rendering any judgment on exactly what north korea detonated in that underground explosion. but unofficially the verdict is in. while the blast was registered as an erkd it is way to earthquo small to be an h bomb. >>> a successful test of not just a nuclear device, but a thermonuclear device. a miniaturized hydrogen bomb potentially an order of magnitude more powerful than any of north korea's three previous nuclear tests. it didn't take long for official scoffing from washington to begin. >> the initial analysis that's been conducted of events reported overnight is not consistent with north korean claims of a successful hydrogen bomb test. there's nothing that's occurred in the last 24 hours that's caused the united states government to change our assessment of north korea's technical and military capabilities. >> while seismic sensors picked up an explosion that registered as a 5.1 magnitude earthquake, the size of the blast was estimated at only about

ingary mcintire and lindsay cranks work for the organization, open table nashville. danny alexander, not lucky enough to land a home at green street but grateful for the food and assistance that they provide. >> you're beat up, what happened? >> i really don't know. i was walk down the road and i woke up and the ems is picking me up. >> really frustrating. it's hard sometimes to get up in the morning knowing that that's like what you're up against. >> is it getting better, getting worse? >> um, the housing piece i feel is getting worse in nashville. >> yeah? >> because affordable housing we don't have anymore. there's like 700 people in nashville with section 8 vouchers that don't have a place they can use them. >> ingrid and her organization are now working on another community of small homes. building on the ideas that sprung from green street. as for carr and pickering, they're hoping to raise more money so everybody at green street can have a home. right now, a lottery determines who gets a house. but it is stories like that, of kenyan immigrant moses, that keeps

national security correspondent jamie mcintire is at the pentagon with details. >> antonio, pentagon forces are already flying nor spy planes over libya as it attempts to gather more information on how i.s.i.l. is operating. a prelude to a stepped up bombing campaign and perhaps putting u.s. combat boots on the ground. a major oil terminal burns on libya's northern mediterranean coast. the result of an i.s.i.l. attack last week one of a series of recent assaults on libya's oil infrastructure. in a video released by i.s.i.l, a fighter vows more attacks on more libyan oil fields in the coming days. it's just one sign of i.s.i.l.'s growing strength in libya. by one estimate, the group now controls a 150 mile stretch of coastline around sirte, an oil rich part of libya roughly halfway between benghazi and the capital, tripoli. kicking u.s. military planning into high gear. >> we are looking at military options range of other options as a government. that we can engage in to try and -- as the situation in libya unfolds, we want to be prepared, as the department of defense always wants to

jamie mcintire reports from the pentagon on why the u.s. says its coalition partners need step it up for this effort. >> reporter: antonio, so far it has trained about 20,000 fighters in iraq, u.s. says, including regular army police and tribal fighters. those security fighters play the key role in retaking of ramadi a few weeks ago and now the focus is on building a force that will sometime later this year in all likelihood, mount an offensive on mosul. it will take roughly ten brigades of battle ready forces, each brigade has between two and 3,000 troops so we are talking about an offensive force between 20 and 30,000 troops. the spokesman colonel steve warren says an flals is underw s underway now to speed up the process. >> it becomes a question of do you make the pipe a little bit bigger so you can put more through the the pipe faster. that's what we're working on now, that's working on several levels obviously, you know at the higher level it is a matter of working with other partner-nations to see what else they're able to contribute

jamie mcintire has the latest. >> reporter: john, the pentagon is touting its success, saying so far it has trained about 20,000 fighters in iraq including regular army, police and tribal fighters. those security forces played a key role in the retaking of ramadi a few weeks ago, and now the focus is on building the force that will sometime later this year in all likelihood, mount an assault on mosul, i.s.i.l.'s de facto capital in northern iraq. pentagon official says it will take ten brigades of combat ready troops to drive i.s.i.l. out of mosul. offensive force of between 20 and 30,000 troops. that spokesman colonel steve warren says an analysis is underway now to look at ways to speed up the training process, with trainers not just from the u.s. but other countries as well. >> instead it makes a question of do you make the pipe a little bit bigger so you can put more through pipe faster? that is working now on several levels obviously. at the higher level it's a matter of working with other partner nations to see what else they're able to contribute. >> and so while the u.s. is c

jamie mcintire has the story. >> the blast was strong enough to register as an earthquake it was way too small to be an h-bomb. the boastful announcement on north korean television claimed an ominous technological achievement. a successful test of not just a nuclear device but a thermonuclear device. a miniaturized hydrogen bomb, more powerful than any of north korea's three previous nuclear tests. it didn't take long for scoffing from washington to begin. >> the initial report is not consistent of north korean claims of a successful hydrogen bomb test. there's nothing that's occurred in the last 24 hours that has caused the united states government to change our assessment of north korea's technical and military capabilities. >> while seismic sensors registered a 5.1 magnitude earthquake the size of the blast was estimated at only about 6 kilotons, 6,000 tons of tnt, a tiny fraction of the yeestled even yield of asmall h-bomb. by contrast, when the united states detonated its first hydrogen bomb in 1952 as documented in this period news newsreel, the yield was 10 megatons more than