the u.n. charter. his wife eleanor was a member of the first american delegation to you when and the chair of the one commission on human rights. next come in commemoration of the 70thanniversary of commemof anniversary of the signing of the u.n. charter, they talk about the original vision of franklin roosevelt, his wife, .leanor the franklin d roosevelt presidential library and museum hosted this one hour and 15 minute event. >> i'm going to turn this over to our capable moderator. the united nations correspondent fornational public radio nbc news. she has written a book about the united nations and is an expert who has based her reporting on a deep understanding of how the united nations works, how it doesn't work. the program today, the idea for this program came from something -- a question david roosevelt asked to last year where he said "whatever happens to my parent'' united nations?" ae idea was that there was vision president roosevelt and mrs. roosevelt had about how the world would respond.

and the u.n. currently maintains a $380 million annual budget to pay for its peace keeping force in haiti. that pays for more than the 6,000 u.n. soldiers tasked with upholding public security. but the u.n. effort may have also made some things worse. many blame u.n. peace keepers with a cholera epidemic that has left thousands dead. dogged by allegations of sexual abuse and coalitio exploitationf haitian women. we hold u.n. to account. david ariosto traveled to haiti and has this special report. >> reporter: in the rural places, far outside the haitian capital, poverty, even in the western hemisphere's poorest country can take on new meaning. those like josminnanna yousef, r those circumstances josmina said she met a soldier near the community of port salud. at just 17 years old, she became pregnant, the father she says was that u.n. soldier. but she says the soldier left haiti soon after her pregnancy and returned to his home country of uruguay. four years later, josmina is raising her son ander

u.n.n geneva, but opposition representatives are refusing so far to take part. [ explosion ] >>> four people are killed in an attack on a shiite mosque in eastern saudi arabia. >>> brazil's president declares war on the e the catastrophic fighting. one obstacle has been deciding who will represent the syrian opposition. dozens of different groups there, often with conflicting interests and aims. let's go to james bayes in geneva. i know we're waiting for the syrian u.n. envoy to turn up for some kind of statement having had a chat with various officials there. what are you hearing? >> reporter: well that meeting has been going on, we think, for almost two hours. two hours ago, we saw the syrian ambassador to the u.n. in new york, but he is also the head of the syrian government delegation, or at least the chief negotiator at these talks. he is here with staffan de mistura, the u.n. special envoy. reporters are gathered waiting for the syrian ambassador and the syrian chief negotiator, that

since then, the u.n. has pioneered programs and departments that were never mentioned, from peacekeeping, environmental protections, urbanism, economic development, nuclear energy, nationbuilding. all grows out of the central charge of united nations to maintain international peace and security. as a result, the vision of the u.n. has survived the cold war refusal ofnd the some states not to pay dues on the often-week , as wees to the crises know today, in syria, yemen, and north korea, and the inevitable goating. countries had faith they would secure the peace and they have done it on multiple occasions, tother it is bringing peace guatemala, mozambique, el salvador, it goes on and people u.n. ishat is where the focusing the most talented diplomats to bring conflict to an end. it does not mean that it is flawless and it still needs changes. has a constitution that requires amendments in time to time. a the and, it is a tribute to great american president, the greatestevelt, gift to the planet. let us hop

the u.n. envoy staffan de mistura staffan de mistura. i suspect there's also something about the media coverage which is explaining why they're coming here as well because what you're going to have at the moment is the syrian government here speaking to mr staffan de mistura and i'm certain the ambassador of the u.n. will come straight out to the cameras and saying we came here for peace and where is the opposition? now it looks likely that a small group of opposition players coming from riyadh will be coming here by the very end of the day, but not a full negotiating delegation >>> thank you for that. james bays will keep us right up-to-date with that. in the mean time turkey is saying that it hopes the syrian opposition will go to those talks. the prime minister says he is hoping the opposition groups preconditions for talks will be met. >> translation: the syrian opposition continues to hope talks. we hope they will decide to participate in these peace talks. it will be closely followed wit

the u.n.talks in syria will go ahead as planned on friday. some opposition figures though are attending these negotiations despite others within the opposition insisting that they won't take part. the u.n. has been commenting on the efforts to end the conflict so far. >> all i can say about the talks is they will start as plan as staffan de mistura announced. i don't have a time. i don't have the exact location and i can't tell you anything about the delegations. but there will be more later this morning. that i can promise. >> all right let's go live to our diplomatic editor live in geneva and sounding optimistic but he didn't look it, did he, particularly? what is the stated play at the moment? >> well, there is certainly activity taking place at the u.n. headquarters in geneva and certainly there will be discussions but i don't think there are going to be what we were thinking was going to happen which are the start of proper negotiations and that is because all the parties at this stage ar

the u.n. in geneva, but the opposition representatives are refusing to take part. ♪ >>> hello there, i'm felicity barr, and you are watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up. [ explosion ] >> four people killed in an attack on a shiite mosque in eastern saudi arabia. >>> rescued from an uninhabited island, but more than 200 other refugees have died in the aegean this month. >>> and talking without trump. republican presidential hopefuls square off in a televised debate, but the most controversial voice is missing. ♪ >>> hello, the syrian government delegati delegation has arrived in geneva. as parties gather around the negotiation table, discussions have already run into trouble. some of the main opposition groups saying they won't take part until conditions are met. they are calling for the lifting of sieges and stop of air strikes. syrian demonstrators outside are calling for more action to stop the conflict. > james bayes is outside the u.n. headquarters. >> reporter: talks are u

while the u.n. not released any information about this, sources tell al jazeera that there are five new allegations of sexual misconduct by u.n. peace keepers in central african republic, and they are peace keepers from morocco, niger, the democratic republic of the congo, and senegal. we expect to hear more from the u.n. about this in the coming hours. >>> 96 refugees and migrants have been rescued from an uninhabited greek island. the group mainly from syria and iraq, and containing many families with young children had waited ashore, and spent the night on a beach. they were rescued and taken to the greek port. it has been the deadliest week in the aegean sea with 80 dead this week alone. >> there weren't this many deaths last year until the middle of september. we're here now at the end of january, already 218 deaths on that route, and deaths in the central mediterranean have been picking up in the last couple of days. >>> angela merkel is leading the charge as public opinion on refugees changes

it creates a big problem for the u.n. security council, and for the u.n.tary general ban ki-moon. worth reminding you that he was at the advanced stages of trying to make a trip to north korea, the first by the secretary general to start a new peace initiative. that clearly is not going to take place right now. ban ki-moon telling us reporters he is deeply concerned. >> this test, once again, violates numerous security council resolutions, despite the united call by the international community to cease such activities. it is also grave contravention of the international norm against nuclear testing. this act is profounding destabilizing for regional security, and seriously undermines, international non-proliferation efforts. i condemn it unequivocally. >> james, two points i would like you to consider here as this meeting is going on. if sanctions aren't working, and you have taken them pretty much to the extreme, what would be done? and secondly, china's position on this. so long north korea's stanchest ally, but feeling slightly left out in the cold on t

narrator: the u.n.efugee agency, unhcr, calls for stabilization measures in europe, including strong support to countries hosting refugees and migrants, information campaigns on the dangers of the sea journey, and legal pathways to seek protection in europe. announcer: coming up on a future episode of "21st century..." announcer: girls becoming mothers when they're still children themselves. announcer: changing the momentum in the dominican republic, where almost a quarter of all mothers are teenagers. 8úxú [cheers and applause] paul: woof. [laughter] well, i'm greatly honored to be here. thank you, kenny and ina, and thank you, all bioneers. it really feels like i've come home. i really have some groundbreaking new research, never been revealed to an audience like this, only in the past several weeks, that i'm gonna reveal at the end of my talk. now, i'd like to start off my talk, because i'm wearing my favorite hat, it's a very cool hat, made from the amadou mushroom. it's a birch polypore mushroom. t

on friday, the u.n. revealed five new allegations against police. and their own peacekeepers. >> it's hard to imagine the outrage of people working for the united nations, and for causes of peace and security, and what they feel when the allegations come to light. particularly involving minors, which are so - so hard to understand. >> reporter: with the investigation continuing and a report by secretary-general ban ki-moon expected next month, officials are privately bracing for more allegations to come to light. for now, troops accused of criminal activity they were sent to protect >>> 96 refugees and migrants have been rescued from an uninhabited greek island after the ding yi collided with rocks and sank. they were stranded. the group from syria and irish. many families of young children waded ashore and had to spend the night on the beach. they were rescued by a boat from the e.u. border agency and taken to the greek boarder. this has been the deadliest week in the agean sea since the refugees crisis began, with 80 dying in the last few days alo

>> the u.n. describes the level of violence is staggering with 18,000 deaths in less than two years. i'm lauren taylor. this is al jazeera live from london. china endures its slowest growth in 25 years. >>> eni can't set up it's operation against al-shabab fighters and questions the number of soldiers who have been killed. >>> diversity deficit spike lee boycotts the oscars saying it's a lily white awards show. >> the full scale of recent violence in iraq has been described as staggering, isil is largely responsible for the deaths of 18,000 civilians in iraq between the start of 2014 and october 2015. it says isil is also holding 3.5000 people as slaves, and 3.2 million people have been displaced over the past two years. >> a new u.n. report points to the staggering number of civilian lives lost because of the crises in this country. the latest u.n. report points to approximately 19,000 civilian who is have lost their lives between january and october of 2015 because of the conflicts throughout t

. >> the u.n. is investigating allegations its peacekeepers sexually assaulted underage girls in the central trick republican. it's compared to a smart phone on wheels. volkswagen unveils its new car and apologize for last year's pollution cheating scandal. >> north korea said it detonated a hydrogen bomb. it is described as a great threat to peace and an emergency meeting of the u.n. security council has been called. the test was announced on north korean television. adrien brown from beijing. >> in pyongyang, people watched an important announcement. state media showed north korea leader signing off on the order. he's a man who likes attention, particularly close to his birthday, which falls on january 8, so this may have been his way of celebrating early. >> it could take months or even years to prove if north korea really has successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. it said it deserves to possess nuclear weapons to counter threats from the united states. around the region, leaders responded with fa

the u.n. envoy to syria says he'll meet them in the coming hours. he has confirmed he'll meet other participants in negotiations to end the war. prominent opposition groups insist they won't take part unless certain conditions of met and these include a lifting of sieges, a halt to airstrikes and the release of what they describe as wrongfully detained prisoners of conscience. crossing over to our political he had door james bays in geneva, james, the talks are on with the syrian government delegation. are they on with the opposition, though? >> no, not yet. the syrian government delegation, as you say, are now in geneva. i told you an hour ago that they were meeting in two hours time. that meeting's been pushed back for one hour, the meeting between the syrian ambassador to the u.n. and the special envoy. no timing for a meeting between opposition physician. as you say, the opposition were pretty animate in the last few days that they weren't going to come to geneva until their demands were m

the u.n. wants the negotiations to last about six months and the first priority would be a ceasefire. later they work towards a political settlement to a war that has killed more than 250,000 people. ultimately they want a transitional government which would lead the country to free elections. they want aid convoys to be given access to all rebel-held besieged areas where tens of thousands of syrians are suffering in dire conditions. we have full coverage with our diplomatic editor james bays and another in talking to syrians. first to james. what is happening there right now in geneva with the talks? >> reporter: an important development in the last few minutes. the special envoy for syria of the united nation, staffan de mistura, has just arrived for the crucial meeting of the day, the meeting with the opposition delegation. we were expecting, i told you when i spoke to you an hour ago, this meeting to take place in a few hours time. we were told by a number of sources it was going to take p

the u.n. is hoping will happen, some sort of proximity talks between the two sides: that certainly has not' started at this stage and the syrian government is saying they are somewhat frustrated by that. they say the invitation to this talk from the u.n. and the u.n. security council resolution has not been honored. these were the words from the head of the syrian government delegation, ambassador a al jaffre. >> wir not aware of the other party including the special envoy and his fem. they do not nor do we have a final list of the parties. they have delayed six days. we do not have a final as we speak. more than one delegation that's why we are referring to them as the opposition parties rather than opposition party. >> those are the comments from the syrian ambassador, the head of the delegation here for the government side. he went on to say he felt he didn't have a list of the names of their delegation. he said thayer tours, not professionals. let's get the other side of this now. let's sp

the u.n.oy says he will meet them in the coming hours. de mistura has confirmed he will meet other participates in an aim to end the war. but some say they will not negotiate unless certain conditions are met. our diplomatic editor, james bayes joining us live from geneva to tell us what your sources, james are telling you about the participation of the opposition delegation, whether they will be talking. >>> well, the opposition delegation or some of them seem to be definitely coming to geneva from riyadh. that's the word we are getting. it has been a pretty con flewsed picture of who will be coming here. and what is for certain is if they do some on the ground here another geneva they are not at this stage coming to negotiate anything. they are coming to make their position clear which is they are unhappy for the backdrop for any negotiations here. they say they have conditions that need to be met, and they are conditioned that are outlined in the u. u.n. -- resolution passed at the end of l

the u.n. syria envoy says talks to end the war in syria will begin on friday, and arguments over who's on the guest list. >>> an extension of emergency border controls in the eu's free travel zone. a warm welcome in rome as iran's president embarks on a tour to drum up bus in europe. plus. >> i'm allen fisher in washington, d.c. where the digout begins after the weekend's blizzard and people face the course of near record snowfall. >> hello. health experts are warning that the zika virus which has been linked to babies born the brain damage is linked to almost every country in the americas. zika virus has been found in 21 countries since it was found in may in brazil. the only exceptions in the region are chile and canada, where the ades mosquito is not found. the symptoms of the disease include mild fever rashes and headaches. but scientists in brazil have noticed a link between the spread of zika and higher rates of babies being born with smaller heads. women in these countries are advised n

the u.n.eals new allegations of sexual abuse of children by european soldiers in the central african republic. sounding the alarm as the zika virus is suspected of birth defects infects thousands and is in 23 countries. >> i'm an maniac and everyone on the stage is stupid, fat and ugly and then you are a terrible surgeon and now we got the donald trump portion out of the way. >> reporter: presidential rivals talk about donald trump for boycotting the republican debate in iowa. ♪ but first syria's opposition insists it won't be attending talks at ending the war despite the u.n. saying the talks will indeed go ahead on friday. opposition leaders say representatives will not travel to geneva unless certain conditions are met and these include a lifting of sieges, a halt to air strikes and the release of what they describe as wrongfully detained prisoners of conscience, a syrian delegate led by the foreign minister had already said that it would attend. we can go live now to geneva, our diplomatic

the u.n. raises the a large saying the level of violence in iraq has been staggering. also ahead, libya's rival political factions announce the formation of a long awaited unity government. >>> chinese stocks rise despite official physician suggesting the slowest economic growth in 25 years. >>> boycotting the oscars, u.s. filmmaker spike lee won't attend what he calls a lily white award ceremony. >>> the united nations is describing the levels of violence against civilians in iraq as staggering. a new report is based on firsthand testimony from victims that say at least 18,000 civilians have lost their lives in the conflict between the start of 2014 and october 2015. the report detailed how at least 3.2 million people have been displaced in the past two years, and around 3,500 civilians, many yazidi women and children are being held as slaves by isil. we have more from baghdad. >> a new u.n. report paint ago very bleak picture for the civilian population of iraq, the report saying between jan

the u.n. resolution that set up this process. in effect, he said they are not serious. >> we are not aware of the other party, including the special envoy and his team. they do not have a final lift of the other names of the parties. they have delayed six days and do not have a final list as we speak. there is more than one delegation representing the opposition. we refer to them as the opposition parties, not party. >> it sounds like they haven't agreed yet how to proceed. >> they've had their meeting with the u.n. special envoy. he said he remained optimistic. that's the word he's been using throughout this process, that they would agree not just to talk to him but start actually negotiating. it's pretty clear, though, there is a split among the opposition of how to go forward. some of them want to see some concrete measures, they don't just want verbal assurances from mr. kerry and others. they want concrete measures on the ground, before they are going to actually sit down in these talks.

. >> the u.n. appeals for $900 million for aid in iraq. >>> the united plans for talks for end the syrian war have resulted in charges against each other. the main opposition group has been meeting and threatening to walk away unless press nurse are released and the bombing of civilians stop. >> we wish to see food reaching the starving to death women and children. we wish to see the women released from the regime's prisons. we wish to see the criminal murderous aerial bombardment coming to an end. >>> let's cross over to james bays joining us from geneva. they had been threaten to go walk out, james. do we nope the status of the opposition now after they've met with the u.n. envoy? >> well, they had that meeting and we haven't got a lot of details exactly what he said to them. he said to me as he left the meeting that he listened to their concerns. i said to him, are you going to react to those concerns, are you able to deliver on those concerns and he didn't answer the question. he said first i h

that's the u.n. high commissioner for refugees. >>> a palestinian police officer has been killed after he opened fire on israeli soldiers at a checkpoint. he wounded three israelis during an attack on the occupied west bank near an illegal settlement. >>> in rack, 17 soldiers killed during a suicide attack in anbar province, isil drove a bulldozer into their base detonating a bond. it happened east of rimadi where heavy fighting continues between the army and isil fighters. >>> the u.n. saying iraq needs $900 million to deal with the humanitarian crisis caused by the war against isil. the iraqi government says it can only raise half the amount needed. imran kahn has more from baghdad. >> with the fall in oil prices, iraq faces a shortfall in the funding for the humanitarian crisis. what the u.n. have said is they want to raise $861 million. now the iraqi government needs 1.56 and have 43% of that and rely on the u.n. to raise the rest of it. however, what the u.n. have said is that they don't have th

the u.n.retary general ban ki-moon. worth remembers, ban ki-moon just a few months ago was planning to visit north korea to try to start a new peace initiative where things look very different today as a rut of what has happened in north korea. the first thing the security council must work out is what has happened, whether this was some sort of hydrogen bomb test as the north koreans say. most experts think that is unlikely, was it some other sort of nuclear test or a nuclear test that failed. in terms of the actions by the u.n. security council, i think in the end it doesn't matter that much what it was, because whatever it was was something that clearly was an attempt to breach the strict provisions of u.n. security council resolutions, which say that north korea shouldn't even have a nuclear program and certainly shouldn't be carrying out nuclear tests. >> i assume here particularly for the permanent members of the u.n. security council, they may be looking in on this and thinking how do w

and u.n. security council, that is when implementation day actually takes effect. >> assuming everything goes according to plan how quickly could everything change for iran? >> well, one of the things that was done in the u.n. security couple by the e.u. and by the u.s. government was that back in on october 18th, which was adoption day, all of these various entities started issuing regulations and orders to basically move forward to implementation day. basically going ahead and authorizing certain moves such as the lifting of sanctions against iran related to its respected nuclear weapons program as well as travel bans and sanctions on persons who might have been involved in that program. they went ahead and passed those measures basically saying that once implementation day happens all these things will be automatically taking effect. so it's pretty much insan francisco takennous. but it all depends on the iaea report when it's delivered to the various entities, and they announced that yes t

syria's u.n. ambassador says he and his team are considering humanitarian steps, but accuses the opposition of not being serious about the situation. diplomatic editor james bays reports from geneva >>> arriving for his first meeting with the syrian opposition, trying to persuade them to join negotiations, the u.n. special envoy. >> reporter: what are you hoping to hear from the opposition. >> i will see them and then i will tell you. >> reporter: thank you, sir. >> while he was meeting a delegation of opposition representatives, their spokesman asked reporters why it was important all the provisions of the security council resolution that set up the talks process be now implemented. >> it's important for us to see that food goes to our children who are starved to death. to see syrian families, syrian women are safe sitting in there homes and their houses, away from the sights of the russians. >> when mr de mistura emerged at the end of his meeting with the opposition, he gave few details, other t

the u.n. security council has condemned the test and vowed to pursue new sanctions. in a state announcement, the u.s. said it doubted north korea has carried out a hydrogen bomb, that it's explosion was not large enough to be a hydrogen bomb, but any nuclear test would be a violation of resolution and leaving it to u.n. security council to determine which sanctions would be appropriate. >> in a typically staged manner a crowd was arranged to mark what is considered in pyongyang as a proceed achievement. the announcer on state tv gleeful as she detailed the country's fourth nuclear test. >> this i assume they said a more powerful and advanced hydrogen bomb had been tested. experts have cast out on that, but either way it's a clear breach of billion law. >> north korea's nuclear test is a serious threat to our nation's security, and absolutely cannot be tolerated. >> any kind of nuclear test like the one that north korea conducted is provocative and in violation of u.n. security resolutions. not

the report said the u.n.d to carry out proper background checks on peace keepers. >> certainly many things can be done to prevent this type of abuse. troops can be vetted. the abuse we hear of can be investigated properly. and as much as anything, probably most important of all, those deemed responsible for those kind of crimes can be prosecuted -- or should be prosecuted. >> reporter: thousands of mourn piece keepers were sent to the central african republic. in april last year, a peace agreement was signed between the mostly muslim seleka, and mostly christian anti-bellka groups. people in central african republic have suffered from years of chaos and violence. the u.n. says it has zero tolerance for peace keepers who abuse civilians. victoria gatenby, al jazeera. >>> coming up in this program, we will see the protesters in hong kong demanding information about the disappearance of a prominent book seller. >>> also reporting on how malaysia is moving to limit the mining of minerals, as it try it says to pro

in turkey now the u.n. estimates more than 660,000 syrian refugees are of school age but well beyond half of them don't go to school. but here in the run down back streets there is a ray of light for these children, some warmth and some hope in a dismal situation. and it may be a small building but a group of volunteers with so much effort and so much enthusiasm are using just two rooms to try to start to educate 65 children with very little money indeed. this english teacher says most of their pupils are street kids or children whose parents cannot afford transportation money to get them to turkish schools and says it's difficult trying to help with the children's behavioral and learning problems. >> very much not educated to do this and we are trying to do our best and looking for information, trying to deal with them with love and with passion and to do our best. >> reporter: the children get a snack before leaving at midday. it's the youngest of the pupils who are the most receptive to the teachers. thi

♪ the u.n.aises the alarm about civilian deaths in iraq. ♪ in doha and coming up, in the next half hour the political factions announced the formation of a long-awayed unity government. from world's factory to flattening economy, what new growth numbers mean for china and its global business partners. and boycotting the oscars and u.s. film maker spike lee says he will not be attending what he calls a lillie white awards show. ♪ i.s.i.l. fighters in iraq accused of holding 3 half million as slaves and report from the u.n. says i.s.i.l. is guilty of systematic violence which amounts to crimes against humanity and possibly even genocide and reports details how at least 3.2 million people have been displaced in the past two years between may and october of last year, at least 3800 people were killed. it's estimated that 3500 civilians are being held as slaves. let's get more from mohamed who joins us live from baghdad and mohamed the u.n. report is also calling on the iraqi government to allow thos

. >> the u.n. considers new sanction he against norts againa over its nuclear test but will they make a difference. >>> diplomatic divide. protesters in iraq demand the government cut ties with saudi arabia over its dispute with iran. but iraq's foreign minister heads to tehran offering to mediate the crisis. >> deadly winter. >> we went to the war and god blessed me with a son. i lost him to the cold. i lost him to the war. >> syrian refugees increasingly facing new danger dying from the cold as temperatures plummet. >>> and back to school. any is months after al shabaab gunmen killed 148 people at a kenyan university the school reopens. >> it is a bad thing that happened. but that does not stop us from continuing with our life. >> and new students are registering for class. good evening i'm antonio mora, this is al jazeera america's international news hour. tonight we begin with worldwide condemnation over north korea's claim it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. the white house called the test

security council but isn't under u.n. command but the u.n.k to us in the wake of a damning report by an independent panel which found the u.n. suffered gross institutional failure and not acting quickly enough to protect the children involved when the allegations surfaced. >> we put a committee in place in the mission. this was in place anyway with a special rep and this committee is meeting any time that we have suspicion, any time we heard an allegation and we handled that very seriously because it's something that the u.n. will not tolerate. we will not tolerate the leadership of the mission and will never tolerate this and this is how it's going to be. >> reporter: children targeted have all been moved out of the camp and u.n. secretary-general pledged urgent review of the panel's recommendations in a country where international support is so necessary to the rebuilding process the international community must now also rebuild trust with central africans. >> reporter: burundi's president says he will fight any african union peace keepers

the u.n. who is dealing with not having enough aid to give to people, but it wants to. so you've mentioned more than one million syrian refugees in lebanon. about 500,000 of those are living in refugee camps are very vulnerable to some of the conditions they're living in. last year the u.n. asked for money to help and they only got half of the funding they wanted. this year they've launched another campaign but they're concerned they're not going to get that kind of money. if you look at my report you can see some examples of what i mean >> reporter: this man has six mouths to feed t he brought his family on a different difficult journey. we >> translation: we came here thinking life would be better. it wasn't. at first the u.n. helped us because of our daughters' situation but after a year we were left alone to pay for rent. so we moved into this tent. >> reporter: he and his family survive on $108 a month from the u.n. but he needs 100 for nappies alone. he has had to borrow money and is in

u.n. negotiations a success. >>> david foster. you are watchingays. coming up: renewed tensions between erduan and putin after turkey is accused of violating turkey's airspace. >> more lives are lost in the agean. the u.s. presidential campaign lets up in iowa ahead of monday's caucus. ♪ >> syrian's main opposition representatives are in geneva. they have yet to commit to direct negotiations with the assad government. our diplomatic editor, james bays has the latest from geneva. >> reporter: a large group of press here, quite chaotic scenes when they arrived here because we all want to know the position, the exact position, of this the main opposition grouping. when the spokesman came here, they said that they still believe the u.n. resolution at the end of december means there are things that should be put in place now before talks take place. he said they weren't -- -- /* hiz group's conditions. conditions of the u.n. security council, and i pressed him as to whether these conditions wou

>> the u.n.'s high commissioner for refugees says the world needs to share the burden of syria's crisis more fairly. hello i'm barbara serra, you're watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up in the program, i.s.i.l. is accused of firing a rocket from syria, hitting a school and killing one person. >>> warning a weather system could leave millions hungry in south africa. >>> a british parliamentary debate on a controversial u.s. politician. >> the new head of the u.n. refugee agency says the world should find a fairer formula for sharing the burden of the crisis in syria. felepo grandi says, mostly to neighboring countries in the middle east. al jazeera's jane arraf was with felepo grandi. >> as the fighting intensifies in syria there are more trying to get in. at least 17,000 now are massed at the border, many of them hungerrary and cold according to aid agencies. the new unhcr commissioner says that the u.n. is trying to help jordan address its security cerches so that more of those pe

their calling for u.n. resolutions to be acted on and demanding humanitarian access to besieged areas. >> reporter: a very large group of press here, quite chaotic scenes when they arrived here because we all want to know the position, the exact position, of this, the main opposition grouping. when the spokesman came here said that they still believe that that u.n. resolution at the end of december means there are things which should be put in place now before talks take place. he said they weren't his group's conditions, they were conditions of the u.n. security council. i then pressed him as to whether these conditions had to be met before they would sit down for talks. >> reporter: if those conditions are not met, will you engage in talks? >> we will. we are ready, we are here to make this a success. we are ready to start negotiation, but at least we should see something, you know, on ground there in syria. we should really stop these massacres against our people. so please help us, you know. save our ch

the u.n. humanitarian chief says 400 people must be brought out of the syrian town of madaya for life-saving treatment. he made the call as food and medicine finally reached three besieged towns. under a deal reached with the government an aid convoy left damascus on monday bound for madaya. supplies have been delivered also to foua and kefraya. in eastern ghouta around 176,000 people are said to be in urgent need of help. 9,000 people are trapped in various towns. 200,000 people have been cut off elsewhere. >> reporter: trucks carrying food and medicine final arrive in madaya, a town of more than 40,000 people where they have been eating their pets and after that survived on a diet of soup made from grass. >> translation: we witnessed a lot and suffered a lot. people killed cats to ee eat them. others eight grass. i saw people sitting on garage and eating it. >> reporter: it is reported as many as 28 people have sdavshd to death. in the u.n. the syrian ambassador disputed all this >> the info

on friday the u.n. also revealed five new allegations against their own peacekeepers and police. >> it's hard to imagine the outrage that people working for the united nations and for the causes of peace and security feel when these kinds of allegations come to light. particularly involving minors which are so hard to understand. >> reporter: with the investigation continuing a report by secretary general ban ki-moon expected next month, officials here are bracing for the possibility of more allegations coming to light, but now troops accused of criminal activities against the very civilian population they were sent to protect >>> the opposition protesters in central african republic have called for the cancellation of results from last month's presidential election. >> reporter: they say the vote was full of irregularities and should be a nulled by the constitutional court. on monday the kurt ruled there should be a rerun of presidential elections which were also held in december. protesters are demand

four underaged girls say they were sexually abused by u.n. peacekeepers, the u.n.hed an investigation. >> over the past week uncief staff from the office in ban gee have undertaken four visits to meet with the four alleged victims. ube seven is also working with local partners to help the girls receive medical care and is assessing the psychosocial needs. >> reporter: this follows a series of sexual abuse allegations made against u.n. peacekeepers in central african republic. in december last year, an independent report criticize the the u.n. response to accusations of child abuse in the capital in 2013 and 2014 were the report said the u.n. had failed to carry out proper background checks on peace keepers and needed to do more to protect children. >> we wouldn't say it's inevitable. certain many things can be done to prevent this type of abuse. truths can be vetted the type of allegations that are made and the abuse we hear of can be investigated properly. probably most importantly of all, those who are deemed responsible for those kind of crimes can be prosecuted

the saudi ambassador to the u.n. has called on the security council to condemn the attack on its embassy in iran. it is also said that normal relations can assume when iran stops medaling in other country's affairs including saudi arabia. tensions rose after the country executed a shia cleric. >> reporter: diplomats are, obviously, concerned because you have these two heavy weight nations of the middle east which have always had stranld relations and now they're at a new low. having said that, i suggestion expect they would have been slight heartened by the words of saudi ambassador who said there will be no effect in his country's view with peace efforts in regard to syria and yemen. >> reporter: the break in relations of saudi and iran, what effect will it have on peace efforts? >> from our side it will have no effect because we will continue to work very hard towards supporting the peace efforts in syria, in yemen, wherever there might be a need for that. how is that going to affect the behaviour of iran, we do no

the two powers are behind a u.n. peace plan that could see bashar al-assad stay in office at least during the transition period. >> translation: at the beginning the u.s. stood against bashar al-assad. they kept making false promises to the opposition and now their true position is out in the open. the u.s. is not against bashar al-assad. they no longer hide the fact that they consider him the leader. >> reporter: bashar al-assad has always been an obstacle to peace. recent battle field gains has made the regime stronger. that is why the opposition believes it has little to gain by negotiating. it is one of the reasons why it is pushing for concessions before agreeing to talks. diplomacy has so far seen any failures in this conflict which has become an international and regional war by pox ee and many people feel their voices have become irrelevant-- proxies. >> translation: syrians should decide their fate but big powers are intervening >>> syrian state media says 45 people have been killed and 40 injured in three b

the u.n.-meet 80ed peace talks in two years. ahead of the syrian government delegation claimed it showed a link between opposition and terrorism. isil, which follows the sunni branch of islam has claimed responsibility for the bombing. paul brennan, al jazeera. >> we saw in that report a number of young people are on the scene. many of them perhaps thinking it would be good to leave syria. well, it isn't necessarily that good for many of those who have left. more than 10,000 refugee children have gone missing in europe in the last two years. europe's police agency says the figures are for children that disappeared from the system after registering on their arrival. the agency says 5,000 have gone missing in italy alone. and it says they may have been kidnapped. many of them by sex traffickers. the international organization for migration says it is a relief that authorities are tracking down or at least trying to track the children. >> and the fact that they are paying attention to minors is i

from u.n. headquarters in new york our correspondent has more. >> reporter: the humanitarian situation in syria has gone from bad to worse. that was a key message from steven o'brien, the u.n.'s top humanitarian official when he briefed the security council. the numbers are staggering and troubling in syria, but really the number that jumps out the most is the increase in the number of syrians currently living in besieged areas, areas cut off from any sort of regulated. that number is now up to 486,700 syrians that live in those conditions. of those 274,000 of them live in areas besieged by the syrian government according to the u.n. another 200,000 live in areas besieged by i.s.i.l. and about 12,000 in areas besieged by non-state armed groupss, such as the al-nusra front. o'brien says that the use of steej and starvation-- siege an starvation were reprehensible. he says needs more to be done. >> authorised cross border humanitarian assistance and you have launched a political process. for the

from the u.n. in new york. >> a total of six new charges have surfaced of sexual misconduct against children in the central african republic. teelgd have taken play in bangui and the camp for displaced people in 2014. four girls between ages of 14 and 16 said they were sexually assaulted by european peace keepers, pr a georgia from a ge. >> she was sexually abused in exchange for bottle of water and a bag of cookies. >> it's urgent these cases are thuthoroughly investigated. we are heartened by the response from the countries concerned as well as the european union, which show they take these allegation very seriously. we will continue to closely follow up on these cases and any others that emerge as the u.n. team on the ground continue its investigations. >> european forces arrived with a mandate to take care of a country in sectarian violence. five more allegations against their own peace keepers and police. >> it's hard to imagine that people working for united nations and for the causes of peac