but the united nations-backed study disagrees. however, experts did agree further opposition -- further investigation will be needed for years to come. >> germans could be facing higher energy bills. >> since 2011, industrial power users in germany have saved hundreds of millions of euros a year. because have been passed on to german consumers until now. the european commission is also looking into if the government local amounts to a hidden subsidy of german furloughs. >> reports on a gang shootings and riots have received pulitzer prizes, but this photographer says this is the most important work she has ever done. >> the exhibition "women and war" is going on display in berlin. >> this woman lost three sons. setsuko's body was badly burned in the hiroshima bombing. for the past 20 years, melissa roth has traveled the world, documented how war changes the lives of women. she arrives when the fighting is over and most other journalists have moved on. there's no blood and no guns -- just a silent record of suffering. >> i see thes

response to a third nuclear test conducted by pyongyang on february twelfth in defiance of existing united nations security council resolutions which basically bad any kind of nuclear testing by north korea and this latest resolution was drafted by the united states and china during three weeks of negotiations. and adopted this thursday unanimously by the security council what this latest new resolution calls for is an implementation of tighter restrictions on north korea including making it tougher for north korean officials to be able to carry around bokes of cash in suitcases it basically also calls for a ban on the shipping and receiving of banned cargo by and by north korea and also calls for states to deny aircraft over their territories if it is suspected that a specific aircraft might be carrying bad cargo another thing that this resolution doesn't specifies a ban on the import of certain luxury goods by north korean officials such as yachts and expensive cars and high and jewelry the united states of course has said that these sanctions will bite north korea hard to give you a more genera

ironically, at the same time the united nations, the united states is perhaps more responsible than any other country for scattering the negotiations last summer as she mentioned. >> and for americans, that means? >> to effectively end the negotiations before a treaty had been agreed. and now the same mechanism used by american in july has been used by north korea, iran, in syria to effectively block the treaty at the moment. the hope is this will only be a temporary delay and next week we will see in the general assembly of international arms trade treaty. >> requiring all 193 members of the united nations, complete consensus on a treaty, is that the normal method for deciding on these treaties or is this one way the u.s. used to make it possible for even just the united states by itself to block the treaty? >> i think that was the intention. i think the u.s. and president obama with the election in mind, to be quite honest, was thinking about the pressures that would come from the nra itself, but from large defense contractors. the interest groups that keep this multibillion-dollar in

team to ensure that the rebels wouldn't be shelled by government forces it was only off to the united nationsinternational officials the heads of the syrian opposition as well as the free syrian army condemned the hostage taking that the rebel faction backtracked on that statements and said that the peacekeepers were so-called guests they also at that stage dropped all preconditions for they release what this does do is that it highlights the fact that the opposition is becoming increasingly radicalized the armed rebel force consists of numerous groups like the ones that took the securing team hostage and what we see is that these groups are not coordinated and they don't believe concept to a central rebel political and military command in this case clearly the rebel chiefs had not been warned about this hostage taking in advance and they only intervened after the hostages were taken it is an unprecedented incident it is the first time that u.n. workers have been taken hostage inside syria it is also stoking fears that foreign countries which are supporting the rebels are in fact supporting p

the united nations says that around twenty of its peacekeepers have been detained by about thirty armed syrian rebel fighters not only the rebels released a video where they accuse the united nations of assisting the syrian president bashar assad's forces in entering rebel captured areas in the same video they also put forward their demands. we demand from the u.s. the u.n. and the security council that the troops of bashan ascends regime withdrawn from the village until then the peacekeepers will remain our hostages if our demand is not fulfilled during the next twenty four hours we will treat the hostages as prisoners now the united nations has of course condemned this incident the u.n. is currently negotiating with the rebels it demands the immediate release of its forces there is no reason at all under any circumstances in any kind of a sick imagination to try to harm harm those people so clearly gross disrespect for united nations gross disrespect of international norms of behavior of the united nations says that it's absurd as well on a regular supply mission earlier on wednesday

gross disrespect of international norms of behavior now the united nations is currently also involved in negotiating their immediate release according to the united nations its team were on a regular mission in the area we're talking about an area not far from the israeli syrian border that happened earlier on wednesday when they were taken hostage. leading up to the hostage crisis the western powers and their arab allies have been stepping up support for the rebels earlier my colleague bill dog spoke to our correspondent about the revocations of increased foreign backing for the opposition . we do know where they get their arms from at least there has been plenty of information to deduce that from we do know that saudi arabia as well as qatar as well as turkey libya and the united states have all i offered some sort of aid financial or military in one way or another to the syrian rebels we don't know exactly how much has been shipped to these countries we do know that for example qatar has offered has made the latest offer to the syrian rebels which amounts to one hundred million dol

to withdraw or a combination of narcissist and sort of people in concert with support from the united nations support from the international community's support for public opinion which would isolate the united states and i think force news really withdrawal can only happen if it starts among the powers to the people it's basically the same situation as in south africa during the apartheid era it's true in the case of south africa there was huge international support of the apartheid movement there was a lot of action activity in the united nations but the main inhibiting factors were first of all the u.s. on the reagan and the u.k. under margaret thatcher but on the other hand you had a mass movement in south africa and ultimately the mass movement in south africa was able to overcome the inhibiting factors of reagan and thatcher on the one hand and obviously the apartheid regime on the other and the same thing is needed in power story there has to be a mass movement of civil resistance movement in concert with the united nations and international public opinion i think can inhibit the unite

the united nations is removing half of its 100 international staff from syria following heavy fighting in the capital damascus. an additional 800 syrian staffers have been told to work from home temporarily. a spokesperson for u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon made the announcement monday. >> yesterday and today a number of mortar shells fell in close proximity to and on the grounds of the hotel in damascus housing human staff. it caused some damage to the building and some cars, including one u.n. vehicle. the nine nations secured management team has assessed the situation and decided to temporarily reduce the presence of international staff in due to security conditions. >> a syrian opposition leader is calling on the united states to more directly intervene in the conflict by using missiles to protect rebel-held areas. moaz al-khatib made the comment that the arab league summit in doha as he took over a seat previously held by the syrian government. the league had transferred the seat to the opposition sunday. al-khatib attended the summit despite announcing days ago he is quitting

so it's clear that the united nations in the security council particularly is interested only in maintaining the current balance of what the german isn't interested in independent nations acquiring the return themselves even in the face of the lack of any kind of peace treaty which is of the form of the united states government that it would look really to been pursuing peace ever since the armistice agreement was signed while we can expect is that the united nations for continuing to fully north korea which is effectively what's happening all of those it's really just showing they don't like the fact that north korea is asserting itself in world politics and was not really playing word games with nobody not practicing or sharing with other countries they're on their own for self-defense and that's off joy to join i should think so for the united states to think that we can continue to vote for the pure it without any kind of.

. >> the united nations is giving united nations peacekeepers a mandate to fight rebels in the democratic republic of congo. >> it is the first time the u.n. has ever given peacekeepers the authority to mount attacks. almost 3000 soldiers will target armed rebel groups in eastern congo, which has been plagued by conflict for almost two decades. the secretary general welcomed the move. >> the united nations proposal to regulate the global trade and arms is on ice after north korea, syria, and iran oppose it. the countries say the treaty is flawed because it does not stop the transfer of weapons to rebels. >> the deal has also been meeting resistance from republicans in u.s. congress, who feel its provisions to regulate small and light arms and undermine the second amendment. if passed, and to be the first legally binding international treaty regulating the sales of conventional weapons -- if passed, it would be the first legally binding international treaty regulating the sales of conventional weapons. >> despite hopes of a breakthrough, this time, north korea, italy, and syria clearly fel

it's clear that the united nations and the security council particularly is interested only in maintaining the current balance of world germany and isn't interested in independent nations acquiring the ability to defend themselves even in the face of the lack of any kind of peace treaty which is of the fault of the united states government and that of the north koreans who've been pursuing peace ever since the armistice agreement was signed well we can expect is that the united nations will continue to fully north korea which is effectively what's happening to all of those that really just shown shit they don't like the fact that north korea is asserting itself in world politics and who is north korea playing war games with nobody not practicing and preparing with other countries their phone their own for self-defense and that's off that's the only option of its own option they have so for the united states to think that they can continue to provoke the d.p. r. k. without any kind of consequence obviously i reckon john is putting him his foot down and saying that's not going to be able to

north korea threatens to scrap all non-agression pact with south korea after united nations sanctions. >> dozens had to caracas to their final farewell to hugo chavez. >> on international women's day, we look at an initiative in india to train women cabdrivers. north korea says it is scrapping a non-agression pact with south korea and canceling the armistice agreement between them. >> these threats come after the united nations security council put fresh sanctions on the communist country over its nuclear program. they have called for calm and restraint, saying the situation on the korean peninsula is highly complex and sensitive. >> the german foreign minister has urged china to use its influence on p'yongyang to stop its provocative actions. >> propaganda and north korean style. state tv shows kim jong un visiting units close to the border with south korea. his focus is on a south korean island, a gesture aimed to provoke neighbors and please the north korean people. tensions have heightened since the regime scrap its non- agression pact with south korea and threaten the u.s. with s

. >> the united nations is giving united nations peacekeepers a mandate to fight rebels in the democratic republic of congo. >> it is the first time the u.n. has ever given peacekeepers the authority to mount attacks. almost 3000 soldiers will target armed rebel groups in eastern congo, which has been plagued by conflict for almost two decades. the secretary general welcomed the move. >> the united nations proposal to regulate the global trade and arms is on ice after north korea, syria, and iran oppose it. the countries say the treaty is flawed because it does not stop the transfer of weapons to rebels. >> the deal has also been meeting resistance from republicans in u.s. congress, who feel its provisions to regulate small and light arms and undermine the second amendment. if passed, and to be the first legally binding international treaty regulating the sales of conventional weapons -- if passed, it would be the first legally binding international treaty regulating the sales of conventional weapons. >> despite hopes of a breakthrough, this time, north korea, italy, and syria clearly fel

>> the united nations failed to agree on a treaty to control the arms trade. iran, syria and north korea say o. you're in watching "al jazeera." also on the program, support and prayers around the world for south africa's liberation leader. nelson mandela is said to be responding positively to treatment. commemorating the pope, he washes the feet of prisoners in rome. >> and liftoff. >> liftoff. >> from earth to the international space station in ust six hours. >> a global arms treaty seven years in the making has been blocked by iran, north korea and syria. they're still talking at the united nations but there's little chance of a consensus. let's go straight to our diplomatic editor who is at the u.n. h.q. with the latest developments. what's happening? >> well, there is no consensus and there is no treaty. for today anyway. and that's because when they opened it up to the floor to all those countries who are gathered here, three countries said they couldn't agree. those three countries, iran, syria and north korea. the president of the meeting isas an austr

and that shows that there is a was a certain intention to undermine the united nations and luck that brahimi the special envoy of the un and the arab league for us area and at the same time there was sent to jordan jordan is a country where the united states britain and one of the other countries are training syrian rebels the british foreign minister william hague keeps repeating from time to time that he wants to help the syrian rebels but not al qaeda are similar fundamentalist groups. i'm i think it is fair to say that president obama would also not refer that but the problem is how can the united states and europe stop countries like saudi arabia and qatar who are the main arm suppliers to the rebels and whose constituency is that of militants. a top dancer at the ball show theater is in custody right now after admitting that he was behind the brutal attack on the company's are to sit directly filon and he's free trial hearing pavel dmitrichenko claimed he didn't order filling to have acid thrown in his face so it was dancer of the two manny paid about fifteen hundred dollars to

the only country on the human rights council of the united nations to vote against the establishment of a fact-finding mission on settlements was the united states of america. we opposed the unilateral efforts of the palestinian authority's to circumvent direct negotiations by pushing for statehood and multilateral organizations like unesco. we stood strong with israel and its right to defend itself after a gallstone report was issued in 2009 while the rest of the world, including some of our good friends, were prepared to embrace the report. we came out straightforwardly, expressed our concern and with recommendation. when israel was isolated in the aftermath of the gaza flotilla in 2012, i was in africa. we spent a lot of time on the phone. ehud and -- the defense minister and i and bb and i spent a lot of time on that phone with my interceding going to the united nations directly by telephone, speaking with the secretary-general, making sure that one thing was made clear. israel had the right to impose that blockade. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, that is why i refuse to attend e

gulf area as it's possible to imagine and latin america is fully behind argentina's claim the united nationsas you said has told us to talk but britain beating its chest in an echo of its former imperial past just simply refuses to do it and that's unacceptable i didn't dangers our interests in latin america which is one of the few parts of the globe that is economically thrusting ahead and we are prejudicing fatally our interests and our reputation in latin america by continuing to attempt to hold on to this appendage of british colonial rule mr galloway thank you very much for your time you'll have to leave it at a pretty champagne george galloway. now a bolshoi theater ballet dancer is facing up to twelve years in prison for masterminding an attack on his boss' public domenici cenk uygur is in custody along with two others involved in the assault charge with inflicting grievous bodily harm the artistic director of the bolshoi ballet's sergei filin was nearly blinded after having acid splashed in his face in moscow in january he's now undergoing extensive treatment in germany at the pretri

gross disrespect of international norms of behavior now the united nations is currently also involved in the gauche a to their immediate release according to the united nations its team were on a regular mission in the area we're talking about an area not far from the israeli syrian border that happened earlier on wednesday when they were taken hostage. u.n. teams came under fire ten times from the syrian rebels last year and a group were also seized and near the jordanian border this general abraham from the original university in jordan says he's not remotely surprised that this rebel gangs behind us such illegal actions. at the same time human rights watch said that these same rebels the so-called martyrs of yarmouk group are being investigated for the summary execution of armed troops that were caught surge from a syrian post nearby at the same time out of league countries decided that these rebels are to be armed further afield look at this whole picture. you will find easily that the problem is not with those rebels but with those who are supporting them the ones who are arming

is demanding their immediate release and according to the united nations it's absurd and that's why on a regular supply mission earlier on wednesday when they were stopped by militants now the un confirmation comes in response to e.u. chief of the videos show syrian rebels with a seized convoyed in these videos we understand the rebels accuse the peacekeepers of assisting the syrian regime and put forward their demands have a listen. we demand from the u.s. the u.n. and the security council that the troops of bashan assad's regime withdrawn from the village until then the peacekeepers will remain our hostages if our demand is not fulfill during the next twenty four hours we will treat the hostages as prisoners. let's it's not the first incident of its kind last week the united nations confirmed that an employee it was it's a un it disengagement observer force that is stationed in the area was kidnapped you need to remember that the u.n. force was a step back in one nine hundred seventy four following the one thousand nine hundred eighty three cheaper war its purpose is way to monitor t

gross disrespect of international norms of behavior now the united nations is currently also involved in negotiating their immediate release according to the united nations its team were on a regular mission in the area we're talking about an area not far from the israeli syrian border that happened earlier on wednesday when they were taken hostage paula slayer there were leading up to the hostage crisis western powers in that arab allies have been stepping up support for the syrian rebels arab league ministers have decided to let member states government forces but some like germany have surprisingly warned against sending weapons to the militant opposition but it is also so far remained hesitant over a training mission like britain france or these nice and early reports. this shift is on the heels of secretary of state john kerry announcing last week that the u.s. would finally provide direct aid to the syrian opposition and help push forward the two year fight to topple president assad the the just here though non lethal aid opposition groups despite not being united are already ge

been raised over plans for a new united nations peacekeeping force in mali. it seems to be an effort to persuade france to leave some of its troops in the troubled west african nation. a growingas been consensus that the u.n. should take control of operations in mali. the original plan for an african force, but after the french intervention, the complicated situation, most diplomats thought was best handled under u.n. command. the u.n. secretary-general has come out with his formal recommendations to the security council about how the u.n. force should restructured. if there is a u.n. force, there should be about 12,000 peacekeepers. he makes it clear that he believes the only way the u.s. force cannot parade is a parallel force -- can operate is a parallel force. these go beyond the scope of the mandated of the united nations, and another force would be needed. the only other force that has been operating in mali is the french. they have been operating there in addition to the african peacekeepers. the french say they are pulling out of their troops out. they

in the go shake their immediate release according to the united nations it's team were on a regularmission in the area we're talking about an area not far from the israeli syrian border that happened earlier on wednesday when they were taken hostage. we go live to beirut now for some insight from political analyst chemical was me so what do we actually know so far about the rebel group to your knowledge about which group has seized the u.n. team their current selves the martyrs of your mark but what actually do they answer to. well obviously they answer to the free syrian army and their response of we have to look at the qataris and those persian gulf who are arming these terrorist organization and we now we have you and peacekeeper have been kidnapped and that's very dangerous precedent that's what we been warning all along about if we let this country go that road that this is what's going to happen you're going to see a lot of terrorists. against you and other civilians throughout syria and throughout the world this is a dangerous precedent and i think the sponsorship of these pe

according to the united nations , 2 million to 3 million people are displaced in the country. it is the children who have been paying a heavy price in this war. they have not been to school for two years. all they can talk about is war, bombings, shelling. the fact that they have lost family members. they have little hope from going back soon. people do not just escape because of the violence, the people are also unable to cope, unable to survive. many people have lost their jobs. we are talking about more than one million people registered as refugees out side the country. 2 million to 3 million people refugees inside their country. remainsition groups divided. how much control does the government still have? >> well, the government has control of urban cities. the tg bases, they still have military barracks in aleppo province, two areas which a lot of territories are now in the hands of the rebels. we were just in aleppo city of few days ago, and there has been a military stalemate for some eight months. the rebels have not been able to advance. it is a very slow advance. th

gross disrespect of the international norms of behavior now the united nations is currently also involved in negotiating their immediate release according to the united nations it's team were on a regular mission in the area we're talking about an area not far from the israeli syrian border that happened earlier on wednesday when they were taken hostage now paula leading up to this hostage crisis western countries and there are about allies have stepped up support for the rebels recently what exactly is the opposition getting here. well it's correct what you say what we are seeing is that this all comes as western powers and their arab allies step up lethal and military aid to the rebels the hostage crisis costs through the doubt over the transparency of the support and indeed the kind of actions that the rebels are purporting it also questions includes hence the supplies coming from the international community ultimately end up in and where these weapons are being used and how in fact they are being used now last week the u.s. secretary of state john kerry announced that the united state

gross disrespect of international norms of behavior now the united nations is currently also involved in negotiating their immediate release according to the united nations its team were on a regular mission in the area we're talking about an area not far from the israeli syrian border that happened earlier on wednesday when they were taken hostage. let's get more on this from dr abraham aleutian political analyst and professor to nag university in jordan professor the rebels are saying they don't the want to release the un peacekeepers until syrian government forces withdraw from the area is that a realistic demand. well obviously it's not realistic demand what we're talking about here as i mean it says something about the shade the nature of these so-called rebels that are being promoted by nato countries and g.c.c. go rulers at the same time i'd like to draw your attention to the fact that human rights watch said yesterday that these same rebels the so-called martyrs of yarmouk group are being investigated for the summary execution of armed troops that were caught surge from a syri

in negotiating a very immediate release according to the united nations it's team were on a regular mission in the area we're talking about an area not far from the israeli syrian border that happened earlier on wednesday when they were taken hostage leading up to the hostage crisis the western powers and their allies have been stepping up support of the syrian rebels arab league ministers have decided to lead member states and the government fighters they've also invited an opposition coalition to take up a seat to the organization at the expense of the outside regime my colleague bill dodd spoke to our g.'s arena go about the ramifications of the increase of foreign backing for the rebel army. we know where they get their arms from at least there has been plenty of information to deduce that from we do know that saudi arabia as well as qatar as well as turkey libya and the united states have all offered some sort of aid financial or military in one way or another to the syrian rebels we don't know exactly how much has been shipped to these countries we do know that for example qat

and there was a reform package of united nations which greatly increased the positioning.it was the only office which was a member of all four executive committees on peacekeeping and development and communitarian issues and economic and social issues. the small offices based in new york. somehow we had to manage all of that. for the first few months, everything that i look that seemed to be a kind of problem. so my defense was to get up earlier and earlier every morning. to stay later in the office, to start taking sleeping pills. it is a very difficult time. i would have been able to write about it without the fact that i was writing it for my daughter. my daughter was here a few days ago but had to go back with two young children and she couldn't stay any longer. she said i remember, mother, how absolutely upset you were. you were so exhausted and very stressed about the job. and actually that is a very well-received thing. but somehow i had been seen as someone successful and here the job was so difficult that it undermines my health. my brother said if i wasn't carefu

and the united nations is to investigate the alleged deadly chemical attack in aleppo after demands for a probe from both the syrian government and the opposition if you cues each other of the assault. very good evening says r t live at nine money kevin would be with us the top story the news you just heard cypriot serafin the squeeze with angry crowds now pressing on parliament to denounce a nationwide bank shutdown and potential job cuts thousands have been cut off from their life savings and many see them expect them to vanish after you threaten to cut cyprus off from emergency funds that off the island nation rejected that unprecedented brussels tax on bank deposits go live to test for said issues in parliament notice either angry crowds behind you there or just listing it before we went live now making a lot of noise they are that angry describe the sea. well yes emotions are really running high i saw several people who were hysterical the police were having some bottles of water to them because they really really were very angry at the chanting that they are saying they're saying

james, al jazeera at the united nations. >> mohammed mirror randy is a professor at the university of teheran. he joins us live now from teheran. thank you for speaking with us. iran claims the treaty is unfair. why is that? >> obviously international law itself is very eurocentric. it is colonial in both language and history and how it's .pplied and the iranians are very we'rey of the lop holes that would benefit countries like the united states and western powers and in fact it benefits exporters of weapons and out of the top 5 countries 11 are european or north american. >> let me just cut in and what you're saying is fair enough, but how much is iran's subjegs to the treaty have anything to do with the fact that iran and syria are iran partners and that iran arms hezbollah. >> in fact the point you made is very interesting. because iran -- believes in the sovereignty of syria, while the united states and european countries along with some of their regional allies or clinchte states. they are funding terrorist organizations that carry out facts. there's a terrorist organization fun

the united nations is marking world water day to draw attention to water security. in many parts of the world, fresh drinking water is drying up. nowhere is the situation more dire than in the middle east here that could further destabilize a part of the world already rife with conflict. middle east is rapidly getting drier. that is the conclusion of a pie or -- of a pioneering new study by a university of -- by university of california scientists. >> what we found is that the groundwater -- it is much larger of an issue than people expected. >> in this visualization, blue represents groundwater gained and read the shows groundwater lost. the drought beginning in 2006 began rapid loss. by 2007, the entire region has gone deep red. the trends have continued to the pump waterfarmers from underground aquifers to feed crops. 90 told, the region lost cubic kilometers of groundwater, enough to fill up the dead sea. >> the groundwater lost is enough to supply water for tens of millions to maybe over 100 .illion people per year it is a lot of water. >> the study was conduct