♪ . >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello and welcome to the news hour, i'm steven at the headquarters in doho, these are the world's top stories, russia is unconvinced by u.s. evidence on the chemical attack. egypt's president mohamed morsi will stand trial of protesters. japan's government will play a more direct role in the cleanup of the fukushima nuclear disaster. >> and i'll be here with all the

day's sport including madrid has a record breaking $132 million. ♪ but first they are unconvinced of evidence presented by u.s. and allies of the alleged chemical weapons attack in syria. russia news service reports the government is sending to the coast of syria for a potential u.s. military strike. >> we were shown findings which have no specifics with the coordinates and no names and nor tests were carried out by professionals and no facts that numerous experts are talking about the video footage on the internet and contains

inconsistencies to talk about the use of chemical weapons and the state of the victim's health and too many doubts. >> the u.s. and allies are pressing home their case for military action against syria and john kerry says the obama administration knows the nerve agent sarin was used to kill hundreds of people last month. and the french are getting ready to go public with an intelligence report on the arsenal of chemical weapons, a series of high-level meetings are going ahead today. we are extensive coverage on syria and the flurry of diplomatic activity around the world regarding the conflict and we have omar and live in turkey and jackie is in paris and as we just said jackie france is going to release some intelligence today. why is it doing that? >> reporter: well, the french government is trying to bolster its case for military

intervention in syria and said it's going to give to members of parliament on monday a four-page document which it says will show that the attack on the 21st of august was indeed a chemical attack and that the only person who could have been responsible for that is the regime of assad and the idea being that members of parliament need to be convinced and by extension the french public because at the moment french public opinion remains broadly against the idea of france being involved in any kind of intervention against syria. >> so the president it would be fair to say them struggling to maintain a french resolve for a strike and he finds himself in a bit of a quandary after obama deflected the decision to congress, doesn't he? >> reporter: the french president is certainly out on a limb now first of all with the

british backing off after the no vote in the united kingdom parliament and then president obama who as recently as friday was speaking in telephone conversations with the president expressing determination to act and you see the u.s. president actually backing off and handing the decision making to the congress. now that is not going to happen in france because they don't have a vote on these issues. in fact, the leader of the opposition in france said, no, we are not going to be asking for a special exception to be made, we are not going to ask for parliament to be given a vote on this and this under the constitution is the responsibility of the french president and the buck stops with him if you like but the opposition is clear that it needs to see really convincing evidence including the evidence of the un inspectors who have come back with samples and to submit the samples to the

rigorous lab tests they were speaking about. convincing the french public who at the moment remain very skeptical and of course as time drags on waiting for this vote in the u.s. congress increasingly it's likely that the will to act will weaken and it's also a danger that the president can be seen to be not the president of a sovereign nation but rather a politician in europe who is waiting decisions to be taken in washington. >> reporter: jackie in paris, thanks, jackie. turkey prime minister says any international action must be aimed at bringing an end to the rule of bashir assad. >> translator: i would like to emphasize that temporary measures in syria will not be enough. a limited scope by aiming at local targets and avoiding a ultimate solution will worsen conditions in the country. unless efficient steps are taken the syrian regime will be

encouraged to commit new massacres and inflict humanitarian tragedies and urging allies to avoid the steps taken to save the day and tell them this could cause great problems. >> reporter: and the foreign ministers called on the united nations and the international community to take what they called action against the syrian regime and it fell short of calling for military strikes. >> translator: we condemn and deplore the crime using chemical weapons which is is intra nationally prohibited and the regime is responsible for the terrible crime and calling for all responsible for the crime to be submitted to a fair, international criminal court as is the case with all other war criminals. >> reporter: and we are live from the southern turkey city any the syrian border and omar

and the foreign ministers calling on the u.n. for what they call deterrent action, has there been a reaction from the syrian opposition to that? >> reporter: yes, there has been reaction, steven, a spokesperson for the city national coalition did welcome part of the arab league's decision and welcome the bit where they condemn and held responsible the syrian regime for the crimes committed inside syria against the people. and they expressed sorrow is they fell short the decision by the arab league fell short to attack and support a military action to stop the suffering of the civilian people and according to the spokesperson they wanted the arab league to support action to stop the killing machine of president

bashir assad. >> they are calling for tougher and wider action. it's not the first time he called for that, is it? >> reporter: no, it's not. he keeps reiterating every time he speaks with the subject especially in the last few days when we started talking about a possible military intervention. now, with the prime minister they want a wider military to force the syrian regime to accept dialog to oversee his own departure and the other alternative is the prime minister says he wants an nato-style campaign to weaken the regime and push it on the verge of collapse. and i think here there is an important point to raise, turkey i think is worried and has its own fears because turkey shares more than 900 kilometers border

with syria and a limited strike will not end the rule of path assad and they fear retaliation or more security problems to turkey itself. >> thanks, omar. let's go to syria, people in the rebel held damascus suburb of duma are weighing in on the prospect of a u.s. military intervention, possible against the assad government and some doubt there will be one. >> translator: they are not going to bomb because they are giving them time to move their weapons and faces and soldiers is political gambling. what will they bomb, what is there to bomb? chemical weapons and u.n. inspectors have not found anything and will not bomb anything, if they want to do it they would have done it by now. >> translator: if they bomb the bombing will not help the rebels and help the regime and nothing to gain from the help of the

west but serves the regime and if they want to help the rebels they would is done it long ago. >> reporter: and supporters of assad are organizing to protect buildings they think will be targets of a strike. a group gathered in damascus to launch a campaign called over our bodies and want to protect vital parts of the infrastructure like electricity, buildings and television stations. the foreign minister appointed the first ever spokeswoman, and she has been working there for 30 years since taking on a new role she has made comments and said military action will not help solve the crisis. >> translator: to raise tensions there should be restraints from any kind of meddling and iran seeks political solutions to solve the crisis and military and any move with meddling will not result in positive consequences. >> reporter: the website

belonging to the u.s. marines has been hacked by the syrian army and images of soldiers appeared a short time ago on the recruiting websites, marines.com and they are calling for them to defy plans to hit syria and not expected to take part in operations in syria and 300 marines are on uss sanantonie. and licenses for two chemicals that can produce the nerve agent sarin were given to a uk company last year and we have more from london. >> reporter: expert license was apparently granted in january last year, well after clearly the civil war had begun inside syria and it comes down to the chemicals and what their potential use was and they were

potassium and sodium fluoride which have civil uses and fluoride is in the water in many countries and the company told the department for business here that the chemicals were to be used in the manufacture and construction of metal window frames and shower enclosures but as many chemical experts have since pointed out they are crucial for the chemical nerve agents and that is what led to all these allegations now that the government is at worst accused of hypocrisy because they are accused of dreadful war crimes and granted an export license to a company to export these things which could have been used in the manufacture of the very same things. >> reporter: egypt's state prosecutor announced president mohamed morsi will go on trial for inciting the murder and accusations relate to the violence outside of cairo and

suspected of ordering supporters to attack demonstrators. and our correspondent is live from the egyptian capital and not naming her for security reasons and tell us more about his trial, he is not the only one facing trial, is he? >> reporter: no, he is one of the 14 muslim brotherhood members and a couple senior figures among them and one of the senior officials and sm who is the head of the justice party also have been committed to trial. this as you say relates to the incident last december when thousands of demonstrators converged on the presidential palace to demonstrate against the presidential decree of expansion of more see's powers and people were killed. this is the first time he is committed to trial but not the first time he has been accused of crimes, premeditated murder

and soldiers he was accused of breaking out of the cairo prison in january 2011. so far we are not hearing of any large-scale reaction to the position to go to trial. the announcement was made late last night before the curfew that kicks in at 11:00 local time. but we are now hearing reports there has been some sort of demonstration called for tomorrow to take to the streets. this is the anniversary since he was ousted and that will be a chance if there are any muslim brotherhood to take to the streets will be tomorrow. we have no idea how big the demonstration will be. if he follows the situation on friday, several thousands the streets but these were small demonstrations across the country where there will be mass demonstrations in central cairo. >> reporter: thanks for that. coming up, on this news hour

from doha we meet refugees from congo being displaced by fighting and the freshwater tries to rid itself from an innovator. and we send a reminder of his skills from messi. ♪ taliban fighters in afghanistan attacked a u.s. base, close to the pakistan border and jennifer glass reports from the capitol. >> reporter: it happened at about 6:00 a.m. local time at a forward operating base near the pakistan border, the road between pakistan and jalibad is closed because of the attack and they claimed responsibility. nato says there were a series of explosions this morning in a parking lot with nato logistics

vehicles there and they claim six were described and ten soldiers killed but they often accelerate claims and nato says it has taken no casualties. we do understand there was a fire fight including nato helicopters involved in the fighting. this is the second attack on an nato base in a week, just five days ago an nato base in gazni was attached and there were 8 afghans killed and 50 wounded. we have seen a taliban attacks that killed 100 afghans and both security officials. >> reporter: and the afghan great lakes region has arrived in congo and mary robinson is in the region as they are backed by u.n. soldiers as they advance on rebels and 100 have been killed in the last two weeks and we

went to kenya near the front line to meet a group of people sheltering in a church. ♪ these people have fled their homes because of fighting and m-23 rebels and many have relatives killed. ♪ the church service is a rare moment to escape the daily struggles. ♪ many of them now live here. ♪ this is where they keep what they have. they sleep on the floor. he has been caught up in fighting time and time again. she lost her whole family. >> translator: i don't have a husband. he is dead. three of my children were killed during the fighting. other two children died of disease and i don't have anyone to take care of me. >> reporter: displaced community here is just one of

many. around a million people in eastern congo fled their homes since fighting started and life is tough and this woman is cooking lunch on the floor outside the church. the food people eat have to bring from farms and most of them the farms are further out of town in that direction. but the fighting is also in the same place so they have to wait for a lull in the fighting before they can go home and collect firewood and food to eat. carrying heavy loads from the front is not easy and it's not safe. there has been a lot of heavy fighting in the last two weeks. the government pounded the rebel positions with artillery from tanks and u.n. supported them with gun ships and infantry. this is the kind of destruction people run away from. night falls and the displaced

people cook dinner. they say they rarely have enough to eat. >> translator: civilians are suffering and you see how they live and used to live normal lives but now they live like animals. they prepare to go to bed. the floor is dirty and crowded and for many it has been like this for months. they just want to go home. >> reporter: let's go live to malcolm in the eastern congo city of goma and talked a lull in the fighting. has there been a lull in fighting or is the fighting still going on? >> reporter: there has been fighting in the last couple of days, over the last two weeks it has been heavy until the government forces with u.n. support push the rebels 10 kilometers north of gomo where we are now and we have a doctor

from without borders working with civilians near the front. what is you seen in the last two weeks? >> thank you. well, it has been a really hard to keep on working in the humanitarian context in the last few weeks and fighting has been increasing. we saw wounded civilians but not in the conflict area but also in the area of displacement and we received in two weeks more than 800, almost 800 individuals in the refugee camp. and it has been really hard to actually to keep on following the trend of the violence and result on the population. and the violence and morbidity given the fact people cannot have access to their food and crops and there is a huge problem of food security as

well. civilians wounded of course as they call here, which means it's a side effect of violence in the conflict. it's true that conflict suffering in the past two weeks is taking place in the area and not a lot of population was remaining there on ground. and again a big displacement there. the violence in the last week we have seen a lot of wounded civilians due to bombs in the city of goma. >> reporter: the u.n. in the conflict take end aside and fighting on the side of the government with ground troops and your doctors are men to be neutral. what are the implications of the u.n. militarily taking a side? >> i think the problem is not only for doctors without borders but for all the people working

in the area. and the government and military action and the conflict of course is hampering the perception of humanitarian and it's getting harder and more difficult to make a clear distinction between the humanitarian actors and we are in communication and make a clear distinction on the ground. the action and activities and the quality of the work we can provide the population with. >> reporter: okay, thank you very much. that was francesca with doctors without borders and concerns from the humanitarian sectors. >> reporter: thank you from goma, transfer that everyone in football has been talking about is about to happen and gareth bale, maybe it happened, gareth bale is with madrid for a world record, $132 million.

the deal for bale was a day before the transfer window closes, the fee about $132 million, is the 5th time the world transfer record has been broken in the last 14 years, all five have been broken by madrid, the previous record is $120 million, that is the fee they paid for the portageeze in 2009. a few weeks earlier in 2009 he recruited a man from milan paying $85 million and world champions held the record for 8 years when he moved to $18 million. and lewis was $56 and richardson earns slightly less. >> reporter: gareth bale has visited the stadium before two

years ago, now he will be coming to stay. bale has a consistent match when he performs for the spurs and named the player of the year last season. but he lacks the international profile that is normally in attendance for a fee of this size and fans are used to the club spending big but they seem a little uncertain this time around. >> translator: it's going to be good but he is still expensive and i think it's too much money. but hopefully madrid can take advantage of his image and make him profitable. >> reporter: it's an argument that the rivals have also been drawn into. and barcelona coach says the fee is out of step with spain's economic climate. >> translator: lack of respect to the world in general. >> reporter: and the deal

coincides with the reelection of the president and renewed determination to move and a season where no trophies were won't and perez was behind a high profile player named david beckham and hope it can grow alongside the football ability. in english bale was the main man of the club and set up to serve the strengths and big names and characters are already in place and not least is ranaldo and current focus on the pitch and any photo opportunity away from it. and bale is not a global star but they believe can become one. al jazeera, andy richardson. >> reporter: he is here earlier than normal and to talk about this. how can he justify spending so much money on a man who isn't a

star yet really? >> reporter: the simple answer is he is a very good player and had a great season last season and voted player of the year. madrid did not have a very good season last season and didn't win silverware and under a lot of pressure to sign their next big star. now these were the same guys that brought over david beckham and chris ranaldo and turned them into international super starts and gareth bale is not a superstar yet but the hope is he will turn into one very soon and sell t-shirts and tickets. >> reporter: the t-shirts angle is very important, the t-shirts and the shirt because of the marketing deal that go with a figure like this. if i'm a fan in south america say and i'm earning very, very little money, do i feel jealous towards these man and not like

him for earning so much money and is there hostility? i worked it out with my computer, $400,000 a week. >> if you are not around madrid fan, you can't, you definite cannot justify it, it's a ridiculous amount of money. but you know this is what madrid fans want to see. they want to see the larger than life hero and you will see tens of thousands of people come out to see him unveiled to the world. >> reporter: thank you, we will see you again a bit later on. it's time for a look at the weather and it's heating up in australia and not because of the election staff. >> that is right, it is very hot for many of us in australia and the springs is where we see 34 degrees was the maximum temperature on monday and sunday was hotter and up to 36 and 1/2 and the average this time of year is actually 23. so that initially makes it the hottest start to spring on record. and it's not only the springs

where we see the hot weather and down to the southeast it's warm at the moment as well and that is thanks to a high pressure that is sitting over the top of us and making sure the skies are clear and pretty warm. maximum temperature in sidney is around 24 degrees through tuesday. hotter in melvin at 27 degrees. a little bit fresher for us as we head into wednesday but warm for this time of year. toward the west is where it's different. the temperatures beginning to tumble away for some of us in perk and not as warm as it might be 17 degrees will be our maximum temperature and it will be just a handful of showers rounds as well. the main area of cloud and rain is edging its way eastward and as it does so it will drag down those temperatures. and on wednesday we will get to around 25 degrees as a maximum but then things will ease off a bit and it will be cooler for us as we head into thursday. >> reporter: thanks very much, coming up, in the news hour, standing tall, why the average

height of european men increased by 11 centimeters in the last century. ♪ instead they use ipads almost

♪ welcome back, this is the news hour and i'm steven, the russian foreign minister says moscow's unconvinced by u.s. evidence of chemical attacks in syria and said the united states and the allies are using double standards in their efforts to over throw the president. the british says they may have

given licenses in january of last year. egypt's prosecutor said mohamed morsi will go on trial for inciting the murder of protesters last december and the charges are politically motivated. and back to our top story the crisis in syria, we have a french journalist and editor and chief of an online newspaper and is live from paris. he says he wants to punish syria. can he do that on his own? >> well, i don't think that friends could imagine one going on its own to punish bashir assad. the only way they could punish him is by an international coalition. >> reporter: is he struggling there to maintain some kind of

french resolve for a strike? i mean, when he started talking about punishing syria was that a bit of rhetoric? >> i think that sets a bit of rhetoric if not a lot of rhetoric here. it was a real blow on thursday when british parliament said no taking part in an international operation in syria. it's another blow that he seems to be wondering if it's a good position and she in the same position here in france because constitution doesn't require government and president to ask for a vote in parliament as long as there is no declaration of war. but he knows that some of the people and part of their position and saying are we sure it's a good thing to do to go and punish bashir so he can read

polls and the polls show majority of the french people are opposed to intervention in syria. >> reporter: so and just to get this entirely right and make it very clear, the president as far as i can see has no constitutional duty to seek parliamentary approval for any foreign venture for under venture lasting under four months. so he could, if he wanted to, attack on his own, but you are saying domestic concerns, so politics comes into it because obviously there is not a mood in france to attack syria. >> absolutely. it's another example of politicking if you want. where actually there seems to be last week determination to go and punish bashir assad and say no to use of chemical weapons and to send a very clear message to international public opinion by saying that never we will

tolerate the use of chemical weapons and actually behind this, the message is not that clear that this is a trauma of the iraq war which actually they were facing in britain and others and france has been accused to be like this if you want and it's starting to shake somehow. but as you said from a point of view there is no need for parliament and the french government was to call for an emotion of confidence and forced to resign in the french parliament. >> reporter: frank is in paris, thanks, frank. >> pleasure. >> reporter: and a new law aiming to provide cheaper food to millions of indian -- india's poorest people is facing a test and they are debating the food security bill and expected to vote in the coming hours.

it intends to cover 800 million indians providing them with heavily subsidized food and they will decide on an income limit and those earning less will qualify and they will be entitled to 5 kilos as a reduced price and will take food subsidy costs up to $20 billion this financial year. that is almost $5 billion more than current spending and we report on that. >> the indian government has long struggled to feed its people but this a play plea in parliament, gandhi behind a food security bill urged representatives to vote for change. >> we must together rise to the occasion, set aside our differences and a firm our commitment to their well-being.

it is my sovereign and my humble appeal that we, as representative of those very people, should resort this bill into an act and do so unanimously. >> reporter: and over the past two decades india experienced rapid economic growth but despite the good fortune hundreds of millions of people have not had enough to eat. from urban areas to remote villages hunger is a consistent problem. right to food activists say the country leaders have finally taken responsibility. >> i think broadly it's a good thing and sets things that is wrong with the system and acknowledges hunger. it makes the state accountable for the hungry and it is a legal entitlement and it is a positive step forward. >> reporter: the government says the food security bill will force india to be more selfi

selfisheselfish , efficient and describe the coverage as universal but not everyone is convinced. the global perception is that india is doing a huge thing and it's 0.2% that will be spend and maybe additional 15, 20 million tons of grain which is nothing with a country the side of india. >> reporter: it's a noble policy, one that could provide indians with widespread social benefits but as with all things here the challenges associated with rolling out ambitious plans may prove otherwise, al jazeera new deli. >> reporter: and we have the editor of the indian express and says subsidizing food will not help millions of poor indians. >> and it is not the government's job to buy food and

distribute it to 1.2 billion people and it's not workable as a system because we tried it for the last six or seven years through a distribution system that is flatly broke and it doesn't deliver. a much better system would be to give out cash to people and it has already been tried and the government is trying a benefit transfer which means you give out money to the people in their bank accounts, in the post office accounts and give them that money, allow them to access shopping what they want to and buy what they need to and first of all asking them to spend on rice and wheat is usually because there is huge amount of grain, the same quantity which is not being sold because people are not buying that. the people want to buy

vegetables and protein food and are not part of the security food system and people will be sitting on piles, the system will be clogged with these grains and agricultural system of rice and wheat production would be nationalized and that is a disaster at every level and just means we choke agricultural productivity which has been rising into an unproductive system of production of rice and wheat which doesn't help us at all. >> reporter: the government says it will take a direct role in the cleanup of the damaged fukushima nuclear plant and there are concerns of the plant to deal with the crisis and on sunday it said radiation was in a tank with highly contaminated water and says it can kill a person in four hours if they are not wearing a protective suit. >> translator: we decided to take charge of the issue and not leaving it to tapco.

we will deal with this so as not to repeat such an incident. >> reporter: regulation authority told reporters monitoring procedures were not strong enough. >> translator: the possibility that contaminated water may have leaked from the tanks is a very serious issue. but separately from this, we believe the monitoring of the tanks is a serious issue as well. and the radiation levels were not measured on a regular bases is an indication that management was not done in a stringent way and we told them to correct their systems. >> reporter: the u.n. promoted international water week, africa's largest freshwater bodies struggling to combat an innovator from south america. the water clogged most of the shorelines uganda and a way to

remove the weed. >> they are fishing on the site of lake victoria and fishing was once a lucrative business but not anymore. in resent years he and other fishermen are returning with less fish. and the weeds made the lake shallow and the fish go to where we can't reach and most fish are too small or like this one. >> this is a weed that dramatically reduced the fishermans catch where the shores of lake victoria were the weeds has taken over and it tangles nets and fish breeding grounds and millions of people who live on or near the shores and it's near choking and becoming almost solid with the weed and that is having a disastrous effect on the people who depend on it.

controlling the weed has become a priority for kenya, uganda and on the shores of the lake a center says they have taken an initiative to clear the lake of the weed using this conveyer the weed is cut and pulled out of the water. it's a frustrating task. once out of the shore it goes straight back in the waters. >> that is not a cure so basically maybe they try to make sure the fishery life and fishermen who are effected and for them there is an avenue for them to go in the water and go fishing instead of going far away. >> reporter: the weed has been a blessing for some and making furniture out of dried branches out of it.

>> they can eat and they can dress. >> reporter: and this is not negotiable. and efforts such as introducing to feed on the weed have also failed. so far the water keeps the grip of lake victoria. and i'm from al jazeera from the shores of lake victoria. >> reporter: still to come on the news hour on al jazeera what tourists can expect to see if they take a trip to tehran. and action from the u.s. open as two favorites go head to head in new york. ♪ ç]

♪

they are producing an unwanted by product and tens of millions of the black powder are accumulated in the united states and canada and coke blew into homes last month from detroit. >> reporter: it says it all, black dust against a sky blowing over the detroit river and panic on both sides of the waterway and a canadian tour boat is stopped in the shelter of the bridge and passengers and crew looked on. >> i thought it was a tornado. it was so frightening all of a sudden but it wasn't shaped like a tornado so at first we didn't know what it was but it was a

huge black cloud and obliterated the bridge. >> and coke was stored on the u.s. side, from a detroit refinery it's a byproduct from canada shaktar sands. u.s. officials say it's not dangerous but scientists are divided on that and river front residents feel otherwise and saying they are finding it in their homes and streets. >> the first concern was with their health because the dust was flying on their window sills and getting in their appointments so if it was that easy to get in their apartments that means they are breathing it. >> reporter: after the uproar in detroit the piles shrunk and politicians told the storage company to move the petroleum coke or get rid of it entirely and rarely used as fuel in north america it can be sold to generate power in china and elsewhere but that is a limited

market and booming shaktar sand means tons of millions of coke is accumulating in canada and the u.s. >> our whole society is built on cheap energy, that cheap energy does not include the cost of energy byproducts such as waste piles of residuals. and this is a really expensive problem that is still waiting to be solved. >> reporter: activists expect new piles of coke will now be placed here with stockpiles of c coal that is back from a shipping port. whether or not it's as toxic as they fear, coke is no longer stored on the detroit water front for now. what to do with the byproduct from the refining is a huge challenge, not just here but across north america. daniel with al jazeera detroit. >> reporter: a new study found the average height of european men increased by 1 1 cent meter

and that is short of 5.6 and by the 1980s the figure was 108 -- sorry 178 and that is about 5'10" and growth was significantly effected by what happened in the first two years of life and said better infant health was a factor in the increasing size of adults and another factor was shift to smaller families meaning fewer people to feed. larger incomes and better sanitary living conditions and education, and nutrition had an effect according to the study. al jazeera has been given rare access to film an ancient palace in iran which received world status from the united nation now as a result the tourist industry is hoping to get a boost after years of decline and we report from tehran. >> reporter: it's one of the

splendor of the city and this is relatively new by the ancient standards but not international ones and tourism operators say advertising places like this can help the new government revive the industry. >> the first step that needs to be taken is for our foreign minister, foreign ministry and the president himself to regain the board's trust and confidence in us. and i think that would be the most important step. >> reporter: the tourism sector is under developed and slummed in the past eight years. some say that is because of government miss management, poli political conflict. tourism is important but has not

improved and we have many visitors but few foreign visitors. >> reporter: getting them back is the challenge. and visitors here acknowledge this. >> i think it is heard because they try to discourage tourists from coming here like european governments try to discourage it and iran governments makes it hard to get a visa. >> reporter: that is despite the fact that iran hosts world recognized listed areas and more than 5,000 years of history. >> the long list of heritage sites and now has 16 and that is more than any other country in western asia. >> reporter: according to the government more than 3,800 visited iran last year and most were iraqis that came for pilgrim or medical treatment and that remains the case and the

gates through iran and the history it holds will stay closed. and i'm with al jazeera and, tehran. >> we are minutes away from being officially presented as a madrid player, up to 80,000 supporters are expected. and they arrived to complete the biggest transfer in football history, and paid to english side is a world record $132 million. the six-year contract is worth $4,000 a week and it was completed on monday morning and the spurs are happy to adjust to life without their star player. >> the players are an absolute wonderful player. and he join madrid so we wish him the best with great memories from last season which i think

every fan cherishes but he has moved on and we move on as well. he made reinvestments from all the money that will come from sales to the team which is wonderful. >> reporter: let's go live to london with our correspondent and lee welding and we have been talking about this gareth bale saga a long time and why has it taken so long? >> well, according to the agent it has been 1 ten-days of negotiations and feels longer than that and has drawn on and what is unusual about the time it took is that gareth bale made no secret he wanted to play for madrid, the dream move and clear about that and not being disrespectful to them. but to actually make the move happen madrid wants them and they were clear they wanted to make him the grand signing of the summer but they were not going to let him go easily after what happened last summer and

were not happy with the way he went about the transfer of business there. and the chairman is a tough negotiator and he was not going to let bale go for less than the sum he wanted and wanted reassurances how they would pay him because they keep finding money for the big transfers but it's not as simple as that and they wanted the amount of money they wanted and of course they reinvested it in 7 new players, that is why it has taken so long but it finally happened. >> reporter: and now that it has ended, do you think it will kick start other transfers? >> yes, it will help kick start other transfers such as we have seen today has left to go back to milan and what is interested is he was the second most expensive in the world and rejoining milan for nothing,

having cast over $60 million when he originally went to madrid and there has not been a lot of money spent before the barrel transfer and the spending in the league is over $700 million dollars and approaching a billion dollars of spending alone and happening all over europe and in france and paris. and we have seen them pick up a player on loan from chelsea so that activity is going to be picking fast throughout the day right up until the transfer deadline. >> reporter: we will speak to you layer and we are speaking live from london, thank you. and barcelona may not be too worried about the arrived of

gareth bale because they have messi who had three goals against valencia and got two goals at the end of the first half and definitely the highlight approves to be the match winner with 3-2 varsa and they have madrid on nine points from three games. and he strolled in the final 16 of the u.s. open and dropped four games and they crushed portugal and the match over in hour and 40 minutes and will face a spanish one in a place for the quarter finals. >> it makes me happy that i have room for improvement and keep on spending hours and hours on the court and working on variety of my game and serve and especially that part of my game, i want to try to get as many three points as possible. >> reporter: defending champion

andy is through the fourth around and struggled in humid conditions but 7-6-6-2. >> the real reason why i have done well and won't is because i work hard and train hard and all those other things are just extra bits and pieces. but the reason why guys do well is not when they go through and whether there is rain or whatever, it's done to hard work and having good people around you. >> reporter: serena williams had the defeat and the top seed one the all american conference 6-4-6-1 to reach the quarter finals. >> the quality was great. so they are great players and i think it definitely felt like that but at the end of the day it was a fourth round match so it definitely had feelings of a

quarter finals. >> and garcia is setting the pace after the third round of the championship and he shot 7 under par and 65 to extend the lead to two strokes and the round was 66. >> i played nicely and felt like, you know, obviously 2-3 putts could live better than they got and good putts and sometimes they go in and sometimes they don't. >> reporter: there is more sport on our website, check out al jazeera.com/sports for the latest. that is it for me from now. >> reporter: in case you didn't know gareth bale went to school with another sporting superstar, do you know who that is? >> you. >> reporter: sam wolverton and stay with us, another half hour

of news coming up. ♪ ...

they presented the president with an autographed jersey, and obama shared a few praise. >> coach shula retired with more wins than any coach in history. each time that record has been challenged, team after team has fallin short. >> michael eaves joins us to talk more about that. the president was having a lot

>> an interesting debate. coming up, a school where students don't read books. instead they use ipads almost >> good morning, this is aljazeera. i'm del walters. it is a full campaign for support as president obama attempts to gain congressional approval for his plan to strike against the syrian government. >> i don't believe that my former colleagues in the united states senate and the house will turn their backs on all of our interests. >> secretary of state john kerry making the case for military action in syria. >> hopes for a political resolution in egypt fading, as out offed president mohamed morsi and other leaders will stand trial for inciting murder.