>> this is al jazeera. >> hello everyone this is the news hour on al jazeera live from our broadcast center here in doha. france says it will not act alone if there is military intervention in syria but still means to have a closing for military action. president state of the nation address a day late and the wrong place. >> i'm barbara ser in london, the latest in europe, a 92-year-old former tha nazi goen

trial for the murder of a dutch resistance fighter in 19 had 44. a growth spurt, towering over their aggressors. >> world record over real madrid. football's transfer. >> so if the last half hour, france has released new evidence of chemical weapons being used by bashar al-assad's government on syrian civilians. it is a nine page documents. it chose among other things, satellite imagery over the area where the attacks were carried out. it reports that the rebel held areas were bombed after the fact to wipe out evidence.

evidence points to a large tactical push to regain the areas held by the reckless. john mark aral says his government will not act alone to punish the assad government for use of chemical weapons. >> ladies and gentlemen. i've just had a meeting. to the national senate and the senate -- national assembly and the senate, this information from the parliament is vital. elected people of the nation must access elements which the republic has adopted in the last few days with regards to the situation in syria and the

reaction and the call by france. this meeting took place in a climate which is particularly serious. on the 21st of august, the regime of assad, using massively chemical weapons, for his own repression, denies the reality, the u.n. inspectors, the elements that we have on attend, allows to hold the regime responsible and his act cannot remain unanswered. the issues of defense assad

reuses chemical weapons, what's at stake is to discourage everyone from using these weapons again. for our own security, in the context where wmds are already a major challenge, also, in other parts of the world. france is therefore determined to sanction the use of chemical weapons by a regime of the government of bashar al-assad and to dissuade them to use them again by applying firm action. neither to overthrow the regime, they will only be a political solution in syria.

information from parliament has resulted in extraordinary meeting which will take place on wednesday. so this debate can take place in an atmosphere of seriousness, when the higher stakes -- it's not for france to act alone. the president of the republic will unite a coalition as soon as possible. france must unite behind the subjective, because france respects international law. i also call upon the various institutions and constitution it's up to the president of the republic to decide if our constitution on wednesday, there

will be a debate. because on any assumption the ultimate decision will be taken by the president of the republic when it will be constituted this coalition. and to decide on action and to address the message of firmness, on the use of chemical weapons by the dictator, mr. assad. thank you. >> speaking all of president assad he has himself spoken warning of a regional war if anyone attacks syria. this is to an interview of the french lefigaro. we must not only talk about the syrian response but what will happen after the first attack. no one will know what happens. chaos and extremism will spread,

there is a risk of a regional war. jackie roland our correspondent in london, two things, jackie the response, we'll talk about that in a moment. i guess first the proof that the french have put forward in this intelligence report. >> yes, they're leaning first of all very much on satellite imagery which they say shows that the weapons were fired from territory controlled by forces loyal to bashar al-assad. secondly, the nature of the attack which they said was massive and concerted and also the nature of the weapons which they say were industrially manufactured. both these indicators they say, they simply wouldn't have the resources to mowbt that kind-d to mount that kind of action. also, the report points to the location of the attack. they say it was territory held by option fighters yet bordering

on territory held by government forces. they interpret the attack as a tactical attempt by government forces to re-take that area. another key element to this does 88 is dose -- dossier that govet forces then shelled, thoroughly bombarded the area in question apparently to try to wipe out, to erase the evidence of chemical weapons having been used. so those are the elements which the intelligence services have put forward in this report which has been declassified and which has been distributed to members of parliament, a day and a half ahead of the parliamentary debate in order to try to build support for the argument of the government that action is needed against the regime in syria. >> so let's talk more about that response jackie because prime minister hero says, this action

cannot remain unanswered. he puts france into a holding pattern waiting to hear from other countries before it makes its mind up. >> yes. he started by trying to explain or justify a potential intervention, as being in the interests of france's national security. his reasoning was that if a chemical weapons attack is allowed to go unpunished, then that could send a message to other groups in other parts of the world that chemical weapons can be used which could at some stage in the future endanger france. but then he wept on to talk -- went on to talk about the debate that needed to take place within the parliament, but concluded that coming back to the constitutional reality that it's the president of france who has the responsibility and the right to decide upon a limited military intervention overseas which would then prompt the question: why the parliamentary

debate, if they don't have a vote, was this window dressing buying time delaying tactics because the president of france has the authority to order forces to intervene. france is a major power, nuclear power, aircraft carriers, attack aircraft. it has the wherewithal to actually carry out the attack. so apart from political considerations, one would ask, what is france waiting for? he says france is trying to build a coalition. you may remember that when the president was speaking last week he said that in the absence of u.n. security council, another coalition would form, a coalition of the willing. you have to ask where is france fighting these partners? the u.c. has voted against intervening. president obama has delegated that decision to the congress. the canadians say they won't get involved.

the germans say they won't get involved. the secretary of state of nato says they won't get involved, you have to wonder where is this coalition going to come from. >> jackie roland, thank you. jackie has mentioned nato, who said this cannot be ignored. but secretary general says political process is only way forward. >> let me stress again i have not spoken about a nato military role. i've spoken of individual allies responding to what has happened in syria. i have stressed that nato already plays its part, as a forum for consultation among allies, and through the deployment of patriot missiles to turkey. to ensure effective protection and defense of turkey. i don't foresee a further role

for nato. >> now strongly is russia and nato was speaking against this attack. russia has expressed its skepticism about this attack having taken place. barbara hello. >> hello kamal. the russian president vladimir putin says he wants to send lawmakers to the u.s. to discuss this issue. russia which is an ally of the assad regime have scorned any military move and scorned any belief that the assad regime used chemical weapons on its people. they opposed the visit. >> in order to better understand each other, there is no other way than a direct, open dialogue with arguments and with

explanation of positions. such a dialogue between parliaments would certainly be a significant part in russian-american relations on the whole. >> peter is in moss coy cow for what had means on u.s. russian relations. >> more evidence coming out about the chemical attacks this would somehow have changed russia's stabs in its dealings with syria. he will have been disappointed. russia remains steadfast in its support of president assad, that the attacks were carried out actually by the rebels in an attempt to drag western nations like america and britt ann into- britain into the war itself. this is going to bring tensions in the upcoming g-20 in st. petersburg. the evidence of the attack is simply inconclusive. there are no names, no dates, no

coordinates. it is going to make for an interesting time in st. peterburg when the nations gather for a meeting. a meeting of economic matters but of course on the sidelines where the news will come will be the bylal purpose of of course syria. >> welcomed the head of syria for possible support of berlin, vestor veled met the leader of the national coalition. he says he will discuss means of moderate opposition groups in syria. several nations that make up the friends of syria group will meet on september 8th. that's it for me in london. let's go back to kamal for no developments in syria. in washington, d.c. we have two

top republican senators at the white house for a briefing on syria. patty culhane is live. >> senator lindsay graham and senator john mccain are going to be meeting with the president in this hour. they are two of his fiercest critics, they say they will not vote for authorization of force because they say it is forceful enough. president barack obama has insisted that is not his intention to tom it will government. he is going to spend the -- topple the assad regime. all the cabinet members are making phone calls. on tuesday the secretary of defense and secretary of state will testify before a senate hearing. they are trying to definitely push this but i can tell you that the lawmakers that have gotten the classified briefings have come out and are openly

skeptical of the what is the point of the limited strike? they ask what are the possible unintended consequences and also there are some that are saying the evidence simply isn't there. now just like in france the obama administration says its has to do something or it will embolden other people to use chemical weapons. there are some lawmakers who are pointing out that chemical weapons have been used in the past, the u.s. didn't intervene and the words of one congresswoman the end of the world would come it didn't and that is entirely credibility. >> patty we thank you for the global coverage of syria. we do want to bring you up to date on the developments inside syria. it goes on there. fighters say they have taken over the post of an armored unit on the outskirts of damascus. reportedly from the kabun area. activists also uploaded this video from del azor, shelled many buildings in that part of syria.

also in del azor, syrian claim to have downed a plane, this claims to be the situation and aftermath. two people have been attacked in the city of giza, three people in a motorcycle are believed to have thrown a home made bomb on the facility, no one has claimed responsibility for that attack. plenty more ahead on this news hour. we're going to meet with the democratic republic of congo, and the u.s. fierce form of the open in new york. paul will be along with details at 10 before the hour.

mexican if the has delivered his state of the state address. stopped nieto from reaching the parliament building. he has reached the speech a day late and from inside the presidential palace instead. >> this is a time for change. for transforming mexico. we could all make mexico more prosperous with a stable economy, competitive and open to the world and this must be reflected back in the pockets of all mec mexicans. >> adam remy live in mexico. first of all tell us about the substance of that speech. >> well, if you will, kamal there's a bit of cognitive dissonance. you had the president inside that tent at the presidential residence talking about the

achievement they've made, their plans for the future house they're going to make mexico a modern country under his administration it will meantime outside you have seen chaos, thousands of teachers marching, other unions marching saying, hold on, we are not in agreement and we're going oblock them as much as possible. the speech delayed, saying they were making a lot of progress and they were going to make mexico a modern country, improvement education, improvement security improving the energy sector, right now you have legislators inside the chambers of congress fighting on these issues and people in the street in disagreement. that is not to say across the country that you don't have people supporting this education reform and some of the other reforms but for now his speech sounded really good, it sounded positive. but if you open the aperture a bit, over the larger mechanism

society what you -- mechanism casino society you see something different. >> if it's chaos if it puts the president off by a day and forces him to change locations for a state of the union address? >> yeah and what's interesting when you look at this is this is an extremely stage-managed government. they are very good at spin and they are very good at telling reporters and the larger society that they're making things better. but when you go out into the states and the rest of the country what you see is a country not very different from the country that fen pena nieto natured not too long ago. you see vigilantes springing up across the country. trying to fight back, when the government won't. the economy growing just a little more than 1% now and you now see this scored amongst the

public utility parties, nieto presses this pact for mexico that he pushed through for opposition parties. he is struggling now with an unruly congress and unruly country. whether they can continue to stage manage in the months to come is going to be difficult because these few months coming up are key months as congress will be voting on whether or not to enact the provisions of each reform that he has either passed or plans on passing. this is a pivot at time now, he will say either you know what i beat down this moment or if his protestors held his feet to the fire, he held the course. >> adam, thank you. unexplode land mines left behind by al qaeda are continuing to cause problems in yemen. last year thing administration launched a offensive but many

unexplode devices still litter the region. >> the dangerous task of removing mines from this farming area. this team only has two months to clear the city of land mines and other explosives. this is yemen's southern province which was under al qaeda's control. its fighters were driven out by the army, of explosives they left behind are still here. these reminders were equipped to deal with land mines. now they are facing something quite new. explosives and improvised explosive devices left by al qaeda before they left the area. some of these are highly sophisticated and the yemeni farmers are victims. 12 were killed in this area but he reminds his staff that without mine clearance the

displaced will never be able to go back home. the equipment we have is outdated. the international community needs to help us. there's a lot of work ahead. i lost my best men here trying to make the city mine-free. but the mining alone is not enough. every day, being visits families like this one that lives only meters away from a mine field. he is raising awareness about the dangers of your honor explode devices but many already know all too well about those dangers. hamadi lost their limbs they come regularly to this prosthetic center funded by the united nations. hamdi lost both his arms. mohammed his two legs. they're still traumatized by what happened to them. >> i spotted something on the ground. we thought it was good to play with. then i decided to take it home. it fell and i woke up at the

hospital with my friend beside me both of us without our legs. >> once the cast is made the doctor fixes braces and shoes for the patients. at the end amputees walk home for another challenge. their hope is to overcome disability and get a chance to live a normal life. ing hashima bara, al jazeera yemen. visit comes as government forces backed by u.n. soldiers are advancing on the m-2003 rebels. malcolm webb went to the near the front line to meet one group sheltering in a church. >> these people have fled their homes because of fighting between the government and m-23 rebels. many have relatives killed. the church service 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. tori has been caught up in fighting time and time again. she lost her whole family. >> i don't have a husband. he is dead. three of my children were killed during the fighting. my other two children died of disease. i don't have anyone otake care of me. >> the displaced community here is just one of many. around a million people in eastern congo have fled their homes since the fighting started in may of last year. for the glaised people life is -- for the displaced people life is tough. the food that people eat here they have to go and bring from their farms and for 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's been a lot of heavy fighting in the last two weeks. the government pounded the rebel positions with artillery and tanks and the u.n. supported them with helicopter 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. >> civilians are suffering, you can see how they live. they used to live normal lives but now they are living like animals. >> they prepare to go to bed. the floor is dirty and it's crowded. and for many, it's been like

this for months. they just wants to go home. malcolm webb, al jazeera, in the democratic republic of congo. >> in the news ahead, providing subsidized food to millions of poor indians but not everybody's convinced. how the record deal has sparked frenzy in the european transfer market.

>> you're on the news hour here on al jazeera and these are the top of stories. the french prime minister says he and his government will not act alone to punish syria. meanwhile nato says the chemical attack on syria is inexcusable and cannot be ignored butter the secretary general says it cannot get involved in the astack against

the syrian government. mexican president has delivered his state of the union address. used the speech to praise legislators for improving the program for educational reforms. take you back to syria now and french evidence of an apparent chemical weapons attack. richard guthrie joining us now to talk through some of this. i'm getting richard, this report has only been out for an hour or so. how does a country like france or england come to these sorts of conclusions, gather these sorts of evidence? >> there are a number of methods of gathering evidence within the country but at the moment the details i've seen so far being released seem to be vague, talking about there being evidence of a coordinated attack. but with some of the sorts that

of evidence that can leads you to that conclusion, language or code words can possibly be misinterpreted when you are trying to read the intelligence. and so there may still be more we need to know. >> sit as much about pacing together other bits of information looking at who's been purchasing what materials to pull together something which might be used for chemical weapons is the chatter is out there, those sorts of things? >> well, that's in the long term how we've got a much clearer picture of the overall syrian chemical weapons program. this is a weapons program that goes back to the 1970s and we have for a long time known in the public sphere certain details of it. the weapons program had a strategic purpose in countering the significant conventional speasuperiority of israel and te acquisition of nuclear weapons and this was a strategic counter to that. so they let the israels, made

sure the israelis had the counter. what we knew was that it was air delivered weapons primarily ready to be used on a large scale against targets. not the sort of little war-fighting, tactical war fighting capacities that would have seemed to be used in the last couple of weeks. >> okay, so if you piece -- if we put these things together in the long term stuff would you have talked about and the information accommodation out from the french report and from what the u.s. has told us does this build up to a credible pish? is this french report looking like a credible picture to us? >> there are still some gaps, to me, what open source information there is, it is my belief on a balance of probabilities it was regime force he or behind the regime front line, behind the regime forces, that were fired on the 21st of august but i think were quite a long way of proof which we'd use in a

british court of beyond a reasonable doubt. i'm looking at the report from the u.n. inspectors. >> the u.n. report which is still possibly a week or so away, that should be the conclusive evidence? >> well i think there are limits to what they will have been able to find. they will have been able to interview people and to take samples. i think the fact, i think it's conclusive that there were a large number of people exposed to a poisonous material on the 21st of august. the real question is, who fired those weapons? now it may well be that the evidence that people can have of photographing munitions and understanding their direction of travel may be a good indicator of who in fact used them. without that sort of information, it's actually very difficult to ascertain who deployed these chemical weapons.

thank you richard guthrie from the u.k. the part of indian parliament has passed the security bill, makes a right for food for all indians. each state will decide on an north carolina preliminary only those earning less than that limit will actually qualify. and each person who qualifies will be entitled to 500 kilograms. up to $20 billion in this financial year. this report is from nida dubb. >> the indian government has lodge struggled to feed its people. but in an impassioned plea in the country's lower house of parliament last week, sonia gandhi urged represents to vote for change. >> we must together rise to the occasion.

set aside our differences and affirm our commitment to their welfare and well-being. it is my fervent fervent hope and my humble appeal that we as a representative of those very people, should convert this bill into an act and do so unanimously. >> after years of deliberation, they heeded gandhi's call and today, ministers in the upper house did the same. >> the bill is passed. >> over the past two decades india has experienced rapid economic growth. but despite the country's good fortune hundreds of millions of people have not had enough to eat. from urban areas to remote villages, food has been a problem. leaders have finally taken responsibility. >> i think broadly it's a good thing. irt sets right things that are

wrong with the public distribution system. it makes the state accountable for the hungry and there's a legal entitlement. it is a possible step forward. >> the government says its food security bill will force india to become more self sufficient. it claims that economic national agriculture impact will become larger. >> the global perception that suddenly india doing this huge things, it is 0.2% of gdp that is going to be spent which is nothing in the country the size of india. >> prime minister and his coalition government swept into office on a waing of promises. including one to provide each and every indian with food. ten years on and with another national election around the corner, the country's parliament has finally passed a contentious

food security bill. on paper it's a noble policy. one that could provide indians with widespread social benefits. but as with all things here, the challenges associated with patrolling out ambitious plans may yet prove other wise, libby dupp al jazeera nu delhi. >> back to sarah in london. >> kamal thank you. a 92-year-old former member of the nazi paramilitary is on trial for the murder of a dutch fighter in 1944. had been already jailed in the 1980s for killing of dpuch jews. it -- dutch jews. it comes amid a new era. 96 spicer reports. >> joined the german ss after nazi germany invaded the

netherlands. his job, hunting down jews and rinresistance fighters. >> of course i have a personal opinion on this, in general i think it's quite light for these things. i think it's questionable whether a 92-year-old should be dragged in front of a court again. >> prosecutors accuse him of fighting the resistance fighter four times in the back after he was taken prisoner. at an interview aft the trial he said he was there and did not pull the trigger. it's not clear if he will shed much light on the issue. >> the court once again has said the accused must stand trial. the accused let it be known that he does not want to say anything about himself or the crime. >> germany has tried around 106,000 german or nazi soldiers for war crimes since the war

ended. 13,000 were found guilty and about half of them sentenced, 96 spicer pldges berlin. vodafone has sold verizon's stake to the company. one of the biggest corporate buyouts in history. shareholders will get a portion of the agreement, not be required to pay any capital gains tax, the potential tax levy would have been a minimum of $38 billion. >> well for what this means, we're joined in the studio by rks telecommunications expert helen keegan. so what does it do essentially that vodafone has lost its market? >> emerging markets which is very important to them and actually, such a cultural difference between verizon

customers and vodafone's european customers that maybe it didn't make sense for them to work together anyway. >> the roaming chars are so different and whenever you cross the border. >> they couldn't negotiate a wholesale roaming deal so vodafone'sing customers in u.k. weren't even roaming on verizon. >> do you think it's going to damage vodafone? >> it's going ohelp vodafone, it gives them lots of money to shore up their business in the u.k. and europe and improve service for mobile and broadband and also they're keeping an eye on acquisitions in european markets. >> they are expanding in europe rather than the united states. >> so the rumor goes. >> okay, we'll confirm if and when it happens. i guess 4g network is what everyone is talking about.

how is this money they have to spend, how will it impact their consumers, their users? >> that's a greal question. i hope it reflects positively. if the data networks improved if the voice networks are improved that should mean that customers get a better deal. it makes vodafone more competitive in what's already a highly competitive market. >> helen keegan thank you very much for joining us. it's the growth spirit of se century. nowadays european men are much taller than their ancestors were 100 years ago. >> we've more than for some time in europe we're getting taller but what's surprising by this news story is by how much. in 1871 the average 21-year-old european male was just over 167 centimeters tall. 100 years later, that same man had grown to over 177

centimeters. across europe the study finds in 100 years men have grown by 10.3 centimeters. one of the biggest factors has been the eradication of childhood diseases. in the 19th and early 20th century if they didn't kill they actively inhibited growth. in the period between the two world wars huge steps in public health across europe resulted in spurred growth, the other result has been better living standards, smaller families, better sanitation in the big industrial cities, and better education. it all helped us grow taller. >> a less crowded environment means less spread of infection and so on. and of course parents who are by now getting better education, more knowledge of hygiene, and nutrition, are better able to nurture these smaller families that they've now got.

>> the study only looks at the figures up to the 1970s. it's not looked at what happened since, and public health policy issues. not so much how tall we're becoming but how wide we're becoming. this study says that 100 years of steadily improving diets and break through in the our general health have made us taller but now we've tipped over the edge. we're eating too much fat and sugar and not doing enough exercise. in 100 years time studies may dramatically looking at increases in our weight not our height. simon mcgregor-wood, al jazeera london. >> nothing like being on the shorter side. now back to you. >> paul is here with your sports next, several others make their exits we'll look at that with sports in a moment.

>> paul is here to talk sport. ridiculous, ridiculous amount of money for a football player. >> i know you've been very excited about it and will continue to be very excited for a long time to come. thanks kamal. real madrid, the welchman became the world's most expensive player when real signed him for $132 million. alise totman reports.

>> gareth bale. officially signed off the $6 million deal send to the welchman almost $400,000 a week. >> it's an absolute dream to be here. i know the president florin florentino perez, my belief in him the whole way, i'd like to thank him personally for making this happen . it's a dream to be here. >> an off season waiting for the elongated transfer to be completed, also to learn some spanish. are. >> gracias, ah la pl la madrid. >> time to meet his new thankful. 20,000 poarn into the burnibau,

as they play against the number 11 jersey for the first time. >> you see the players in the past done the unveiling and you watch them and it's an absolute dream come true . for me to be out in front of the millions of fans it made me very welcome and it's a privilege and i can't wait to start now and get my career kicked off. >> he'll have to wait a couple of weeks with an international break scheduled for this weekend, are bale begins for reereal on september 16th. >> a form he scotland striker, he believes bale isn't yet close to if world's pest blare. >> normally when someone goes for such enormous fee, therefore

the fee reflected that. i think with gareth bale, demand is outstripping supply. real madrid had watched their biggest and fiercest rival going to, demanding their president florentino perez do something in response. i think bale out there is probably as good as they were going oget. i know gareth is going to be a great footballer, whether he's going to be a great footballer at international level we'll find out. monitoring around the continent, let's start with our correspondent lee wellings, lee, real madrid finally got their man, now they're happy it seems

like getting some of their big flames. >> they needed to let one or two players go really. there is not room for the first team nor to keep everybody happy. bale is going to be playing in place of, ask have agreed to fees around $60 million. arsenal's fans have been the desperate for them to spend. he's staying in international for them on friday and that one is very, very close to going through for arsenal. other players, get angal de maria is extremely unlikely. someone for a few days was the world's most expensive player going back to milan, they were delighted to get him back.

>> it's been quiet in italy and indeed outside england hasn't it? >> it has, a lot of the business had been already done in italy, the likes of uventis and teves, and benitez now, didn't need to do a lot of transfer activity on the final day. in england that's not the case. a real scramble of to get hold of the names they want before time runs out. kozak was playing for the tangos in the europe league, more deals done before the window shuts in three hours' time. >> thanks so much lee. let's shoot from london to manchester, manchester unite,

grand championships. >> it seems obvious that amber herrera, is the main buy out player. we understand that mancomeft euntd is prepared to play for, manchester eunt, there are reports that the player has signed a five year contract, that yet to be confirmed. we expect the player who has played here, in that europa deal, before 11:00 here in england this evening. >> now managers have a bit of a habit of going to their old clubs to sign place, is can a david moyes having any joy with his former club, everton?

>> the two players that everton and manchester eunt have been interested in, that means it's perhaps likely that deal won't go through. expect baines to stay everton player. what you will again, this is a player who had ra buy outdeal before that expired at the end of july. it seemed like manchester eunt weren't prepared to pay that figure, they will have to play something -- pay something close to that to lure him back. the figure that manchester putin are willing to pay, the play for defor de laney is up in the air

for the moments. second round of u.s. open tennis, nova noaa zjokocic. >> andy murray was also around to the fourth round. he struggled in humid conditions but eventually prevailed in straight sets 7-6, 6-2, 6-2. >> i work hard and i and all those extra bits are bits and pieces. whether there's a bit of rain or feathers or whatever, it's down

to hard work and having good people around you. >> serena williams, top seed won 6-4, 6-1 to reach the quarter finals. there's more on our web site check out algeorgia sierra ah.com/sports. >> , monuments received world heritage status in the world tourist industry hoping to get a big boost as a result. this from serea lenny. >> it's one of the splendors of the city, a 500-year-old palace right in the heart of teheran. >> 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 ministry, foreign affair ministry and mr. president himself to regain the words trust and confidence in us. and i think that would be the most important step. >> iran's tourism sector is underdeveloped and last slumped in the past eight years. some say that is because of government mismanagement, political tensions and regional conflicts. >> tourism all around the world is an important source of revenue but in our country it hasn't improved yet. we have many iranian visitors but fuse american visitors. >> getting them back is a challenge and visitors here acknowledge this. >> they try to discourage

tourists from coming here. like european governments try to discourage tourists but also the iranian government makes it hard to get a visa. >> more than 5,000 years of history. >> golistan adds to iran's long list of heritage sites. it now has 16 and that's more than any other country in western asia. >> according to the government more than 3,800,000 foreigners visited iran last year, most were iraqis who came from pilgrimage or medical treatment. while that remains the case the gates to ancient iran and all the history it holds will remain closed. soraya leni, al jazeera san

juan. >> more news at aljazeera.com. that is it for now.

>> hello and welcome to al jazeera, i'm tony harris, here are your headlines. president obama tries to rally congressional support for a strike on syria. he is in a meeting with senator john mccain who has long pushed him to take a more drastic stance. diana nyad has done it. the long distance swimmer finished the trip from cuba to key west about an hour ago. nyad is the first to swim that route without a cage. 64 years old