... >> this is al jazeera. welcome to al jazeera newshour. it's good to have you here with the top stories. syria's war cast a shadow over the g20. leaders come together in saint petersburg but are worlds apart on intervention. what syria's armed groups are fighting for. the facts fueling the debate over intervention. asocial security sass nation attempt in egypt.

why the u.n. is warning the central african republic to become the next failed state. and the new treaty aimed to protect workers worldwide comes into effect. but will it do the job? well, thet any doubt the g20 summit would have been over s d overshadowed by egypt, on the way to the world meeting russia, leaders from the united states to russia to france have been laying their arguments. okay. we are seeing pictures right now from saint petersburg, a british airways plan that landed and on it is the u.k. prime minister david cameron. how he fits into the debates, he asked his parliament to take a

vote on what their view on intervention would be and he got a resounded no saying the u.k. will not be involved in military intervention in syria. so that's david cameron. he will very soon be getting out of that plane, landing in saint petersburg to attend the g20 comic summit, largely shift the comic summit but likely most of the talk will be about syria. well, russian president vladimir putin is hosting and he has been meet can other leaders, including the chinese leader and putin has been out spoken of barack obama's decision to take military action over the suspected chemical attack and putin has accused the u.s. secretary john kerry of lying. >> i have watched the debates in congress, and when they asked secretary kerry: is there

al-qaeda in syria, kerry said, no. they are not there. but a unit of al-qaeda is there. kerry and the others know this. we communicate with them and assume they are decent people but he lies open lyn and he knows that he lies. >> peter sharp is outside constant teen palace where the g20 meeting is taking place. these are the questions on everyone's mind. is barack obama going to meet putin face to face? >> well, we simply don't know. putin's press spokesman said that they would have the opportunity. the opportunity, they said, to meet on the margins on the sidelines of this

this this this the g20's non-comic matters may get short-shrift. one thing may be making companies like google to start paying taxes and there are plans to wind up the u.s. stimulus measures will hit developing economies hard. these economies want the u.s. to coordinate with them. and unemployment is also supposed to be on the agenda. ministers will talk about the guest ways to create employment, including ways of getting young people back into the workplace let's move on to some other news. hearing a bomb has exploded in front of the egyptian interior minister's house in cairo. it's reported two of the attackers were killed by police but miami ibrahim was not hurt.

itt it is reported a bomb was thrown from a nearby building. we are not naming our correspondent. give us the latest. >> it's a confused situation at the moment: different reports pointing to the possibly different devices. we are hearing on state television they believe some sort of device was thrown from a building at the convoy carrying the interior minister, mohammed ibrahim. as you say, he wasn't injured. we are hearing reports a device was in a car or it was a suicide bomber in a car detonated. the pictures seen coming from the scene appear to show a car exploding. it is confused at the moment. we know that it was confirmed from security sources that two are dead and six were injured at the scene. the minister has received death threats and he was travel nag

well-secured, well-armed convoy. we are getting conflicted reports as to whether the security guards are the ones who have died. nasar city where he lived is where the muslim brotherhood it was cleared back in the middle of august. the cogfirmation that mohammed ibrahim has not been injured. and we understand the minister is about to appear on state television. >> thank you very much for the update. the international says it will will continue whether kenya withdraws from the hague. the president and deputy president deny allegations of planning and funding po

post-election violence in 2007. politicians proposing the move say they want to protect kenyases sovereignty. our correspondent joins us live from nirobi. it's obvious why they would not want to be part of the icc. does it look like it is going to go ahead and pull out? >> reporter: it looks like this motion is going to be passed. what's happening now here in parliament and outside of parliament is intention loathing. this motion is being pushed by the members of the ruling coalition to the jubilee coalition who want this to be passed. they have the numbers in parliament. the opposition is having its own meeting trying to get a common position ahead of this -- ahead of this special session at 11:30 g. now, the opposition says either it's not going to pass this motion. it's most likely not going to pass this motion but that the jubilee alliance is confident

because they have the numbers in parliament that this motion is going to be passed. >> that's not enough. there is more that's going to be happened. this is just a resolution seeking the withdrawal of kenya from the established international criminal courts. what happens next if this resolution is passed is that now, it's going to be tabled in parliament within 30 days. this deal is going to be seeking a repeal of the international crimes act of kenya which binds kenya to the international criminal court. and if this is passed, the president has to sign this into law. then the process of the absolute withdrawal starts. it's likely that this motion will pass. it's likely that the deal might pass because the ruling coalition has the numbers in parliament. but it's not likely that the president will pass it because it will not be in his interest. according to analysts, it's not in the interest of the country and actually will not do well for his case. >> there was much anger after

the 2007 riots, and people wanted, and kenyans wanted people to be held accountable for it. how much public support is there for kenya pulling out of the hague? >> reporter: it depends upon which side of the divide you are looking at. the coalition, the ruling coalition says that this motion and this debate is being supported by kenyans who want to pull out but surveys that have been done show that kenyans really don't want den kennians really don't want the country to pull out of their own statute that established the international criminal court. the poll interviewed a cross section of kenyans in june. what came out was that the support for the icc in kenya is waning. about 39% of kenyans support the process that's going to be happening. the cases to go on, but many,

about 50% really don't want kenya to pull out of this, of this court, of this international treaty. >> catherine soi, live for us. thank you very much. the u.n. is warning that the central african republic is close to becoming a failed state. and if that happens, chaos threatens to engulf the entire region 689 so far, only the international security assistance is being promised to the country and it's in the form of the african peacekeeping mission. joining us from the capitol of the central african repuckblic, bangee. nazneen, does it look like the country will get a stronger man data from the u.n.? >> reporter: well, things are very tense here in bangee. you can see during the day people are out and about, going about their business. but at night, that is when rebels and fighters come out and

people say they have been looting and killing. just in august, alone, there were more than 30 people killed and hundreds more injured. many people i have spoken to say this is basically a lawless country >> reporter: on the streets of bangee, it is the gun and not the state that rules. therenals known as seleka march as a force of 5,000. there are now around 20,000 armed fighters in the coalition. in recent weeks, some of those fighters have gone into bangee's poorest areas, looting and killing people. >> they suffer from crime, rape, torture. every morning, we are surrounded. our breakfast is gunfire >> reporter: the united nations has been discussing what to do about central african republic. there is talk of supporting an african-led international peacekeeping force.

and investigating human rights violations >> reporter: the u.n. admits even an african force of thousands will not be enough to bring civility here what the country needs is a national army made up of different tribes who are trained, if he had and paid properly >> reporter: there is a plan here to integrate a number of former seleka fighters into the army. they will be vetted before they can wear military uniforms. a small number of civilian and military police are back on the streets. the people trust them more. the united nations said it's important e elections are held as soon as possible. >> this strategy would be to make sure that this country will be ruled by people that have been chosen democratically by the population and that they use their security apparatus not in the prospect of maintaining them to power but in the prospect of serving the country.

>> the country does have atritional government and is writing a new constitution. it's promised to hold e elections within 18 months and that number of the current leaders will be able to run for. >> we promise we are on the good track, and everybody is getting together in the country to see how to open the way. it's time or it will be too late. >> the international community and the african union have so far refused to recognize or support the transitional government. for now, central african republic remains a lawless territory in the heart of africa. what happens here next will impact on the whole region. >> we can't under estimate how much of an impact what is happening here will have on the neighboring countries. there is a fear that armed groups including the lra are

growing in strength because of this sense of lawlessness and open borders around central african republic. the question now is: what will the united nations do? it really does seem to be occupied with syria and the problems with the democratic of congo, we are expecting the security council to probably strengthen the man data the u.n. has here sometime in september. but, also, the key will be: will thetritional government get the support that it needs? if it doesn't, then this could potentially become another failed state. france has already said that it could become another somalia. >> in bangee. thank you. now, with just two days to run before going to the poles, we will take to the skies. this is the continuenent's interior to get a sense of the vote. >> in the maldives where the

people of this island nation are about to elect their next president. >> and is rafa nadal playing the best game so far? we will have the details coming up with joe in sports. remember this? well, it was captured at the g8 summit back in june, an awkward movement for u.s. president barack obama and vladimir putin over the last few months. this picture was taken around the same time. that was the time that putin decided to uphold the ban on americans adopting russian or fans. russia granted asylum to leaker edward snowden who is wanted in the u.s. on espionage charges. until now, obama agreed to meet

with gay rights act visits while he is in russia. over the last couple of years, russia has imposed several policies regarded as anti-gay. with the christian science monitor, our mosqcow core spon responde respondent, live from moscow. we just outlined some of the awkward difficult moltz between obama and putin and now, yet another, some would say, salt to the wounds. obama has decided he is going to go meet gay rights activists. how is that going to affect things? >> well, i think it's really going to irk the kremlin. i think that putin feels somewhat blindsided in recent months. a lot of the deterioration in russian-u.s. relations, things that you find there were kind of deliberate. the slide began basically about a year and a half ago when putin returned to the kremlin. he had a new attitude.

he really has decided that russia is a different place, doesn't need any advice or mentoring from the west, and he's decided today go his own way in a lot of ways, and that really undid the reset that obama began when he came into his first term of office. but some of the things like edward snowden turning up at the moscow airport were not scripted by the kremlin. also, i do not believe that russian officials think that this anti--gay propaganda law should have been controversial. they do not seem to get it that in russia, we had, like, 20 years of evolution on this issue, certainly in the big cities after homo sexuality was decremnalized in 1993. at least big city metropolitan

russia has become like a western place in this regard. and this law, though it does not outlaw homo sexuality, it does effectively criminalized any public expression or display of it. >> that's a huge step backward. and i don't know why russian officials didn't expect there to be a massive public reaction in the west and that to have political repercussions but apparently, they didn't. so obama going and meeting with lgbt activists today or perhaps tomorrow in saint petersburg is going to be just another black eye. it's going to -- it's going to really make putin angry and put a blot on his g20 hosting experience. >> it seems that both barack obama and david cameron are going to be talking to putin about their -- the gay policies of that at the g20.

now, we are hearing also that there is a russian lawmaker that is proposing a bill that would deny gay parents custody. so this seems like this, russia is going ahead with whatever policies it's deciding it's going to move forward with. going back to the obama/putin relations, obama has always maintained, no, relations are good. is this diplomacy lip service or is this reciprocated over there? >> well certainly in the last two or three meetings that they have had, face to face type meetings like in the g8 meeting in june in northern ireland, unless we are all fools, the body language, the facial expressions told us that there is really bad chemistry between these two guys. and after that g8 meeting, obama made some remarks about putin, he called him, he said his demeanor is like, you know, the bored kid at the back of the

classroom then he went on to say, but i can work with i am had. putin also made some remarks in his interview yesterday saying, yeah, we are human. we get vexed. but i can work with him. it's pretty -- it's hard to gauge just how much this bad personal relationship, which it clearly is the case, will worsen the -- or aggravate the situation. but it really can't help. >> thanks very,b much, fred weir live for us in morning on you. now let's get the weather with everton. . >> we are seeing lively rain, stormy weather across japan. i am pleased to say things are in the process of quietening down. this long line we have on the east side of the country is in the process of pulling away. brighter skies coming in behind. as it made its way through, we saw downpours coming through in the tokyo area. you can see flash flooding

there. we have seen big, heavy rain across the region. also led to the possibility of some mudslides. that still remains a problem over the next couple of days but hopefully things will quieten down. as it made its way over hanshu, rain coming down over the space of the last 24 hours. the remnants of our old tropical storm, brighter skies behind as you can see. another area of low pressure will make its way across the korean peninsula. but for friday, we are going to see some dryer and brighter weather at long last. here is our next area of rain, though. it will push it's way in across south korea. by the time it comes, we will see heavy rain pushing back to the southern parts of japan. >> everton fox with the weather, thank you very much.

e bab ham won an august presidential poll. he has two months before talks resume with the rebels in the north. this will saturday is election day in australia, political leaders have concentrated their campaigns in cities along the south and east coast. but the sparsely populated interior has largely been ignored, much to the frustration of those who live there. our correspondent traveled to the time of alice springs to meet some. >> al gouls has cut down and sold logs as firewood for more than 20 years. regulations are getting tougher. his income is suffering as a result. >> we haven't got time anymore. you are too busy trying to work.

>> gould is standing for parliament, a sparsely populated area with fewer than 50,000 voters. it stretches from the national park to alice springs, more than 2,000 kilometers south. you get a flavor of the terrain when you take to the air. jason livingston has been floating across the red center for more than 15 years. >> you see innu running around as well. >> deserts stretch beyond horizons. it may look empty but the landscape down there is actually peppered with tiny aboriginal communities. many, so isolated it's not practical to get to polling stations on election day, itself. for two weeks of free polling, ballot boxes have been coming to them.

indigenous voters run a gauntlet of campaigners before they go in to vote. >> this is for labor. >> candidates clock up thousands of kilometers. >> you have to take a full day, traveling to one electoral booth to another. ringiari is normally a safe labor seat but a new party is shaking things up >> distance can overcome by actually word of mouth. this is where we use the aboriginal grapevine, getting the message and saying, if you truly want to change, we are an alternative here we have an opportunity. >> like his candidacy might split the labor vote handing it to the right of center liberal party. that wouldn't upset neil waters. he has caught and tamed wild camels, sold them to zoos and offered passing tourists rides. he contributes to the economy, i thinks, but gets little in return. >> anything they do for rural australia or central australia

is ad hoc. we don't get to turn the light on at 2:00 o'clock in the morning when we get up to run out to the toilet, we stumble in the dark and see what we can find. >> political leaders are campaigning. the vast interior doesn't matter much, but this is australia's heart. andrew thomas, al jazeera alice springs. okay. let's take a look now at some of the other headlines from the world. the japanese government says its contacted international experts about the leak at fukushima nuclear plant. on wednesday, it was revealed radiation levels were worse than first thought. two years ago, it was hit by an earthquake and tsunami which damaged its cooling system. >> tens of thousands of teachers in mexico say they will disobey educational reforms taught by congress. it will strip the unions of certain powers. mexican teachers have been able to sell their position or pass them on to their children. but now, they will face tests to

get jobs and promotions. it's thought this 118-karat diamond will break records when sot h-e-b y's puts it on the auction block. the starting bid: $28 million. but if that's out of your budget, it was a cheaper version. this is a vivid blue diamond that's expected to sell for more than $19 million, though. the auctions will take place in hong kong. even before world leaders gathered in saint petersburg for the g20, sparks were flying. >> we communicate with them, we assume they are decent people. he lies openly and he knows that he lies. >> the russian president called the u.s. secretary of state a liar over comments about syria. we will be discussing that name-calling. but farmers in colombia continue to demand an industry overhaul. we will tell you why the

u.s.a. is saying costa rica's ms.ries ahead of the cup qualifiers. we will have the details in sports.

hello again. let me take you through our top stories here on al jazeera. russian president has been greeting world liters, this ahead of the g20 summit in saint petersburg. g20 members are expected to talk about financial issues but it's syria that's likely to overshadow the agenda. egypt and syria minister

survived an assassination attempt. a bomb has exploded in front of mohammed ibrahim's home in nasar city. two were killed. the cases against kenya's president and vice president will go ahead whether or not kenya withdraws from the treaty which set up the court. they will start debating to pull out from the statute. let's return to the top story at the g20 summit in saint petersburg. vladimir putin is hosting that. he has been out spoken in barack obama. he has accused the u.s. secretary of state, john kerry of being a liar. >> i have watched the debates in congress. and when they asked secretary

kerry: is there al-qaeda in syria, kerry said no. i say officially, they are not there. but the unit of al-qaeda, kerry and the others know this t we communicate with them and assume they are decent people but he lies openly and he knows that he lies. >> okay. so now let's listen to what john kerry said at the senate committee in reply from senator ron johnson. >> what we know about the opini opposition? have we been tracking them for the last two years? it seemed like this is more of an impression to have as opposed to any exact knowledge but it seems like initially the opinion zilings was more western-leaning, democratic, and has time has gone by, it has become more infiltrated by al-qaeda. is that true? >> no. >> that's actually basically not true. it's basically incorrect. the opposition has increasingly become more defined by its

moderation, more defined by the breadth of its membership and more defined by it's adherence to some, you know, democratic process and to an all-inclusive, minority-protecting constitution which will be broad-based and secular with respect to the future of syria. >> the head of outreach at the international study of radicalization at kings college joins us from london. thanks for being on the show. >> thank you. >> the question: is al-qaeda there or not? and if they are, how much of a push do they have in syria at the moment? >> well, of course, al-qaeda is in syria. there are a number of fighters there with organizations which are affiliated to the organization. but it's very important, i think, when talking about the syrian opposition that you understand them and think of them as a broad spectrum. at one end of that spectrum, they are jihadists who are affiliated to al-qaeda and at

the other end, you have secular nationalists, ordinary syrians fighting for their freedom. that side of the spec is the overwhelming manhattan. i want much larger and that's the side we need to think about. what we have seen in recent months and perhaps over the last year is, of course, western media and politicians worry about jihadists, so they have taken a lot of the headlines but let's not let them become the distraction. they are a minority within the opposition movement. >> this is where matters get complicated because if you are looking at the conflict, the two sides are either for or against a . if the u.s. decides to go in and possibly target assad or any assad, basically there at their defense, is this in any way also leading to softening the ground

for those elements that are on one extreme? >> well, i think part of the problem right now is that which groups like them are relatively empowered because they have access to men action money, and munitions in a way that the more moderate elements of the opposition don't. that actually strengthens the case for a greater degree of western intervention and involvement. we should very much be there on the groundworking with these guys at the moderate end, to ensure that they have the resources at their disposal to be at the forefront of taking the campaign to assad. so it's about bolstering the right people in that con flick. of course, just because al-qaeda is opposed to assad and the west is opposed to assad, that didn't put you on the same side. just simply through, you know, opposition to assad. i think that's a misnomer as well. >> this may be a simplistic's view but going in there, bolstering, say, the more

moderate elements, then you are suddenly entering a three-pronged conflict where there are the clearly assad forces. they know you have the extremists on one side. >>. >> unfortunately, this is the fate of syria and the something else in which it now finds itself. you do have a trianglation of the conflict. you have the assad forces on the one hand and the other side, the jihadists and unfortunately, the ordinary syrian is caught up in the midst of this. >> that's unfortunately a situation that will have to unravel now and there will have to be a way to resolve that. but that doesn't mean we should give up and certainly the west should give up on the average ordinary syrian in the middle who simply wants to live in a free state. >> shiraz mihara >> thank you for your analysis? >> thank you. >> in colombia police fir.

troops have been patrolling major cities. overnight curfews are in places in some towns. farmers are threatening to block colombia's main roads unless the government takes urgent action to improve their conditions. strikes have begun to fade, but their anger has not. marchian a sanchez travels to to see why farmers will continue to protest. >> cows keep this farm running, but that could change. when he checks income versus his expenses, things don't look good. >> i spend more than i produce, and i am not even counting the cost of fertilizers or water. i can't pay my loans. so, i have to find something else like renting my truck. >> seven hundred liters of milk every day are not enough to make ends meet. he has been working at a loss for three years.

he had hoped midge would be a substitute to his barley farm when the agreement was institute in 1990. first, barley and wheat imports wiped out colombia production and now other imported goods are making farmers desperate. >> the government has to do something so we can all compete. >> since 1990, colombia has signed 17 free trade agreements around the world. as a result many measures that protected the farming sector virtually disappeared. five years after the first agreement was implemented, hundreds of thousands of he hectares of seasonal crops disappeared. >> protection remains for milk, meat, and rice and those are being removed now and that's why the crisis erupted. >> reporter: for more than two weeks, farmers and supporters like students and unions

protested around the country. the violent confrontations with security forces left at least three people dead and hundreds injured. farmers are among colombia's poorest. they say they want subsidies, a revision of the free trade agreement and for agricultural reform. the president has taken some measures, nailing down some agreements with farmers, reshuffling his cabinet and calling for a national dialogue a week from now. >> reporter: but many farmers don't trust the government to change any international agreements and that could mean his 22-year-old business will slowly disappear. marchian a sanchez, colombia. to china where an official famous for his luxury watch collection has been sentenced to 14 years in prison on corruption charges. he was found guilty of accepting

other than $850,000 of illegal funds and of owning a huge catalogue of unaccounted properties. he came under the spotlight grinning at the scene of a fatal bus crash. the incidents sparked an outcry as he was the head of the work and safety administration. a politician accused of plotting to overthrow the south korea ian government has been arrested, taken into custody after over 90% voted in favor of the arrest. he is accused of planning an armed revolt in support of north korea. he is being intear gated at a seuol court. >> the national intelligence service has accused me of conspiracy of ren rebelian. regardless of whether the accusation is true, an agenda to agree on my arrest is irrationally proceeding at the national assembly.

a global treaty is coming into force, which will give new rights to domestic workers. some charities have called it a ground-breaking moment. it was passed by the international labor organization, which is part of the u.n. and it gives domestic workers extra protection. this includes weekly days off, a minimum wage and social security benefits. so far, just eight countries have ratified. those countries are bolivia, italy, marchicious, and others. there are at least 53 domestic workers -- 53 million domestic workers worldwide but that does not include children. lawrence johnson is the director of the international labor organizations for the philippines and he says more countries are beginning to understand the importance of improving labor conditions. >> many countries right now are looking at this new convention, and they are seeing the importance of it. they are looking at it in relation to their national laws. we see already globally, 53

million people that are considered to be domestic workers of that 83 million are women. in the asian pacific 20 million. it's relevant to many of our economies. so they see the importance of t they understand the importance of it, also, in terms of helping their economies grow. dmiftic work, we need to make sure it's decent and productive. they are helping our friends, families and loved ones. we need to ensure that we have decent work for them that basically works its way out into the rest of the society. we have to understand some countries, some industrialized economies have these things covered in their national laws. we talk about the gulf states. i don't think they are blatantly ignoring it. there are agreements already between the philippines and saudi arabia, they see it as importantly. i think it's only a matter of time before some of these countries ratify this con convention. this doesn't also stop by lateral agreements. we are seeing these come into play already. i think people understand that

the issue of decent work within domestic workers is relevant. roughly 45% of these workers are already missing any forms of paid rest period or even annual leave. so, again, if we want to make sure that these people are taking care of our loved ones and our family, we need to treat them in the best light because we expect them to provide a meaningful service. so i think these countries are realizing the issue and understand the importance in terms of their economic growth and development. >> and there is plenty more still to come. >> i am phil lavelle, looking at traffic. they are issues to be tackling. something has to be done soon. in sports, is this the closest the team will come to taking home the n.f.l. championship trophy? as this new season kicks off? we will have more in sports. ç]

>> hello again. let me just update you on the arrivals of the g20 summit happening in saint petersburg in russia. just a few minutes ago, this plane landed. that's the air force 1. who is on it? barack obama, fresh from stockholm where he pushed the case for intervention in syria strongly there. syria was not on the official agenda. it's an comic summit but it's likely to sorry shadow most of what will happen at the summit. obama will look for support from countries like france and other countries that will be at the summit, although russia has clearly been against

intervention, and vladimir putin has put forward some strong words on the case for not having the military in syria or international military in syria. well, of course, get you more on this at the g20 summit, as it proceeds. voters in the maldives are going to elect a new leader. in february, violent protests forced the president from office in what he calls a coup and a new government took over. but many people say they want the top job to now go to someone who will now look beyond the nation's beaches and focus on economic and social problems. >> reporter: it's easy to see why the maldives has been so popular with tourists for more than 20 years, selling luxury holidays is backbone of the economy here. >> but miami nazir says it takes

more than just perfect weather to attract investment. >> so tourism is one of the most important incomes to our country. so it is important. it is always comfortable for stability and national security. >> all over the world, the maldives is known for idealic white sandy beaches like this and private holidays. scratch below the surfaces and uncover a different reality. this, locals say, is the real maldives. the fish industry keeps tens of thousands of families across the archipelago afloat. >>. >> getting this yellow fin t tunases job may be gone. next year, the maldives will lose preferential tax status in

europe. >> things go up, that would mean as the process, he will have to cut down their costs from somewhere and who knows? it could be my salary. >> from job security to personal security, maldivians say political instability has allowed crime to increase in the capital, mali. last year, she says her husband was mugged. she says he was fatally stabbed on a city street in the middle of the day. >> a lot is going on here people never know. everything is shut, shut off from the outside world. so, we have to give the message to the outsiders. this place is not safe. we can't walk really like we are walking before like 10 years back. >> beyond these shores lie some big economic and social challenges that the next president will need to address that will not only help keep resorts fully booked but will also help maldivians prosper in their patch of paradise.

mali. >> it's time for sport now. here is joe. >> thank you. rafael nadal machine the king of clay but he's proven to be as good on hard court hoping to making into the semifinals. he beat in straight sets. nadal who won in 2010. he closed out the match 6-love, 6-2 action 6-2 and he admits it was his best performance of the tournament. >> it was my best match of the tournament. the quarterfinals. just happy. it was great. it's a fantastic win so just enjoy it today. >> he will now play for a place in the final. the french 8th seed won the t

titanic struggle. would know the first two sets, win the next two. the frenchman held firm in winning 3 to 2 in the first u.s. open semi. top seed djokovich and andy murray play on thursday while in the women's tournament second seed azaranka moved closer to a showdown with serena williams. 6-2, 6-3. at 24 years old, she has become the only woman under the age of 30 to make the final floor at ing meadows. runner up to serena last time. the unseated italian beat her double partner, the 10th ceded roberta vinchi 6-4, 6-1 to read

her first grand slam semi final. >> from the first day of the tournament, never seemed to be here and talk about the semi final, you know. yes play my best in the last six months, and i just tried to keep working and working in the same way every day and i starting to feel more, my forehand, my backhand, everything starting to feel more normal in the way it was before the injury. >> the world's linal messi has paid more than $6 million to spanish authorities after he and his father were accused of filing false tax returns. they are to appear in court on the 17th. they were accused of hiding more than $5 million by filing incomplete returns from 2006 to

2009. messi gave his backing to madrid's bid denies any wrongdoing. qualifying for next year's world cup in brazil continues later this year. there is plenty at stake for many of the teams as campaign approaches its climax. for the that's meant an uncomfortable stay in costa rica ahead of their match on friday. chant did of "no fair play" were directed at the players as they arrived in san jose. it stems from their first world cup qualifying cup in march during a huge snowstorm. the costa ricans feel it should have been abandoned. the new n.f.l. season, with the baltimore reins visit the broncos. 32 teams will vie for the convince lombardi trophy. the ravens will be hoping to become the first team to defend

their title since the new england patriots in five but they have lost several key players including star linebacker ray louis who has retired. it gives the 1999 champions, denver, a little bit more incentive to win. >> this is a new season for us. we are playing an excellent team. we are opening up the n.f.l. season with a home game. so, if people need that for an extra incentive, that's fine. i think there is plenty just with the schedule and the timing of when we are playing. >> on to baseball and the new york yaifrpingz have swept the white sox in their 3-game home series. the yankees piled on four runs. a two runs to score here, which would help lead to a 5-1 lead. a late fightback from the white sox almost rescued the game for the visit orders but they fell short losing 6-5. keeps the yankees in third place in the american league east.

cleveland indians have won their first season series against the baltimore orioles. to help the indians to a 6-4 win that leads them three and a half games off the wild card race in the american league. the world's fastest man has announced his retirement. it won't be for another few years. he is saying bolt wants to defend his 100-meter title as well as win gold and set a new world record in the 200. jamaica hopes he will be remembered alongside greats. however, the 27-year-old has admitting it's becoming harder to recover between races. >> at the end of the championships, i felt kind of tired. so, i figured i was not in the shape i usually am at the end of the season because i got

injured. so i didn't get to play way i wanted to. >> pakistan bold out zimbabwe starting the day with a 32-run lead, the home side could only add 46 runs to finish on 327. agmal finishing up the tail end to end up with 7 wickets. pakistan 23 for 2 in their second inning. that's all of the sports for now. vivian. >> thanks for that. we now go to the italian city for venice. a lack of regulation of the canals is causing anger and frustration. so we took to the canals to find out why >> reporter: no matter where in the world you go, chances are, you will never be far away from one of these. the traffic jam is universally hated at least in venus, it looks nice. you don't get anywhere here if you don't go by water and for the moment, at least, you won't

be going anywhere fast. >> e special live -- >> in the city >> it's not safe any more, especially for the smaller boats. >> it's busy, very busy. the city's canals are suffering from increased congestion from all kinds of traffic, damage from high-speed motor boats and reports of drunkenness on the water. >> despite the appearance of tranquility, there are real problems here not just because there are more gondolas and, therefore, more congestion but they are getting closer and closer to venice. they are making waves not just metaphorically but literally and those who work on the water will tell you they are not just disrupt i have. they can can damaging and in some cases, they can be dangerous. >> we can't ignore the fact that the authorities pretend they want to solve this problem but they are increasing the amount of ferries allowed on the water. this appears to show a cruise liner coming within meters of the bank. it's owner denied any wrong doing.

in a separate incident last month, a tourist was crushed to death by a water bus as he sat on a gondola. this ancient city is covered by electronic eyes. they can't be issued -- used to issue speeding laws because of privacy laws. rome has to give the okay. >> obviously, we need to check the traffic so everyone is more disciplined including the gondoleers. they need to follow rules but unfortunately, too often, they feel like they own venus. >> one proposal is to introduce appear congestion zone. the other is to breath allies gondoliers. they go home for a well-earned rest but they know they will be back tomorrow. so will the crowds, the congestion, and their frustrati frustration. phil lavel, al jazeera venus. >> if you are going to have to deal with traffic, it might as well be in a gondola in venus.

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why some critics say the school is setting the kids up for failure.

♪ theme >> are going. this is aljazeera. i'm richelle carey. president obama arrives in russia for the g-20 summit, but the global economy is expected to take a back seat to the showdown over syria as the u.s. looks to build support for a military strike. >> it is being debated on capitol hill. it will be sent to the senate for a full vote next week. >> aerial castro takes his own live in prison. the women he held captive for a decade have remained silent, but their neighbors have plenty to say. >> this is all about money. nobody cares about