♪ . >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello and welcome to the news hour, i'm in doha and good to have you with us with the top stories, attack to bring peace to syria, they push the case for strikes to help get offering to the negotiabling table. but syria warns the u.s. if there is an attack negotiations may never happen. [gunfire] also ahead gun battles and hostage taking in the philippines as forces fight the

separatists. and they allege vote rigging as he loses in a moscow race. and peace on hold, the pkk fighters suspend the pull out from turkey. ♪ so with world opinions divided on possible military strikes on syria, the diplomatic war is heating up, and russia and syria's foreign minister suggested the u.s. would effectively be sizing with al-qaeda. now, syria's president has denied involvement in the suspected chemical weapons attack. last month in an interview to be broadcast later bashir assad said there is no link to him and the attacks. and meanwhile the u.s. secretary

of state john kerry said military strikes could be prevented if they hand over the chemical weapons stockpile. >> let me be clear, the united states of america, president obama, myself, others are in full agreement that the end of the conflict in syria requires a political solution. there is no military solution. and we have no illusions about that. but a resolution to this has to come about because the parties are prepared to come and negotiate that political solution. >> reporter: in a moment we will speak to barnaby in moscow but let's go to london to jona and john kerry on a push for coalition building, how much support is he giving since the british parliament decided they are not going to behind

intervention? >> well, great expressions of support in the press conference with foreign secretary hague and secretary of state john kerry. these occasions usually an opportunity to reaffirm the special relationship and this one was no different. they are partners with a bond that goes beyond one vote said secretary kerry and one moment in time and partners in values and that they would work to achieve together. but he did get quite exercised when the question was put to him whether the vote in parliament in london, the failure of the british parliament to endorse military strikes forced president obama the route he has taken to go to congress and cautiously and slowly looking at evidence and kerry said, no, that was not the evidence but it was important to take a look at the evidence in a post iraq world and mr. obama's decisions are courageous and went through

what we know it, the trajectory of missiles and positioning of forces and videos that could not be contrived. in a jab of the russian, opposition forces may have carried out the attack defied logic and defied common sense and said the evidence is powerful, what will we do about it now is the question, turn our back, run from a dictator and he said the risk of acting is worse than not acting. >> he acknowledged there is low public opinion. how did he address that? >> well, he was asked directly about that because public opinion is extremely low in the united states according to a resent poll, 69% of people oppose u.s. intervention and 56% of people in britain oppose u k intervention and president obama and kerry know they face an up

hill battle persuading members of congress where there is opposition, the message and answer to that quite impressioned and quite exercised is this, he said we are not talking about a conventional war and people are worried about troops coming home in body bags and said we are not going to war that way and we can be accountable for in a short-term effort without assuming responsibility for syria's civil war. the message from john kerry, from the american administration on this tour of europe and trying to drum up support is simply this, if you don't tackle assad and the regime based on the evidence they will continue and be allowed to continue with impunity and they will do it again. >> reporter: and live in london, thank you. well, meanwhile syria has the backing of the ally russia, following talks there to foreign minister syria and russia are urging the united states not to

launch military strikes against the assad government. >> translator: if the goal of the aggression against syria is a considerable weakening of the military potential of the syrian army it will serve the interests of al-qaeda and affiliated groups. we have the right to ask whether the real interests of the united states is to escalate this aggression by these groups. we are ready to take part in if geneva meeting without preliminary conditions and ready to have dialog with political forces in syria and those in favor of peace in the country. we are also ready to accept the commission and their investigation into the possible use of chemical weapons. and ready to cooperate with france and russia to remove pretext for aggression, assuming a political solution is the only solution to the crisis in our country. but if there is aggression opposition will change. >> translator: more and more

responsible state leaders share the estimate that the scenario will result in more terrorism as syria and the neighboring countries will be a sharp increase of the refugees and influx of them which is taking place after the statement of usa to make the strike against syria. i remind the ga leaders have agreed that any such report should be investigated professionally, objectively and results should present to the security council of un where corresponding conclusions will be made. with the seriousness of the situation, we and syria are convinced that the opportunity, their opportunities for political settlement are still in place. >> reporter: and we are live for us in moscow, so barnabie, we heard comments there but if you say -- if you had to underline what came out of that meeting, what would you say it

was? >> in essence that russia still stands by syria without a slither of a doubt. also perhaps there is a battle for world's opinion going on. you heard one vote from john kerry and the other vote from moscow this morning. at times the minister seems to be speaking over the heads of a local audience to a much wider audience, thanking the pope and thanking elaborates in europe for skepticism and thanking british british public and more doubts in minds of leaders in the west over the wisdom of possible attack on syria. >> reporter: so very obvious push for support for russia and syria, what happened behind closed doors and what was talked about there? >> well, we don't know. it has to be speculation, but i think it's reasonable to assume

that a conversation behind closed doors would have been more practical and probably more interesting than what we heard in the press conference. the syrians must fear an impending attack and they will be key to know what sort of support they will be getting from russia should it come. politically and diplomatic and the men who spoke today are diplomates they would have been talking about the military aspect, how russia could help syria if it does come under attack from the united states and who knows other western allies. >> and we are live in moscow, thank you. and here is what lies ahead on syria this week. the u.s. congress returns to sessions in the coming hours. this after the summer break. and president obama is due to sit for interviews for six u.s. tv networks. on tuesday president obama he will make a case for military intervention in an address to the nation and the u.s. senate

and the president's democratic party could vote on military action by wednesday but not clear when the republican-controlled house will vote. some reports indicate that un chemical weapons inspectors may submit findings by the end of the week. the white house is working hard to convince politicians and the public and kimberly has the report from washington d.c. >> reporter: these pictures among other evidence. >> making the rounds on u.s. sunday morning show, white house chief of staff dennis making the case why they should authorize the u.s. president's request to carry out strikes on syria. >> how congress chooses to answer the question will be listened to clearly in damascus but not just there. >> you are making a case. >> and among lebanese. >> reporter: it's an issue of regional security and stability for a top u.s. ally israel. according to a former white

house advisor. >> the israelis have a signal they feel we have to act because if we don't it will encourage the use of these weapons. >> reporter: internet videos of the aftermath of the alleged chemical weapons attack in damascus last month we released by the senate intelligence committee to support the white house argument that the syrian president should be held accountable. but in a soon to be released interview with u.s. tv network cbs, the president bashir assad denies he even knew about the attack and said if the obama administration has evidence he used chemical weapons against syrians it should be released. >> so what should america expect if we rush into syria? >> reporter: a liberal activist group if the meantime released a television ad urging congress to vote against the president's request to authorize military action. after ten years of war in afghanistan and iraq, americans fear being drawn in to syria's

civil war. >> fire. >> reporter: it's the intense public pressure to oppose the president's measure that the white house must overcome and president obama is making calls to congress to draw up support and also scheduled to give national interviews on monday and an address to the nation on tuesday as he continues to ramp up his campaign for syrian intervention. in anticipation of the vote here in the u.s. senate by the middle of the week. kimberly with al jazeera, capitol hill. >> reporter: a war reporter and teacher kidnapped in syria five months ago are free. and a correspondent for the newspaper and pierre arrived back in rome and they entered syria from lebanon in april and three days later on travel. plenty more coming up, on the

program. >> i'm david mercer on the streets of mexico city where thousands of people have come out to protest proposed government reforms. >> reporter: and inflation in china, we will tell you why the price of pork will gauge what is on consumer's minds. and she does it again, coming up, in sports, serena williams the wins the u.s. open title for a 5th time. ♪ 220 people are being held hostage by gunman in a coastal city in the southern philippines according to the police. 6 people have been killed in fighting between security forces and fighters from the national liberation front. they want an independent home land for the country's muslim minority and we have this report. a shoot out in the heart of a bustling southern philippines

city, government soldiers are exchanging fire with fighters from the morrow national liberation front. the battle of the city running for cover but some were killed in the cross fire. >> translator: i saw them roaming around and knocking at the door to my master's house and got the people inside and took them away. >> reporter: if broken away from the larger morrow front which is involved with the philippine government and mnlf felt left out. >> our mission to establish our own place, but we want to, at the conclusion of that we want to establish our own government. not the government but we want to independent nation. >> reporter: local reports suggest several hundred fighters are now holding a number of people hostage in the crowded

neighborhood. >> the city convened the crisis committee led by the mayor and they tried to stop the event and negotiate and get a resolution of the problem. unfortunately they refused to negotiate. >> reporter: the fighting began when the military stopped nmlf fighters marching marching on the city. al jazeera. >> reporter: we have a representative for the philippines as the asia think tank and is live in the philippines now. as you heard there the hostage taking of a couple -- more than a couple hundred people increased security on the ground which is largely christian more than muslim, how much of a concern should this be and i know it does happen from time to time but the fact that it happened on this scale, is this an indication that mnlf is getting stronger? can we read that into that?

let me try again, steven rood, can you hear me? okay, i apologize for that, it seems we have some audio problems, our guest there couldn't speak to us and he was going to talk to us about what is happening in the philippines right now with rebels taking hostages. let's move on to guatemala where a gunman has opened fire on the main street of the town near the capitol and killing at least 11 people. most of the victims were sitting inside the bar. police are blaming the attack on gang violence but they say corrupt police officers are responsible. >> translator: i don't know what to think because you can no longer live cally and no longer live peacefully and happens everywhere but not here before, never happened before because this is a humble town.

>> reporter: the mexican president is proposing a series of new social programs including the first nationwide pension of unemployment insurance and he plans to find answer these through new taxes and thousands of mexicans are skeptical about a proposed tax hike and open up the energy sector for private investments and david mercer reports from mexico city. >> reporter: three weeks of demonstrations and no end in sight. it started with mexican teachers apposing a government plan to introduce competency tests. soon the protests took to the national stage creating havoc in the capitol. now people are turning their attention to president enrique proposed changes to the tax system and the nationalized oil industry. >> translator: in reality what they are trying to do is increase the taxes paid by all mexicans in order to replace

revenue by selling off the oil to foreigners. >> reporter: and the leader called on mexicans to come out in force to express their opposition and tens of thousands of people showed up. >> translator: we are against the structure of reform, the education and energy reforms because they affect us all. the administration only tells us about the good parts but the reality is they benefit politicians and big business. >> reporter: few things get mexicans pride than the national oil company, and provides a major source of revenue for the country and gives jobs to about 160,000 people and it's for this reason that people are afraid of what opening up the oil industry to private enterprise could do. the government argues that transforaminal changes are needed for declining oil production and the president says partnering with foreign countries is the best way to achieve this. and to further bring an economy

which risks sliding into recession, they plan to restructure a tax system known for its inequalities. >> translator: with the tax reform there is no privileges, the object of this proposal is that all the taxpayers without exception will contribute to the nation according to the capacity. >> reporter: it remains to be seen if the president will be able to steer his ambitious agenda through mexico's congress. but with more, demonstrations planned in the coming weeks the road ahead will not be an easy one, david mercer, al jazeera mexico city. >> reporter: we will try again and go back to the philippines where there has been hostage taken and we will speak to steven rood for the president of the think tank and is live in the philippines and the mnlf

were able to have a large hostage taking in a large city which is largely christian and under quite tight security, what can we read into it? is it a cause for concern? >> well, certainly any incident like this is a cause for concern. the fact of the matter is that until we early morning hours nobody thought that the gathering was going to be an armed gathering. there was talk about a consultation that was going to take place peacefully and it was only when they landed arms in the early morning hours that it became a violent incident. >> reporter: so the mnlf is a break away from the group that the government has been negotiating with. give us an idea of how all these groups work. it seems that just in that area.

>> this is the mother organization which reached a preliminary agreement with the government in 1976 and a final peace agreement in 1996. the general claim is that peace agreement was not successfully implemented and yet the government now negotiates with the moral islamic liberation and making progress in the negotiation. so many elements of the mnlf object and other objects of the mnlf are cooperating with the government and nmlf in the second set of negotiation, the current set. the rumor is that these elements who have taken hostages are alive with the founding chairman but that has not yet been confirmed and they made no statement. >> reporter: it begs the question what is the point or

what is the effectiveness of the negotiations that are taking place with the government if incidents such as these and groups, these groups, continue to splinter? >> well, part of the argument is that if the islamic grant and the elements of muslim society down there have genuine autonomy could deal with issues rather than asking the largely christian armed forces to deal with these issues in areas that are considerably muslim. it's worth remembering that at the coastal barring guides of the city contain many muslims because the muslims historically have been sea faring people. >> thank you much and thanks for your perspective and good to speak to you. moscow's mayor sergei sobyanin is elected for another term and they show him with 51% of the vote, that is enough to avoid a

run on. so the main challenger leader got 27 percent and refused to saying defeat and saying the vote must go to a second round. >> translator: we demand to cancel voting outside polling stations and to hold a second round. if this is not done we will analyze more information and find evidence and present it in detail and address citizens, calling them to come out to the streets if moscow city office continues to validate the right. >> reporter: but in russia's first largest city an opposition candidate beaten the rival to become mayor. and the election victory, and he made his name as an antidrug campaign and one of the worst defeats for the kremlin in resent years. let's discuss this, these russian election results with --

lillett, apologies for that, you are a russian analyst with the p ihs global insight, and speaking to us from london, how do we interpret the two results, one of nivoni and the one we just mentioned, one victory was widely pro-kremlin and other one not pro-kremlin? >> i think we have to look at the history of the city and particularly which the city with a history of before the revolution as being an intellectual center. so moscow on the other hand at the front of the opposition movement did not surprise the way the candidate came second. however, if we are looking into

russia wiser and with an expectation of these scenarios replicating across the country, it's probably still premature to accept that, to expect that there will be wide opposition against the current government. >> reporter: would you say he had a chance at all to begin with and would you read into the fact that he did actually get quite a number of votes? >> i think, again, numbers matter here because we also have to look into the overall turn out which was exceptionally low i have to say. i think 21% if i'm not mistaken, the final count is not available yet. but i think it was -- it was expected that he will gather some votes, but to expect that the grass root opposition leader would swipe the power in the

most important city in russia was unrealistic for a number of reasons. >> reporter: he wants to have a runoff vote, which i would like to ask you if you see that happening and secondly he is calling for protests which have been allowed at a limited number, do you think any of these will make a difference? >> in terms of changing the game, in terms of bringing a new mayor other than sobyanin i don't think so, i don't think they will take on to squares and not let them go until they are in power. as far as your second question, the runoff, the second round, again, i think moscow authorities made it quite clear this was by far and a much fairer vote held and they don't see any reason to hold a

recount. >> reporter: thank you very much and good to speak to you, russian analyst with global insight. senior russian diplomate has been killed in the moscow backed region and shot outside his house. and they recognized the region's independence after the war in 2008 and georgia claims abkhazia territory and we will go to a different part of the world and new zeeland and let's get the weather. >> yes, we start with new zeeland because they have very active weather on its way toward it. looking at the satellite picture we see it working away from australia and it did not bring us too much damage at all to parts of australia and going to new zeeland and up the south island and the heavy rain is on the western coast and heading through tuesday and wednesday it will spread its way to the southern parts of the north

island as well. it certainly is an intense system and expecting the wettest of the weather in the west and could see 250 millimeters of rain just by the time we get to wednesday morning. that will be enough to give us a problem with flash flooding. away from the west and the east, we have a problem with the weather and here it's with the very strong winds, for some of us we will see them gusting up to 140 kilometers and it could take down trees and driving is pretty dangerous as well. >> reporter: riots leaves several people dead in north india. swagger-dagger and this is what is being flaunted and paul will

be here with the latest sports details. ♪

♪ hello again, this is a reminder of the top stories on al jazeera, secretary of state kerry said a military strike could be prevented if they hand over chemical weapons and stressed a political solution is the only way to end the conflict. and the foreign minister of syria says the u.s. strike would aid al-qaeda and they are having meetings in moscow and 6 people

have been killed in fighting between security forces and rebels. let's get more on the latest diplomatic moves on syria and we can go live to a professor of middle east politics and relations of the london school of economic and thanks for coming on the program today. i want to ask you about some of kerry's comments and essentially his message was we want intervention and will bomb you and we want you to come to the negotiating table. how does that work with syria? >> we don't know. i don't think the americans know. i don't think anyone knows. the americans are hoping to change the balance of power on the ground. they are hoping to undermine the fighting capabilities of assad and have a position as a result of the american military action. but the reality is no one knows, the morning after, what happens,

whether u.s. intervention will basically improve the situation military or exacerbate tensions inside syria or outside syria. everyone is in the dark and that is why there is a great position worldwide including within the united states to a potential u.s. military intervention inside syria. >> reporter: i want to talk about some of the comments that came out of damascus, there was a claim that they are ready to take part in talks of the geneva two conference and saying there is room for political solution. do you see a softening of stance in either way? >> well, i mean, as you know the russians are working behind the scene to basically prevent a potential american military action against syria. they have invited the foreign minister, trying to impress of the syrians to make concessions and engaging with the americans, but the reality is i think i

would argue that president barack obama finds him in a terrible bind. i think he has made up his mind. i think he is trying to convince his american congress and public about the need to respond militarily and i think regardless of what they say now it seems to me the dye has been cast and i think obama finds his back to the wall and that is why it's a matter of hours and days before we see american military intervention inside syria bearing a major defeat for barack obama the next few days in the u.s. congress, as you know the u.s. congress will be voting on whether the united states should retaliate against syria in the next few days. >> reporter: given that and given kerry's comments, very aggressive comments saying there is a strong case for intervention, on the flip side of that they said the diplomatic canals to resolve the issue have not been exhausted, are there any other diplomatic channels they can go through?

>> well, i think the most important channel is the russian channel. remember, russia has provided major political, military and diplomatic support for the regime and they try to prevent a potential american military intervention inside syria. russia's interests lie in finding a political way out of this. russia does not want the americans to become militarily inside syria because they want to preserve the central government in damascus and preserve their own interests. in fact, there is an an ambilical cord and that is why it's important and the question is do the americans buy the russian point of view, will the americans wait to basically find out if this particular channel will produce any results. my take is that i'm very skeptical. barack obama has made up his mind. i don't think he can retreat at

this particular stage his credibility is on the line and for the viewers everything about domestic politics and barack obama credibility as president and foreign policy is on the line and i would argue even if the u.s. congress votes against barack obama, barack obama will most likely take military action because he wants to come across as a strong leader, but he has far in the valley and he is basically appreciates the question of credibility when it comes to american foreign policy inside the united states and also in the international system. >> reporter: good to get your thoughts, thanks for speaking to us. and rebels suspended withdraw from turkey and they accuse of failing about the reforms and the conflict and workers and pkk declared cease fire in march which is still in place. and let's speak to our correspondent anita who is live

for us and how much does this compromise the cease fire? >> i'm sorry, i'm losing you, you dropped out just as you turned to me there but let me tell you what i think you are asking me is what actually happened here. there have been many storms in the peace process in turkey, processes absolutely essential for the country to move forward. and what we are seeing here is not, and i have to stress this, an end to the peace process and that is in the words of the pkk leadership and also in the words of their political representatives if it's fair to call them that, the political wing if you like, the bdp, the kurdish politicians who work inside turkey quite legitimately stressed this is an interruption to an agreed withdraw because the government has not met its side of the bargain. what do they expect to see out of this? they are expecting to see since the process began in may moves by the government, significant,

tangible measurable moves for moves on the sort of issues that they wanted resolved for the last 30 years or more and things like this, a change to the turkish constitution which say there are somewhere around 15 million kurds in the country. they are allowing of education, to the kurdish people in their own language, they want to see an end to a 10% threshold in the electrical system which means that many kurdish representatives are not elected in parliament and the right to peacefully protest in their own interest, these sorts of things. they have not seen one step made by the government in that direction and the government said they have not completed the withdrawal process, there are 20% of the kurdish gorilla forces as they can measure them moved out of turkey and northern iraq as agreed. we are talking about a confidence-building process here.

kurds, said okay if they accept the 20% figure we expect to see and concessions from the government, none have come. we have pulled back a little bit, you have done nothing. so until you do something to meet us part way we suspend the withdrawal process and that is what the issue is about. >> reporter: in the last 24 hours we have been seeing protesters clash with police in turkey and across 8 cities i believe. how much of this has to do with the current kurdish situation? >> once again i lost you completely, i'm so sorry, the audio is terrible here, we have enormous problems with connections, but let me explain what is happening in turkey. while the world and including turkey, a major participant in discussions is agonizing over the syria process, there is a lot more going on domestically in turkey. protests in june that arose of the getti park never really fully stopped there and when there is an issue domestically that the people are upset about

not only do they take to the streets, may mobilize, but the police immediately mobilize too in an effort to suppress it and tear gas gets fired. we saw protests in several cities, let me see now, six places in istanbul and the city i'm in at the moment, the region only i'm in at the moment and budista overnight last night and prompted by different issues, and they protest against plans to build a high road through a protected tree-filled area and they are protesting over a spiritual complex of it being built over the wishes of some of the people there, but of course also on the streets were lots of kurdish people responding to the political developed over the kurdish issue. what you see here now is a greater willingness by kurds to take to the streets and a quicker reaction time by the

government to send riot police in to deal with it. turkey quite an interesting place at the moment. >> reporter: she probably cannot hear me but thank you very much. in romaine, thousands protested against using cyanide and say the huge environmental risks and supporters in the town where the mine would be located say it would bring jobs and investments. >> translator: the moment you allow a foreign cooperation to go with the citizens you can not be considered a state with it in place, the constitution is torn apart and people must understand the scale of robbery we are put through the much bigger because the goal is the tip of the iceberg. >> reporter: and norwegian is going to the polls and opinion

polls say he will lose and salsinburg went through the global downturn and would like to finish the job his government started. >> and we are able to take responsibility to accomplish. we have the lowest unemployment in europe. we have been able to come through the national crisis with a strong economy. and we have been able to improve the quality both of healthcare and education, so we would like to continue with that. >> reporter: it's good news for japan, a day after the capitol won the right host the olympics and more positive for the economy and data says the annual growth rate could be 3.8%. that is instead of the previous forecasts of 2.6%, and recovery come as the japanese government is considering doubling the sales tax rate and currently is 5%. well, inflation in the world's second biggest economy is slowing down according to the latest figures from the chinese government. prices there rose by 2.6% in

august. that figure was lower than in july and being seen as a sign of an improvement in the economy. but food price inflation is much higher, in august it was 4.7%. and scott has more from chandong. >> china released the inflation figure and the cpi is up 2.6%. so why are we talking about this at one of the largest pig farms in china? because of something called pork-flation and pork prices are the biggest driver for inflation and a concern for the government and they have a pork reserve because there is a direction connection between spike in food prices and social unrest. >> translator: pork prices are a big influence on inflation, the higher the pork price the higher the cpi number because pork is the main meat in the culture and the primary choice

of meat for most chinese people. >> reporter: there is a transition going on moving away from smaller family run farms to big industrial complex like this with 60,000 pigs here. and also is an indication of that the largest meat producer is in the works to buy an american company that is the world's largest pork producer for $4.7 million and that is good news for the pork eaters in china but increases the reliance on imported goods. >> a plane skidded off the runway in bankok and 14 passengers were injured and being treated in the hospital. the airline says the landing gear of the plane malfunctioned. the aircraft was carrying 280 passengers. and north korea with the 65th anniversary of the founding and

kim jung-un is putting it on and there is a part to ease tensions. at least 28 people have been killed in two days of fighting in northern india and hundreds of soldiers have been deployed and we have more from new deli. >> reporter: armed and alert, indian soldiers guard the tense streets after violence claimed more than 20 lives over the past few days and a curfew is preventing further clashes between hindus and muslims. >> translator: we held a meeting belonging to the hindu and they were involved in the conflict and we had talks and they assured us they would help us keep the situation under control. >> reporter: more than 50 people including local politics have been detained. the violence started after three

men were murdered in a nearby village and place say an amateur video showing two men being lynched by a mob is fueling tensions. >> translator: the video that has been circulated in social media is not links to an incident here. the clip is two years old and perhaps shows an incident which happened in another country. >> reporter: and they have a history of commutel problems and in 1992 some 2000 people were killed in religious riots. and al jazeera new deli. >> reporter: coming up, in sports, find out who is making his own way in cricket and paul will be here with all the details. ♪ ç]

. ♪ some people have an expensive watch and some do it with a flashy car but if you want to show up your wealth in yemen it's about the dagger and it's a common of everyday dress and we report they certainly don't come cheap. >> reporter: this may be one of the first things that attacks the attention of visitors to yemen. the curved knives on their waist bands and have existed for centuries in yemen and daggers are known and refuse to

disappear. he says he comes from a family that has been making daggers for more than one thousand years. he does not see it as a business but a passion past on from one generation to the next. >> this is not a symbol of the old days when they used daggers for self-defense, it's a simple of social status and it's not about the car or house you live in but what type of knife you carry. show me your dagger, i will tell you who you are. and the blade and the belt and the carving on the sheath reveal the religious and social bank the person belongs to. it's a symbol of man hood, nobility and without it i'm a nobody, we don't look at people's dress, we look to tell whether or not you are an important person. >> reporter: and they can be expensive, costing $1 million and this is the main reason, it's made of rinocerous and a

handle alone can go up to a quarter million dollars in yemen. >> translator: the horn is special with a healing power and protects you from poison and the best antidote to poison. >> reporter: he needs cash and wants to sell his dagger for $4,000 u.s. the handle is made of horn and decorated with rare gold pieces. and he says he feels like a part of him is being taken away but he has no option but to sell this to pay his debts. for the time being though most yemeneeze will keep their daggers in the front of their robes, paying tribute to an ancient tradition. al jazeera. >> reporter: well, i don't think paul has a dagger to show us but has the sports news.

>> that is what you think, serena williams won't the u.s. open for the 5th time and the top seed fought against victoria azarenka and we report. >> 14 years after she was in new york a familiar sight for the world number one. >> ladies and gentlemen, your 2013 u.s. open women's singles champion, serena williams! . >> reporter: it was the second successive year williams and azarenka made it to the finals and the american determined for a repeat performance. >> williams. >> reporter: she overcame windy conditions to take the first set 7-5 and looks to be cruising at 4-1 in the second. [applause] at it began to evaporate the temper threatened to rise to the surface. as a ranker, keeping her cool to

level the match to a tie breaker. but the champion responded in style, 6-1 in the final set, and 17th ranked player. >> almost disappointed with my year to be honest. i wasn't happy with my performances in the other two slams and not making it to the quarter finals of one, so i definitely feel a lot better with at least a second grand slam this year. >> reporter: nothing but respect from her opponent. >> she is playing definitely her best tennis right now. it shows how focused and how composed and how much she can raise the level and that is just really exciting for me, you know, to be able to compete against it, that type of player who can be the greatest of all

times. >> al jazeera. and azarenka says williams could be the greatest ever and let's see where she stands in the list of female grand rapids slam winners. and this title was her 17th grand rapids slam and 6th in the all-time standings, that is one behind martina and 4th with chris evert and grant with 22 and behind margaret court. the new york yankees avoided being swept by the boston red socks and the scores were tied in the 9th when boston pitched one high and wild off the mitt of gerad and boston is ahead in the american league east.

michael pitched 7 shut out innings and two runs to beat pittsburgh 9-2 and secured a three-game sweep for cards who pulled in the central, pirates and the cincinnati reds are one 1/2 games behind. sunday saw the first full day of the new nfl season and the cow boys up set it and romo had two touchdown passes and from manning could not present 36-31 loss for the giants. plenty of other scores on sunday, 2011 green bay lost to the runners up, san francisco 49ers and bad stop for pittsburgh and lost to tennessee and two key players injured for the year. new zeeland 3-1 lead in the cup and they won the first of two races in foggy conditions at san francisco bay but usa won't 8

seconds in the finish and first of the series and they need six more victories to claim the oldest trophy in international sport. and fararri will finalize the line up for the formula one season and kimmy is the favorite and sebastian edged closer to a fourth championship after victory at the grand prix and we report on that. >> reporter: and it was inevitable march for the fourth world title on sunday, the poll and meant the german did not have the best of starts and good enough to lead at the first quarter and behind him things are not smooth. for much of the season he has been challenging him at the front of the field and sunday was running in the back of paul, and he would finish 11th.

and some are suggesting he could return to fararri and was determined to put on a good show and fararri and the grand prix and managing to get past one of the red poles on his way to a second-place finish. and louis hamilton drove like an idiot during qualifying on saturday and better on sunday but could get in the point finishing 9th and ending hopes of a championship challenge. and the rivals fought among themselves and they were recording his 6th win of the season finishing ahead of alonzo and mark webber. >> usually this is one of the toughest tracks we go to but this year it has been fantastic and the race is incredible for both of us towards the end. >> the circuit leads europe for the rest of the season and at

the end they will join the ranks of shoe maker. >> in cricket, mitchell stark is set to miss the return series down under with england with a back fracture, his one day teammates tasted success in the second match on sunday, captain michael clarke scored the first against the english in the 88 run victory. and over in india one young cricket has expectations to live up to, and he made his first appearance in mumbai top junior league and 13 and his 40-year-old father is the highest scorer in cricket history and there was one in the game and asked the media not to put too much pressure on the teenager. >> my son has started his career

and it's a humble request, if he can live his life like a normal 14-year-old without thinking of anything other than falling in love with the sport. >> reporter: and there is more sport on our website, check out al jazeera.com/sports and details on how to get in touch with us on twitter and facebook. and i'll be back a bit later. >> thanks for that, paul. well and that is it for this show, but remember you can always get plenty more on our website, not just with sports but also the news, you can get the latest on what is going on and being talked about in with regards to syria and we have analysis and futures so check out our website and we will be at al jazeera.com and it's good to have you on our show. ♪

this is the 900-page document we call obamacare. it could change costs, coverage, and pretty much all of healthcare in america. my show sorts this all out. in fact, my staff has read the entire thing. which is probably more than what most members of congress can claim. we'll separate politics from policy, and just prescribe the facts.

>> on the attack to bring peace to syria, the u.s. secretary of state pushes for strikes. syria warns the u.s. if there's an attack, negotiations may never happen. >> we have the top stories here on that aljazeera. gun battles and hostage taking in the -- >> an a