hello, and welcome to the news hour. i'm in doha with the top stories. families celebrate in lebanon as nine hostages are freed by syrian rebels after more than a year. >> all the people, the citizens have the right to say what they feel. >> police mountain maldives explain why they stopped a rerun of the presidential election. we follow the volunteer firefighters on the front lines

in the battle against australia's bush fires. the gloves are on in rwanda as it takes a radical approach to tackle ago a population boom. >> there's no way they can sustain this population growth. it's telling families it's not just about the number of kids they can sustain. it's about the number of kids that the entire country can support. all right. nine lebanese men who were held hostage for more than a year by syrian rebels are waiting to be reunited with their families. they've crossed over into southern turkey, and they're expected back in lebanon within hours. the men were among a group of 11 people abducted in may last year. they say they were on their way home from a pilgrimage run.

it's part of athree-way deal that could see the release of two turkish airline pilots abducted in beirut in august, a group of female prisoners held by the government could also go free. we'll be live to turkey in a moment. first, we have more from beirut. >> reporter: pilgrims have their freedom effectively in turkey and expected back in beirut in the next 12 to 24 hours, possibly 48 as of some warning and hinged to that is the expected release of two turkish airline pilots. they were taken prisoner in retaliation and then adding to all of this is the potential release of a number of women

opposition prisoners from the syrian regime. damascus is expected to be involved and release them as well. there's three aspects to this, and so many parties involved from this conflict. also, importantly, qatar has an intermediary playing a key role in events recently. we saw the release of the video of the two turkish airline pilots. that, we understand, was a demand to show that they were in good health and could be released. so events now unfolding fairly quickly after a very long time for these people not connected with the syrian conflict being held against their will. >> that's the latest in lebanon. let's go over to southern turkey. what's the word on the turkish pilots who have been held? >> reporter: as spokesperson for the turkish government said that

two pilots will land in qatar two hours from now. we asked him if this is confirmed, and he said yes, it is 90% confirmed. now, over the last 10 to 20 hours, we've been hearing from different turkish officials that a positive development will now happen anytime soon. in fact, on friday the prime minister of this country, spoke on the phone with one wife of the turkish pilots, and he told her that we are approaching a happy ending any moment now. we expect it to happen within very few hours, if not minutes. >> it's a very complex situation. people having been abducted or held from three countries. what sort of deal has been broken here? >> reporter: yes, sammie.

you're right. you point to the very fact this is a complex situation. it involved some secret talks, negotiations, shuttle diplomacy even, foreign diplomacy. we understand the deal includes the release of the nine lebanese. in return the syrian government will release a number of female prisoners. this is a key demand by the rebel group that held the lebanese hostages. all of which will lead to the release of two turkish pilots. we expect all of that to materialize and happen within the next moments or hours. >> thanks a lot. live for us in turkey. at least 16 government troops have been killed at a car bomb at a checkpoint south of damascus. the suicide bomber blew himself up in a car in a government-controlled area.

15 civilians were injured, and syrian fighter jets have launched four air strikes on the area near the checkpoint. fighting between opposition and government forces is still going on there. activists say there's hefr bombardment of the damascus sush bush. government tanks and troops were sent to the area on friday. earlier the united states called on syria to allow aid convoys to reach civilians trapped in the area as well as other damascus suburbs the u.s. state department says there's rourts of children dying without hunger. people are without basic necessities for nearly a year now. the suburb is under the control of rebel fighters. a group of hackers supporting syrian president bashar al assad say it shut down many of qatar's website. the syrian electronic army posted on its twitter account that it took control of the dot

qa domain. sites with the ministry and google display an error message. the leading opposition party in the maldives is crying foul after police stopped a rerun of the presidential election. policed saturday's vote would violate a supreme court order, which anulled the results of last month's election. the former president who was ousted last year was a favorite to win, but the police say they're upholding the rule of law. >> i believe that if something is not going according to the legislation or supreme court ruling, i believe that all the people, the citizens have the right to say what they feel. we believe that if it's not followed, we are saying that we are taking a stand that we will not be able to help assist if

the trekzs are not followed. >> when our officials the police personnel in this building as taking anything from here. we were not able to take anything from here, so we have no other option except to stop the election today. >> let's take a look now at the leader to the consolation of that situation. the president was ousted last year in what he described as a coup. he topped new elections in september, but fell short of an outright win. the supreme court later canceled the results after a candidate complained of irregularities. the new elections were due to take place on saturday. the two other candidates had asked for a delay. one of them is yameen, half-brother of a man who was

president for 30 years under one-party rule. hamid is a member of parliament in the maldives who is a spokesman for the party of the former president. he said several political groups are trying to restrict the democratic process in the country. >> one of the parties that is the -- one of the the parties went to court after the first round. their complaint was irregularities in the voters' list, but no irregularity was clearly identified. the supreme court came up with some ideas, and out of reach apparently. they are saying that the supreme court has not asked -- have restricted them because the two parties are contesting the list. they're saying that there are irregularities in the list. we have identified five groups are actually restricting our

restraining our democratic process with these other two parties. there's the judiciary and the police and the currently installed president. actually, the international community has very conveniently said it's not a coup. they're going to make a report, and they're not admitting it's a coup lieu in egypt perhaps. in our case it was lying on tv. everybody saw it. the international community are here on the ground. they see what's going on. i'm sure now they understand who is restricts the democratic process. in fact, it is the mandate of the elections commission to set the time. the supreme court has prescribed over the mandate, the legal mandate that the elections commission has. so the whole thing is outside the orbit of the constitution. bush fires have destroyed nearly 200 homes in australia. firefighters are still struggling to contain the worst fires for a decade in new south

wales. andrew thomas followed firefighters near sydney. >> reporter: in the blue mountains west of sydney, volunteers are fighting fire with fire. by burning big area of undergrowth near homes. they hope once the bush fires reach here, there will be nothing left to burn. >> we go in on foot. i wuburned one around the back properties and areas and we will burn off a small valley here. >> the firefighters are working remarkably close to the homes. just 50 meters up the hill are people's houses. i can see from here their windows and doors the volunteer firefighters are trying to stop these flames from reaching them. these are all volunteers. practicing firefighters is normally a weekend hope. this is what that's all about.

gina is a mother of two children. darrell manages a concrete factory. everyone thrown together by fire. >> i manage a cafe and make coffee. dorian is a builder. greg does gun maintenance. >> reporter: you're all volunteers? >> we're volunteers, yes. do it for nothing. >> reporter: at the top of the slope are the homes they're trying to protect, and this is an area often prone to fire. >> you can get burned out really easily, so we're taking all the precautions we can with a sprinkler system. we have shutters on the wind toe and we have a rainwater tank. >> others have taken similar measures and still lost everything. >> very frightening, inteed. personally, you don't know how to stop them. >> reporter: on a nearby road many homes are now just rubble and ash. back to the fooir front the work

is 24 hours a day, the firefighters taking advantage of kooltleer temperatures and lighter winds while they last and grabbing moments to rest only when they can. andrew thomas, al jazeera. trade unionists protest for a second successive day in italy. we'll have the latest from rome. we see how popular president nicholas maduro is after he replaced chavez in venezuela. the star pitcher has the worst outing in a crucial game for the dodgers. the united nations says dozens of drone strikes carried out by the u.s. may have violated international law. a report on human rights is calling on the u.s. to declassify information about

operations that have been coordinated by the cia. since 2004 it's estimated at least 450 civilians have been killed across yemen, pakistan, and afghanistan. joining us now a retired pakistani army general from islamabad. does it surprise you're they're talking about hundreds of civilian casualties from drone strikes? >> no, i think so, because we've been raising our voice and saying exactly the same thing that the report is reins enforcement and complimenting what pakistan is saying. in many other ways the argument put forward by pakistan apart from the civilian casualties, this is a great violation of international law and also that it is undermining international security. we fear that if america is allowed to sort of continue with their drones, it's very much

possible that our countries like india and et cetera may be emboldened to also use similar weapons. if, of course, the militants themselves get hold of these drones, then they would also start using them. so there will be a law of the jungle instead of an international law. >> la do you make of suggestions that while pakistani officials rejected public, but in private they have really given the green light for the cia drone operations? >> this is absolutely correct. in the part he is inteshlly during president mu share ralph's time, this was the case. he said that he gave permission in a limited way, but even subsequently when the general took over and also when president zadari was the in

power, they relented on that and thought it helped to contain the militants. they realized soon that the political fallout of this far exceeded the damage that was done -- far exceeded the good being achieved at the tactical level. i think from this onwards there's a genuine desire on the part of pakistan to ensure that these drones do not take place unless the sort of go-ahead from the pakistani side as well. so i think there are many alternatives that are being proposed. one was that if there was a joint intelligence and if they would have sort of agreements that unless pakistan agrees to it, no drone strikes would be used. that, obviously, will not be acceptable to the cia and to the americans. so we are in a dilemma that whereas it had a certain tactical utility, but in the long term i think it was doing much greater damage and was giving an excuse both to the militants and to the political

parties, especially those that are anti-american like the ones led by others to say that one of the major causes of pakistan's radicalism is because of the excessive use of drones. >> thanks so much for your thoughts on that. >> thank you. the chinese government has sanctioned another top regional officials. seen as part of the ruling party's campaign to crack down at corruption. the leader of nanjing has been investigated over discipline violations. republicans in congo say they're heading towards major breakthroughs in peace talks with the government according to the afp news agency. the so-called m-23 group says it made major concessions on its political demands. the talks are taking place in uganda. in seo mall ra a suicide

bomb attack killed at least 13 people. the explosion in the town of baladweyne was in a crowded restaurant popular with somali and ethiopian troops. a court in italy ruled form former prime minister berlusconi should be barred from holding office for two years. he was facing the loss of his senate seat after losing his final appeal this summer. the 2012 law stipulates that anyone sentenced to more than two years in prison cannot hold or run for office for six years. staying in italy protests continue after a 24-hour nationwide strike that disrupted the country's transport network. demonstrators are angry at planned spending cuts and a tax right. sergei is live for us in rome. they were building up for a big one today, sonya.

how is it going there? >> reporter: that's right. it's still in the beginning stages. there are more and more protesters gathering to this point, the point where the protest finished up last night. still early, though. however, the protest is not expected to kick off another two hours. what they are anticipating, though, is to protest organizations. now, what the worry is is that they will be infiltrated by certain groups known for more violent tactics. for example, black block. there were five people who were apprehended by the police, french nationals here in rome, and they were immediately deported back to france and were known to have ties with the black block movement. there is a heavy police presence here in rome in anticipation of any skirmishes or scuffles that are predicted to take place here. >> there's hints, son i can't recollects, that this is really

a rebellion against austerities. there are consensus emerging that austerity measures are not working. >> certainly that would seem to be the opinion here. many italians even beyond members of the unions would agree that austerity measures have really been having a negative effect on their lives, that people feel that the belt-tightening has impeded them in being able to live day to day as they would wish. not only that, there's political opposition against the unveiling of the 2014 budget, which was unveiled by prime minister this week saying it doesn't go far enough to give italy the opportunity to grow. don't forget also that italy, although it's been in recession since 2011, it already had to contend with years of very poor growth here, very sluggish economy. so on top that, really italians

have felt that enough is enough and that austerity measures need to be stopped and another alternative needs to be pursued. >> thanks so much, sonia. now, in brazil oil workers have been on strike for a second day, too, but the state owned company petrobras working hard. they're talking about plained auction of a major oil field. the government is intent on selling off state oil assets. >> translator: many people have died on ships and on platforms. beside it is the auction of oil rights, there is another crew privatization that is being outsourced. in neighboring uruguay plans for a giant mine provoked protests. hundreds marched in the capital. they recently passed a law giving the private company the go-ahead for five open cast

mines. opponents fear chemicals and explosions bill poison the land. in colombia people have been injured in protests against indigenous mines. they also say their ancestoral land has been stolen and they're fighting against government policies. six months into the job, and venezuela's president, nicklaus maduro is plames sack taj by the party. that's being disputed even by his own supporters. rachel reports from ka ras cass. in venezuela baseball fields are sacred grounds, one of the few places where you can escape politics, news of rising inflation and worsening crime. like antonio, who blaut his twin boys ties their home team play for the first time. >> when we were in the stadium, it's all about baseball. so the political differences just keep aside, and we all, you

know, enjoy the game and support our team. >> reporter: when these fans go home, the political and economic krietsz gripping venezuela is hard to ignore. just six months in office, president maduro faces inflation running at nearly 50%, hard currency shortages, power cuts and growing protests. to deal with these these crises he's asking lawmakers to frant him special powers to pass laws unilaterally. many here, even some of his own supporters, are uncomfortable with the move. like celia, who now spends three days a week going from market to market trying to buy hard-to-find basics like sugar, rice, and pukano. >> translator: if he hasn't done anything yet, why is he asking for more power? >> reporter: analysts believe many supporters like celia are

disenchanted with maduro. >> translator: people have an irrational love of chavez, so we forgave him anything. maduro doesn't have his charisma. many ask themselves, where is this move going? >> back at the game antonio admits he's unsure what lies ahead for his country. >> we worry about the future, because this crisis is going deeper and deeper every day. venezuela's a great country, so we will go, you know, and move forward and we'll pass this very bad situation. >> a sentiment he hopes he and the rest of the country hold onto. al jazeera, caracas, venezuela. we were hearing earlier about the wildfires in australia, but the weather there is changing. it changed for the sydney area, steph. >> it's changing for many of us

with this weather system sweeping towards north. ahead of that there's strong winds and for muff us in southern australia it's the wind directions that determines how hot it is during the day. it's usually hot for the central and northern part hire, and if the winds feed down from there, it does get rather hot. that's what we've seven during the day today. h hobart has seens gusts of wind of 80 miles per hour. the average for this time of year is 17 degrees. the winds continue through the next few days. this system moves northwards. as they work down from the north, it's hot for adalaide and mel dourn. tm sweep across during the day, so by the time you get it monday, it's 21 degrees, only the top temperature and a real

drop for us. here it's fairly windy and further north is hot again for us in sydney. actually monday, tuesday and wednesday are all going to be hot days for us in sydney with wednesday being very windy. it looks like the winds will be around 28 kilometers per hour. >> thanks, steph. rwanda has a problem. it's running out of land. as one of africa's most densely populated countries, it's trying to slow the national birth rate. so the government has begun a radical new strategies encouraging men to be sterilized by having vasectomies. we traveled to eastern rwanda for the stories. >> reporter: a group of villagers gathers, and this is the vasectomy club. a gathering of men who have been sterilized with the procedure, and those who they hope will fom them along with their wives who must also agree. in this deeply conservative

community, it is an awkward subject wrapped in myth and embarrassment. there are rear-view mirrors of impotence and loss of mass could you lint. they began the clubs to slow the population growth, but the ministry of growth needs to challenge misconceptions of what a vasectomy does to men. >> you're still are strong and sexually active but it helps your family to growth and country to growth. when you try to explain it to them, they understand it. >> reporter: it's not hard to say why there's a problem. the primary school has almost 2,000 students. it's so crowded here they teach in shifts. this is exactly why the government thinks its birth control is so critical. there's no way a country the size of rwanda can sustain this population fwroet. it's not just about the number of kids families can sustain but

the number of kids the entire country can support. right now the average rwanda couple has almost five children. the government's aim is to reduce it to three keeping pom lags growth in step with groet. they agree the time is right for a va secretary toechlt. he already has nine children and admits that's enough. they go through one more counseling to deal with any last-minute worries. tr >> translator: people say this makes you impotent and you won't be sexually activity again. i've decided to do it for the good of my family. the doctors have said everything will be okay. >> translator: i'm happy because it will take the burden off family planning. i found that very difficult. >> reporter: in an adjacent room, emanuel has the operation. the technique is new, fast and

free. they'll spend only half an hour under local anesthetic before they begin the next operation. the government believes there is no time to waste. still ahead, hunting down the hunters. the new thailand's king of tigers fighting wildlife crime. drowning in debt. sglzimbabwe struggles to pay charges. why one football club is demanding a replay.

welcome back. let's recap the top stories now. nine lebanese hostages held in syria have been released and the foreign ministry said it helped do the deal. they're expected back in lebanon within hours. in somalia a suicide bomb attack killed at least 13 people. the explosion was in a crowded restaurant popular with somali and ethiopian troops. police in the maldives have stopped a rerun of the presidential election at the last minute. they say it violated a supreme court order, which anulled the results of last month's elections. we can get more on this from an asian affairs analyst.

are they simply enforcing a court order or overstepped the boundaries of their job? >> it's clear that the police have overstepped the boundaries of their job, and it's no longer just a technical aspect. it's definitely a political ploy to put that in the wheel of democracy. the police, it seems, have been given definite orders to stop the entire process of electoral suffrage. >> who is giving the police these orders, i guess, is the question? >> it's not very difficult to guess or imagine who it would be. of course, they're interested in retaining on to their political dominion as well as we can see that it's supporters of him and his troop of people who do not want the entire process of electoral suffrage to carry on

and for democracy to be instilled in maldives. i guess they're the ones behind this. >> if it's supporters of the radical leader, i guess the question is, what can happen next if they're against them and they have that much power over state's institutions to derail the electoral process? >> in any case, it's a state of pandemonium right now. what needs to be seen, if the next state announced for the elections is maintained by all political parties if everybody agrees to run for elections on that date. if not, you can expect a lot of high voltage drama for those elections to be scuttled or in some dramatic way the elections to be postponed. >> if they are postponed and can't hold elections before the current president's term ends on november 11th, does that lead the country into constitutional crisis? >> indeed, it would be a constitutional crises, but then

we have to wait for the election commission to declare another date for maldives to elect their own president. if the next president is not elected by the people of maldives timely, then it's a sad failure of democracy and it's going to be one, big failure for the people of maldives who have in any case suffered a lot at the hands of current regime. >> regardless of what's going on behind the scenes, there is a question here that on paper at least what seems to be the problem is the dispute over the electoral list. why are the electoral authorities not able to sort that one out so that the elections can go on? >> well, mohammed and his supporters are completely in agreement with the election commission, and they're fine with it. it is abdullah who is also the half-brother who if you were was

the former finance minister, they're not in agreements saying that they're false names, there are dead candidates on the list and therefore the list is not valid. i think that these are just excuses. these are excuses to ensure that nasheed doesn't get a fair chance to come into power. >> thanks so much for your analysis on that. thailand is training a new elite force to tackle the illegal trade in wildlife and timber. dozens of tie law enforcement officers are killed each year to combat the mult-billion dollar industry. we have seen the new park rangers in action. >> reporter: thailand is losing ground in its battle against illegal wildlife trafficking and poaching. their enemies have changed tactics and the national rangers are in the cross hairs.

>> it's becoming much dangerous as the illegal rosewood and wildlife gets more and more valuable. so there's a lot more money involved. the criminals want to protect their profits and do not want to be caught, so they bring in weapons. instead of running, they're standing ground and shooting. >> reporter: downgunned by the poachers, an average of 12 rangers are killed each year. the thai government decided they needed an elite force to fight back. these first members of the elite tigers is a new breed. there's no other force like them in the world. the eight heef-week trainings course were trainees in thailand's army. since they're in covert operations, we're not using names. >> i like being a ranger, because i like wild animals. no one said it would be risky. i tonight worry about it too

much, because i believe my past experience and strength can carry me. >> reporter: the unit will have better tools and technology to help track the poachers more accurately and the ability to share information in real time from the remote reaches of the jungle. illegal wildlife trafficking is controlled by major international criminal gangs. the king of tigers' job is patrolling and investigating, but they will also do some hunting of their own, going after the heads of these gangs. you just can't look at one avenue of it. it's like looking at drugs and just going to the street level. you have to go for the king pins as well. >> reporter: the new unit is eager to take their fresh skills to the jungle, but these two dozen elite rangers are outnumbered. the goal is to steadily roll their ranks. they're stripping thailand's force and slaughtering its endangered species. let's speak now to giovanni

in bangkok. he's an environmental crime officer on drugs and crime. how serious is wildlife trapping and poaching in thailand in particular? >> thailand is significantly exposed to illegal trade. it's due to its reach by diversity is a source of wildlife for criminals that connect the supply with the demand either in thailand, domestic demand, but also in other parts of this region. it's also a country of transit for wildlife, for wildlife that comes from other parts of the world, from africa, and are directed to china, vietnam and sometimes they even say in thailand. so it's exposed to very different kinds of threats, but i'm glad to see that the

government and the law enforcement community is acting upon that. >> when we look at southeast asia as a whole, though, how big of a problem is environmental crime? >> well, according to a recent report that we launched a few months ago, we found out that organized crime every year in southeast asia is worth more or less 19 billion u.s. dollars. we calculate that one-fourth of it is generated by environmental crimes where the illicit tracking of timber and wildlife are the key elements of these environmental crimes. one-fourth of the total of organized crime is a huge number. it tells us what level of profits these criminals can do, but it also tells us what level of impunity there is for criminals that very rarely going to jail. >> the problem as you point out

is very much international, regional. how effective will national responses like this new fighting force in thailand be in combating the problem? >> well, this example, this niche tifr started in thailand is really positive. we need to congregate -- congratulate the government and all others involved. we hope thailand will set an example for other countries in the reson, which hopefully will follow soon to become more efficient and more modern in investigating the poaching and the logging within the jungle and within the forest but also move outside of the forest and try to fight wildlife crimes also in courts of justice through intelligence and more effective enforcement techniques, which hopefully will ensure convictions for the

criminals. >> rt had. thanks so much for your thoughts on that. international criminal court say the kenyan president does not have to be continuously present at his trials for crimes against humanity. kenyatta is being excused at the hague to carry out the presidential duties. he's being accused of causing violence. his deputy is attending the court on similar charges. african leaders are complaining the icc unfairly targets africans and have urged eni can't tell at that not to attend. police have raised uganda's security to the maximum level as u.s. intelligence warned of an imminent attack. places of worship is where they were deployed. they attacked the west gate shopping mall last month.

they're going to strike until they pull their troops ouft of somalia. >> the war in syria forced millions to seek refuge overseas. germany is expecting 5,000. nick spicer has seen the first arrivals. >> reporter: after months and months of fear of war and waiting, it's back to school for these syrian children in a country where they can at last feel safe. ali from aleppo learns tuesday he's 44 years old. whatever they did before, it's back to the basics for the adults as well. the family heads to lunch. hamid in the wheelchair is actually 15, tiny because of a degenerative disease, a disability that helped to get his family accepted into germany. >> translator: i did not want to leave. no one wants to leave our country. we left too late, so we suffered a lot. we could here the bombs, mortars

and artillery shells. the children had nightmares and were screaming all the time. >> a kurdish rights advocate showed us wound the police inflicted even before the war. was that with a knife? >> yeah, yeah. in syria. >> reporter: the police in syria. germany is giving 5,000 syrian refugees it selected from united nations and slowly flying over on charter flights preferential treatment. german language lessons, pocket money and the right to work and lodging once they move out after a couple of weeks or so. the situation for other syrians who make it to germany under their own steam is more difficult. no right to work or freedom to travel until the request is settled. syrians can stay for wo years and then apply to take longer. an appealing option for many. they want to remain in germany pause their children get what

they need most of all, proper medical care. hamid has a disease that makes him age too quickly. a wartime explosion left the boy pushing him limping and deaf. for some, there's no of leaving behind the scars of war. all the sports just ahead including the man getting in the way of mark marquez in a major motogp championship. [[voiceover]] every day, events sweep across our country.

welcome back. taps are running dry in zimba e

zimbabwe's capital city. it's being made worse because many people are simply not paying their water bills. >> reporter: this is neither a lab or recycling factory. it's an average kitchen in zimbabwe's capital, and if looks like this because water is in short supply. for peter and his family, huge water bills have made matters worse. tackling the water crisis was one of the campaign promises of the government. the city council did wipe off dues but they were decided to disconnect residents who weren't paying bills after july. many can't make the full payments. >> they came in and disconnected my water. >> reporter: it's a chronic crisis for the city, a cash-starved city council faces many challenges.

crooked infrastructure and lack of capacity means it can only meet half the needs. officials say lack of revenue is also a key problem. >> they do not want to settle their bills on time or settle them at all. so it's just one of those characteristic policies that we're using. if we can have them pay up now, so they we ensure water is delivered. >> reporter: no funds means they can't keep running old treatment plants like this one and solutions like $144 million loan from a chinese bank aren't working. residents will endure three more years of shortages as the city begins to decommission plans to rehabilitate delivery. >> translator: we go for days without water supply. whether it comes back, it's very dirty and people fall sick.

>> translator: water here is an issue. not affected by cholera is a blessing. we can't clean nappies for our young children. >> reporter: with three-quarters unemployed it's impossible for many to afford to pay for water, a necessity that painfully transformed into a luxury. let's get some sports news now. >> thank you so much. the st. louis cardinals are through the baseball world series. they beat the l.a. dodgers to clench the national league championship series. it was a must-win game for the dodgers that trail the series 3-2 heading into game six, but the cardinals took control with a four-run third inning. l.a. was kept scoreless against michael wacha. 9-0 to the cardinals and win the series 4-2 and advance to the second world series in three years. they'll play the boston red sox

or detroit tigers. >> anytime you face clay kershaw, you're probably going to have match it against him. you know, our guys just battled up there today. it was so much fun watching in the dugout there. you know, whenever they put up those nine runs, it just makes me job so much easier. >> obviously, i'm really proud of my club. they're a great group to be around as far as i feel like, you know, these guys had a lot of fun. they do get down to business, sometimes a little bit unconventional, but they do love to play. >> it wasn't all good news for st. louis on friday. they were beaten by winnipeg in the nhl as the jets overcame a nasty injury. with st. louis leading 2-1, the game was stopped in the second period. the jets defenseman jabs cob trub ba had a back crash into the boards. he had to be stretchered off and

taken to hospital. at the end of regulation overtime, it was still tied at 3-3. jokinen scored his second goal in the night giving winnipeg a 4-3 win. op pen hiem will request a replay. the striker had a goal at more than the 70th minute after the ball struck through a hole in the side ning. it we want on for a 2-1. the referee defended his decision saying no player indicated it wasn't a goal. roma maintained a perfect start to the season. two goals game roma their eighth straight win. also ending napoli's unbeaten season start. roma is now five points clear at the top. garrett bale played a limited role in real madrid, but

the welchman is declared fit and ready for the match. the $130 million player returned to training on wednesday after recovering from a back problem. the welch international has only played just over 100 minutes of football since his move from tottenham. this week real had to dismiss the spanish press that bale is suffering from a slipped disk. >> translator: bale doesn't have any problem. his problem is he didn't play at the beginning of the season. he was not in good physical shape. it's enough to look at his last couple of years. in four years he's played more than 120 matches. so if bale has a hernia, he wouldn't have played 120 matches in four seasons. barcelona is also boosted by the return of messi for the away game. the argentinian suffered a thigh injury last month.

english premier league also returns from the international break on saturday. in the next hour, liverpool traveled to st. jams park to face newcastle in the early take off. a win would send the reds to the top of the table for a few hours at least. >> it hasn't been so easy at home. it's a difficult place with really passionate supporters that demand that you play attacking football. for us, we know the game, and we'll be prepared for it. as i said, the players, you know, when you play at this level, it's the type of stadium you want to play it. it will be a great atmosphere, and that's acceptable and we want to perform well and take home our three points. >> there are eight games in total on saturday. arsenal hosts nor wish and chelsea is at home to cardiff and manchester united is below

southampton on the table. >> you have to be at your best at every game. the premier league is quick to shore you up. you saw that recently. good news for manchester united fans ahead of that match. rising start januzaj committed his future to the club. mexico have officials confirmed their fourth football coach in the space of six weeks. herrera has been appointed for the world cup qualifying matches against new zealand next month. he replaces victor who lasted to games in charge. mexico scraped three in the playoffs after panama was beaten by the united states. >> translator: of course, this is not the ideal situation. no one likes to be switching coaches. when we hired delatore all of you were at the presentation of the it was ton with the best

intentions. the results weren't there, and when that happens, decisions have to be made. many times we delayed that decision, which made the problem bigger. in this i feel guilty as well. >> defending motogp champion lorenzo is doing his best to hold onto his crown another week. he broke the lap record as in the motogp. if he wins on sunday, lorenzo finishes lower than second, he'll start from second on the grid. >> this aspect that this lap, you can only do with a playstation. today we made it. we improved 0.7 from the first ride. it's impressive how much faster we can go with new tires. in rugby new zealand extended the unbeaten run over australia to 16 games.

they won to ensure a clean sweep of the four-nation rugby championship. kreden led the way with the boot. both sides now head to the northern hemisphere for the end of season tours. jo-wilfried tsonga kept himself in contention. he survived a tough battle with the local wildcard. tsonga had to see the match point in the third set before prevailing in a tiebreaker. he's face dutchman robin haas later on saturday. football referees are used to coming under fire, but not in this way. a brazilian ref was ducking for cover after being attacked by a bird during a third division match. the match had to be stopped for just a short while. there's much more sport on our website. for all the latest check out

aljazeera.com/sport. there's detail how to get in touch with our team using twitter and facebook. the website again is aljazeera.com/sport. thanks it for me. back to you. >> thanks so much. scientists in georgia are excited about their latest find, which could force a rethink about how they think humans evolved. emma heyward explains. >> reporter: it is 1.8 million years old and may help unlock the key to how our very distant ancestors lived. excavated from a site in georgia, this is the most complete skull ever found. with his big teeth and large face, his brain case was much smaller than that of a modern-day human being. skull 5 as he's known key rewrite evolutionary history. many believe that humans evolved from several species, but new research suggests there could

have been fewer than previously thought. >> we learned around 2.18 million we had mostly one li lineage in which it has been spread all over the continent, but where you have local population. this shows that there were much less quantity of the species than we thought. it means that now we can saddle it with less branches of it than was previously thought. >> reporter: if the scientists in georgia are right, it may mean the early species of our human ancestors in africa made their way across the world sooner than previously thought. this very distant ancestor is thought to have met his end after a battle with a hungry carnivore. emma heyward, al jazeera.

it's time for us to meet the end of this bulletin. we have another full round of news coming up, though, in a couple of minutes. so do stay with us. ...

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