hello, welcome to the news hour in doha. one of the most controversial politicians in the middle east, aerial sharon dies at the age of 85 t the evacuation of thousands begins. security fears mount. hello. the latest from europe including an uneasy peace. the controversial vigils held in

london whose death sparked riots two and a half years ago. >> croatia's insects are all over the place. within the past few hours, it's been announced that the former prime minister aerial sharon has died. he was 85 and had been in a coma for eight years after suffering a stroke. he was one of the most did i have vicive politicians and military commanders in the region. this was the moment that the news was announced at the hospital where he was being treated near tel aviv. >> over the past week, we struggle with surprising strengths and determination against the deterioration in his condition. today, he departed peacefully with his loving family at his side the sh i have a medical

cementer emphasizes we worked in complete cooperation in the decision taken with the sharon family. >> friends of sharon say he has left an indelible mark on israel. >> he went to hospital. he was optized eight years ago people are crying. it's by government decision years ago. in this case, he will be there. information. since he was a general. not only a prime minister. he will get an army funeral. he was a leader of generals.

in the military, he was the best military man, the best general we ever had. >> let's look back now on the life of aerial sharon. mike hanna reports >> reporter: it was a moment that defined the nature of a man, in a walk across the sacred grounds, aerial sharon demonstrated that israel had sovereignty over all of jerusalem. it was an action that sparked off a second palestinian uprising and resulted in sharon becoming prime minister in a matter of months. his willingness to take risks was legend area, regarded as a maverick by his superior, he continue lip produced results and his military career was marked by a series of audacious campaigns and victories. after years in the field, he was appointed defense minister. in 1982, sent israeli forces into lebanon. 40s that stood by him did nothing. his fighters killed some 2,000

people in refugee camps. it should have been the end of his political career. an israeli commission of inquiry found him directly responsible and recommended that he never hold public office again. it was a recommendation that sharon typically ignored, winning first the contest against benjamin netanyahu against the leadership and then after his walk at alexa, storming to a general election victory. he promised the country security and took a long-term view while a wave of suicide bomb attacks hit israel, sharon ramped up a process in which hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the former soviet block countries were granted israeli citizenship. he ordered the construction of a separation barrier. it's success from a security point of view disputed but at the same time, it physically redefined what israel redefined as orders. sharon had been in what he called the west bank, his years

in office were marked by a estimatedy increase in the number of settlers. at the same time, he determined the settlements in gaza were not in israel's strategic interest. in the 2005, he ordered the settlers be removed. he had no qualms about physically removing settlers from the sinai decades before. a mark of fundamental zinist belief that no claim should be made on land that was not rec d regarded as israel. part of the zinism, sharroon's view that his lifetime enemy, yasar arafat did not threaten his religion but his country. it was a hostile relationship that had a deeply personal content. he had fought against arafat's forc forces, driving the palestinian leader out of that country. as prime minister with a backing of the u.s. president, he sought to exile arafat from his own people. in the final stages knocking down the walls of the compound he would not allow arafat to

leave. his health deteriorating, he left his shattered headquarters in ramala and went into exile, this time not to return. sharon had won again. the victory was short-lived. as sharon was preparing for another election, he suffered a stroke and never regained consciousness. after years of lying in a coma, this proudlyzinist general who had been on the front line of battles suffered his final defeat. mike hanna, al jazeera. >> we will get reaction from tel aviv later but now, live to the sabra camp in beirut. zana, many commentators saying the 1982 invasion of lebanon, the massacres at sabra and shatila will cast a shadow over sharon's legacy. what's been the reaction to his death there? >> well, yes, we are at the

scene of that massacre which almost really ended aerial sharon's career. more than 30 years ago, there were bodies in the street, dead bodies, mutilated bodies. today, people are out on the street celebrating, distributing sweets. people really are happy. in 1982, the israeli army inv e invaded lebanon and laid siege to this camp. they were officially pursuing fighters belonging to the palestine liberation organization. at the time, aerial sharon was the defense minister. really, they blame him for allowing an allied lebanese militia to enter the camp and kill women, elderly children, hundreds of palestinians were killed. >> you talk to any palestinian now, some are survivors and they tell you that we are rejohning his death. no one here is mourning his death. some of them also say that his death is not going to change much.

he was an official, and he was really implementing and pursuing the policy of the israeli government. >> sharon dead. the ideas dead? policies still continue today. >> may god damn his soul. may he take suffering in the after life the same way we did during our lives. >> his death to me means happiness. his death exemplifies the best day in the life of a palestinian because he massacred our people. he came into this camp and killed all of the people. >> after those massacres in sabra and shatila for which ariel sharon was held personally responsible, how did people feel years later when the man became israel's briprime minister? >> well, at the end of the day, what people here wanted was to

see ariel shar own be taken to an international tribunal to face justice, international j t justice. there were numerous attempts, survivors, their lawyers, they tried to take ariel sharon to court. >> that's never happened. for palestinians here as these people were displaced in 1948, second generation, third generation, they are growing up in these camps, all they want is to go back home. but they feel whether sharon is in power or not, any other israeli leader is not affecting the palestinian's right to return. you talk to anyone here, for them, yes, a man who they blame for killing hundreds of palestinians is now dead. some of them even say, we feel that he suffered enough simply by being in coma for so many years. but this is definitely not what the palestinian people wanted. what they wanted to see was the -- former israeli prime minister stand trial and face punishment really for what they see is the crimes committed

against the people of the palestinian people. >> all right. thanks. live in the sabra camp in beirut. condolences coming in from all around the world for ariel sharon. bank ban ki moon said he will be delivered for determination to carry through with the painful and historic decision to withdraw israeli settlers from the gaza strip. his successor, secretary general, says faces the difficult challenge of realizing the aspirations of peace between the israeli and palestinian people. britain's prime minister had this to say: he is one of the most significant figures in israeli history. as prime minister, he took break and contro versial decisions in pursuit of peace before he was so tragically incapacitated. >> francois aland said he was a

major player in the history of his country, after a long military and political career, he chose to move towards the dialogue with palestine. i am offering my sincere condolences to his family and to the people of israel. sgfrnling a short time ago, i suppose with dennis ross, the former special assistant to president obama, the middle east envoy under president bill clinton and says that the former prime minister always acted in the best interest of israel. >> in many respects, different as prime minister than he had been in his other roles that he played within israel. i think he defined his role as prime minister as one that reflected a sense of deep responsibility to israel's wellbeing. he was prepared to do things as prime minister that were highly unpopular or at least were controversial. he withdrewun lat rally from gaza. he was prepared to withdraw

unilaterally from a significant part of the west bank. >> required him to actually depart from the party he, himself, had helped to create and create a new party. i think he was as prime minister, he once said as leader of the opposition, as leader of the state, he had a different responsibility. his focus was always on israel. >> mattered more on to him if meant defying people on the outside, so be it. if it meant cooperating with people on the outside, so be it. at the end of the day, he would have wanted to have an understanding and agreement with the palestinians, but he would have been prepared to move on his own. i had a conversation with him two weeks before he gave his speech on disengagement, and i was making the indicates. this was an important thing for him to do, but wouldn't it be even better if he could do it in a way where the negotiations produced this and, as a result,

he could show his way of non-violence and negotiations worked. and he said he was open to that but he wasn't prepared to allow what he felt was the palestinian inability to take certain moves to prevent israel from doing what he felt it needed to do. in his view, ultimately, he was prepared to take very hard decisions and he wanted to know what that his palestinian partner was prepared to do so as well. if they weren't, he wasn't going to, in his words, allow palestinians to determine what israel would do for itself. that was very much the mindset he had. we will have more on the death of ariel sharon. in the meantime, you may like to take a look at the website where we have a special feature looking at the legacy of ariel sharon. you will find it all at aljazeera.com. still to come here on the news hour, cease fire talks resume to try to end the fighting in south

sudan a day after the army recap tours an important town from ribs. first on the scrap heap, the remains of afghanistan's war machine are being turned into cash. he may be just back from injury but could super star mesi be rested for the biggest league game so far? we will take a look a little later in sport. >> the new interim president of the central african republic has arrived in bangee, taking charge until a new leader can be chosen to dpied the country to elections. his arrival comes as tens of thousands of foreigners from neighboring countries wait to be evacuated from the country. up to 100,000 people have been living in a makeshift camp near bangee's airport. they have fled violence between

the mainly muslim selica fighters and christian militias. barnabee phillips has the latest >> reporter: join us in a hangar on the edge of bangee airport. behind me, you can see the decrepit remains of this country's air force and hundreds and hundreds of people. all of them appear to be muslim. many of chadian nationality. many people say they are but they say they were born here in bangee. anyway, the point is, they want to get out. they don't feel safe. they are very fright 10ed of the mainly christian anti-balica militia. some of them have been here for days, but many have arrived within the last 24 hours. there is some pretty terrifying stories. unfortunately for most of them, there is some sort of evacuation into the international

organization of migration is putting on emergency evacuation flights. one plane is due to arrive in bangee before the evening. hopefully it will be able to take up the day and take people to the capitol of neighboring chad. there are due to be more flights tomorrow, and into the coming days. not only to chad, but we have also heard that there will be flights to marley. now, all of this is i cndicativ of the power vacuum here in this country at the moment, getting the president, indeed, the prime minister resigned was one thing. coming up with a replacement that can actually unite this country brings some authority and law and order, but the politicaltrition, a two-week process during which this country's beleaguered politicians are meant to choose a figure. but in the meantime, what little authority there is comes from the international community in the ing meer shape of 1 and a

half thousand french troops and less than 5,000 african troops at the moment. from what we have seen, they can't be everywhere at the same time. not in this capitol bangee, and certainly not across the entire country. there was sporadic shooting throughout the night. it carried on into the morning. african peace keepers have told us that they will be trying to disarm the christian militia who they feel may be seeking revenge, attacks, they might feel that they are more on the front foot after the president stood down but it is a very delicate and worrying situation. >> the u.n. is pressing south sudan's president, salva kia to release political prisoners so that talks taking place in ethiopia can move toward a cease fire agreement between the two warring sides after the army gained control of a key tammy sight. 200,000 people have been forced since fighting began last month.

in a moment, we will hear from al jazeera's hara matasa in juba. but first, let's get the latest now from the ethiopian capital from al jazeera's m mohammed addo> w. >> here at the talks, they refused to sign an agreement drafted by the mediated orders. this was a cease fire agreement. there is a great right now for the fighting to stop so that the people who were living in their houses and going to seek shelter also crossing the border of south sudan has with its neighbors now have to stop. how far, the rebel negotiators are saying they cannot sign an agreement that doesn't include the release of up to 11 political leaders who are currently in detention in juba. the mediators are right now in south sudan at an undisclosed

location where they are said to be meeting the former vice president and trying to convince him to sign the cease-fire agreement. the government perhaps encouraged by recent grounains the ground say they will not release the political detain easy. they say they will be dealt with according to the laws of south sudan from the information minister of south sudan, michael mccoa, said they will not listen to the pressure that's coming from all ends, and they will deal with the political detanees according to the laws of south sud sudan. now, this, perhaps in response to the united nations security council, one of the last bodies to speak and say that the political detainees must be released. >> there are demon diplomatic efforts trying to find a solution to the crisis. i am joined by atini, the press

secretary. the sgrun secretary general has urged south sudan to release those who have been arrested for planning a coup. what is the government's position. >> when the secretary general talked to the president, the president called his government today. together with government ministers and advisors to delibrate on whether the suspect of the attempted coup should be released or not. the position of the government having listened to the explanation given by the minister of justice, it was found that it was not easy to release the suspect because under the transition of the republic of south sudan, if president camin and -- were to

come in and release those who were perpetrators of the crime that is punishable, the president will be violating the constitution. and so the members of the government expressed that they will not accept these guys to be released without, you know, without trying. so they had to go, you know, but we agreed that the process, the legal process should be expedite so that the legal, you know, so that these people are actually taken to be allowed to defend themselves. >> there is so much international pressure to get these detainees released. is the government concerned sanctions could be imposed on the country to put pressure to release the detainees? >> that would be unfortunate if the international community doesn't want to deal with them as a sovereign country. it is unfortunate if the

international committee wanted to cooperate with the rebels. it is supposed the international community understands the position of the government. the government knows that the attempted coup happened on the 16th of december, in any country, if that happens, the perpetrate orders were taken to a court of law. i don't know why they would not understand our position in these regards. >> thank you. >> reporter: there is fighting going on bor. we are told the army has sent in reinforcements a lot of people hoping pizza talks come to a peaceful and speedy conclusion. >> now, egyptian medial are reporting that the army chief, ab due fatta asisi may consider running for the presidency. supporters launched a campaign to force him to run. they say he is the obvious choice as extremely popular

leader leader. he said he will consider it if the people demand it and the military supports him. meanwhile, five al jazeera journalists are being detained without charge by authorities in egypt. mohammed fahi and correspondent peter gifta are accused of spreading lies harmful to state security and joining of a terrorist group. al jazeera says the allegations are fabricated and is demanding their release. the other two journalists are from sister channels, fo-al jazeera arabic and from the egyptian affiliate. they have been detained now for five months. the situation inside syria is worsening as government forces continue to target opposition fighters. reports suggest that dozens of people have been killed north of syria's largest city. this video is set to show the area north of aleppo, the government is alleged to have targeted vehicles with art i

willery resulting in 40 civilian deaths. a video showing the moments after a car bomb attack t being blamed on the state of iraq. the isil organization is linked to al-qaeda in iraq. the attack cake as syrian rebels prepared for an assault. the town is isil's last stronghold in the northwestern -- in the ernesto of syria. foreign forces leaving afghanistan at the end of this year won't be taking all of their equipment with them. instead, some basis are selling their scrap to local dealers. janelli ferguson reports now, it's a multi-million dollar business. >> the war machine in afghanistan is being broken down and sold. these are scraps of equipment from kandahar air base, for years, a major military facility in southern afghanistan. whatever isn't being packed up and sent back to the u.s. or

given to afghan forces is sold to local dealers. but much of it has been intention intentionally damaged. mohammed zarif cysts through a pile of scraps that were once a large tent. in the could have been worth $5,000 if it wasn't in pieces, he said. baffled that something so valuable could be destroyed. >> what is there in by doing that. if they gave yus those thinks functioning. they are making things worth much to be $10,000. the military doesn't want to pay anything that will would be useful for bomb match making. the bates housed thousands of soldiers. much of what was like a small town is now being sold to local traders it ends up in scrap yards like this on the edge of the city. they say they would have preferred to have intact

equipment not stuff that has been destroyed. buying and selling scrap has become a multi-million dollar enter prize here in kandahar, employing thousands of local people. it's work for us. others are less forgiving. if they were thinking about afghanistan, they leave these things functioning so a poor person could use them. there are shoes coming from there with holes in them. >> locals here sort through the remnant did of objects many don't recognize. neither will they be using them. with most items broken or in pieces, it will have to be reprocessed as scrap metal. afghanistan doesn't have the metal to do that. most already sold across the border to pakistan. similar to the armies it once belonged to, these remnants of war will soon be moving on.

jane ferguson, al jazeera, kandahar. >> still to come, a did i have vicive figure in tel aviv, with more reaction to the death of ariel sharon. in sport, two days from the first tennis grand alabama find out how the world number 5 strolls to the city title. details in round 25 minutes.

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>> hello again t our top stories this hour, the former israel prime minister, ariel has died at the -- ariel sharon has died. the interim president of the central african republic has arrived in bangee. taking charge until a new leader can be chosen to guide the country to elections later this year. and the u.n. is pressing south sudan's leader, salvakia to

release political prisoners so the country's warring sides can work toward a cease fire agreement with talks taking place in ethiopia. more now on our top story, the death of ariel sharon. tom ackerman joins us with the reaction from tel aviv. always a controversial figure but one of the few remaining public fifegures in israel who' career stretches back to the earliest days of the state. what's been the reaction there? >> well, as you can imagine,tributes have been pouring in from around the country, not only his allies, his former allies, his long-time foes in political life, all expressing their respect for his leadership, acknowledging his daring, and remembering some of the more monumental decisions of his, both civilian and military careers. the people who admired him

talking about his establishment of hundreds or beginning the establishment of hundreds of settlement, jewish settlement in occupied territory. the people who are -- and even some people who had been his allies also recalling that they opposed him fiercely when he decided unilaterally to withdraw from the gaza strip, even forcing 7500 jewish settlers out of there. the state television, which is now broadcasting a lot of his highlights, most interestingly, a clip from his statement just before he actually succumbed to his coma talking about how he still had the dream of jewish settlement in israel all the way to the jordan river but some dreams had to be compromised with. obviously, he was referring to those instances where he split his own lecoud party and went

out in the wilderness and actually did get a lot of support from the israeli public until actually he felt i will and was succeeded by ahu ahud almert. we know that the kinneset is making preparations for him to lie in state and then for him to be buried beside his late wife on his family ranch in the northern negev sderth, within 36 hours or so, in accordance with jewish law. >> it seems, tom, there was hardly a moment of national drama in israel in which the man h did not play a role >> reporter: that's true. he began his military career in the 1948 war of independence. he was known for his daring and in some cases, infamously for

heading a commando unit that was disbanded for awe parent atrocat this. in 1956, his military career in the sinai war was a bit e dripsed. but in 1973, he was the hero of the moment, the man who was proclaimed and erik, king of israel because after the egyptian and syrian attacks, he commanded units in contrary to military orders from his superiors and actually crossed the sues canal with an israel column and that really reversed the tide and forced the cease-fire which resulted several years later in the actual withdraw of israeli forces from egyptian territory.

>> tom, for the moment, many thanks. tom ackerman live in tel aviv. let's get a different perspective, from the secretary general of the palestinian national initiative. he joins us live from ramala. thanks for being with united states. how do you think that history will judge ariel sharon? >> of course, there is no gloating in death. probably shareon will be judged in history for many, many of his aimpressions, aggressive attacks that he did against the palestinian people. unfortunately, there is no good memory of what he did to palestinians at all. first of all, several massacres that he organized against the palestinian population starting in the '50s and then subranchafila which he was found guilty by israeli courts, themselves. and that was a horrible massacre

that took the lives of thousands of palestinians and he did nothing to stop that mats kerr. of course, he was responsible for the invasion of lebanon several times but especially in the 1982 war, which was very destructive. he was responsible for killing the oslo process in my opinion and the peace agreement by his provocation in 2000 when he entered the second interfada. and he was responsible for the occupying west bank and the janin camp massacre that happened in the pal stipian territories. as you know, there are greats suspicions that he was responsible for the assassination of late president yassar arafat. so there will be a time, i think, when all of these issues will be brought to the court of justice, maybe the international criminal court, and history will judge whether he was a war criminal or he was a person who

violated human rights in a very aggressive way. >> okay. safe to say he died hated by many of israel' enemies. he never shied away from bold physical moves. he was man who supported israeli settlers. he was also the man who ordered their removal from gaza in 2005. >> now that you mentioned that, let's remember that he was the one who occupied gaza three times actually. once in '56, once in the '70s when he bulldozed most of the -- bulldozed hundreds of farms and houses inside the refugee camps to open big roads for the israeli army and in 1967. more than that, when people speak about him redeploying from gaza, i think this was a very smart move to serve theisitsi occupation because his aim was to separate gaza from west bank

in which he succeeded and practically, he established the grounds for the internal pal stenian division leader. i think his strategy was to get rid of 1.3% of the land, of palestine, of the historic palestine. by that, he was trying to get rid of one-third of the formula and thus, he was planting the plans top prevent the establishment through unified and contig with us efforts. >> it was during his tenure of prime mine sister that the construction of the separation barrier began. >> exactly. that was one part of the plan that netanyahu is full filling today, which is to try to transfer the idea of palestinian statehood into nothing but clusters. by the way,itsis never withdrew from gaza. they just redeployed. what he did was reshape it into a new form of occupation. i call it digital occupation. but israel maintains control

over the passages and the sea and the air space and, in practice, gaza was separated from west bank in a very harsh way yet it was not freed from occupation. and what we see today is the continuation of the same plans that sharon established of building settlements to prevent the freedom of the palestinian people and the establishment of a truly free and independent palestinian state. >> good to talk to you. the secretary general of the palestinian national initiative in ramala. >> thank you. >> there is a huge police presence in london right now where a controversial and highly e motive vigil is taking place. let's talk to felicity barr to explain what it is all about and why many people are nervous about it. felicity? >> reporter: it all relates to a man called mark dugan who was shot dead by police here in london two and a half years ago. his death sparked unrest, leading to riots in the capitol

and other english cities. on wednesday, an inquest ruled that he was killed lawfully despite not being armed, himself, when he was shot. families heckled police as they tried to give statements, which they are stressing must be peaceful. >> let's take you to al jazeera's nadin barber. the riots began and where that vigil is under waifrmthsways. how is the vigil going? >> it's drawing to a closed. it's been going on for just over an hour. it was supposed to start at 2:00 o'clock local time but it started rather late. we have heard from mark dugants aunt carol in the last hour. we have heard a number of speakers and there have been people holding and justin justing chanting no justice. no peace after the inquest verdict came out as you were saying on wemdz.

it's been peaceful but it's been very passional some police figures have admitted that it hasn't helped that the jury at the inquest won't allow to explain how they came to their finding that his killing was lawful even though he did not have a weapon where he was shot by the police >> reporter: difficult for the police because i think it's fair to say that community, their argument was that they believed mark dugan was armed when he was shot. . >> clearly having a few problems with the sound connection to nadin barber in tottenham.

thousands of kurds are demanding justice for three activists shot dead there a year ago, calling for turkish authorities to the cooperate with frechling investigators. the co-founder of the pkk was killed at a kurdish information center. nch investigators. the co-founder of the pkk was killed at a kurdish information center. turkey denies involvement in the activist's death. the golden dome party have gathered. three of the party's mps are preparing at the pre-trial hearing to determine whether they will be charged with membership of a criminal organization. it is being investigated following the murder of a rapp singer last september. several people have been seriously injured after protesters clashed with police officers t three men threaten today blow up a statue of lenin

were sentenced to six years in jail. tensions have escalated following the decision to turn away from the european union and sign an economic deal with russia. . five people have been arrested after the start of the winter olympics about 300 kilometers to the west. security services are on high alert ahead of the games. being linked to her husband's business affairs who is investigated for alleged embezzleme embezzlement. both deny any wrongdoing. the known for being busy but in croatia, they are also confused. the bee population has come out of we've provideder nation early because unseasonabley warm weather has messed with body

clocks. mcgregor woods reports it could be bad news all around >> reporter: first thing every morning, this bee keeper checks the temperature. there should be snow on the ground. >> 10 degrees in january, that's too war. >> bees think it's spring. >> they shouldn't be outside. it's too cold. i tried to warm them up. i care for every one of my bees. >> reporter: the bees are going out in search of food and laying eggs. if it turns cold now, they will be in real trouble. >> inf winter comes back again, which it probably will, then the weaker bees won't be able to warm up the col ony and they will die which means many will never lay their eggs at all. >> the situation has croatian

officials worried? >> we don't know what's going on. we know some bee keepers have lost a lot. new keepers, old keepers, big and small. something is definitely happening amend we need to keep a close watch on it. >> it's a european problem. in the last few years, a third of the bee population has been lost, almost 7 billion bees. in croatia, according to the national bekeepers' association, there are 9,000 bee keepers with a bee population of neil 500,000. any significant loss in the be population can have serious complications to rummans. they play a crucial role until policination of plant life. if the bee goes, our food supply will be under serious threat. >> it's like removing a brick from the bottom of a wall. the wall might still stand, but it won't be as stable as before. >> the instability of the local climate is having an effect. in april, when the real spring arrives, they should know just

how serious the problem is. simon mcgregor wood, al jazeera. >> you are up from the latest. back to doha more to come from a baghdad batesment to a new york city museum. artifacts from iraqts jewish community are recovered, restored and put on show. now to foreman ter united ledge he end has some scathing comments just ahead in sports. al jazeera america. we understand that every news

>> iraqi jews can trace heritage back more than 2,000 years but in the mid 20th century, the government forced them to leave their home land. now, a u.s.-led initiative to save their cultural and religious history is drawing new attention to the community as al jazeera rosalind jordan reports >> reporter: in may, 2003, u.s. searched baghdad for weapons of mass destruction. they didn't find any. in a flooded basement of the former spy headquarters, soldiers did find thousands of materials connected to iraq's once thriving jewish community. religious artifacts, business and government records, photos, letters and other personal effects. later that year, the coalition authority and the interim iraqi government agreed to let the national archives in washington clean and restore the materials, a project that took a decade to complete. >> this belonged today my grandfather.

and this -- we use it in certain holidays. it's handwritten, and the piece is a skin of a dear. >> the descend ent of a chief rabbi was born and raised in baghdad. he was shocked to learn the government had spied on him and other children. iraqi jews suffered harassment and persecution in the late 1960s. shohek said that drove his family to pay smugglers to get them out in 1980. >> we might not make it and be killed on the way, on the roadwaves or might be kidnapped. we don't have a future in the country. and this was forcing to make a decision. we took the risk of not arriving to iran at all. >> much of the restoration work has been completed. 24 of the art facts were recently displayed at the national archives.

the materials soon will be returned to baghdad, something the u.s. agreed to do back in 2003. shoh helped with the restoration but he and others say they would like to see that material reviewed. >> at a time archives were confiscated from the iraqi jewish community. accordingly, it's the pat trim mo patrimo in. y of our community. we believe it has to be returned to our community in the united stat states. it will live online for the entire world to see. >> isn't the same as a community possessing and carrying for the proof of its existence across isn't trees. >> rosalind jordan, al jazeera, washington. >> time for sports write-up now on the news hour. here is suna thank you very much. adegr adrienne on top of the league.

2-nil winners, opening the scoring with a stunning goal from the edge of the box. chelsea's win was sealed with another great effort this time from fernando torres. five other matches are reaching halftime, west ham and everton are a goal up. leading against tottenham crystal palace is goalless t missed a penalty, manchester united faced swansy in the late gate. the end of three straight defeats. beat them just last sunday. united hasn't lost four matches in a row since 1961. the former player, peter scmicel has come out. the danish goalkeeping legend won five premier league titles. he said the squad needs a massive overhaul. >> i think there are a few

players in the dressing room that are not taking the responsibility of being a manchester united player as serious as i would like it. and i mean i find that's a big shame. there are a few players there that hasn't been performing this year, the year before, and i think at some point, the manager needs to make a decision whether to keep them or not keep them. >> saturday could be a very significant day in spain's premier division. t the top two players, champions, barcelona visits second place aletico going into the game having won the last five and the madrid side have hopes of their first laliga title. neap goals from brazil born striker costa has been one of the main factors in athelitico's success. >> the results so far have been

because of a great effort from the team and a great effort from the club to keep the players who always wanted to improve and wanted to grow up because there was rebellion against certain situations. diego costa is a different player as is phillip reece. all of the players have grown at an extraordinary level. >> visitors, barca could be boosted by the league return of messi, the argentine called twice. he came on as a substitute in the copa del ray. the barca coach may not start with his star man. >> in cases where there was competition for long time, i am concerned. our next arrival because looking at our arrival makes the coaches

make hasty decisions. it's a mid january game. there is a lot to do until the end of the season. i prefer to have all of my players in good shape for the most important part of the liga, champions league in copper de copper del ray. >> a win for bill ball would see them four points clear. thing race after 30 minutes. they have given themselves a chance, pulling a goal back before the break. later score 3-1 at ha. sophia traveled to the last of the 4 saturday games. in the top half of the spanish stable on friday night, taking the lead with an acrobatic goal.

some comical defending helped score twice for the home side. granada won 4-nil. now 9th for a few hours at least. looking good ahead of the first tennis grand slam of the year. the world's number 5 won the city international two days before the australian open begins. it was at the extend of home favorite tomage. he beat all of opponents in straight sets 63-61 in just 53 minutes. a open start on monday. up against role number 1, ralph nadal. it was a huge shock in the lady's competition, bulgaria became the first female qualified to win the event. 107 beat 15 semifinalist

angelique in straight sets. the first wta title. she is the first qualified to win any event on the ladies' tour since 2010. to basketball where the brooklyn nets beat the nba champions 104 to 95. they needed double overtime to clench the 5th straight win. the golden state warriors were back at home after a 7-match road trip and beat the boston celtics. with 22 points, seven assists and five rebounds. steven curry finished with 19 points and a jump shot with 2.1 seconds left to send the warriors to victover with 99 to 97. the oilers have stunned the eastern conference leaving pittsburgh penguins. the oilers are the team coming ba from 3 goals down.

brian hopkins was the star of the night. he scored two goals including the winner in overtime to give the oilers a full win. >> cricketers in pakistan have given hope of rescuing the second test with sri thank youa. >> means they lead by 107 runs with three wickets rapeing. an early end to date in dubai. more on that and a win for new zealand to end the first 220 match against the west indies. on the website, check aljazeera.com. there is details there. now to interact with the team using twitter and facebook. >> indeed. >> will do it for the news hour. more reaction to the death of ariel sharon and the rest of the day's top stories straight ahead here on al jazeera. i will see you again. thanks for watching bye for

. welcome to al jazeera america. i am morgan radford. here are the stories we are following for you right now. former prime minister ariel sharon is dead at the age of 85. we look at the life and legacy of the controversial leader. no water for hundreds of thousands in west virginia after thursday's toxic chemical spill. 50 years ago, the historic announcement that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer. . word came early this