from all of us here at "techknow," we wish you happy holidays. >> welcome to the news hour. i'm in doha with the top international stories. it started with a handshake but ended in failure. the meeting between the u.s. and russia yields no solution for ukraine. egyptians take to the streets. thousands call for the reinstatement of ousted president mohammed morsi. a french court considered its verdict on a rwandan accused

of genocide and war crimes. and with three months to go until the world cup. one of fifa's top men tells us there is no plan be. >> does it mean that all will be perfect? that's not the point. ♪ six hours of talks have failed to find a compromise on the crisis in ukraine. russian's foreign minister has been meeting the u.s. secretary of state in london. john kerry says the west will not recognize the referendum on crimea becoming parts of russia. sergei lavrov said crimea is more important to russia than

the faulkland islands are to britain. simon really no surprise that there's no compromise between kerry and lavrov? >> no, you wouldn't have found many optimists in london going into these talks on friday, but john kerry as he said after they broke up, they lasted six hours, they were frank and candid. both dug in to each other's narratives about good ways of defusing, de-escalating it, but it became very clear getting the russians to cancel sunday's referendum in crimea that he had failed to do that, and that was pretty clear when he gave his press conference. >> after much discussion, the foreign minister made it clear that president putin is not prepared to make any decision regarding ukraine until after

the recomme-- referendum on sun. the united states position on that referendum is clear today. we believe the referendum is contrary to the constitution of ukraine, is contrary to international law, is in violation of that law, and we believe it is illegitimate. >> simon while these talks didn't go anywhere today, did you get a chance that there perhaps could be some room for negotiation? >> well, i think that that was very clear -- a message that john kerry wanted to make clear. one of the things he said repeatedly was that the west, the united states in particular, understands russia's legitimate interests and concerns, they just disagree about the ways that should be gone about to guarantee those concerns. he did raise serious concerns himself about russia troop buildup in crimea and in

particular these new military exercises in russia on ukraine's eastern border. he said he received assurances face-to-face from sergei lavrov. and that was something that sergei lavrov himself made clear during his press conference. >> translator: the russian federation does not have any plans to invade the region. we believe the rights of the russians, hungarians, bulgarians and ukraines should be secured and protected. >> i think the last conclusion to make from this day of high diplomacy in london as far as the americans and europeans are concerned, the ball is very much in president putin's court now. john kerry said he know it is

going to go ahead. we regret that, we consider its results illegal, but it depends on what president putin does with the vote. if he takes the yes vote and rubber stamps it into moscow, john kerry said they would consider that a back door annexation. >> simon thank you. speaking to us from london. and as simon was saying, russia faces sanctions if the referendum does go ahead. already the united states has issued travel bans and frozen the assets of people and companies deemed to have acted to undermine ukrainian democracy. the european union is expected to do the same on monday, especially now that angela merkel has taken a tougher

stance. >> translator: if russia continues on its actions of the past week, we would see it as a threat and it would not only change the eu's relationship with russia and cause massive damage to russia economically and politically. traditionally russia has an ally in china. it's china as policy to oppose foreign interference in a country's affairs. china appears uneasy at the prospect of voting with russia on crimean independence. chaiia is already dealing with pressure for independence of tibet and taiwan. james bays is at the un heard quarters in new york. the crisis in ukraine is affecting other discussions at the un, no doubt? >> it is certainly the disto try

to make a statement, just a press statement about the syrian peace process, they tried to draft one of those in the last 24 hours and couldn't come up with a statement because russia objected to the wording. it appears the situation is infecting and affecting other nations here at the united nations. we believe there may well be a big showdown in the next 24 hours. the draft text for a resolution has been put in blue as it is known, it is referring to the ink that it is in, this is actually the draft. that means they could vote on it anymore from first thing, business day here in new york on saturday. obviously all diplomats doing their normal business, but the

topic of the conversation is the situation in ukraine. and we heard from the un secretary general. >> it is true the situation and emotions have been hardened over the forthcoming referendum in crimea. what i'm concerned is that as i said there should be no such a hasty measures and decisions which may impact the sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of ukraine. that has been my consistent message. >> james i want to talk about these draft resolution that will be voted on within the next 24 hours or so. you have previously said the point of this resolution is to show russia it's isolated and not in line with the rest of the world when it comes to ukraine. but i thought that was already

obvious. so just explain to us what is the point of the resolution? >> well, they haven't 100% decided to go heyahead with it. but they have put the draft text in blue said, that means it will be ready to be voted on on saturday. the reason to do that, well, they are never going to get the resolution passed, because russia has that veto, but if they could show all of the nations part from russia agreed to that resolution, that will be very important. china i don't think will ever side against russia, but they are trying to hope that china would abstain and that would show that russia is there on its own. >> by all reports the referendum in crimea does look like it will go ahead.

if there is this decision to split from ukraine where does that leave the united nations? >> i think the united nations is in a very difficult position. the security council if they go ahead on saturday with this vote, that will be a one shot. they won't actually be able to do that again, really to condemn what has happened. so in many ways it will be hard to reverse what will have happened on the ground. the defactor status of crimea will be that crimea is no longer part of ukraine. it will create a big headache and depends a little bit on how the russia president and parliament respond after the referendum, which now looks pretty unstoppable, and whether they actually go the next step and welcome crimea into the federation >> james thank you very much for that.

well in eastern ukraine rival demonstrators have been fighting each other with deadly results, and supporters of the transitional ukraine government battled pro-russia demonstrators. at least one person was killed and up to 20 others in the city. v -- ukraine's national guard has begun training its first group of recruits. paul beban has more. >> reporter: they are proud and they are willing, but turning these protesters and volunteers into a cohere enth national guard is a daunting task.

training for what? they don't exactly know or care. but they do know why they are here. >> translator: we are going to get ready to defending ourselves, says this man. >> ukraine says it needs just 10,000 more people to make the 60,000 that they say is necessary for a fully staffed national guard, and as you can see there is no shortage of volunteers. >> this is the government's recruitment video, but two weeks of training will not produce this level of combat efficiency. they will probably be guarding strategic installations. civil defense volunteers stand guard. most of these people fought against the riot police in independence square. and some believe the role of the national guard should be more. some think the national guard should prevent future governments from becoming too powerful.

>> i think it would be like the third -- there is nation, there is a government, and national guard will be between them. >> but the security chief appears unconcerned. >> translator: we have a gap in our law which doesn't allows to properly defend critical infrastructure sites. and there is no single existing unit which can do this job. the new powers of the national guard won't be extreme. >> reporter: with experienced russian forces conducting exercises and crimea in crisis, the urgency cannot be understated. should the russians enter eastern ukraine, these troops will be no match for them.

but they are willing to try. >> so learn more about the vennes in ukraine you can always go to our website, aljazeera.com. still to come on this news hour, syrian rebels offer to swap dozens of captured alawite women and children in exchange for 2,000 prisoners. the message some scotts are giving the uk. and it's a mixed day for hamilton lewis in the new f-1 season. friday prayers in egypt were followed by rallies in cities across the country in support of mohammed morsi. they are the first major

demonstrations since the military chief hinted he would be running for president. >> reporter: thousands of egyptians fill the streets of the egyptian city. there have been protests like these in various locations across the country. the show of opposition in anticipation of the military chief saying he will run for president. there is wide held belief that sisi now wants to be egypt's leader, seen here on a visit to the united arab emirates this week, he said he couldn't ignore demands that he run for president. >> there is no doubt that sisi will be the president. it is not because they -- necessarily the election will -- will be [ inaudible ] but i think most egyptians think that egypt needs a strong commanding and they will vote for sisi, but what sisi will be

able to do, we don't know yet. and sisi has [ inaudible ] political party. >> reporter: in january the army gave the green light to sisi to retire from his military show. >> sisi is running the whole show. he is the one who meets foreign delegates, and does everything. and all of the rest are just part of the fitting decor to try to convince the west that there is a -- a civilian government there. >> reporter: earlier this week, comments by the former prime minister under the mubarak government were leaked by a pro-brotherhood group. he is heard criticizing sisi's expected presidential bid. he says the way the army backed sisi's candidacy showed a strange lack of experience. he goes on to say the

presidential vote would be in farcical. he now says his comments were taken out of context. numerous members of the muslim brotherhood have been arrested. the interim prime minister says egypt can expect a new president by june. charles strat ford, al jazeera. the already massive search area for the missing malaysian airline jet has been expanded again. now 57 ships and 48 aircraft are involved in the search which already covers the south china sea. now the search areas are now being expanded further into the indian ocean and the south china sea. now a week of waiting is taking

its toll on the missing passenger's families, some have been talking to al jazeera in the malaysian capitol. >> reporter: lack of information is too distressing. [ sobbing ] >> reporter: seven days and still no clear direction of where the search for the missing airline flight is heading. the atmosphere is tense as relatives meet officials from the airlines in beijing. but they don't find the answers they are hoping for. >> translator: we have been stuck here too long. every day is a foreture. i don't know how many more days we'll have to wait. i just want accurate information as soon as possible. >> reporter: here families have been put in a hotel while they wait for news. volunteer caregivers have been assigned to help them cope. >> few family i think there is

still hope that the airplane will be find and their family safe. few of the family think they the chances are low. they are prepared to accept what will happen. >> reporter: across the country, though, some still haven't given up hope, placing their faith in higher powers. >> we just performed [ inaudible ] for the sake of muslim, the safety of the airline. with the grace of allah, we all pray that the missing airline and all of the crew and passengers will be found safe and in good health. >> reporter: so day seven ends like all previous days with insufficient new leads and fewer reasons for families to believe their loved ones are still live. to france now where the jury in a rwandan genocide trial is

expected to deliver its verdict shortly. for more let's go to lauren taylor in our european news center. >> the former army chief has insisted he never saw any of the dead busies. he has been on trial for more than five weeks. he is charged with complicity in genocide and war crimes. a verdict is expected soon in >> yes, lauren, we were expecting the verdict to come through between 6:00 and 8:00 local time. it is now probably 20 past 7:00. before the jury went out around 10:00 this morning, pascal said he wanted to be treated as a human being. he said six years on the french justice system has nothing on him still, but still waiting for

that verdict. he of course denies the charges, but many anxious faces outside the courtroom of people keen to see what will happen at the end of the final chapter of this trial which has been at time harrowing and also complex. it's almost 20 years since the rwandan genocide which saw around 800,000 people killed in the space of just 100 days. ethnic tensions had existed for years, but when the president's plane was shot down, what followed is still hard to comprehend. a systematic campaign of buttalty and bloodshed saw 20% of the country's population wiped out, most minority tutsis. a form army captain now on trial

for his alleged part in the killings. he is accused of complicity in the genocide, something he denies. witnesses have told how he distributed weapons that were later used for killing tutsis, but there have also been claims that he saved ethnic tutsis by hiding them or driving them to safety. rwanda accused paris of providing the hutu fighters with weapons. >> translator: at least we have the feeling that impunity is over. this is very important. we also have the feeling that the french society is looking off it, and looking into the case. this is also very important. we have feeling that we are being heard at last, supported

at last. >> reporter: if found guilty he faces a life term, and his case could set a precedent for many morrow juan dans to be tried on french soil. staying with france and its former president has won a court battle to withdraw secret recordings from a website. he ordered the emergency ruling after it emerged that an advisor recorded him in his electron strategy. tributes are being paid in britain to tony benn who died at age 88. his activism did not end when he stood down after 50 years this parliament. he campaigned actively against the war in iraq, and here he is at a rally in 2007.

>> the war on iraq was illegal, one against the charter of the united states. it was immoral, over a million iraqis have died. and we're just going to see our members of parliament say withdraw troops immediately from afghanistan and don't attack ir iran. >> how is the campaign shaping up for scotland to leave uk? here is our report. >> reporter: six months to go until these people have an historic decision to be made. we don't need to go the whole

hogway to independence. ps >> although it's coming up to september, i still don't know. i want to do nor reading about it. >> reporter: which is odd given how voting for independence has been portrayed a bit like voting to throw your country off of the cliff. the scottish people have been left in absolutely no doubt what a terrible uphill struggle it would be for them if they wanted to go independent. they have been told that they couldn't stay in the currency, they couldn't join the european union, that the bank system wouldn't work and they couldn't guarantee the future of north sea oil. and yet during the same period the yes to independence votes has not only solidified, it has actually grown slightly. yet it appears the prime minister us himself wants to continue to ram this message home. he reminds everyone if you can't

predict the future, you might as well not risk it. >> you shouldn't make a decision about changing your nation forever without knowing in full what the consequences would be. and just look who is laying out those consequences. the governor of the bank of england. the president of the european commission. business chiefs from companies like bp and shell, alliance trust, rbs, lloyds, barclays, the list goes on. ♪ no no no no >> of course the scotts have heard this many times now and this comic video a take off by the american star lady gaga. captures the frustration felt by the 40% who were proindependence. but the london elite still imply that scotland is still just too little to function without england's protection. the proindependence argument, yes we can will always resinate

better than the drum beat of no you can't. >> it's ironic, because that's part of why we want independence, people are fed of being dictated -- well, not dictated, but, you know, having the policies imposed upon them that they didn't vote for. >> reporter: the more time that passes the clearer it becomes that the political class in london has yet to find a language for the arguments to win this decisively. we'll be back later in the news hour with more from europe. now back to doha. >> thank you. we still have much more coming up in this news hour, including -- >> they were forced to give their thumb brings. >> reporter: tea pickers say they are living in poverty only though they with shareholders.

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♪ welcome back. let's take a quick look at the top stories on al jazeera. six hours of talks have failed to reach compromise on the crisis in ukraine. a week of waiting goes on for the relatives of the missing passengers and crew aboard malaysia airlines flight 370. malaysia is denying reports that the plane was deliberately flown off courses. and rallies being held across the country in egypt in support of mohammed morsi. let's get more on this now, and we're joined by a senior lecturer in middle east politics

and security studies at the university. omar thank you very much for joining us on the show. it has been relatively quiet in egypt of late and these protesters are definitely risking arrest for being out on stleets at the moment. what are they hoping to achieve? >> i think it's hoping to achieve the pressures on the current regime, but it has been a part of a longer civil resistance campaign that followed the july coup -- or the july 15th coup, which was -- it combined protests with sit-ins with strikes and marches, more or less to pressure the military regime and military-appointed government, but so far the achievements were not measured, and the crackdown was quite

impressive. we saw multiple crackdowns throughout the summer of 2013, and all the way until today major crackdown, we saw the -- the [ inaudible ] crackdown in august which lead to the death of hundreds -- >> now these rallies that we're showing right now are pro-morsi rallies, but then there are those who are against the military coup. where are their voices in the run-up to general sisi's presidential candidacy? >> i think the rallies are a mix really. there are ones that are promorsi rallies, but also the anti-coup rallies, and it's very hard to distinguish them. there are many groups who -- who believe that the -- they want the presidential elections, but they do not want to see a military general residing over

egypt and appointing government and so on. >> that's an interesting point, because i want to take you back to those involved in the original revolution. the ones involved in toppling mubarak in the first place. where do they see with general sisi leading the country. >> well, they are quite polarized. 2011 was generally a collective effort. the muslim brotherhood had their share, the leftist had their share of the events, and it was not one political party or group. but those out there 2011 to 2013 had had their own political agenda and went in different directions. and the coalition against the coup comprises the muslim

brotherhood, and comprises a wider circle, and even a wider sieshg circle that you can call the anti-coup group. the power chain at the top you had the military, followed by the minister of the interior, followed by the mubarek supporters, and then at the bottom you had the revolutionaries, who some of them were appointed by the government, but appointed even in places like the council of human rights -- >> omar, i do apologize for interrupting, but we do have to move on, because we're just running out of time. if we do see general sisi

winning the presidential poll, and all monitors say it was a free and fair election, will this be an accepted result across egypt? >> it can be a fair election. you had a general yesterday the main arch enemy of president morsi who went against him, came out and said it is going to be a farce and there is no point of running in the elections because he -- in egyptian slang he said they -- meaning the armed institution -- will tidy up the elections for him, which means massive rigs, and he said what is the point when the only chance of winning is 5 to 10%. so in that sense we all know what is happening. what is happening is going to be something like the referendums that we saw which basically one candidate joining, and all of

the rest are non-exist act and have no chances. >> right. omar thank you very much for your incite. dozens of syrian women and children from president bashar al-assad minority alawite sect are being held by rebels. the rebels want to exchange them for 2,000 government detainees. three of the hostages have been released, but 91 remain captive. erica wood has more. >> reporter: they were taken last august from villages in the northeast. the region is a strong hold of president bashar al-assad's alawite sect. the rebels say they are ready to free these women and children in

exchange for the release of 2,000 prisoners. said they the prisoners should be mainly from coastal regions and at least half should be women and children. a prison swap last week saw the release of 13 orthodox nuns who had been detained since december. in this video, one of the kidnapped women accusing bashar al-assad of allowing the release of others but forgetting his own. the syrian council has blamed the assad regime for the new prisoner swap tactic. >> we still don't know the denthty of these kidnappers, and a lot will be performed when we figure out who are precisely these kidnappers. situations like this in civil war are very common. >> what else is common is the

homes and lives continually being destroyed. residents are also left out of the government for dropping barrels packed with bombs. >> translator: assad you strike here and there and then you cry enough. enough. when will this end? >> translator: we were in our houses when we heard air strikes. they even targeted the mosque. they bombed the house of god. all of my relatives were under the rebel. >> reporter: it's unclear how many people died in the strike, but barrel bombs are an inaccurate weapon and one won demmed by the international community. but for these women and children they are just caught in the politics of the three-year long civil war. the crisis in crimea is clearly having an impact on the russian economy.

lauren? >> thanks, as john kerry said there will be sanctions if sunday's referendum goes ahead, and eu are working on a list of people who could be hit with asset freezes and travel bans. peter sharpe in moscow has more. >> the banks, steal companies, utilities and stock all fell by 3.4%. and russia's biggest bank fell 6% on its own. so the economy is suffering amid this uncertainty. meanwhile we learned that this morning, across there in the kremlin, the kremlin's website, president putin's website was hacked in a cyber attack -- confirmed that a cyber attack did take place on the kremlin and on the central bank, the identity of those carrying out the attack is -- is not known, and finally we have been

hearing that there have been further exercises this time, helicopters operating the russian air force. another reminder if any really is necessary of russia's power in these crucial next two days. >> for more, we're joined by russian analyst, thanks very much for coming in. so the stock markets have fall engine in russia. how much worse do you expect it to get if the referendum goes ahead? >> we'll have to see what russia's reaction will be to the results. the -- the latest news from crimea suggests that maybe there won't be an immediate decision from moscow, but if there is, and if things do not improve and there's no diplomatic break through, i think the markets will continue punishing russia.

the former russian finance minister has said i can already say the credit taps are being turned off. so is that part of the problem? the fact that people are invested there and the banks are saying we don't want to keep lending? >> that's one problem, and then the domestic capital that is leaving the country, because many russian business people do not feel certain about what is going to happen in terms of the economy and sanctions and relationships with eu particularly, the biggest and most important trading partner for russia. >> that's interesting. on that basis -- so in the meantime we're waiting to hear what that list of people who will be hit by sanctions. and how effective will that be?

>> it's really difficult to say. but i think even symbolically the sanctions are signalling problems, and this is the last thing that investors want to see, in terms of the impact of concern individuals, we'll have to see who they are targeting, but to me, i think the damage has already been done, because russia has been try so hard to attract foreign capital before the crisis started. >> how much would trade restrictions hurt russia? >> i think the russian economy is not the soviet economy. it's a market economy. it's quite exposed and intercontacted with the rest of the world. so i think the eu impact will be even greater than u.s. because us-russia trade

relations really didn't develop. but the impact on the eu these are the areas where russia will be suffering. and vladimir putin himself has been seeking modernization with the help of the eu and the west. and this will have an impact in the coming hears. >> okay. thank you very much indeed. >> thank you. >> and that's all the news from europe now back to doha. >> thank you. and still to come on this news hour, kevin durant's hot streak continues in the nba. we'll have the details in sport coming ..

♪ welcome back. drinking a cup of tea is one of life's simple pleasure, but some of the people who pick tea leaves say they are living in poverty even though they are company shareholders. the world bank is investigating violations at the company which produces tetley tea. there are 2 million seasonal workers. their average daily wage is just over $1.5. we have more from a plantation.

>> reporter: this man and his wife have been living and working on this tea estate for more than a decade. about five years ago the tea company offered he and other employees a chance to buy company shares. he says he and others weren't interested, but weren't given a choice. >> translator: we were told if you don't take shares your work will be stopped. the laborers were rounded up and forced to give their thumb prinths. we were scared. that's why we gave in. >> reporter: even though he is now a part owner, his family lives in a home without electricity and a roof that has been leaking for the past eight years. they say any complaints are ignored. >> translator: a house is in bad shape i can't even take an $80 loan. how did they decide to take $130 from us? they forced us. >> we tried speaking to other

employees but were asked to stop filming by several men on motorcycles. the tea company declined an oncamera interview, but in tern and through emails stated that dividends have been paid yearly, though they were called something else in bank statements. al jazeera later met several other tea employees who told us despite now being part owners of the company, they still live in poor conditions. they also had no idea they had received dividends, and that different company officials gave them different answers. tea plantations rely on a large number of workers to stay profitable. giving them shares is being out to ed a way to improve their lives. this union leader says many workers believe now that they are shareholders they have lost the right to complain about

working conditions. >> translator: after giving $130 the tea worker still has many problems. they don't have proper homes, water to drink, or hospital facility. what they need to get they are not getting. >> reporter: when contacted the tea company stated that . . . but workers we spoke to say they are too worried to complain, and feel powerless to improve their lives or their future. and we'll have part two of that series on tea workers starting on saturday on al jazeera. at this time we're in sri lanka

where plantations made more than $1.5 billion last year. why are the tea workers some of the country's poorest people? here is someone who likes a cup of tea. >> amongst other things. we have been told that the world cup in brazil will be ready, but amid concerns stadiums and infrastructure won't be complete, he accepts that preparations aren't going perfectly and there is no plan b. >> reporter: the football world cup in brazil isless than three months away, but the host nation has not made the progress required. this man has repeatedly pushed brazil to speed up its progress. he insists they will be ready. >> brazil has to be ready, there is also no other choice. we have to make sure that all is ready. does it mean that laul be

perfect? that's not the point. the point is to make sure whatever we need to stage the world cup will be there. >> the stadium should be ready, shouldn't it? >> it's not fifa only, it's the city of san pall low, and the stadium of san palo as well. >> reporter: three future world cups, brazil, russia, and qatar have raised political and organizational concerns. >> it is a bit unfair if we have the pressure from the rest of the world to say hey, fifa that we have to change the rules. we can tell the world it goes against our rules and principle.

>> but can a host country ever cross a line for you? >> it has to be really, really crisis, which put at risk the organization of the world cup, at risk at the safety of the country, which put at risk the fact that you bring people in a country and their safety is not ensured. >> reporter: the human rights of construction workers lead to fifa's intervention last year. >> we are moving on the right way. i'm not saying it will change in six month's time, because that's not the case. we are talking about long period. what we have to do is to ensure there will be no more death. >> reporter: confirmation of a switch of a winter world cup in qatar won't come yet. they want to finish this world cup first.

[ inaudible ] has stepped down as president of [ inaudible ] munich to prevent damage to the european champions. he decided not to appeal his conviction on tax ration. nicholas has announced he has terminated his contract. he was about [ inaudible ] a five-game ban for making an inverted nazi solute. moving on to formula one where lewis hamilton posted the quickest time in friday's practice session. wayne haye reports from melbourne. >> reporter: the big talking point here continues to be the changes made to the cars for the

2014 formula 1 season. one of the biggest things you notice is the sound. the smaller turbo charged engines are significantly quieter. on the track there are so many questions leading into this round one of the season. and after a few practice sessions many of those questions remain unanswered. the team that seemed to be handling the changes was mercedes. but lewis hamilton couldn't even complete a lap because of engine problems. but in the second practice session, mercedes went back to the top with lewis hamilton setting the fastest time ahead of his teammate and sebastian. and what was at time a sham bollic testing season, perhaps some encouraging tines there. adding to the uncertainty is

some rain is forecast on saturday, and race day on sunday. moving on to tennis, where the top seed left in california is in quarter final action later on friday. the 17th, roger federer is already through to the semifinals. he defeated the 17th seed kevin andersson. the grand slam champion continued his impressive form by beating his south african opponent. and now he'll move up to 6 in the world rankings. the ukrainians was a straight sets winner. it's the first time he has reached the last four of a master's tournament with an impressive run that included an upset of the world number 1.

and [ inaudible ] battled through in the her event. the top seed is looking for her first title since that time in moul born. the oklahoma city thunder beat the lakers on thursday. kevin durant has now scored at least 25 points in his last 35 games. he got 29 here. it was the laker's first game since kobe bryant was ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury. ben stokes has been ruled out of the up coming 2020, the news comes just a day after exland won in barbados. michael scored 67 for an england

side who had already lost the series. simmons scored 69 but they fell just short of the target. england doing their best to lose but just about managing to win. and australia's cricketers have just completed a series in south africa. they reached their score. and shane watson doing most of the damage with the bats. the australians securing a 2-0 series victory. check out our website, aljazeera.com/sport for more of that reaction for that interview with fifa's jerome. that's it. more later. >> thank you very much. do stay with us here on al jazeera. we have another full bulletin of news for you right at the top of

the hour. ♪

this is al jazeera america. i'm tony harris with a look at tied top stories. a last ditch ep fort to end the crisis in ukraine has failed. john kerry met with sergei lavrov with no progress. >> after much discussion the foreign minister made it clear that vt putin is not prepared to make any decision regarding ukraine until after the referendum on sunday. >> as we move closer to sunday's referendum in crimea, violence broke out in eastern ukraine.