hello. welcome to the news hour. freed on health groupeds. separatists in ukraine release one several others are detained. south korea's prime minister resigning over his government's handling of the ferry disaster. hello there. in london we have more news from europe including hundreds of

thousands descend on the vatican as two former popes are declared saints. we have the latest sports as north america's top basketball league investigates racist comments allegedly made by this team owner. good to have you with us. pro-russia government has released someone after two days in the ukraine. the swedish national was apparently released because he suffers from diabetes, but seven colleagues are held hostage as barnaby phillips reports. >> reporter: the european military observers were paraded before cameras. they are in no position to complain about what has happened to them.

>> we are not prisoners of war. we are the guests of the mayor. we'll be treated as such. >> reporter: at least they could show their families their alive and well, and later one observer from sweden was released on grounds of ill health. others have not been treated so kindly. these three men were captured by pro-russian government near slovyansk, ukrainian intelligence officers. this is what they looked like after their interrogation. on the road into slovyansk, the ukrainian army. it is not a town under siege, but the soldiers are working to prevent more weapons from coming in. this is the ukrainian army trying to show it's in control, but throughout the crisis its approach has typically been hesitant and cautious, and that's because the government in kiev is very concerned at how russia will respond to any use of force by these men.

in the next town the demonstration in favor of russia. it's a small crowd, although they do seem to have some support on the sidelines. pro hiech -russians control the government buildings in damask. they had an unexpected visitor, once one of the russia's richest men before he fell out with vladimir putin and was imprisoned, now trying to mediate in ukraine. they call him a traitor and tell him to go away. also in damask, armed pro-russians took over the regional tv station, and yet again the ukrainian police, such unreliable allies of the government in kiev stood by and watched it happen. the largest crowds of the day were in the cemeteries. this is the day of the dead, when people go to meet their ancestors' spirits. she mourns his dead relatives and wonders what they would make

of all this chaos. >> translator: my relatives would be shocked if they could see what is happening. they would say, you have to fight for our beloved ukraine. my brother lives in russia, and i live here. i'm afraid of war and that my son will be taken into the army. >> reporter: she's part of the silent majority that wants peace and their country to stay intact, a majority that feels powerful to stop the drift into conflict. >> to damask live from eastern ukraine. tell us more about this television station that was taken over today that barnaby mentioned there in his report. what are people seeing on their screens right now? >> reporter: well, right now they're not seeing anything on their screens. what they will see very soon are russian channels, and that's the reason why that television building was seized.

it is the state regional main headquarters, and it has quite a big transmission antenna. now the people's republic representatives, the pro-russian protesters that occupied that building have been asking the tv station to take off the air ukrainian channels they view unfriendly that they say spread lies and propaganda against them and to put on the russian channels. that hasn't happened, so they decided to take matters into their own hands. all the employees left the building, and some of the pro-russian protesters are inside the building, but i think that's what clearly one can say. the geneva agreement calling for all the pro russian protesters to disarm and evacuate buildings is dead even though it's not been implemented.

>> there was a pro-russian rally in damask today. what was the mood? >> reporter: there was a mood of defiance and support to the pro-russian sentiment that is sweeping a bit all over eastern ukraine. it was happening in front of the -- not in front of administration building but a statue of lenin in lenin square. the demands are the same since the beginning. they want a referendum, and now the self--proclaimed mayor said they want it may 11th, but a lot people will say they want the referendum on may 11th. yesterday we were in the southern tip of this area, and people there were also calling for this referendum on may 11th. it's not clear whether it will happen or not. at least we haven't seen any signs of any organization. we haven't heard anyone else but the mayor of slovyansk call for that referendum on that date. >> many thanks indeed.

the son of the former libyan leader omar gaddafi has appeared in a court in tripoli. he's accused of killing protesters during the libyan civil war, among other crimes. he's been held by a militia since november 2011. the groups refuse to hand him over saying that the central government will let him escape. the trial adjourned until may 11th. the african commission on human rights has agreed to represent 529 egyptians sentenced to death in march. british newspaper "the daily telegraph" says they've been told to suspend the sentence. mostly muslim brotherhood activists were tried in court in march. a majority of the defendants were tried in absentia. a associate professor of low at texas a & m university and she

joins us live from dallas in texas. what do you make of this announcement, which we heard in the last few minutes? that the african commission of human rights will take up the case. the commission found that a prima facie violation of human rights, which egypt is a tig to her. >> i think this is further evidence that egypt has a very serious human rights problem, particularly after the july 3rd removal of morsi led by the military. so i think that egypt is going to have to think very carefully about how it is going to improve its reputation abroad, particularly for purposes of trying to increase foreign investment and trying to transition to a democratic process, a real one and meaningful one and not one based on public relations. this decision is just further evidence that there are additional international bodies very concerned that what happened on july 3rd was not a

second revolution but may, in fact, have been a regression back to authoritarianism. >> the u.s. and eu said at the time when the initial ruling came out that they were appalled after what was a one-hour hearing with the defense prevented from presenting arguments and the prosecution offering no evidence. will justice prevail tomorrow, do you think? >> well, most of the lawyers that i have spoken to in egypt are pretty confident that there will likely be a reversal of the initial decision because it's very obvious that you cannot sentence 529 people to death after only two hearings that lasted just a few hours, if even that. so clearly there was a political problem at the judge in the first instance, the court of first instance by the judge. i think it will be appealed, but it's still begs the question of, is the judiciary independent in

egypt? will this happen again to others? when it is reversed, if it is reversed, will they get a fair trial in that regard? if they get the same judge, it will be very questionable whether they can get a fair trial. >> egypt's foreign minister is currently on an official visit to the united states to redirect relations between egypt and america. what further harm has this trial done, do you think, to u.s./egyptian relations? >> well, i think it's made it more difficult for obama and his administration to provide the foreign aid that it usually provides to egypt, $1.5 mill bone every year as part of the camp david accord agreement. so it's going to be much more difficult for obama to convince congress and for congress to convince the american public that, in fact, the u.s. law is being upheld, and the u.s. law prohibits foreign aid -- u.s.

foreign aid from going to a regime that is a consequence of a military coup. so right now obama is trying to tell egypt, you need to show me progress. you need to show me evidence that there is a transition to democracy after july 3rd. but these types of incidents and these types of rulings sent to undermine that. it will create a legal problem for obama, much less a political problem. >> good to talk to you on "the news hour." many thanks. al jazeera continues to call for the immediate release of its journalists held in egypt. the trial has been adjourned now until may 3rd. they've been imprisoned for 120 days. they're accused of providing a platform to the muslim brotherhood, now declared a terrorist organization. the fourth al jazeera journalist in detention has been held without trial since last august. he's been on hunger strike for the last 97 days.

al jazeera rejects all the charges. south korea's prime minister has resigned over his government's handling of the ferry disaster. at least 187 people died after the ship capsized and sank more than a week ago. more than 100 people are still missing. harry fossett reports from seoul. >> reporter: the president accepted the resignation of prime minister but not yet so he can work with other agencies on the rescue effort and the rest of the aftermath of the terrible national disaster. it's a sign the government feels under pressure from the anger of the parents of children dead and still missing and also from the wider electorate here in south korea, which is concerned about how this came to be. that's something that the prime minister addressed in his resignation speech. >> translator: the right thing for me to do is to take responsibility and resign. on behalf of the government, i apologize for many problems.

from the prevention to the accident to the early handling of the disaster. >> reporter: on the day after it went down, south korea's president put him in charge of the rescue effort. as he supervised it, it put him in the firing line. literally at one point parents of missing children threw a water bottle and scuffled with him and again when they stopped his car from leaving the island of jindo. relatives were furious about delays while hope of survivors rye mained and the lack of information they were getting from officials. against that background, the president preempted any trial by calling the actions of the crew tantamount to murder. she called for any servant who forfeited responsibilities to be held accountable, but her outgoing prime minister went further. >> translator: through this accident i have bitterly felt that there have been so many

varieties of irregularities that continue in every corner of our society and practices that have gone wrong. i hope these deep-rooted evils get corrected this time, and this kind of accident never happens again. >> reporter: an apology to the relatives to those killed but a challenge to the president and colleagues in government to engage in far-reaching reform. the opposition wasted no time to criticize the prime minister for even offering his resignation at such a time. they called it cowardly saying he needed to face up to his responsibilities. they also called on the president herself to offer an apology to the nation. some of those issues that the prime minister was talking about, the widespread, lax regulation and safety concerns that really people here are facing up to at the same time as they're grieving in a widespread way for the huge loss of life when the ferry went down. if the president is really going to tackle that issue as well as the more pressing issuing around the aftermath of this disaster,

that will be a monumental task. >> lots more still to come on "the news hour" including -- i'm in northwest hitty where a long drought combined with deforestation is making life for communities harder. we'll tell you which 19th century artist sculpted hands so accurately that doctors can pinpoint the diseases that the models used were suffering from. later in sports, have chelsea snatched the title away from liverpool? the details in around 35 minutes. hundreds of thousands of people have packed into vatican city to watch the historic canonization of two former catholic popes. more on that now from our european news center in london. >> reporter: pope john paul ii

and pope john xxiii were praised in a ceremony. al jazeera reports now from vatican city. >> reporter: some have waited all night. many have traveled great distances, and this was the moment the pilgrims had come to witness. >> translator: we declare john xxiii and john paul ii be saints and we enroll them to be venerated as such by the whole church. >> reporter: the two late popes were among the most important and modernizing church leaders of the 20th century. their canonization is a historic first for the catholic church and in the presence of two living popes as well. so it's been a day of four pope, really, three miracles said to have proven their sanctity, two

saints and one catholic church. it's widely thought that the act of double-canonization will draw the church closer together. >> here we have two popes that are part of the same history, john xxiii conducted the second vatican council and john paul ii continued the work of john xxiii. that's why the church is joined together by this. this is why the catholics can feel united, because of the canonization of the two popes. >> pope francis did not begin this process, but he certainly ensured it could go ahead by relaxing the rules in the case of john xxiii after his predecessor benedict xvi sped up the process for john paul ii. on this day the politics didn't matter much to the faithful any more than they questioned the veracity of a miracle. >> it's a miracle.

>> blessed. blessed for all the people. it's a wonderful feeling. >> we came here, and this is a very great day for us really. >> reporter: the catholic world has two new saints, and history has been made. al jazeera at the vatican. >> there have been celebrations across the world. in pope john paul ii's birthplace they watched it on video screens in the square. in the philippines, which is asia's biggest catholic country, thousands also watched a live broadcast of the service. children dressed up in papal costumes and rode in a replica

popemobile. other arms of christianity have a different attitude towards sainthood. i'll talk to dr. john hall. thanks for coming into the program. the church does, of course, have saints but they're very different from catholic saints. how? >> we recognize the saints, obviously the biblical saints. post the 16th century with we tonight have a some to canonize sats like the roman catholic church does. nevertheless we recognize some men and women who have been inspirational and set wonderful examples and can share it and lead better lives as christians, and they were exemplary for us. we have them listed. >> it is different in terms of the fact that these people don't have to perform miracles for a start. >> that's correct. the roman catholic church has a highly systemized way to approach canonization these

days. in the old days it was much different. they cried for john paul ii, and that might have happened in the early days. for some centuries now they have one miracle for a blessed and then two miracles for a saint. that sort of process, apart from martyr if someone dies, they can be regarded as a saint. that sort of process is very, very different from the more informal process we have in the anglican church. >> do you believe in miracles? >> certainly. the roman catholic sees them much more as through the intercession of saints. we regard the saints as being a very important part of the christian family. the christian family worldwide, the christian family alive and dead. it's one body in christ. that's the heart in our belief. so we're connected with those in heaven very directly, but we don't have the same sense of the people in heaven praying for us

in a really important way and making a difference to us. we don't feel we need to appeal through the people in heaven to god. we believe that god hears our prayers and answers our prayer direct. >> in a sense how do you see the canonization of saints from your perspective and your church's perspective? is it relevant, do you think, to people today? you would say the hundreds of thousands of people in vatican city believe it is, but worldwide do you think saints are relevant today? >> i think they're absolutely relevant, because they help us to understand how better to live the christian life. i think they set an example, and they're part of the family. in the case of these two particular, john xxiii, i remember when he was first elected. he made an enormous series of changes to the roman catholic church. he opens the windows of the vatican. that's what they said about him. he opened links to other denominations and to other

faiths as well. the second vatican council, which he sed set up, really made a huge difference to how the roman catholic church behaved in itself and to other people. john paul ii, extraordinary pontificat pontificate. communism collapsed during his time. history will judge hereafter, but it seems his role is enormous. he also personally moved the story forward in terms of relations with other faiths as well in particular. it was a wonderful moment in 1986 when he was in a st. francis' place in italy and he invited representatives of all the different faiths to come together and pray for world peace. that sort of example, the sort of role that a pope can have, i think that is exefrpary.

so i celebrate the fact they're regarded as saints in their own catholic church. i think it's helpful for us as well. i admire it. >> very interesting. thank you so much for coming into the studio. thank you. >> thank you. all right. i'll have more from europe later in the "news hour." let's return you to doha and adrian. at least 21 people have been killed and 50 injured nn opposition mortar attack in syria in the largest city of aleppo when opposition fighters targeted government-held areas of the city. the government responded by dropping barrel bombs on opposition targets. al assad forces have made significant gains around syria, but opposition groups still have the edge in aleppo. syria has until the end of the sunday to hand over the remaining stockpile of chemical weapons under the materiterms a international deal. they've being returned to a u.s.

ship in the mediterranean where they're being destroyed. more than 92% of the weapons have been handed over. >> whether when it comes to the allegations of use of chloride gas in recent events and over recent months, this is a matter under discussion in the hague directly by the authorities. there is discuss on a possible fact-finding miss, and -- mission and this is where it is now. protesters in philippines are against greatest access to bases. they say it will affect their sovereignty. the u.s. and malaysia say they will work to improve relations. it follows a visit by obama as part of the asian tour. he's drumming up support for a trade deal. >> reporter: it's been billed as a historic visit, the first by a

u.s. president to malaysia in nearly 50 years. barack obama started the day at the national mosque. before meeting with the malaysian prime minister at a news conference. >> today the united states is once again playing a leadership role in the asia pa scientific, and a key part of the strategy is to expandz ties with southeast asia. >> left unspoken is the concern over the growing influence in the region. already an important trade partner with many countries including the united states, china's increased dmek clout is a more assertive nation. the u.s. is trying to counter that influence with a free trade deal, that would include more than ten countries with malaysia among them. >> you must have multiple friends and levels of relationships in order to balance out that you're not totally dependent on anyone in particular, and the defense aspect of what's going on has to be balanced by real trade and business. >> reporter: not everyone here supports a free-trade agreement. some worry that a deal that

removes trade protection will lead to smaller businesses unable to compete, and a loss of privileges enjoyed by the ethnic malaysians. the other issue is malaysia's human rights record. civil liebt groups point to a wide range of concerns to police to what they say is a biased judiciary. the opposition leader may yet again be imprisoned for sodomy, a charge he and rights groups say is politically motivated. the u.s. president said he raised the issue with the malaysian prime minister. >> president obama and i are both equally concerned about civil liberties as a principle. as you know, when i came to office in 2009, i introduced a slew of reforms. >> reporter: both leaders acknowledge that there is still work to be done on the front, but this trip was primarily to

underscore the importance of the region to the u.s., and it was a point he stressed once again at a town hall meeting with young leaders from southeast asia's couldn'ts. . we're approaching the midway point on this "news hour." when we come back, south africans celebrate 20 years of democracy since the first post-apartheid vote. we'll ask if the promises have been fulfilled. on patrol in pakistan. we meet a karachi police officer fighting crime. later in sport they celebrate the first european tour title. russell will be here with all the details in around 20 minutes.

>> al jazeera america presents a breakthrough television event. >> borderland long held beliefs... >> im really pissed off at the mexican government... >> give way to compassion... >> if you feel tired, would you turn around and come back? >> our teams find out first hand how treacherous the migrants journey can be. >> we make them take a trip of death >> it is heartbreaking when you see the families on top of the

rail car borderland continues only on al jazeera america >> results of analyses were skewed in favor of the prosecution >> the fbi can't force the states to look at those cases >> the truth will set you free yeah...don't kid yourself >> the system has failed me hello again in doha with the al jazeera news hour. the top stories. pro-russian government released a prisoner kept for two days in eastern ukraine, but seven others are still held hostage in

slovyansk. south korea's prime minister has resigned over his government's handling of the ferry disaster. at least 187 people died after the ship capsized and sank more than a week ago. hundreds of thousands of people packed into vatican city to watch the historic canonization of two former catholic popes. pope john paul ii and pope john xxiii were declared saints in the two-hour ceremony. palestinian president abbas condemned the nazi genocide of jews in world war ii. it hasn't done anything to warm relations with israel. both sides still blame each other for causing the failure of u.s.-brokered peace talks. stephanie has the story. >> reporter: it's the latest back and forth in an exhausting blame game. this time it's prompted by the palestinian president's statement of support for holocaust day. abbas is quoted as saying what happened to the jews in the

holocaust is the most heinous crime to have occurred against humanity in the modern era. some say it could be an olive branch at a time when the peace talks are as good as over. israeli prime minister netanyahu is having none of it, especially when abbas is planning to form a unity government with hamas. >> translator: instead of making con sill to her statements meant to appease international public opinion, he should choose between his lines with hamas, a terror group that calls for israel's destruction and denies the holocaust and true peace with israel. weapon hope he returns to the true path of peace. >> reporter: the palestinians blame netanyahu for not being true to peace. they say his refusal to release a final group of palestinian prisoners led to the collapse of talks between the two sides. they blame each other, and now palestinian reconciliation, which should be seen as a

positive for the palestinians, is being used by israel to suspended talking altogether. >> we need to understand that peace and agreements between israel the and palestinians are in the interests of both. we can't negotiate with hamas as a terrorist organization. >> reporter: at issue is hamas not recognizing israel, but abbas is trying to convince israel that this potential new government is not a threat. >> translator: the new government is working under my orders and policy. it takes care of local issue. i recognize israel, and it recognizes israel. i renounce violence and it renounces violence and terrorism. i'm against violence and terrorism. >> reporter: and so more signs that there really is no common ground here. these talks remain suspended and the april 29th deadline is imminent. nine ambitious months spearheaded by u.s. secretary of state john kerry have yielded zero progress. the real hard issues that deal

with what a two-state solution look like haven't even been touched. stephanie decker, al jazeera. some of the last remaining muslims in the capital of the central african republic have left the city. they packed what they could and boarded convoys headed north. hundreds of thousands of people have left their homes because of fighting between christians and muslims over the past couple of months. it's been 20 years since south africa held its first post-apap apartheid elections. there are celebrations in johannesburg. >> reporter: young people are celebrating freedom day. it's in johannesburg, and it's a group of young people that came to celebrate 20 years of independence, of freedom in south africa. one of them is niek cole who has

been here since 2:00 a.m. in the morning. because some of the older people, they say things like they feel young people don't understand what it means to have freedom. what do you think about that? >> i personally understand what the old people mean by that statement. me myself my parents have always told me about apartheid and that i know where i'm from. knowing about the past i know where i'm from and my history and culture. they found it very important, and i wish that all people, the old people would know about it or would allow the younger generation to know about it. i think it's very important, because we need that in order to get to the second steppingstone and we can be united and know where we're from and going. i think it's very important that we know about it. >> reporter: when you cast your ballot, what kind of south

africa are you hoping to see? >> i'm hoping for a south africa where we are really free in the same sense. we are all -- we are beautiful in this country, and that's why we call it a nation. i'm looking for a south africa where we can be together and not see the color, you know. the younger generation is looking for it now to vote. i feel like there needs to be parts that relate to the younger generation, because it's important. i think that's two very important things that we need. >> reporter: thank you very much. enjoy the party. >> thank you. >> reporter: people are here for the party not just sunday but into monday as well. there are lots of challenges facing the country, but right now they want to remember the achievements over the last 20 years and remember how important it was to end apartheid for all south africans to live freely in

south africa. four years ago haiti suffered a devastating earthquake. poverty and unemployment remain major concerns. 250,000 people died in the 2010 earthquake. not long after that an outbreak of deadly cholera swept through the country. now a widespread drought is forcing haiti's poorest communities to rely on handouts from the united nations. at least 100,000 people have received help so far, but as andy gallagher reports, supplies are running out. >> reporter: high in the mountains of northwestern haiti, it's only rained once in the last seven months. this valley should be full of healthy crops and livestock. instead it's dry and barren. the lack of water is making life harsh and follows two previous years of below-average rainfall. local farmer charles tells us he

planted his crops in september, only to watch them wither and die. in a region already remote and poor, the effects of drought have been felt throughout the community. meals are rationed and almost all the food is brought in from the outside with supplies, help and time running out. >> translator: the drought impacts the children in so many ways. when at the don't eat at home, they don't come to school. when they do show up in class, they will be exhausted all day. >> reporter: this part of haiti depends almost entirely on agriculture, and there's been some success to help farmers to build stone walls to keep the soil in place. other issues are harder to tackle. when the rains do come in the next few weeks, all too often what's here is washed away because of deforestation there's nothing to keep it in the ground. that is one of the biggest

challenges this entire region faces. it's almost impossible to stop people chopping down trees for charcoal when it's the only source of income. it's removed so many trees it makes a bad situation worse. >> translator: the drought is destroying us completely. if you look around not even a child will see anything to drink. >> reporter: the rain could come any day now, and it's much needed. if the rainfall is below average, conditions may only get worse. jason gallagher, al jazeera. in pakistan's largest city nearly 50 police officers have been killed since the start of this year. armed criminal gangs are a problem in karachi. now groups linked to the taliban are also taking over parts of the city. officers say they need more resources to deal with the rising level of violence. we report now from ka rachee.

>> they go through one of the ka ka rauch chi's dangerous neighborhoods. officers say an informant alerted them to this address. they approach carefully. once inside they find who they're looking for. these men allegedly belong to a well-known criminal gang. in all six people are arrested. investigators say they discovered arms and narcotics in their possession. the mission is considered a major success, not only for the arrests but because officers face little resistance and not a single shot was fired. this is the assistant superintendent of police who says far too often his men are caught in dangerous situations without the right equipment.

. >> we have protective gear and lack bulletproof jackets. even what you wear, that is not much. >> reporter: karachi is the most volatile city. for years criminal gangs have waged a deadly turf war. in recent times the taliban and other al qaeda-linked groups have grown in significance in the city. caught in the middle are the police, underfunded and poorly equipped and the dangers of the jobs have cost many lives. so far this year nearly 50 officers have been killed. khan still finds it difficult to talk about his younger brother. he had been a police officer for just two years. he was shot dead in january while on patrol. >> translator: my brother loved working for the police. more needs to be done to protect officers. it's such a dangerous job, they

need better equipment to keep them save. >> reporter: the pro vinceal government ordered new safety gear for the police but hasn't said when it will be issued. while the violence continues to rise, more officers will likely lose their lives trying to protect it. al jazeera, karach. turkey has passed a law giving them more surveillance powers. the bill gives intelligence services phone-tapping rights, wider access to private data and increased immunity for agents. journalists and other who publish leaked doupts now face up to ten-year prison terms. 19th century french artist row dan is revered for his sculptures. doctors say his works were so true to life they can diagnose

the medical symptoms from the sculpture. >> the twisted, narled and turbulent texture of the work. a revolutionary artist who clashed with the human condition. >> when you look at rodan's sculptures, he was interested in the human body. he was thinking about the structure of the body, and, of course, the expression. >> reporter: the artist loved hands. he found them particularly expressive and often used models with diseases and deformats. what surprised doctors at stanford was the discovery they could diagnose conditions just by looking at his works. in a one of a kind collaboration art and anatomy have come together. visitors can use ipads in front of original bronze rodans and slide them to see the underlying anatomy. here we look inside and see bones, blood vessels and nerves.

with the medical school providing corresponding ct scans, they have fit digital bones into rodan's pieces. they call it augmented reality. >> this is what you look like inside. >> reporter: stanford has used this 3d technology for medical education. it's new to the art world. they demonstrate how to move around life-size digital models and turn them and see a cross-section of the human body and our internal organs. >> it shouldn't take more work to what we've done. as they move their ipad along over the cadaver, they can see all the structures inside, bones, muscles and sometimes blood vessels. >> the mu sgleen had a little bit of fun. take a look at these two hands. one is an original rodan, and the othercy 3d printed hand after some virtual surgery. >> what you see here is a

replica of rodan's large left hand appearing as if it was fixed by one of our surgeons. through the ipad you can actually see the screws, the pins and plate used to fix the broken met car pal bones. it appears if it was sculpted by rodan, but it haven't of. >> it gives visitors a new play to enjoy his masterpieces. melissa chen, al jazeera, sanford, california. just ahead in sports find out in at let co-madrid can extend their lead. we have the latest from spain in just a few minutes. vé

time now for sports. >> adrian, thank you very much. in half an hour's time, just over half an hour the l.a. clippers take on the golden state warriors in game four of their nba playoff series. it's been completely overshadowed by comments allegedly made by they are owner donald sterling. it's claimed he was caught on tape telling a woman not to promote her association with black people and not to bring them to games. the nba needs to confirm if it's the l.a. clippers' owner on the recording before taking any action. sarah kohtz reports. >> this is the man at the center of a race storm in the nba. l.a. clippers owner donald sterling allegedly caught on tape telling his girlfriend not to post photos of herself with black people and not to bring

african-americans to clippers games. >> you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people. >> reporter: the league says there will be no sanctions against the clippers or their owner until they confirm it is sterling's voice on the tape. >> the audio recording posted by tmz is truly offensive and disturbing. we intend to get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible. >> they're young men. it shouldn't be african-american men. we have white guys, two white guys. it's about being human. so we're not going to get to what race we are because we see each other and this is our team and that's how we'll keep it. no one was happy about it.

>> reporter: with the playoffs ongoing across north america, many high-profile players have already made their feelings clear. >> there's no room for that in our game. we've found a way to make this the greatest game in the world, and for comments like that, it ta taints our game. we can't have that from a player, owner, orphan. it doesn't matter if you're black, white, hispanic, whatever the case may be. we can't have that part of the game. the commission will take care of it. >> reporter: even the u.s. president, a keen basketball fan, has been thrown into the controversy. >> when ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don't have to do anything but just let them talk. that's what happened here. >> reporter: clippers players did meet to discuss their reaction to sterling's alleged comments and for now have agreed to appear in sunday's playoff game.

sarah kohtz, al jazeera. robert silverman is here for espn.com as well as the daily beast website. robert, how is it fobl for a team owner to make these comments when many players and people that come to see his team are african-american? >> i think indiana pacers forward west put it best. he said this is a continuation of a plantation mentality. which is that you, in his words, work the young bucks, sleep with the women and then never associate with them publicly. i think donald sterling actually wouldn't consider himself a racist, but i think everyone else on the planet probably would. >> so, i mean, i'm go to ask this question here. do you think that team owners in the u.s. have this attitude? when it comes to my team, i can say what i like, and frankly it's nobody's business? >> i think donald sterling is an exception. i don't think this is an attitude you will find common in

the nba. i think donald sterling really is the rob ford of nba owners, just to be equally cheeky. this is something that -- this is not news for donald sterling. he's made statements profoundly racist and offensive for many, many years. he's been sued twice by the justice department for discriminatory housing practices. there was a lawsuit by the former general manager elgin bayl baylor, in which he said sterling alleged he wanted a plantation mentality with poor blacks from the south working for a white coach. there's a story about how when he was interviewing raleigh for a job many years ago in the '80s that he walked in inneeb rated with a woman on his arm that wasn't his wife and said, i want to know how you're going to handle these n word. so this is been going on for many, many years and the nba to

its detriment has really turned a blind eye or pretended sterling didn't exist. i think he's the exception and not the rule in the nba. >> have we reached the tipping point now? it's not the first time he made these remarks. he got away with it before in terms of his ownership with the clippers. will that now come under threat? >> yes, i think it will. there will be a very, very serious penalty that will be assessed. he will be paying a lot of money from the nba. he will be suspended. now, the league doesn't have recourse to actually force him to sell the team. i think they will make it very clear that he's no longer welcome and it would be in his best interest to sell the team. the disturbing thing, ir think, is that considering that the sacrilegious kings sold for $550 million and the bucks for $530

million. he could get for a team in l.a. very successful he's going to make close to a billion dollars if he does sell the team. when you think about the fact that he paid $12 million for it in 1981, it seems a little unfair he's going to profit so massively from his racism. >> what kind of damage does this do to the nba as a worldwide brand? the previous commission made great strides in promoting the nba around the globe, but there's a lot of criticism about the way the current commissioner has handled the situation. >> i think adam silver is a lawyer and litigator, and i think he treats this like a lawyer and litigator and making sure that the evidence is correct and he's going to act swiftly. when he does, i think there won't be any long-term damage. for right now it's an incredibly huge black eye for the league. the bigger black eye is the fact he's been allowed to remain in

this position for over three decades now, and people have for many years known what kind of human being he was, for lack of a better term. >> it's great to hear your thoughts on that. we have to leave it there for now. >> okay, thanks. to football now. another big twist in the race for the english premier title league. liverpool has been beaten 2-0 at home by chelsea. they came in 5 points behind the hometown. despite being under pressure from most of the first half, they allowed barr to give the them the lead the next time. chelsea breaks away to score through. as a result of the season, he moved within two points of liverpool with two games left in the season. >> we were waiting for this match to be the title match. we're waiting for this match to be the title match. we were speaking about this match to be the title match for a long time.

for some reason this match didn't become -- didn't become a title match. so today was 3 important points. we need one more to finish third. >> we can tell the players that i did say afterwards i'm sure proud of them, you know, and the position that we find the shelves in. you know, the money that's being spent at the top end of the table for us to play is three points higher than chelsea, you know. we're going to fin punish off the season and win the two game, we'll finish above them and maybe above manchester city. >> that result was great news for manchester city who beat crystal palace 2-0. they give him that victory a point behind chelsea in third. they have game in hand on the top two.

earlier they're in the relegation zone. now barcelona's efforts to win the spanish league have all been but forgotten in the aftermath of their former coach tito villanova. the upcoming game will go ahead in a few minutes time. villa nova died at at ij of 45 in his fight against cancer. the stadium is a focus for grief for thousands of club's fans. at lhletico was at valencia. they gave the visitors the lead just before halftime. that's the only goal of the game. they're 6 points clear of second place. real madrid having played a game. he has won his first clay court title on the adp tour after claiming the barcelona open. he hit 19 winners against herald

doe. it's his first title, the second of the year after winning in memphis. france's alexander levy has won his first european tour title after winning the china open despite a mid-route and side shot reduces one shop. they have the win at the end by a comfortable four straights and his biggest ever paycheck, half a million dollars. >> i don't realize this. i'm very happen, and it was a good moment on the course. i'm happy to play well today because it looked easy, and i'm very happy with this turourname and i hope it's like that the next few years. more sports on our website. check out al jazeera.com/sports. >> that's it. top stories straight ahead here on al jazeera. that will do it on the news

hour. thanks for watching. i'll see you again. bye for now.

i think one of the big things where we have to recognize that we are complicit. i am only talking about the negatives here because i think we have far too comfort addicted >> his perform applications on screen have made him one of hollywood's most respected act orders. oscar freedom? >> i think the press needs to have absolutely freedom. the whole culture needs to