>> great to talk to you. thanks. this is al jazerra ♪ ♪ hello there and welcome to the news hour. our top stories this hour, thailand's military takes over country suspending the constitution and imposing a curfew. also coming up, iraq's shias gather in baghdad for a religious vents, three attacks rock the capital killing 31 people. hello there, i am felicity in london, among the story that his we are following in europe, 13 ukrainian soldiers are killed as fighters in the east raid a

military checkpoint. and i'll have all the days sport, including half the u.s. senate is pushing pressure on the nfl to endorse a name change for the washington redskins, calling the franchise's name a racial slur. ♪ ♪ thailand has been taken over by the military. a curfew has come in to effect. no one can leave their homes between 10:00 in the evening and 5:00 in the morning. the military has suspended the contusion, and it's banned gatherings of more than five people. also ordered the acting prime minister and his government to report to an army base. veronica pa drough pedrosa is i. >> reporter: and with that announcement, thailand came under military rule of the chief of the armed forces and his comrades in uniform have taken overall functions of government. a full reversal of what he had

said when he announced marshall law two days earlier. all radio and television stations have been ordered to only broadcast army material. they are playing cold war martial anthems. citizens have one order today taye in their homes a curfew from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. >> i think it's very stupid. >> reporter: why? >> making people crazy and nothing. and they will fight again. and next -- new government. >> i know that the military is taking control of the whole situation, the whole political situation in thailand. and i think it's safe for us. >> reporter: do you think it's better the military is in control? >> yes, i think in this situation, i think this is kind

of like the best way to michael whole situation get better. >> reporter: the justification for all of this, the military says, is to restore peace and order after sporadic violence and demonstrations in bangkok. prime minister was ousted when the constitutional court judged she had acted illegally when she fired an official. the yellow shirts demonstrating for months said they wanted to force out the remnants of the government. they wanted an unelected prime minister to be appoints by the senate. the red shirts insisted elections be held to resolve the political crisis. the general called for all party leaders to join talks at an army location. that's where they were when the troops took over. and brought them to an undisclosed location simultaneously announcing the coup to the nation. that was the moment when the

leader of the bangkok demonstrations was taken away. night has fall own bangkok and thailand enters another era of military rule. >> veronica joins us live now from bangkok. everyone waiting for see what happens next. the army chief has confirmed that he is now the prime minister. >> reporter: he has indeed. every hour, shim i, what's happening is that you are getting an announcement from an army spokesman on all of the champions, because all the radio and television champions have been order today only run military content that is given to them by the army and just a few minutes ago what happened was that the spokesman said that the 2007 constitution, which was in place, has now been suspended, expect for one part, section 2, which is about the monarchy and its role i thailand

society. the cabinet has been suspended the independent agencies, though, remain in place, such as the national anti--corruption commission and the electoral commission. and the courts as well are going to be able to function as before. when martial law was declared to tuesday it was done under a law that indicated that the ledge slays i have jew defense air and i executive were all powerless. so it's very, very clear that even though those parts of the constitution as it were have been cherry picked and remain in place, the military is firmly in charge and calling all the shots. >> okay, veronica, thanks indeed for that update. veronica p pedrosa in bangkok there. the united states is reviewing its military ties and other aid following the coup. a u.s. spokesperson is addressing the issue you, she just said that up to $10 million

could be suspended. >> at this point what we are doing is reviewing our military and other assistants to the government of thailand. we have taken preliminary steps to suspends this. while we consider the facts on the ground. this is a standard part of the process that takes place, right now there is a comprehensive review of that going on. the state department and uia i.d. provide approximately $10 million in assistance to thailand, only a portion of which is assistance to the thailand government. bilateral funding does not include funding from global accounts which vary, of course, by visit cal year. >> live in washington d the c. that state department briefing going on. we have had strong words from them and john care kerry befored saying there is no justification for this military coup in thailand. >> reporter: that's right,

shirley. the second of state put out a statement declaring the states in thailand an actual coup, this is coming on the heels of the pentagon confirm that go it would be taking a close look with thailand and making adjustments as are required. u.s. law does require that when there is a coup that removes a lawfully installed government that the u.s. needs to stop sending money to that country as a show of disapproval. it's a very quick move on the part of the obama administration and it's -- we expect we will find out more about how much of a limit there will be on u.s. ties with thailand, given the current situation there. the. >> roslyn, thanks very much indeed for that update. roslyn jordan in washington, d.c. there. now in other news, 31 people have been killed in a series of bomb attacks in iraq. there were three separate explosions across the capital of

bag dat. immateriabaghdad. talk us through these three attacks. >> reporter: well, the attacks took place during a procession to commemorate the of a very severed shiia cleric. it's been going on for a number of years now, he actually died in the seventh sen virtu centure were thousands of people on the the streets back dad was in lock down and it's been very tight and very massive across the entire city yet they still managed to get three car bombs in to where those people were marching. now, the worst of these attacks took place at a rest stop where many of the pilgrims were getting caughter and getting food and a car bomb exploding there. now, this was supposed to be a peaceful celebration, commemoration of the death. but there were threats made against the government here and the army said that they were

determined to make sure this passed peacefully. we have seen these attacks several times, nobody has claimed responsibility so far, but they follow a pattern of attacks mounted by groups like the islamic state of iraq and just to bring you up-to-date, this attack now brings the death toll so far this month and we are only to the 22nd, to nearly 700 people. >> it is a game picture, we have just had elections in iraq. we know the prime minister's block is in the lead. security is the issue you that they can't seem to get a grip on. >> reporter: and that's actually the issue you that he ran on. he said that he was the only prime minister, the only leader in iraq that was able to bring security to the streets of baghdad. there is this big operation going on in the anbar province going on since january to try to rid of city of fallujah of the fighters. one of the key tribal leaders there, today smoke local media

and says, look, this needs a massive military operation, this is the only way we are going to get rid of these fighters there. however, it's not just the fighters, you have anti-government that's spilling over here in to baghdad. the security situation is as fraught as ever, this is one of the most dangerous years that we have seen so far. it's looking to even more vie land than 2013. and this is a really big issue for many iraqis, a lot of people on the streets that you speak to are simply worried even in their own neighborhoods and they are in panic, they can't protect us, the army can't protection us, we have no one else to look to. it's a very fraught situation here in iraq. >> thanks for that. updating us on the situation from baghdad there. now 29 people have been killed in an eye tack boo by boko haram. it happened in a remote village in the northeast borno state.

20 others were injured. mmohamed joins us. just bring us up-to-date. the latest attack wha was on a p of farmers. >> reporter: indeed. it happened, shirley, in the village not far away from the nigerian border with cameroon. and sources in the capital of the borno region which is village is in told us that the village was attacked by suspected gunmen who were from boko haram and they were on motorcycles and in vehicles. they are said to have hit 18 people with shots, 11 people dead. with other places they were attacked they were burned down also the entire village. this is a village of farmers not

far away from cameroon. even those wounded about 10 were taken over the border to a hospital in cameroon. >> and the president has come under increasing fire for failing to protect civilians. he's now been the target of more protests from those still trying to find the missing school girls who were kidnapped by boko har haram. >> reporter: indeed. anger is slowly rising. people are frustrated at the long time it has taken the government of nigeria to rescue the more than 270 school girls who were abducted 30 a days ago. and this group of protesters who have been gathering in a square for the last 23 days trying to instigate some action that is going to speed up the rescue process. however, after waiting for more than three days and seeing -- 23 days and seeing nothing

materializing they took to the streets and marched to the presidential villa. however they could not get there has police blocked all the roads lead to go the presidency and a group of ministers then came out to the protesters and said that they were representing the government. this is something also that the protesters also raised concern that the issue you of attacks by boko haram is getting out of hand with the group now venturing out of the area where they used to carry out the attacks in the northeast to other parts of nigeria, what they are saying is the boko haram military is second a ought a message that they can attack anywhere in nigh year i can't n. thank you. china's president has ordered a crack down after terrorists killed 31 people. the market is in the northeast, adrian brown has more from beijing. >> reporter: it is the worst act

of violence in the troubled region in years. 2su vs were driven in to you busy morning market. as the assailant threw explosives, then crashed head on with one vehicle exploding. witnesses said that there were at least 12 blasts. it's not yet known who is responsible. but recent violence in the region has been blamed on separatists. >> translator: this violent incidents lays bear the anti-human, antisocial, and anti-civilization nature of the terrorists and deserves the condemnation of both the international community and the chinese people. the chinese government is confident and cable of cracking down on violent terrorists. their plots will never succeed. >> reporter: thursday's attack took place a few weeks after a bombing at a train station that killed three team and injured 79. the city had been relatively quiet since mass riots in 2009

killed almost 200 people. ethnic tensions between the native week a community and the majority hawn chinese have existed for years, observers say the recent violence including a suicide attack, near the gates of the forbidden city in beijing shows that the separatists are beginning to target civilians and not just police and government officials. adrian brown, al jazerra, beijing. more to come here on the news hour, including we'll have the latest on flooding in the balancbalkans that laid waste te parts of serbia, boss knee and croatia. the latest on the australian prime minister and what's being described as wink gate. and in sport, one of footballs biggest stars might not make to the world cup. sarah will have the details. ♪ ♪

at least 13 ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the east after separatists attacked an army camp. >> this was the worst that can in weeks prompting the interim government to open a u.n. security council. they opened fire on a checkpoint early on thursday morning. the surprise raid also left about 30 soldiers wounded account some of critically. the rebel group which claimed responsibility for the attacks said one of its fighters also died. let's take i straightaway life to nick spicer in the ukraine yell capital kiev. nick, what can you tell us about the attack and the reaction that there has been? >> reporter: from the reports that we have on the ground, it all began when a vehicle that was armored, used to transport money to banks approached a barricade, set up by the

ukrainian army, it was waved through and that's when the firing began with grenades, small arms fire. the people tacking the ukrainian soldiers used a ruus when they had their guard down to kill at least 14 soldiers and wound more than, there may be more fa at that times aatthatfatalities as. there were some reports that it may have been done bicep tests, denials however, by other leaders of the separatist movement. it's not clear exactly who is behind it. one ukrainian army commander has said that he feels professional were behind it. this has one leading member of the government says that russia has a training ground in russia to train militant to fight the ukrainian army, within the country. this is the deadliest attack since ukraine began what is it calling its anti-terrorist operation against these anti-key i have forces ianti-kiki he have

southeast and let the prime minister to call on the united nations security council to hold an emergency session to look at the situation. we have to remember that one permanent member of the u.n. security council is russia. when they had tried to take action, fringes the vote on independence in crimea russia used that veto to stop movement forward. >> to say as well that wasn't the only violence today. coal mines in the east have also been attacked. >> reporter: you are right. and it's significant because the miners are really the life and blood of the region. just earlier this week, the richest man in ukraine, called on some of his 300,000 employees, many of them miners to walk through the streets in one city in the south east to make sure that the pro independence, the anti-kiev forces people, no longer held

sway there. now, for these armed groups to take on four mines and to ask the miners for explosives, one presume in order to continue their attacks against ukrainian government troops is a risky move. because they risk alienated the miners who have already proven themselves willing to lineup to a certain extent along with the government in kiev and without the miners it's hard to see how this pro independence movement can really go anywhere. >> i guess, nick, there must be real fears of more violence, we are just days way from the crucial presidential election. >> reporter: i think you are exactly right. this is why it's all coming to a head now. pressure being put on the people. the 2 million voters in the region who are being called upon by the government here in kiev to cast a ballot in the first round of presidential elections, they see this here in kiev as a

way out of the crisis having a new leadership which is recognized as legitimate across the country by russian speaks, ukrainian speakers, east and west of all the different religious concessions the only way to get out of the situation the violence in which he find ourselves now, however if people are reprevent the from voting some of the anti-kiev forces have been stealing voter lists and innin intimidating the elecn officials. then the people that want that part of the ukraine to breakaway or be independent with the result are illegitimate and no reason to recognize them. that's white station are so hoo. >> indeed. nick spice never kiev. thanks for that, nick. russia has launched an official diplomatic protest in london after britain prince charles compared vladimir putin to adolf hitler. he has said to have drawn a parallel of the invasion of russia and the annexation of moscow of crem crimea.

the ambassador went to the foreign office demanding a an explanation, moscow says if prince charles remarks, if true, they are outrageous. more news from europe later, now back to doha. thanks for him indeed for that. al jazerra has run to she have f the country, for the release of one our are the are the reporte. he's bon other a hunger strike for four months, and has refused food despite a crude and dangerous attempt to force feed him. the network has reported its call for him to receive independent medical attention. the trial of three other journalists in egypt has been adjourned. they have now been held in an egyptian prison for 145 days. they were back in court on thursday for their ninth appearance.

they are falsely accused of conspiring with the outlawed muslim brotherly. peter's family has been at the court hearing and his brother andrew joins us now from cairo. andrew, good to have you with us, tell us about the court hearing today. there was audio and video evidence shown in court. what did you make of that? >> reporter: that's right, we saw a lot of video evidence that we were seen previously in the last couple of sessions. it was a lot of oldest that was aired today and a little bit of new evidence that the prosecution was up until now asking $170,000 for to see. >> yeah, it's extraordinary that they are asking the defense team to pay such a huge amount. how is peter and his colleagues? have you imagine today speak with him today? >> yeah, i did briefly. he just -- through the cage, it's very difficult to have a really, you know, meaningful conversation. but they are just completely frustrated by the lack of

progress that we are seeing. we are nine sessions in and 140 days in prison and really, yeah, just being completed frustrated by the lack of progress and the speed that they are going at. >> it must be very difficult for him and the others to remain optimistic. i know it must be hard for you and the family as well. i mean, are you trying to get a sense of where this is all lead something. >> well, i mean, we've got to remain optimistic. they are three award-winning world-classes journal assists who have the highest integrity and we know that they have done nothing wrong. but we just have to remain hopeful that this comes to an end very soon. because, i think the majority of the world can see the injustice going on here. >> do you think it will come to an end soon? i know the defense case is due to start soon, isn't it? >> it is. it is. but, i mean, we have been here

in egypt now for nearly two months, through two different periods and i have come to i guess expect the unexpected because there always seems to be some kind of a, you know, curveball that comes our way. and delays. i would like to than we are getting close to the end, but, gee, it's been a long tough road. >> absolutely. and how is the defense team assessing what is happening? i mean, we have already mentioned it's been asked for, what, $170,000 in order to see the evidence. a lot of that evidence, by all accounts, seems to lack relevance. >> yeah, that's right. i mean, today there was actually a bbc report that was aired in court that i struggle again to try to understand the relevance of it. and we just haven't seen anything at all that's incriminating at all. so, again, it does -- it gets completely frustrating. but the legal team have assured us that, you know, peter has a very solid case and you know, we

have nothing to worry about. >> yeah, easier said than done. andrew, i know the case has been adjourned until june 1st, so obviously our thoughts are with you. thank you very much indeed for speaking with us. >> okay, thank you. north korea has fired artillery shells towards a south korean ship near the diffuse i have maritime board. south korea says it returned fire. no ships were hit and it happens to the north of the island. the situation has been tense since north korean war ships crossed the disputed sea boundary early this week, harry few set has more from seoul. >> reporter: south korea says two shells fell within 150 meters of one of its patrol boats about 10-kilometers south of the northern limit line the did he tacde facto board. a border that north korea does not recognize. the south koreans say it appears to be lands-based artillery fired near the islands. the island this was attacked by

by north caree korean military y 2010 which resulted in the logs of four lives, they ordered evacuations, shipping back in to port and that they fired back from this vessel five warning shots landing within the same kind of range of the north korean patrol boat just north of the northern limit line. this is interesting because earlier this week three north korean patrol boats came south maritime border and forced back by south korean boats, warning shots were fired. north korea says it was simply policing illegal chinese fishing vessels in the area and it warned south korea is wednesday that it would target south korean ships as a result of that. south koreans have contacted north korea they say by the military hot line saying this they will hold north korea responsible for any further such action. the they have already warned them that they will retaliate mercilessly if attack. still to come on this news area, the syrian government

makes a major breakthrough in the city of aleppo. also coming up, drawn from life. we get a child's eye view of poverty in spain. and in sport, one cyclist goes beyond the pain barrier in italy. we'll have all the details on that after the break. ♪ ♪ >> experience al jazeera america's critically acclaimed original series from the beginning >> experiencing it has changed me completely >> follow the journey as six americans face the immigration debate up close and personal. >> it's heartbreaking... >> i'm the enemy... >> i'm really pissed off... >> all of these people shouldn't be dead...

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have been out. >> the system with joe burlinger only on al jazeera america ♪ ♪ welcome back you are with al jazerra. reminder of the stop stories this hour, tie hand las been taken on over by the military a curfew has been in effect and the army has suspended the contusion, the u.s. says it's review military and other aid following the coup. the army has taken control of the country after six months of political deadlock. 31 people have been killed in three bombings in the iraqi capital baghdad. shiia muslims were tagger targeted as they garth ford a major religious events. 29 people i would have in an attack on a farming village in nigeria yaps owe borno state. it is believed it was carried

out by boko haram. an ending of a 13-month siege of aleppo's main jail by opposition forces. troops began by capturing the tuned of highland next to the prison eight-kilometers northeast of aleppo city. assad's forces are now in reach of the road which links rebel-held parts of the city in the northern countryside. the army's advance in and around the prison means assad's government will now be able to cut off weapons, food and medical supplies for rebel fighters on the outskirts of the city and the turkish border. this is a report from neighboring beirut in lebanon. >> reporter: the syrian army now is in full control of aleppo's central prison. video showing syrian soldiers celebrating this win is all over the internet. for the government it was very form take it over. it has become a symbolic battle for 13 months the rebels put the

siege around the prison and they tried to storm it but they failed. now today the government was able to take it over and push the rebels way. this is not just a prison, it's a very large complex almost the size of a shaw city. many of the prisoners have died in the siege because of the bombard. , lack of food and medicine. now many activists are afraid the government will actually execute some of the prisons over there. the government had been advancing on the ground in different parts of the country and now it seems that it's focusing its effort in aleppo. they are trying to regain as much territory as possible before the scheduled june 3rd elections. they want to try to show that they are in control, that things are stable, to give this elections as much credibility as possible. russia and china have vetoed a french-led attempt to refer

both sides in the syrian war to the international criminal natural court. it's the first time that they have used their veto over the syrian conflict. moscow is a close ally of syria's allah sad's governmen a. >> today is about accountability for sear request, but it's also about accountability for this security council. it is this council's responsibility to stop atrocities. if we can. and at a minimum, to insure that the perpetrators of a pros troughs a attroughs a at thises are held actable. it was toward that minimum that we sought this today. my government applauds the vast majority of the members of this council who vote today support and some 64 countries who joined us in cosponsor this is effort to refer these a porosity to his

the international criminal court. >> translator: this is just to try once against to create a pretext to armed intervention in the syrian conflict. one could not overlook that the head of the french diplomacy saw fit to take advantage of his recent visit to washington to publicly criticize the united states for renewing for shower missiles and bombs in syria last fall. it should be pointed out that this damage to the unity is inflicted at the critical point in the efforts to find a political solution to the syrian crisis. >> felipe is the u.n. director for human rights watch and joins us now from the united nations. perhaps not surprise that go russia and china vetoed this. but this must be very frustrating for those that support third degree proposal and want possible war crimes investigated. >> reporter: absolutely. it's a complete outrage, frankly and one of really historic proportions, i just heard the excuses given by the russian

ambassador what was really lacking from his intervention is an alternative plan to address justice issues in syria for crimes committed by both side. today russia and china were extremely isolated, they were the only two countries to raise their hands in favored of continued impunity. an impunity that has lasted for three years already and which is fueling the conflict. i think from now on both countries really well bear responsibility for the continued inning punitivimpunity to syria. >> we heard the russian ambassador saying this resolution was just a public his apublicitystunts. and would harm efforts to find a resolution? syria. what do you say to that this. >> i find that really insulting to the victims. it was not a publicity stunt. the war has lasted for more than

three years, over 150,000 people have been killed. thousands have been tortured. women have been raped. you have a coalition of 65 countries that was interesting that the security council refer the situation in syria to the iccu. you had hundreds of people from around the world asking for the same thing. so, no, this was not a public advertise stunt. it was a chance for syria to have finally justice and russia and china stood in the way. >> will there be other chances? are there other routes open now to getting justice for war crimes? >> look, the fight is not over, you know. you saw today that there is a growing coalition of countries and ngos around the world who want justice for syria. and so they were dealt a blow today, certainly by russia and china who abused their veto power to block the real of the

security council. but it's not over simply because we are not have impunity for the horrendous crimes we see in syria. so i think all of the countries that were working on this resolution today will have to take stock of what happened and look at what are there options either in the u.n. security council. or everybody outside. but impunity is not an option. >> felipe thank you for joining us, good to get your thoughts. the u.n. director for human rights watch. bureaucratic delay is stopping aid from reaching survivedders in the balancsurvi. >> the aid response unit is describing the situation as an enormous tragedy. the balkans worst blooding in more than a century has laid waste to large parts of sear bee, a bosnia and croatia,

killing at least 51 people. so far 27 of the deaths have been recorded in serbia where the prime minister estimates the recovery will cost the country $2 billion. in bosnia 22 deaths have been reported and some estimates put the damage bill there as high as $1.8 billion. 40% of the country is affects. in croatia, which escaped the worst damage, authorities have reported at least two deaths and say 2,000 houses have been detroit. tim friend has our report beginning in bosnia. >> reporter: left to fends for themselves, aid may be reaching the larger towns, but here in and hundreds of other smallville jed, aid is not getting through. the people are becoming increasingly dez program. she has nothing. >> we need water foot, cloth, we have nothing, we have lost our house, we have nothing.

we need help. >> reporter: locals have been arriving with diggers to try to clear the debris. but here no house has been left untouched by the worst floods to hit the balkans in living memory. it will cost billions to repair the damage. in western serbia, two people tied when torrents of mud ripped through buildings. in this area alone, hundreds have been made homeless. >> translator: i start today cry. what else could i do. this is a catastrophe. >> reporter: some of these villages will vanish forever, rebuilt elsewhere, away from the rivers. in many places, drinking water has become contaminated. there are carcasses of dead animals and to add to the horror, mines leftover from the war have been dishro*pblged and could explode. amongst the despair, a tiny

glimmer of relief. in bosnia a family cat believed dead is rescued alive from the wrecked family home. tim fremd, al jazerra. and alexia brian report where aid is being organized. >> reporter: i am here in a town on the border, between croatia and bosnia, i am in a rescue certainty set up for the region by the croatian government. i was in the helicopter just a short time ago with the croatian interior minister to take a look at the devastation from the air and it was very clear to see the river is a border between the two countries and it's sending its muddy without force kilometers in both directions living communities in both countries under water. the water is currently more than a meter high, a thousand refugees are currently in three schools in the area. 2,000 more have been sent here

to croatia. it's thought that about a quarter of bosnia's population has been affected by these devastating floods. i also saw here on the croatian side people are creating a second layer of defense using sand bags. they are worried that as at water retreats further upstream it will flow down the river and flood their town for a second time. people here are worried the croatian interior minister says he has seen damaged from the floods worse than caused by the war here in the early '90s, he said it will be a very difficult situation for the entire region until at least the end of the year. almost 40 children are among 457 migrants from north africa who have been rescued from a fishing boat off sicily. the italian navy says the vessel was floundering in big wavers when they managed to secure it to a navy ship and take it in to port. on monday more than hundred 88 people including 100 children were rescued in another operation.

former congolese militia leader will be sentenced for committing war crimes on friday. it trial at the haige is being set as a test of property cuesers,. >> reporter: a congolese ex-play ex-militia leader is the second person to be convicted by the international criminal court. earlier this year judges found him guilt of four counts of war skpraoeuplts one against crimes against humanity. targeting a rival militia as well as ethnic civilians. about 200 people were either hacked or shot to death while they were sleeping. many people were raped and used as sex slaves. prosecutors claimed child soldiers were used in the attack and they said survivors were impressed in a building full of dead bodies. in 2012, a codefendant was acquitted of all charges relating to events there. but this march 5 years after his trial started, he was convicted

of crimes including murder and pillage. crimes he always denied. some observers have criticized the icc for being slow and for failing for make the most serious charges against him, like sexual violence, stick. but this human rights expert says the government needs to take more responsibility. >> the crc should continue and should make a real effort to bring to justice those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity. not because the icc has some cases that the drc doesn't have an obligation to bring to justice against these people, they actually have to compliment the court in their efforts to fight for these serious crimes, but you cannot judge everybody. >> reporter: prosecutors have asked for a total sentence of between 22 and 25 years. arguing that the punishment needs to provide justice for victims, but also act as a deter end. but campaign groups say whatever happens here at the i c.c. congolese government could and

should be doing more to bring to justice those militia leaders who continue to destabilize the country. al jazerra, in the hague. ♪ ♪ voters across the u.k. and next lands are the first to go to the poll for even u. wide elects, up to 380 million europeans will vote in 28 countries. choosing who will represent them in the european parliament. and those elections are the first real test of opinion since economies across the continent were crushed by the financial crisis. in spain, for example, the e.u. insist odd huge spending cuts to bring down the country's deficit. the prime minister says discipline will lead to economic growth. but the social costs have been high. nearly 55% of young people are now out of work. and the charity says nearly 30% of spanish children live in poverty.

lawrence lee traveled to madrid to investment. >> reporter: at this school the 10 year olds have been drawing what they see their country going through, so you get a man looking through a bin at a restaurant. a woman schiffering because the electricity is too expensive. cuts to health service, children sharing a sandwich. the teachers realize the children's parents couldn't afford to feed or cloth them properly. >> when in summer they bring winter clothes, when it's winter they bring summer clothes. and then you can see them with no -- not the right material to be in the class, they don't have pencils, they don't bring pens, notebooks. >> reporter: so they called in a charity which for the first time in its history is spending money on spanish children as it does on those in asia or latin america. they say that this is what austerity has done. >> obviously the situation was not taking place seven or 10 years ago. in fact, in spain, there is always been a portion of structural poverty.

that's not the segment that they are working with. we are actually working with a segment of the population that's been directly affected by the crisis. >> reporter: frankly, any school child can understand that there is a fundamental contradiction in spain. this is the euro zone but also 30% child poverty. that's the second worst in the whole of the european union, not just the euro zone. the only place worse is romania. it'the ritz thole is full of journalists, corruptions involving famous people. claims of money hidden in swiss bank accounts, corporate bribery of politicians. prime minister wants his conservative friends, to be the next president of the european commission. spain the accident it will be fine. the banks are reconstructed, austerity is calming fears in the money markets. >> i believing that you have to consolidation in parallel with

job oriented policies and social reforms. don't believe those who are telling you that you can't. >> reporter: it doesn't appear to go working here, does it? >> but you cannot have growth by accumulating deficit. >> reporter: madrid will be in the news in weekend for other reasons being its two teams will play each other in the european final. you wonder how much they care with the thousands of children being well guide toda young livg relegate today rations, everyone knows the date of the final, but no one knows when the european elections will be. al jazerra, madrid. that brings you up-to-date with the latest news from europe it's back to doha. thank you very much in teed for that. coming up here on the news hour, is it time for the american football team the washington redskins to drop that name? half the senate says it is. we'll have more on that. and why lewis hamilton nearly missed the start for of practice for the monaco grand prix. stay with us.

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♪ ♪ welcome back. now the sports. >> thank you so much. half of the united states senate is demanding the washington-based nfl team the redskins change their name saying it's a racial slur. 50 senators send a letter to roger godell the commissioner of the nfl urging them to change the name of the red schedules. they want good all to follow the nba's lead of banning donald sterling for life from the nba for making racial slurs.

the nfl has responded with a statement saying the nfl has long demonstrated a commitment to progressive leadership on issues of diversity and inning inclusion both on and off the field. the intent of the team's name has always been to present a strong, positive and respective image. the name is not used by the team or the nfl in any other context, though we respect those that view it differently. for for more on this we are joined by john terret live from new york. give us a bit of background to this story. why is the name redskins so offensive? >> reporter: you know, fair, a this ifair, athis is an extraory that will not lie down for the washington redskins. it's the biggest sporting franchise in the nation's capitol and for many, many miles around, no matter what they do to try to tam top down it keeps coming back every couple of months as it has now. and so we have the senators writing to the nfl and to roger godell and the reason is that to

native americans the term redskins is simply a racial slur. it is offensive. and, in fact, for our viewers around the world to help you understand, it is as offensive to native americans to be called a redskin as it is for after kin *f caafricanamericans to have td used against them. this protest fan 40 years and it's simply grown and grown and grown for to a very volatile protest now. >> you say it's half of the u.s. senate calling for the name change, why is this happening now? >> reporter: yes. donald sterling. you know who donald sterling, is he's the guy who heads up the la clippers the basketball team out in l.a. and he was caught in the tape recording encouraging his girlfriend not for bring black people to the games. it caused absolute outrage here and around the world. and that has prompted the 50 senators, all democrats, but it's not all the democrats in the senate because they have a majority.

but it's an awful lot of them to write the letter to roger go gol and the nfl and here is what they say they say we urge you and the nfl to send the same clear message as the nba, that's the national basketball association, that racism and bigotry have no place in professional sports. of course the nba moved very swiftly against donald sterling and are trying to get him out of the l.a. clippers and the senators go on, the nfl can no longer per perfect wait the use of what this word is in their view a racial slur. when you have 50 united say senators writing to you that, means something in this country, farah. >> and what doe is the team acty saying? why won't they change their name? >> reporter: well, the team in the guy guys the dan snider whos them, says we report people's views, but the name redskins to us, we are honoring the redskin tradition, the native american tradition and our fans sing hail to the redskins every sunday and in that way we honor native

american tradition, they are not trying to denigrate it in any way. he says that they simply will not change the name and in a recent article he was quoted as saying, and you can put that in caps which means he's very, very serious about that. however, fresh he really is building and president obama says publicly if he were the team owner else think about clang did go not least at all because if it offends one person it's something to consider changing. but at the moment, fair, a no sign the team will change. >> great to talk you to you, john terret reporting live from new york. the thank you. one of the potential as far as of world cup could be out of the show before a ball is kicked. liverpool's luis suarez injured his knee in training and is a doubt for brazil next month. he's believed to have had surgery on thursday. suarez's recovery could take as little as 15 days, but he could be ruled out of the entire tournament. if there are complications,

uruguay play their first match against cost costa rica on june 14th. meanwhile, mexico have banned their players from eating beef that's aim today avoid positive drug tests from contaminated meat. five mexican players in the 2011 gold cup squad tested positive for the banned substance often found in beef to make it leaner. mexico begin their world cup campaign against cameroon on june 13th. formula one and championship leader lewis hamilton produced the quickest time in the first practice today for the monaco grand prix, the mercedes driver nearly missed the opening session as he over excellent on his yacht in monte carlo. but he still managed to top the time sheets, hamilton wasn't as quick in the rain interrupted second session, officer raffi's fernando alonzo just edged him. the stage 12 time trial at the giro italia at that toying the overall lead.

there was a scare for one. he crashed over ebber jerk the swede eventually sat up and was taken to hospital, the 42-kilometer ride was completed in less than an hour. the columbian is now 37 seconds ahead of previous jersey leader cadel evans. nba now, san antonio has secured that i have second straight win against oklahoma city to take a 2-0 lead in the western conference finals. the spurs were out of sight by the fourth quarter, 29 ahead. tony parker did most of the damage. hitting 22 points to top score on the night. danny green was also on fire, he sent seven three pointers they won 112-77 winners, game three on sunday. former new zealand international lou vincent has been charge charges charges fory the england and wales cricket board, he's accused of 14 offenses related to two county matches in 2011.

if found guilty it will be the first time it's been proved that i county game has been fixed. another former sussex player has also been charged. and that's all your support for now. >> thanks very much indeed for that. and the australian prime minister is, again, being accused of being insensitive towards women. latest controversy surrounding tony abbott involves what's been called the sleezy wink. from sid is a andrew thomas explains. >> reporter: tony abbott was only elected last september but since then he's seen his personal popularity plummet particularly in the last week in the light of a pretty tough budget his government has unveiled, big cuts to spending and increases in taxes. one area of concern is a phone shall increase in student the cap can been lifted meaning fees could be go up by 30%. that sparked protests across the country, tony abbott was supposed to speak but called it off siting security concerns. then add to the mix the revelation that his own daughter has received a scholarship of

almost $60,000 from her design institute and the chairs of the governor of that inning tunes say personal friends of the prime minister and donated money to his party and the look isn't a good one. then you have what is being called in all at sleezy wink, tony abbott was on a radio station and taking callings from people concerned about how the government might affect them one of them was a cam called gloria she said that she was a pensioner and to help make end me she would been working on ace phone sex worker. at when point the prime minister who was being filmed in the radio studio rinked. not a aiyegbeni good look for a prime minister who has a reputation of aikman's man, not treating women as he should, the previous prime minister famously ladies and gentlemen a misogynist in parliament. tony abbott has been rising high had been seen as a prime minister rising high is suddenly looking like a prime minister on the ropes. that's it for doha.

goodbye for now. ♪ ♪ ♪

>> can you tell me about the day that the police came to your door, and started talking to you... is that something you can talk about?