>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello and welcome to the news hour and life from the headquarters in doha and coming up, in 60 minutes and leadership and security and how the crisis in iraq could become a tipping point for the country. iraq's army tries to take it from sunni rebels and the fighters and u.s. president asks congress for half a billion

dollars and plus it's the deal three former soviet republicans make a pack for closer ties with europe and love and a lot of hope and women tricked into the world of sex trafficking. ♪ the iraqi military has launched an offensive to retake the town from rebel fighters. the islamic state of iraq gained control on june 11th and the fighters accused of mass executions of captured military recruits but many people say the military retaliation is indisit inially targeting civilian area and we report. >> reporter: these iraqi military aircraft high in the skies in a battle not reported by iraqi authorities or media, elite commander units are trying

to get a foot hold in the university town hold and with helicopters they landed in the stadium and two out of three helicopters used were down and people say the military had targets indiscriminally and used weapons. >> translator: no presence of militants and no isil and you can film the area and it's a residential area and families live here. >> translator: they drop barrel bombs here and all the sudden two blasts took place, there is no one here, no militants, no one here in the region. >> reporter: most of it is abandoned after many families left when the government lost control. >> translator: the families were displaced and the situation is quite difficult here and no guests, no water, no electricity. >> reporter: they tried to control it on june 11 and sudan

hussein said it was between the military and most of the army has not been able to stop isil in northern and western iraq and isil says it has captured military equipment and tanks and 190 of those capture iraqi army recruits were murdered by the fighters and the group says a further investigation is difficult because of the fighting. but for an iraqi army struggling on the on slouth of rebels taking ground it will be major morale boost to take it over and they have not been able to agree on a solution and residents who feel let down by the shiate-led government, it remains just that. >> reporter: turmoil in iraq brought forward the push for

more power the president is holding a press conference right now with britain's foreign secretary on the second day of hague's visit to iraq. they are speaking at the moment and forces are in control of an area which extends out. >> of course, i'm here to discuss the urgent crisis in iraq which is a serious threat to the whole region. and i know that kurdish security forces have played a very important role and have made many sacrifices in this struggle and i pay tribute to them and what they have done. >> reporter: u.s. president barack obama is asking congress to approve half a billion to equip and train what he calls moderate syrian rebels and the forces are led by the free syrian army which dismissed the

leaders amid accusations of corruption and the staff and support military council with the move of opposition government and president obama says more money would go only to fighters and russia said this would be a step in the wrong direction. al jazeera previously uncovered how weapons are sold between rebel groups and working alongside and sometimes against each other across the country, western part of syria is dominated by government troops with access to the mediterranean see through the port and recently taken control of homs which was almost destroyed in the fighting and the areas in red are controlled by moderate opposition like the free syrian army but lost a lot of territory to assad forces and known as isil the group controls large parts of northern and eastern syria and across the border into iraq is part of the sunni

rebellion. northern syria kurdish fighters in control of areas on border with turkey and the brown area here is contested and has seen some of the most intense fighting in resent months. and our correspondent patty has more from washington. >> reporter: the president has been under a lot of criticism, people are saying he didn't do enough and now look isil is in iraq and putting that on his doorstep and he has been putting it back on modern opposition fighters and basically telling every interviewer these were farmers and pharmacists and lawyers and you cannot them to be a full fighting force able to take on what he calls experienced jahadist immediately and it's his way of saying look i'm doing more but how much more. the white house says they are ramping up assistance but we cannot judge that because we don't know how much they are spending and they are doing their own training and don't get to know a number on that because

it's classified and don't have to tell us and moving this to a pentagon operation and u.s. military taking it over he does have to inform congress. as you mentioned he is going to congress asking for $500 million to train and equip the rebels and asking i want to point out for an additional one billion to help with refugee crisis in the neighboring countries. >> reporter: in a move opposed by russia the ue signed agreements with ukraine, maldova and georgia and the deals in brussels follow months of political upheaval and strained ties with moscow and the post said it may be the most important day for his country since the disintegration of the soviet union and it will offer greater access to the huge european market and close corporation in energy and foreign policy. in return partners must meet european standards on human rights and democracy, strengthen rule of law as well as fight

corruption and all this could eventually smooth the path to possible eu membership. it was the same kind of agreement that was coffered by ukraine's government in november and it sparked months of protests by pro-eu demonstrators culminating in crack down by security forces and february 20 was the worst day of violence and 88 people were killed, just two days later viktor fled the country as they tried to get an interim leader. later as pro-russian protests grow in strensdz they left them in a haste of a referendum and then the russian president signed a bill to absorb the crimea principal and then they began occupying buildings east of ukraine, touching off months of fighting between separatists and ukrainian forces and last

week a cease fire was finally declared. in a moment we will be going live to robin walker in the georgia city but first let's go to paul brennan, where he is in a proseparatist stronghold in eastern ukraine and tell us about the signing of the seal in ukraine. >> reporter: a very mixed reaction in the east and we have been speaking to people in the streets in the last couple hours and we did find a couple of people who are happy the deal had been signed and were optimistic about what it might entail, we found plenty of other people who were scared, who were uncertain as to the exact implications and who were worried about the future relationships with russia. remember, this part of ukraine predominately speaks russia and the sentiment is to russia and here where the separatist movement is most powerful. i'm in donsk and it's not under control of the ukraine

authority, it's very much under the control of the pro-russian separatists malitia. elsewhere in the west of the country and kiev there has been a degree of celebration and this is what they fought for throughout the winter of last year and into this year. there is what the protesters died for, to have the association with the eu and reaction in kiev has been much more happy than what we see here. >> russia reaction has been very swift and warning of grave consequences, what sort of retaliatory measures can we expect against ukraine? >> reporter: i don't think we are talking about military retaliation of course but no doubt that russia has levelers to have influence on this part of the world and russia is unhappy that the deal has been signed and russia feels without fully appreciating or evaluating the impact on the russian

economy. i've seen one estimate to say ukraine russian trade could be hit to the tune of $500 billion and the fact is that russia will have a meeting with european union ministers in july to look at the impact. there will be meetings at the level of technical experts happening within the next couple of days and russia feels strongly it has been sidelined in all of the process, the russia interest have not been taken account of by the eu and very unhappy about that. >> thank you very much paul is live for us in donsk there and let's cross over and join robin walker and georgia is the other country that also signed the association agreement with the eu and how important is this agreement for georgia? >> reporter: i think many georgians see this as a historic moment because they have been waiting for some time for this to happen. in fact, in georgia really the desire to be part of europe

historically outdates the european union itself in the short period of time in history before it was invaded and they were talking about taking a european direction and it has taken many decades really for it to be fulfilled and so today is important politically because some people think signing the agree wmement with europe affor them insurance from russian interference and on the other hand as well significant economic improvements coming to georgia further down the line and will not happen overnight but the free trade agreement will open up europe to the georgian market and open up the european market to georgia producers and it's an opportunity and an opportunity, one man i met who lives in a rural part of georgia and he is a cheese maker and very interested about what the future

may hold. georgia's new trade agreement with europe is a cash cow as far as this is concern and he makes something that people cannot eat enough of, traditional soft cheese. the deep and comprehensive free trade agreement could help businesses like his to grow by eliminating import tariffs between georgia and the eu. >> translator: we will start a peer campaign and organize cheese tasting and we believe europeans will like our product and establishing it in a new market is time consuming. >> reporter: all georgian products will have to meet strict eu quality and hygiene standards. and they may need a refrigerated tanker to get his milk delivered and ensure a spotless and well-lit factory floor and improved product packaging and labeling and he is ready for thousands of dollars to put his cheese on the shelves of european supermarkets.

the cheeses are of sufficiently high quality and popularity to be stocked here. but will the costs associated with upgrading many producers factories in georgia be transferred to the consumer. this chain says, no, they can afford to keep prices low. but most georgians buy local produce the street, economist derrick questions whether eu standards will work in practice. >> i cannot see how they are going to be regulated. i mean how do you license production of this type of cheese if it's produced in somebody's home. the population here is definitely not wealthy enough to afford the european standards what ever they mean and don't necessarily want someone to tell them how to produce what they produce and pay a higher price. >> reporter: georgia will be exposed to chiefer european imports, a good thing says the eu. >> i tend to believe that competition is generally good.

look at what happened with european union and countries that were much poorer on the european union and now they have been developing because they are subject to intensive competition. >> reporter: and he convinced europeans are going to love his product. and his business is in good shape. that is a promising start. but not guaranty of success. >> robin we know what happened in ukraine when they signed the association agreement with the eu back in march, are they concerned in georgia that russia might react angry, what is the fall out likely to be? >> reporter: despite several europeans saying they received assurances from russia that there would not be interference, there have been repeated warnings of consequences of the russians and again we have been hearing that today from the

foreign ministry that there could be consequences in terms of the way in which russia can apply pressure through trade links. it's important to understand that although this trade agreement is going to improve trade with europe russia is still a significant trade partner for georgia. in fact, has been riding up the rankings and the third largest trade partner here and buy as lot of georgia wine and mineral water and it's an agrarian society and what happened a few years ago is russia putted an embargo on products because of poor relations from the previous government and it's being patched up now so this decision to go ahead with the signing could imperil the trade relationship once more. russia has an ability to control within georgia itself, georgia considers its two break away territories sovereign to georgia

and russian forces and call themselves peace keepers on the ground in those regions have an ability of the way things turn out but at least here, tonight there will be celebrations on the square behind me so there is still quite a celebratory mood today because of the signing. >> thank you very much robin reporting live in georgia. there is much more ahead on this al jazeera news hour including. ♪ taking refuge and praying for peace, why these christians feel they no longer have a future in iraq and plus the fighting for now and south sudans displaced is facing over crowding and the world cup and algeria qualified for the knock-out stages for the first time. ♪

first an update from iraq where the uk foreign secretary hague had a press conference and arrived to discuss the crisis and we will go to the line and that press just ended so what did they talk about, what has come out of this meeting? >> well, they did talk about the political situation in iraq and the urgent crisis as a pure threat to the whole region and he was more or lesson the same line he held yesterday in baghdad and saying he did talk to all leaders from the kurd and shiite and there is consciousness that a broad-based

government is needed, however, he did not give in or give any kind of detail whether the prime minister maliki was on board with such a broad-based government. i think that coming out of this is actually from the kurdish president who was asked about the future of all these, majority of things that happened over the past few weeks when the iraqi army pulled out and kurdish forces went in to occupy that security. he said this was now a defacto situation on the ground and one main bone of contention in baghdad was article one of the constitution. that article was calling for a referendum on disputed territories being held 5-6 years ago, by the end of 2007. it was never held. those territories say a lot of

kurds regard as the capitol and eventually a kurdish region. they are in control there and all along the border of the disputed territories and said this is a fact of reality and has been accomplished and there is no more complication about this. >> thank you very much for the update. in northern iraq. u.n. secretary moon called for egypt to accept the press freedom and three al jazeera journalists sentenced on monday in prison for 181 days and they were given 7 years in prison and bahmy sentenced to ten years because he had a spent bullet that was picked up at a protest in his possession and accused of helping the out lawed muslim

brotherhood. >> freedom of movement, freedom of expression and freedom of covering the news by the journalists. i have also met president si si today and i also discussed this and i urged him that the freedom of journalism, expression and freedom of expression should be fully protected. >> reporter: a quick look now at some of the other stories making headlines around the world, at least 14 people have been killed in a gas pipeline explosion in india. the explosion caused a massive fire that destroyed homes and forced evacuation of nearby village's and the fire is now under control. thousands of supporters of afghan candidate abdullah marched on the president's palace in kabul and supporting mass fraud in the vote and

abdullah pulled out of race last week saying opponents were behind the fraud. funerals held in nigeria for victims of wednesday's shopping mall blast in the capitol of abuja and dozens of people gathered in the mosque to offer prayers for the dead, at least 22 people were killed and 17 more injured in the explosion, no one claimed responsibility for the attack. now agencies in south sudan are sound agree new alarm over the number of people fleeing their homes, more than a million have been displaced by fighting between forces loyal to the president and rebels and we visited a camp in unity state where 10,000 people arrive each month and where the u.n. says it's struggling to cope. all agencies agree the situation here is turning into a humanitarian catastrophe and this u.n. protection camp has the worst conditions in south

sudan. the rains which are good for crops are torment for uprooted people and mud everywhere and fear of collera and worse. >> everybody is coming to look for protection and they are outside and why civilians are coming. >> reporter: two months ago there were 7,000 people seeking shelter here and now u.n. estimates there are more than 40,000, no one planned for this. in the camp there is some food. outside, there is none. >> there is no food. there is no food. people are killing us. >> reporter: he fled the town on the country's only north/south highway and rebels and government are fighting over it and it already changed hands six times. the warring parties in the

conflict agreed in june to hold their fire and work to a traditional government but camps like these tell you what political makings don't, people come here because they think they might survive, out there they think death is more certain. u.n. is worried too and peace keepers are armed and vigilant and lost personnel in the past six months and awaiting for reenforcement to move into surrounding areas which might take some pressure off this camp. >> we have done what we can do now which was to use the resources we had to open the gates for those fleeing for their lives, afraid of being killed and i think we actually stemmed the cycle of violence and saved thousands and thousands of people's lives. >> reporter: u.n. and other aid agencies admit they were not prepared for a crisis on this scale and struggling to manage the humanitarian side and three children are dying here everyday. what people most need here is peace, a peace they can believe in, only then can they go home,

i'm with al jazeera. time for a check on the world weather with richard and richard flooding in south america. >> that's right, some of it is expected but some of it frankly is not, not this time of the year. and go to paraguay where the weather is misbehaving and these scenes are along the river there. we had widespread flooding and these shots are a few days old but give an indication of what has been occurring across this region. and as we look at the satellite image we see this line of cloud is still looking pretty active and it's a stationary weather front and hanging around for a while yet and produced rainfall totals and 60 millimeters of rain in 24 hours. what does that mean? during the month of june you normally expect to see 69 millimeters of rain and so far this month we had 150 millimeters so flooding a real

problem and across the country is sizable rainfall totals. what you cannot see on the map is significant cloud across eastern brazil but here a lot of flooding over the last 24 hours certainly effecting usa versus germany match and build up to it and supporters making their way in the stadium and battling through quite unpleasant condition and looking at the forecast and showers likely over here but back here is rain and temperatures way below where they should be this time of year and should be 22 degrees but the rain says it will ease away fully. >> thank you very much indeed. a new effort underway in the u.s. to break the cycle of human trafficking, in houston, texas a jail based rehab program focuses on female victims and al jazeera has this report on a one-time sex trafficking victim turned teacher. ♪ it's not unusual for catherine

griffin to get this kind of greeting as she comes to work at the jail in harris county, texas and twice a week they open up to ms. cathty as they call her to share stories of being tricked and then trapped in a life of sex trafficking. >> this man drove up and said do you want to make some money and i thought i'm desperate and no where else to go and threatened to kill me if i ever left. >> reporter: the experiences are similar, lured into prostitution as young girls and never allowed to keep the tens of thousands of dollars they made for the pimps and tears recalling the beating and the sheer amount of girls trapped with them. >> and shot and stuff like that. it was multiple girls like they were different ages and like effort, deliver colored skin and some did not speak english. >> reporter: they agree being arrested on charges unrelated to their trafficking was like being

rescued, for the first time they say they feel no shame but only because of ms. kathy. she was once a backup singer for some of the biggest names in show businesses but she too got trapped and then trafficked herself. >> i've been there. i've done that. i can walk in there with a crooked arm and show them where my ear was cutoff and put back on. >> reporter: human trafficking and sex slavery does not necessarily mean everybody has been chained in a basement and fed dog food. they are invisible chains mentally. >> reporter: her special counseling program is the first of its kind in the united states and has been in place for three years and it's working. she says dozens of women have passed through these cells and left with job skills, practical education and most importantly. >> i feel like i have a chance at life now and finding out who i really am, what i really like. >> i know i was able to survive that dark, deep hell to come

back and help somebody else get the recipe to come out and look up and live. >> reporter: she says she is living proof there is life after being victimized by human trafficking, what is needed is love, support and a second chance. kimberly with al jazeera, houston. still ahead on the news hour a slippery slope to an endless war, a warning to the u.s. government on the policy plus ♪ take a look at a traditions across the globe. and as they go out of the world cup and we will talk about producing the next generation. stay with us. ♪

♪ welcome back, you are watching the news hour on al jazeera and reminder of the top stories now, the president of iraq kurdish region has met with the british foreign secretary william hague and reassured hague that the city is securely under kurdish command. u.s. president barack obama is asking congress to approve half a billion dollars to fund what he calls moderate syrian rebels. and the european union has signed key partnership agreements with ukraine, georgia and moldova but russia warned of grave consequences. and joining us now for more on that is jonathan bird well the head of the citizenship and political participation program

at the state and live from london and jonathan good to have you on al jazeera. everyone is hailing this deal, european leaders are calling it a good day for europe and the president hailing it as well for his country and what does it mean really and what does it change for these three former soviet republicans? >> well, on paper this is purely about economics and trade deals, about 98% are about economic trade deals and i think the economic implication of the trade agreement, economists say it will benefit the eu more and not necessarily harm the russian economy to a great extent but of course i think the real significance of these deals is the symbolism and shows each of the countries especially following the ukraine crisis are keen to align themselves closely with the west and the european union and away from russia. >> russia said there will be grave consequences, tell us more about what the problem is from

the russian point of view, what are they worried about, is this just about losing their influence in this country? >> i think it is primarily about that. i think in terms of economics they are not really concerned about maldova and georgia because they are a small portion of the russia economy. economically they are however concerned about ukraine which is the fourth largest trading partner and i think primarily they are symbolic and political and they are traditional spheres of russian influence and seem to be wanting to move away and align closer to the european union and that is i think what is troubling russia in particular. >> what sort of retaliatory measures do you think we can expect from the russians? >> well, i think for the most part there will be trade sanctions against these countries, however, in order to enact those sanctions the russians will have to have agreement in kazisstand and the

russian government is offering and precisely what the consequence will be and if they trade sanctions remains to be seen. >> long-term goal for the soviet is european integration being part of eu and how likely is this to happen? >> i think it will take time and a number of years before they actually start talking about membership. these agreements are association agreements are a first step in some instances but i think in order to join the european union all three countries would have to enact substantial political reforms and government to make sure they meet the standards of democracy to become a state and we are quite a ways away for the countries to join the european union. >> jonathan bird well is live from london and thanks for your time. back to the turmoil in iraq and

more than 2000 iraqi christians fled their villages after the city was taken over by isil fighters and many are there and al jazeera filed this report. ♪ in the midst of the chaos, they pray. thankful they made it safely with their daughters to the kurdish border and like all the people here they fled in the middle of the night after the nearby villages came under artillery fighter. >> it was safe until yesterday and isil came closer and fighting with the kurds and want to control our town but we are not part of the struggle, we don't have a future in this country. >> reporter: it's a common feeling among many displaced iraqis and all people here are christians and many of them had to move several times over the past few years. going from city to city as the

sectarian strife widened throughout iraq and once again they had to lock their homes and leave. this is witness to how deep a sense of loss they feel. she is with her elderly mother and aunt and wonders how she will care for them with no job and no money. >> translator: no future in iraq at all. we have been through war and then the embargo and living in fear since baghdad and this was the only safe place left. >> reporter: safety now is here and turned into a shelter for hundreds of people, many exhausted from their ordeal are slumped on the floor. since we have been here this place filled up and emptied several times already and that is in the span of just a few hours. now there is a room like this on every floor of the building. and the arrivals are in schools

and now closed for summer vacation and it's hot and stuffy but the classrooms are the only option available in a region overwhelmed by the never ending flow of people. >> translator: we are iraqis. we speak arabic and it's people who come from the outside of the country who are creating this problem. we are not just poor financially we become emotionally poor as well now. >> reporter: there are perhaps more children than adults among the estimated one million iraqis displaced since the beginning of year and may not understand why they left their homes or the sectarian hate raging but they are part of a lost generation in iraq. and that is according to her lawyer and she was detained and freed for a second time this week and she had been detained trying to leave the country, a

condition of her release is that she must not leave sudan. >> translator: she will be staying at the u.s. embassy with her husband, considering he is an american citizen and she is with her family there as we speak. >> reporter: now the u.s. government is being warned that its policy of drone warfare could be on a slippery slowed to an endless war and former senior u.s. officials contributed to a new report which says u.s. tactics could set a dangerous precedent for other countries and lisa stark has the story from washington. >> reporter: the new report says armed drone strikes such as this one may be doing more harm than good, the report from the global security think tank questions whether the drone strikes are truly reducing terrorism and making the u.s. safer. >> the existence of this technology enables and creates sort of a temptation to use that wack-a-mole approach to

terrorism saying you can kill your way out of a complex problem one bad guy at a time. >> reporter: a coauthor of the 81-page report and says the targeted strikes can increase anti-american sentiment and be a successful recruiting tool for groups who want to attack the u.s. >> anyone you kill and a bad guy have family and friends and neighbors and people who will be upset if you do kill any civilians, all the more so. >> reporter: another key is the secrecy surrounding the drone program making it difficult if not impossible to judge if the strikes are legal under u.s. and international law. the report says, quote, the united states should not conduct a long-term killing program based on secret rationales. >> we don't say how many strikes we have carried out. we don't say who they have been against for the most part. we don't say their locations until quite recently the administration has says we can neither confirm or deny the

existence of any such program so you have what amounts to a 13-year long secret war which has killed an estimated 3-4,000 people. >> reporter: the obama administration has been grappling with the issues raised in the report, the president in his speech last year and one last month promised new guidelines for the drone strikes and more transparency in the program. >> i also believe we must be more transparent about both the basis of our counter terrorism actions and the manner in which they are carried out. >> reporter: in a statement a white house spokesman said the administration would review the new report but pointed out the president has repeatedly emphasized the, quote, extraordinary care taken to ensure counter terrorism actions meet all laws and are, quote, consistent with u.s. values and policies. the white house says it is confident it can be more open and still retain the ability to continue the drone strikes.

lisa stark, al jazeera, washington. saturday marks 100 years since the event that sparked the first world war and the hungarian looks back at the death and the war that followed sparked events for a century. >> reporter: the great war killed an estimated 17 million soldiers and civilians, 20 million more were wounded. it's thought that soldiers returning home spread a pandemic of flu that killed tens of millions more and loss of skills and talent to the world was i immeasurable and still

reverberates today. >> they go to war and the famous phrase is it will be over by christmas but really the thinking is sort of like a sport and almost like a boxing match which will do no lasting harm and over quickly and no one thinks in the terms after 1914. >> reporter: it ended with peace settlements between new and sometimes arbitrary borders and the war was the end of the empires and new spheres of influence appeared in palestine, syria and iraq and sewing seeds of conflict and divisions very evident today and they were replaced by new ones and the czars gave way to communist n the west the league of nations and eventually the u.n. aimed to foster democracy, these were competing visions of the world that would form the basis of the cold war. before 1914 europe dominated the

world in economic and military strength after 1918 war industry had turned the united states into a rising leader of the world instead. the war had provided the conditions for facisim and communism and a second world war just two decades later. all of that was still to come on the eve of the assassination of the duke ferninand in ser-avo and none of it could be imagined and i'm with al jazeera in london. plenty more ahead on the al jazeera news hour and in spots fifi bites back and what now after a four-month ban and robin will have all the latest. stay with us. ♪

welcome back, a former denver traffic reporter has been given a symbolic send off for an around the world flight and not related to the original amelia heart and tried to fly around the world in 1937 but she was named after the famous flyer. >> it gave my parents a cool opportunity to give me a name that no one would forget and inspire me and i certainly fell down that path. >> reporter: and she will be retracing her name sake's flight and will fly 45,000 kilometers on a single engine plane with a

copilot by her side and 17 stops in 14 countries along the way. time now to catch up on the sport and here is robin. >> thank you very much, and off the pitch and dominated headlines and nigeria tried to steal focus to football and qualified for the knock out stages for the first time in the history of round of 16 line up was decided and we report. ♪ nigeria and africa's highest ranked team in 20 seconds but the dream for this looked to be evaporating and fell behind russia in six minutes in the final group game but they fought back in the second half and this is the goal that took their place in the knock-out round and exit for the next world cup hosts.

a russian coach said afterwards he was blinded by a laser beam from the crowd moments before the equalizer but it was the north african's time to shine. these were the scenes in the country's capitol. their next opponent also be germany who were 1-0 against the usa with thomas having the fourth in the tournament and germany topped the group and the usa still progressed. washington, one of several major cities to have a large support and gathering, this tournament has seen record tv rate ngs the u.s. and on thursday it could even count president barack obama as a viewer on board airforce one. and in portugal, home in this case and rinaldo had a 2-1 victory for portugal and proved

costly and south korea was 1-nil in 78 minute goal and the koreans will play a part in the competition, belgium, top of the group, and i'm with al jazeera. 32 teams and now down to 16 and the knock out round is saturday and brazil gets the fun started against chile and followed by columbia and uraguay and more on that in a moment, on sunday 2010 up and netherlands face mexico and costa-rica takes on greece and 1998 champions france and meet africa and nigeria and three time champions play nigeria on tuesday and argentina versus switzerland and the usa team. and trying to switch focus to saturday's round of 16 match against columbia and the star striker has thrown home after arreviewing a four-month ban for

biting and we report now from rio. >> reporter: it was one of the most shocking incidents in world cup history and the response, an unprecedented length of ban, the biter bitten hard, four months and nine matches and at least a year before he plays a meaningful international match and he is out of the world cup in brazil. >> the player is to be suspended for nine official matches. the first match of the suspension is to be served in the fifa against columbia and uruguay and the remaining match is the next fifa world cup matches as long as the team qualifies and/or the representative teams subsequent official matches in accordance with article 38, paragraph 2 a of the fifi disciplinary code. >> reporter: it was welcome locally uruguay is behind them

including the president and the association. >> translator: it's a tough punishment for lewis and at the moment we are working on appeal and we have three days to request this appeal. >> reporter: sponsors say they are reminded of what to expect and face a decision, and stop short of severing all ties and liverpool will again be without the star player until october, the third biting ban. >> unprecedented fifa do this because they have never done it before and a club ban in four months but if you look at the whole scenario i think he could be playing football before the end of the year. i do feel it's lenient for what he has done. >> reporter: and he has been forced to leave the uruguay camp and cannot come back until october and he has deported the world cup tens of thousands of uruguay fans will go to the knock-out match saturday. wondering if they can repeat

their famous track of 1950 and thinking that might be too farfetched and fifi will hope it gets back to goals but they too have shown they can bear their teeth, al jazeera in rio. asia will not be there and china have not featured in a world cup for 12 years and trying to put their past to the top and we report. >> reporter: the province in southern china is often called the world's factory and there has never been a production line quite like this one. as with so much else in today's china it's on a vast scale. a football academy with 50 playing fields with plans for 30 more. he hopes he can one day help china achieve world cup glory. out of the school's 2300

students this 11-year-old boy is considered to be one of the rising stars. . >> translator: right now china's football level is very low but i hope after one or two decades china can catch up. >> reporter: despite football being the most popular sport in china it's only ever qualified for one world cup and that was 12 years ago and today the national side is ranked 103 in the world and it has an ambitious goal that could help to change all of that. it's a plan that relies on players like him. he is an ethnic muslim person from the province and his parents are able to afford the school fees of almost $6,000 a year, a fortune in china. those from poorer families, around a third of the students, receive scholarships. most of the children see their families only a few times a

year. >> translator: i saw my parents in april this year. my father came and left. i see my parents once every three months. >> reporter: although there is emphasis on traditional education, watching football is part of the curriculum. although not everyone gets excited. still, competition for places is fierce. 50,000 applied last year, just 800 were accepted. >> translator: the goal of this academy is to make football stars. china's football level is low and we want to make chinese football better. >> reporter: the academy is owned by china's third richest property developer, now using his vast wealth to help the country achieve success in the one sport that is so far alluded it. adrian brown in southern china. don't forget to join us everyday for world cup updates

of andy richardson and daily wrap up of everything at brazil, 2014, it's on the air at 1540 gmt, a little under five hours from now and from the world cup in brazil defending the wimbledon champion and he is taking on spain's roberto and number one draft from the match and ral li -- rallied and knock him out and close to going two sets up but nadal wins to save the six and the match, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 and going to the third around. williams had a much easier time and needed 49 minutes to beat her opponent, the third one 6-1 and 6-1 the final score there. and he has taken the early lead in the 6 1/2 million pga event

and thursday's focus was around one man, tiger woods who marked his return from injury after a three-month absence and woods had a disappointing start and six over after 12 holes and he recovered shooting three birdies to shoot on 74 and 8 shots out of the lead. >> the score is not how i played and i played better than that and four up and downs and did not get that up and down and had a wedge in my hand on what, three, and jerking the bunker and made so many little mistakes so i played a lot better than the score indicates which is good. >> reporter: and andrew from the university of kansas has been taken by the cleveland cavaliers as the number one pick in the nba draft and four of the eight players at the top end of the draft were outside of the united states and a shooting guard is the second number one from canada after forward ann --

anthony and second pick was parker of duke university take end by the milwaukee bucks. >> it's a dream come true and from when i was a little kid and my dream was just to make the nba. now going to high school and college, the opportunity and possibility of going number one came into talk and now i accomplished that so it's just a crazy feeling right now and i don't know how to feel, it doesn't feel real. >> reporter: plenty more on the website, al jazeera/sport and there is a link to brazil 2014 and you can find all the results and reports from around the world and details how you can get in touch with our team using twitter and facebook. that is it, more later >> thank you very much indeed, robin there with the sports. now muslims around the world making final preparation to mark

the month of ramadan and we end the news hour with a look at some of their traditions and aspirations for the holy season. thanks for watching. ♪ the purpose of this is to restore the yemen her -- heritage which has been disappearing. we pray allah, one true god will grant everyone peace especially in places where there is violence. ♪

>> hundreds of days in detention. >> al jazeera rejects all the charges and demands immediate release. >> thousands calling for their freedom. >> it's a clear violation of their human rights. >> we have strongly urged the government to release those journalists. >> journalism is not a crime. >> u.s. military have started flying armed drones over baghdad. the question is will president obama green light missile strikes. >> a fiery blast in india, more than a dozen killed when a gas pipeline explodes. several villages were evacuated. >> the disturbing new stayed on drinking in america, why too much challenge maybe ending lives at an