> >> announcer: this is al jazeera. [ ♪ music hello there, welcome to the newshour. i'm laura kyle in doha. the world's top news stories - israel resumes bombardment of gaza and pulls out of ceasefire talks in cairo. more u.s. air strikes in iraq. president obama warns the fight against the islamic state may be a long one. turks go to the polls for their first chance to choose a new president. we go live to ankara.

48 people died in a plane crash in iran. we'll have the latest from tehran. . >> three palestinians have been killed on sunday as israel's bombing continues. israel ended the indirect talks after a 3-day truce expires on friday. the palestinians are threatening to leave the talks unless the israeli delegation returns. more on that in a moment. first let's take a look at the human toll since israel began its military assault on gaza a month ago. 64 israeli soldiers and three civilians, including a thai national has been killed. gaza's military says 1,916 palestinians have been killed. the united nations says 73% of those are civilians. 449 of them are children.

added to that, almost 10,000 palestinians that have been injured, and more than 220,000 who are living in u.n. shelters. well, some civilians in the besieged territory are desperate to leave the shelters and other places of refuge, and return om. >> this is not my house. it's my family's house. there are more than 30 people in the same place. i called them, because the israelis told us to leave our houses. >> thank god my family is alive. we escaped a massacre. >> translation: i'm 50, with nine daughters, my mother and father are 75 years old. we have nothing. we are civilians. we don't even have jobs. >> translation: we are asking all the arab countries to

support us and help us to return to our houses. even if we put tents. we don't ask for food or anything else. we just want to return home. let speak to our correspondent in gaza. andrew simmonds. more strikes in gaza today. what has been hit? >> there has been a number of strikes. the worst, a child has been killed, a teenager was in deraa bella. we don't know the circumstances, but we understand a house was hit. then another strike in khan younis, an adult killed and a further in rafah, another air strike. there has been gunboats opening up overnight off the coast. artillery fire, described by

some as this is low intensity warfare compared with the earlier days of the seem when higher numbers of people were dying. each day a list is coming out, there's a familiar pattern born out by the total figures, getting closer to the landmark, 2000 dead. and that is that the majority are civilians and many are children. all over gaza they are getting more desperate by the hour. what is the feeling towards the failed attempt for getting a failed ceasefire. >> we noted a change. we had been out amongst, and if i look at it behind me, this is how desperate it gets. these people are all over the eastern gaza city. they have proper homes, a kitchen, bedroom for the kids. possession, some cars,

motorcycle. this is what they have now. they have been back from their homes. they destroyed them, it's not safe. even if they were habitable. some have been turned away from other buildings, or they have been - lived in two or three, some of them. the majority are trying to settle in the schools. they find it overcrowded or there's no room. they are in a compound. not only here, this is a section of spare ground, but streets all around are using blankets, sheets, anything to shield themselves from the very, very heavy heat right now. they are also getting angrier and angrier, not just with israel, but their own leadership. with hamas, some of them, because they feel there should be a deal in cairo, some give. so they don't necessarily come right out and say it, but,

anyway, this is what they had to say. >> there's no hope of a ceasefire any more. they are saying it's hopeless. the palestinian resistance is not willing to give up the blood of 2000 people in vain. >> translation: the negotiations in egypt are impotent. they don't produce the basic humanitarian requests. the real needs are hopeless. >> there you have it, the views of two. the woman is, in fact, a mother of four children. the man is a med ib. he's a -- medic, he's a technical nurse in the shifa hospital, which is nearby. which is why the area is regards as safe, why they are here. by the hour, people are more and more desperate. things are not looking good in cairo. the latest we are hearing is the palestinians are ready to pull out because the israelis will

not join the talks. the israelis point out they will not come because rockets are fired from the gaza strip. >> simedz your reporting -- andrew simmonds reporting live from gaza city. thank you very much. >> let's get israel's position, and speak to nisreen el-shamayleh. live in west jerusalem. nisreen el-shamayleh, the prime minister making israel's position pretty clear - he's not returning to the talks until the rockets stop coming from gaza. it's not looking very optimistic in cairo, is it. >> not at all. the prime minister at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting reaffirmed that israel will not return to cairo. as long as it's under rocket fire, he said at no statement did he declare that the offensive as over. throughout the operation he said

it would take time to achieve objectives, which he describes as returning calm and quiet to israel. it will require time and stamina. on the other hand we have the palestinians threatening to leave cairo if the israelis don't sit and discuss. they have no plans to do that. prime minister binyamin netanyahu comes under pressure, internationally and domestically. people are frustrated, especially those living in the south, from the homes with the border. for a month, and told to return home during the 3-day humanitarian ceasefire. only to find out that fighting has resumed, to return to cairo for the ceasefire talks. it appears that he's choosing to apiece the israeli public and not return to cairo. >> what do the israelis think about the conflict dragging on.

will they continue to support binyamin netanyahu's offense i-in gaza? -- offensive in gaza? >> i think so. especially the israelis in the southern communities, feel that after the 3-day humanitarian ceasefire expired and fighting resumed. they say the israeli government did not finish the job or complete its mission in gaza. the only way they could be convinced that the government has done a good job is if it brings an end to the rocket fire. they are supportive of the operation. they want it to continue until it achieves its goals, which is outlined as restoring calm and bringing it back to israel. we know the talks in cairo reached a deadlock. what the palestinians are asking for and the israelis are willing to cover couldn't be further apart in terms of lifting the seem. the israelis are not willing to

lift the siege to redefine the rules, and asking for a sea fort and airport, the israelis say the palestinians can have that if hamas is disarmed and the gaza strip is demill ittar used. this is a nonstart for hamas, which is an armed resistant group. tough issues to work through, and they are not doing that because the israelis are not returning to cairo for the talks. >> absolutely. thank you very much for joining us from west jerusalem. >> now, at least 16 people, including four children have been killed in syria's largest city on saturday. a government helicopter, say witnesses, attacked a residential part of the old city of aleppo. >> reporter: one of the children killed at home by a barrel bomb. an internationally condemned weapon because it kills

indiscriminately. witnesses say a helicopter dropped the bomb here. according to a neighbour many of the casualties are from the same family. >> translation: the boys were asleep. the grandfather is the only one that came out alive. at least he did, thank god. he has three married children. one with six daughters and the other seven children. the laf has four. there's -- last has four. >> there's no sign of them. >> the neighbour hood is under opposition control. people blame the government led by bashar al-assad. >> there is not a single fighter here. for got's sake it seems -- god's sake it seems the front line is safer. bashar al-assad is targetting the civilians, the children, and theedlily and women. >> reporter: -- the elderly and women. >> youngsters are dying, killing a group of children on saturday. in february a united nations

security council resolution demanded government forces stop using barrel bombs in populated areas. the human rights groups say many more explosives have been used in the last five months. they are cheap to make, filling large bops with ex-please -- bombs with explosives and scrap metal. >> we don't have a final death toll. this is a big market that hosted a large number of people. we are looking for survivors under the rubble. >> the effects of barrel bombs can be devastating, something the civilians experience the for themselves. the trial against former egyptian president hosni mubarak is due to resume in cairo. he has two sops and a former -- sons and former interior minister are amongst those recharged on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during the egyptian 2011 uprising. it was alleged in court that the

u.s. was behind the resolution, saying it was part of washington's new middle east plan. al jazeera's demanding the release of its three journalists who have been imprisoned in egypt for 225 days. peter greste, mohamed fadel fahmy and baher mohamed were accused of helping the outlawed muslim brotherhood. in june mohamed fadel fahmy and peter greste from given seven year sentences, baher mohamed got an extra three years because he had a spent bullet in his possession, picked up at a protest. >> now, voting is under way in turkey's first direct presidential elections. until now presidents were chosen by parliament. voters choose their president. some 5 million people are expected to go to the polls and pick one of the three candidates. the front runner is prime minister recep tayyip erdogan. he has been in power for more than a decade. under him turkey has seen record economic growth. he wants to change the largely

ceremonial post of president into a more assertive one. the main challenger is a 70-year-old retired diplomat. he is the joint candidate for a number of political parties. and selahattin demirtas, a 41-year-old lawyer, seep as part of a new generation of kurdish politicians. our correspondent joins us from ankara. tell us how the vote is going there. >> there's a lot of people coming through in the polling station where we are. in fact, some of the people we spoke to said they have cut their holiday vacations short so they can ensure that they condition cast their ballot. it's important to know that turkey has a rich history of high voter turn outs because of the beliefs that turkey has.

one side contesting this is, as you say, ekmeleddin ihsanoglu. i'd like to bring in a professor, a member of his campaign. you are an outside runner. the favoured is recep tayyip erdogan. how confident are you after you have seep after voting has got upped way -- seen after voting has got under way. >> i guess many people will vote. we believe that many of these people - this is good news for the campaign. >> this is elections and democracy. you have to be ready for all kinds of results. tonight we will get to know what the results are. they are hopeful. we did our best, so we'll be watching together with everybody else. some of your critics say once they were act unit political

parties, and others around them, you haven't been able to convince the public of an alternative. based on being not voting for recep tayyip erdogan. rather than giving a positive alternative. actually, i believe they gave a positive message which is that turkey used parliamentary democracy, and its history or legacy is strong, and turkey should perfect its existing parliamentary system, and adopt a european style of parliamentary democracy and go forward because the other alternative is to turn turkish parliamentary democracy into a presidential one. if we look at how the presidentialism is defined. it's autocratic, liberal, quite a very eclectic sort of

procedural democracy. in some ways it will look like - i don't know. this is not probably an commaj ration -- exaggeration, but it will look like vladimir putin. if the system goes forward and if the akp gets what it wants in terms of how they wanted to design the system. unfortunately, this election process is handicapped by many acts of the ruling party. in turkey, many main principals of democracy have been violated. freedom of the press, rule of law. a lot of main tenants of democracy have been violated. the election process was designed to fit recep tayyip erdogan's needs and no others. the donation process was unfair,

and under the circumstances, perhaps it couldn't have delivered his message as strongly and as widespread as he would have. >> recep tayyip erdogan, and his supporters would say, actually, the chances were tilted in your favour, in the sense that recep tayyip erdogan only has his party behind. all the different parties who don't see eye to eye on anything, aside from the opposition, and here is an important question, that in order to change the presidency, you need a referendum and you need it to go through parliament. if recep tayyip erdogan is to win the presidency, he can't change it. why is the grass roots support, where is the support among the public for the candidate. >> i would like to stress obviously it is in democracies, you have to rule by the law. there's a lot of strong indications that mr recep tayyip erdogan will force the existing

parliamentary system, force the limits to turn into a presidential system, and is this a clear sign that turkey will go into a crisis of legitimacy. if others win the elections, turkish politics will be more peaceful, more contentious oriented, more civilized to function in. >> thank you very much for your time. that is one. views for one of the candidates. obviously we'll hear from the other candidates as the day goes along from recep tayyip erdogan, and the third candidate it is important to know whilst he stands little chance of winning, selahattin demirtas, a kurdish candidate, is also contesting the elections. back to you. >> thank you for bringing us the picture from ankara on the day turkey goes to its presidential election. >> moving to iran, where 48

people have died in a plane crash. the small passenger plane crashed drag take off from maira bad airport. aging aircraft and poor maintenance have been blamed. sanctions made it difficult to gain spare parts. we are joined from tehran. can you tell us more about what happened in this incident? >> well, according to eyewitness and the latest news that came out last minute, it seems after the take off the captain called the flight and said that the plane is considering some problems, and and he tried to

deiate the plane -- deviate the plane to a non-civilian area between a military compound and a glass factory. but the wings of the plane crashed with the fences of the airport and the military compound and the plane was cut into two parts, where some of the passengers were able to jump off the plane before the crash, about eight to 10 passengers jumped out of the plane, and the plane crashed down. the reason that there are no exact figures was that some of the factory workers and some of the people passing by there are among the - those who were killed or injured, and until

now, they were not able to identify how many passengers died, and how many people around were killed or injured. exact figures are about 48 people. >> 48. >> 48 are said to be killed. >> okay. >> yes. >> it sounds a verifying ordeal for people on the plane, and on the ground as well. how correct is it to point to iran's airfleet, and it being too old to safely fly? well, this plane, iran 140 was made in 1995, in a compound inside iran.

it was assembled there. due to the sanctions ukranian company did not give the iranians parts, so the iranians were forced to use refurbished motors and refurbished parts, especially electronic parts for the plane. and four of these planes fell down to now. because of the fell down of the other planes was of malfunctioning of the planes. so as the eyewitness and the news say, that one of the motors of this plan, the jet did not function well, and it was burning before the plane fell down. and the reason crash down of the

plane, may have been because of this issue. >> okay. thank you very much for taking the time to come and speak to us. >> you're welcome. >> four civilians have been killed in a suicide bombing targetting an n.a.t.o. convoy in afghanistan. the convoy was travelling on a main road in kabul. the taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. tell us more about the attack. >> that's right. that bomb - a car bomb left a crater on a busy road, a road that heads out to the parliament, has several universities on that road. the four civilians killed were a man, a woman and two children. the target of that bomb was an n.a.t.o. convoy. they travelling in very, very heavily armoured vehicles. while the car bomb stopped the dar bomb for a time, there was no n.a.t.o. casualties.

35 afghan civilians were injured in the attack. the civilians bear the brunt of attack on military targets. the united nations saying that civilian deaths, civilian casualties are up 24% over the first 6 months of last year, because of any fighting in civilian areas. that is the case today. >> thank you very much for the update from kabul. >> let's get all the weather from richard. and that typhoon that we have been reporting on in japan, it's been downgraded, hasn't it. much to the relief of people there. >> it has. in terms of the wind, it was never going to be a mainingor system. it was the rain that was the main system. it produced strong winds and a storm surge. it looks less well defined as it moves in across japan. you can see the picture.

it's a tribute, i suppose, to japan's organization, to a feature causing 1.6 million to be moved and affected. it was done with such efficiencies. one american missing. in other western countries, the effect of a storm would have been worse. rain fall is massive. 311 millimetres. toka schema 465mm. there were reports of up to a meter of rain reported. >> there is the center of the storm, making its way north into the sea of japan. moving across the cooler water and will then weaken. there are warnings for a lot of heavy rain up towards al qaeda. thunder storms and fog. rain affecting the far east of russia. you can see across japan, we'll have drier, clearer weather

coming in later on. >> thank you very much. still ahead here on this programme - this bush meat is suspected to have caused west africa's ebola outbreak. why are so many still eating it? >> i'm matt ramsay in northern spain where canoeing has just taken place.

. >> hello, i'm lawyer akyle. -- laura kyle, let's get a run

through of the top stories. three palestinians killed on sunday as the bombing of gaz acontinues. binyamin netanyahu says -- gaza continues. binyamin netanyahu says they will not return to talks until the rocket fire from gaza stops. voting under way in turkey's presidential elections. the current president, recep tayyip erdogan is the front runner to become the next president. >> 48 have been killed in a plane crash in iran. it crashed during take up from mehrabad airport in the capital tehran. in the last couple of hours the u.s. launched more air strikes in iraq, targetting fighters from the islamic state. they are said to have hit around 40km south of erbil. there has been multiple air strikes since authorised by president obama on thursday. britain joined the u.s. in airdropping humanitarian aid to

thousands stranded on a mountain. thousands fled after is fighters took control of the town of sinjar last weekend. >> france's for instance arrived in iraq to oversee french aid delivery. they are set to meet with representatives of christians and yazidi whilst visiting baghdad and erbil. tom ackerman has more. >> the pledge was to bring u.s. forces out of iraq and keep them occupant. now he's the fourth -- keep them out. now he's the fourth president to order action there, to save the yazidi from genocide, and protect u.s. personnel in kurdish iraq from the is group. asked whether he underestimated the is fighters, president obama said... >> there's no doubt their advance, movement, over the last several months has been more

rapid than the intelligence estimates, and i think the expectations of policy makers in and outside of iraq. >> his administration has been accused of ignoring warnings about the islamic stade group since it appeared in syria. >> then we watched it going from city to city across iraq, without it being hit across the air with drones. >> the administration says the initial iraqi requests came in late may, before the islamic state captured mosul. since then president obama held back from responding to plead for more aid. president obama blamed his government for inflaming sunni opposition and allowing the army to become a corrupt and unreliable combat force. >> i don't blame the president. i think we need a different government in baghdad to make it

a realistic opposition. >> to escalate a response to the is, the u.s. would have to abide by what president obama set out as his rules. >> taking strikes only when we face an imminent threat, and where there's no certaintiesy - there's near certainty of no civilian casualties. for our actions should meet a simply test. we must not create more enemies than we take off the battlefield. the humanitarian rational for the air strakes met the standard. the president obama administration has not laid out a timetable for action. in congress and public opinion, president obama will be facing further resistance if he decides to deepen american military involvement in iraq. for more on the top story, israel's air strikes on gas yes. families of the -- gaza, and

families of the disabled and elderly across the gaza strip are worried their loved ones will die without proper treatment. patients have been evacuated from some hospitals to escape the attacks. many are in hospitals or shelters not equipped to provide specialist care that they need. >> they transferred him from hospital. they know that the wafa hospital was the only one in the gaza strip to deal with these cases. there was a machine that cunt exist in the center. >> we are giving them physical therapies. we have lost all other therapies, bringing the equipment back from lobing ol organizations now, we are not giving our patients the proper medical rehab. >> over the past now weeks there has been pressure on the

palestinian authority to join the i.c.c. to file war crime charges against israel. foreign ministers say they are willing to do so and they have clear evidence of the war climbs in the gaza strip. the i.c.c. has headquarters in the hague, which is set up to prosecute individuals for genocide and crimes against humanity. it exercises jurisdiction when national courts are unwilling to investigate or prosecute such trials. hamas and palestinian jihad has been asked to sign the accession document before its presented. iranian officials believe hamas and the palestinian authority would be implicated. they predict mahmoud abbas may not take up the issue with the i.c.c. let's talk to ben white, the author of two books on the

israeli-palestine conflict and joins us from cambridge. if we look at the case of the i.c.c., how likely is it that the palestinian authorities will file a war-time charge against israel. >> i think the main problem to date in terms of palestinian authority reluctance to take the step needs to be seen as a whole. it's clear that anything this that direction would be seen as endangering negotiations. that process has been dead in the water for some time now and therefore it might be that the palestinian authority despiteses that ultimately those sorts of threats don't carry as much weight as they used to. >> does it have to come from the palestinian authority. there are plenty of other nations had the world who

suggest that israel may have committed war crimes during this conflict. >> i mean, it's possible for his rail to face allegations or -- for israel to face documentation, as seen with the u.n. human rights possession, and we'll potentially see an inquiry take place this time around. when it comes to the i.c.c., it will require the palestinian authority to accede to their own treaty to move things forward. >> looking at what is happening in cairo, it's not looking good. the israeli prime minister binyamin netanyahu says israel will not return while the palestinians fire rockets. they say you couldn't impose conditions. we reached a stalemate here. >> i think from where things stand, we have a serious problem for ending the horrific violence. last five weeks or so. binyamin netanyahu, today, declared israel's provision is not finished, saying that the

goal was to restore quiet, bring long-term quiet to israel. at the same time he's said that israel will not negotiate under fire. that historical record shows the bet way for his rail to achieve that quiet is through negotiations for a long-term truce. now, from the palestinian side, the central demand from hamas is the end of the blockade, remembering that that blockade has been in place for a number of years, that israel implemented it not with regard to rocket, but a politically motivated tool of punishment. lifting it should not be seen as a concession, but a demand that has been urged for a number of years echo said by human rights organisationing and unra demanded an end to the blockade. there seems to be a block in terms of making progress.

while it exists, israel continues to kill palestinians. >> if there is to be a break at some point, where do you think it will come from. >> i think it will come from diplomatic pressure from allies to lift the restrictions on the movement. we can see over the years that israel does not respect international law, and does not make the moves without a form of pressure. without that being applied, i can see that it's unrealistic to assume that israel will choose to do it itself. >> thank you for speaking to us. thank you for joining us from cambridge. let's bring you to the presidential elections held in turkey. the front runner is the prime

minister recep tayyip erdogan. who wants to change the largely ceremonial post of the president into a more assertive one. the current president, abdullah gul is the head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces. he has the power to appoint a prime minister from within the general assembly. they want a president that weights and runs around. we are joined by a professor of political science. >> let's assume that recep tayyip erdogan wins the vote outrite inin the first round. will he be able to expand his powers. what will he be able to do. >> i did not hear the last part of your question. >> will he be able to expand his powers as president. how will he do that? >> actually, the prime minister,

if elected president, plans to expand the powers of the presidency not by making legal changes, but by interpreting the constitution in a way that seems suitable. this would be, essentially, expanding powers by misterms. obviously -- misinterpretation. obviously it will cause conflict with branches of government as regards what powers he has. the counter constitution, the powers of the president is mainly symbolic. >> a lot of people have been critical of this participation move, suggesting he's acting like the russian vladimir putin, in a power grab. if he wins the presidency, what is crucial is who he puts into the post of prime minister. do you think he'll have a big hand in that?

>> well, this is an interesting question. and there's an intricate process in this, because after the presidential election is completed, he doesn't take over until about a week later. and during this incident the current outgoing president has the power to appoint a prime minister. this is a matter of how actually the current president and the current prime minister, mr recep tayyip erdogan, will reach an arrangement. it is quite conceivable that the temporary person will be someone among the cabinet. but as soon as the new president takes office, he will reappoint a new cabinet, and this new cabinet is likely to be comprised of ministers, and a prime minister who are quite amenable to cooperating closely

with the newly elected president. we have some president in our history for -- precedent in our history for that. >> there are a lot of people in turkey who are very opposed to what is perceived has his growing authoritarianism. why hasn't that opposition been able to unite to become a force at the ballot box. >> actually, the opposition has achieved something that it has never achieved before, the two major opposition parties agreed on a compromise candidate, and this may be the beginning of further cooperation to restrain the - what you term as the four grap of the incoming president -- power grab of the incoming president if recep tayyip erdogan is reelected. the problem is that the opposition so far has not been able to penetrate enough large

number of voters that the power grab is problematical outcome. >> great to speak to you. thank you for joining us from istanbul. the libyan president apologised to heath workers for a high death toll amongst them from the ebola virus. angry health workers demanded more pay and better conditions at a meeting in the capital. she pledged up to 18 million to tackle ebola. >> if we have not done enough, i have come here to apologise for that. we don't have another ambulance, it's not something you can go into a store and buy off a shelf. you have to order it and it has to come. just to make up the announce, taking pick ups to build different bodies, to turn them

into makeshift ambulances to respond to the need. the world health organisation says clinical trials of vaccines for ebola may begin next month. it's killed nearly 1,000 people in four west african countries in december. despite repeated warnings some are still eating animals expected of carrying the virus. we have this report. >> reporter: this woman has been selling game meat for 30 years. she runs this makeshift restaurant outside lagos, nigeria's commercial capital, on the mep u is monkey and antelope. she prepares the meat for customers that may not come. >> still come, everybody buy. >> bush meat is suspected to be the bridge that caused the deadly disease to go from the animal world to the human one.

all it takes is a single transmission from animal to human, caused by handling fresh carcasses. west africans say game meat if the food of their ancestors, and have been consuming it for as long as anyone remembers. at times like this when authorities are discourtrooming its con -- discouraging its consumes, it can be found at almost every street corner. >> the chairman of the national association of hunters is livid. >> lie. it's a lie. >> if you don't want bush meat, you don't eat it. they cannot say we cannot eat it. they cannot tell the public not to be eating it. for now it's the brave consumers who demand for it. for them, abandoning the

tradition is out of question. >> i continue to eat bush meat, and i will continue. i like it. i have been enjoying it. and i wish to do so. >> reporter: poor knowledge and superstation in rural communities, poor health care happen to increase the spread of ebola. a refusal by some to believe that bush meat is safe and undue process made in carving the disease. now, contemporary dance in south africa has been dominated by the rich. the race horse of apartheid prevented black south africans from taking part. things have changed, with ballet making an appearance in poor neighbourhoodsment this report from johannesburg -- neighbourhoods. this report from johannesburg. >> reporter: russian dancers

drink an international flare to the south african enthuse yast. it's a treat for young people watching the performance. most come from poor neighbour hoods where poverty and violent crime is everywhere. they are transport into pirouettes, style, grace and beauty. >> i love teaching and choreography. that's the best part, seeing what you have done. it's lovely. >> reporter: the children practice afterschool. lessons are free. they start with the bakeses. >> getting it right is painful. they enjoy the discomfort. >> i want to dance and be a ballet girl. >> today there is a treat. a lesson from russian choreographer he wants them to learn about team work, discipline and focus and encourage the dream of becoming

great dancers. >> i hope that they will be happy. i hope our show will make them like ballet. i hope our show makes them love ballet, and they start to work hard or work with the soul. >> reporter: ballet in south africa is predominantly white. partly because the lesson are expensive. there are a few black dancers. these children hope to one day challenge that. let's get all the sport now, and here is farah. >> we start with golf, and rory mcilroy looks to be on course to win the u.s. pga examplionship. he -- championship. he is heading for back to back wins, birdieing the last three of four goals leading 13-under

par, one clear of bernard invite burger. >> the guys were close to me at the open championship, close to me again, and i was able to respond on the back nine. it's not the biggest lead i had, but i'm still in control of the golf tournament. it's a great position. golf was condemned as a bourgeois pastime by china's leaders, but the elite are taking up the game in record numbers >> reporter: it could boast about the world's best golf resort, and there are more to come. china likes its golf. there are more young people playing and it's becoming more popular since becoming an olympic sport. >> translation: weekends are busy on the course. weekdays

people are playing. >> reporter: growing at 10% a year, it's estimated china is a country of one million golfers. given the population, it's huge participation for growth, especially when it's easy. >> making it look ease your and without cheating are younger players, with parents able to afford summer coaching camps like this one. >> we'll see around 1,000 throughout the next two months. and i've watched 10 different countries and never seep them with golf like this. >> once condemned as an elitist sport, membership is highly priced by china's upper class. >> a 10-year-old ban pan new course construction to protect the environment has been largely ignored and the industry has boomed. development has been patchy with a number of failed project as evidence.

parts of china are facing an oversupply. resort developers believe in a vision of china as a golfing superpower. >> the opportunities for cost development in the country is limitless, with 1.1 billion. all it takes is 3" of the population it play. 40 million plus golfers. which is the world's biggest golfing country. >> with so many players, courses like this are probably already hosting future clippees champions. football now, and the first bit of silver ware of the english football season is up. premier league champions manchester city take on arsenal at wem bli for the community shield. arson wenger's men go in.

over the summer alex has been signed, and they are hungry for more success. >> i think the players see it as a trophy. i think it will be sold out. i'm asking, that's what i mean. it will be a massive gain. it's friendly on one side. i think in the city there's another time to get a trophy. >> that will not be lining for arsenal. barcelona have signed a belgium defender for $25 million. the 28-year-old dropped down the arsenal pecking order and was limited to 21 purposes last season. he has signed 5-year deal with the catalan giants. >> tennis - two-time winner roger federer reaches the fiment of the rogers -- final of the

rogers cup. the 17-time grand slam champion was in great tomorrow, taking control, dispatching a spaniard 8-6, 6-4, 6-4 and will place joe tsonga. >> maybe i'm the favourite, each though tsonga had a great tournament. it will never be easy in any time. i'll give it everything i have, one more match, and i can prest for a day. not bad. something too look forward to. >> having already beaten a pair of champions in novak djokovic, and andy murray, the world number sa finishes off the challenge in under an hour and a half in his semifinal, taking the match in straight sets. 6-4, 6-3. >> in the whim 'ems, vms --

women's venus williams is through to the time, beating serena williams in three sets. veep us ranked 36 -- venus ranked 26 in the world broke the world number one in the final, wrapping up the match 6-7, 6-2, 6-3. it's the first victory against serena williams in five years. ery year compete -- every year competitors from all over the world descend op spain for canoe racing. the race dates back to 1929, and this year's event attracted 200,000 spectators. matt ramsay has more. >> reporter: what you are about to witness seems like sporting madness. it's one of cap suing's biggest, oldest and whackiest races. over 900 competitors sprinting to their can use, and fighting their way into 50 square metres

of water. it's chaotic. so very different from when the race began back in 1929. >> if this race was a funny experience for friends who stop for if, for enjoy. but they moved the competition even. probably they lose the original idea of fun ci celebration. >> this the 78th event attracted competitors from 16 different countries. >> we heard all about it. we couldn't miss it. we heard that it's a nice race, and very famous in spain. >> we heard that it's one of the most prestigious races compared to any other. so we thought we better experience it for ourselves. >> a remarkable 200,000 speck

fators dress up and descend upon the little town. every year many model giant heads. there's legend and meaning to the madness on and off the river. it's a celebration of mithiccal water creatures. giants and kings. they were said to protect local crops. the river and kayakers. the festival party that follows the race down river is a costumed bonanza. the course is a 20km haul to the northern spanish coast. two local men won the race in a dramatic finish. greg low and andy birkett claimed the third spot. >> you have to get in your boat and with your partner and not fall out. from there it's - yes, see if you can outlast the other boat. whether you are a man in a barrel, a professional canoeist or like messing about on or in

the water, they say a river race attracts an annual host of pilgrims. >> pakistan's team are in trouble on day five of the first set against sri lanka. >> sri lanka's target for victory is 99 of a minimum of 20 overs. they started. a win would put them 1-0 up in a 2-match series. >> more on the website. check out aljazeera.com/sport. there's details on how to get in touch with the team. there's blocks, and video clips from our correspondents around the world. >> that's all the sport from me. more later on. thank you very much indeed that it from me and the newshour team for the moment. stay with us here on al jazeera. plenty more news for you still ahead.

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on aljazeera america israel resumes bombardment of gaza with talks in cairo on the verbal of collapse. hello, you're watching al jazeera live from doha. also coming up on the programme - more u.s. air strikes in iraq. president obama warns the fight against the islamic state group may be a long one. turks go to the polls for a first chance to directly choose a new president. and this bush meat is suspected to have caused