. >> pass >> announcer: in is al jazeera. it's good to have your company for the al jaseera newshour. i'm david foster, and this is something of what we have coming up in the next 60 minutes. >> russia is attacking ukraine. >> the head of n.a.t.o. calls it the most important summit since the end of the cold war. >> president obama heading the list of about 20 world leaders attending this summit. i bring you all the latest. >> we'll follow them to the

gates of hell, until they are brought to justice. >> the united nations will build a coalition to join the islamic state group for the killing of a second american journalist. >> the head of al qaeda announcing an expansion of his group in the indian subcontinent. >> bad news for chocolate lovers. a hazelnut crop has been devastating. we'll tell you what it means. it is, many say, the most important n.a.t.o. summit since the end of the cold war, the world's most powerful military alliance made up of 28 western nations. among them nuclear powers, the united states, britain, france - all meeting in wales. ukraine will dominate the opening day, a war in n.a.t.o.'s backyard involves the old foe

russia. vladimir putin has not been invited, but petro porashenko is there. we have reporters at the summit in eastern ukraine, reaction from moscow. let's start with the diplomatic editor james bays at the summit in wales. the head of n.a.t.o. setting the tone. >> absolutely. there has been talk of possible peace, a ceasefire. when they speak to n.a.t.o. officials, what matters is the facts on the ground. there are thousands of troops on the ukranian border, fighting and pushing back ukranian government forces. there are many of the n.a.t.o. allies in the east, close to russia, direct neighbours of russia worried about their open security. that is why -- their own security. that is why we had these tough words from the n.a.t.o. secretary-general. >> n.a.t.o. summit here in wales will be one of the most

important summits in the history of our alliance. a crucial summit at a crucial time. we are faced with a dramatically changed security environment. to the east russia is attacking ukraine. >> we'll be back with james in wales in just a little while, to talk about other items on the n.a.t.o. agenda. now to paul brennan, live in donetsk. two things i would like to tackle here, paul. what the general feeling is about any possible moves towards peace, and the battle fronds themselves. >> well, the battle fronts appear to be sporadic, and has the hallmarks of something of an intractable conflict, almost a frozen conflict. for the last couple of days, the briefings given by the ministry of defense in kiev speak of 22 contacts in 11 different

locations. that was yesterday's bulletin. today's is ongoing. we are awaiting details from kiev. we don't have them yet. that conflict, if you like, is small patrols meeting other patrols, and having a gun battle and withdrawing. the phase of the conflict where we see major battles between large forces waged against large ukrainian forces is not happening any more. the ukrainians appear to have withdrawn, and the separatists are controlling large tracts of this region. we are hearing from another al jazeera team in the south. they have seen battle tanks near the city of mariupol. it's clear the russians are not pulling back forces in any numbers, and in the midst of all of this you have the economic impact. the i.m.f. warns if the conflict goes on, ukraine could have problems securing its next tranche of the bailout given in march, and the cost to the

civilians. it's the civilians that we have been talking to in tonne esq do- donetsk. >> reporter: the shell which crashed into this apartment made a hole that will not be easily mended. as a child she survived the ukranian famine after world war ii. in her frailest years, she is enduring hardship again. >> i survived that. it is painful. we started to live well, and they started killing us. >> reporter: donetsk is a shadow of its former self. the northern districts bearing scars of shelling and mortar attacks taking place over recent weeks. a ceasefire would be welcome. the distant sound of gunfire and explosions is far from being a reality on the ground. it appears that the ukranian president announced an end to

the conference, a snap truce. that was until the kremlin denied the news, all of which left civilians in donetsk feeling the same as they had before. >> translation: yep, we heard about the ceasefire idea. they craved the explosions everywhere. we were in the bus, they came out and shelling started. >> the russian president blamed by the west for stoking the conflict says he does have a plan, containing seven proposals, most looking similar to the 14-point peace plan that the ukranian president put to pro-russian fighters. the russian leader wants ukranian forces not just to stop operations but to withdraw around the big cities. >> translation: the warring parties should agree on and implement the following. firstly, to end the offensive operations by the armed forces, to pull back the ukranian army

and not shell populated areas, ensure international observers monitor the ceasefire, and ensure combat aircraft are not used against civilians in the conflict zone. separatist leaders claim not to have seen the plan, but were in agreement with its proposals. >> translation: let them go away and stop bothering us. we didn't bother them. did they want us to come to kiev and start shelling. i repeat once more. leave them in peace, go away. >> the coming days is critically important. ukraine's troubles are top of the agenda. the contract group representing kiev, moscow and the separatists meet again in kiev. on the same day the e.u. will decide whether to hit russia with more sanctions.

>> paul brennan there, as we said. and peter sharp in moscow. the meeting in minsk. give us the general take on moscow's interpretation of what is happening elsewhere? >> well, in the last hour we have had a severe serious warning from sergey lavrov, russia's foreign minister, warning n.a.t.o. not to offer ukraine a membership of the alliance. he said this is totally unacceptable, derailing any possible peace plans. you must really understand, david, that the whole idea of ukraine joining n.a.t.o. has been unacceptable to moscow, right from the start of the negotiations. it is simply the most important condition of bringing an end to this conflict. it's that non-aligned status of ukraine. and a dire warning from lavrov,

that n.a.t.o. should not go anywhere near this. he said, though, that rush awould be offering practical help in trying to find a political solution. a contact group meeting in minsk on friday. that is the only show in town. it has the russians, the ukrainians and the rebel leaders. that is crucial. vladimir putin is pretty optimistic that something about come of this. he organises, as we know, a 7-point plan yesterday, on thursday, basically looking at withdrawal of forces, humanitarian corridors. a 7-point plan which he hopes will get people on board. n.a.t.o., a membership for ukraine is going nowhere with the russians. >> thank you.

let's go back to james bays, our diplomatic editor, who is at the n.a.t.o. meeting. let's move ukraine to one side at the moment and get you to discuss the other matters, pressing matters, all of them. that are concerning those there at the n.a.t.o. summit. >> it is such a busy agenda. there are so many crisis taking police smult an yously around the -- simultaneously around the world. on the formal meeting, there's a disputed election in afghanistan, and what role the u.s. and n.a.t.o. will play. discussions about other conflicts in the world, in the middle east, places like libya and iraq and syria, and the threat of the islamic state group. it can be high up on the agenda. remember you have the n.a.t.o. leaders, the foreign ministers, defence ministers and lots of

meeting with partner countries. 60 world leaders, and on the meeting about the situation in the middle east, we know that king abdullah from jordan is here, the turks - they are a member of the n.a.t.o. - they are crucial, and president obama will meet those two leaders to take about the situation with is. >> thank you, james bays, in wales. afghanistan is on the list. it is the alliances largest ever mission, and n.a.t.o. wants to hand over responsibility for security to afghan forces by the end of this year. are the afghans ready. jennifer glasse reports. >> reporter: every day in eastern afghanistan these soldiers hone their shooting skills. they are on constant alert and with good reason. not far away this base was attacked a month ago, and the forces say almost overrun by 300 taliban fighters trying to

surround and capture the 16 afghan soldiers manning it. >> a taliban fighter armed with a rocket-propelled grenade was over there. another soldier and i were sleeping in here. they hit us, tried to attack, but we opened fire. >> this is the kumar valley, where the mountainous terrain works in favour of the taliban fighters. it was easier when there was n.a.t.o. planes overhead. >> if we had air cover, not one of the enemy would be alive. they didn't run away or go far. people called us to tell us the taliban was around. >> the local commander learnt that the taliban is trying to take over a major road. this artillery is not enough to hold back a resurgent taliban. the best the forces can hope for is to keep the roads open. they don't have another

surveillance to help them. locals say it is not working, taliban control 90% of the district. >> the government is only on the paved roads, cities and towns. the rest of the area is controlled by the taliban. >> reporter: afghan forces face other challenges. the food budget has been cut in half to $2 a day per soldier. not enough food or spare parts for the vehicles and most cars riddled by bullet holes. morale among the men is high. it's a steady job in afghanistan, they are proud to serve their country. they know they need more than patriotism to hold back an enemy. >> joining us live, whatever the future for the me, they will have their hands full. the attacks keep on coming. >> the pressure the security forces are under - 17 were

killed in ghazni. 19 taliban attackers launched an attack on two government installations, starting with two massive car bombs, along with 17 members of the police and intelligence forces. one civilian was killed, and 130 people injured in the attack. the fighting went on for more than three hours until the taliban attackers were killed. a sense of what a brutal fighting summer this has been for afghanistan's 350,000 security forces across the country. the taliban have not only lunched the attacks we saw in ghazni, but a similar one in jalalabad, and more traditional fighting in the south, in helmand province, that is going on for many months. we know the security forces took heavy casualties. those security forces will need nato help, past the end of the mission finishing at the end of this year. it will go on to a new mission

called resolute support, where n.a.t.o. members train to assist the afghan security forces. the united states plans to keep 9,800 forces in the country through 2016. none of that can happen without a political deal, in addition to the security crisis. there's a political crisis. the two candidates for afghan presidents have not come to a political agreement, and the 8 million votes in the second round of presidential elections are being reviewed to figure out who won the election. a political stalemate, a security stalemate, and hope that a new afghan president would be at the n.a.t.o. summit. that has not happened. we are not sure when there'll be a president in afghanistan. >> thank you. reporting from kaboom. >> the al qaeda leader -- kabul. the al qaeda leader has plans to expand his group's network in

the indian subcontinent, wanting to expand to india, meehan mar and bangladesh. >> translation: my muslim brothers everywhere, peace be with you. i announce to all muslims in the world, the founding of a new branch. this is a raise the flag of jihad and return to islamic rule, which was part of the land of the muslim until the ipp fiddle took over it. >> ayman al zawahiri founded the islamic jihad and went to afghanistan to resist soviet union's occupation. this is where he met osama bin laden the the two joining forces and tops the most wanted terrorist list, and the fbi offering $25 million. he was indicted for his role in

the bombings of embassies in tanzania and kenya, and is believed to be hiding in tribal areas bordering afghanistan and pakistan. based at the australian india institute, it was suggested that al qaeda would find it difficult to radicalize muslims. >> muslims in india faced communal violence for some time. there has been incidents, small incidents in the past what i would say - since independence. the indian muslims have not been radicalized as have the muslims in pakistan or the arab world. the indian muslims are a category suy generous in some ways, and that's why you never find an indian muslim in guantanamo bay in 2001, when the united states army made war in afghanistan. so i would say that the effort

to radicalise muslims - there have been efforts in the past. they have not been successful. and there's 175 million indian muslims. in comparison to that, you see very few traces of radicalism of that kind. >> coming up on the newshour, the battle for tikrit. iraqi government forces fighting to retake the strategic important down from islamic state fighters. we'll take a look at this one, mozambique's opposition leader expected to come out of hiding. we are live in la put u. and rivalry renewed at the us open. we'll tell you who booked a place in the semifinals later on in this. iraqi forces are said now to be pushing towards the

strategically important city of tikrit. troops trying to retake the city, coming at it from three times. it's the home town of former leader saddam hussein, and captured by islamic state fighters in june. iraqi forces facing resistance. these pictures taken on tuesday. sunni rebels claim it's the aftermath of an attack on government soldiers. some members of the shia community is promising brutal revenge against the islamic state group. >> translation: we will march towards tikrit and seek revenge. no country or army will stop us. revenge, i say. we will seek revenge with the sunni tribes. i said revenge. blood has been killed. why did they kill them? why did they work the attitudes. by god, we'll wipe tick rate from the face of the earth. we were hoping to go to john

hendren later. we'll have to wait, our line to him has gone down. we'll stay with the story about the islamic state group and the u.s. vice president. joining president obama, condemning the group for killing a second american journalist. steven sotloff was kidnapped in syria last year. wednesday it was confirmed the pictures showing his death are real. >> as a nation we are united, and when people harm americans, we don't retreat. we don't forget. we take care of those who are grieving, and when that is finished, they should know we will follow them to the gates of hell. until they are brought to justice. because he'll is where they will reside. the pressure coming at president obama not just from opposition republicans, now also from his own party ramping up, they hope, the fight against the islamic state group. let's join white house correspondent patty culhane, as she takes a look at the debate

in the united states about this. >> on the broadcast... >> reporter: american airwaves have been focussed on one thing. >> growing threats by i.s.i.s. >> take quick action... >> reporter: they have asked many questions of the obama administration. >> will you have a full strategy on i.s.i.s. >> reporter: you would be hard pressed to find anyone questioning the claims. >> boots operating in syria question our people. left unchecked they'll seek to carry out attacks closer to home. >> the argument americans are fighting with the islamic state group, and years from now they could pose a threat to the u.s. homeland, evidence enough for politicians from both parties to demand the president take additional steps. >> he's cautious. maybe in this instance, two cautious. >> we ought to bomb them back to the stone age.

>> we have to stop them, not stop, destroy. >> critics have seen this before and call it dangerous. >> we see an either or play-out. either we escalate, we start being more aggressive in the posture or we are indecisive, projecting weakness. instead what we need is credible journalists to ask the questions what comes after the bombs start dropping. >> the coverage is impacting the agreement. with growing support and criticism that the president is not showing strength. it's shifted dramatically on wednesday. >> our objective is clear. that is to degrade and destroy i.s.i.s., not only to iraq, but the region and the united states. >> one former general had a

suggestion on how to accomplish that in addition. >> if you put two brigades, they would push i.s.i.s. back in an heart beat. john hendren, live, i'm glad to say, in the iraqi northern city. the military me in the u.s. say two brigades pushed islamic state back into syria in a heart beat. they are not there. what is happening, who is doing it around tikrit. >> right now the push back is done largely by iraqi forces, centered around the city of tikrit. as you mentioned they are attacking from three sides, the east, west and south. they'd like to attack from the north. there's a well-mined path between that and the city of tikrit. what we have heard is that there are iraqi forces according to the iraqi government inside

tikrit, but it's a big city that does not mean in the center. it sounds like there has been a significant amount of push back, as part of the operation, trying to push the islamic state fighters southward. they are still in a stronghold a little further north, in the city of mosul. that is where leaflets have been groped. it is speculated that might be by american forces telling people to get out of town, which is usually what happens before air strikes and a ground campaign occurs. we don't know if that's iraqi, american air force or a combination. two, there is come warning of an impending operation in mosul after the operation in tikrit. it's unlikely they'll go on. the focus is on tikrit. >> the fact that they are dropping the leaflets highlights the difficulty in densely

populate areas of attacks from the air. >> that's right, a lot of air force people like to make it sound that the war, the battles can be fought from the air. we know from history that is not the case. the air strikes are good at softening targets around the town. when it comes to taking a city like tikrit, we can look to examples like the two american battles in fallujah. they use air strikes, but there are numbers of ground forces. they had to come in and clear house by house with troops on the ground. that makes for a bloody confrontation. this would be done not by american forces, but iraqi forces, who have an uneven reputation. this could be bloody, and you tend to have sectarian confrontations, as you heard in the quote earlier that you played. some of the people going in will be shi'ite organizations.

they'll be upset about the 700 or so people that we are hold have been killed. there's aerial evidence of massive killings by the islamic state people. this could be a bloody confrontation going in, and affidavits as well with the participation for sectarian violence. >> helped rounding up the coverage of event, and the consequences of what is happening in iraq. >> time now to take a little bit of a deep breath, a pause in the newshour. everton fox is here with the weather. >> we have seen heavy rain across a good part of south asia. we talked about the flooding rain across india. taking a look to the south-east. 59mm of rain in chennai, in 24 hours. big downpours. plenty of cloud on the satellite picture. look up towards the north-west. rajasthan, a big lump of cloud. more rainfall coming down here

over the last 24 hours. joked pure 156km. north of the border into lahore, a whopping 169mm of rain in 24 hours. that has caused widespread flooding, causing problems as we go through the coming days. it stays wet as we go through friday. look at the rain across the far north-west of india into the north-west corner of pakistan. really heavy downpours, and it extends down a good part of the western gap. we could see flooding problems here. on the other side of the country, up to the north-east. more downpours here. no great improvement as far as that is concerned. we should see something of improvement for the eastern side of pakistan as the race starts to drift. the rain is there, they'll ease off a touch. soon to become drier and

brighter. across india, plenty of rain. no sign of rain as one expect as the arabian peninsula. we are looking at hot sunshine, temperatures in abu dhabi at 41. in doha, temperatures at around 41. humid here, but as we head to the weekend, it should turn a little drier. >> it will, it will get humid next week according to the weather forecast. a small respite. survey with us - on the newshour we report from mali, and the hardships. a special report on that. plus... gungun..bringing the house down in more ways than one. a roof collapses at a badminton event in vietnam. we see that and the sport itself in about 20 minutes.

you're watching the al jaseera newshour with me, david foster. n.a.t.o. leaders meeting in wales to bolster support for the ukranian government. the u.s. president obama and 27 other allies will discuss how to tackle the islamic state in iraq and syria. iraqi forces pushing towards the strategically important city of tikrit. they are said to be facing resistance. amateur pictures apparently

taken near tikrit on tuesday, and sunni rebels claiming it's the aftermath of an attack on government soldiers. >> the al qaeda leader ayman al zawahiri announced plans to expand the group's network in the indian subcontint. in a 55 minute video he said he wants to expand islamic rule in india. more on that in a moment. before that mozambique's leader is expected to come out of hiding soon. to campaign in elections. escape to the center gosa mountains in 2013, after accusing the governments to renege on deals in a peace deal. we are waiting for that. tania page is at the airport. this is a man around, and civil war battles for a long time. he was fright epd and went into

hiding. why is he thinking it's okay to come out? >> well, he now thinks it's okay to come out because there's a ceasefire peace deal in place. he cancelled it two years ago, claiming the government reneged on its government. he's coming in the next few hours to ratify that agreement, stin it with the president, tomorrow on friday. he's coming out the hiding, great by joy among his supporters in the north. where he should hold a rally, before coming here, where it is the main rival's stronghold, coming into enemy territory, but coming in, he believes, in a position of strength, having forced the government to meet him on key demands. >> even though he's run for the president, support appeared to be falling the last time there was a vote. i'm wondering how home

mozambique politics is there. >> if anyone can make inroads to it, you could argue it is him. however, he has lost every presidential election since the end of the civil war, and he's coming out of hiding to campaign for the presidency again on october 15th. he can argue that he's managed to get the government led and get them to meet some of their key demands, they have not been doing very well in the polls, and some polls suggest that a third place could - currently held by the n g.m. could bump him out of the main opposition position. he will be seeking alfonso to make the most of the reappearance into public. they'll want to project the image of a winner, ahead of a

presidential poll. it's guaranteed that they say thank you. by the international community offering him protection. >> the african union says it will have an emergency meeting to talk about a confident-wide strategy to deal with the outbreak of ebola in west africa. more than 9,900 people are said to have died. 500 in the last week alone. the workings said about 60 people in the oil hub are at high risk of infection after an infected doctor kept on treating patients. the united nations says 600 million of supplies are needed to fight the spread of disease. most cases are reported in nigeria, liberia, guinea, but

there are other cases. it's a year since mali got new patients. fighting caused people to flee next door to niger. we have this report. conditions for those at this makeshift refugee camps are bad. >> these are the latest victims of arrest in northern mali. they have been received in this area by the u.n. and niger authorities. some of these people worked for days to reach niger. >> we have no means of transportation except a donkey, on which we mounted the children. my husband was driving it, that was 10 days ago. >> reporter: recent fighting in northern mali on one hand. and the troops on the other, caused thousands to flee. what forced us to come was the absence of security in our country. there's no safe haven anywhere

in mann ebbinga. rebel groups are there, they can't prevent anything happening. >> reporter: the u.n. has been hosting 13,000 mali refugees in northern niger. the number is on the rise. during the rainy season, the most difficult time of year for interventions. >> these are the refugees arriving. these are the latest arrivals. two weeks ago we this 3,000 refugees from mali. they were fleeing fighting between armed groups, with absence from the state. the number of people is a strain on our resources. we didn't have contingency plans for them. >> what the u.n. is doing doesn't seem to have responses. >> there are essential items that we have never seen here, such as milk for children,

clothes and shoes for the poor, and tents that are crucial in the rain. we need a speedier process of registration for the new arrivals. >> some of those concerns were put to the local authorities which are unable to do much about the situation. >> the governments alert, join with us to take care of all this refugee people population. really, we need more means. >> most of the recent refugees are tuareg, a community which straddles the border between mali and niger. they face discrimination in both countries. well, we said earlier in the newshour we would exam the al qaeda leader's plans to expand his network into the indian subcontinent. ayman al zawahiri conveyed a

subtle but powerful message to the islamic state group, rejecting its assertion that it is the new force for global jihad. we look at the contest between is and al qaeda. >> reporter: since mid-2013, the islamic state group enjoyed a dizzying rise to power. winning huge swathes of territory, and thousands of new recruits. and leaving al qaeda to stand in the shadow of its success. so in june, when the i.s.i.s. group declared itself a calafat, and asserted domminion over muslims around the world, all eyes were on the head of al qaeda, ayman al zawahiri, to she how he would react. he remained -- to see how he would react. he remained silent until now. his 55 minute statement put al qaeda back into the context. representing the islamic state group's assertion of soup rem

si. >> translation: i announce to all muslims in the world and the indian subcontinent, the founding of a new branch of jihad, to help raise the flag and return to the rule. it used to be the land of the muslims, until the infidel took it away. >> al qaeda's ageing leadership struggled to compete as the islamic state group gained momentum. in 2013 the group was known as i.s.i.l., the islamic state of iraq and levant. it fell out with al qaeda, fighters accused of assassinating al qaeda's envoy in syria. the acquisition of assets and swathes of territory in iraq and syria made it one of the wealthiest groups of its kind, and made effective use of media and public events to generate widespread fear. public execution, particularly beheadings are the signature technique. that success and display of power seemingly with empunity

enticed thousands of new recruits in a way that al qaeda's leadership has not. the declaration of a calafat in june included a demand that muslims swear allegiance to the leader abu bakr al-baghdadi. it didn't garnish a show of support from other fighting groups. and in his statement ayman al zawahiri went a step further - renewing a long-standing vow of loyalty to afghan leader mullah omar, a man that granted safe haven to al qaeda followers in afghanistan. ayman al zawahiri indirectly addressed complaints within al qaeda over the way the is groups asserted statehood, something al qaeda never sought. ayman al zawahiri called for unity among fighters, criticising those sewing discord. and warned the al qaeda leader, bangladesh and myanmar against oppressing local people.

a dig at how the islamic state group has been operating in iraq and syria. >> ayman al zawahiri is fighting back, re asserting al qaeda and sending out a rallying call to supporters, a subtle but unmistakable rejection to the islamic state challenge to al qaeda. >> we are joined by dubai by a director at gulf research center. a reporter said al qaeda is rejecting the islamic state philosophy, or is it an attempt by al qaeda to prevent its disappearance in the wake of the islamic state? >> actually, mr ayman al zawahiri is used to them, after the emergent of the role played by the new leadership of the is, the islamic state. i think they are feeling the heat. al qaeda losing credibility.

the organizers losing credibility, finance, recruit. and argument so i think this is an attempt to revive al qaeda. we have to remember al-qaeda are, since 9/11, al qaeda organise on a regional command structure. arabian peninsula, iraqi now they have lost, and another organization controlled pakistan, afghanistan and the subcontinent. now we are talking about a new command, an indian sub command to take the responsibility from another organization. it's an attempt. >> what is it going to take for those people - you talk about islamic in the arabian peninsula. what will it take for those people, those fighters to swear their allegiance to the is cal

fate and assign al qaeda, per se, to history. >> yes, we have a new wave, actually. many of the fighters, many of the groups, small groups, which used to be attacked bit the organization, shifting and changing loyalty to the is, the islamic state. so ayman al zawahiri trying to fight back and say that al qaeda now recognise the leadership of them in afghanistan, in anticipation that taliban coming to power, after the american withdraw in 2014, at the end of this year. so he tried to basically reinforce the organization, but i think it is too late for al qaeda, to have - to wield an influence. >> that is not to say that at the moment al qaeda is not a

danger for something that security forces of its perceived enemies should disregard. they have to be aware. dangers posed by al qaeda. >> absolutely. al qaeda now - they need to basically organise a number of big attacks. possibly in the region, or outside the region, to prove they are alive, and they still active and have support and ability to conduct it. al qaeda now in a tight corner, and i think it is more dangerous than ever, because now they need the attack, they need to organise an activity to prove that the flame is not taking away from them, and they are a legitimate organization. does al qaeda have the money, because the islamic state has taken over oil fields, has raided banks in iraq, banks in syria. it seems to have got a lot of

support from a number of gulf countries, perhaps that was going to al qaeda. how capable is the group of staging speck tack u lars. >> i think they still have finance on the regional level. the branch in yemen, they don't suffer the financial problem. the north african command, again, it have some financial support. the problem is the mother organization is unable now, as used to be before, when they financed the 9/11 attack, the mother organization is unable to support the branches with finance. the finance turn to be self-financed, like the yemeni branch or the north african branch. finance is a major issue. the question of recruit. recruit - al qaeda suffering

depletion, suffering from reduced number of recruit. most of them now, the new generation belongs to the is, islamic state, not al qaeda. >> could you see a possibility of interniece in warfare against islamic state and al qaeda. abu bakr al-baghdadi, declaring himself to be the caliph of the islamic state declared all to obey them. and ayman al zawahiri is saying, "hang on, i'm the man in charge of my group." . do you think one may take on the other? >> yes, we have the scene in syria, a struggle between a group, which is recognised by al qaeda, and the is, which is a splinter group. absolutely we have a major fight, struggle, between the two branches, between the competition, which is clear, on

the syrian battlefield. the is, the islamic state is winning the fight now. and enough for now, gradually using ground, which is recognised by al qaeda as a religious movement. >> would it be counterproductive for the islamic state and abu bakr al-baghdadi and some of his followers to say, "hang on, time to get rid of al qaeda", and think the target should be someone like ayman al zawahiri. >> well, for the is, they consider al qaeda as too soft, have no determination, unactive and not representing the principle of islam, the argument is not only who control the ground or finance and recruit, it is who is controlling the legitimacy, and for the group now, i.s.i.s., the islamic state, now they think they are repeating the legitimacy of the

islamic state. and - if we look at the development now, really they are controlling the heart of the arab world. you talk about syria, iraq, and they have influence in lebanon, so they are really gaining ground on the account of traditional organization. how will they get - how will they get out from those under pressure or international pressure. we don't know. if they can survive, i think they will place al qaeda, in every part of islamic corridor. >> thank you. thank you very much indeed for the indepth analysis for two competing factions, al qaeda, and islamic state. good to have you with us. good to have you with us. we'll be back in a couple of minutes. hope you can join us then. @

good to have you with us, da david foster. you are with al jazeera news. talking about all aspects of life. we are talking hazel nuts don't be surprised if they are not in your market this year. because of a freak storm in turkey, wiping out most of the harvest. >> reporter: it's crunch time for this hazel nut farmer, his crop down 90%, a scenario

repeated across the province. at best, they'll earn $2,700 profit for 12 months work. >> translation: we need to continue and increase the government subsidies so the farmers could survive the winter. otherwise there'll be an exodus from the region, and that will have a negative impact on the local and national economy. >> much of the hazel flowers were killed off. now, with the harvest, is the scale of the loss clear. turkey's hazel nut tradegroup says the harvest has been all but wiped out. 70% of the world's hazel nuts come from the black see region. >> it's hard vest time. there's no crop. few hazel nuts mean a jar like this could be expensive.

hazel nut trades is paying $2 a kilo. it's not much, because the price is set at the hazelnut exchange in germany, where turkish producers have little influence over multinational organizations. >> translation: today companies fining ferrero -- like ferrero or nestle by the hazel nuts at the price they want. we are the last to be considered. >> traditionally labourers travel from turkey to earn $17 a dale gathering the hazelnut. they'll rely on next year's harvest to pay debts. everyone is scratching for a living. if you stayed with us since the beginning of the programme, you'll know that our main story happens to be the n.a.t.o.

summit taking place in wales. we have seen the ukranian president petro porashenko - he's been invited to come along and have a chat with the leaders of the n.a.t.o. countries. angela merkel, president obama, david cameron, petro porashenko, second from the left, out of the camera shot there. he has been briefing the leaders on the situation in his country. he had a phone call, petro porashenko, saying that he spoke to russian president vladimir putin, and there's to be a meeting of russia and monitoring group - crisis group - in belarus tomorrow. let's go to james bay or diplomatic correspondent, who can fill us in - diplomatic editor, beg your pardon, fill us in on the scent of importance, and what petro porashenko may have been saying to the leaders and what he sees. >> arguably these are the most

important nations in n.a.t.o., and among the original n.a.t.o. nations. this is an informal meeting before the summit takes place. president obama, david cameron, prime minister renzy of italy, and president francis hollande of france at the meeting. they are trying at this meeting to come up with some sort of, in smaller groups, a larger participation of all the n.a.t.o. members which will take place later on. there's 21 members, a large it alliance, particularly from the east, those concerned about security in russia. this was an opening meeting before the summit was taking place. at that meeting, we are told, started 45 minutes ago. the formal summit will start 10 minutes ago. i think that pre-meeting with

the important leaders, with president obama there, president petro porashenko, and the others may be overrunning a bit. that is why the formal ceremony that starts. the actual summit has been delayed. >> russia has been making noise, not only saying ukraine should never have come within sniffing distance of membership of n.a.t.o., but saying let's give peace a bit of a chance and see restraint from the ukranian troops and the pro-russian separatists. why is the secretary-general rasmussen of n.a.t.o. saying that what russia is saying is nonsense? >> two points. first, on the membership of ukraine, the position seems to be although petro porashenko said that he wanted again to reapply, there is no counter discussion with ukraine, no process, and they are not talking about membership among

the n.a.t.o. countries, although the position is eventually the door is open. with regard to why n.a.t.o.'s being fuf tough in -- being tough in comments, when there are peace offerings, they say look at what is going on on the ground. there has been a change. ukranian government forces were taking control in the each, and now they are on the back foot, pushed back, because according to n.a.t.o., it's not separatists fighting them, there's a large number of russian troops ideas ukranian territory, believing there are thousands, and that it is important to send a message to vladimir putin not just about ukraine, but the allies of n.a.t.o., the n.a.t.o. members, who live in russia's backyard, because some of those countries are deeply concerned. >> we only have a minute until the end of this newshour.

just a quick thought on practically, physically what nato can do, and i might have to interrupt you. >> what they are not going to do is set up permanent bases, because they had a deal at the end of the cold war saying they wouldn't do that, the word is persistent not permanent. there'll be persistent training and rotations, they are in the russian backyard, making sure they cannot come over the border to n.a.t.o. countries, but no permanent basis. >> thank you very much, indeed. i don't know if we have sound, but you can see the pictures, rasmussen, the secretary-general of n.a.t.o. david cameron, prime minister of the host country, the u.k., i don't know whether to stop talking. i will if they do. if they don't i'll say goodbye. david foster and we be back in a

couple of minutes.

>> nato's leader calls it the most important meeting in the history of the alliance. president obama is wales for a key summit as nato debates the cries in ukraine. >> they should know we will follow them to the gates of hell until they are brought to justice. >> a fiery promise from the vice president, pledging vengeance against the islamic state group as family and f