♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ from al jazeera's headquarters in doha this is the news hour and i'm abraham and coming up, in the next 60 minutes the path to democracy in tunisia and cast ballots in the country that inspired the arab spring and a crucial vote underway in ukraine and millions cast ballots against the back drop of fighters in the country's east. tanks on the streets in northern lebanon as the army battles gunman for a second day and live

in tripoli with the latest, plus, forced to use the back roads where in the indian city of kolkata where the bicycles have a dividing opinion. ♪ well, we begin this news hour in tunisia where people are voting and it's seen as a test to the transition to democracy and 2011 uprising against the former uprising inspired demonstrations across the arab world and struggled with political turmoil and faltering economy and violence and we report. >> reporter: violence and instability are large in a country casting a historic vote. security forces track a group of people with spouses in a house in the capitol tunis and they

stormed the hide out killing most of the fighters including five women police officers say were armed and planning to disrupt the elections. this is the leader of the secular tunisia call a party likely to make significant gains. members of the former government and of president abdereen also taking part in elections and one is command who served as defense and foreign minister. >> translator: my priority is security given the rise of terrorism here in tunasha and will fix the economy and build strong ties with the community. >> reporter: they face a tough challenge from the party and tunisia election system is based on proportional representation

and no party is likely to win a majority, but the leader can say consensus is the only way forward. >> translator: the lesson we learn from egypt and other countries is that in a transitional period a simple majority won't be about to solve the country's problems and you have to have an extended coalition and to do that you need consensus. >> the election will end four years of a transition marked by violence, instability and a deepening unrest between conservatives and seculars. >> i think it's defining political moments. and tunisia will stand on the outcome of the election with a country with an opportunity to rebuild society, to rebuild the state. and i guess to be the shining model. >> reporter: tunisia future will be decided more than 5 million voters, but according to

resent opinion polls, half of them are undecided. this is where four years ago thousands of tunisias took to the street to denounce government oppression and demand for freedom inspired millions across the arab world and people in the region wonder whether tunisia will inspire once again to be a model to democracy and i'm with al jazeera, tunisia. and we will be live in tunisia in just a little later in the show. but let's know take you to ukraine where voting is underway in its parliamentary elections and post poroshenko's party will win the most of the vote and he may have to form a coalition and the president has made a surprise visit to a polling station in the eastern city and pro-russian fighters have threatened to retake the city

after they were pushed out by government troops in july and baranabie is live in the capitol and explain to us how important are these parliamentary polls. >> reporter: i think they are very important, from the president's point of view what he is hoping for is a stronger mandate if you like. you have to remember there has been a, parliament which goes from viktor yanukovich who was over thrown and especially in central and western parts of the country are most members of parliament blocked reform in the subsequent months and they belong to the older ra of ukrainian politics of corruption and money and murky influence of oligogs and if you like it's

trying to confirm the achievements of what is called a revolution here, provide a stronger government, a more united government with an impetus for reform and that would ultimately take this country that is the objective towards a future more closely aligned with the eu and membership is what poroshenko holds out as 2020 as an objective, how realistic we will have to see in the weeks and indeed years to come. >> and many are questioning the wisdom of holding election in a country that is still in confli conflict. >> reporter: well, i think that of course is the risk that at such a fraught time in ukraine's history the election could result in deeper cleavages within this society if you like. something like 3 million ukrainians are living in areas to the east that are no longer

under the government's control and most of them of course won't be able to take part in these elections and president poroshenko went to the town this morning and trying to make a statement and he was saying this is ukraine and that our army pushed the rebels out of this area, what he would like to see is large numbers of people in those areas coming out and voting. that would legitimize his government and it would legitimize the over throw of president yanukovich and see if that happens and 300,000 forced from their homes one way or the other and the government says some 200,000 have registered and come to more western parts of the country and will be able to vote. we will have to see whether the administration is up to that enormous task at a difficult time. >> thank you and we are

reporting from ukraine's capitol kiev. and this is a nationwide election many people in ukraine will not be voting and crimea has 1.8 million people is not taking part in the polls and the region was annexed which russia in march after 3 million people also cannot vote and there in the far eastern areas held by pro-russian rebels are seen shaded here and the separatists say they will be holding their own leadership polls in november. meanwhile the eastern town of slovansk was once a separatist stronghold until it fell to ukraine forces in july and the government now holds the city it doesn't have everyone's support and the rebels are vowing to take it back and mohamed reports from slovansk. >> reporter: these pictures landed her in trouble and detained and beaten by pro-russian fighters accused of helping ukrainian troops by revealing their positions.

she was tied to a lamp post with a sign on the chest accusing her of being a traitor and child killer and now she is running as an independent candidate in the parliament elections. >> translator: honesty is my main priority and a new kind of politician, i want a strong army because we should protect our country and fight corruption and decentralize authority. >> reporter: for three months slovansk was the focal point of the pro-russian uprising and it returned under ukraine control in july and gone are the barricades that the pro-russians put up around government buildings. replaced by the blue and yellow of the ukraine flag. but beyond this make over there is anger here. and especially among those who lost their homes. and it's directed toward the

government in kiev. they don't want to talk to us on camera but saying they will not vote because they don't recognize the government in kiev. they actually say that any prospects of a united ukraine is impossible at this stage but these are the pro-russian voices at the moment and the past pro-ukrainian voices are low and trying to be as discrete as possible now. for two months pro-russian fighters were stationed on this part of land next to the home. but it's only when government forces started shelling that the houses in this area were destroyed and she has decided to give her vote to pro-moscow candidate. >> translator: because they are the only ones who stayed with us when we were being shelled and helped people recreate from the ci

city. >> translator: people are afraid now. there is very harsh oppression and mainly beaten and the army harasss relatives of the pro-russian fighters. >> reporter: and few believe the elections will heal the divisions and separatist leaders vowed to regain the city by force if needed and people wonder how long it will be before the ukraine colors are removed and i'm in slovansk. let's go back to tunisia now where people are going to the polls under a proportional representation and 15,000 candidates competing for 217 seats in the national assembly of the people. this time they will have sweeping executive powers. now the winner should get 51% of the fees to form a government and 96 are taking part in the elections but the main battle is likely to take place between conservative and centralist

parties and the elections over shadowed by security programs and high unemployment and we will go to the capitol tunis and the polls have been opened about seven hours now and what has the turn out been like? >> i'm actually at the independent electrical authority for tunisia and spoken to one of their officials and he is quite hopeful the turn out by the end of the day should be at around 41%. that is below the turn out from the past reelection in 2011 which was around 51% but still a substantial number of people coming out to vote. now, this is really crucial. there is a lot of stake for tunisia and not only that people come out and vote but people feel this election was free and fair. there are problems to do with election results. there have been some incidents in some polling station which have not opened because of

security reasons and also some officials have not turned up but in general things seem to be going very smoothly here. >> no party expected to get the majority of the votes, but what would then happen in that case? >> yep, the way the electrical system works here means very unlikely for one party to get majority and it's very likely that two parties will have to form some sort of coalition or agreements. i have been speaking to top analysts in the country and they see a potential scenario of the conservative party as you mentioned and tunis a secular party of coming to some sort of agreement where they take a back seat and the government that forms is more technocratic and a positive move for tunisia who don't want one part of the political section to dominate

things here and want a compromise and a national dialog as we have seen in the last year or so. >> thank you for getting us up to date on that, reporting for us from the capitol tunisia. and much more to come here on the al jazeera news hour, iraqi forces take a key down from i.s.i.l. fighters and questions remain over the group that helped them in the battle. brazil's bit early contested runoff gets underway in a vote too close to call. plus. >> won fair and square against tough, tough, tough competitions and we were very transparent all the way. >> reporter: we speak to the minister about the 2022 world cup and why the gulf state has an early reason to celebrate. ♪

well, lebanon army appears to be stepping up driving groups north of the country and gun battles in and around the city of tripoli killed six soldiers and four civilians and violence is a spill over of the civil war in syria which sunni fighters inspired by al-qaeda and i.s.i.l. crossing into lebanon. and it's not known exactly which group the gunmen belonged to or claim affiliation with but i.s.i.l. and al-qaeda-inspired fighters cross into lebanon to fight the shia armed group hezbollah and that is because hezbollah intervened in the civil war backing government forces loyal to bashar al-assad and it's preemptive strategy to stop rebels from crossing into lebanon and hezbollah has done that and stirred sectarian

tensions within the country. let's now bring in stephanie decker who is in tripoli for us. now, stephanie you have been close to the fighting on the ground, what have you seen? well, it's still an intense standoff. we hear it sporadically and goes on a long time and heard artillery fire and military firing in the area and i want to tell you what the people here are saying, a lot of people say they have relatives inside and anger and saying give us a ceasefire so we can evacuate our children. the women because it's a densely populated area and this is the concern now and we also just now came back from a meeting with some sunnis of the area and some politicians and the feeling there, there was some anger against the army, basically saying the army shouldn't be taking sides and this translates into complications we are seeing here when it comes to lebanon

sunnis believe they are taking the side of hezbollah which is a shia armed group fighting in syria on behalf of al-assad and seen fighting in the city before but it has changed somewhat now and now you don't have one side which is sunni fighters against another neighborhood who supports assad and supporting the army and is a concern for the lebanon and the army is however determined to root out what they call sleeper cells here that have come from syria that are loyal to i.s.i.l. and it's a very complicated situation and remains very tense here. >> stephanie just remind us again what actually sparked this latest round of violence. >> well, there was a dawn raid on thursday by an army at an apartment further north of here where they arrested a man who they say, they believe is one of the main recruiters for i.s.i.l. here in lebanon. now that has started this round of retaliation between the groups so there also was a statement from one of the people

here calling for a jihad against the army and saying army was far getting them and if they didn't stop the siege on tripoli they would create more attacks on the army and is a concern and to give you a little bit more background there is also the al-qaeda after the al-nusra front and said if it continues they will kill a soldier and complicated and showing you the spill over from syria and intensity it's having here on the ground in tripoli in the north of lebanon. >> certainly very complex and stephanie decker thank you and speaking to us from tripoli. well inside syria government strikes have targeted the province of homs killing 30 people and widespread violence across the country is forcing people to leave their homes but as we report the alternative is not much better. >> reporter: this syrian camp near the occupieied golon heigh

is called hope and supposed to provide protection to many who escaped the relentless fighting in the towns but those who made the journey here say they are disappointed and conditions are so dire that many have even left. >> translator: we are forced to leave our homes. we came here seeking shelter but there is no food or water, nothing but further humiliation, what can we do, we escape bombardment back home. >> reporter: more stories of dispeer and four-year-old mohamed has acute hearing loss and unable to continue with medical treatment. >> translator: we suffer a lot in the camp and my child badly needs a cochlear implant or a proper hearing aid and the one he is using ran out of batteries. >> reporter: the camp is on a strip near the borr border and

they need better care. >> translator: where is the national coalition or the national council? they are not living up to their responsibilities inside syria. what are they doing for displaced families and children whose homes are destroyed? >> reporter: areas of safety are hard to find. cities anvand, villages bombard and some of the worst in homs where dozens of people killed, according to the observatory for human rights in just the past week syrian military carried out more than 530 air strikes and barrel bomb attacks. government forces may be making full use of the aerial advantage to defeat the rebels but on the ground it's a civilians who are getting killed. gerald tan with al jazeera. one of the armed groups fighting for control of the libyan city of benghazi has denied one of its camps was

captured on friday and forces loyal to the general has said they took control of the base. more than 120 people have been killed in fighting since the forces launched offensive to take the camp last week and part of efforts to drive rival malitia from the city. they have retaken the strategic town and this is the biggest gain for iraqis in months and i.s.i.l. was using the town as a base for a planned assault on sites further south and we report from baghdad and control vo surrounds the group who pushed i.s.i.l. out of the area. >> reporter: hit i.s.i.l. positions in a rare success story for an army described recently as dysfunctional but in this battle the fighters are from the brigade, a sheer malitia force and 72 hours took the village's and main roads surrounding here. fighting alongside regular iraqi

units and the brigade is battle hardened and also controversial. during the height of sectarian violence in 2006, 7 and 8 group accused of operating death squads and war crimes against the sunni population and now it takes orders from the iraqi government, member of the organization is the minister of interior, the latest offensive shows that it remains a highly disciplined and regulated fighting force. >> translator: we have substantial gains and taking options where i.s.i.l. were hiding and the main road and now we are shelling the farms where the last of the fighters are, in order to drive them out. >> reporter: this is being pushed by both iraqi army and their politicals as a big success and abaddi visited the area on saturday to congratulate the troops. this was the easiest operation they could mount against i.s.i.l. fighters and the furthest south the group has

been able to come and the weakest link in territory, however, this town is very crucial. and this is the jumping off point to the south and key really religious shrines have a red line to threaten in sending in ground troops to defend them and i.s.i.l. is pushed back and i.s.i.l. is still in charge of large parts of the country, baghdad. egyptian court sentenced 23 activists to three years in prison for a law and started a hunger strike including a prominent activist and defender of human rights was arrested separately and amnesty international described both women as prisoners of conscious. and three al jazeera journalists have now been detained in egypt for 302 days, greste, fahmy and

mohamed were convicted of helping the outlawed muslim brotherhood and appealing against convictions and al jazeera dismissed the charges against them and demands immediate release. tensions high in nigeria and boko haram is in place and they are skeptical about the deal and we were in a boosha where one of the men were accused of being a boko haram member. people say this man raised suspicions when he refused to open his bag. he is an unfamiliar face in this part of a boosha when when are suspicious and the government insisting a cease fighter with boko haram is holding. >> what we do in other states and no wonder this happens. >> reporter: suspect the man could be from boko haram because

he was carrying these. he says he is just a cattle herder, the guns are to protect his animals and many don't believe his story. >> they don't know what this man was doing in the neighborhood and don't know why he was carrying the ammunition he was carrying and worried about boko haram attacking nigeria and not taking the chances and this is 500 meters from territory and residents know they are not safe and attack on a shopping mall here in june. >> somebody bringing in this kind of thing to our domain. you know. and because of this here and boko haram and other things. so we are afraid. >> reporter: the ceasefire was the main state of boko haram fighters still holds. officials also say. >> people who are not really very, you know, and not very

happy with ceasefire to bring vigilantes and some of them do cause problems, you know, and the main thing is that the further government is committed to this ceasefire. >> reporter: many nigerians are skeptical of ceasefire and on edge and some here want the man they captured killed and others want the bless to question them and it's a challenge getting him in a nearby car but this may have saved his life, i'm with al jazeera. the financial crisis is not over for some of europe's biggest banks and regulators say 13 of the largest banks have failed a stress test of their finances. now that means they must raise a combined $12 1/2 billion to give them a safety net in case business does go bad. let's take a check on the weather now with richard and, richard, bad weather heading for

the balkins. >> and most countries seeing serious flooding and again we have more bad weather across the region, as i run the satellite image this is taken more to the area of cloud to the northwest uk and heading to norway and sweden and frontal systems coming in with strong winds and heavy rain and southern parts of norway and across the southeast europe where we had the really significant amounts of rain and bulgaria and 94 millimeters of rain, what does that look like? you can see the extent of the rain and starts at low levels and goes to higher levels and different picture with widespread snow across the region over the last 24 hours or so predicted by the computer forecast. now of course we've got rain across more and running further to the east and heading into

turkey and seeing very heavy rainfall over the last 24 hours. so as we look at the forecast it is still looking pretty disturbing and can see more snow across the mountains and weather and pressure to the northwest uk with more heavy rain continuing to push in but that area of rain edges further toward the east and as it does so it looks like it's going to die and very much aware of how the drought is ongoing in parts of syria and lebanon and needing more rain but heading over the next few days the rain tends to die away but for the balkins dry weather will be returning. >> richard, thank you. and much more to come here on the news hour. ♪ it's the end of an era in afghanistan's province as british troops pull out after 13 years. and the 6th inning is where the forced game of the world series exploded and we will show you why it's looking a lot better

for san francisco and more sport coming up, in a moment. ♪

you are watching the news hour and reminder of the top stories and tunisia voting to elect a new government and one of the final stages in the four-year political transition and 2011 a popular uprising toppled leaders. gunfire explosions have been ringing out from around the lebanese city of tripoli where the army has been battling armed

fighters, at least six soldiers and four civilians have died in two days of fighting in and around tripoli. and ukraine's president has made a surprise visit to the eastern city while the country holds election and rebel held areas in the east are not able to take part in the vote. well polls have opened in brazil's presidential runoff and the outcome is anything but certain. the two leading candidates beat competitors in the first round over voting three weeks ago, 42% of that vote went to rousseff and president for four years and policy is state intervention in the count my and soo sef is -- rousseff is facing this man and he is a senator and former governor of the second most popular state and arguing the country needs less state

involvement in the economy to encourage investment and latin america editor lucille has more from the capitol brasilia. >> reporter: buying and selling a coconut is a chance to show ailllegiance in the fiercely fought elections in december shuns and this is between the president rousseff and a left-wing gorilla tortured and in prison in the 1970s and the senator, the grandson of a famous politician who died before becoming brazil's first elected president after the military dictator ship and unlike her immensely popular predecessor who is seen as brazil's iron lady, a tough technocrat and represents the political party and in the last

12 years dramatically reduced poverty through wages and social programs and promises more business-friendly policies is the market's favorite. married to that famous model insists like his image as a former "playboy" brazil can change, someone who will go to brasilia to combat inflation and jump start economy and now technically in recession. the capitol was built in 1960 in the shape of an airplane and in the cockpit is the presidential palace that you see here. it is an apt metaphor for what is happening here, a country that finally has taken off under the previous government but under the president rousseff has been losing more and more altitude. >> they want change but torn on who can best deliver it. >> there is a roman guard that has two faces and looks to the future and looks to the past, looks both ways.

the middle class looks like that figure today because they look to the past and they are thankful to everything the p.t. did for them but they also look to the future and they are not sure if they will give them the extra mile they want. >> reporter: rousseff strong support comes from the poor sectors, people who have not risen to the middle class but who believe it will be their turn next if rousseff stays in office. but that's not the case for much of the middle class that has come to expect more. >> translator: it hasn't been all bad but there is too much corruption and bad health services and need to renew things. >> in the end the outcome will be decided by the middle and new lower middle classes who have not given up on the dream of the nation taking flight once again, al jazeera, brasilia. >> reporter: we are standing by

and gabrielle it's like a tele-novela, the drama of a tight race between these two candidates. >> it really is. this is the tightest election in brazil in more than 20 years. it is simply unpredictable. the polls show it's just too close to call. we are here in a school that is a polling place and there has been a light rain falling all day and has not stopped voters coming in and seen a steady stream of people all morning and have been here a couple of hours and coming in young people, old people and adults with children to show them how the voting process works and brazil is the world east fourth largest democracy and the biggest are indonesia and the united states and to give you an idea 95,000 polling places like this spread out in the country and more than 500,000 electronic voting machines and tight election and i want to bring in my guest, a

political analyst and have you ever seen anything like this in terms of how tight this election is? >> never been this tight and never this dramatic and don't know who is going to win. i talked to people in both camps and excited and no one will say they are too confident in winning this. >> brazil is very divided right now, 50/50 almost, why? >> the main reason is the election that was supposed to be about changing brazil it became about rejection and doctors from both parties made it happen and 40% of elaborate rejected rousseff and 20% of the people and that is a narrow margin to the site. >> it has become a very dirty or ugly campaign in the final days too, hasn't it? >> it has and not only the problems that people have and candidates have and the free air time they have on t.v. but also the social media and what people did or not necessarily within the parties but they are helping candidates in bizarre fashion and it is very bitter as i've

never seen it. >> brazil, the world 7th economy and what are brazilians voting for? >> basically the economy and the social programs that have been i'm med in -- implemented in the last decade and have a sluggish economy and don't want to lose the social programs that have taken so many people out of poverty so how do you do that and best to lead the change? than is up to brazil so far and no idea how they will call this one. >> the economy is not growing, it's in a technical recession, however, unemployment is at record lows. is the low unemployment going to help president rousseff or what? >> elections are jobs and income, jobs go in favor of president rousseff but income het by hit by inflation and difficult to call. >> people voting for opposition

and why are they voting for him and what do they want? >> some people are voting because they think the workers party have been in office for too long for 12 years and want some change in that and some think social programs spent too much and want some change in that so that the economy can be in better shape for the future. >> corruption, big issue as well in the election? >> no doubt. the workers party has been in office for 12 years and people and young voters associate the workers party with corruption and happened in previous governments as well it's what people see and a big part of this as well. >> election very transparent in brazil and should get results pretty quick tonight shouldn't we? >> two hours after the vote ended and we don't need exit polls. >> thank you, appreciate it, we will be here all day bringing results. my colleague is in brasilia and will join us this afternoon as well as more than 140 million

brazilians go to the polls to select their next president. >> thank you, gand moving on an british forces formally ended combat operations in afghanistan providence and british troops lowered the union flag if a ceremony to mark the closing of the camp a center of uk operations and the last british base there and nato combat troops set to leave afghanistan by december. and jennifer glasse is live for us in kandahar and what does this mean, the closing of the bases. >> reporter: the bases were not closed, they are handed over to afghan forces and there are two of them, the british base and a u.s. marine force base and handing over of these two bases really marks the end of the nato mission in the providence and this is a sprawling base and 50

kilometers outside of the capitol the capitol of helman providence and leave behind to the afghan country $200 million in assets, buildings, roads and there are two landing strips there, the afghans apparently considering that making that now a commercial airport because they don't have airforce planes to put down there, a very large base handed over and still some troops down there but leaving in the coming days and weeks and as you said the current nato mission end at the end of 2014, about a little about 30,000 troops still in the country and still a little less than half of that next year when the new division has support with a mission to train, assist the afghan security forces but no combat missions involved in that and marks the end of a combat phase for nato in helman province. >> you are in southern

afghanistan where the security situation is still relatively unstable, are afghan forces prepared to fight the taliban and other militant groups? we are in kandarar and northern helman yesterday and security forces had a very, very difficult fighting season there in the area of helman providence where we were the taliban controls rural areas. afghan officials says the taliban has not been able to take district centers but the fighting has been very fierce in the town and afghan security forces complain they don't have enough resources to do what they need to do, not enough heavy artillery and no afghan airforce, that is something that nato has been providing air support as well as intelligence and those where the afghan forces have to work and the focus of the follow-on mission nato follow on mission that

continues here in afghanistan next year, 350,000 afghan security forces across the country and certainly have the numbers, now they are trying to get all the skills together to be able to fight as efficiently. of course you had dozens of professional armies here, the afghan army is a fleflegling ar and 350,000 troops and work to be done and did fight hard this summer and took heavy casualties and looking to next fighting season to see how they fair. >> jennifer thank you for the update and jennifer glasse speaking to us from kandahar, two decades passed since jordan signed a treaty with israel and it's unpopular among jordan and both governments are trying to protect the strategic partnership and we report. >> reporter: when jordan and israel signed a peace treaty 20 years ago they put behind them 46 years of war and miss trust.

but since then the two neighboring countries had a n uneasy relationship and he wants described his relationship with benjamin netanyahu as cold and unpleasant and this is how he feels now. >> translator: today we have both islamic extremism and other extremism and if jordan and islam people are fighting this and israelis slaughtering the children in gaza and jerusalem every five minutes then we have a problem. >> reporter: failed negotiations have also angered the kingdom which hosts over two million palestinian refugees and jordan has a stake in the outcome of the conflict and not only because it has the largest palestinian refugee population in the world but also because of its strong attachment to jerusalem and israel recognized jordan's special role in looking after islamic shrine in

jerusalem and give it high priority when israeli and palestinian essentially negotiate the future of the city. by allowing right-winged jewish groups to enter the compound jordan feels israel is under mining, its roll in protecting the holly site. >> we continue to tell israeli officials that any of that action that will effect the status of east jerusalem and holly sites must be stopped immediately. >> a palestinian refugee who plead to jordan in 1967 is still living in a refugee camp and says the treaty was more beneficial to israel. >> translator: a peace treaty israel reassured the entire population there will be no wars with the neighbor aren't no one will ask israel why it's stealing palestinian land. >> calls on the government to sever ties with israel. but analysts say there is too much to lose. >> i'm convinced jordan will never sever ties with israel.

it is not in jordan's interest, yes, security coordination is important but it's as important for israel than it is for jordan. now if we are talking about i.s.i.s. let's not forget the borders. >> treaty defined permanent borders with israel and returned the area to jordan but for many here it feels like a truce, not peace. i'm with al jazeera refugee camp. still to come on al jazeera we hear what the first major footba football trophy for the world cup and another record for the world champion and we will have the details in sport. coming up, we will see how a ban on bicycles on the main roads is effecting livelihoods and the environment. ♪ ♪

welcome back, it has been a year since the indian city of kolkata try to reduce traffic with buyingingly and for some it's the affordable way to get around and we have been to some who say the livelihoods are suffer iing. >> reporter: kolkata roads have vehicles like any indian city with one difference, there are no bicycles on the main roads. for the past year a bicycle ban pushed cyclists on to these back roads. it's especially hard for those

who use a cycle to make a living and for him the ban means traveling longer and working less and estimates his income has gone from $200 a month before the ban to just $80. >> translator: the ban has effected my family heavily. if the ban goes on for a longer time i don't think i can make end meet. >> reporter: businesses also bad for those who repair biologicals, since many cyclists have switched in the past year to other forms of transport. >> translator: before the ban i used to have at least 20, 30 cycles in garage for repair everyday and there is not five for me to fix. imagine what will happen if it goes on for another year. >> reporter: the police declined our request for an interview but in past media statements mr. ishave said general safety and traffic congestion were the main reasons behind the ban and there is no plan to lift it. with traffic increasing every

year kolkata police say since banning bicycles from these main roads traffic flows faster but besides effecting the livelihood who travel by bicycles and expanding the transportation puts down the greenest forms of getting around. the state's pollution control board says 50% of the air pollution comes from cars. and this environmentalist says banning bicycles will make it worst. >> the they go the street it will only mean the air pollution in kolkata will rise and if we done look at more sustainability in terms of transportation it's going to become a problem. >> reporter: and he is still trying to fight the ban along with others who use their bicycles for work and they want to stop sitting idle and start moving again with the rest of the city. i'm with al jazeera, kolkata.

it's time for sport now and here is joe. >> thank you very much. well, it's eight years until katar due to host the fifa world cup and never competed in it and gulf state has the best piece to date the asian championship and andy richardson spoke to the significance of the victory and broad issues surrounding the 2022 world cup. >> football, the good thing about football is you can see and touch the results. you can see winning tournaments, you know. and but really the focus, the world cup in katar did for many aspects in katar is amazing. of course one of them is having, you know, a forecast on our young team that will participate in 2022 and participate positively but believe me in all

aspects of life in katar we are winning in many aspects. >> how important is it for katar not just to host the cup but have a competitive team taking part as well? >> it's very important because first i think katar by nature love participating in football and love playing and like winning and they like to host of course big events and especially futbol and really, you know, think about it as more than just being a game. it's a positive driving tool for change and it makes the nation focus. >> do you have concerns at all that the world cup will be taken from katar? >> no, we as a nation we are focused 100% on delivering what we promised and we promised

amazing world cup and we will do that in 2022. we understand and amir himself, he led the way on talking about some of the short comes that we have. and the prime minister of the whole cabinet is really following that lead. >> in some ways are you looking forward to the findings of the report into allegations of corruption, do you hope once that report comes out katar will be given a chance to move on? >> first of all, we need to realize that 2022 or any world cup is a high profile event and people will keep talking about 2022 and other world cups also. and hopefully when the tournament starts people will realize how amazing is the world cup in katar and so, you know,

we don't really have victims here because we really won fair and square against tough, tough, tough competitions. and we were very transparent all the way and we know that the reports will come positive. >> and scored 11 straight games on saturday the goal marked a crucial touurnel point for madr and ranaldo recommend liked for the penalty spot in the 31st minute and after that he didn't look back and they sealed 3-1 win and spoiled this for louis and returned from the four-month ban from biting. spain to two of the biggest clubs in england and hosts chelsea on sunday and chelsea

topped the table with unbeaten record in the league so far and united lie in 8th, this match will be as much about the coaches as the teams. united louie was there when both worked at barcelona. united chelsea is late game and everton is 1-1 and samuel with a goal there and ever tton leadin new castle 1-0. williams won the fifth end of season w.t.a. finals title and beat them in six sets and williams lost to her earlier in the group stage but dished out a similar hammering in the other direction in the match that really counted and the american finishes the year as world number one. pakistan cricketers have hopes of regaining the test ranking and inspirational test in doo --

dubai and 221 runs short and this is in asia in the last 14 tests and needed to win both matches in two test series to displace south africa at the top of the rankings, instead they will head to adidabi with the first series loss to pakistan in 20 years. san francisco came from behind to win against kansas royals to win 11-4. >> reporter: second game in san francisco and fourth of the series and cynne simpson cynne simpson up 2-1 and about to go ahead in game four, omar singled down the middle and casey up 3-1 in the tie and looking good to go 3-1 up in the series. and the same frame salvador had a hit and blanco is too far back

and 4-1. the signs of san francisco getting their act together. went perez had the best hit of the night and die son was a catch and even the game at 4-4. end of the 6th and they delivered at just the right time. >> one run scores and here it comes. >> reporter: kunfo panda had 6-4 and not done and by the end of the 6 it was 7-4 and casey's usually tight defense was starting to look shaky. and the fielding error allowed san francisco 8-4 and kansas city not on the same wavelength here at all. >> exciting and great game and we think it's a great game and

these guys fought hard and scratched and clawed to get back in it and you get down against this club in the bullpen you have your work cut out. >> reporter: so 11-4 win for the giants and 2-2 now in the series and there will be at least one more game in kansas city but the next installment is in san francisco on sunday. david garrett with al jazeera. reigning champion equalled a season record by winning the 12th gp race and had a poor start from poll in malaysia but finished three seconds in front of rossie and is equal with the 12-race win from 1997. that is all the sport for now. >> joe thanks very much, stay with us here on al jazeera, we have another full bulletin of news for you at the top of the hour and reminder you can keep up to date on our website on al jazeera.com.

♪ >> america votes 2014 >> the race is still a dead heat >> filmmaker aj schack turns his camera towards elections in the swing states >> it shows you who these people are... in ways that you don't get to see from the short appearances >> unconventional... >> if i can drink this... i don't see why you should be able to smoke that... >> unscripted... >> we gonna do this? >> ...and uncensored... >> are you kidding me? >> america votes 2014 midterms the series continues only on al jazeera america

federal authorities have charged seven people with conspiring with al qaeda. >> since 9/11 the us has spent has spent billions of dollars on domestic counter-terrorism operations. >> i wanted to be in on the big game and to be paid top-dollar for it.

that's it. >> many of these involved targeted informant led stings. >> to them, everyone in the muslim community is a potential informant or a potential terrorist. hello. you are watching a special edition of "the listening post" on the snowden effect. change is occurring in journalism in the age of the state. when he hadwin snowden took the classified u.s. intelligence documents and make them public, he knew his e-mails could be intercepted by the same people that the story was about. the national security agency, his employ s