this is al jazeera. welcome to the newshour. i am darren jordan from al jazeera's newscenter hein. doha, to the stories. 340r fighting in yemen as houthi rebels reject a pipeline designed to hold the country together. the battle continues. we are on the front line with peshmerga forces still trying to drive isil fighters out of northern iraq. >> the palestinian authority has chosen to launch a confrontation with the state of israel. we are not sitting idly by.

>> israel's prime minister justifies cutting off urgently needed tax revenues to the palestinians. can russia return to the front ranks of science, or are its glory days over? ♪ welcome to the program. attempts to hold yemen together as a country are in deep trouble. there has been a bombing of the presidential guest house in domar city about 100 kilometers south of the capital sanaa. several have been killed including a houthi t.v. reporter. an agreement has been rejected to dive i'd the country six regions. houthis control most of the army's assets and are growing impatient for reform. the latest from the yemeni capital sanaa. >> reporter: it is the first

time the houthi leader came out and announced the regression of his group to the idea of dividing yemen in to six regions. he said this is a western scheme backed by regional powers to have a weak and divided yemeni. the irony is that the houthis have agreed to dividing yemen last year in something called the national conference action and it was attended by all of the key political players in this country including the houthis. what changed, i think, is the very fact that the houthis now feel emboldened after taking over most parts of the country including sanaa in september. i think they have the will or the power to impose their political will moving on, an ngo in this country, a research center batessed here in the capital painted a grim picture. it said about 7,000 people died in the violence. it says the country's military is very weak.

the army and military are divided and that the houthi rebels are now in control of 70% of the army's capabilities. >> witnesses in nigeria say armed men have seized a military base of a northeastern town. troops were seen heading toward lake chad. witnesses say some may have drowned. it's not clear who attacked the base but boca haram has a strong presence in the north of the country. a suicide car bomb hit mogadishu near the airport. the african union peacekeepers are based there. the armed group al shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack which targeted somalia's national intelligence and security agency. it has been con four simplians have been killed. the bombing comes just two days after an al shabaab assault near the central town of bidoa which killed seven soldiers. >> attack was believed to be in retaliation for a u.s. air

strike which killed one of the groups' leaders just a few days before. over the past few months somali troops and african union forces have stepped up that i have their offensive against al shabaab fight to go impose islamic law in somalia. turning to iraq's battle against the armed group isil 11 iraqi soldiers and allied fighters have been killed in fighting north of baghdad. din prove incident is one of the areas which government forces are trying to secure from isil. auchttralia's prime minister has made an unannounced visit to iraq. tony abbott met him at the republican palace in baghdad. they discussed military cooperation in the face of attacks by isil fighters in northern iraq. australia an jets have carried out bombing raids against isil as part of a u.s.-led coalition to wipe out the group. >> meanwhile in northern iraq peshmerga forces are trying to keep their momentum as they retake territory from isil.

one of the key battles is where peshmerga forces were in full control just a few days ago. the village lies between isil strong hold of mosul and the kurdish capitol erb ill. more from the front line. >> reporter: we are on one of the front lines of the peshmerga forces close to sultan abdullah about 80 kilometers from the capitol from the semi autonomous region in northern iraq. we cannot go to the village because the peshmerga fighters tell us that there are isil fighters still holed up in some sections of this village. it is where there was heavy fighting just two days ago between the peshmerga and isil fighters and although at one point, the peshmerga said they were in control of this town they say now there are pockets of resistance in the town and they have been getting incoming fire from the positions of isil

here in the place we are seeing unexploded ordinances particularly mortars which the peshmerga fighters here tell us they lost to some men. what we also know is that the village of sultan abdullah is also close to the strategic isil stronghold of mosul and maybe one of the reasons why the isil fighters don't want to lose the village is they are using it as a defensive position so that the peshmerga and other fighters will not move closer to mosul. and one of the other things the peshmerga fighters here are that the village is strategic because it is a source of this will place, mac mood not far from here. it's also on the highway to mosul. they say getting control of ting control of

this village. a police officer was shot to death in their patrol car, you may remember in december. again, police turned out in force for the funeral and there are reports that again, they turned their back on the mayor of new york bill di blasio. more on the funeral later in the program. israel is with holding tax revenue from the palestinian authority in retaliation for their bid to join the international criminal court. the punitive measure will have a big impact on those living in the territories. stefanie dekker is in ramallah and has more on how people would be affected. >> reporter: these men are at risk of losing their salaries.

israel says it won't be transferring over a million dollars in response to the palestinians joining the international criminal court. in sunday's weekly cabinet meeting, theusis prime minister had this to say: >> translator: the palestinian authority has chosen to launch a confrontation with the state of israel, and we are not sitting idly by. we will not allow the dragging of idf soldiers and idf commanders to the international criminal court at the hague. the ones who should face justice are the heads of the palestin palestinauthority who entered an alliance with the ham war criminals. he is referring to al government between fattah and hamas which israel considers a terrorist organization. ♪net has said the palestinians have more to fear in their decision to join the icc it's a statement dismissed by the palestinian leadership. >> it will be an amazing historical case where the victim becomes the murderer.

for theisitionis to claim we are the ones who are the criminal that we should be i don't think anybody will ever take this seriously, and everybody knows that the sort of act of aggression are done by the israel is against our people. >> he resigned as negotiate negotiate during the last round of talks. he says after the failure of multiple peace talks and the recent regression at the u.n. where they tried to set a time frame to end israel's obvious occupation, taking the legal option is the next step. for all of the political back and forth, many palestinians say they have lost confidence any lasting solution will be found. for them there seems to be no end to israel's occupation and people here believe going to the international criminal courts is the only way to put pressure on israel. >> this is a step we should have taken before. we are weak. we have no other options. president babas tried to do this

to protect his people and his country. israel is trying to pressure us and the americans, too, to not join the icc. >> reporter: joining the icc was a move made by the palestinians for maximum impact. it's not clear where it leads to any political solution on the ground. stefanie dekker al jazeera, in the occupied west bank. >> israel collects taxes for the palestinians under the 1994 oslo accords. it transfers them to the palestinian authority so it can pay its public sector workers. >> means israel can also with hold revenue as punishment. here is more. >> reporter: this is not the first time israel has frozen monthly tax transfers to the palestinian authority. in may 2011, israel withheld $100 million over a palestinian unity deal that brought together ham with the secular rival fattah. in in response to the overwhelming vote at the u.n. general

assembly to recognize the state of palestine and it imposed a similar punishment in april, 2014 after pa president makmud abbas applied to join treaties and conventions. israel should transferred about $100 million a month for month for the palestinians about 2 thirds of the palestinyon authority's budget. without the pa they cannot pay the 165,000 public sector employees it employs like policemen, doctors, nurses and teachers. pa salaries are estimated to directly support one quarter of the population and because the pa economy is government-dependent, these employees and the money they spend form the economic backbone of the occupied territory. >> the secretary general national initiative speaking from ramallah says israel is afraid of being held accountable by the icc. >> the international community is sick and tired of this

continuation of this occupation that has become the longest in modern history. more than 47 years of occupation is enough. the system that it is advertised it is worse than south africa is intolerable. that is the problem. israel has been impugntive to international law and the fact it is conducting collective punishments against the palestinian population. now, they will be held held accountable. >> they are injuring 17,000 of whom 4,000 were children is definitely a war crime. on the other hand what we are doing is an act of popular

non-violent resistance. >> in syria, at least five hezbollah members have been killed during an ambush carried out by the al-nusra front. it happened in the town of fla. a near the lebanese border on saturday. in august around 20 troops were killed and 35 soldiers taken hostage in the same area by the al-qaeda affiliated al-nusra front. the united states and its allies have conducted seven airstrikes on its ill targets on syria and iraq over the last 36 hours. six of the attacks hit isil positions near kobane in syria. there has been a 7th successive day of protests in bahrain. tear gas was fired. petrol bombs were fired at riot police in manama. demonstrate orders are demanding the release of ali salman the leader of the opposition party. the family of a libyan al-qaeda suspect who died in the u.s. just days before going on trial is accusing washington of

neg neglecting his health. he was accused of being involved in the 1998 bombings of u.s. embassies in east africa. he was captured by u.s. troops in tripoli in 2013. >> they deprived him of his rights and are responsible for his death. they abandoned treating him when he woke up from the coma. he never got any medical treatment. >> more to come here on the al jazeera newshour including from a distance, it looks like paradise, but a closer look reveals an environmental disaster in senegal. plus: >> reporter: reporting from the occupied west bank where street signs aren't necessarily helping palestinians find their way around. >> in sport, it's been a difficult opening day for the defending champion of the dakar rally. the latest from buenous airies.

♪ >> the mayor in france is being accused of racism for refusing the burial of a baby in his town. he says there is a shortage of burial attacks and local tax players should receive priority. a funeral has been arranged for the baby after a mayor from a neighboring town intervened. harry smith reports. >> reporter: on monday a baby girl will be buried here in the paris suburb of visu. she died of sudden infant death syndrome at the age of just two and a half months. her family wanted to lay her to rest in the nearby town of shampan where she was born and lived with her parents and two siblings who go to school in the town. the local mayor refused them permission because he said there were few plots available. i also told the paris newspaper that priority in the cemetery is given to those who pay their local taxes. the implication being that the dead baby's family do not

because they are roma. campaigners for the roma community says the decision is racism. >> it's very clear they don't want any roma dead or alive. they don't want them. that's all there is to it. >> reporter: the family is suffering just as much pain as any french family who loses a baby. it's exactly the same thing. how can they refuse this? it's disgusting unjust inhuman. >> reporter: the mayor in visou is a doctor treated the family but said if he never met them he would have offered them a burial place. >> translator: you have to put yourself in the place of this mother of these parents, to understand that they have just lost a piece of their world, not being allowed to have their child rest in peace. it's not acceptable. it's not human. when i heard about the refusal, i am not trying to judge. i am not trying to express any point of view. my reaction was reaction was

immediate. >> harry smith, al jazeera. police and mournes are gather in new york for the funeral of wen lui. the the shooter had ahit of violence and shot and injured his girlfriend before attacking the policemen. courtney kay joins us -- courtney keely rather from new york. there are reports that members of the nypd again turned their backs on mayor bill di blasio when he was reading a eulogy. do we know what happened? >> reporter: yes.

>> we are having problems with courtney keely. we will try to go back to her later in the program. look at live pictures from new york of the funeral. this is the funeral of new york police officer wen liu, a second of the two officers to be buried shot to death in their patrol car in december. these are live pictures coming in from new york of the new york police department turning out in force for the wake and the funeral. officer wen liu will have a buddhist funeral as well as a funeral here given by the new york police department. we know that the gunman posted on social media he acted in revenge for the rooebt shootings of unarmed black men by the police. he had a history of mental illness as well. it's been reported. live pictures here from the funeral, and reports, again, that new york police officers turned their backs on the mayor bill di blasio when he was

reading the eulogy for officer wen lui, even though the commissioner of police had asked the officers and the widow had asked the officers not to turn their backs on the mayor. they still proceeded to do so. those are reports. these are some of the still pictures of the officers turning their backs on the mayor. we haven't gotten it in video format but these are still pictures of the officers again turning their backs on the mayor, bill diblasio. you may remember these officers turned their backs on the mayor for the first funeral which took place a week or so ago for the first officer killed when shot to death in their car. so live pictures coming to us from new york. if we can just go back to those life pictures -- live pictures of proceeding away from the church the casket already loaded in to the herself accompanied by the pall bearers walking down. new york still, of course trying to come to terms with

this double murder of these two police officers. now north korea has condemned the u.s. for sanctions imposed over the hacking of film company sony pictures, ping yang says it was hostile and impressed oppressive but dendz any involvement in the hacking attack. 67 years to the day since britain granted independence to what was then known as buncha. myanmar has been celebrating with a military parade in yangong. the first time it's been sill celebrated since 1962. erica wood reports. >> reporter: just before daybreak, the ceremony marking myanmarts independence from bit issue rule is watched by the prime minister government officials and members of the public. it's the first time the day has been celebrated in this way

since the military took power in a coup 52 years ago. the chief minister read out a statement from the president calling for public cooperation so the country can transition smoothly to democracy. but away from the military parade a skeptical crowd gathered. protesters calling for freedom and the release of political prisoners. they stood chained beside the monnumeument that mashingsz the plates rulers said political ties with the british in 1994 were severed. >> we got independence from the british. we are not liberated yet from the military dictatorship. we are still deprived of basic human rights. the authorities can arbitrarily detain us any time if we speak out. >> opposition leader also staged a small protest of her own declining the invitation to attend the government's military parade. >> reporter: there are many

areas in this country that need to improve. so we can't be complacent with the current circumstances in our country. we need to restore the values and the mindsets we once cherished but now lost. >> aside from the military parade there are no state-sanctioned celebrations for independence day, but people have been marking the day in their own way. >> i had to get all of my friends together to clear up the trash by the pipeline to hold this sport. we just want to have fun on this day. but we don't know anything about politics. the visions of independence are yet to be fulfilled because all of the successive leaders are selfish and corrupt. if that tradition can be changed, then our country will improve. >> reporter: the government promised it's a tradition that will be changed as it moves into democratic rule. a tradition of military dictatorship which has left a decades-long leg of human rights abuses discrimination of ethnic minorities and the jailing of

political opposition. erica woods, al jazeera. >> let's go back live now to new york where police and mourners are gathering for the funeral of police officer wen lui back to kourtney keely joining united states live. there were reports that members of the nypd again turned their backs on mayor bill diblasio when he was reading out that eulogy. do we know what happened? >> reporter: yes, in fact i witnessed it. there was a small group of officers down the block and some firemen that turned their back as well as the small group of detectives but i do have to stress that the majority of the crowd did not do this. it highlighted this continued tensions between some of the new york police department unions and mayor bill diblasio bur that wasn't the sentiment here today. it was really just a heartbreaking, gut-wrenching funeral. you had the father of officer liu speak. he spoke in a local dialect from southern china. it was later translated into

can't on can. onese. he was followed by her bride whoshe said he was her soulmate and hero as she choked tears. that was broadcast to the city blocks. we had all of the 85th breprecinct that officer ramos killed alongside officer liu as they sat in their police car, the 85th precinct and all sal on theed the casket followed by hundreds of policemen on motorcycles, a very very somber occasion. it was just that moment when mayor bill diblasio some made a political statement. >> how is new york coming to terms with this terrible double murder and what's being done to mend that relationship between the city and the? >> reporter: as we have spoken in the last several weeks, you

saw i reported for you a very large protest in the city streets. tens of thousands of people protesting against the lack of an indictment for eric garner who was one of three armed black men that was recently killed in the united states. he was killed here in staten island after a chokehold, he said "i can't breathe" but it came on the heels of several instances of lack of justices for unarmed black men but two weeks ago, you had what the police commissioner here is calling an assassination. the police commissioner has taken center stage here william braaten, gone on sunday talk shows and said turning your backs is not disrespect. he won't discipline anyone. he urged people not to the do that this weeking in an internal memo. he is saying that's not what the nypd is about. now, these tensions for mayor diblasio go back when he campaigned against stop and frisk which is a controversiam issue. there is something really

happening here that's distinctly new york. and they turn it to distinctly american issue. you had a china e-mails immigrant, the first chinese american killed in the line of duty. ut a buddhist ceremony blessing his open casket a private moment we weren't privy to see. you had his father again, speaking his local dialect, his extend would family that have come here to live in america. he was an only son. his -- they spoke of his pie. y in the buddhist tradition and clearly a chinese american tradition but he had chosen to become a cop after 9-11. it was this mix of immigration to america and very much a very very immigrant community, a diverse community, a very new york moment really but then you had the sea of blue. so there is this mix of national issues and tensions and then this sort of melting pot american moment and then this family that

is just ♪ lockerbie part three: what really happened?

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al jazeera america. kwebling back. a quick reminder of the head lines here efforts to hold yemen together are in trouble. the houthi rebel leader has rejected a plan to divide the country in six states. there has been a bombing in dahmar city. >> suicide bombers hit mogadishu near the airport where peacekeepers are based. the armed group al shabaab has claimed responsibility and four civilians were killed. palestinian leaders are accusing israel of trying to starve their

people. israel is refusing to pay after the palestinian leadership officially applied to join the international criminal court. now, in the occupied west bank road sign rules are creating confusion for the palestinians who live there. the palestinian authority is not allowed to put up road signs in arabic for most of the region. a report from the occupied west bank. >> if you rely only on street signs in the occupied west bank it almost feels like palestinian towns and villages don't exist here that is because the israel government doesn't allow the palestinian authority to put up its own road signs. so many people now use the hebrew names for these areas instead of the original ones in arabic. we stopped several drivers on a highway and asked them where they thought they were. >> we normally know the street. >> it's an illegal jewish settlement nestled between

villages here. >> there are no signs indicating this road leads to a palestinian area. >> there is no arabic name for this area. there is an arab village here, but i can't remember its name. >> traveling across west bank is a tral eng for palestinians in other ways too, while settlers have exclusive use of main roads. palestinians have to use segregated road networks. across the west bank an especially in areas under full israeli control, not only are the arabic names of palestinian villages completely absent from street signs, but in some areas near settlements, even the arabic spelling of hebrew names have been erased. attempts by palestinians to put up road signs have largely failed. >> the only major obstacle is the israel's occupation. it doesn't allow us to put street signs in area c under full israeli control because they fear our signs would confuse settlers. >> for many palestinians, the issue is about much more than

just finding your way around. >> the most imminent danger is when the colonial terms are used by individuals and their occupation. another danger is raising the memory of the place connected to the original owners. land. by using names that serve the interests of the col onizers. this means the ultimate success of the colonial project. >> palestinials have always said the goal of building settlement is to break up the territory y'all integrity of any future palestinian states. these road signs are just one example of how israel can cepher connections between palestinian areas and people's connection to their past. al jazeera in the occupied west bank. al jazeera continues to demand the immediate release of our three journalists now imprisoned in egypt more than a year. they were wrongly convicted of broadcasting false news and helping the outlawed muslim

brotherhood which they and al jazeera deny. on thursday an appeals court in cairo ordered a retrial that could begin within a month. lawyers for peter greste and mohammed fat knee filed requests for them to be deported from egypt. now, the bay of harn. was once famous for pristine beaches. now it's over run with pollution. nicholas hay went to the dakar beach to find out why. >> this beach was famous for beauty. villagers called it the copa cabana of dakar where people came to escape from the city and enjoy fresh, clean air. look at it now. some in the neighborhood are trying to clean the shoreline. but they can't stop this. what started off as a slow trickle of domestic sewage has turned into a constant stream of

waste poured in the ocean. slaughter houses chemical factories use the bay as their dumping site. the stench is unbearable. jia realized the waste was making the children in her neighborhood sick. >> they constantly suffer from diarrhea and respiratory problems. we have to keep taking them to the doctor. i am sure this is due to the pollution. >> i took a sample of water and brought it to a government lab for testing. the results are astounding. >> this report says the level of organic matter in the water is 10 times above international standards. it contains extremely high levels of mercury and cadmiun, toxic chemicals that damage at a time nervous system. this is not just polluted. it's points nugs. liters continue to be released in the oceandal slowly killing wildlife. this legal of pollution is illegal. none of the fact occur owners have been fined or prosecuted.

>> they employ thousands of people and they are an important contributor to the economy. we can't just shut down the fact odors. we need a long-term solution. >> france and the e. u. are funding the construction of a fill kilometer water filter to increase the quality of the water but it will not stop the pollution. it will take years to build. too late fears sinjia. she feels too many people have become comfortable living with pollution. not enough care to preserve whatever beauty remains of this beach. dakar. >> more bodies are being identified from the airasia plane which crashed into the java sea last sunday. divers are still battling difficult weather in the attempt to reach the planets wreckage. so far threw 3 one bodies have been recovered and search teams say they found another large object on the sea floor.

>> in the city of surbaya and singapore, the airline has been found to have been operating the flight that went down without a proper license. the min sister of transport does not rule out more sanctions. he said he is invest 2k3w5i9ing everyone involved. >> air traffic control organizations, the airport and the airasia and, also the other airlines. and, also the hope the whole play in this air transport, in the scheduled air transport including our own people.

if any airlines does the same thing, we will cancel the license of the route, the specific route. if everybody is doing it, we will cancel everything. >> reporter: aviation analysts say it's not only air asia which has been breaching regulations. sxwonl ease i can't's airline industry has a poor safety record. nearly all its airlines are banned from flying to europe after the international civil aviation organization downgraded its aviation safety rating in 2007. many say things have not improved since then. >> there was some improvement but i have to say nothing specifically or consistent. we wasted a lot of time. >> airports here are not equipped to deal with the rapidly growing airline industry. the country's main airport in jakarta has a capacity to deal with only one third of the

current flow of passengers needlead to go worrying statistics of near plane collisions because of heavy air traffic. jakarta airport is the 8th busiest airport in the world. many indian easians can now afford to fly. an avenue of 164,000 passengers. planes here in indonesia every day. a booming industry struggling to keep up with demand. >> instead of banning indonesian airlines a former transport minister says international organizations like the european union should help. >> european union please come here here. please help indonesia. are you happy that we have these accidents so you can punish us? you are a developed region. your airline industry is developed. and we buy many airbuses from you. >> while the minister of transport says he wants to take bold measures to improve indonesia's safety record investigations are underway to find out why airasia's fly

crashed into the java sea killing 162 people. large parts of the plane have been detected at the bottom of the sea increases chancing of finding the black box soon. a change in the weather is giving australian fire fighters to bring bush fires under control. high temperatures and strong winds are forecast to return on monday. niko johnson reports. >> south australia is fighting fires with everything it's got. from the air, dropping tons of water, from the ground trying to douse the flames. it's risky. 22 fire fighters have been injured so far. now, the weather has turned cooler. it's dropped 10 degrees. this may not last. >> we are expecting more hot weather, which will create conditions for the fire to

escape and we would like to contain it within its general perimeter. >> a dozen homes have been destroyed in the adelaid hills. alex's place is one of them. >> all of my positions and paperwork, dogs cats, collect collectibles all gone yeah. >> i want to go over and have a look and stay there. >> people are returning to their homes to see if they are still standing. over 11,000 hectares of bush land has been destroyed. farming property as well. fires have become a regular feature of the australian summer. six years ago, more than 1 sent people were killed in one of the worst bush fires in rooebt history. this one is being brought slowly under control, but it's unlikely to be the last one this season. nicole johnston al jazeera. >> time for a short break when we come back.

exploring pluto and beyond. we look at the new inter galactic missions for this year. in sports a wickett keeper with a test against the west indians. after the break, more on that. stay with us.

♪ welcome back now. new york's natural history museum is saying goodbye to one of its special exhibits a carefully preserved giant tortis known as lonesom george at the ender age of 100.

kristen saloomey reports. >> the last known pin. a island tort. or. oise on earth. he was discovered in 1971 at a time when scientists believed his sub species was extinct. >> these. or. oises hadn't been exploited, we might have had them here. it's a message about being good stewards of our planet. >> brought to new york after his death in 2012, it took a taxdermist a year to preserve his skin and shell, replacing his internal organs with foam. a life like monument to animal first discovered by charles darlin. >> lonesom george will be back home in ecuador gone but not forgotten. he has become a symbol of what the world has lost from extinction.

sadly, his fate isn't unique. dozens of species go extinct every day. >> this is lonesom george during his final years in the gallagapogos an attempt to find him a mate and produce offspring failed. although he may be gone his legacy lives on. >> we read the story and talked about what extinction means, that there are no more of certain animals. i think they understand they all died? >> yeah. >> to have the opportunity to see it is wonderful. >> there is a lot of talk about things. >> teaching a new generation about the fragility of life on earth. kristen saloomey new york. >> time for the sport now. >> daryn thank you so much. the 36 stage of the dakar rally has begun in in chargentine a. the rates will spin chile and

bolivia. al jazeera's andrew simmons was there there. >> reporter: this is the first stage of the dakar rally and the going is fast, dusty, dry and quite furious. disastrous for manny roma the defending champion from 2014. and he spoke to me telling me that there seems to be a problem with the electrics. this is what he had to say. >> a problem. i don't know. >> reporter: does it look like the end? >> i don't know now. i will try to repair and see. >> his teammate from qa. ar the 2011 champion was doing best at the start of this first stage and persia new contenders new contenders

here are very special stages for endurance now where drivers are going to have to get involved in some diy, it would seem. two weeks, more than 9,000 kilometers, very tough indeed. >> the spanish lead leader's 22 game winning stream two matches short of the world record. christianna ronaldo did score in the 14th minute extending his tally to 26 lead goals. the hosts rallied back for valencia before nicholas odomendi sealed the win. 2-1 to valencia. barca could take the lead later if they bead real solesidad.

>> athletic madrid fans packed to see torres back as the spanish champion after he left for liverpool. he has been loaned until the end of the season by a. c. milan in his first spell at athletico. he scored 91 goals in 244 appearances. >> translator: i needed to leave a. hleti so the club and me would be able to grow up realizing that was the toughest moment of my career. now >> thank god, time has proved us right. the club have grown up won titles built a solid team improved in every way possible. on my side i have also won the titles i wanted to get. i have always missed something, which is winning them here. >> the 20-year-old player from russian club mccula has been shot dead. he was hit by machinegun fire while drive okay saturday. no arrests have been made and the motive is unclear.

the chief executive said we grief together with everyone who was dear to him. i hope the police find the killers and they suffer just punishment. >> arsenal facing hull a rematch of last year's final, artsnal lead 1-nil. chelsea are in round 4. crist 58 palace won under alan pardew they beat dover 4-nil. manchester city and man united progress the while premier league queens park rangers were beaten 3 hill nil by shelved united. a century has given south africa a third test. they hit 148 on day 3 at cape town, the 21st time of his career. bold all out for the inning lead. south africa have removed the two windy openers. devon smith and craig

braithwaite. on 88 for 2, four runs behind. a double 100 helped on the test against new zealand. it allowed the tourits to recover for 5 on day 1. he held sri lanka with a first in the leave after the kiwi scored 221. new zealand started the second innings, on 22 for nil loss trailing by 113. the baltimore ravens have clenched a spot in the n.f.l. playoffs with the wild card win over the pittsburgh steelers. the carolina panthers are also through after beating the arizona cardinals. they will now play the green bay packers or the seattle seahawks next week end. bengals are facing the indianap list colts right now. the dallas cowboys will host detroit lions. >> i think everybody is naturally excited about the

opportunity that we have the position we put ourselves in. but again, one of the things we try to emphasize is every player, every coach, everybody associated with our team. so hopefully, it sticks to the fill on the fee that we have on a daily basis going out and being your best. >> and i will tell you there are certain things i think i told you when we came here. we wanted to win and win now. there is no three-year, 4-year plan, anything of that nature. i think we are moving in that direction. the other thing i am going to tell you is this: there could be a time when you will say when negative matthew stafford is one heck of a quarterback. okay? and et cetera moving in that direction. and that will could be sunday. >> the czech republic beat canada in the opening day. saravofa carried her best form of 2014 into the new year. she opened her new campaign with a straight sets win over world number 7, eugene bushard to give her country a 1-nil lead.

the canadian levelled a tie in the ments team but sepharova, 6-4, 6-2 in the mixed doubles. there is much more sport on our website for all of the latest check out aljazeera.com/sports. there is details there on how to get in touch with our deem using twitter and facebook. >> that's all your sport for now. darren back to you for now. >> thank you very much. the new year promises to be a busy one for space programs and discovery. last year from the crash of virgin gallactic's test craft, the first landing of a comet, it expanded like never before. our technology edit tarek becausely looks at how pluto will be involved. >> after a 9 year journey through space, the closest ever approach to pluto in july of this year. it will come within 10,000

kilohm materials of the surface giving us an unparalleled view of a world we know nothing about. >> pluto whether or not we call it a planet will be visited by a spacecraft in 2015 and that will be mindboggling as well. the furthest heavenly body in our solar system a large body will be visited by a spacecraft that we launched a decade toago. >> that's mind bog lick. dawn is said to drive at the planet which is between mars and jupiter. let's hope both encounters will she had light on the origins of the solar system. space debris will get a tension in 2015. 17,000 trackable objects larger than a coffee cup are currently in orbit around the earth. >> they are a threat to satellites and the european agency is set to test new capture technology based on fishing nets. >> being in space, you don't

have a problem with drag and when the net reaches the body of the debris the net, in fact on the debreathe continue their course so they wrap around and they bring the debris in a ways that is impossible to disentangle. >> they plan to claim the debris toward earth where it will burn up. late last year the european agency spaced a lander on the surface of a comet. the mother craft is still orbiting the cometts nucleus and will spend most of the year sampling and analyzing it as it approaches the sun. >> you will see water flowing away, gas and other materials at much higher rates. for many scientists, that's the big deal. >> in january, nasa plans to launch a satellite designed to monitor the constant stream of charged particles from the sun, so-called solar wind. these can cause damage to power and communication systems on earth. it's also putting out one to explore how the earth's magnetic

fields affect the planets. india, china, japan and russia are also planning a number of satellite launches. these are intended to enhance communications and also give us a better understanding of our planet's place in the solar system. . arek becauseley al jazeera. >> to restore foreign glories. in the first of our two-part series, the country faces many challenges. >> reporter: the opening roof let's in early winter chill into the observeatory. barrease barice is used to this. the aust traun mer is well aware of the cha he knows faced by russian scientists that go beyond having to wrap up warm?

>> it's between us and developed countries. this requires a lot of resources in the budget located for science. so, i think that the main policy is that science is not very important. >> this observatory here was built in the 1950s, which was a golden period for soviet science lasting through until at least the 1970s. but the collapse of the soviet union dealt a crimming blow to research hereppling blow to research here all of that money and prestige lavished on scientists disappeared. it drove many scientists who made soviet science world beating to leave for the west. hour the gourd they stayed and their protocol proteges doing now? only the world top top

all of the money invested but this then it disappears and wi wicome back. so they are not approaching, in my opinion, some goal. >> vladimir putin shook up research funding with a decree saying institute should compete for it and stop assuming they would just be handed cash another policy sea change for russian scientists to cope with when they just want to reach for the stars. rory challands, al jazeera, moscow. >> that's it for me. stay with us here on al jazeera. quick reminder, keep up-to-date with all of the news on our website. the address, aljazeera.com. that's aljazeera.com. thank you for watching. stay tuned. bye for now. ♪

the battle for sultan abdullah for control of the strategic village. hello there. i am julie mcdonald. this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up more violence and political turmoil in yemen as houthi rebels reject a unification agreement. >> israel's prime minister tries to justify cutting off critical tax revenues to the palestinians. looking to the future can russia return to the forefront of science, or are