follow our expert contributors on google, facebook and more. >> welcome to the news hour in our world headquarters here in doha. these are the top stories. calling for a political reconciliation as houthi rebels ask yemen's president to appoint a vice president from me the group. >> kurdish peshmerga forces launch a major offensive to cut off isil supply lines. >> france will create over two and a half thousand new jobs dedicated to fighting terrorism. >> a mountain to climb for the

global economy business leaders will be seeking to stop the slow down. >> yemen's former president is calling for early presidential and parliamentary elections to resolve the political turmoil. houthi rebels issued a demand for greater political inclusion a day after taking over the presidential palace. take us through exactly what the houthis are demanding. >> we understand that the president has met with one of his advisers who met with the houthi group and the demand came as afrom in a meeting.

the president is weak and has no other option but to meet demands made by the houthis. the former president has also made demands calling on the president to hold early elections. all of this is happening after a day of heavy fighting, which left the president weaker. >> yemen tases an uncertain future. its capitol is a battleground after some government troops loyal to the president fought with shia houthis. the rebels attacked the president's residence and stormed the presidential palace, which is in another location. the leader of the movement blamed the president for failing the people and failing to implement a power sharing deal. >> at this historic exceptional point in time when conspiracies

have been blotted against the country, a grave danger faces yemen. nothing will stop us from realizing the treaty. we will not be stopped by foreign powers. the issue is crucial. >> people demonstrated, burned the posters of the houthi leader saying what the houthis are doing is a coup attempt. the rebels controlling the capitol say they want real partnership and say in the decision-making process. they are also against a draft constitution that divides yemen into six federal regions. the group's critics suggest that the houthis were instrumental in forming the new government and their demands met. they also say the group is making excuses to justify and legitimize its actions and wants to seize power. the gnarl community is standing by the president as the

legitimate leader of yemen. >> the council condemns the course of violence, including the use of defects and urge the process of dialogue and consultation. >> the international community has no power on the ground, and now turns attention to the president and what he will do next. he has not been heard from publicly since the assault on tuesday. >> you have the international community saying he is the legitimate leader of the country, but at one and the same time he has no power or control over events. at the same time, the houthis like to point to their willingness to take part in the political process but whenever anything happens that isn't to their liking, they respond with force and they try to force the president's handled. >> foreign ministers from gulf countries are expected to hold

an emergency meeting to address the unfold be events in yemen. >> we're getting very interesting comments from yemen's former president about reports of his involvement with the houthi rebels. he has been calling for early elections. just tell us a little bit more about that. >> this is the latest statement coming from the former president, really confirms what everybody here in yemen thinks is happening an alliance between the houthis and former president and his loyalist within the army. the latest from the former president is to have the government call for an early parliamentary and presidential elections. everybody here thinks the whole idea behind creating this chaos

is very -- to have new elections, because the former president wants his son who used to be the head of the republican guard, very powerful figure, he now serves as the yemen ambassador to the u.a.e. to take part in those elections and perhaps he could win. it really confirms reports the rumors all along since last year that this is what's actually happening behind the scenes. >> certainly the timing of these comments by the former president, very interesting as another layer of complexity to the situation. thanks so much for explaining it all for us. >> moving to our other top story, kurdish peshmerga fighters cutting off isil supply routes. from syria to mosul iraq's second largest city is under the armed group's control.

one of the towns along the route witness kurdish peshmerga force which control the nearby mosul dam are trying to take a key road to cut off the supply route. we are near the dam where the offensive is getting underway. >> there is as major battle in the northwestern corner of iraq. we're south of mosul where peshmerga forces are trying to advance to recapture territory taken by the islamic state of iraq and the levant. this operation is coordinated with the international airstrikes. local partners on the ground are fighting. i'm not sure if you can actually hear the outgoing fire, incoming fire isil is fighting back. they're not going to let go of the strategic territory because this is the main road that links its power base in iraq with its

stronghold in syria. already the peshmerga manage to control some areas in the sinjar mountains close to the syria border. what they wanted to do is cut the supply lines scarf mows cull from supplies and that's why isil is fighting back. this batting is not going to be easy because isil is using what we understand from peshmerga fighters suicide bombers to slow the advance as well as heavy weapons. >> iraq border guards repelled an isil attack. ten fighters were killed in the fighting, as well as four iraq border guards. the attack is the fifth launched by isil on that border crossing since june of last year. >> japan's prime minister will not bow to the demand of islamic state fighters threatening to kill two japanese fighters. we have the latest from tokyo.

>> back in tokyo to take charge of the response to the crisis, he said he would receive a report immediately that his government was in the grip of a race against time to save the lives of these two men both shown in an isil video released tuesday. one is a freelance journalist captured in syria last year, the other is understood to have had family and emotional problems before setting up as a security consultant and traveling to syria. the two met in the country but captured at different times. $200 million price isil demands for their release is the same as the japanese pledge of assistance to the countriesries battling the armed group. >> japan's aim is not to kill the muslim people as the militant group claims it to be. we strongly usually them not to harm two japanese men.

>> japan's government isn't answering direct questions about whether a ransom payment is considered but has vowed to it won't bow to the hostage taker demands. the prime minister wants his nation to play a stronger role in international community at a time when allies are urging nations not to pay ransoms. there is an effort underway to open lines of communication with the hostage takers. everyone involved all too aware that isil has shown its willingness to make good on its threats. >> syrian government airstrikes left 40 people injured just outside of the capitol damascus. the air attacks on several believes in the rebel held city caused them to partially collapse. this video is said to show the aftermath of the air strike. twenty children are among those injured. >> the syrian government has

dropped barrel bombs in a northern province. 12 were killed in the town, while total south, two were killed in a car bomb attack. >> in israel, 13 people were injured in a stabbing attack on a bus in central tel-aviv. police say the attacker is a palestinian man from the occupied west bank who had entered israel illegally. most of the injured were taken to hospital. we have a report. >> another stabbing attack in israel this time in tel-aviv, police say a palestinian man board add public bus and stabbed its driver first. he then moved on to stabbing passengers before fleeing. the authorities say he was apprehended by security forces 400 meters away from the bus and shot in the leg. >> i saw the bus standing at the junction. people were running away from it. i saw the terrorist running

outside. policemen were chasing him. they were prison security policeman. they chased and shot him. i ran to the bus to help the injured. >> the attacker now in police custody is a 23-year-old palestinian from the occupied west bank, who authorities say entered israel illegally. palestinian sources identified him as from the refugee camp. like all palestinians and towns it is under israel occupation. as it has in previous attacks the government blames the palestinian authority and hamas. >> hamas, by praising this morning's attacks has demonstrated that hamas is a brutal and vicious terrorist organization. president abbas the leader of the palestinians cannot have it both ways. he can't link arms with world leaders in paris to condemn terrorism when he links arms with hamas back at home.

>> this is not the first stabbing attack in tel-aviv. the last happened last november. israeli soldier was killed after he was critically wounded while struggling with a palestinian man, who attempted to grab his weapon near a train station. israelis are angry about this latest attack that comes at a time when the public is divided ahead of an anticipated early election in march something that puts prime minister benjamin netanyahu under more pressure to act. >> it's very sad and frightening that a person can get on a bus and attack the driver and passengers, all of whom are innocent people. the arabs do not want to live with us in peace no matter what we do. >> talks between the two sides are stalled and a return to negotiations seems a remote possibility. >> there has been a brief lull in hostilities between israelis and palestinians up until now with october and november being the bloodiest months.

now, there are fears that this attack in tel-aviv could spark a new cycle in violence between the two sides. >> al jazeera continues to demand the release of our three colleagues imprisoned in egypt 389 days. the three were falsely accused of helping the outlawed muslim brotherhood, charges they deny. an appeals court in cairo ordered oh retrial. lawyers have filed requests for them to be deported from egypt. >> one of sri lanka's former army commanders has been granted a full presidential pardon after the defeat of the camel tigers. he challenged the former president at the presidential election. he was arrested and found guilty of engaging in politics while on active service. the pardon paves the way for the country's highest ranking soldier to be given back all the benefits he lost. >> much more still to come for

you on the al jazeera news hour. we'll have the latest of the running battles in the street of the democratic republic of congo. >> the first tablet driven school but most other schools don't have working barmes. we'll explore the digital divide. >> a five set epic at the australian open, all the latest from melbourne. >> ukraine's prime minister it is his country will increase the size of its armed forces yatsenyuk said a law is proposed that will see it grow to a 250,000 strong force. he made the announcement as a government meeting. there's been a recent surge in fighting in you a crane's eastern territories as peace talks are about to begin in berlin. >> there have been violent

democratic mob stations in the democratic republic of congo. according to the international federation for human rights, 40 people were killed in running battles with the police. that figure is disputed by the government argue that go there have been stand led anti-government demonstrations in the east, as malcolm webb now reports. >> crowds of angry people on the streets in the capitol seem undeterred by a continued crackdown. they are demonstrating for a plan that could delay next year's presidential elections by up oh four years. they think it's an attempt by the president to extend his rule beyond the constitutional limits of two terms. down the road, we met protestors carrying a body. they shout that she was shot by a police officer. our cameraman was hit in the leg by a rock. the crowd shouts at the man who

threw it. they want journalists to hear their message. >> the modification to the law that says there must abcensus before the election is not good, a census will take three years. we don't want the president ruling after 2016. >> it is to the advantage of the president permanently. he's not doing it for the interests of population. that's why we attempt to change the constitution. >> chinese traders seem a scapegoat and their store targeted. this market was open for business despite the unrest. >> people told us that the owner of that car works for the judiciary. they said protestors got the better of police and then soldiers from the presidential guard were sent in, because people were tried to be calmed. they burned his car and chased him away. >> we met the leader of the

youth association that supports the president. he says the opposition are protesting for political gain and they should let him serve his second term. >> they should leave him alone to bring our country the way he promised as. our roads must be good, our country clean. >> there have been decades of stagnation, but for many, change isn't coming fast enough. protestors on the road object and want the national football coach in charge. many have lost trust in all the politicians. >> boko haram is claiming responsibility for the attack in the northeastern town that killed hundreds of people.

in that attack, rebel fighters burned large parts of the town and the surrounding settlements displacing thousands in that part of nigeria. people were shot as they fled. in the video statement the armed group threatened more attacks in chad and cameroon. >> the prime minister said police force will be given more weapons. the announcement came as four men were charged in paris in connection with the attacks on the french capitol that left 20 people dead. the men were accused of having tie witness one of the gunman responsible for the attacks. >> it's up to us to act and with the greatest determination. we have to take all the necessary measures which we have just done under the authority of the french president. know that go action against terrorism, against radical islam will be a long term struggle. >> here's the latest from paris now from nick spicer.

>> the french prime minister announced spendion of half a billion u.s. dollars to hire 2500 new antiterror agents, who will be working with the police, with the justice ministry. he announced other measures, including a national registry of people who have been associated with terrorism or who the judicial authorities are looking at for possible links to terrorism. he also announced that prisoners who are suspected of belonging to radical groups will be brought together in one jail, so they can be better monitored and reradicallized. he announced the hiring of moderates who will go into french prisons and prevent prisoners from becoming radicalized. he said there would be increased monitoring of the internet to prevent the recruitment of fighters who might want to go to iraq or syria and to prevent the prop allegation of what he called islamist ideas officer social media.

>> u.s. president barack obama struck a defiant tone in his annual state of the union address, setting out a vision for a more equal america but with a republican-controlled congress he may struggle to deliver on his promises. our white house correspondent has more. >> the president of the united states! [ cheers and applause ] >> u.s. president barack obama used his speech to highlight the areas where he and the republicans in charge disagree the most. the hostility became blatantly clear with this exchange. >> i have no more campaigns to run. [ applause ] >> my only agenda. [ laughter ] >> i know, because i won both of them. [ cheers and applause ] >> republicans cheering his final two years in office, but for his part, the president spent the vast majority of time on domestic issues, the main area of disagreement with republicans, for the first time

putting a new name on his economic policies. >> that's what middle class economics is, the idea that this country does best when everyone gets their fair shot. >> promises of free college paid sick leave a higher minimum wage paid for by higher taxes on the rich. republicans say that isn't going to happen. >> let's iron out loopholes to lower rates and create jobs, not pay for more government spending. >> the people we talked to in new york are focused on disagreements, saying they don't expect anything said here will become reality. >> he is proposing a lot of things that are not going to happen. he has two years left, let's propose these things that are going to motivate the 2016 campaign. >> we're definitely in a moment of hyper partisanship and gridlock. >> on foreign policy, the president did get both parties to voice approval on the issues of terrorism. >> we stand united with people around the world targeted by terrorists from the schools of

pakistan total streets of paris. >> a fight he promised the u.s. would eventually win. he touted listen diplomatic out reach to cuba. >> the speech made one thing clear, even though there's talk of working together, there are very few issues that the two sides r.ized are on the same page and that is likely to define washington for the next two years. al jazeera washington. >> let's go to weather a weather update. we still have parts of south america really bearing the brunt of floods. >> that's right. we were talking about the east he were parts of brazil, now bolivia. you can see from the satellite picture lots of shower clouds across that western side of south america just around the pass. we've got the bolivian low

forming just to the south of the andes. you can see where it is here, lots and lots of very heavy rain coming down as a result that have and in fact, east inside bolivia, 133 millimeters of rain in the last 24 hours led to widespread flooding across a good part of the country. that's certainly been the case across -- well just very close to lapasse. you can see the conditions we have been struggling with here, heavy downpours. surprisingly the rain has not been as bad as last year. that's something we can hold on to. just further north we do still have very heavy showers in place. we go into thursday, and i'm hopeful by then the weather will nudge its way further northward. we're looking into that wet weather easing towards that western side and more so going

into friday. still pretty wet for the eastern side of brazil. >> thanks very much. >> computer giant microsoft will today launch a new operating system called windows 10. in the desktop world microsoft remains dominant, nearly 90% of the world desktops running windows operating systems. remarkably, one in five of these, 18%, in other words of all desk tops run windows x.p., even though it's now 14 years old. compare that to on that pell's o.s.x. on less than 10% of desk tops. it is expected to run across desktop p.c.'s, microsoft tablets and smart phones. this will work on all devices making life simpler for users. microsoft hopes the new system wins over the all important business market.

>> a technology journalist joins us. tell us more about this operating system and what microsoft needs to achieve with it to stay relevant and competitive. >> until now microsoft has had different operating systems on phones tablets and desk tops. as a result, it hasn't been able to use its dominance of the desktop to push into mobile, quite the opposite, it's been holding it back. they want windows 10 to unify everything to have the same experience from a desktop to a mobile. >> we saw that windows eight was unpopular, a lot of users found it difficult to navigate. will this new version succeed where that one failed? ask we hope so. it looks nicer with new features. a lot of the feedback people

gave from windows eight which has gone on to 15% of existing windows desk tops, hasn't been a success at all. microsoft is trying to make it more like the experience of eight, the old desktop experience and tablet experience and that failed. it wasn't good at either. hopefully it cracks it this time. people go to apple for the high end, they go to android for the cheap end microsoft is caught between the two. >> how can they turn that around? >> well, they hope that people will start to take their desktop experience like it and then go on to mobile. the really big problem that is on mobile, which is where all the action is, nobody's writing software for them. the app store they've got is under populated. people write or android or

apple. it's a vicious circumstance that. they hope they can use this new window experience to drive the software from the desktop on to mobile and pick up the mobile. without that, they are going to be slightly sunk. >> it is a vicious circle, all about the apes, isn't it? it's crucial. thanks so much. much more still to come for you on the al jazeera news hour, including: >> i'm reporting from the festival in christchurch new england, searching for weird and wonderful way to say entertain the crowds. >> venezuelas economy face as rough road ahead as the president prepares to deliver a key policy speech. >> a scottish top division club has taken the extraordinary step of saying to their fan pay whatever you can to come and watch football. watch football.

>> houthi rebels are calling on yemen's president to appoint a vice president from their group. it's just one of the demands made as part of an ultimatum with fighters surrounding the president's residence in the capitol. occurred issue person forces are pushing across a dam close to the isil stronghold. if they succeed, they will cut

off a major isil supply line from syria. >> france's prime minister announced new measures to improve security, 6,000 new anti terrorism agents. four men are charged in the attacks that left 20 people dead. >> in southern sudan an agreement aims as reunifying the ruling party. tell us more about these talks and how they could potentially end the fighting there. >> this is very much about signing an agreement within the ruling party. this is a very young country with a young political protest with little opposition. if you're involved in politics in south sudan you're probably part of the group.

it was the party that track further as much as anything else so what talks hope to do is bring back into the government a very influential set of 11 politicians who didn't join the former president in opposition but who left the ruling party. there are these 11 very influential parties who the government want to draw back into the government. the idea being that at the next round of peace talks in addis ababa, the president will have more leverage over the rebels, because they have the 11 influential people back in the fold. >> the idea is that leverage can be used to try and bring a built more stability to the area. what about the situation right now? has the fighting stopped? >> unfortunately, it certainly hasn't. in fact, in the last week, we've seen more fighting.

the government claimed they'd been attacked in the north of the country on the border with sudan. not only that, they claim that the rebels have been attacking places within lake state a whole new front line in this conflict. that's a new state where we haven't seen this fighting. this conflict is far from over. the talks today are a very good step in the right direction but we're still a long way from see ago ceasefire on the ground. >> the oil cartel decided to keep output unchanged despite sliding prices. the move is creating volatility in the market without benefiting oil producers. the oil minister said ohman suffers as a result. >> in june of last year, royal

traded at $115 a barrel. in november, opec decided not to cut production, accelerating the slide. it was down nearly $6 after that announcement. on wednesday prices stabilized, but analysts say the outlook for the next six months remains bleak because of oversupplying the market. the world's political and business elite are in davos for the economic forum. what's on the agenda? >> lots. pell low yes the world economic forum the annual gathering of the worlds most influential people well underway in davos in the swiss alps. oil is dominating discussion here. it's hard to give a sense of just how big this event is in davos from this vantage point and that magnificent view behind me it really does take over the town. the whole place goes into security lockdown.

there are pretty high profile people. today i'm on the roof of the conference center. below me is the chinese leader, he'll talk about the global impact of china's economic transformation. turkey's president will talk about his views in particular on the g20 and we expect to hear from ukraine's president petro poroshenko talking about his country. another issue that is being discussed here, not one but two sessions today is something that's dominated the news headlines for at least the last six months, the ebola epidemic. earlier today i spoke with johnson and johnson and asked whether the fight against ebola was being won? >> the world is winning. we are not yet there. it went from a very significant number of cases today up to the

hundreds to now only 10, even lower in certain country as day but until the last patient is cured or died, the ebola epidemic is not over, because this virus is so virulent and dangerous, that it can come back any moment if you don't get the total epidemic under control. we should not give up at this moment to go to the last possible patient identified, treated or died. >> you were recently in sierra leone. >> yeah, a few weeks ago, we are preparing for clinical trials for a vaccine. i went to learn with the local community, including the minister of health, the different health care workers n.g.o.'s to learn about now we could do a clinical trial. >> how difficult is it to produce a vaccine for ebola? >> it is quite challenging but

we were working on this already since 2008 and when the u.s. declared the bio terrorism act where the world wanted to protect itself for bio terror, ebola was on that list, so we kicked off with one of our companies the vaccines. we had a lot of failures, like always goes in science but we are long term to prepare. now when this came out, we were able to separate now and we crammed the whole development into one year. >> that's the good news on the ebola front. i asked how seriously people here at davos are taking ebola. he said that's evident that there's been two sessions on it, focusing not just the human impact and devastation on communities and families, but on the economic impact, too and how organizations or gatherings like the world economic forum can

help that region recover economically. more from davos a little later back to you. >> looking forward to it. there is so much to discuss. >> now venezuelan president maduro is set to deliver his annual state of the nation address. it was supposed to happen next week but it was postponed as he was out of the country discussing slumping oil prices. 'venezuelas economy is estimated to have shrunk 4%, inflation climbed to 64%. 95% of venezuela's hard occurrence income comes from oil revenue. venezuela only has $20 billion left in reserves and owe's $50 billion to china alone. shortages are felt with grocery stores reporting an eight hour wait. we have a report from the

capitol, caracas. >> never ending queues for essentials foreign currency restrictions and to top it off the nation's income cut by half because of the plummeting price of oil. venezuela is struggling to stay afloat amid the perfect storm. the country anxiously awaits the president's speech. >> we need to know if the economy will be reactivated. >> the president is just back

from a high stakes tour of china, russia, iran, can tar and saudi arabia. he failed to convince fellow opec members to raise the price of oil but came home with what he called fresh oxygen in the form of loans from china and qatar. >> if the president needs to bring oxygen from abroad, what happens when the tank runs out? we need to resolve our problems, rather than look for oxygen abroad without knowing what it will cost us. in exchange for what? >> with his popularity dropping as fast as the price of oil the president is anxious to convince his countrymen he can reverse an economic slide. >> the opposition that ha the same objective it had under commander chavez, destroy me, isolate me from the people. their campaign is aimed at doing away with me to divide the revolution. >> the government knows the chronic short ones of

unsustainable, but the medicine to make long lines go away is hard to swallow and comes with a high political price tag. the question is how much of a price is the president willing to pay right now. >> it's a fine balancing act certainly, while venezuelaing make it clear they cannot afford to wait for solutions. al jazeera caracas. >> still to come for you all the latest sports news. we'll tell you about the football frenzy that was anything but. raul will be here with more.

>> the south african government started converting some public schools into high tech learning centers, trading books and pens for computer tablets and wi-fi. is it cost effective and sustainable? it's a big day for these students. from now on, tablets will replace their school books. the secondary school is among seven public schools switching from paper to screens thanks to a partnership between government and private sponsors. >> you will see different types of wi-fi you are going to. >> students, the teacher guides them through lessons. if she's offer sick, another teacher can be streamed into the classroom. the students are excited. >> education is the key to

success. the tablet is more easier than writing and you get to do more work and stuff like that. it's more important around it's going to help more a lot of people in future to get jobs. >> that's important to the country where most school graduates are unemployed. >> everybody will know that you come from here, and this is the school of the future. >> the future is expensive. it will cost $1.5 billion for tablets and internet connectivity for schools in the province. >> while this school is being propelled into the digital age most schools in south africa don't have libraries some don't have flushing toilets and many are underresourced and understaffed. >> a group called equal education led protests to force africa's government to adopt minimum standards in schools. it's pleased in the digital plan but it has lots of questions. >> is this an approach that is

cost effective and sustainable and can be rolled out and all across the country and most importantly, is it going to deliver on its promise of providing a better education for all. >> that may all depend on whether these students can improve the exam pass rate at their school and how many of them go on to find jobs. al jazeera johannesburg. >> let's get your sport now with raul. >> we start with tennis and rafael nadal had a scare on day three of the australian open. he was taken to five sets by an american ranked 112th in the world, the 14 time grand slam champion even needed the trainer during the third set after complaining of stomach cramps. he prevailed after 4:12 on court. he's through to the third rounds.

>> things were more straight forward for roger federer although he lost the first set against the italian coming back to win the next three sets. he is going for a fifth title in melbourne. >> also into round three is three time finalist any murray, the scott booked his place after winning in three sets. >> did in the women's draw, the 2008 champion had to save two match points on her way to victory of a world number 150. >> i think i was dwelling too much on my mistakes and what i was doing wrong and not being in the present something i'm

usually pretty good at. at that point when you're behind and feel like you're making a lot of errors and don't feel you have a good rhythm out there i just really tried to, you know, take it a point at a time and think positively and changes my thought process a little bit. >> five russian walking athletes including three olympic champions have been banned by the country's anti doping agency from cases back dated from 2012. he will be eligible in time to defend his title in rio in 2016. 2008 olympic winner has been banned for eight years and one of the athletes for life. the bans don't effect any olympic medals. the five gold championship medals could be reawarded. >> to the african cup of nations now, despite big name stars the ivory coast could only draw with

guinea. they shot the elephants by taking the lead in the 36th 36th minute. things got worse after the break following the dismissal of the forward. they did manage to get a share of the points through a goal, 1-1 the final score. >> we have a young player. >> the other group on tuesday also saw a 1-1 draw between cameroon and mali, taking the lead. equalizing in dying minutes for cameroon. >> wednesday we'll see host equatorial guinea back in action against burkina faso, the lowest

side in the competition. the only time they've been featured in the event is when they hosted tournaments. >> this country with limited football history finds itself at the center of the games for the second time in three years. equatorial guinea really shouldn't be playing in this cup of nations. they were kicked out in qualifying when they tried to qualify a foreign born player. in 2012, when they cohosted, i am passed home support swept them through to the quarter finals with unlikely wins. this time they started with a 1-1 draw against congo. they could and perhaps should have won. game two sees them taking on burkina faso, who will be looking to hit back after a defeat. under normal circumstances burkina faso would be big favorite to say win this game,

but equatorial guinea hopes a full stadium can push them to another crucial victory. >> to see the faces that our people that our supporters is an amazing situation for players, who wants to do a good competition. our supporters is the most important thing for us. >> we are guests at this event. we didn't qualify so we have to enjoy it, but the coaches and players clicked and there was a sense of unity. this is the beginning of the a long term project. i'd like to take this team into the world cup qualifying. >> the coach has only been in the job for weeks and admits he just hasn't had the time to get his team into the physical or tactical shape he would like. they haven't enjoyed coming through a successful qualifying

campaign. >> gabon if having another win should be into the quarter finals. >> a club in scotland allow fans to pay what they can rather than a set price. with attendance falling for many clubs, the scheme was introduced for a league game. >> >> the club sits near the top of the premier league. that doesn't mean it expects a large crowd in the sub zero temperature. crowds across scott landed highest division have been worryingly low. this club decided to have it fan to say pay whatever they can. >> the normal price tonight is 25 pounds, but tonight this gentleman's paid 10 pounds

which is about 40% of the price. >> never get to it on the weekends because i'm working. >> it's a good idea to try to get bums on seats. >> not many bodies the month of january. this is pure and simply to get folks through the door, hopefully capture them and make sure they come back on a regular basis. >> fans of away teams benefited from the deal. the club agreed the initiative is worth trying. >> i think it's a great idea. at the end of the day january is a long month financially for supporters. we have six games other clubs seven games this month so it's a big ask to follow the team home and away. >> it's a peck football team in scotland, three of the best supported clubs not playing in the division. some creative marketing is required. >> inviting fan to say pay whatever they wish is a concept

that's unusual for football as it was in music when radio tried it in 2007. outselling a previous record, it worked but there's no guarantee there is as pot of gold. >> the attendance was over 3,000 and 10% more than than usual here. despite the freezing conditions, they was not the match to put it within points of the top of football but even success on the pitch isn't guaranteed to keep fans coming. it's a small step forward but in this part of scotland, they won't give up trying to attract fans. >> a friendly football match between two argentine rivals proved anything but. this horror challenge was produced. as you would expect, marion was given an automatic red, but fortunately, or remarkably, his

opponent managed to walk away without serious injury. >> defending nba chance the san antonio spurs posted their fourth straight within, they lost four of 19 14 of 19 games in december but are on the rebound now. it was denver's fourth loss in a row. >> the nfl is continue to go investigate reports that the new england patriots intentionally deflated 11 of the 12 balls used during sunday's victory over the indianapolis colts in the a.f.c. championship game, getting them through to the superbowl against the seattle seahawks. the host city is phoenix arizona. >> lots more sport on our website. check out a brand new aljazeera.com and click through to the sport page.

that is all for now. >> street performers have been gathering in new zealand for the annual world festival. it's the first time since the earthquake four years ago performers have returned to christchurch art center. wayne hayes has this report. >> they come in many forms and go by many names. >> everybody wants to see them! >> street performers. >> ladies and gentlemen that, there is it. >> fringe artists. >> there are various circusy stunts indiana jones second cousin and in law once removed. >> you can call them different. contortionist ruby rubber legs know where they're at the best, on the streets where there's nowhere to hide. >> often you go i'm a street

performer, people go ahh. i'm more proud to be a street performer than stage performer stage stuff to me is brilliant and fantastic but it's easy compared to this. >> the color of the world festival held mainly in a park is in stark contrast to where the artists used to perform. the many venue was cathedral square which remains largely deserted following the earthquake in 2011. this year, the festival has taken a small step back towards its home with a stage outside the art center, which is still being restored. for a local performer it's good to be back on the streets. >> back in the day, they would be hum tourists and locals and certainly the art scene was a place people come and eat drink coffee and see shows. >> the festival has become one of the most popular in the

world, attracting all sorts of events. >> it's the best little show in town. >> people have been performing on the streets for money for centuries, traditionally they were musicians dancers or mime artists. there's always been an element of the bizarre that's apparently live and well. >> inside this tiny circus tent, people come to see the unexpected. on this occasion, the main attraction was rubber band boy who has claimed the world record for putting the most rubber bands on his face in one minute. >> if you've got a camera, take a photo otherwise you'll try to explain it and just sound like an idiot. >> al jazeera christchurch. >> there you go. all right. another full bulletin of news with myself at the top of the hour in a few moment's time. stay with al jazeera.

>> al jazeera america presents a breakthrough television event. borderland. six strangers. >> let's just send them back to mexico. >> experience illegal immigration up close and personal. >> it's overwhelming to see this many people that have perished. >> lost lives are relived. >> all of these people shouldn't be dead. >> will there differences bring them together or tear them apart? >> the only way to find out is to see it yourselves. >> which side of the fence are you on? borderland, sunday at 9 eastern, only on al jazeera america.

yemen's former president calls for early elections as houthi rebels ask the current leader to appoint a vice president from their group. ♪ hello you are watching al jazeera live from doha. coming up kurdish peshmerga forces in northern iraq launch a major offensive to cut off isil's supply lines. and computer giant, microsoft will today lau