>> the final journey borderland only on al jazeera america this is al jazeera. this is al jazeera. >> hello there i'm felicity barr, and this is the newshour live from london. coming up: a obama undecided. he still doesn't know whether to arm ukrainian forces as germany germany's chancellor pushes for a diplomatic solution. nigeria forces say they will disarm all boko haram camps in the next six weeks. will this solve the

deepening political crisis? plus. >> i'm daniel lack in canada's yukon territory where one of the longest and toughest race is taking place they call it the yukon ultra. island bei'll be reporting on it. good day. president obama says he hasn't decided whether to back ukrainians. with arming them with defensive weapons. angela merkel says diplomatic means should be given a chance to work. the violence in ukraine continues to escalate. the government in kiev says,

russian backed rebels have aattacked them more than 100 times in the past 24 hours. >> want to be sure there's no gap in the approach to russia. as the violence continues in eastern ukraine with people being moved from towns along the border. angela merkel believes a peace plan joined with france presented to the russians. presented at belarus on wednesday. president obama is willing to give diplomas a chance diplomacy a chance. >> if in fact diplomacy fails what i've asked my teams to do is look at all options. what other means can we put in place to change mr. putin's calculus. >> translator: if at a certain point in time one last to say that a success is not possible,

even if one puts every effort into it, then the united states and europe have to sit together and try and explore further possibilities. >> european union has backed stronger sanctions at a meeting of foreign ministers in brussels but delayed imposing them to see if the talks in minsk work out. >> we're delighted there are discussions and negotiations going on but until we see russians complying on the ground stopping the flow of weapons, we can't relieve the pressure in any way. >> vladimir putin has warned against imposing ultimatums and sanctions. there's still some work to be done. >> translator: we are getting ready for wednesday. if within that time frame we can agree on the number of positions we have talked about in the recent past. >> the u.s. and german leaders want to believe that there are common consequences.

military support all that could hang on developments in minsk and that becomes a hujly significanthugelyimportant meeting. >> thank you, mr.thank you very much everybody. >> allen miller joins us live from washington, d.c. great to have you on the program, thanks for being with us. the president's critics say he's dithering on whether or not to certainty defensive weapons to the ukrainians. do you disagree with those critics? >> yes i do. we have agreed to help ukraine to defend itself from aggression and we have been assisting the ukrainian military since 1994 anyway. and there's nothing inconsistent

with supplying arms for ukrainian to defend itself from aggression. we're committed to do so. >> but the president has said sending arms to ukraine doesn't mean that ukraine would be able to militarily defeat russia, it's simply too powerful. it wouldn't work. what would be the point of sending those weapons what would it achieve? >> well, there's an outside supported republican i don't know inside ukraine's borders. we're committed to help ukraine. inside the borders. russia is committed to do the same. in fact the military cooperation between the countries until recently has been effective.

>> how big is the gap between the u.s. and the way the european union is trying to handle this crisis? >> well, in the end there has to be a negotiated settlement. and in the end, it should be based on the principles of the hell singhhelsinki final act the united nations charter and a host of agreements to which the united states, western europe and russia are signatory. particularly the charter of paris of 1990 and the trilateral agreement of moscow of 1994, and the budapest memorandum of 1994. they're very explicit in their terms. which was to maintain the full support for the territorial

integrity, independence, and sovereignty of ukraine. >> another former u.s. ambassador to ukraine john hertzer said if putin isn't stopped now there's a danger he would move in on other baltic states likest estonia. do you fear that putin has those ambitions? >> other states are vulnerable to these tactics of subversion. let's call it what it is. it is a subversion of a sovereign state. a neighbor to which russia has had solemn agreements to maintain its integrity. william miller -- >> so the answer to the question is that russia should firm, affirm,

reaffirm its commitments to keep the peace in europe. >> william miller, thank you vex indeed. there are concerns for boko haram in northeastern nigeria where three countries are armed against the group. nigeria's national security advisor has told al jazeera the group will try to disarm boko haram within six weeks despite losing ground in the past few weeks. killing dozens of people in the border town ever fotocol. witnesses say they came from the neighboring town of gam gambury gam

gam gamboro. under the control of chaddian troops. they parole patrol around the town in case boko haram fighters decide to come back. >> translator: no one is here now, probably some of the injured are hiding in houses particularly remote abandoned houses. >> for nine months, boko haram controlled gamboro most of the people were forced to leave for neighboring chad and cameroon. others escaped to safer parts of northern nigeria. for the blocking to boko haram

they're finally released but only after convincing the forces that they are not affiliated with the group. the bament has not bath has not been easy. they don't mind boko haram's rule of their town. >> we used to go and come back from our farms without any problem. when we told them we pray and have a koran they left us alone. >> decided to put together a regional force of 8700 soldiers to fight boko haram. caused the delay of nigeria's elections by six weeks the chaddian championships will reach gamboro the reality of

holding elections a little closer. mohammad adow, al jazeera lagos, nigeria. retaking territory from islamic state of iraq and the levant the operation will begin in the coming weeks. general john allen say american forces are training iraqi soldiers at four main sites with the help of international allies. he says danish and australian trainers german italian french and dutch are stationed in erbil. jane arraf has the story from baghdad. >> particularly in the i.s.i.l. stronghold of mosul but the coalition primarily the united states hasn't been quite so keen. they've made the point general

allen included that before ground troops go in to take mosul they need everything to be ready. that includes training of iraqi forces, a plan for what comes after including police force as well as things like humanitarian assistance and reconstruction. all of that is a long term effort but general allen's comments are that they are on board ever supporting iraqi troops at the beginning. he doesn't mention mosul but there are a lot of areas that are still held by the group. the u.s. is now training soldiers as well as special forces and other security forces in four main bases around iraq. they are not out there on the ground and they don't have the authority to do that but there are other coalition partners that are believed to have special forces out there with the iraqis. iraq says it needs yet more support, more air strikes more hardware but these comments by general allen are an indication

they seem to be getting on board on the same page that there is a major ground offensive by the iraqis backed by the coalition that could begin in the last few weeks. >> 20 people have been killed in two bombings in the iraqi capital baghdad in predominantly shia neighborhood. second set of bombings in baghdad where a nighttime curfew in place for decades was lifted. talks are afoot in yemen naziri parity has withdrawn but talks are continuing. the houthis took power in a coup plunging the country into a turmoil. many areas east and south of sanaa have rejected the talk of the houthis if they try enforce their rule across the country. meanwhile in sanaa the former

president, hadi, prime minister and five issments mannys are underministers are underarrest. >> monday began with a sense of optimism in yemen as political parties resume talks sponsored by the united nations aimed at solving the current standoff. but the optimism is short livid. one of the participants decided to walk out. >> translator: we'll withdraw because there's no commitment so far that peaceful protests will not be attacked and depressed and also because this dialogue is nothing but a cover for the coup. >> reporter: that coup happened on friday. prior to that the u.n. special envoy had tried to negotiate a power sharing deal between all the different factions. his efforts ultimately failed when the houthis yemen's shia minority, declared themselves the country's new leaders. and despite u.n.

secretary-general ban ki-moon insisting mansour abdel hadi mum be returned to power a constitutional declaration formalizing their coup. it is this that upset several politician he. >> we will not continue in this dialogue unless the constitutional announcement is cancelled. we will not accept this no matter how strong the houthis are. >> reporter: elsewhere in the country people opposed to the coup conned to continued to be heard. shops were closed and public services brought to a halt. and in tiiz, people are gearing up to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the arab spring. many hope that just as taiz was able to stand up to one regime then, it can do the same against

the coup. there is a real sense among many people here that the freedoms gained since the uprising have been taken away from them since the houthi coup. there is little hope among many yemenis that the u.n. talks can in fact restore democracy. jam ah alsair, yemen. and still ahead cacialghts outside a football pitch in egypt. and the africa cup of nations more from sana in sport. the first egypt last announced a retrial date of february the 12th for al

jazeera journalist baher mohamed and mohamed fahmy who have now spent 408 days in prison about they are accused of supporting the outlawed muslim brotherhood charges they and al jazeera deny. fahmy's family released a statement about a deal in which he gave up his egyptian citizenship so he could be are deported to canada. case failed to produce mohamed fahmy had any links to the muslim brotherhood. it failed to prove an act of terror actually occurred. and the case did not clarify the broadcasting equipment mohamed fahmy was accused of carrying. dahlia fahmy not related to

mohamed fahmy did a retrial actually have to be ordered or could the case have simply been thrown out? >> well, the court ofess court of cessation with the postponing of the trial we all thought that this was going to be a moment where there could be possibly either a throwing-out of charges or this would quietly disappear. when peter greste, one of the three, was deported last week we thought that this would lead to the ultimate deportation of mohamed fahmy because he ultimately denounced his citizenship and there was a presidential decree that was ordered last november that foreign nationals could be deported to their home countries. and when we didn't see mohamed fahmy deported ultimately we are

seeing that if the trial does begin this week which is what we are being told is going to happen he's less likely to be deported if the trial actually begins. if the trial begins, it's unlikely that in the middle of the trial he will be deported to egypt. or to canada. >> fahmy's family have spoken out today they say the deal that had been agreed for him to renounce his citizenship and to be deported hasn't gone through despite the fact that they were approached 50 egyptian authorities for mohamed to do that. they also say the general prosecutor is blocking that deportation, the prime minister and the president actually want him to go. >> well, the interesting thing about that is, that the general prosecutor, the head of the court of cessation are all appointed by the president. the presumption that the court is actually independent of the authority of the president is actually a false premise.

ultimately, mohamed fahmy, baher mohamed and many of the other journalists are caught in a political limbo the president actually does have authority to decree, just as he issued the presidential decree. he's the one that appointed this chief prosecutor. >> even more complicated of course for baher mohamed who remains an egyptian national and therefore couldn't get deported under this decree. what happens under this trial is it the same evidence presented, can new evidence be presented, is it the same prosecutor, how long might it last? >> well, we don't know how long it is going to last and this could be an indefinite process and that's why the hope was mohamed fahmy would be deported. the interesting thing is now that he's already renounced his egyptian citizenship will during the trial mohamed fahmy and baher mohamed an egyptian be tried in the same way and what about those being tried in absentia and those journalists that are not in egypt all of

these questions will be answered during this coming trial and during this coming phase. the question is will the judiciary be independent or will these two journalists along with others be caught in a political limbo between the egyptian president, the judiciary but more so that they are actually stuck in a geopolitical situation between egypt qatar and saudi arabia, and egypt is continuing to hedge its bets using the lives of these journalists. >> sally fahmy, thank you very much indeed. a stampede outside aen egyptian football pitch osama ben javaid now reports. >> this is the funeral of abu katas, a 23-year-old who died at

the football stadium in exierp if families among those mourning those who left to watch a football match and came back in body bags. between local club zamalic and mp some of them did not have tickets. tear gas failed to hold back the crowds. >> suddenly they closed the gate and told us to get out by another gate. they fired tear gas this caused panic and people fell on top of each other. >> the confusion resulted in a stampede. the fan association of the zemalic club called the matter a massacre. egypt's are interior ministry said in a statement that an increasing number of fans without ticks gathered outside the stadium. their numbers exceeded 10,000. they pushed to enter the stadium resulting in the injury of dozens. relations between security

forces and football fans have been tense since the 2011 revolution. football supporters were a part of the mass protests. many had no political affiliations. but the media director at the egyptian football association accuses the outlawed muslim brotherhood of being involved. >> translator: this is an incident that has happened on purpose. they meant to insult the police and take the country back to square 1. the rule of the problem is that they are the branches of the brotherhood. >> the branch of the group says they are part of the muslim brotherhood. condemns the shameful attitude of cool authorities which callously disregarded the deaths the blood the whole traj tragedy of egyptian youth. this isn't the first time. in 2012, 72 people died

following a match in port said. 21 people were sentenced to death for their part in the violence. after sunday's deaths the public pros curiosityprosecutors ordered the investigation. osama ben javi, al jazeera. >> joining us from olympia in washington state thanks for being with us on the program. many remarks made about aggressive tactics not just during this football match but right across europe. who is overseeing and is there any chance these rules might be changed or reformed? >> irfirm i want to premise this by saying? i come at this from the position that the revolution

was popularly backed, i'm not coming at the this from an a priori way. we saw that two weeks ago the murder of shama asabot, during the fourth anniversary of the revolution in which she was shot by police, according to human rights groups. and we're seeing that same impunity imlfd amplified now in the stadium massacre. is there any chance this will stop? the only chance this will stop is if the logic is chald. the logic is that the police are trying to protect the country and therefore any overreach by the police is impossible, and has to be explained by a muslim brotherhood conspiracy. and so this is how the general public who given as i stated in

the gmc beginning does generally speaking support the sisi government. this is how they rationalize the extreme brutality of the police and the security forces. and until people are willing to walk and chew gum at the same time and understand that the government they support also has a security wing has out of control badly trained and seem to have very little regard for egyptian innocent life then we are not going to see a change. >> are the authorities wanting a risk here then that people who are not necessarily politically active who as you say supported the current security situation as it is in egypt is there a risk that they are going to end up being the ones on the street demonstrating against the heavy handedness of police? >> you know it's a tough progression. because of course with the protest law if you do do such a thick then it's been demonstrated time and again that you are risking your life. and the most cynical

interpretation is that this is exactly and perhaps a very realistic interpretation, this is exactly what the police and the security forces want -- the message that they want to send which is don't bother with anything that could possibly be considered any kind of oppositional activity. even wanting to lay a wreath in tahrir of flowers to commemorate the martyrs of the ratification. you run the risk of dying on the street. this is obviously a catastrophe. and a state of affairs that nobody who really, really supports the development of egyptian drags or the country in any way can possibly support. will people take to the streets to protest it? it would have to be a mass scale action as -- maybe as we saw in 2011 for that to be at all effective. we're back to the police state that prevented these kind of,

you know, anything less than a multimillion person demonstration in the first place. >> sarah we must leave it there. joining us from olympia. >> thank you. russian president vladimir putin has arrived in cairo to meet his counterpart abdel fattah al-sisi. aimed at strengthening ties between the two countries. aimed at military confrontation and conflict in the middle east. it's estimated up to 300,000 tons of cocaine pass through honduras in a year. security forces hope that won't be the case for much longer. >> as mary anna sanchez reports. >> every week honduran police

destroy clandestine air strips. the honduran military showed us dozens of clandestine air strips used for transporting cocaine from honduras and venezuela. but it is a seemingly unending task. >> the fourth time trying to destroy this landing strip. but in less than 24 hours they repair them. mangroves lakes and rivers intertwine with patches of land, loading drugs on trucks to take inland or speedboats to head north to mexico or northwest. many of the local community is involved in the trade. >> speedboats or light trains also drop bundles and the tide brings them to shore. many people wait on the beach

for them to try out their luck. but local fishermen say they have never seen drugs on the beach. the local military is reducing the drug flights and it has confiscated 11 million pounds of drugs. >> honduras used to be a transition point. it has left us terrible violence. >> the drug trade fuels the part of the country with the largest in the world. blanca and her children and grandchildren fled, because rival gangs were dumping their victims. >> we had to leave our home, everything, came from here. started from zero, i feel bad but i'll get used to it. >> reporter: blanca found a community where residents watch out for turf battles and protect their families. soldiers say they are confident

they will be able to control the region but their fight by land air and sea covers 17,000 square kilometers. be areas worst affected are not yet able to see the progress. >> there's plenty more to come on this newshour including heading back to court. the politician's trial that divided mariners for more malasians for more than a decade. >> working for answer he on its population loss challenge. >> what sparked tensions ahead of a football match in brafs brazil.

>> protestors are gathering... >> there's an air of tension right now... >> the crowd chanting for democracy... >> this is another significant development... >> we have an exclusive story tonight, and we go live...

>> tonight. >> we're going to the bottom of the sea. >> deep submergence vehicles. >> three, zero, three, six. >> ocean experts have made some miraculous discoveries. >> octopus everywhere. >> but are the most important discoveries yet to come? >> implications for energy and also for climate change. >> "techknow's" team of experts show you how the miracles of science. >> this is my selfie, what can you tell me about my future? >> can affect and surprise us. >> don't try this at home. >> "techknow", where technology meets humanity. tonight, 5:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america. >> welcome back. a reminder of the top stories on al jazeera. u.s. president barack obama says he still hasn't decided whether to supply weapons to ukrainian

forces. angela merkel says diplomatic diplomaticking means should be given a time to work. armies of three countries are now fighting boko haram. egypt has launched an investigation into a stampede outside a cairo football game. toppled residential buildings, city sauce fierce fighting over the weekend. the syrian army has been fighting to regain duma for nearly two years. kurdish fighters in syria are advancing against i.s.i.l.

stefanie dekker reports the. >> they surround the border town of kobani and the victory in that town by the kurdish people protection units or ypg has seemingly upped the momentum, and various other affection uniting to battle a common enemy. >> now we're done with the country side of kobani and god willing, mambeach god willing on to aleppo. >> that doesn't mean this battle is over. i.s.i.l. is threatened to return and still holds large areas along the border with turkey, to rahraqqa and on to iraq. on going air campaign doesn't seem to lessened the threat. in four years the political solution to this war remains a

long way off. stefanie dekker, al jazeera beirut. >> could a gunman have opened fire just hours before the french foreign minister, manuel val arrived? the senior loam official suggested the incident was related to drug crime. greece is going ahead with its plan to roll back austerity measures to try to ease the financial strain on the country. but it's a decision that has met with disapproval from the european union. john siropolous has the story. >> greek prime minister, $280 billion the european union partners lent grease lent greece to make sure it could service its debt, will not make greece better.

>> translator: unfortunately my colleagues this supposed medicine is toxic and the worse thing is the doctor knows it. but he's committed to giving it to us and in private has admitted as much that it is not good only brings harm. >> greece wants four to seven months in which to negotiate how and when it will repay its debt but with neither side budging hopes are slim. the athens stock market fell by almost 5% as confidence in a deal wavered. greece hopes to have an agreement. failing that, it will find itself only two weeks away from the end of its funding program february 28th. in danger of defaulting on its debt. greece has announced it will abolish about $12 billion worth

of taxes that could quickly eat through its cash reserve of just over $2 billion last year unless the economy trowrns growth. european leaders are warning the greeks not to paint themselves in the a corner. >> greece should not assume that sentiment in europe has changed so much that the euro zone will adopt in its entirety. i assume that the upcoming eu summit next thursday will give us an opportunity to exchange views with mr. tsipras. >> in the greek capital the tone is defiant and the particular move is more confident that a better deal can be struck. john siropolous, al jazeera athens. abdel was killed as he was traveling to parliament.

the armed group al shabaab says it is responsible. well on his way to parliament for a key vote on the new cabinet. the new parliament has finally approved the new list provided by the prime minister. it is seen as a key step ton road to proposed elections next year. the united is united nations is warning that two and a half million people could die of hunger in south sudan. unless aid gets to the country quickly. millions have been fleeing fighting for more than a year and several ceasefire between juba and the rebels have collapsed. the hollywood star forrest whittaker is applying for aid. >> there have been issues, months back i was there and i

witnessed some of the children were malnourished and yesterday i was in wy and there was a clear issue but we're trying to avert that now. >> hoping to be cleared of sodomy charges his supporters insist the allegations are politically motivated. sahil rah manreports bemanman reports. >> this is ibrahim walking in and out of court for a decade trying to clear his name. his previous acquittal was overturned last march. now on trial allegations of sodomy were raised shortly after

falling out from the ruling party and being removed from office. it was 1997 and he was the deputy prime minister. charged and convicted he spent several years in jail until the verdict was partially overturned in 2004 when he was released on appeal. he is a charismatic and divisive figure in malasian politics. his supporters believe the government will be concerned if anwar clears his name. >> with this case pending and hanging over his head, he probably wouldn't be able to focus 100% in leading this country to its change. he is still seen as the most significant political leader to bring this country to a better place. >> reporter: he has been a traditionally popular figure among young people and those disaffected with a government that's been in power for over 50 years. often speaking about the change he can offer thousands are willing to listen to him at

gatherings like this in the capital. >> students are our future leader, if i'm not going to be here to help them to defend them, who else is going to be here? >> no one is writing anwar's political obituary yet. if he does go to jail will the opposition fragment? if he is acquitted will this clean bill of health embolden the politician with political gains in recent years? it is this court that will have the final say on his future. it is inevitable that a new chapter is about to be written in the anwar ibrahim story. the reaction of its people to this event. sahil raman, al jazeera.

calling for an end to the unrest that has killed at least 70 people in the last week alone. transport blockade transportation ministers gather at the university for a sit in. fukushima nuclear plant. the international nuclear agency is reviewing the decommissioning. the energy company tepco said it would not be able to decontaminate water at the site before a march deadline. dealing with population growth is a major challenge for governments around the growth. there are still other places that population decline is an

equally important problem. al jazeera went to portland, maine. >> for 80 years this paper mill gave the people of bucksport maine, shut down forever giving 80 -- putting 80 people out of work. >> you think of bucksport they make paper that's what they do. that's what bucksport was about. now we have to find something else to be about. >> this compounds its demographic dilemma. more deaths than births and a shrinking workforce due in part to the oldest media age in the u.s. >> the truth is not that we drof young people -- drove young people away, it's that we didn't

make enough of them. >> in cities like bangor the problem is being attacked by promoting ingredients that could make it a population magnet. >> we have great housing stock you can buy a house here for $125,000, that's a great deal and things like that combined with other things amake bangor a place that young people are looking at for maybe the first time. >> but shorting some prime factors for growing america's population. hispanics whose birth rate is higher than other groups and immigrants from overseas. but in the state's largest city portland hundreds of ratification political asylees and others, tarman arrived here 25 years ago. >> despite the severe winter, people love maine. they love this because it's small.

people are really welcoming refugees and immigrants here. it's a very safe place. >> it is a good place to raise the children. >> safety is one of the reasons that iraqi refugee faisal ali says he's happy to call portland home. he ruins grocery store that draws customers from around the city. >> but in maine we don't have. >> if maine can capitalize on its assets it stands a good chance of reversing its reputation from a point of departure to a desired destination. tom ackerman, al jazeera in maine. >> still to come on the program: ♪ ♪ >> bigs awards ceremony in music wasn't just about song and dance. and england builds up

momentum ahead of the world cup. details ahead with sana.

>> hello again all the sporting action with sana. >> thank you very much, felicity. ivory coast continued to celebrate their victory in equatorial guinea. hundreds of thousands of fans gathered at the airport and filled the streets. penalties on sunday to set up a celebration that's over 20 years in the making.

their only prior success came back in 1992 with this being their third final appearance in nine years. over to brazil now where violent clashes marred a top match on sunday. home game, what sparked their anger was the football federation decision to allow fans attending the game after they had been banned for safety reasons. police made reachts with a arrests after a number of fans throwing bottle rockets. >> cricketers, have received their first victory in a rain reduced match in england crushed the west indies.

started with a battle-smashing 56. in 23 overs. host australia on saturday . pakistan beat bshed bangladesh by three wickets. defeel to new zealand and with an injury-hit squad. good news, the i icc has proved. alexander christophe, has won a stage, 187.5 kilometers saw the riders set off christophe led

from the front 15 remaining riders had to deal with strong winds and sand. norwegian took the sprint win with four stages left. it's one of the world's toughest endurance races in the yukon arctic ultra temperatures fell below 40th below celsius daniel lack has more. >> call it organized kay pops the official start of one of the toughest athletic events of all. fat-tire mountain bikers pedal with cross country skiers. long distance racers haul their sledges along jogging marathoner. vast daunting arctic wilderness.

there's no one reason they race. >> i'm looking forward to be on the trail alone. and i'm looking to finding god out there. >> i lost 118 pounds in eight months i worked very hard to get here and hopefully i can finish the marathon. >> 690 kilometers of frozen landscape. 71-year-old are britain james binks. >> it's because i'm old anybody take any notice? nobody took any notice of me when i was 30. and they all think god if he can do it when i'm that age i should be able to. >> all spots in track mode please. >> it's safety first for organizer robert polehammer who makes sure everyone has got a working satellite device. he spends the rest of the race tracking on their well-being, a labor of love you polite say.

>> different athletic backgrounds, are people with hardly any athletic background, just a love for the outdoors. it's the mixture seeing those people perform it's really something. >> day one is along two flat frozen winters with more mountainous terrain to cross in the days ahead. >> most of us, with the frozen tundra it's rather cold but if you're competitor in this race, it's a pretty good day for running in the yukon arctic ultra. >> this is also the finish line for those running the marathon. it's a final tough slog up a snowy trail for the win are of that event but she got here in less than four hours with a little help from a furry friend. >> it was the trail was really nice. everything went well, it's good.

>> and it goes on for most competitors. those tough enough to make their distances will have slept wild in minus 40° temperatures and survived an ordeal that many would consider. >> that's all in sport. hand you back to felicity. >> the british songwriter sam smith has emerged the big winner. smith took home four trophies on a night which wasn't all about song and dance. jerald tan explains. >> it's called music's biggest night and the big winner at the 57th grammy awards was british soul singer sam smith. his hard baddal stay with me was awarded record and song of the year. the 22-year-old break-out

performer also won best new artist and best pop advocate am album. >> thank you it's the best night of my life. just a quick one. i want to thank man who this record was about who i fell in love with last year, thank you very much because you got me four grammies. >> but it wasn't exactly a clean sweep. the top trophy for album of the year went to american rocker beck for morning theme. >> we made this record at my house for the most part so i'd like to thank reply kids for letting me keep them awake a little bit extra-longer. >> god made us all different. >> the ceremony sint scintillated with other major performances. many of those who have dominated the music industry for decades. but there was also a somber undertone.

singer katie perry teamed up with the u.s. president to shine the spotlight on domestic violence. >> more than one in four women has experienced some form of domestic violence. it's not okay and it has to stop. artists have a unique power to change minds and attitudes. and get us thinking and talking about what matters. >> a grammy's nod to music with a message. jerald tan, al jazeera. >> and there it's just time to remind you that you can always find out much more about our stories over on our website the address to click onto is aljazeera.com. aljazeera.com. currently leading with the latest on the crisis in yemen. and that's just about it from me felicity barr and the newshour team but never fear. i'm going to be back in in a couple of minutes with much more of the day's news. in the meantime, thanks for

watching. watching.

>> these people have decided that today they will be arrested >> i know that i'm being surveilled >> people are not getting the care that they need >> this is a crime against humanity >> hands up! >> don't shoot! >> hands up! >> don't shoot! >> what do we want? justice! >> when do we want it?

>> now! >> they are running towards base... >>...explosions going off we're not quite sure... >> fault lines al jazeera america's award winning, investigative series... on al jazeera america >> some are blind. others are ridden with cancer. many have serious mental illness. all of them are old. and a few will never get out alive.