>> this is al jazeera. >> hello welcome to the al jazeera news hour, i'm folly bah thibault in doha. in the next five minutes. >> our alliance is strong, our friendship is strong and with your help, it will get stronger in the years to come. >> prime minister benjamin netanyahu says there is nothing

to change the relationship. and for russia, ukraine's ceasefire is in place sooner rather than later. and any nim any nimibia's outgoing president is awarded a prize. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu insists insists relations between israel and united states are strong. on tuesday netanyahu will address the u.s. congress which this is upset the administration of u.s. president barack obama. righted to congress by the republican house speecial john speaker john

boehner without his knowledge. >> we are more than friends. we're like a family, we're practice cliz meshpuka. , disagreements amongst the family are always uncomfortable but we must always rep that we are family. family -- remember that we are all family. rooted in a common heritage, upholding common values, sharing a common destiny and that's the message i came to tell you today. our alliance is sound. our friendship is strong. and with your efforts, it will get even stronger in the years to come. >> in a moment we will speak with imtiaz tyab. but, the alliance is strong but this is a very controversial trip nonetheless.

>> reporter: it is because of the circumstances and the timing. the fact that he is coming at the invitation of the republicans and without advance notice given to the white house. while the administration is tyingtrying negotiate the terms of the agreement between iran. as of today, secretary of state john kerry meeting with his iranian counterpart and kerry saying in jeefn geneva he is cautioning not to allow details of the negotiations to be discussed publicly. obviously a reference to the fact that the americans are upset that the israelis have been leaking certain terms of the deal which are objectionable to them. most importantly the enrichment of uranium and also, the terms of the enforcement of the deal and its length. so those are some of the points of revenues. in his speech today netanyahu

didn't refer specifically to that. his main emphasis was basically on assuring his audience which is largely, it must be said, sympathetic as most jewish voters are to the democrats that he is not trying to impose a divide between republicans and democrats in the u.s. congress.. whether that will be accepted at face value we may see tomorrow. when perhaps 30 democrats will stay away from the actual speech as well as vice president joe biden who normally presides or co--presides over joint meetings of the congress. folly. >> let's cross over now to jerusalem and join imtiaz tyab. netanyahu's appearance approaches a very important date in israel, a tight campaign. what do people in israel make of this trip and the controversy

that surrounded it? the relationship the tensions between obama and netanyahu? >> reporter: well, there's a few camps. there is one camp that strongly supports the prime minister. that says that any opportunity an israeli leader is given oaddress u.s. lawmakers for a threat or perceived threat to israel, he should take it. but on the other side you have those who are teenly critical of prime minister benjamin netanyahu to address this joint house of congress. people saying that he is basically trying to score political points at the expense of israel's relationship with the united states. its most powerful ally. but in the background of all of that you also have those israelis who are somewhat indifferent to all this noise that is coming out of washington about this speech. especially when you consider this election which is going to

be held in around two weeks' time. if you look at the polling data most voters are concerned about the economy. mr. netanyahu is of course going to be talking about security, specifically about the threat that he perceives that iran could be. with any kind of deal that it doesn't ensure that iran doesn't -- or is capable of enriching yeurmriching yurm atriching 800 numberriching 800riching uranium in any stage. >> imtiaz, thank you very much indeed. nawan bashar, we are going to be talking about a new deal with iran. there's no denying there is bad blood between obama and netanyahu. this has been going on for

years. but what about the u.s. israeli relationship, where does it stand? >> it has been developed over years. started with the comairn americanization of israel. israel is a little american state. american foreign policy under george bush, the catastrophic invasion of iraq. there is an administrative nucialinstitutional elitist factors israel is a client of the united states, there is a political influence within washington, within the united states called the israeli lobby that will continue to lobby for that relationship. i think the relationship is solid. if we look two years from now under jeb bush or hillary clinton, i think the relationship will go unfettered and unabated as it is today. but has it been damaged to a certain degree, yes last it

been sort of dented, yes. but does it remain solid to a large degree yes. >> the fact that netanyahu and obama the fact that they don't get along anymore. >> it has been bad from the beginning but it's been bad not just because they don't like each other. because in 2009, america moved to the left and israel moved further to the right and there are political and strategic reasons why the two leaders don't agree. >> okay. >> and that will take me to the actual reasons why netanyahu is there. one: netanyahu is there to undermine obama on iran. two, in order to win the israeli elections he is looking more and more presidential, defending israel so on so forth and three so he can avoid talking about occupied palestine. no answers for america or for palestine, and trying to undermine all three. >> will whatever netanyahu says

at the congress, he's already touched a little bit about it in front of the apeck apec meeting will anything he has to say have anything to do with the negotiations with iran? >> absolutely not. this is the third speech that netanyahu gives to congress and in the last two speeches he gave exactly the same spiel about iran supporting terror, dangerous to israel, so on, so forth, everyone heard this before, knows this. the question is what is the solution? the solution as far as the obama administration is concerned is there are public utility and diplomatic ways in which to basically limit contain and make sure iran will never develop nuclear weapons. neither the capacity, the question whether iran has the knowledge to? yes it does. but will it have the capacity or will it be able to develop? obama says we have an answer, it's a diplomatic one political one. we don't need the alternative which could be a disaster to the

middle east region. >> thank you very much indeed mawan, and more on the relationship on our website aljazeera.com. now, the u.s. secretary of state says moscow and pro-russian separatists in ukraine must fully implement a ceasefire or russia will face further consequences. john kerry calling for an examination of human rights violations in ukraine. the ceasefire is holding despite hundreds of lives left around donetsk and debaltseve. barnaby phillips has more from geneva. >> at a lake side hotel in geneva, another round of talks between john kerry and sergey lavrov. they know each other well but they seem to be having a dialogue of the death.

mr. lavrov says the minsk agreement is starting to have a positive influence in ukraine. >> translator: the ceasefire is starting to take hold. those calling for weapons deliveries to ukraine will bear a heavy responsibilities for breaking the peace process. >> john kerry says the minsk disagreement was being selectively implemented and threatened more economic sanctions against russia. >> if there continue to be these broad swaths of noncompliance or there continues to be a cherry picking as to where heavy equipment will be moved back from, without knowing where it's been moved to, then there would be inevitably further consequences, that will place added strain on russia's already troubled economy. >> debaltseve is one of several places where fighting continue ed after the minsk agreement. john kerry was critical of what he called a lack of clarity in the agreement as to what should happen in the strategic town.

the u.n. answer latest report on eastern ukraine released here in geneva paints a bleak picture of the humanitarian situation. it speaks of the merciless deaf stakes of -- devastation of civilian lives. foreign fighters are continuing to flow into eastern ukraine from russia. i asked the report's author for more detail on human rights abuses. >> we had for example serious allegations of people being tortured there were some video released that groups were at least threatening or possibly using hammers as well as surgery equipment to make people confess. this is very serious. who's -- >> bhos doingwho's doing this? >> rebel groups. >> a conflict russia and the

west continue to interpret in very different ways. barnaby phillips, al jazeera geneva. >> says there is evidence both ukraine and pro-russian separatists are creating abuses. >> in fact you know both of them are firing indiscriminately into populated areas using grad rockets, sometimes using cluster munitions. there have been reports from both sides of arbitrarily detaining people, torturing them and in some cases disappearing people. there's plenty of abuse for the u.n. human rights council to focus on. what we need is passionate reporting on both sides to stop them not the partisanship that both sides carry and lavrov shows. >> ings capturing the city ofity

citi has been in i.s.i.l.'s hands since june but iraqis are not alone in the mission. the army is backed by iran 2,000 sunni fighters, ships and gun ships are also being deployed toitytotikrit. >> , we willing liberate the citizens of rming samarra and others in the province for islamic state militants. i call on you and all militants to terrorism of daesh. we should protect the citizens and their properties. >> jane arraf has more from

baghdad. >> since i.s.i.l. took over large parts of the country last june tikrit was one of the first cities that they seized after that and it's remained pretty much an i.s.i.l. stronghold since then. the iraqi military has tried to take back the city, saddam hussein's home town but it stopped short before of this kind of major offensive. and this one is huge. more than 20,000 fighters. iraqi military fighters along with iranian backed shia militias. about 2,000 of them it's the sunnies that prime minister haider al-abadi appealed to in the start of this operation saying those that had been misled and aligned themselves with i.s.i.l. would be pardoned if they laid downtown their arms. he has reached out to the iraqi parliament talking to sunni members who ended their boycott. military forces have approached the city from three fronts.

in the town of abdur they say they have taken it back after street to street fighting. there are major worries still. not only taking back that city which has been wigd rigged with explosives by i.s.i.l this city is important not only militarily, but it's near tikrit, a camp where more than 1,000 young recruits were killed by i.s.i.l a huge political issue. there's so much potential to deepen the sectarian rift that the u.n. has warned earn that everyone that they must adhere to basic human rights. a difficult task many fear. infighting causes one side to addition band. south africa's ambitions to host the continent's first olympics.

first, i.s.i.l. last released 21 christian hostages who were abducted in northern syria but the group is still holding more than 200 christians from the minority assyrian community. they were taken from syria's al hasaka province. some were welcomed at a church in hasaka city. a coalition has disbanded after a confrontation with al nusra front. the rebel group had received weapons and training from the united states and qatar. zeina khodr has the report. >> they lost many men in the fight and the hasamming movement has appeared to collapse. they died fighting al qaeda's affiliates in syria and the

western country side of aleppo. a few days ago the nusra front declared all out war. it is a charge the u.s. backed group denies but nevertheless the hasam movement has decided to disband. in a statement that spokesman said the syrian military began to advance on several front lines in recent days, as long as hasam remained it would be a target for nusra and a distraction for opposition. the fighting in aleppo was not the first confrontation with nusra. a few months ago news. pushed the hasem out. it was the first group to receive sophisticated weapons from the u.s. but its links with the west only earned it enemies on the ground. the fact that this hasam movement no longer exists is a set back to u.s. plans to arm and train a rebel force but this is not only obstacle the obama administration faces. it is finding it hard to

convince rebels that the force it wants to train will be used to fight the islamic state of iraq and the levant. for the opposition, the priorities should be, fighting the government. syrians in opposition controlled areas are worried. the rebel infighting coincides with government efforts to control aleppo city and cut off supply license to turkey. >> we call on the rebels to stop fighting each other. nusra should go to the front of line and fied regime instead. fight the regime instead. they are trying to lay siege to aleppo. >> hasam was one of the few rebel groups the obama administration trusted. some individual members may join but if and when that u.s. force is ready it will face opposition not just from the government and i.s.i.l. but from within rebel ranks. zeina khodr, al jazeera

barrettbeirut. >> yemen's president abdul mansowrmansour hadi, natasha guinane report. >> abdel mansour hadi is a president whose role has become unclear. rebel shia houthis put him under arrest. now he's conducting business in the southern port city of aden. he met with several leaders of surrounding provinces. >> translator: we came carrying a message of peace to all yemen. >> the president asked the houthis to help unite country. he accused them of conspiring with iran to scuttle a democratic transition. >> translator: we called them for a dialogue. we do not know that the dialogue

will bring rights to those oppressed, tens of years. the results of the dialogue support a united yemen. >> but houthi leaders seem to be focus owned the relationship with iran. the first direct flight from tehran arrived from senat this week. the houthis signed an agreement with iran to have 14 direct flights a week between the two countries. >> translator: these fights come in the context of breaking the international isolation imposed specifically by america and saudi arabia on yemen. iran, russia and other countries are opening spheres for yemen. >> critics fear those flights might bring weapons to arm the houthis, international allies split along party lines as uncertain as ever. natasha guinane, al jazeera. >> north korea has warned of,

quote, merciless strikes against its enemies. two short range missiles flew for about 500 kilometers before entering the ocean. there seems to be protests of joint military drills, against south korea and the u.s. which begin on monday. >> reporter: when two countries ever are still technically at war any show of force makes everyone nervous. joint drills, every year north korea responds. this time it fired two short range missiles before the south korean drills even began. >> translator: this is a deliberate provocation seen as an armed protest. we are ready to respond immediately. if it takes provocative action, our government will respond so

north korea will respond bitterly. >> their part of a south korean organization campaigning for both koreas to be reunited as one country. >> translator: we are against all military action taken place in the korean peninsula. if the exercise north korea continues and north korea retaliates a state of war similar to what happened in 2003 will again be a reality. >> but we've heard all of this before and even an analyst from the international crisis group isn't worried. kim jong-un has told them to be ready for war but if you look at the text it is all in the context of deterrent. they are trying to gauge the reaction of the south and its allies and see if they can coerce the south into changing its behavior and cancelling its exercises. >> in other words this may just be another case of posturing. however, history that is taught us that the standoff ton korean

peninsula is unpredictable. emica moli, al jazeera. >> a small troop is on high alert on a mission to wipe out opium farms scattered along the border with china. florence lui has the story. >> it is a time for extra vigilance. its fighters patrol around the uptownship. fighting for more autonomy. >> we are part we cannot live

under the pressure of myanmar's military. >> admit to an alliance with kokang fighters, come under attack in the last weeks but they believe there is another reason they are being targeted. poppy fields flourish here, accused of aiding and protecting. >> this morning the pang tsi military attacked us five times. we have destroyed opium fields. >> the taang has agreed to stop fighting five years ago. they say things only got worse including a growing addiction rate among the local population. their story illustrates how complex negotiating a nationwide ceasefire deal is. >> what we have is a very rooted, deep rooted conflict.

the conflict started in 1948, along with the independence. so you cannot or one cannot simply endure almost 70 years of conflict, 70 years of destruct, overnight. >> so far several deadlines to sign a peace deal has passed. but negotiations continue. another round of talks is scheduled to begin in yangon later this month. the president still wants a seaferceasefire agreement. the government and more than a dozen armed ethnic groups remain divided. florence lui yangon, myanmar. >> buried under meters of snow, former guantanamo babe detainees

struggling to adapt. and in sports, three time major golf champion who has ended a seven-year title drought. stay with us. >> now available, the new al jazeea america mobile news app. get our exclusive in depth, reporting when you want it. a global perspective wherever you are. the major headlines in context. mashable says... you'll never miss the latest news >> they will continue looking

for survivors... >> the potential for energy production is huge... >> no noise, no clutter, just real reporting. the new al jazeera america mobile app available for your apple and android mobile device. download it now he's out there. there's a guy out there whose making a name for himself in a sport where your name and maybe a number are what define you. somewhere in that pack is a driver that can intimidate the intimidator. a guy that can take the king 7 and make it 8. heck. maybe even 9. make no mistake about it. they're out there. i guarantee it. welcome to the nascar xfinity series.

>> discipline... >> that's what i wanna hear... >> strength... >> give me all you got... >> respect.... >> now... >> bootcamp >> stop your'e whining... >> for bad kids... >> they get a little dirty... so what... >> dangerous... >> we have shackles with spit bag... >> they're still having nightmares >> if you can't straighten out your kids... >> they're mine >> al jazeera america presents camp last resort on al jazeera america >> this is the true definition of tough love

>> welcome back, a reminder of our top stories on al jazeera. israeli's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu has denied reports of strained relations with the u.s. he is in washington where he addressed a major jewish lobby. on tuesday netanyahu will speak to the u.s. congress which has upset many democrats. iraq has stepped up a majors operation to recapture the city of tikrit from the islamic state of iraq and the levant. tikrit has been in the hands of i.s.i.l. since last june. and u.s. secretary of state john kerry has threatened russia with further consequences that will hurt its economy if a full ceasefire is not implemented in eastern ukraine. more than 6,000 people have died since fighting in eastern ukraine began in april. john kerry has accused

pro-russian separatists of withdrawing heavy weapons from the front line in selective areas only. acting in line with a deal made in minsk last month. john hendren reports from the rebel held town of donetsk. >> reporter: the machinery of war keeps rolling through a fragile ceasefire. the silence is broken daily by small arms fire and mortars. that's hours he says. -- that's ours he says. in so complete ceasefire can't exist. before you arrived here several small shells landed on our side. before we fired back there were grenade launchers fired on us. >> reporter: as occasional volleys continual violate the ceasefire, a report from the united nations says 6,000 have

died so far. >> translator: the ceasefire from our side, we are not just trying, we are holding it completely. the firing in peske yesterday was because the separatists started to open fiber. fire. >> a landscape transformed with the war and with each passing day the front line continues to shift. in weekend fighting three were killed. few here at the ukraine front line in pieske expect the ceasefire to hold. >> translator: we are preparing to deflect their attack. >> separatists seem to want to gain on the gains they have railroad made, the front line may shift again. john hendren, al jazeera eastern ukraine. russia is violating its

commitment according to u.n alexander versoi, addressing is a conference in weapons of mass destruction being held in qatar. hashem anhel bara reports. >> is little is arms trafficking. i.t. was the crisis in ukraine. >> what is concerning about ukraine is the russian federation has taken a 10 backward from its international commitments by violating the sovereignty of a neighbor. and that raises concerns as to whether they will sustain their commitments against the use of helps of mass destruction.

>> reporter: but this could be nato's biggest concern. i.s.i.l. fighters taking over more territory in syria and iraq and spreading the ideology in the muslim world. the international military alliance says it's determined otake on i.s.i.l. a coalition led by the u.s., how important regional partners including qatar which has set up the committee for the prevention of weapons. the first body in the region responsible for ensuring chemical materials do not fall into the wrong hands. >> translator: we play a significant role in international peace and security. in 2004 we created the convention of the prevention of chemical weapons. we have reached a stage where we train neighboring countries.

>> a divisive issue here in the middle east, iran is negotiating a deal with the international community. if there is an agreement tehran would be allowed to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. but the general sentiment in the region is that the whole middle east including israel should be free of weapons of mass destruction. >> libya no longer is now a member of the chemical weapons convention. syria has acceded to the chemical weapons convention. so you already have a better basis to start from. but on the other hand you still have israel not being a member of the mpt and egypt not being a member of the chemical weapons convention. >> reporter: but if syria and libya are seen as a success story by renouncing their weapons of mass destruction ambitions, efforts continue to convince countries like north korea to reverse its 2003 decision to pull out from the

nonproliferation treaty. the nato conference comes at a time of growing challenges facing the international community, including the conflicts in libya syria and yemen, along with the rising influence of i.s.i.l. in the middle east. tacking aggressively to promote further instability. hashem ahelbarra, al jazeera. >> at least 40 people have been wounded in violence between the naza people and security forces in the past several days. the naza says four sugar plantations are part of their ancestral land and they refuse to leave. when in you're gay it uruguay

daniel schwindler spoke to some in the capital montevideo. >> a chef ss delighted to be offered a new home in uruguay. new i.t. was long from the life he had been living. as a prisoner never charged with a crime but no home to return to. >> i want to stay in uruguay to rebuild my life. if i didn't what would i do? i have no pachtd or papers. i asked the americans to send me back to teuns app yah but they refused. >> asked the uruguay ann authorities for help. he would like to be reunited

with his mother. now live in a nearby hotel. he says it was too crowded. their costs are covered by the government here and the united nations refg agency. their resettlement was a priority for president jose mojeka who just left office. his successor is less reticent about the project. none was willing to discuss their time in guantanamo at least not yet but the most obvious message that came through, is that they wanted to be reeurnd with his reunited with

his family. >> would like to travel more to publicize their case. meanwhile, it is a case of waiting and waiting. >> i don't know about the future. the future for us is unknown. only god knows the future. >> reporter: it's a future in a foreign land which is no longer so sure that it wants them and where the men are struggling to learn the language. while relieved to be away from guantanamo freedom is also fraught with difficulties. daniel schwindler, al jazeera montevideo. >> increased activity from the villa riko volcano. the area might have to be evacuated. the volcano which lies 650 kilometers from the capital santiago spewed out lava from

its carat on sunday. scientists feel more eruptions are possible. avalanche buried underneath bad snow. the worst snowfall to hit afghanistan in 30 years. eastern province of panshir on sunday rescue teams had been able to access some remote villages, cut off for the last week. nicole johnston reports. >> emergency crews are finally able to get to some of the districts that have been cut off by these heavy snow storms and avalanches. we just visited the area of dara and as we arrived the road had also been cleared. in one of the villages, 30 people had been killed and people there had had to dig mass graifers togragraves to bury bodies.

many were complained that they hadn't received enough help from the government. the government is now giving them $2,000 for every person who has been killed in these snow storms and ongoing avalanches. now while that area is getting some hem, there are plenty of other areas such as pavellon district. the reason for that is the weather in that part of pansheer has closed in. there's still snow storms, snow is making it very difficult for represents to land there. many of those villages are still cut off. the emergency crews and government haven't been able to even make contact with them. and eventually once they do it's expected that the debt toll will rise much higher than it already has. >> the mo ibrahim prize for

outstanding african leadership, has been awarded to the president of namibia. the founder of the organization in the prize mo ibrahim spoke to al jazeera about why the award has not been given every year. >> our prize was given four times in the last seven or eight years. now, it is a price for excellence in leadership. and we're not lowering our standards. it is not a it's people who go and do an extraordinary job. that is a tough benchmark. i speak to the people in europe, so far is this prize responsible for presidents and leaders? how many would be leaders who won this prize in the last eight years? africa really is not doing badly to find four excellent leaders

in eight years. this is a not common prize. i expect that we have some challenges in africa, but we are moving forward. 95% of african people today live under better government societies than ten years ago. it's not perfect. and it's not by wide margin. but it is a movement forward. so what we need is to, in civil society, continue this scrutiny and we move forward you know one step at a time. >> in liberia children are back in the classroom after several months away from school. liberia of course was worst hit by the ebola outbreak. so public institutions were closed months ago to try to stop the rise of the virus. hand washing stations will be set up and students will have their temperatures comekd at the beginning of each day.

now to south africa where 60% of sex workers are hiv positive. rights groups say that's why the government needs to decralz the de decriminalize the profession. >> some men pay more so they don't have to wear a condom. 60% ever south africa's sex workers are hiv positive. they argue the law isn't in tune with reality the government encourages condom use but some police use them as proof of contractual. criminality and brings their use to an abrupt end. >> some sex workers fear carrying condoms that almost

states i am opursuit. a prostitute. >> she's hiv positive too but the government's first hiv positive program due to the launched this year won't work. >> translator: the health program will only work when sex work has been decralzed. we'redecriminalized. >> there is some precedent south africa is a largely conservative society but has taken a more liberal stance in other african countries on civil issues. both abortion and same sex marriage is legal here. the deputy minister of justice accepts that the current situation does not work. >> it's criminal in south africa but that system has not helped.

we will ultimately have to do what is right. >> many people may take some convincing but south africa's unenviable status of having the highest prevalence of hiv in the world may be the deciding factor. that alone may convince the government that if only answer is to decriminalize the oldest profession in the world. tanya page, al jazeera. >> just ahead annual technology conference, we'll tell you what's making a bust. >> i'm pauls re, with the sport that is lifting the site of a new olympic medal.

>> welcome back. now every year more technology companies gather in barcelona for a display of the industry's latest innovations. divine the technology we have in our lives. tarek bazley reports. >> until now motion sensors have been too expensive and not effective enough. >> we are bringing in performance metrics which help the audience and the judges truly understand and/or measure what the athletes are doing many

how high they went, how much they spun. >> and data becomes important for action sports as well. this bmx borderer, allows him to record movements as small as 5 millimeters in real time and that data is recorded 400 times a second. sensors too are small enough they are able to be fidded into fitted into the handle of a tennis racquet. >> you have your average and then the serves, the forehappened and the backforehandand the backhand. you improve. improve came from you. >> sensors also help industries such as agriculture and manufacturing. their use of smart venting mches venting

machines tell the vendor what needs to be removed or replaced. >> you'll see a tremendous amount of communications technology in latin america eastern europe and part of south africa. >> with headsets like these becoming a real time reality. mobile 5 g technical which could power an imaginary holographic hand set like this one. billions of devices and sensors coming online the years ahead connecting them will become the latest achallenge. tarek bazley, recording. >> the richest people in the

world, who's on top? bill gates. microsoft's co-founder has topped the list for 16 of the past 21 years. in second place is mexican communications mogul carlos slim who is worth 77.1 billion. and warren buffett moved up to 72.1 billion. not very rich but has the sports. >> always wanted to be described as a mogul don't think that is going to happen. south africa city of durbin has confirmed it is bidding for the olympics in 2022. and can lead to the first african olympics. while there are no other contenders to date, durbin hoping a successful games will

increase africa's chances of hosting a future olympics. >> i think if we look at the olympic rings five rings africa's the only continent that hasn't hosted the games. we'll bring it back home or bring it to africa for the first time. i think we are deserving if we can show in 2022 we can do a good job. >> in golf padraic harrington, won the rain delayed honda classic. clinched the playoff on the sixth extra hole. his last trick tri was i have tri was vicity was the 2008

classic. >> nadal says it's important for his sport to protect the future much clay court events. >> translator: we are playing more and more hard court tournaments. so what's clear is that players are going to finish their careers more worn-out and in worse physical shape and life after tennis is long in theory. and so personally speaking when i finish playing tennis i would like to be able to play a game of football, different sports with friends and family. in all truth playing so many years on hard courts makes our life more and more difficult. >> back in charge of cricket in india. dalmay was the only candidate for president. srinavasan holds a court case for possible conflict of

interests. after almost two as soon as out sceerskier lindsay vonn, former olympic world champion, third overall in the superg, the australia ran beating over all to the top of the podium. the -- all in austrian beating over all to the top of the podium. an effort to qualify the next year rio olympics chem threetsathletes have named their training center alcatraz.

>> puxg his body just far enough to get to the dream of an olympic medal and doing everything his coach tells him. this is the ocean yah weightia training institute, aka alcatraz. for david it's worth it. last summer he won the first sporting medal for cirabau. the entire pacific had only a couple of weight lifters. until italian weight lifter arrived in the 1980s. now it's a craze. to become national heros. >> oh it meanings a lot. it's like going to visit obama that's what it means to the people in the pacific because they know that this is the best

place to train. and here's the best coach. >> athletes do their own cooking and cleaning and there's one strike and out rule on drinking smoke and relationships. few ever leave. >> i don't think other countries can cope with the pressure that we are applying here. discipline is very, very important. and today specifically if winning gold medals come with games and the next thing may be the olympics. >> islanders have taken the commonwealth games by storm but the best at the olympics is a fourth place finish. but with rio 2016 just around the corner, the coach can smell a medal. held by unique transferable skills. as these solicitors use native strength and discipline to climb towards the level of professional athletes in europe and asia.

it would be just the second time one of the islands had would be any olympic medal only 17 months of lifting to go. paul reese, al jazeera mondor new caledonia. >> you can check out that story and much more on our website aljazeera.com/sport. more from me later on but that's sport for me now folly. >> thank you very much indeed. the international festival of color has over india people cover each other with powdered pigment, all in the name of fun. holly officially starts thursday to celebrate the passing of winter and ushering in of spring. i'm folly bah thibault, and berra serra is next.

please stay with us next. of the day's events. then at 8:00, john seigenthaler digs deeper into the stories of the day. and at 9:00, get a global perspective on the news. weeknights, on al jazeera america .

>> stronger than ever, the israeli prime minister says, there's no strain in his country's relationship with the united states. hello there i'm barbara serra, you're watching al jazeera live from london. launching an operation to retake the city of tikrit from i.s.i.l. fighters. as the u.n. hux rights council human rights council meets in geneva,. and you