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tv   News  Al Jazeera  March 2, 2015 4:00pm-5:01pm EST

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on al jazeera america >> this is the true definition of tough love hello. this is the news hour live from london. coming up on the program, stronger than ever the israeli prime minister says there is no strain in his country's relationship with the united states iraqi security forces launch a major operation to retakety tikrit from isil fighters and the u.s. threatens further sanctions for russia over its role in the conflict in eastern ukraine and south africa's sex
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workers demand a change in law to bring a change to their lives. israel's prime minister has defended his scheduled speech to the u.s. congress saying he does not mean to disrespect president barack obama. benjamin netanyahu's invitation by the speaker of the house to address congress is seen as a rebuke to barack obama. israel is at odds of the obama administration over their pursuit of talks with iran over nuclear weapons. >> america and israel are more than friends. we're like a family. we're practically -- now, disagreements in the family are always uncomfortable. but we must always remember that we are family.
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[applause] [applause]. >> rooted in a common heritage up holding 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. >> let's go live now to tom who's been following all the developments from washington d.c. very strong words there of course from the israeli president reiterating how strong the relationship is between israel and the u.s. what are we expecting him to say to congress on tuesday. >>reporter: probably in more detail the kinds of objections that israel has to the course of the negotiations ongoing between the u.s. the other five powers and iran. specifically the israeli's objections whether or not he goes into such detail but
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nevertheless, the israelis specifically object even the process of iran continuing with their uranium enrichment program and they're also very dubious about certain key provisions which is a ten to 15 years duration for the agreement after which the question is how will it -- what happens to iran afterwards? does it then break out as a nuclear power or in any event if the agreement is reached, how will it be enforced. and the israelis have been told by secretary of state john kerry just today as he's been talking with his iranian counterpart that he does not want to see the israelis leak the details of these very sensitive negotiations lest they actually contribute to the actual negotiations. telling president obama that if the negotiations fail then
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israel really has no other recourse and is asking israel so what, what's their alternative to what the u.s. administration is doing right now. >> and tom, just a little bit more on that point. obviously the visit has proved very divisive. do you think it could have any impact on the negotiations themselves? what's the obama administration saying? >>reporter: well on tuesday, some of the 16,000 delegates from aipac will descend on congress and implore their local congressman to move forward on a sanctions package that would be enacted by the march 24th deadline if talks collapse. that in and of itself the administration objects to and the president says he would veto such a measure but it would contribute to further distrust and, in fact that very fact
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that they're actively lobbying against the position of the obama administration is something that really bothers the administration here. many democrats in obama's party are upset that netanyahu basically has driven -- forcing them to choose between their president and the israeli position on these negotiations. >> tom actorman in washington d.c. thank you now we go to jerusalem. >>reporter: there's two counts. one that strongly supports the prime minister saying that any opportunity an israeli leader is given to address u.s. law makers for a threat or a perceived threat to israel he should take it. but on the other hand you have those who are deeply critical of prime minister benjamin netanyahu's decision to address
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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. it's most powerful ally. but in the background of all of that, you also have those israelis who are somewhat indifferent to all of 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-week's time. most voters are concerned about the economy if you look at the polling data. mr. netanyahu 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 uranium at any stage. but these people these voters if you will, they really want him to be looking at the economy, something netanyahu has
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been accused of being weak at in the past iraqi security forces have launched a major operation to try to retake the city of tikrit from isil fighters. it's one of the largest cities held by isil and lies on the road connecting baghdad to mosul. but it's not just the iraqi army involved. 2,000 sunni tribal fighters are also involved. if the operation is successful the iraqi government forces and their allies then plan to launch a much larger offensive to recapture mosul from isil fighters and that offensive could take place as early as april or may. >> today, god willing, we will
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start an important military campaign to liberate the citizens of the province which includes samara al allam, and tikrit, and other areas in the province from islamic state militants. so i call upon you to deal with citizens well. our goal is to liberate people from the oppression and terrorism of daish. >> we have more details now from baghdad. >>reporter: this is the first battle for a major sunni city since isil took over large parts of the country last june. tikrit was one of the first cities they seized after that and it's remained an isil strong hold since then. the iraqi military has tried to take back the city but it's stopped short of this kind of major offensive. and this one is huge. more than 20,000 fighters iraqi
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military forces along with iranian-backed shia fighters. it's the sunni's al abadi appealed to saying that those who had been misled and aligned themselves with isil would be pardonened as they lay down their arms. he's also reached out to the iraqi parliament talking to sunni members of parliament who ended their boycott. on the ground, iraqi military forces have approached the city from three fronts. they have taken one town back after street-to-street fighting. but there are major worries still, not only taking back that city which has been rigged with explosives but of revenge killings that might happen in conjunction with the fighting. this city is important because it's near tikrit where more than 1,000 young recruits were killed by isil.
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a huge political issue. >> now here's a closer look at the battle of tikrit and the importance of capturing the city. >>reporter: isil first started making major gains in syria in 2013. by 2014, it was declaring a caliphate. in august 2014 u.s.-led air strikes helped kurdish ground forces break isil's siege of mount sinjar. in november pro government forces recaptured the home to iraq's biggest oil refinery. more recently pashmerga fighters have been making
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advances. although the u.s. has indicated they may not be ready by then. but they first need to recapture the city of tikrit because of its strategic location to baghdad. previous attempts have failed and there's likely to be strong resistance there. >> for more on this let's go live to fox island in washington state and speak to a senior advisor for the national security network and also former u.s. army major general. sir, thank you so much for joining us here on al jazeera. first of all, what do you think will be the major challenges faced by iraqi security forces? >> any urban warfare, attack is a complex military event, and we have a complex force. this is a force that has not developed habitual relationships, it's going to integrate air and helicopter
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support. complex urban warfare with a complex attacking force, an enemy that is blooded and proven and this is going to be a tough fight. but it's a necessary fight en route to the attack on mosul. >> i guess a lot of the impact is that the air strikes led by the u.s. coalition have made this easier. do you think there's anything else that the coalition could do to help the iraqi security forces at this juncture? >> absolutely. you've got to isolate the objective to the capacity you can. and it's already underway. we've got three sides of tikrit that is covered and you've got to eliminate the lines of communication for the attack on this city. and it should also be noted that tikrit has great psychological value given that it was the home
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city, the home of saddam hussein. >> do you worry that it's really not just the iraqi army at all. there's also shia militia there as well. >> indeed. troop discipline is going to be critical. so the value of having senior leadership, even if it is from iran carries value. and the back fill once you occupy is how you back fill the occupied terrain, the level of discipline that you impose upon it that is absolutely vital to the long term outcome here. >> obviously tikrit is symbolic. mosul would really be that. it was really the turning point
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of bringing isil to the attention to the world in the summer of 2014. do you think if mosul was conquered that would be the end of isil in iraq? >> it would be a great leap forward. it's right on the border very close to the northern three provinces that are traditionally kurdish. it is a nexus and it is a vital component of the campaign to ultimately destroy isis. >> senior advisor for the national security network and also former u.s. army major general. thank you so much. >> my pleasure. thank you very much. >> much more to come on the program including yemen's political factions are heading back to the negotiation table but can compromise be reached? libya names a controversial
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general as the new head of the nation's army plus south africa's ambition to host the continent's first olympics. the u.s. secretary of state has threatened russia with more sanctions over its role in the conflict in ukraine. john kerry says they must stop cherry picking where a cease fire is implemented. this comes as the u.n. human rights office says the death toll in the region has reached 60,000. >>reporter: another round of talks. two men who know each other very well. yet, they often seem to have a dialogue of the death. speaking to the u.n. human rights council after his meeting with mr. kerry said the minsk agreement was starting to have a
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positive impact. >> the cease fire is taking hold. heavy weapons are being pulled back. >>reporter: but john kerry said the minsk agreement was being selectively implemented and he threatened for economic sanctions against russia. >> if there continue to be these broad swaths of noncompliance or 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. >>reporter: one of several places where fighting continued after the minsk agreement. john kerry was critical of what he calls a lack of clarity in the agreement as to what should happen in this strategic town. the u.n.'s latest report released in geneva paints a
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bleak picture. it speaks of the merciless devastation of civilian lives and infrastructure and says there are credible accounts of heavy weaponry and foreign fighters continuing to flow into eastern ukraine from russia. i asked the report's author for more details on human rights abuses. >> we had, for example, serious allegations of people being tortured. there was some media release that groups were at least threatening or possibly using hammers as well as surgery equipment to make people confess. this is very serious. >>reporter: who's doing this? >> well rebel groups. >>reporter: this is the ninth report the u.n. in geneva has released on human rights in ukraine. nine reports that chart a steadily growing death toll. a conflict the u.s. and he's out there. there's a guy out there whose making a name for himself
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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.
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ding it completely. the firing yesterday was because the ukranian side again violated the minsk agreement and started to open fire. >>reporter: a year into the conflict in eastern ukraine, the death toll continues to rise on a landscape transformed by the war and each passing day, the front line continues to shift. in weekend fighting three were killed. few here in the front line expect the cease fire to hold. >> we are strengthening our defenses in preparation for the next offensive. we are preparing to deflect their attack. >>reporter: if that happens, with separatist troops appearing to want to expand on the gains they've already made the front lines could shift again. meanwhile, nato's deputy secretary-general has always criticized russia saying it's violating its commitments and creating fear in other countries. he made the comments at the beginning of a three-day
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conference in qhatar. it looks like there may be further intervention from further sanctions from the u.s. what's interesting is that the russian economy is facing recession. the ruble has lost half its value in a year. the economy might shrink by 3% this year. and, yet, the poll ratings for president putin are astronominalcal astronomical. i think it was 86% of russians support him. explain to us because it is a mystery to many why do so many in russia support president putin's policies? >> very easily.
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it's actually been very very positive during the 15 years of vladimir putin. political and social stability, freedom and democracy. and because of this -- became aggressive hybrid war against russia to make russia slaves. russians understand this and this aggressive war against russia, it's very easily -- >> what's very interesting, you mentioned this has happened over 15 years, this support for president putin. but what's interesting is his approval ratings surged by 20 points since the annex
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annexation of crimea. is he using aggressive tactics to justify his position as russian president? >> in your question i see clear anti-russian propaganda. it was not annexation of crimea but joining it with its mother land. >> okay whatever but since it happened, there was a surge. how do you explain that? >> it's really easily. crimean people decided to leave ukraine because it was a militant group. we still have these illegal -- right now.
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they want ukraine to be democratic and not two countries. (unintelligible) (unintelligible). >> sir -- >> you will be killed by rocket missiles. >> certainly, if i can just interrupt you. the former -- >> genocide. >> opposition leader who was killed just on friday was planning to organize a march against russian actions in ukraine. now, he has been killed. we don't know the reason and who's behind it. certainly a lot of people think it would have been in part because he was in opposition to the kremlin because a lot of
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antiopposition, they would say propaganda that's being stoked. a lot of people would say that the 86% support rating of president putin is because of the fact there is no opposition in russia. it has all but been wiped out. is russia a democracy anymore? >> your questions are longer than my answers. >> you have time for a long answer. >> first, russia is a democratic country. and it's representative position in every russian media. putin in russian media every day
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thousands of times. and during these discussions, (unintelligible). >> not necessarily. >> if i could just interrupt you. (unintelligible) (unintelligible). >> i'd like to ask you specifically who you think the opposition to president putin is now within russia. so apart from the issue with ukraine. please. >> (unintelligible) socialist party opposition. rebel democratic party, opposition. there are plenty of opposition. they have the right to express all their
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opinions. >> former russian politician who has advised president putin. sir, thank you. leaked recordings have allegedly revealed how egypt's army was using -- the uae allegedly sent money to secret accounts to support a protest
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movement against morsi. >> yes, please sir, we need 200 tomorrow from the tamarad accounts. that portion that the uae already wire transferred. no, the money transfer that came for tamarad. we need 200 only. yes, 200,000. yes. thank you so much. >> another tape appears to show that the uae sent economic advisors to egypt to help president sisi draft economic policies. one of those was former british prime minister tony blair although he denies he played a role. sir, thank you for joining us. what is your reaction to these tapes that have appeared? >>reporter: what's interesting is, of course the timing. why these leaks come to the
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surface right now at this point in time. it's been known for a while that the uae was a big player in propping up the egyptian economy ever since the military took over and general sisi took the presidency. and the interesting questions are now who leaked it and with which objectives? >> what do you think the answer to that might be? >> if you look a little bit at the context, there are still parliamentary elections that need to take place in egypt and they're due to take place next month although last week it appeared that because of a court ruling they might have to be postponed so it's quite possible that certain political players in egypt have a particular interest in having this kind of news to come into the open right now to embarrass the government. another thing that may be at
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play is that there has been repositioning of players in relation to the egyptian government. we saw last week for example overtures by president sisi about comments made about the ruling family in qatar. much more so than king abdullah. and there have been signals that it might be wise of egypt to let
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up on its persecution of the muslim brotherhood to some extent. so i think in cairo, they are really grappling now with how to position themselves with players from the gulf states who are helping the egyptian economy. and uae, for example, was already involved in plans for bank rolling and expansion of the suez canal. >> sir, thank you. much more to come on al jazeera including more on why a u.s.-backed rebel group in syria has decided to disband.
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>> the death toll could be much higher than anyone'd known. >> posing as a buyer to get in there. >> 10,000 people are already dead mr. president, who should answer for those people? >> tomorrow. did the police fail misty upham? >> if somebody did something to my girl, i need to know that. >> was is a case of discrimination? >> we had no help from the police. >> a family pleads for answers. "stolen sisters", an "america tonight" special report. tomorrow, 10:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america. israel's prime minister has
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defended his planned address to the u.s. congress on tuesday saying he does not mean to disrespect president obama. he plans to speak about the so-called dangers of the u.s.-brokered nuclear deal with iran the iraqi army has launched a major military operation to retake the town of tikrit from isil fighters. a force of 20,000 including shia and sunni are attempting to drive the group from the province north of baghdad. and the u.s. secretary of state has threatened russia with further consequences over the conflict in ukraine where the death toll in the region has reached 6,000 two people have been killed in a bomb explosion in the egyptian capital. nine were injured. it's the second explosion in cairo in less than a week isil has released 21 syrian
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christians abducted in northeast syria. their release was celebrated at a church in a city under isis control. isil still holds more than 200 syrian christians. a coalition of syrian rebels has disbanded after days of fighting. the movement says infighting has distracted the opposition from battling the real target the syrian government. here's that report from beirut. >>reporter: they lost many men in the fight but these syrian rebels were not killed by the syrian government. they died fighting al quaeda's affiliates in syria and aleppo. a few days ago, the nusra group declared war on its group. accusing them of capturing and
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killing their fighters. it's a charge they deny. they nevertheless have decided to disband. the fighting in aleppo was not the first confrontation. a few months ago, the movement was pushed out from a neighboring province. they're based in the rebel-controlled north. it was the first group to receive sophisticated weapons from the u.s. but its links with the west only gained them enemies on the ground. this is not the only obstacle the obama administration faces. for the opposition, the priority
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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 opposition supply lines to turkey. >> we call on the rebels to stop fighting each other. to fight the regime instead. we are being attacked by iran and other shias. they are trying to say they are trying to lay siege to aleppo. >>reporter: it was one of the few rebel groups the obama administration trusted in syria. it chose it to be part of the training program. some of its individual members may still join. but if and when that u.s. force is ready, it will face opposition not just from the government and isil but from within rebel ranks. the former libyan general haftar has been appointed the leader of -- campaign against some rebel groups since may last
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year. libya's rival tripoli government has reannounced the decision calling him a war criminal. joining us is the former british ambassador to libya, oliver miles. thank you for joining us. there are also reports that much later he may have had links to the cia. what do you make of his elevation now as an army commander of the government? what kind of figure do you think he's going to be? >> well, he's a dark horse. he's a mystery man. he has not really shown his hand. we don't know very much about what ideas he has except that he's very clearly taken sides against the intoxilyzer lammist side, intoxilyzer lammist grouping of the government which is based in tripoli.
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intoxilyzer lam -- he's achieved quite striking things on the battle field. he's the only man able to get air power organized. he started using the remnants of khadafi's air force and got aircraft in the air in the first time since the revolution in libya. later on it seems that some of the air attacks may well have been by other forces. they're alleged to have been either by egyptians or by uae aircraft or at least with support from egypt and the uae. but as for what he actually wants to do himself, it's not at all clear. >> he certainly has very strong
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anti-islamist feelings. where do you think this leads? >> i don't see why it should mean the end of -- the fact is that there are many factions in libya that are opposed to each other. u.n. process which started a few weeks ago was started on the basis that anybody who wanted to take part in it more or less was welcome to join and the u.n. had been trying to encourage the military factions to join and i imagine -- i assume that will apply to him as well. but whether he will want to take up -- send representatives to talk or talk himself remains to be seen. i think the deadlock or broken up chaotic situation in libya does call for a leader i think. i've been thinking for some time looking back at parallels of what happened in other countries, what libya really
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needs is let's say -- who could become a symbol of the nation and bring people together. i have really no idea whether he's capable of doing that but he seems to be the only candidate at the moment. >> former british ambassador to libya, oliver miles. thank you so much, sir. >> thank you the united nations -- previous talks broke down when some parties protested over heavy-handed policies including the detention of the entire yemeni cabinet. for more on this let's go live to the southern yemen port of aden. this is at least good news attempts at negotiation now. >>reporter: yes, it's good news. particularly that some of the
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parties have been brokering these talks for several days. considering also that the president is now in aden. the main points have not yet been agreed on in terms of the procedure. this meeting tonight is because they have agreed to continue the talks and that's one of the problems. they have tonight to discuss this major point which is moving the talks. it is the main problem now being discussed. and also the other issue is the representation of hadi. remember he's now in aden and he
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can't join those talks. every party that is opposed to -- there are discussions tonight about who really represents him and his demands. talks tonight are expected to agree on moving the talks to somewhere outside yemen or within yemen and also finding or agreeing on who will represent president hadi in the next talks, the final ones or the real talks so to speak. so the talks tonight are talks about the talks and how to resume them in a place that is accepted by everyone and also representation of president hadi. >> talks about the talks. at least it's a step in the right direction. thank you so much. fire has destroyed hundreds of homes in the philippines
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capital manila. some have accused the fire services of being slow to tackle the blaze. well it's the oldest profession in the world, and in south africa it's also one of the riskiest. rights groups say that 60% of sex workers on the streets of africa are hiv positive. they're demanding a law change to make their jobs safer. >>reporter: a sex worker's services cost about $2.50. but some men pay more so they don't have to wear condoms. 60% of south africa's sex workers are hiv positive. but many don't get help because their trade is illegal. so some human rights groups want sex work decriminalize. they argue the law isn't in tune with reality. the government encourages condom use but some police use them as proof of criminality. and brings their use to an
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abrupt end. some sex workers still carry condoms -- don't carry them because it says they're a prostitute and risk being arrested. >>reporter: she is hiv positive too but says the government's first nationwide hiv prevention program for sex workers due to start this year won't work. >> it will only work when sex work has been decriminalize because we are too afraid of the stigma and dig discrimination by nurses. >>reporter: south africa is a largely conservative society but has taken a more liberal stance than other african countries on civil issues. both abortion and same-sex marriage is legal here. the deputy minister of justice
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accepts that the current situation doesn't work. >> it's happening. that criminalization has not stopped it. there's a variety of factors that need to be looked at and we will ultimately have to do what is right. >>reporter: many people may take some convincing but south africa's unenviable status of the highest hiv rate in the world may be the deciding factor. that may convince the government the only answer is to decriminalize the oldest profession in the world. still to come here on al jazeera, how sensors are set up to revolutionize the way we work and play. plus in sports details of a three-time major golf champion who's ended a seven-year drought.
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every year mobile technology companies gather in barcelona for a display of the city's latest invasions. many of the gadgets introduced shape and define our everyday lives. this year sensors are taking center stage. >>reporter: professional sportsmen have long been recording their performance looking for ways to improve their technique. but until now, motion sensors have been too expensive and not accurate enough. >> so a lot of the competition through sports we do are subjective so they're judged snow boarding, kite surfing, that kind of stuff. so these performance metrics
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help the audience and judges truly understand and measure what the athletes are doing. how fast they spun how many times, how high. all that goes into determining their final score. >>reporter: this bmx rider has on board a 3 did action motion tracker allowing him to record movements as small as 5 millimeters. sensors too are small enough that they're small enough to fit into the handle of a tennis racket meaning every aspect of a player's stroke can been recorded and analyzed. >> the fore hand and the back hand. and then you can analyze your play. the . >>reporter: sensors also look set to help industries like
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agriculture and manufacturing. they use machines like this one telling the vendor which products are selling and which need to be replace. >> we've seen the internet of things spreading throughout all parts of the world. not just for developed nations. you'll see tremendous amount of communication technologies being used in latin america and eastern europe and parts of south africa. >>reporter: virtual reality headsets like these slowly becoming an everyday reality, the speed and capacity of the data networks will have to be much larger than they are today. mobile 5g technology which could power a holographic hand set like this one -- in the years ahead connecting them will become the next great challenge. now a look at sports news with andy. >> well the commonwealth games
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is set to be set in africa for the first time. organizers hope it could lead to a first african olympics. there were no other contenders to date. 5,000 athletes will take place. they're hoping a successful games will increase africa's chances of hosting a few future olympics. >> there are five olympic rings, five continents. africa is the only one that has not hosted the olympic games. so that would be very special to bring that to africa for the first time. so i think we are deserving if we can show that we can do a good job. in golf the first win in the united states or europe in seven years. the irishman beating daniel
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bearinger in a playoff on monday. there was a rain delay in florida. 119 tournaments have passed since his last victory at the 2008 u.s. pga championship. now, crucial game for the italian league is coming up right now. it's 1-1. second on the table, rome. really need to win this if they're to have any realistic chance of catching u of a. now, one of the men hoping to take the top job of football's world governing body says more transparency is the key to fifa's future. michael van prague is standing in the fifa presidential elections. they're set for may. the chairman of the dutch football association says the
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full publication of michael garcia's report into allegations of corruption must be made a priority. >> when you act normally, there's nothing to hide. it is my intention to make the much-discussed garcia report public as soon as possible. everyone will be allowed to know how high my renumeration is just as they will be allowed to look into the financials finances of our organization. >> the former head of world cricket is back in charge of cricket in india. he was the only candidate for the position of president of the bcci. this after a judge ruled that the previous incumbent was not allowed to stand. he holds a stake in the indian premier league team and is currently facing a court case of possible conflict of interest. a cricket world cup host australia facing afghanistan on
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wednesday. in the meantime ausa soldiers here have challenged their afghan colleagues to a match. this indoor game saw afghanistan winning. the national team have already beaten scotland at the world cup but a win against ausa would probably be the biggest upset in tournament history after almost two seasons out, he's come back on the slopes. he's continuing this time of bulgaria. conditions were so bad on sunday, it's been rescheduled for monday. he finished third overall in the super g. he's the current olympic champion. now sacrifice and dedication is all part of any elite athlete's life but one group of weight lifters is taking that philosophy to extremes. lifters from across the pacific islands are isolating themselves from their families in an effort
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to qualify next year's rio olympics. they traveled to caledonia where they named their training alcatraz after the infamous american prison. >>reporter: another six hours of training pushing his body just far enough to get closer to the dream of an olympic medal and doing everything his coach tells him. this is alcatraz. they train and go to bed and do it all again with thousands of miles of pacific ocean separating them from their homes. for david, it's worth it. last summer he won the first major sporting honor taking gold at the commonwealth games in glascow.
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now the sport is a craze. >> it means a lot. it's like going to visit obama. it's what it means to the people in the pacific because they know that this is the best place to train and he is the best coach. >> athletes do their own cooking and cleaning and there's a one strike and out rule on drinking smoking, and relationships. few ever leave. >> i don't think other countries can cope with the pressure that we apply in here. discipline is very very important. and today specifically -- and the next thing you know you'll be in the olympics. >> islanders have taken events like the commonwealth games by storm but the best a pacific lifter has done in the olympics is fourth place. but with rio 2016 just around
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the corner he can smell a medal. it would be just the second time one of the islands have won any olympic medal. only 17 months of lifting yet to go. you can catch up with the rest of sports on our website. that's sports for now. i'll hand you back to barbara in london. >> thank you very much for that. and that is it for this news hour. do stay with us though because we're going to be back in just a few minutes with more of the day's news. the top story, the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu's
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visit to the u.s. bye bye.
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>> at one time i felt that selling cocaine was my purpose. >> as the amount of drugs grew guns came in. >> murder rate was sky-high. >> this guy was the biggest in l.a. >> i was goin' through a million dollars worth of drugs every day. i liked it. it's hard to believe that a friend would set you up.
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people don't get federal life sentences and beat them. >> they had been trafficking on behalf of the united states government. >> the cia admitted it. >> "freeway - crack in the system". only on al jazeera america. haiti, october 2010, at a hospital in a small, rural town north of the capital. these were the first victims of a horrific, unknown disease in a country still reeling from a devastating earthquake. patients were dying in the space of a few hours. children were especially vulnerable. al jazeera was the first news channel on the scene. in the following days and weeks we tracked the epidemic as it ri