>> "techknow" where technology meets humanity. only on al jazeera america. ♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello and welcome to the news hour, i'm live in doha, coming up, in the next 60 minutes, iraq's prime minister declares victory in tikrit is only days away as forces are in the center of the city. u.n. needs another $3 billion to help the people of syria and comes on claims that the u.n. has not done its job and also this hour i.s.i.l. accepts

pledge of allegiance from boko haram in nigeria and a car crash outside of the white house means more trouble for the u.s. secret service. your spot including formula one is back just like 2014 it was hamilton and rosburg and the grand prix and action from practice coming up. ♪ we begin this news hour in iraq where the government is confident that victory in tikrit is now just days away. the iraqi army backed by shia malitia and sunni tribesmen have been advancing on several fronts and on wednesday they recapture some western neighborhoods and fighting focuses on the presidential complex and city center and we report. >> reporter: pounding enemy targets on the outskirts of

tikrit on the huge offensive and 3,000 soldiers and police have been attacking positions held by i.s.i.l. as they try to reach the city center. they are backed by 20,000 malitiamen known as the popular mobilization forces and a vast smaller number of sunni tribesmen and they are not lacking in military hardware they reportedly had been slowed down by snipers, suicide bombers and boobie trapped buildings and this shows iraqi forces stopping i.s.i.l. suicide bombers from reaching a military barocks in the western providence and in the city center the commanders are triumph. >> they tried to enter but they prevented them and we detonated their car bombs. >> reporter: in baghdad volunteers have been cueing up to donate blood for servicemen

injured in the offensive and it has been organized by artists. >> translator: all iraqis should participate in the blood donation campaign, this is a simple thing i offer to my country. >> reporter: elsewhere in the capitol the prime minister told a crowd of students that forces fighting aisle had made huge gains but also had to protect civilian life and property. >> translator: there are infiltrators who want to tarnish our victories and we have strict orders to the police army commanders and to the popular mobilization forces. >> reporter: but while the government insists they are advancing in tikrit the battle goes on al jazeera. we are joined by a member of baghdad's local government and thank you very much for your time, sir, iraqi forces seem to be doing well in this particular

operation to take back tikrit what do you think has enabled these gains? >> thank you very much. i think this is the first time this is a testing ground an important testing ground where the public joins the sunni tribesmen from the tikrit providence working alongside each other to liberate tikrit. i think the success of this could indicate the failure of those who tried to show that the public shia forces away from sunni participation and i think it's very unfair to deny the sunni public presence and the sunni fighters. it's very unfair to deny them the successes they have achieved in tikrit because they were an elementel force in the battle in

tikrit and resulting in a tremendous amount of victories. >> as you are aware, sir malitia is accused of attacks against sunnis how seriously is the iraqi government taking these accusations? will there be investigations now? >> the public mobilization has been reported that certain incidents, the commanders on the grounds were issued orders to investigation each case. we think there may be individual acts of violence alongside probably a fabricated film so it's very critical that we very strongly stand against any human violation but the picture is that we see and my presence i went there myself and saw a complete different picture. i saw a very well organized force made of sunni and shia and nobody speaks of their secondary

identity and all speak under the flag of iraq and fighting together side by side and the jibal tribesmen who are creating tremendous amount of victories, they control all the grounds. so really it's true that we need to investigate this fact but or these allegations but we have to be considerate and they may be some unreal reports in that. >> what about those sunnis who fought on i.s.i.l.'s side against iraqi government, will they be pursued or will they be reintegrated into the iraqi army if they wish? >> if they surrender now there will be grounds for them to return to their country, to the side of right, but if they persistent if they persevere

with i.s.i.s. they will have the same fate as i.s.i.s. >> we appreciate talking to us who is a member of baghdad's local government who is speaking to us live from the iraqi capitol. other world news the u.n. needs another $3 billion to help syrians and request comes amed criticism after four years of conflict the u.n. has not done enough to protect civilians and part of the problem has been the threat by i.s.i.l. of course and bernard smith reports. >> reporter: from the moment they are born most syrians are now reliant on foreign aid. here it means the difference between life and death. >> it's a problem for us. >> reporter: as i.s.i.l. taking command of some areas in syria security concerns make it difficult to get aid through. >> we say it's a shrinking humanitarian corridor, is a

common phrase. it's just more difficult to get supplies from here to there and for sure going deep inside syria where we were able to get fairly easily get into the town and the governor governor on the east side of the country and the road is treacherous and very very dangerous. >> reporter: it's just not fighting that stops aid from getting through, many of the governments and larger charities that supply smaller aid groups will not allow help to be sent to i.s.i.l.-controlled areas and fear it will be diverted to i.s.i.l. fighters hand in hand one group whose warehouse in syria hints at the mammoth aid needs of the country and set up at the start of the conflict the group's founders thought they would be needed for just four or five months. >> a really basic help when you say medical aid they needed bandages, they needed cotton or

baby milk would ask for it basic needs. >> it is beyond cotton and bandages and baby milk to what? >> complete hospitals now. >> reporter: now hand in hand preparing for the next ten years, alarming prospect not least because of the costs involved. this year the u.n. is appealing for $2.9 billion to help 12 million syrians, that is more than half the population. the deliveries will cross borders here in turkey and in iraq and jordan into territory that has become some of the most difficult for aid agencies to operate in. last year the u.n. got half the money it asked for to help syrians, donor fatigue is a real concern but without the donors and the eight groups they help syria's next generation would have no chance bernard smith on

the turkey/syria border. >> we are live from the lebanese capitol beirut and four years ago we saw peaceful protests in syria which then escalated into a full-scale war. the question that a lot of people wonder today what happened to those protesters of four years ago? >> well, yes, a lot has changed. we remember after midday friday prayers people used to take to the streets and more than one province in syria and used to chant aton government slogans and dignity and that is all gone. at first they clamped down from security forces saying they would target the demonstrations using gunfire or sometimes even air strikes but it's not just that. as of late these activists, those people who organized these protests they no longer have a role, their voices have been silenced by some opposition groups in syria. the islamic state of iraq and

the levante is one of them and they used to target the activists and used to kidnap and detain and arrest them and kill them even and these people no longer find a place in syria, those voices we no longer hear and like you said it's now a full-blown war and even on the opposition side the weakness is the very fact they are divided and the moderate syrian groups the people who first took to the streets and decided to take up arms to defend themselves they no longer have a role and are no longer existent. >> a large number of the population is made up of syrian refugees, are they -- we often hear of the hardships of course but are there success stories among refugees that made it to lebanon? >> many activists we are talking about moved to lebanon, turkey or found their way to europe. people do not leave syria just because of the violence.

they also leave because of the economic situation. we are in one of the main commercial districts in beirut. you just walk down the street and all you see are syrian restaurants, branches that used to be in damascus and aleppo and relocated here and businessmen opening shops here a lot of syrian workers now work in the shops either restaurants or shops that sell clothes, cafes and success story it's hard to say because at the end of the day people left their livelihoods behind and income and they have the skills and educate syrians who no longer can find jobs and accepting to work in jobs that they have more qualifications for this job. so there is a lot of misery this war has caused a lot of misery but if you talk to people here they are tired and just want it to end but as we know there is no meaningful peace process underway and people really have lost hope. >> live for us in beirut and thank you very much.

and i.s.i.l. has accepted a pledge of allegiance from boko haram fighters in nigeria, in an audio message posted online a spokesman for i.s.i.l. is heard saying that they have now expanded to west africa. until recently boko haram was in control of an area the size of belgium. this is a region where it has been most active over the years but now the nigerian military says it has taken control of many areas in bono and two other states, the military says the armed group is now cornered into these areas. it does have control of several towns and battles are ongoing and we will bring in al jazeera who is live for us in abuja so i.s.i.l. accepted boko haram pledge of allegiance, what does it mean and what has been the reaction in nigeria? >> well that is right, in this new audio recording which was placed on the internet this spokesperson, let me just quote, we announce to you the good news of the expansion of west africa

because it accepted allegiance of our brothers and so far no official reaction from the government or the nigerian security services. but my sense is that the reaction will be muted. you might recall last weekend when boko haram announced their allegiance to the group, it was dismissed by many people as the last piece of a dying horse, the government said it's a group facing extinction and many people are seeing statements coming out from boko haram and i.s.i.l. as empty, as propaganda, as an attempt to create the impression that the groups have the capacity to collaboration and to carry out operations when really there is no evidence of that. >> reporter: and currently a multi national force made up of troops from cameroon, chad and among others engaging against boko haram in northeast earn nigeria, what progress have they made evan? >> well, according to the

security services the progress is good. every now and then we are getting fresh information from the security services about different towns and villages in the northeast which have been recaptured from boko haram and now under the control of multi national forces. there were some reports of some differences between approaches from the chadian forces for example in the nigerian forces, but the army here in the capitol, the army chief in the capitol say that the war against boko haram is going well. in the last 72 hours president goodluck jonathan spoke of what is going on in the northeast and he said he expects to see boko haram defeated in the next two or three weeks. >> in abuja thank you very much staying with africa a u.s. join strike in somalia killed a member of al-shabab who planned the 2013 attack on the west gate mall in kenya and three were

killed when their car was hit in the town 67 people died in the west gate attack. still ahead on the al jazeera news hour [chanting] a city on edge protests in ferguson after two police officers are shot plus. i'm harry faucet from the chinese village and 19 months after a devastating flash flood here along with the damage serious doubts remain about the official government story of what happened here. and in sport why world tennis number one serena williams is ending a 14 year boycott on a tournament in the u.s. ♪ but first after four years of political instability egypt has hopes for economic revival on a major conference that starts on

friday and the summit is supposed to attract millions of dollars of foreign investment and we report. >> reporter: this is the kinds of image egypt wants to promote, a hardworking and corruption-free country open for business. but egypt's economy is in trouble. even with oil shipments and cash grants from gulf states it needs around $60 billion of foreign money which it is hoping to raise at the economic investment conference at the coastal resort here. >> it's good and welcoming visitors. >> reporter: president abdul al-sisi promised to sort out economy and cut energy subsidies and increased taxes. but comments that al-sisi made earlier this week will do little to convince people he is sympathetic to the struggles of ordinary egyptians. >> translator: even if we don't have to eat, even if we starve

ourselves, we build our nation and yes we rebuild our nation. >> reporter: more than four years on from the revolution many people already don't have enough to eat. around one in four people live on less than $2 a day. slums have grown and so has unemployment unemployment. tourism used to account for around a fifth of egypt's economy and there are some signs visitors are returning, but the numbers are nothing like before the 2011 revolution. and this won't help attract tourists or investors, there have been a string of bomb attacks, this latest one killed two and injured 30 people. >> when you see some of these ieds targeted foreign businesses if telecom or retailers or what they are so it's definitely a concern and investors would look to a government to try to get

reassuring it would be a risk. >> reporter: there is a crack down on dissent, thousands of activists and political opponents have been arrested and prosecuted since the removal of president mohamed morsi in 2013 success at the investment conference could move away from the security and political issues and improved economy would also bring stability and hope and it could boost the credibility of sisi presidency both at home and abroad. i'm with al jazeera. more on the story let's speak to a professor in modern and contemporary history of the middle east and qatar university and what does egypt expect from the conference and how do you think it will help the country? >> this conference accounting to egyptian authority expected to

bring $10-$15 billion soon to egypt inject it in the economy so they can face the challenges and the people in the economy is really, is very annoying to anyone who is in power in egypt especially the fact that egypt in the last three or four years received more than $25 billion from the government and there was no real impact on the economy and on the social factors in egyptian society. >> received this over the years and the main donors here so how is it going to be different this time and how will it be handled? any funds, any money they receive how is it going to be different and used? >> actually to a level i would say of looking at this issue, one is what the egyptian government says, egyptian

government says we have a project with nearly $5 billion and want to suggest to those donors come and invest in those areas. now, those donors from 90 countries and 2000 companies, it's a plan to join this conference or participate in the conference and have their own agenda as well. so it's not clear that you know, whether the egyptian government will be able to convince those donors of its own priority the priority of employment and the priority is to make sure that the country is secure as well so there are i would say two different discords in the issue. the second point in this context is that egypt is going to this conference with rising war on terror and egypt is part of this front and they want more money to tackle that issue under the name of other countries in the region so they want to convince the donor that you are doing this for not for the sake of

egyptians but for their interest as well. >> briefly, a few weeks ago we heard an audio recording of the president sisi before he was president criticizing gulf states, in fact, and saying about the donations it made in the last few years, do you see that having an impact on whatever m koco -- comes out of this summit? >> before i came live there were reports from saudi arabia that many companies from saudi arabia fear regret of joining any -- doing any kind of investment agent because of the abilitiability and because of our concern about laws and regulation in egypt, this is just one indication about how the impact of those, you know messages from sisi. >> okay thank you very much indeed. >> my pleasure. now to the united states and relative calm has returned to the streets of ferguson in missouri after the shooting of two police officers on wednesday night. activists held a candlelight

vigil and peaceful protest since police killed unarmed teenager michael brown last year and we report. >> reporter: the night after the shooting of two police officers demonstrators returned to the streets outside ferguson police department headquarters. >> what happened last night was kind of random and it's not normal, it's not the norm at all and usually pretty peaceful at the protest and i'm a little nervous. >> reporter: they vowed to continue peaceful tactics like stopping traffic until they get the reforms they want. >> we got some things that are good and necessary like the resignations but they are not just justice justice is not experiencing the trauma or experiencing accountability of people who perpetuated the trauma and we have not had that yet. >> reporter: st. louis county police are investigating the shooting that happened right outside police headquarters. >> this is really an ambush is what it is. i mean you can't see it coming

and don't understand it's going to happen and basically defenseless. >> reporter: that night demonstrators who gathered outside the police station following the resignation of ferguson's police chief had mostly dispersed and then the gunshots. >> a cop got shot. >> reporter: this was the account of a photo journalist who had been packing up when the shots rang up. >> it was at the top of the street and we duck down and then we saw the cop shot next to us. >> reporter: to officers hit, one in the head one in the shoulder, both have been released from the hospital. the attorney general had this to say. >> not someone trying to bring healing to ferguson, this was a damn punk a punk what was trying to have discord in an area that is trying to get its act together and trying to bring together a community that has been fractured for too long. >> reporter: and the family of michael brown, the unarmed black teenager fatally shot by a

policeman in ferguson in august were adamant this would not affect their campaign. we specifically denounce agitators try to derail tell peaceful and nonviolent movement that emerged through the nation and to confront police brutality and forward equality under the law for all. all resent report did find evidence of systemic racism but after a peaceful night of protest the focus once again is on the injured police officers and finding who shot them kristen with al jazeera, ferguson, missouri. costa-rico volcano had gas and ash up to one kilometer in the air, the most powerful eruption and they suspended all flights because of poor visibility and access roads around the tourist sites are closed.

powerful cyclone pam struck the south pacific nation packing winds of more than 250 kilometers per hour and could trigger storm surges and landslide and already caused damage to the islands and the category five cyclone has been described as the most powerful storm to form in 30 years. and let's get an update on the storm and i speak to everton so everton what is the storm doing now? >> it's just passing to the east of the island at the moment. so huge amounts of rainfall and looking at a risk of landslides and also flash flooding. looking at the satellite picture you can see how big it is and it caused a chain of islands running down across the pacific and there is the eye of the storm, distinct eye on the storm and very well organized, the most powerful storm since 1987 when uma passed in the region and 159 millimeters in 24 hours and similar amounts in the next 24 hours and suspect it's moving

quickly and 20 miles per hour is a decent one. sustained winds of 265 kilometers per hour and will weaken over 24 hours or so so that is something of a hope coming through. gusts at 320 kilometers per hour described as catastrophic damage and possibility here and has of course been widespread evacuations across the region as well. so as you go through saturday it pushed further south and started to just poke out here and there will be a legacy of showers coming in and still plenty of heavy rain strongest winds on the eastern flank of the storm and pushing the high seas just around southern most part of the region. it will gradually make its way further south by the end of the weekend and very close to new zealand with winds of 150 kilometers per hour. >> thank you indeed and still ahead on the al jazeera news hour a ceasefire in name only

both sides in ukraine conflict say they are bracing for a new military offensive, plus trying to change the way latin america tells its own stories and we will take you to the continent's oldest film festival and new zealand will talk about the cricket world cup so do stay with us.

♪ welcome back you are watching the al jazeera news hour reminder of top stories now iraqi government says it is confident victory in tikrit is

just days away the army is pushing towards defense of the city as it tries to drive out i.s.i.l. fighters. the u.n. is calling for nearly $3 billion to help civilians in syria, the request comes as critics say the organization has not been doing enough to protect the most vulnerable in the conflict. and i.s.i.l. has accepted a pledge of allegiance from boko haram in an audio message posted online as folks for i.s.i.l. said it has now expanded to west africa. returning now to our top story and the war in syria, to tell us about what challenges organizations face trying to bring aid to civilians we are joined by hanson with the norwegian council and you have been very critical of the u.n. you say they failed syrians. what is your criticism exactly? why do you think they have

failed? >> i mean if you look at the situation now where we are entering the fifth year of this horrific conflict, the situation is worse than ever. and we have more than 12 million people inside syria in need and almost four million people in neighboring countries who called for assistance. and despite the u.n. security council has passed three resolutions which were supposed to provide protection for civilians inside syria and to provide increased access for humanitarian access into syria and were supposed to raise more resources to address the humanitarian needs and lastly was also suggested to pave the way for political developments. unfortunately we see that we have failed on all these four accounts and we are in a situation where the situation is

worse than ever. >> and just precisely how dire is this situation today, five years on? i know we hear a lot about the refugees in neighboring countries like lebanon or jordan but what about inside syria itself? >> inside syria we are faced with the challenges of access. we can work as humanitarian organizations either from damascus or from crossing the borders. the security situation is horrific. humanitarian workers are killed again and again and face very very big difficulties in operating so the operational environment is very difficult and on top of that we also see the resource constraints. if we look outside syria, in the neighboring countries we are hosting almost four million refugees also facing huge problems with their domestic

situations or having this extra burden and we are not able to provide the needed resources to mitigate the consequence of this we will see further deterioration of the situation inside syria and also outside. >> reporter: the u.n. is asking for $3 billion in aid and there is a funding shortfall, that is known, what do you see as some of the mechanisms besides u.n. agencies that can help get aid to the syrians caught up in this conflict? >> yeah, i mean, if we look at the resource needs, if you look over the course of the conflict funding has come forward, actually three times, double or three times but the you look at the needs they have increased 12 times during this period so you see a gap which is growing between the accessibility of funds and the needs stipulated.

where is the money coming from? it's coming from regular donors in the west in the arab countries all over. and we have to put it in context. if we see the needs and talking about $3 billion inside syria. if you add up what is also requested for the refugee response, we come to an amount which is less what the uk spends on the olympic games recently. it's a sixth of the amount of money spent on the winter olympics in sochi so the money is valuable but it's prioritization and coming forward. >> reporter: we hope to hear your message and thank you so much from speaking from the norwegian council from amman, jordan. the country could go to civil war and he is trying to broker a deal to end the crisis and houthi rebels control most

of the country and we report. [gunfire] this video appears to show shots being fired at a demonstration of the houthi coup and the central yemen. according to protesters at least one man was killed and five others wounded. demonstrations like these have become frequent after shia houthi fighters took over the country last month and he has been admitted to stop them from falling into further chaos in yemen and says there is a real danger of yemen breaking out. >> the situation in yemen can get out of hand and if there is no agreement the prospect is very bleak and a combination of scenarios in syria, libya and iraq, it's a horrible scenario and every effort should be made to promote a peaceful way forward. >> reporter: but the houthi rebels don't seem convinced

about the u.n.-brokered talks. >> translator: when we see a positive position by the u.n. the u.n. security council, the regional indicated to some parties and groups why does gcc have negative stance when it comes to the popular revolution? >> reporter: the houthis have launched military exercises near the border of saudi arabia and also been strengthened ties with iran the driving force behind the rebels and thursday they agreed to expand the strategic sea port and developments like this in saudi arabia which is also a sunni rival of iran and he is trying to build his power base from the eastern city and many held by the houthis in the capitol and the u.n. is calling for their release. >> we are asking them to play a positive role first by releasing

the minister whose are still under house arrest second you know, by safeguarding the human rights of the yemen. >> reporter: more meetings in the future continue inside and outside the country thousands of yemen people took to the streets demanding restoration of democracy. i'm with al jazeera. south africa appeal against oscar pistorious's conviction for culpable homicide will go to the supreme court. the para olympic athlete convicted for killing girlfriend in 2013 and lawyers want his sentence increased and erica woods has more from johanesburg. >> reporter: last year is when the prosecution went to court and argued the judge, when she sentenced oscar pistorious for culpable homicide instead of murder she applied the wrong rule of law and want him convicted for the big centers of

murder because of course it would mean a longer sentence in prison. they were granted leave to appeal at the supreme court of appeals and that will be happening later on this year. what we heard today was from the defense and oscar pistorious's lawyers saying no the correct rule of law was applied and should go no further. the judge today decided this all needs to be heard in the supreme court and cannot be heard in a lower court so what is happening on later on this year a date is yet to be set and an argument and appeal over that conviction. what is not under dispute is the fact that the bullet that was shot by oscar pistorious led to the death of reeva steenkamp, what is under dispute and what will be argued at that supreme court later on this year is whether it was murder or culpable homicide. of course the defense doesn't want to go further because they don't want a longer sentence prosecution say culpable homicide sentence of five years was not enough and did not send

a big enough message for the crime he committed and want him ultimately committed and sentenced for murder. the u.s. secret service is investigating two senior agents after a car crash at the white house. the pair accused of smashing through a security barricade after a night of drinking and partying and allen fisher has more from washington. >> reporter: nothing unusual here, all guards in place, secret service doing its job but last week another embarrassment for the service which attracts scandal like the white house attracts site seers and two secret agents left a party and drove their car in a temporary security barrier which had been set up because of an investigation into a suspicious package. it's understood the officers on duty that night wanted to arrest the two agents and test them to see if they were over the alcohol drink driving limit and a supervisor said they should be sent home because of seniority

of agents the inspector general of homeland security will carry out the investigation, almost an outside eye looking at the inside of the secret service. "the washington post" newspaper which broke the story says one under investigation is a top member of the president's protective detail and conley is close to barack obama side and george oglebee a supervisor in the white house, this is a long line of embarrassment and security lapses for the secret service, october 2013 a woman was shot and killed by police after she rammed a temporary barrier outside of the white house and a man jumped the white house fence armed with a knife and fought off two dogs and got in the building itself before being stopped. in january a drown was found on the white house lawn. an outsider said there needs to be a change in culture and better vetting. >> if they come to the secret

service they need to get rid of any anticipation of reliving their juvenile teenage years and fielding it's part of it no the secret service is not about sex, it's not about booze, it's not about playing football on the lawn it's about protecting the president of the united states with that kind of dignity and quorum that is fitting of the office. >> reporter: white house says a full investigation is underway and since he was appointed by president obama just last month to take control of the secret service and this is the first public test of his leadership and seeing if things are changing with an organization that should never attract headlines for doing its job, i'm at the white house. pakistan military operation killed 22 taliban fighters and wounded more than 20 others and fighter jets carried out the operation in northern province of afghanistan and several hide outs were targeted. india prime minister arrived in

sla sri lanka and the first to visit in 25 years and trade and investment are expected to top the agenda. britain says it wants to be the first western country to develop a new development bank by china called the asia infrastructure bank and china created it as a rival to the international monetary fund imf and china wants a bigger say how imf works and more influence at the world bank and consistently blocked by the united states. this is the second banking system china has created. it also is behind what is called a bank by brazil russia and india. and chief economist with the ihi 3 search group and says it's not surprising that britain wants to be part of china's new bank. >> china is leading a number of these initiatives to create new

multi bank and there is a bricks bank and silk road fund and i think for britain they probably feel that it's important to take part in these initiatives because we are already talking about $140 billion of capital in these institutions that is going to go into infrastructure involvement so britain realizes this is going to be an important new player. the u.s. felt creating these additional institutions on top of the existing world bank and imf creates parallel institutions which would compete, but from the chinese perspective and from the perspective of most developing countries, the prolong with the world bank is that the voting right system is quite acronistic and voting rights are heavily skewed to developed countries and china's share of voting rights in the world bank is far below the share of gdp.

>> staying with china two years since flood waters swept through the chinese village and the government was criticized for being unprepared and heading number of deaths and al jazeera harry faucet reported in the days immediately after the disaster and 19 months later he returned to try and find more answers. >> reporter: the river that runs through is a trickle now as winter keeps a grip on northeast china but destruction left in summer of 2013 is still visible. we arrived four days after the flash flood to a town full of grief and anger. they were accusing authorities of covering up the true extent of the death toll. another person tried to talk to us to tell us what he believes happened her and once again the police are stopping us from talking to him. so 19 months later we come back to find out what happened 24 of august 2013 the government said 30 were dead and 58 missing, it

never released nothing figure. lifetime resident said that was always a serious under estimateestimate. >> translator: for the whole of the town it's at least 170 or 180 dead. i know because i know this place very well. >> reporter: in 2013 we met chin who said then that officials reassured people that the water would flow past the town. now she lives in a newly-built housing estate down the road in a free apartment far superior to her old home and hasn't changed her story. >> translator: they didn't expect the flood would be so big, nobody told us if they had the damage would not have been so bad. >> reporter: the nearby village suffered similar damage but no one died here the difference local tells us concerted effort by officials to get people out of danger two people we have heard through the second visit

here firstly people believe 200 died in the disaster and not 88 which is the government figure and says lack of warning and lack of evacuation order and a community used to dealing with flooding simply didn't know what was heading its way. so was the disaster minimized in order that local officials would escape punishment and not according to secretary who says he and colleagues did warn residents so how many died here? >> translator: i know nothing about this. >> reporter: do you feel the government official and don't know how many people died in your town. >> translator: i'm just in charge of construction and all talk about death toll injured, statistics, reports, i have no idea. >> reporter: after weeks of rain in the summer of 2013 which filled the local reservoir to beyond safety limits it was hit half a meter and half of rainfall in less than a day and for many this was a manmade

dizzyier and doing too little to save lives and they raised the official figure and now says 134 people were killed. it just never thought to make it public until now. harry faucet al jazeera, china. coming up, in sport roger federer gets beaten at his own game by a 12-year-old, that is ahead, do stay with us. ♪

we have the sports. >> thank you very much and we

start with formula one and the first race of the season gets underway on sunday the australian grand prix and friday you saw the teams practicing ahead of qualify and lewis hamilton dominated last season winning 16 out of the 19 races and it was a similar story on friday and rossberg was quick with hamilton the world champion and second fastest and they did take part in the second session but without this man and claimed he had been promised a race seat for the season but erickson and got in a legal dispute with the team, it's still ongoing. >> definitely very negative impact on the team because the situation was for a while unclear. we now have certain actions taken against the team and we are acting accordingly so there

is nothing much more really i can say to that. >> reporter: serena williams return to the indian tournament this weekend ending a 14 year boycott to the event and number one was booed in the final she won in 2001 and fans were angry the much anticipated semi final against sister venus never happened as she withdrew minutes before the match and father was accused of orchestrating the outcome and says he serena and venus were racially abused during the finals. >> it was really an emotional time for me when i was talking to him and i think i should go back but i'm not going to go back if you don't want me to the last thing i want to do is do something i don't think is right for all of us. and he said it would be a big mistake if i didn't go back and i thought that was really admirable. >> i also want to know what made her change her mind after 14

years and i don't know she mentioned she read a book about nelson mandela's book and he is in prison and when he went out he actually allowed himself forgiveness and became friends with people who imprisoned him. >> reporter: the fastest ever goal seen in the europa league and in an around of 16 first legend counter and goal a comfortable 3-1 victory. looking at other matches on thursday inter lost 3-1 and everton beat 2-1 and 1-1 between roma, the national team manager is in the country former algeria coach was greeted by fans and media in the airport.

the bosnia person rereplaces after match fixing in spain and had not had a home grown coach since 2010. legend is back after recently hospitalized with infection and he is at a book presentation and played for santos at 15 years old and won the world cup for brazil three times. to cricket and new zealand had a scare against bangladesh at the world cup and kwal faye -- qualified for quarter finals and going against english in the match and scored the country's first ever world cup and at it again and hit another one against the kiwi and 128 knock out helping bangladesh reach 288 for 7 and 50 overs and martin hit for new

zealand but they struggled and left to some big hitting to get new zealand and won by three wickets with 7 balls remaining. battling afghanistan in a match delayed by rain in the sidney cricket and both teams already out of quarter final contention and england 83 or 1 and 101 off of 25 overs. afghanistan is set to resume career after serving a ban for spot fixing and one of the most promising players and helping to win the 2020 back in 2009 but later he was guilty of spot fixing in england with two others and 22 ban officially end in september but they allowed him to play domestic matches in pakistan. >> translator: i'm focusing on every game. if i can't make this match i'll

be focusing on the next match. the thing is you should never turn down a chance wherever and when ever you get it. >> reporter: the guard i've irving and scored 57 points in victory over sand sand antonio and 11 in the extra period and 128-125. not just everyday that tennis chan will play a hero but one boy his dream came true and a 12-year-old in the crowd and during an exhibition against roger federer for world tennis day in new york and held his own against the grand slam champion and winning the points and delighting the madison square garden and slightly embarrassing mr. federer as well and watch out for him in years to come.

it might not have the glammar of caan but columbia is an important showcase of latin american films and many stories deal with the continent history and they get a claim and finding an audience at home can be harder and we report. >> reporter: the harrowing drama of a teenager joining farc rebels and hiding pregnancy, unusual choice for the opening of an international film festival but it's a strong one bringing a stark dose of reality to the proceedings. director says it's the festival's duty to remember the country's brutal history. >> translator: it's our way to contribute to our peace process through cinema, we can't have a long lasting peace or build a different country if we don't know what happened to us if we don't remember, if we don't understand the horrible things that happen we an all

responsible. >> reporter: 53 films competing in different categories in a week-long festival in a fascinating city latin america's troubled history and the identity seem to be common teams but while some of the films have already been shown in major festivals around the world they often have a hard time finding an audience back home. it's difficult to imagine anything further apart from war and poverty than the beautiful, perfectly restored sensor but it's here that festival goers line up for the stories, the problem for the films is they often lack distribution in columbia and across latin america, something that starting this year the festival promises to change. the festival is a focal point for latin films through the continent and hundreds are expected this year. >> translator: we want to

recognize ourselves as latin america, as a gigantic market of 600 million people who speak the same language but it's very difficult to circulate latin america films in latin america. >> reporter: frank is the director and after a successful presentation at the caan festival it has distribution deals throughout europe but struggled to do so in latin america. >> translator: until people understand that cinamar is seeing itself represented and understand who we are it's difficult to change that and need a new republic. >> reporter: film makers do have an audience key to discover the stories this continent has to tell al jazeera at the film festival. with that we end the news hour on al jazeera but do stay with us with plenty of world news coming up and more on our website at al jazeera.com.

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>> forces advance on the center of the city. >> hello this is al jazeera from doha. also on the program the u.n. says it needs another $3 billion to help the people of syria but it makes claims that the u.n. hasn't done its job. >> isil accepts a pledge of allegiance from boko haram in nigeria. >> the car crash outside the wh