>> this is al jazeera. >> welcome to the news hour from al jazeera's news center in doha. yemen's chaos worsened, shots are fired at an anti houthi demonstration in taiz. >> in israel, the president says it's time to heal society. >> presidential debates in

nigeria, but the main opposition refuses to attend. >> some of these birds have been bought by chinese pigeon fanciers for hundreds and thousands of dollars. >> we begin this news our in yemen. houthi rebels captured the airport and parts of taiz, yemen's third largest city. they fired into the air to disperse a rally against them. fighters are pushing south in the direction of aden where the president is trying to hold on to power. we have a report. >> tear gas in taiz. >> we refuse, we reject and

denounce these militias, we will surround the police barracks with our bodies until they leave. >> first the houthis overtook the capitol of sanna forcing the president to plea to aden, now are moving towards the president. aden is a short distance from taiz. president adou rabbo mansour hadi has been trying to hold on to power. >> i stress the following firstly, the evacuation of all armed militias from the military. secondly, the withdrawal of all gunman from the yemeni capitol sanna and other cities. >> that doesn't seem likely. the united states seems to agree. it shut its embassy and pulled troops from an irforce base in the south of the country. the u.s. will see if it can find a solution before a full blown civil war. >> let's look at worsening situation in yemen and how we got here. several rival groups are

involved. we have the houthi's who belong to a shia muslim sect with the backing of iran. then former presidential saleh has his own forced. there are tribal forces at ply here regional wing of al-qaeda and yemeni he branch of isil. let's take a look at where these warring factions can be found in the country. the houthi's control the capitol, sanna and they're advancing southwards. reaching taiz. the president fled to aden last month. the security council will hold an emergency meeting on sunday after president hadi appealed for an urgent intervention. let's take to a yemeni blogger and freelance journalist, as she joins us from sweden via skype.

let's talk first about the former president who gave up the presidency, but he still wields significant political influence. what's his strategy with the houthis? >> houthis latest progress can never happen without the backing of the former president. the former president has given away the or give up the presidency, but he never give up playing in politics in yemen. it's understandable. i mean, the guy used to rule the country for over 30 years, of course, he still has the influence and power and the network, and they can -- the houthi's, there have been many troops showing that there is an alliance between the houthi.

he is the big elephant in the room which we need to discuss whenever we discuss the current crisis in yemen. >> ok. >> he should be part of the solution, i think. >> let's talk about taiz, yemen's third largest city. there's been resistance to the houthi advance there. houthi's have entered the city. how tied is the city to the houthi march southwards. >> that is going to be the challenge to invade aden. even in the mainstream media the international mainstream media there are news about houthi's taking over of taiz, but local press are still reporting about a strong resistance by the people and the young people, especially who are still protesting on the street, refusing or rejecting houthi's presence in the city, but it's, i think this, today if whatever

will be involved, it's going to be a defining day for who is going to be the winner eventually. >> what about the other or the involvement are other gulf states? they've come out and said look, we support president hadi, but are they likely to intervene militarily perhaps? >> i think yemen needs the international community needs the gulf states, we cannot afford yemen being in more crisis and getting a more deteriorating situation there. i mean, the amount of -- whatever is going on in yemen whether economically, politically or security wise, it's going to affect not only the reasonable be, but even internationally. we have seen that in the attack where the killers were trained or somehow were educated in yemen. i think yemen needs everyone, the international community or the gulf states to intervene and

find a settlement. >> thank you for talking to al jazeera. >> to bib gran air where hopes of nailing down a political deal are looking unlikely. peace talks are on the verge of collapse. on the ground, there's been fierce fighting in and around tripoli. wewe have a report now. >> libya's rival factions are still divided and unable to reach a compromise. as delegations try to stitch together a doing fighting has been flaring in libya. forces try to recapture tripoli. the attack was repelled by forces loyal to tripoli based gnc government. one of its seen other commanders was killed. the united nations envoy

brokering the talks in rabat is concerned. >> it had a neomilitary operation against tripoli precisely at the decisive moment to the talks. now the reaction today is as strong as in the past. this is not only military activity which is undermining the situation in libya and preventing the unity of the libyans in fighting terrorism it's also an operation that we condemn in the strongest terms. >> the eyes of the representatives of the tripoli-based government report the feuding in the capitol. orders were given to defend the capitol. now the situation is under control and tripoli is safe. >> the delegation for the government in tobruk insist a deal is still possible. >> our biggest concern now is to stop silence fighting and airstrikes.

there are those who want to undermine dialogue. what happened in tripoli is an attempt to disrupt what we hope to achieve but we are determined to go ahead with talks. >> after weeks of talks and months of talking libya remains divided. in the east is a government backed by the international community. in the west, is a government reinstated by the country's supreme court. >> we are joined live now from the moroccan capitol. there are reports that the talks are going nowhere. what is happening? >> absolutely nowhere just because of the growing political divide, the dell allegation from the tripoli based g.n.c. said after targeting the capitol they want to give it time.

if they say no to the talks they will have little options. the international community is trying to push them to stitch together a political settlement. joining me to talk more about this issue is an independent member. thank you for joining us. what went wrong? the united had high hopes there might be a deal today. suddenly, it is stalled. the g.n.c. is not taking part. >> it wasn't suddenly. there was a conversation and some kind of concerns about the agenda from day one since wednesday evening. the conversation now thursday, as a matter of fact, thursday evening. when they voiced their objection to the agenda and wanted to discuss other things that were not on the agenda and not to stick with the agenda. >> they were angry with the

latest developments on the ground, that whoever violated the spirit of the talks will be targeted by united sanctions. are you trying to defuse the tensions and has stilts in libya? >> of course. we call for everybody to ceasefire and to sit down and negotiate. i think the independent and all other groups, three of the four groups have met and discussed the items on the agenda, the security arrangement including a ceasefire and also the criteria for prime minister, the responsibility of the new unity government, the only group that have not discussed this is the g.n.c. before the attack, there were some concerns that they don't want to discuss these things, and this has been discussed with them. the escalation in the western part of libya added to the situation. >> are you still confident you

can still be able in the coming days to come to an agreement about forming a national unity government announcing a ceasefire and forming an army and pulling out military factions from the major cities or do you think this is something that is going to take sometime? >> i think we are optimistic. i think there are enough agreements that military options are not possible to end the conflict. the reality is that everybody has to come to the table and negotiation and conversation on the table is useful. any cutting of the negotiation is not going to be useful by any party. everybody has to bring concerns to the table discuss them and find a way out of this. it's very important for us that as soon as we preach compromise on issues, it can move forward with the unity government, move forward to put together the system that will allow a ceasefire, a monitoring of

anyvasion of the ceasefire. unless that happens, we will continue to have the escalation that is unfortunate because the libyan people are suffering the most out of this conflict. >> thank you very much. this just gives you an idea about the delicate task facing the international community. the political divide is one of the biggest issues, how to bring both internationally recognized government of tobruk, the independent members and g.n.c. based government to talk about a way out of this. the distrust continues and so does the crisis. >> thank you. >> israel's president is under pressure to form the next government. talks are underway between the three mythical parties that won the most seats in last week's election. >> we've been through a stormy and passionate election season. this is a time to begin the process of healing israeli

society. the government that will be formed was chosen by the majority of citizens but will answer to jews, arabs left, right, north south center and periphery. >> let's go to west jerusalem. i guess there's no doubt at this stage that benjamin netanyahu will be asked to form the next government by the president. >> that's right. at this stage it does seem like more of a formality to meet with the three party leaders who scored the highest seats in the march 17 poll, as well as with mr. netanyahu, he's meeting the opposition leader mr. herzog and meeting with ayman o'day. this is a group of political parties who for the first time in israeli elections history joined together to contest the poll coming in third which is

a very significant showing for this party. whatever the case, none of those three parties managed to secure the 61 seats needed to form an outright majority government, so a coalition will need to be built. >> the horse trading has already started, but what would a possible coalition look like? >> well, if we look at it through the lens of a government or a coalition rather, built by israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, which it looks very certain that is what is going to happen there's two potential paths you can go down. the obvious one is more mr. netanyahu to solidify his base which essentially means building a coalition with far right coalition parties and religious parties. these are partners in his previous government and effectively would cement his

control. the fact of the matter is that the situation for mr. netanyahu has become tense. in the time days of the elections, he made controversial statements saying that under his watch there would be no palestinian state and on the day of the election, he was also accused of race basing by saying "arabing were going to the polls in droves" hoping to get his voters to go to the polls which they did. whatever the case, he is presented about two choices whether it's to be hawkish and to form the coalition many believe he will, or become more doveish to form the unity government at the very least with the opposition leader herzog. the president is saying that is something that he he wants. ultimately it will be a decision that mr. netanyahu will make.

he he has six weeks to make is that choice, so there's a long wait before we see what shape israeli's 34th parliament will take. >> thank you. >> lots more still to come here. we'll have a report on the afghan army taking on the taliban. >> the so-called miracle sea road, we join thousands of south careens celebrating a tidal test value. >> in sports, djokovic could stay on course to defend his title. that's also coming up. >> amounted dates in nigeria's presidential election are taking part in a televised debate. president goodluck jonathan is participating along with several other independent candidates, but his main rival has skipped the event claiming the debate would not be fair and balanced. we are joint live from the

capital. what is the thinking behind not attending the debate? >> the opposition candidate said africa independent television, a local channel popular channel here is parse send and the debate won't be independent and partial. it accuses the station of having aired unethical adverts and documentaries exploiting tribal sentiment. a number of seenor figures within the opposition brought lawsuits against the channel for liable. the opposition leaders people also say that there were three other debates in which he took part in which president jonathan refused to take part in. not sure if that is accurate. the ruling party and president jonathan say the refusal to take part in the debate is more evidence if anybody needed it of this guy's refusal to answer

questions about his rule when he was a military dictator. they accuse him of connections to boko haram it's a well. ized fact that some claiming to be boko haram did say that he should be a negotiator for them with the nigerian government. they accuse him of links to hamas and icicle. of course he he denies these links. the rule party basically say that he has no ideas no strategy no solution to tackling nigeria's problems, hence his refusal to take part in the debate. it is taking part as i speak and at least three other presidential candidates are attending with him. >> what are the main issues people are worried about? >> when i spoke to you earlier i said the number one issue would be security. it seems i was wrong. the number one issue that's been raised so far in the debate is the issue of corruption.

looking at the format, watching the format, members of the public have been allowed to send in questions to the organizeddizers of this debate. the number one issue for nigerians seems to be how to tackle corruption. president jonathan answering questions said that he would put in place preventative measures to stop corruption, that the only way to stop corruption was to create strong incidents action toes. he gave examplion in the agricultural sector where he put in structures. we have people on the payroll who don't show up to work and still get paid. he said it wasn't just about institutions. nigerians require a shift of mindset. he said too many want big houses, big cars, big money overnight and that was fueling corruption. the second issue was security, but not just security in the northeast and boko haram which obviously does get most of the

coverage. we have kidnappings in the east, bank robberies in the southwest. he he said he pumped billions of dollars into equipping nigeria security agencies better and that this would solve the security problems around the country. >> thank you. >> the afghan president ashraf ghani is on his way to the united states for his first visit there since taking office. he's expected to discuss the pace of the u.s. troop withdrawal. most foreign troops have already pulled out. the size of afghanistan's army is at the lowest level in four years. >> these afghan soldiers are getting ready for a highway patrol. first up, a lesson in using an american-made machine gun. the men tell us they prefer russian weapons. this one, they say, sometimes jams. over the last five years, the number of troops at this base

near jalalabad has increased four fold. just as well, the taliban operates in many parts of afghanistan's eastern countryside. the new base commander said the problem isn't troops, it's weapons. >> lack of air support intelligence balloons and drones have affected our operations a lot. we should have an air force so we can destroy the enemy's bases. we're also very weak and having long-range weapons. these days the war has been modernized. we need modern weapons. >> even the food budget has been cut. there was no meat for lunch, instead, rice, spinach and a potato. while most foreign troops have pulled out, the size of afghanistan's army is at its

lowest level in four years. desertion, lack of recruitment and casualties are taking a toll. last year, troop numbers dropped by 8.5% to just over 169,000. >> the u.s. military leaders overestimated the strength of afghan security forces. they thought there were more police and troops than there really are. that makes it difficult to judge the afghan government's ability to secure the country. >> 1300 afghan soldiers were killed last year. for many poor afghans, it's the only job they can find. muhammed has to support 13 people in his family. he gets home every six months and says it's just as well he's single. >> there are provinces where boys are left for a long time. they get bored for nine, 10 months or a year without leave and when they finally get a

holiday, they rethink going back to the military wondering if they'll get a leave again. that's why they don't come back. >> the road is swept for i.e.d's. they say if they had night vision goggles and jammers to block remote-controlled homemade bombs, they could do a better job protecting people. taliban fighters are only a few kilometers away. the challenge is holding them back, and it's one afghanistan is now facing on its own. nicole johnston, al jazeera, jalalabad. >> in south korea he i can't a festival is celebrating an unusual phenomenon. low tides cause a strip of land to emerge creating a causeway to a nearby island. thousands of visitors attended.

>> as the sea recedes, people move forward from the shoreline. cautiously at first, then finding themselves on a strip of land that stretches from the main island to the much smaller island nearly three kilometers away. then the fun starts. collecting whatever unlucky creatures got left stranded by the departing tide. >> i just found it now. it's an octopus. >> the story goes that a family left behind their grandmother when they were chased away from the island by tigers. grandma prayed to be reunited and magically, the seas parted creating a path across the sea bed that the family used to come back for her, so the legend was born. playing on both the natural

phenomenon and local folklore, the community based a festival around the event that gross in popularity. >> we hope one day this will become a major event that represents the whole of korea. >> it translates from the korean as miracle sea road. a half hour ago, this stretch of sea bed was below the water. half an hour from now, it will be submerged once more and the miracle will be over. >> all the more reason to enjoy it while it lasts. this is the first time this family has come here. >> it's really amazing, it's good for the children. >> then as quickly as they departed, the waters returned. this time, the people receding back to dry land until the next time. rob mcbride, south korea. >> time for a break here on al jazeera. >> when become back, pollution of a river many considered

sacred. >> barcelona can tighten their grip on the title against their biggest rivals. more on that. stay with us.

>> tonight. >> you're taking "if" i have kids and you're changing it to "when" i have kids. >> a life-changing choice. >> it is wonderful to have children, but i think you can have a happy life without children. >> follow a very personal journey. >> after the age of 45 to get pregnant... is one percent. >> i'm a bit nervous. >> from the best filmmakers of our time. >> it's not traditionally what broadcast journalism does. >> the new home for original documentaries. al jazeera america presents "motherhood on ice". tonight, 10:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america

>> welcome back. a quick reminder of our top stories here. houthi rebels in yemen have tired shots. they have taken over the airport and other parts of the southern city. the fighters are pushing sawed wards in the direction of aden where president hadi is trying to hold on to power. libyan peace talks ever stalled. fierce fighting is raging between militias vying for control of tripoli. a top commander loyal to the tripoli based government is among the dead. >> candidates in nigeria's presidential election are taking part in a televised debate. president goodluck jonathan is participating but his main rival skimmed the event claiming it would not be fair and balanced. >> the battle against boko haram dominated the presidential

campaign. there are many other issues nigerians want to address including chronic water shortages. we have a report from nigeria. >> on a good day, the city's water supplies 945 million-liters of water and now for 7 million of the 20 million residents. that is where the water vendors come in, to fill a void and supply the rest of the population. >> it's a hectic job, as the demand for water is high, and we have to work long hours. it pays well. >> their customers are far from happy, though. she is a housewife. she spends $100 every month on war from the vendors. >> i feel bad, i think very,

very bad. i think the government should come and help us to put water for us. so we will not buy water ever again. >> another group cashing in on the water shortage are the owners of the growing number of water treatment and bottling plants. this structure alone produces 1.5 million bottles of water a day. >> there is no end in sight for the water shortage. with at least 1,500 people moving from other parts of the country to the city every day, its population will hit half a million in just five years. demand for water by 2020 is expected to rise by a billion liters a day. >> the city water company says it can't afford the massive cost meet the supply and demand.

>> we have put in place the master plan to develop about eight large water schemes to be able to support a mega c.d. we are looking at an investment of about $3.5 billion. that is an investment that the state government cannot solely fund. >> the state government is now looking for private investors. without them, the people will continue to struggle for good, safe drinking water. al jazeera, nigeria. >> the lebanese military says it's not well armed enough to take on isil along its borders. we have this report. >> the lebanese army is looking for any sign of movement by the enemy he. when soldiers spot it, they attack. we're concealing the identity of this captain to protect him. >> even if we are not armed very

well, we are doing the best that we can and we are sacrificing giving lives and we have given a lot of martyrs on this mission and we'll keep doing that until the last drop of blood. >> the lebanese army is trying to ensure that fighters with isil and the al-qaeda linked nusra front don't expand their specific fronts across the border. this military post is a few kilometers from where armed groups ever staked their positions. >> they are very dangerous. they use covers like farmers and shepherds. it was very hard at the very beginning to extinguish between civilians and terrorists. >> at least for now the lebanese army said it is making gains, one strategic post at a time. the stakes are high. lebanon has its own share of political trouble and doesn't want to get sucked you into the broader sectarian conflict in

the region. >> it's not about only infiltrating or actually crossing the borders inside the lebanese territory. it would be also again it's a hybrid country it could be creating instabilities. >> while lebanon may be divided politically, it's trying to put on a united front when it comes to protecting its boundaries. >> in syria at least 25 people have been killed in a wave of car bombs in the northeast of the country, according to activists. footage posted on line appears to show a raging fire with people rushing for cover. they had been celebrating the new year festival in the kurdish city. activists say the video that cannot be identified shows anti syrian regime fighters targeting military positions in aleppo. it was once the countries industrial heartland but has been transformed into the biggest urban battleground in

syria's war. >> the greek prime minister alexis tsipras is head to go germany for a meeting with german chancellor angela merkel, after an agreement to give athens more money to help its debt crisis. we have a report from berlin. >> a meeting in brussels to try to sox the greek debt crisis, europe's leaders talked long into the night. eventually, they agreed he a deal to allow greece more money and more time. analysts in berlin believe that neither side hazard any realistic alternative. >> it's another step on this path of muddling through. this has been the strategy from the very beginning. there's no clear cut solution that would be, otherwise you would need a system where you really cut the system, call it dead and then start a new one. >> whatever the solution, a recent survey suggested many

germans do not want greece to have more money. >> i don't think it's a good idea. they have received too much over the last years already. >> it's bad. i would say they should be more cooperative. that's my opinion. >> there are some in the political class who disagree entirely. here, there are those who say that what greece needs now is not just more money but a move away from e.u. imposed austerity. >> our party was and is strictly against this policy. if you look at the past and we can see that it was not helpful for the economy in greece. it was not helpful for greece but caused us a lot of damages. it's a terrible social situation in greece. >> the meeting at the german chancellory will give alexis

tsipras one more chance to plead his case. al jazeera berlin. >> the first round of voting begins today in french region ales. one of the most powerful far right parties in europe, france's national front hopes to come out on top. the party leader is looking for an added boost for her bid for the french presidency in 2017. joining us now from france is the head of european research at the global policy institute. why do you think we're seeing this rise in the popularity of the far right? what's driving people to support the national front politically do you think? >> most of the people who vote national front tend to be from the working class and middle classes of france and so from the deep rural areas of france. they're the people who feel left out and who feel -- by the

socialist party saying the socialist party not only doesn't represent the middle class many people who voted for francois hollande in 2012 might outthe national front because the national front as a program the economy program of the national front is very old france. they want a protectionist state more intervention, which is music to the ears of the excommunist voters in france. at the same time, they play on the insecurity many people feel rewarding immigration. that's where the vote is the strongest, among the working class who feel competition with immigrants. >> you talk about the ruling

socialists, they are not expected to do well in this region election. why is this and what are the issues that they're worried about? why do you think the socialist supporters feel left down? >> the socialist supporters feel let down because they felt francois hollande would care out a leftwing program, francois hollande not worried about citizens. where actually hollande government, the maneuver of the government is very narrow. he he has to keep under the watchful eyes of the market and european commission which has to approve the budget, so hollande is in no condition to carry out the type of policies which he he mentioned in his campaign, so that's why they feel left out. they feel that this government is actually carrying out a policy which --

>> ok. a final not, what about nicholas sarkozy, are we likely to see the start of his return to the political arena? >> that is what he is hoping. he hopes the center on the right wins most of the seats as they will. they will probably add the same number of votes as the national front, but will remain 80 seats and i think that for him it will herald the beginning of his presidential campaign. we've already seen that that is already his tactic is to follow in the footsteps of the far right, for example, last week, he mentioned that he would ban the head scarf in universities, he is in favor that have and he is opposed to -- he is definitely trying to resolve in

the national front. he hopes today will be the start of his presidential campaign. >> thank you for talking to al jazeera. >> pleasure. >> in india activists have undertaken a 10 day march to new delhi to highlight the problem of river pollution. the river which flows through the city is considered sacred but is also without countries most polluted. they are marching for clean water. farmers and holy men have joined this car van on its march to the capitol, protesting the polluted water they get from the river after it passes through new delhi. for those who consider the river holy, its current state is sackry ledge. >> it is our mother. she's everyone's mother. we worship her. we will not tolerate our mother

being polluted. >> this farm is downstream from deli. despite being near the river, he said he doesn't have enough clean water for his crops. >> we have a big crop growing right now and hardly any water to grow it. chemicals from factories is flowing into the river. earlier, we used to drink this water and irrigate the fields with it. now, even animals can't drink it. >> many studies have shown that vegetables grown by the river absorb tax ins in the water making them dangerous to eat because of the pollutants dumped in the river as it passes through the city. >> this is what the water looks like entering deli, clear and clean enough for locals to bathe in and even water small crops. for 22 kilometers downstream, several industrial and residential drains pour waste into the river. the water looks like this.

>> the river has become a dumping ground for people in the city, a situation repeated in many rivers throughout india despite a government campaign to clean india's waterways. environmentals say one main reason that is not happening is that existing regulations are outdated or week. >> 60% of all the sewer treatment is in new delhi. enforcement is not working. >> this is not the first time groups have marched to protest against the state of the river. many in the crowd say unless the river's cleaned up, they will be back on the streets. al jazeera delhi. >> indonesia is facing a population crisis, parts of the country already overpopulated. the government's warning that living conditions will get worse if the number of people continues to grow.

>> population experts call it a crisis. indonesia has around 250 million people. in 2050, it's predicted to have around 400 million, and could have the world's third largest population after china and india. >> we can't back off. this isn't only a threat to our country or to our people, but to all of us, including the countries surrounding us. if our population keeps growing so fast, there will be a moment on this island when living conditions will be under threat. we'll face shortages, water, rice and oil. what will people eat? >> in an effort to stop this boom, the government reintroduced the family planning program that was very successful 30 years ago and encouraging families not to have more than two children. the average is 2.6 children per family.

many have a lot more. >> this man and his wife have 11 children. doctors working for the family planning board have failed to persuade him to use birth control. >> i don't want to use birth control because i'm against it. i believe it's up to god to decide how many children i'll have. >> despite offering free birth control and regular visits of mobile clinics to neighborhoods, the family planning board is fighting an uphill battle especially when it comes to religion. >> if men are worried about vasectomies, we will use religion to convince them. if we can't persuade them, we'll bring a religious teacher to explain to them that religion is not against it. >> not many here are aware of the looming danger. a population explosion is

already hampering quality of life. experts warn if nothing's done quickly, even basic needs will be at risk. >> family planning workers are trying to explain the urgency of birth control but have little staff and a limited budget. many don't know the program exists. >> what we see is that the government is not focused on controlling population growth anymore. we used to have a minister for population control and a family planning board with strict birth control programs. with democracy and reforms, it's up to the people to choose how many children they'll have. the government hardly interferes. >> demographic experts have urged the government to tackle this population crisis and assign more money and manpower to promote birth control. thirty years ago, indonesia was recognized as having one of the world's best family planning programs. many say there need to be improvements and fast.

>> when we come back, we'll have the sport. find out why this champion try athlete was forced to play a waiting game at his last event.

>> welcome back. all the sport, andy's here. >> man united picked up a crucial win over their premier league rivals liverpool. united taking them five points they're in the race for fourth and champions league

qualification. giving an eye to the first half lead here, jarop sent off three and a half minutes after his appearance. a spectacular voluntarily pulling one back for liverpool but finished 2-1 to united. >> leaders chelsea in action in the next few minutes, three points they're of second place man city and have two games in hand. just three points clear. >> we are there, we are strong, we are confident. we believe in our capacity to stay there until the last match. >> since 1902, there have been 229 he will classico meetings and later this sunday comes another that will have a huge bearing on the spanish title race. barcelona hosting real madrid, on a run of 17 wins in 18 games

could go four points clear of real. >> there will still be 10 games to go before the end of the season. many of them complicated ones. both for us, as well as the rest of the teams in the competition. i think it is important, but not a decisive game. >> winning the champions league twice with real madrid, he sees bars arena as the favorites for this one. >> they are at home, which is a huge advantage. the owners will be on real madrid to defend really well and stop barcelona. >> defending mls champions galaxy were held, great goal

from the irish striker giving the galaxy the lead with really good sole leefforts after three games. a third of the conference. >> tennis number one djokovic will play roger federer in sunday's final djokovic beating andy murray for a 60th 60th straight time in the semifinal. djokovic on course to win one of the biggest titles for the fourth time. >> >> a repeat of last year's final, he will be trying to win his fifth title. >> the northern hemisphere's biggest international rugby tournament could hardly have had a closer finish, own point

difference. the win gave them back-to-back wins. they were winners only by 55-35 falling six points short. >> anytime you win a championship, it's just incredible. i don't care what way we play. to win a championship is an amazing achievement and amazing feeling. >> here is that table island, wales and he can gland all finished with four wins. it was that plus 63 points difference which kept the tree fee in irish hands. world cup host england seven tries win over france. >> i think it shows obviously i didn't see all the other games but ball in hand on a dry day, i was hoping for rain this year. scotland didn't get that, unfortunately. on a dry day there's great

talent here. >> defending super rugby champions picked up a much needed win beating fellow australian team 28-13 in the southern hemisphere competition. ending his four-game scoring drought. >> it's hard enough to oh win a triathlon, but richard murray had a 10 second time penalty before crossing the finish line in first. he made the stop on the run after breaking rules in the bike stage of the event that also includes an open water swim. despite the stoppage, murray still a comfortable winner there in new dealt. it was an american who won the women's competition. more sport later on, but that is it from me. >> the sport of pigeon racing

has become more popular than ever. the super rich in china are spending a lot of money on their new hobby. we have a report from belgium you where some of the best racing pigeons are bred. >> in this box is a belgian racing pigeon called nicholas, something of a long distance star, a national champion just sold to a chinese billionaire. >> this was the most expensive pigeon in the auction and also in the whole auction season. this is the most expensive pigeon sold since may, 2013, after bolt. he was sold for 224,000 euro. >> this is an exclusive breeding center. last year, $23 million worth of racing pigeons were sold from here, mostly to china. this is where retired champions breed, with the all important bred in belgium tag.

to chinese fans, that means they're buying the best, courtesy of decades of competition and expertise. >> it's also a matter of maybe snobbery that people from china, even they know they have good quality pigeons in china, but they prefer to come to belgium and buy pigeons here. >> 220 birds are on their way to china, $911,000 total value. >> it's a long way from when pigeon racing was just a hobby. using the birds' homing instincts, races started with pigeons released hundreds of kilometers from home. owners anxiously waiting for them to come back or not, all for a few hundred dollars. >> what's transformed what used to be a cottage industry into a multi-million dollar global business is the huge popularity of pigeon racing in china, where millions of dollars change hands

both in racing and gambling. according to some, with that money has come mistreatment and cruelty. thousands of birds die during these races off the coast of taiwan. elsewhere, there's been doping extortion and bird theft. >> the whole principle of pigeon racing is to send birds hundreds of miles from where they belong from their homes, their mates and babies and bet on whether or not they're going to make it back alive. >> a pigeon paradise, birds are very well treated. as you see young pigeons spreading their wings for the first time, it's hard not to be taken in by the original attraction of this sport, the connection between humans and the birds who always try to come home. al jazeera, at pigeon paradise in belgium. >> stay with us here on al jazeera. more news at the top of the hour. you can keep up to date with all of the news on our website aljazeera.com.

that's aljazeera.com. stay tuned. thanks for watching al jazeera. this

♪ angry protesters houthis take the airport of the third biggest city in the push south toward the president's stronghold stronghold. >> i am lauren taylor. coming up: libya's peace talks on the verge of collapse after fierce fighting in and around tripoli. nigeria's presidential election debate goes ahead without the main opposition contender. the national front party come out on top in france's local