thanks for watching. i'm stephanie sy. the news continues next live from doha. ♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ well tom the news hour i'm richelle carey in doha. coming up in the next 60 minutes. a former general for sue dam hussein is killed in iraq. south african police open fire against foreign workers who armed themselves with machetes after a series of attacks on their shops. ♪ u.s. troops arrive to help train ukrainian solders, and

moscow is not happy about it. and a journey through time the replica ship retracing the route of a french hero of the u.s. war of independence. ♪ and we begin with the developing story out of iraq where a former vice president has been killed in a military operation north of tikrit. he is said to have played a significant role in helping isil expand. he created one of the most powerful sunni armed group. omar joins us live from baghdad. he has actually been on the run since 2003 but that doesn't necessarily mean he has been in hiding if he was able to form this group and continue to fight.

>> reporter: yes, absolutely. he remained influential and powerful and elusive. he formed this group, which is made of former members of the iraqi army as well as intelligence officers combined by conservative muslim groups. they remained very powerful attacking the iraqi government and u.s. forces when they were in iraq. they cooperated with isil last year when they overran the iraq's second-largest city of mosul, so he was hiding we understand, in an area that is northeast of tikrit. it's a mountainous area. according to the iraqi government and its media outlets, they say he was killed early this morning in this operation. however, there is now some suspicion coming out from a provincial official saying that

he could be not the one killed in this operation. now the iraqi government and the media outlet for the -- for the government is saying they are carrying out some dna tests to try to confirm the identity if it was him or not. >> so if it is it was him, omar what does this mean for the situation on the ground? how significant is it, really? well it will be a big blow for the group itself. he is seen as the moral and the top leader for the group. however, with regards to fighting in tikrit we need to differentiate between two things. isil is one part fighting the iraqi government as well as the popular mobilization force. it's not confirmed or even established that he was fighting along isil in this particular

fight. tikrit was liberated about three weeks ago. we are not quite sure if ho was involved in that battle. now the entire province is witnessing military operations carried out by the iraqi government as well as the popular mobilization forces with the shia militaries those fights and battles are not over yet. >> all right. omar thank you. south africa's foreign minister has called for a diplomatic support from other african nations to put annen to a wave of attacks against migrants. the violence has spread from durbin to joe hand yesesberg. imran khan reports. >> reporter: rubber-coated steel bullets flow over the heads of protesters. they have armed themselves with

machetes after three weeks of xenophobic attacks. for some here it is despair, though, and they just want to go home. >> [ inaudible ]. so it was taken away and they don't have anything for now. [ inaudible ]. >> reporter: also recently menacing graffiti has appeared and foreign-owned businesses have been robbed or vandalized. >> i don't want to go because you know the problem in our country. coming from the other country, and then some of us have some problems in our country. ethiopia's prime minister has also joined the political reaction. >> as africans we all fee fee -- feel we have contributed

to the liberation of south africa. so africans should come together and should live everywhere where they want to live of course based on the laws and regulations of that specific country. >> reporter: resentment among some south africans towards migrants has been rising along with unemployment and allegations of corruption and coneyism. this sxhun tee has been particularly critical. however, for others the violence is a legacy of apartheid. >> it's a combination of -- of sectors in a confluence of factors. there is no doubt a -- a mob culture, and a mob movement what our minister of education yesterday called a third force at work here. >> reporter: south africa's president has condemned the violence and set up a border management agency. but many fear a repeat of seven

years ago when 60 people were killed and hundreds of others injured in similar attacks. so charles tell us more about what is happening where you are. well i'm in think tank johannesberg and this is where the worst violence has happened today. earlier on as you heard, police used rubber bullets and tear gas to keep crowds apart. you may be able to see people up on the balconies here. this area is fixed local and expatriot area. it was set up by a previous government originally to house minors. but a lot of migrant workers have come in here and a number have set up things like mechanic workshops. there were two work shops that

were burnt overnight. the police seem to be keeping the crowds apart. it's relatively quiet here now. in front of me there is a group of locals there that are carrying sticks and machetes. we have also seen the police apprehend what we presume may well be locals who were taking advantage of the situation and looting. we saw a couple of men who were apprehended for some televisions that they were carrying in the back of a vehicle. we have spoken to members of the nigerian community who are here. and he said they will retaliate, certainly him speaking personally. we spoke together another nigerian man who expressed great sadness, a man who is married to a south african woman and has lived here for a long period of time. so a lot of fear and not -- not necessarily a two-camp message,

it's not quite as bipolar and you would expect. and there's a lot of mixed messages but the predominant feeling is one of great fear and tension here this evening. >> charles is there a message from the government? how is the government responding? >> reporter: as we heard in imran's package, the government has condemned the violence and called for calm. it has said this is not how south africans deal with foreigners. there are allegations that they are not doing enough. so certainly the government here very keen to project that it is doing all that it can. interestingly there was a police press conference here this morning, the police saying that they are doing all they can. they are investigating these text messages some rather violent words being sent around

on sms texts, inciting violence. interesting as well the leading high man rights group here in south africa has called for the zulu king to be charged with hate speech. the spark that initiated these attacks is being seen as having started as a result of the zulu king saying that foreigners should leave south africa. he has flatly denied making those statements saying it was a big misinterpretation, but it remains to be seen just how the government and the police here can contain the violence at this stage. >> we'll continue to follow that charles stratford live for us. thank you. the united nations has said it needs $275 million to meet the humanitarian needs in yemen over the next three months. the situation is deteriorating with food supplies running short. world food program says it will

need to distribute food for over 100,000 displaced people in the city of aden in the next few days. before the fighting began, the wfp estimated that over 10 million people were already short of food but it now says the escalating violence has left more than 12 million yemenese in need of assistance. we spoke to the world food director in yemen. she said the embargo is making the situation worse. >> the air strikes are on a constant basis. as i came in here i got a message from my team in yemen, and aden in particular and also in sana'a that the air strikes have been constant and they have been -- there have been great tension and displaced from their homes and seeking shelter elsewhere. the situation is bad because the -- the various commercial

sectors there providing food or fuel as well, are not functioning. people are hungry there is no -- the embargo on moving shipments into the country, a country that has been totally dependent on commercial imports for both food and fuel have limited access to the food that they could purchase or be able at the -- in the local stores. to add to it is the problem of fuel which is now really making things very difficult, because the opportunities that were available for humanitarian -- and particularly the national staff who are working day and night in the country, they find it difficult now to -- to move. they find it difficult to move the food stocks that we had pre-positioned in the country just before the crisis erupted. we are finding it difficult to get enough fuel to -- to move the food to the people who need

the food. >> so it sounds like distribution is a worsening challenge. how are you getting the food to the people? or how are they getting to you? >> we have -- we have information of about 2 million people who are extremely vulnerable at this moment. we have food stocks that could reach out to about 300,000 people in the -- in the coming days. right now we are -- our distributions are taking place in aden. we have had distributions done to about 2,000 people in -- in aden. however, the security situation is so grave that the -- the people who are out in their -- doing the distributions are finding it very difficult to reach out to those -- to those communities who need it. there are people who are displaced even living under trees, because their houses and shelters are no more in existence. and there is very limited access

to -- to the medical services and to -- to support those who are in -- in hospitals to provide them the much-needed food that they would require for quicker recovery at the hospitals as well. diplomatic sources are telling al jazeera that the united states has lined up a new special envoy to yemen. he has worked for 28 years with the u.n. in africa and also in the middle east. he -- his predecessor resigned on wednesday. tribes fighting on the side of president hadi have received reinforcements in the city not par from the capitol. the president's supporters have also been making gains in aden. but have so far failed to take control of ta'izz.

>> reporter: pickups descend on the town east of the capitol. they are reinforcement committees. both sides have been battling for control of the area which is around a 2-hour drive in sana'a. >> translator: we are the sons. we reject the houthis. we will not leave here except victorious, and we will die fighting. we're willing to sacrifice our money and all of our belongings to defend our land. >> translator: [ inaudible ] the graveyard of every invader. we will not let down our yemeni brothers who will defeat the houthis. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: in ta'izz yemen's biggest city and the birthplace of the uprising in 2011, houthi fighters are stationed on the

main roads. together with soldiers loyal to the deposed president, they have been trying to consolidate their control of the city which is seen as a gateway to southern yemen. but further south it's the opposition who appear to be gaining momentum. the popular resistance committees are making gains every day. particularly in aden. street-to-street battles continue in the center of the city with tanks and heavy shelling as they try to force the houthis to retreat or surrender. air strikes, gunfire and heavy bombardment mean aden's streets are practically empty, except for fighters on both sides. rubbish is piling up everywhere. some young yemenese are risking their lives to clean the streets to try to ensure that diseases are not added to the long list of challenges yemenese already

have to endure. there's lots more coming up on al jazeera. italy appeals for help to hope with an unpressented flow of new arrivals. thirsty for more water, the brazilian town that is struggling to survive years of drought. plus in sport, we take a look at the level of social media abuse, english premier league footballers are taking. ♪ russia says the arrival of nearly 300 u.s. troops in western ukraine could seriously destabilize the situation. u.s. ambassador to ukraine posted a photo on twitter, showing american troops arriving. they are going to train 900 ukrainian national guard over the next six months as fighting

continues with pro-russian rebels in eastern ukraine. rory challands has more reaction from moscow. >> reporter: you can probably assume though that the kremlin is a bit more worried about this than they are letting on. they will see this as part of a continuation of nato encroachment on russia and they have always been against the joins of ukraine into the nato security umbrella. obviously this isn't going that far, but they won't look on this particularly kindly at all. another thing that the russians will be watching very very closely for is exactly who is being trained by these u.s. paratroopers because included in ukraine's national guard are various irregular units that have been fighting against the pro-russian separatists in the east. and some of those are on the far right of the political spectrum. so if it is proven that brigades

like this are included in this training program, it will give the russians a very strong case to be able to say that the u.s. army is training fascists and neo-nazis. italy is appealing for help to cope with an unprecedented flow of migrants. hundreds arrived in italy on friday and it's thought that more than 40 others may have drowned after the boat they were on capsized. more than 7,000 people mainly from africa and the mid-ing east have braved the journey to escape poverty or conflict this week. an italian coast guard vessel conducted six different search and rescue operations in two days in international waters off of the coast of libya. they took aboard more than 50 migrants who attempted to cross the mediterranean on six different boats. paul brennan reports. >> reporter: at the port the

coast guard ship delivers its human cargo. nearly 600 migrants rescued from a variety of sticken boats off of the libyan coast in the past few days. guided ashore by coast guard officers these men, women, and children have risked death in the hope of a better life. such are the numbers involved teams of volunteer doctors now work alongside the ship's medical staff. what they have seen pulled from the water in recent weeks is heroic. >> sometimes we -- we see if people in the sea. they swallow water, and gasoline and it's -- awful. it's awful. >> reporter: some arrive with a little money for their new life. others arrive without even shoes to wear. they some from syria, eritrea,

somalia, and there's no sign of a slow down. the european commission admits solutions are needed. it's just that they don't have any at the moment. >> the european commission cannot alone do it all. yes, we are putting all of our energy into developing a new come prepresencive approach which we will be coming forward with in may, moved up from july. but we do not have a silver bullet or any kind of panacea that is going to make the situation go away like that. and no amount of finger pointing is going to change that. >> reporter: in the next few days this coast guard ship will put to sea again, and many more will be saved as a result. but the question of how to stop them from risking their lives in the first place goes unanswered. a memorial service has been helped for the victims of the

germanwings plane craft. they all gathered. all 150 people aboard were killed. the co-pilot who has been treated for depression is thought to have deliberately crashed the jet after locking the captain out of the cockpit. syria's president has warned that instability in the middle east could lead to more attacks in europe. he blamed foreign interference for the war in syria. he said terrorism is a global issue and not a regional problem. >> as long as you have terrorism growing, sweden cannot be safe. as long as the backyard of europe especially the mediterranean and northern africa is in chaos and full of terrorists, europe cannot be safe. and syrian government forces have stepped up attacks on aleppo in idlib, killing at least 40 civilians, including 20 children. the syrian regime attacked the

eastern side of the city with barrel bombs. the air raid killed at least ten people in two neighbors. in idlib the government reportedly dropped bombs containing toxic gas. there have been over 100 strikes in the area in just the past few days. it is national day in syria, but there's not much to celebrate, not at least for millions of syrians forced out of their homes. many are in lebanon. >> reporter: while the syrian government may be marking national day, there is absolutely no sense or talk of celebration in this makeshift camp in lebanon's valley. in fact most of the refugees we have met here today, a lot of them lined up behind us they are just trying to ensure that their children get the most basic medical attention. you hear a lot of crying in this tent but there's also a great sense of relief from the parents

that we have spoken with because they are gratified they are able to get this kind of medical care for their children. the medics would say these are appalling conditions these refugees live in. they say no child should have to live this way. >> translator: this camp they are living in isn't a good environment. no one would want to live like this. no water, no electricity, and no shower or sanitation. >> reporter: fact of the matter is most of these children don't know what national day is in syria, they don't even know syria. most of them weren't born there. this has been their lives. this camp has grown exponentially over the last couple of years. now it's like a miniature city. palestinians in the occupied west bank are honoring piz piz -- prisoners day. some stay in prison for years

without ever knowing why. >> reporter: these pictures show the israeli army rounding up palestinians on wednesday. a scene that is repeated across the occupied west bank almost every night. when israel carries out these raids, palestinian security forces are not informed. israel currently holds 6,000 palestinians in its prisons. 450 of whom are held in administrative detention. this means being detained without charge or trial on indefinitely renewable orders. this is a hamas venntive in the palestinian parliament. he spent over 13 years in detention. he was released two weeks ago. while detained he missed the birth of his two children some of their weddings and the funerals of his mother and two siblings. >> translator: israel's policy of administrative detention is

based on not letting the prisoners know the reason for their detention. >> reporter: palestinians protest israel's detention policy regularly and this is one of many demonstrations held in the west bank to honor palestinian prisoner's day. the issue of prisoners is a source of protest here. one in four palestinians have at some point been detained. for decades the united nations has been calling on israel to stop detaining palestinians without charge or trial because it violates the forth geneva convention. israel says it's a legal tool it uses sparingly and insists detainees have the right to appeal. >> when fighting vicious terrorist organizations who have no hesitation in murdering

innocent israelis we have no choice. >> reporter: and there are abuses of inmates according to legal organizations. >> translator: testimonies have lawyers confirm that many prisoners are suffering from illnesses as the result of torture. >> reporter: in the last year the number of palestinians held in administrative detention alone has almost tripled. more prisoners are being held in solitary confinement. palestinian prisoners have little hope that things will get any better. breaking news to bring you right now. this is coming from iraq the northern part of the country, erbil specifically. we're hearing that a car bomb has gone off, and this is in the

area that is home to the u.s. consulate consulate. we are reaching out to our correspondent in erbil, as soon as we have more information, we will bring that to you. still to come on the program, christians in iraq are racing to save some of their religion's oldest and most sacred artifacts. a journalist is sent to jail in china. and still ahead in sports a new master's champion returns to action but his day does not go as planned. andy will have all of the details.

>> monday. >> a lot of these mining sites are restricted. >> a silent killer. >> got a lot of arsenic in it. >> you know your water's bad and you know you're sick. >> unheard victims.

>> 90 percent of the people will get some type of illness from the water. >> where could it happen next? >> i mean, they took away my life. >> "faultlines". al jazeera america's hard-hitting... >> today they will be arrested. >> ground-breaking... >> they're firing canisters of gas at us. >> emmy award-winning investigative series. water for coal. monday, 10:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america. >> part of al jazeera america's >> special month long evironmental focus fragile planet ♪ welcome back. let's take a look at the top stories on al jazeera. south africa's foreign minister is calling for a diplomatic support from neighboring nations to end seen knowxenophobic attacks.

an iraqi governor says a former vice president has been killed north of tikrit. he created one of the most powerful sunni armed groups which has been fighting the iraqi army in tikrit in cent weeks. and in the past few minutes we have gotten word of a car bomb exploding in the capitol of iraq's kurdish region erbil. there are no words yet on any casualties, but we are trying to gather more information. getting reports again of this huge blast in erbil. let's talk to kim vinnell who is there. kim what do you know so far? >> reporter: we were very close to the area when the explosion happened. we have confirmed from officials that indeed it was a car bomb. we have unconfirmed reports of casualties. it happened in a predominately

christian neighborhood and also home to the american consulate, that is right next to the police station. security has now sealed the location, and we are working to get more information about these casualties. remember these sorts of attacks are very rare in erbil. the last attack was in november last year and isil claimed responsibility for that attack. but that attack was the first one -- there hadn't been one for more than a year before that. usually this region in erbil is very very secure. but isil has recently made attacks in the past. >> so you have gotten word that there are casualties you don't know how many and this is not an area where things like this happen often. it was back in november the last time this happened. and before then a year ago, so a relatively safe area and again, this is near the u.s. consulate.

kim, i'm going to let you go gather more information and do bring us more about this car explosion that happened in erbil. kim thank you very much. the u.n. says more than half a million people have been displaced due to attacks by boko haram in nigeria. the military says its soldiers have taken back a number of towns from the armed groups still people are afraid to return home because they don't believe it is safe. >> reporter: from the outside, it looks like any other mosque but go inside government officials say boko haram fighters used this place of worship in northern nigeria as a base when they took the town. when soldiers moved in with force, a fierce battle caused more damage. in some places bridges linking towns and villages have also been destroyed. >> the situation is really grim because they cannot go back to

their homes, and start living reasonable lives as they used to live because there are no facilities, no provisions no markets, no hospitals. even churches and mosques have been razed down. >> reporter: this woman fled from her home last year. she has heard there is still occasional fighting. >> translator: when we go back we were targeted. it is not safe. my husband was killed by boko haram. >> reporter: an untold number of families have been affected by years of violence. some have started going back even though officials say it's not 100% safe. >> we work in [ inaudible ] with think security [ inaudible ] they need to give a final, final clearance, because there are a lot of ied's.

they need to strip the whole place. >> reporter: those ready to go home say all they need is an official confirmation the roads are safe to use. it's going to start raining soon. some families say they want to go back so they can work in the fields. if their town and villages are safe they will send for their wives and children. but even if boko haram were completely defeated it could take years to rebuild their homes and heal old wounds. amnesty international says the jailing of a veteran journalist in china is political persecution. protesters in hong kong also condemned the sentence. her lawyers say she will appeal against the conviction for leaking state secrets to foreign news organizations. she became famous in china for her hard-hitting reports on

political elite. >> reporter: the conviction of the 71-year-old journalist comes as no surprise to those watches here as the state itself also controls china's courts. she was first arrested nearly a year ago for divulging state secret. the secret in question is a party memo known as document number 9. it is revealed that the chinese party leadership is concerned over what it sees as the potential infiltration of western ideals such as democracy, which would corrupt and lead to the dissent grags of china's leadership. the intended political reform that the chinese president has been talking about is possibly not true that he intends to keep things exactly as they are. and the human rights violations that have been seen will

continue. her conviction is just the latest in the growing list advocates say of human rights violations perpetrated by the communist party here in china. she intends to appeal her conviction. it has been 40 years some khmer rouge fighters marched no the capitol of cambodia. an estimated 2 million cambodians were killed during the four-year rule of pol pot. to brazil now where drought is devastating cities towns, and villages. the go is set to announce a emergency plan to try to revive the region. but the lack of water is affecting everyone. farmers crops as well. >> reporter: today is a good day here.

the water truck came. it means that this woman can fill her buckets, do her washing, and feel for a few hours that things are getting better. >> translator: we're saving water and using it to wash our clothes, to water the plants and to clean the floor. >> reporter: 56 towns and cities in this region in northeastern brazil are suffering severe drought. another 49 are critical. this is the rainy season. there has been enough to keep things green, but not much more. and not for sometime. three years ago this reservoir would have been fill. and the water would have been above my head. this gives you an idea of the devastation that has been caused in this region. fields lie abandoned, they were growing grapes here but there is not enough water to produce a crop so the farmers walked away. for an area that relies on agriculture, the continued water

shortage is killing crops, jobs and hope. >> translator: there is hope only if god helps us or the government, without water we have nothing. >> reporter: the water truck appears it has enough water for 90 families for days. >> translator: if the course of the river could be changed it could help. >> reporter: the go will present a emergency plan in the next few weeks detailing how it will tackle the drought. but there is no quick fix or solution for problems years in the making. ahead on al jazeera, all of the sport, find out what formula one world champion lewis hamilton had a slow start to his day. ♪

♪ from a galaxy far far away you can feel the sense of excitement. yes, we're talking about the return of star wars one of the most celebrated movie franchises ever. the trailer for the waitest insalment has fans close to fever pitch. it offered glimpses of iconic characters like hon solo and chewy. and the die hard fans cannot wait for the real thing. >> i love the lure. i love dressing up. >> it is the most epic celebration ever.

>> around 45,000 fans are expected to gather to celebrate all things a star wars. the event is being streamed around the world. walt disney pictures bought the company behind the star wars films in 2012 for $4 billion, so the franchise could continue. we are joined by a arts and culture critic. i'm a little excited, bill as all star wars fans are. and if we're honest we're a little old. star wars has been around for almost 40 years but continues to bring in generations. how does it do that. >> thanks for having me on. that's funny, because it is true that star wars exists on a plane bigger than any other movie franchise. those tickets back in the day were a quarter of what they are

today. on a couple of levels they are funny, they are enjoyable. we have to remember george lucas, his previous film american graffiti was a very intimate and home-spun film and he brings a little bit of that to this. and this crosses the melinia, and when i thing when you bring it all together you get this franchise that just keeps -- that every new generation comes back to. any parent who has a seven, eight, nine, ten year old will take them to his films. >> george lucas, obviously a brilliant talented man, but if we're honest the second trilogy got mixed reviews. j.j. abrams is now doing this.

what do you think we can expect for the qualify of what we're going to get in december? >> that's such an excellent question. let's say attack of the clones and the phantom menace are really sub standard films. i think the most recent film was sort of a more return to form. but boy, we seemed to go down some long trails with some of those characters and just the heavy handedness of the film making but you have these long-standing decades of goo will which pushed them into popularity and everyone thinks that j.j. is someone who appreciates sort of the light touch of the first three. the -- the good humor of them and the -- and just the con -- connectic form in them. and frankly his work shows that he understands that.

>> well he will certainly hear it from the fans if he doesn't bring it. that's for sure. bill wonderful conversation now we all have to wait until december. thank you. >> thank you. now time for sport. and here is andy a star wars fan. [ laughter ] >> okay. footballers might be used to facing abuse from spectators in stadiums but a knew report shows that social media could become a bigger platform for abuse. in the first seven months of the english premier league season 134,000 abusive posts were sent to players and clubs. the striker is the player given the most abuse of the 8,000 posts, just over half have been racist.

chelsea have had 20,000 messages directed towards them. here is the coach with his take on the findings. >> i say because we are boring. top of the league since day one. it's something in this country people doesn't -- doesn't like. >> well troy townsend joins us from london. troy, he was making relative light of the issue, but how surprised were you from the findings of this report? >> hi andy. not really surprised. i think there is a culture now that -- where people have a lot of freedom to basically event their anger, if that's what you want to call it at our so-called sports stars without much reprisal. then that platform is there for them to do that and i think the fact that we can put these figures out just opens it up to the wider -- to the wider

society that, you know we do have these existing problems and we have to do a lot better in challenging. >> how well policed do you think social abuse is. is there a feeling you can get away with it on social media? on twitter? >> well i think it's proven by the fact that a number of cases have not ended with any kind of result for us and a number of people do not even, you know get to the stage where, you know, they get arrested or -- or they have been summoned to appear. so it's a freedom of speech platform and the fact -- and we now need to make sure that as you say it's policed a lot better. there are consequences to people's actions, and at the end of the day if people do cross that line and as you can see by the amount of tweets that someone like mario has received in form of racist tweets as well that there now needs to be

an outcome into the fact that these people should not be able to get away. we have just been able to do that, because twitter is not being policed as well as it should be? >> organizations like kick it out have done so much to try to combat racism in english football. does this indicate there is still a serious problem, or twitter just makes it easier for people to direct abuse at players? >> well i don't think we have ever said that it's not still a problem. at the end of the day there has been incidents away from social media that still need looking after, and we still get reports in about these incidents. so, you know as much as what i do believe we're in a better position than what we have been in recent years, there's still a lot of work to be done and there are still a lot of challenges that are faced out there. discrimination in all of its formats, unfortunately it's raising its ugly head all over the place, so we have a massive

challenge, but it's now time for football and the authorities to come together and make sure that you know, these people are not getting away with the kind of actions that they are bringing not only into our grounds but also on social media platforms as well. >> and in your experience troy how aware are the players of the abuse they received online and how much does it effect them. >> i think players are well aware of what has been labeled and aimed at them. like you have said in the past i think when you are on the ground i think there's almost an acceptance that you may get abuse from away fans or whatever else. not saying that that is right, but i think there is almost an acceptance that there will be some sort of abuse. and players are just being targeted now, and we want our sports stars to be able to interact with fans. we request that and demand that that fans become closer to the footballers, and kind of like

part of their lives, but the more that this -- you know they are going to get these kind of tweets and, you know, actions on social media, the more we are going to drive players away. i do believe that players know quite a bit of what is labeled at them and, you know, they are only human beings they are only someone that is playing a game you know that people around the world love and at the end of the day those kind of things are quite harmful, hurtful, and dispressful for family members, et cetera that have to read them. and it's something we need to make sure we eradicate as soon as possible. >> thanks so much troy. something like normal service has been resumed at the second practice session at the grand prix. hayes is back near the top of the time sheet. lewis hamilton only 60 quicker than his teammate. the team decided to take it easy

during the daytime session, because final qualifying and race itself taking place under lights after sunset. raphael nidal is through to the next stage. taking the quarter final 6-6 6-3. now for decades baseball has given some young venezuelans a shot at a better life in the united states, but due to increased diplomatic tensions, the chances of making it from the south american country to the u.s. major leagues are now smaller than ever. virginia lopez reports. >> reporter: this is the last time these seattle mariner players will be practicing in venezuela, their home country. after 15 years the u.s. team has decided to quit their training school in this town and move to

the dominican republic. >> translator: baseball doesn't escape from all of the problems the country is going through, but the work the academies do is done our product is the individual, and that talent is year. >> reporter: american schools across the country have been closing their doors, but now knew visa regulations are also expected to cut down on scouts that come in search of talent. this man knows all too well of what it means to play major league baseball. he was signed up more than two decades ago. his two sons have followed in his footsteps andlies a lifestyle that many venezuelans can only dream of. >> translator: i was the example that paved the road for countless more. all that i am is thanks to baseball. if scouts don't get visas, they will simply go to other countries. >> reporter: as teams abandon their training facilities they

also take with them opportunities for the young. this man was recently signed by the atlanta braves but today his joy has been overshadowed. >> americans will stop coming and that blocks the future of players leer. it's a terrible situation because our friends won't make it and it's very frustrating. >> reporter: in the last decade 12 of the 16 camps have left. a career in professional baseball transformed the lives of players and their families. whole communities also benefited. but now all of that is likely to change. virginia lopez, al jazeera. okay. that is how sport is looking for you richelle. >> thank you very much an 18th century french warship was the jewel of the french navy. it sailed to america to assist in the war of independence.

an exact replica is set to make that journey again on sunday. >> reporter: some volunteer crew members have little sailing experience. enthusiasm got them aboard and a taste for adventure. they are about to sell sail on an 18th century warship replica. it was among the sleekest fighting vessels of her day. >> she represents a very important part of french maritime history, doesn't she? >> oh sure. [ laughter ] >> this -- this ship is one of the four of a series that was first of all one of the very best that the french navy ever built. >> reporter: built to take on the english. >> so take on the english, sure.

but also the fact that it carried [ inaudible ] over to boston carrying to washington the -- the news that the king of france has accepted to go again at war against the british. >> reporter: and that was going to help them beat the english. >> oh definitely. >> reporter: the original was the jewel of the french navy at a time when britain ruled the waves. they knew the 66-meter, 32-gun barracuda could outsail anything she couldn't outshoot. it took 17 years to build this perfect replica, the ship of liberty, as she was known that sailed like a bird. >> translator: in life you need to dream. money comes and goes. we needed mronny, and the money was found, but everyone dreams about this ship.

>> reporter: so these are the crew's quarters. this is the port side watch. the crew is in hammocks. >> reporter: what will the food be like? >> oh the food is very good. >> reporter: you are cooking too? >> gosh [ inaudible ]. [ laughter ] >> the food is very good. >> reporter: so well-fed and watered they will cast off on saturday, on a voyage following in the wake of history. before we end the news hour a reminder of the breaking news coming to us from iraq. there has been a car bombing in erbil. u.s. officials confirmed this did happen outside of the u.s. consulate. they say there is no word of any injuries to their personnel, but our correspondent in erbil says there have in fact been

casualties. more details when the news continues. keep it here. ♪

♪ this is al jazeera america, i'm randall pinkston live in new york city. we're interrupting our regular programming to take you live to the white house where president obama is about to hold a news conference with italian prime minister may te'o renzi. mike what are relikely to hear from the president and the prime minister. >> well this is a visit from the italian prime minister matteo