hello there. this is the news hour live from london. coming up. they need to respond in an immediate and joint way. >> the eu seeks international support for its plans to find and destroy people smugglers' boats in the mediterranean sea. in asia hundreds of migrants were rescued off malaysia and indonesia with thousands more feared trapped. also the saudi-led

coalition steps up the air strikes on yemen ahead of a ceasefire. central african republic warring sides lay down their weapons. we examine the challenges to peace. the race to repair nepal's heritage sites left in pieces after the earthquake. later in the program we have sports including high-level talks in spain. there's lee wellings in the spanish capital there. hello there. a very warm welcome to the news hour. we begin with the growing problem of people smuggling and trafficking, which is increasingly urjt for governments in europe and asia. we look at those rez could youed off the coast of indonesia and

malaysia. the european union has asked the u.n. for help. it's seeking a main date allowing military action to destroy smugglers' boats in libyan waters. almost 40,000 migrants have reached greece and malta by sea since the beginning of the 2015. it's a huge increase from last year. addressing the u.n. security council, the eu's foreign policy chief asked for help to help those across the mediterranean. they also admitted that europe was slow to act. >> our message to all libyans is clear. the european union is ready for support you in any possible way to make sure that libya can be the prosperous stable country it can be and deserves to be. in the meantime, we need to work together in partnership. europeans and libyans, to fight

trafficking and smuggling organizations. the european union is ready to do its part. it has not always been the case i know. now i believe we are ready to do it. >> let's get more from kristen who is live at the united nations in new york. hi there, kristen. fredricka is making clear the eu is ready to do its part. can she convince the international community to come on board as well? >> reporter: well, she has to convince the security council that the eu's plan is about more than just stopping these ships that are coming over. there's been criticism from some u.n. officials including bank ki-moon that just going after the smugglers is not enough to solve the problems. the human rights organizations have said as much as well as african countries. you have to address the poverty and conflict and also provide more legal pathways for migrants

into europe if you really want to address this problem. so that's what she did today in front of the security council. she laid out a comprehensive plan to do all of those things. ultimately, she's going to need the security council's support for that military component of stopping the vessels because they want to go into libya's territory yal waters and maybe even on land to do that to stop the trafficking networks that are bringing these people into the mediterranean. so the other issue that they have is convincing libya to go along with this because i spoke to the ambassador to libya a short time ago. he said they're not supportive of military action on their turf. so all of these issues she's trying to address here with the security council. >> kristen, what happens now, as far as the u.n. is concerned? what is a likely time line look like? >> reporter: well, the european

members of the security council want to fast-track this resolution. they're working on the wording, negotiating with their counterparts. we know that the eu has a foreign ministers meeting in a week's time to address the finer points of their plan. some countries are not excited about having more migrants on their suffer turf. they want more on the enforcement side and now doubt the eu wants some backing from the u.n. for the enforcement side to convince other members of the eu to go along with the whole comprehensive plan. of course it's very urgent all around because so many people are coming to europe trying to get to europe and dying in the process. >> kristen joins me live from new york. thank you. now, to asia where more than a thousand migrants landed on the malaysian island. they're mostly muslims from bangladesh and many are sick and starving. they're the latest to be rescued why overcrowded boats in

indonesia. 6,000 more are estimated to be stranded at sea with little food or water. it's mainly in the myanmar state. in the past they crossed over land through thailand. since thailand began to crack down migrants say that they have been trafficked to indonesia and malaysia. we have the report now for you. >> reporter: she paid more than $2,000 to save her children's lives. she says she was desperate to escape myanmar after her ethnic relatives were killed by soldiers. she never imagined the traffickers would starve and beat her family. holding them for ransom until her mother paid for their release. her 8-year-old son died before they could escape. >> translator: my son was fine in the boat but fell sick when we were in the jungle due to starvation. he vomited and had diarrhea.

we had seawater because there was no drinking water in the boat. >> reporter: she and her surviving children arrived in call la lum purr a few weeks ago. this week about 2,000 more were rescued off the indonesian and malaysian coasts. hungry exhausted, and frightened after their ordeal. advocates are urging redown migrants to. >> the company has to be open and transparent. you must start having good governance, and most of all this can only be solved if we cut trupgs one and for all. >> reporter: thailand which is a transit point is tightening security to try and stop the trade. the malaysian government says it's strengthens its boarders

but is cracking down on migrants themselves. they're under pressure to respond to this ohioing -- rising influx of migrants. without an end of this human rights activists say more will risk their lives in search of a better life. al jazeera kuala lumpur. >> scott has more about the thai crackdown on migrants. >> it started about nine days ago when the thai government started an operation to clamp down on illegal migrant groups in the southern parts of the country. the reason it started then? because a few days before that a mass grave was found at a hidden jungle camps containing what they believe to be 26 bodies of migrants that were held at one of these hidden camps where they were trying to extort more money from families. some stayed there for months so

the government is clamping down on that. we saw firsthand what the government was trying to do what they're doing as they have more military and police in these jungles, they've put barbed wire across what's known to be a trafficking route from thailand into malaysia. they put 400 meters of barbed wire there. they're going to stay there overnight to prevent the trafficking going on. they have arrested a few local officials and over 50 arrest warrants out and reassigned police. so all this going on has also kind of backed up what would normally be channels going over the last several years. that, no doubt, has an impact on the ships waiting out at sea to bring their human cargo ashore. what's believed to have happened is because they knew they couldn't make landfall in thailand, those ships probably went down south to malaysia and indonesia.

morocco lost a fighter jet taking pardon in the sawedly-led air campaign against houthi rebels in yemen. they aired pictures of the downed f-16 but it's not clear if it crashed or was shot down and not known if the pilot ejected. they joined the sawedly-led coalition in the early days of the campaign contributing six fighter jets. the houthis and saudi arabia have been battling each other. saudi civil defense says two were killed in the violence there. last week eight people were killed by shells in the same area. a new round of saudi-led air strikes struck an area near sanaa. it targeted houthi positions and have raised doubts as to whether a five-day humanitarian truce will be implemented. mohammed gave us this update from the saudi capital of

riyadh. >> reporter: all indications point to escalation and not to de-escalation now that the houthi are only about 24 hours away from this time when we speak. there are doubts whether it will happen because on both sides efforts are increased to show that you know if anything happens, it will not be out of weakness on our side or because we are defeated but because we want a truce. still, there are doubts. the houthis have managed to get inside saudi arabia overnight and killed one person and wounded four. they renewed the shelling this morning and they struck at the province of jezan to the southwest of the border killing one saudi citizen and wounding four others. for saudi arabia this is a dangerous escalation and we have seen during the last few days that's one of the yeahs by the houthis inside sawedary aryary

aryary saudi arabia. they intensified their attacks to the stronghold of the houthis destroying many government buildings there and places they can see the army depots or targeting houthi commanders there. the king of saudi arabia and several other gulf leaders have declined an invitation from barack obama to attend a summit in camp david this thursday. he had invited the king for talks to alay fears with iran over the nuclear program. the saudi crown prince will attend. it coincides with the humanitarian ceasefire in yemen. the king of bahrain has also declined. they say the saudi king's not coming is a snub. >> it's completely unrelated, and that's based on the private

conversations of the secretary of state with the king himself and with other senior officials in saudi arabia both in riyadh and in paris. >> for more on this we're joined by white house correspondent patty co-heen in washington, d.c. we heard the apparent line. how is the apparent snub taken behind the scenes? >> reporter: the white house trying desperately to put a good faith on what's played out in the public as a definite slap to the u.s. president from the new king of saudi arabia. the entire white house briefing focused on this issue. the pro corps tried to get him to say he got snubbed and said snubbed was the word of the day at the white house. this white house is very careful. they don't put out an agenda and don't put out a schedule until they're sure somebody is coming. they say they did reassurance that the king of saudi arabia had accepted their offer. they said on the public schedule

he would spend all day with one-on-one face time with the president in the oval office. for him to turn around because he says he needs to be in saudi arabia because of the humanitarian pause in yemen, the white house is saying that's okay, it doesn't matter if he's not there or the king of bahrain either. they say the people needed at that table and make things happen when it comes to the military alliance those are the people at the table. >> i'm seeing on the wires that apparently obama has spoken to the king today to discuss things further, which brings me to why the jcc countries are so worried about this iran deal. >> reporter: yes. the readout from the white house is they had this conversation and talked about the upcoming agenda but not much substance to it. if there was a disagreement, they might not put that in the press release. basically they have several concerns. analysts all around washington say the longer term concern is if the u.s. or other countries have a nuclear deal for iran

then iran could become a natural ally for the u.s. instead of the arab countries. in the shorter term their concern is if the sanctions go away iran has more money in their economy and use that to supply the militant groups that iran backs in the regional conflict. that's one of the bigger concerns. now, what we believe that the gcc wanted was a defense treaty with the u.s. a stronger defense treaty through congress. they wanted more sophisticated weapon systems saying they needed that in case iran was a threat. the president's hands are tied because there's a law in congress that no arab country can get anything to hurt israel. they can't have stronger military equipment, better military equipment than israel has, so the president's hands are somewhat tied in that. >> patty live from washington, d.c. thank you. still ahead here on al jazeera we look at what's made north korea's leader so happy.

also why greece is being made to wait for more funding from its international lenders. plus -- >> i'm lee wellington in madrid where the end of the spanish football season won't happen until the two sides of a bitter dispute come together. now to mexico which has suspended some infant vaccinations after two babies died gets inoculations from tuberculosis rotovirus and hepatitis b. >> reporter: health officials in mexico city are continuing to vaccinate children in the capital and across the rest of the country. vaccinations have been suspended in that community in the southern state where 31 young children were taken ill after being vaccinated on friday with hepatitis b, rotovirus and

tuberculosis. two of those young infants less than a month old died after the vaccinations and another 29 were hospitalized and six are still in serious condition. this could have a big impact in mexico if the government is unable to find out just what went wrong with that batch of vaccinations because there's an upcoming week of vaccinations in which the government encourages parents of young children to take them to get vaccines in late may. if they don't resolve this problem by then they may find public faith lacking and find a reduction of the people getting children vaccinated. rival groups in central african republic signed a peace deal. they hope it will two years of fighting between muslims and christians, which has killed thousands of people. ten rival groups say they are committed to disposing of their guns and renouncing violence. fighters found guilty of the worst crimes, though will be refused amnesty. they've also agreed to release

child soldiers and sex slaves that could number up to 10,000. we have the report. >> reporter: the psychological scars on children is a lasting legacy of the conflict. they are half the population. fighting made orphans of these children and turned thousands more into soldiers. some of the rebels as well as politicians and religious leaders have agreed to draw a line under the violence on paper. in reality, it will be impossible for some to forget the brutality of the last two years. on the face of it the crisis in the central african republic pits muslims against christians but the united states says the root causes were poverty and government mismanagement. and that religion was a convenient excuse used by some

in the fighting. seleka rebels who forced azizi from power and installed a muslim president aren't all muslim. those who fought seleka aren't all christian. they're trying to encourage muslims and christians to interact peacefully again. community leaders are busy organizing interfaith prayers, football matches and other events. yet, animosity remains rife. sporadic killing and repiesal attacks continue. international peacekeepers are trying to keep rival militias apart. the u.n. is pushing for elections this summer. it's a tall order from a country bearly holding itself together. separatist fighters in mali have killed 30 soldiers in an ambush. a spokesman for the rebels say the attack happened near the northern town of timbucktu. they confirmed the attack took

place, but they couldn't confirm the number of those killed. it's four days before a u.n.-backed peace deal was due to the signed. several european nations have suspended aid from ba ruineddy after weeks of protests of the president to run for a third term. hundreds marched through the capital on monday to dmoen straight against the president who registered has candidacy on friday. the ueu and u.s. are urging that the vote be delayed. >> reporter: at the end of the last week the president said all of the roadblocks would be cleared and the process would be over and only take the police three days to do this but they haven't succeeded yet. there are many roadblocks in many parts of city. this is made of wire tied across the road. they're rocks and rubbish on the floor, and in the center of the road, a burned-out trailer.

on this side a road made of strips of clothes tied together. they can decide which vehicles can pass and which ones aren't. >> translator: the only people allowed to pass are soldiers journalists and the ambulances. people going to work are not allowed. it's our duty. we need to draw the attention of the international community so people know that the situation is not good here. we want to affect the economy to put pressure on the government. >> reporter: there are roadblocks every 20 meters or so throughout this whole neighborhood. there's one here of the usually rocks and burned tires and branches. here the protesters have pushed a shipping container into the roads and did it with their bare hands and won't remove it until he abandons hissed bid for a third presidential term. they say progress has been made with greece over the

bailout, but more time and efforts is needed before it can release any funds. geese has to repay the international monetary fund $840 million on tuesday, but the 19 euro zone finance ministers want a rigorous rating of reforms from athens before they release a bailout loan worth $8 billion to greece. so far the prime minister has refused to meet creditors demands, which include decreasing pension funds. it's unclear how long greece can go. the bailout expires at the end of june. >> reporter: it promising to be a long tense summer in fwrees. the protests are small now, but they could grow bigger if the new left wing government is forced by the international lenders to compromise on awes stair rit in return for much-needed bailout funds.

the talks are progressing to unlock billions of in aid for greece but there is evidence skepticism about a new economic plan offered by athens. >> some important issues have been discussed in depth, but more time is needed to bridge the remains gapping. we have a joint interest with the greek authorities to get that agreement as quickly as possible. there are some time constraints, and there are liquidity con straights. hopefully we reach that agreement before time or money runs out. >> reporter: so greece must wait a little longer and try a little harder to get his hands on a much-needed $8 billion slice of aid. but there isn't much time. the program expires at the end of june and in the meantime with few other sources of revenue available, they must pay

pension salaries and pensions and also billions in loan repayments over the course of the next two months. greece is under immense pressure to reach a deal here. >> it's by necessity. they're the red lines that are such with common ground. >> reporter: what's the time frame now? >> the next few days i think. >> the government will stick to red lines on labor reforms and pensions, no more cuts and no plan b. that's the promise series made to the electorate in february. the problem is keeping that promise could cost the government and greece the ultimate price. bankruptcy and an exit from the euro. al jazeera brussels. wickkileaks founds assange was last his appeal. the case was heard in sweden supreme court. it has to do with a detention order following sexual assault allegations. since june 2012 they have taken

refuge in the in london. he denies the allegations and said extra dix for leaking military secrets. two were killed in the philippines after a taiwan hit the coast. more than 3,000 people have moved to shelters. the cause of the category 5 storm destroyed hundreds of houses. it's now weakened and is moving towards japan. south korea says it's quote, very concerned about a real test-firing of a missile from a submarine by north korea. the warning coming after pyongyang published pictures of the test launch. >> reporter: the technology is about striking inindividualably from under the water, but north korea wanted the word to see this launch presided over by kim

jong-un. they said it's the equivalent of having a time bomb strapped to the enemy's back. you can fire it undetected from the seas around the corrine peninsula. on monday there was a flurry of high level meetings and it's called a very certain and concerning matter. >> reporter: we urge north korea to immediately stop developing this technology which hinders the stability of this peninsula and northeast asia. >> reporter: in the past north carolina's fleet has been used for infiltration attacks into south korean authority. they say it attacked a war ship in 2010 killing 46 south korean sailors. a nuclear missile would present a threat of an entirely different order. he said this test if he only lobbed the missile a short sur above the weather. nonetheless, it's time to realize south korea's strategy from againeds itself from a potential nuclear strike.

still under development it has a kill chain, sticking a missile on the pad just before launch. >> underwater the system cannot detect that threat. so seeing that the rock will have to find the sub and kill the sub before. >> reporter: the strategy is still effective, and the sub marines movements track with the u.s. allies. whether north korea has subs of size and range to be a credible threat whether it will miniature rise a nuclear warhead. this is a declaration of intent and rattled his neighbor. still to come this hour, chile chile's president tries to salvage her cap net secretary.

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a remierndznder for the top stories. they're asking the u.n. security council to help dismantle groups from smuggling people from libya to europe. the white house says president obama spoke to the saudi king after he declined an violate takings to attend a sum knit in camp david this thursday. he invited him for talks to aillay gulf fears. morocco lost a fighter jet taking part in the sawedly-led air campaign against houthi rebels in yemen.

there's pictures of the downed f-16. it's unclear if it crashed or if it was shot down. 72 fighters have been killed in syria. the gunmen loyal to the syrian government are holed up in a hospital complex in idlib province. they show a major explosion close to the hospital. another blast is thought to have been caused by a suicide bomber. the rebels assaulting the complex include fighters from al qaeda affiliate. the capital of iraq's largest province is at risk of falling to fighters from the islamic state of iraq and the levant. that is the warning from local militia battling isil. some are down-playing the importance of remad de. this is a province strategic for

all warring parties. >> reporter: the surfing is only worsening in rimada. it's torn apart by war. they're forced from homes because of the fighting of the islamic state of iraq and the levant and government forces. the only shelter they have is on the side of this road. >> translator: we don't have any place to go. my children are on the streets. what kind of a future do we have? >> reporter: it is a divided city, and isil is on the offensive. the local forces say they may not be toibl adefend the government buildings for long. >> translator: our forces are on the defensive. we have been asking for help for the federal government. we don't have weapons. >> reporter: rymadi is

protected. it was strong in anbar before it pushed them across cities and towns across central iraq several months ago. now the government wants to recapture the province before it takes the fight to mosul. many say it will be a hard battle to win. >> translator: the fight in ra maudy will be harder. isil has the support of the people. the territory cannot lose. >> reporter: while some tribes are back and fighting many others are not. the tribes that play an important role in fighting al qaeda years ago but say government leaders never recognized their help and left them without any political power. there are real fears that the city of ramadi may fall to isil. they have down-played the

significance of the city but many others disagree. isil will not only be able to control the capital of the sunni heartland, it will be able to claim victory in a strategically important province that shares a long border with isil-controlled territory in syria. for now the iraqi government doesn't seem to have a clear strategy to recapture anbar, sending in iranian-backed shia militias will do little and that is what iraq needs to defeat isil. al jazeera, baghdad. a turkish ship has been attacked off the coast of libya leaving one crew member dead and several others wounded. the turkish foreign ministry says it came under artillery fire. a military spokesman said the ship was bombed after it ignored warnings not to approach the libyan coastline. turkey says the ship was in international waters. the french president has

renewed his call on the u.s. to end its trade embargo on cuba as part of the diplomatic thaw between the two countries. president hollande is in cuba. lifting the elm bass bar goe would help french companies doing business there. he's going to meet his cuban counterpart raul castro. we're also hearing that president hollande will meet fidel castro. >> reporter: hello. in fact, we can confirm that they have already met. we understand that that meeting lasted for about an hour and a half. the french president right now has just laid a wreath in front of a monument towards the revolution and should be meeting shortly with president raul castro before -- we're not quite

sure what he has later on his schedule. it's been a very hectic one so far. he addressed the university of havana earlier in the day where he said that not only france been one of the first countries to condemn the u.s. economic embargo and welcomed trying to make a bridge between the united states and cuba ahead of what is expected to be the lifting of that embargo sometime in the very near future. >> do you think this signifies an end to the eu freeze on political and cultural ties with cuba? >> reporter: absolutely. the french president, in fact said that he was here not just representing france but also the eu. now, remember that the european union froze cultural and political relations with cuba back in 2003 after fidel castro ordered the imprisonment of 77 dissidents. there have been some moves to try and thaw that.

a lot of dispute within the european union as to whether that's a good idea or not. france and haul dannedary led that move and clearly the fact the french president is here does signal the sort of intention to let bye gones to be bye gones. >> live from havana. thank you. chile's president unveiled a new cabinet hoping it will overcome scandals rocks her administration. michelle bashchelet is trying to legalize abortions and others. we have the report from santiago. >> she was more than a day later than she said she'd be but that merely added extra drama to the announcement. five ministers out and four changing posts. new in nine departments including the key interior defense and employment ministry. the president herself said her

government needs a new pulse and greater transparency. >> she came into office that for politicians was low but you have some interest. now the real estate scandal that affects her son has affects of truth people have on her. that's going to be very difficult for her to recover. >> reporter: president bachelet gave herself 74 hours to form her cabinet after she was tainted by the property scandal for which her son and daughter-in-law are investigated. do the people she's trying to win over have faith in her plan? >> no no. i do not. >> no no no no way. we've seen it all. the government has to be governed by politicians, but we don't have confidence in them. >> reporter: we need a new system. chile today is very corrupt.

>> reporter: there's a whole restaurant dedicated to mocking the politicians. that's no surprise with latest opinion polls showing 3% of the population has faith in political parties. 29% support the government. politics in chile, however, is a serious business. there have you been tense negotiations going on and other government buildings. when facing this government in particular and they have slumped so low, a simple shifting around of cabinet ministers may not be enough. >> he's going to be like an aspirin. the problem chile needs to address is the economic growth. this is growing at less than 2% a year there's no new employment creation and there are many that have expectations. >> reporter: they pride themselves on their economic and political stability.

they sdmand high standards of their politicians and expect results. they're under an intense pressure to deliver. in a few hours' time a masterpiece by pablo picasso is expected to be the most expensive painting. it's sold in auction in new york, and it's likely to smash the current record of $142 million. al jazeera john tarik has been in to see it. >> impressionist, modern post-war contemporary. they're combines all these together right now because they say art collectors are key to broaden their horizons. there's a big deal. it could go over $20,000. very famous andy warhol parenting of elizabeth taylor. the star of the show is right here. this is a picasso he painted in

1955. if it goes for the full estimated sale price around $14 million, it will become the single most expensive painting ever sold at auction. >> most of these young collectors who are billionaires are not collectors in the traditional sense. collectors in the tradition sense would spend a lot of their living hours working, studying looking at art. these collectors to be more impulse shopping. >> christie's says if all sell tonight this evening, they will bring in half a billion dollars. who is buying this stuff, and what does it mean for the health of u.s. economy. join us this evening to find out the answer to those questions. under french law almost half of all musicing must be in the french lan wage.

it was introduced two decades tag to attack the personal music industry but many feel it's so longer amicable. >> it's drive time on radio nova, one of the most popular stations of paris. the team prides itself on playing a mix of music, whatever the language but in doing so they occasionally break a law that dates back to the mid 1990s requires 40% of all radio music to be french and half from it. trrp >> translator: they're not the best way to support the french music industry. there's 30% less music because many are performing in english these days. >> it came into force out of time that only one in ten records by canada was by a french artist. many turn to the internet and a various of new languages, whether quoters don't apply.

rap group de bangers perform in all french. they believe all good music should get the air time. >> as long as the music is good. no matter what if the music is good you have to play it so people can discuss it. [ music ] >> these performers hardly represent the french but the fact they perform in french is a require, cultural commodity especially to people who feel the influx of foreign languages will erode the national identity. even some supporters of the law describe it as a any evil like the composer and literatist. >> translator: we're defending our heritage and language.

i hope one day these will disappear because everyone would have rlgzed it's important to have songs in french and express french culture. >> the state regulation is the safest way of nurturing national challenge. in an increasingly globalized word, it's harder to drown out signs. al jazeera, paris ifrments . your sports is just ahead. after a deteet to andy murray in madrid another blow for nadal. we're standing by with the details.

in nepal there's a major attempt to preserve the country's cultureal heritage sites badly damaged by the devastating earthquake. many buildings were destroyed, and there's concern ancient tradition could be lost as well. andrew simmons has been to visit a 5th century temple. >> reporter: there's a different tempo to the relief operation now, more than two weeks after the earthquake. instead of attempts to save lives, this pain-staking work is about trying to rescue ancient tradition. the temple dates back to the 5th century and within it lies treasure but modern day social media spreads stories of wrongdoing. another part of this rich heritage lies destroyed along with many other icons, there are

myths associated with it. there are rumors circulated that jewelry societied with a d.e.i. ty is missing. a priceless jewel entrusted vest is said to be stolen along with other items. that's firmly denied by officials who say it will be recovered. the earthquake struck soon after the start of one of the most important festivals of the kathmandu valley. this chariot was pulled along by volunteers as part of an ancient ritual symbolizing snat i cans dragged back to the valley to end an drought. it gives all the credit to a rain god. the diety is in the chariot, along with this preese. a nearby building that collapsed belongs to him. his father and aunt were killed in it. even so he's unphased to have to stay in the chariot.

>> reporter: you can't call it a bad omen. earthquakes happen in other country. it's a natural disaster. >> reporter: back at the temple some aren't reassured by his words. >> translator: we are cursed. >> translator: it has to be a bad omen. maybe the gods are angry. this shouldn't have happened. >> reporter: a lot of people are spooked and very scared. this conservationists believes superstitions have to be put to one side. >> someone like us with the valley, we have to get up and start rolling it again. >> reporter: no sooner has he spoken then the rain comes. despite tradition, it doesn't signal a restart of the festival. to one is sure when that will happen. andrew simmons, al jazeera, nepal. here's robin with all the day's sports news: >> thank you very much. the climax to one of the most popular sporting leagues is hanging in the balance after another day of talks.

spanish football's premiera premieraleaga. they're taking legal action to stop the players in support of the country's national football association. lee wellings is in madrid to find out why. >> reporter: football giants barcelona and real madrid battling for silverware in the month of may is a familiar scenario in spain. what's different this time is their title race may not even finish. spanish football is in turmoil after the national football federation ordered a suspension of all football from may 16th. because of a disagreement with the government over the running of the game. predictably at the core is money. on one side is the spanish league and they're in agreement how television monitors should

be spared between other clubs. on the other side is the football federation. they're not happy how they feel they've been digs respected and decisions made without them being properly consulted. importantly, they have the backing of the players. if a strike were to go ahead, over 60 sthou thousand players and 30,000 matches across spain would be canceled. the round would be halted with barcelona four points clear in the season reaches it's climax. it will end on the following saturday. if the dispute isn't resolved by may 30 the spanish cup final would be hit and the spanish season has to be resolved by june 6. after that players like barcelona stoors stars need to be released. we'll have talks with the players union and government this week. >> translator: i received a phone call from the supreme court. on wednesday at 10:30 in the

morning there will be a hearing to judge the legality of the strike. >> reporter: what won't be affected is the champions league where they try to reach the final this week. madrid faces uvent advertise on wednesday. the spanish football fans are dismaid with many blaming the chief villa, a fifa vice president. his organization has effectively taken the ball away. no spain's football bosses need to consider the damage if it isn't returned in time. lee wellings al jazeera, madrid. >> as we mentioned the champions league is not affected but there's no doubt the problems that are on the minds of people and barcelona players' they prepare to travel for the second leg of the semifinal. they have more to worry about until the short time. they have to overcome a deficit in front of home fans if they want to make it to the final. once again, they snis would weakened stories and was on his way to manchester city and not

going for an all-out attack against barcelona despite the squall line. >> translator: we're happy to be in the semifinal. we're 3-0 behind and we're playing the best team in the last 15 years in europe. it's just one game. we will try our best. we have too defend well. i know we have to attack. people say that. first of all, we have to defend well. after that the game will open up itself. the english premier league arsenals expecting first place of next season's champions league. the shock is the home defeater will complete a league double with a win. they show opportunities for the strike from his strike. that goal was cheered on as much in manchester as south wales. they face a playoff to qualify for the champions league.

tom brady has been suspended without pay for the first four games of the 2015 regular season which starts august 1st ooefr the deflategate scandal. i was instigated in which they deliberately deflates falls in a win over the colts that took them through to the super bowl. reflecting balls is illegal and makes it earlier for the players to grip and throw them. they lost the first draft pick for 2016 and find $1 million. controversial edmonton star way will be back at the world championships in september after the bedford relation. he made a strong return from the eight mief month drug span in china with two wins of the first two days. he's not selected for the two-monday team for the word

championships championships. it's another significant step in his selection for next year's rio olympics. trrp it's been a really tough time in the last seven or eight months. yes, i definitely thought about giving up, but i had a lot of support during that period of time. i didn't give up and i have a goal to accomplish which is to participate in the olympics next year. >> this is the first grand tour of the year after victory to stage three. she suffered a heavy clash on the decent 40 killometerskilometers. he's breathing unaided after spending many on the tarmac. the coastal tone of sillily and he leads on a fema clocked by 6 seconds. >> i'm sure he's on par for this

year. we're playing for the same win, and this was another big goal for us. it was three. we rejoined it last week so we knew what was coming and what to expect. from this on we try to do the best we could and pulled it off. >>le final event is under way in roam, but they're looking for final victories on clay before the second jam on season. they all play in the role masters, andy murray a late decision after his vikt nadal. it drops nadal out of the top five. he's not down to seventh which when you see them for the french open. every top aid receives all byes into the second round. the bulgarian has been the top men's player action so far. the number 10 seed in two sets

in their first round of the beach. 2020 olympics host tokyo opened up bidding for new sports. in five years times golf maybe for rio 2016. more could be included in tokyo and 53 international sporting federations in toelgs make the conclusion for a conclusion before the mae 8 and 10th deadline. they were dumped following the asian olympics in 2008. they had good sports in japan. even surfing was among the other sports to be included. it was made by the -- that's just it. thank you for watching us later. that's robin. you can find more oour website at www.aljazeera.com.

i'll be back with more of today's news. bye-bye.

there is an urgent need to respond in an immediate and joint way. >> the eu seeks international support for it's plans to find and destroy people smugglers' boats in the mediterranean sea. hello there. this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up the saudi-led coalition steps up air strikes on the houthis ahead o