>> saudi forces say they pushed back a major attack by houthi rebels on saudi territory. this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up, the top aide to saddam hussein dies at the age of 79. two die in opposition rally in turkey. dozens more are wounded. it comes just days before parliament polls. >> he's apparently good at finding money.

>> and timing is everything. we'll tell you about the $16 million film fifa has made about itself and why it's release might backfire. saudi state immediate is reporting that it's army has used airstrikes to stop major attacks of yemeni rebels on its territory. earlier there were violent clashes between houthi rebels and soldiers loyal top abd rabbuh mansur hadi. several people have been killed. many others wounded. fighting also broke out in the city of taiz with popular resistence battling houthi

militias. the fighters blew up a home in the city where houthi fight verse been gathering. the violence continues. yemen's exiled president said that he's prepared to take part in talks in geneva. however, the government still refuses to negotiate with houthi rebels until they pull out of occupied territory. let's speak now to the director of the center for political administration analysis in washington, d.c. good to have you with us. what do you make of the recent flare-up in fighting coming just before we understand talks are to be held. is there a link between the two? >> it's possible. one video you could say as we get to the negotiations they're going to start jockeying for

position. this often happens in the case case--when it looks like there are going to be talks. it's also possible and probably that this is just a local initiative and may or may not be connected with the discussions particularly from the saudi side. >> is the stage now set from what we know for the peace talks to take place. will everyone be there at the table? >> it looks like it. the part we're going to need are the houthis their backers iran the u.s. will not be heavily engaged but i imagine any agreement reached between the two houthi, the yemeni factions the yemeni government and saudis would stick. but the question is whether

they're comfortable reaching an agreement. you may just get a humanitarian pause. >> what role will ali abdullah saleh be playing in those talks if any? >> he's certainly the imminent behind all this. his role is confusing how closely he's working with the iranians the houthies, and so on. he certainly has a lot of influence. but at the talks himself he may not need to have a former representative there. >> we come back to the fighting now. do we know to what extent the saudi ground troops are now involved with the fighting on the yemeni side.

>> we don't. you would think that if as the parties claim the houthies attack the territory then of course there will be saudi forces involved. what's going on inside yemen we don't know. there were stories consistently about some special forces and some groups there. but there is no evidence of a large intervention. it may be help with the airstrikes and other activities. >> thanks so much for your thoughts on that. >> well, it was the international face for more than 20 years. he died at the age of 79 after suffering a heart attack in prison. aziz became foreign minister in 1983 during the iran-iraq war.

seven years later when iran invadeed kuwait he was a strong defender of saddam's position. he was sentenced to death in 2009 although the penalty was never actually carried out. >> to many he was the best known face of saddam hussein's regime, traveling the globe meeting world leaders he defended his boss' policy at every turn. >> according to the information that i have, it was iranians who invaded, it wasn't iraq. >> he was a chaldean christian who came to the baath party in the 1950s. by the time the baathists came to power in 1968 the former english teacher was already a prominent figure. in 1970 he was named information

minister and member of saddam's revolutionary command council. in the early 1980s he became foreign minister, tasked with strengthening dealershippic diplomatic relations between baghdad and washington. in 1990 he had to face the world and condemn arab leaders for not standing up to the u.s. the u.s. responded to the kuwait invasion by declaring war on iraq. for iraq the results were devastating. aziz's loyalty was never shaken, and he was named deputy prime minister soon after the war. he continued to defend saddam's policies and condemned constant hostileity against iraq. but that loyalty would not keep

saddam in power. he was the ace of spades in the famous deck of cards of iraq's most wanted military and political leaders. in 2003 he turned himself in and in 2009 was convicted on two different counts sentenced to 2 years in prison. the next year he was sentenced to death by the iraqi supreme court for the persecution of religious parties. he remained in prison on death row and loyal to saddam until his death. >> in syria u.s.-led coalition forces are launched more airstrikes and isil strongholds in aleppo province. opposition fighters are also reported to take control of the south of aleppo. turkey's state-run news agency said that two people have died and 100 people have been injured in a rally in the country's southeast.

the government denied that the blast was caused by electrical fault. the plasmati happened just days before the turks are due to vote in parliamentary elections. elections. the ruly justice party said that they would be named a success but not all are convinced. >> the produce is fresh and abundant and each with its price tag. the cost of live something on everybody's mind in the run up to polling day. >> we can't make ends meet. our two children on a pension of around $500 u.s. a month. >> at least prices are not increasing every day. >> the party came to power in 2002. since then turkey has enjoyed

strong growth, development and renewed prosperity for many. major infrastructure projects became the party's hallmark building more roads trains, airports including this one built on a manmade island. big construction projects multiplying, the massive infrastructure plans. turkey's gross domestic product increased and new indicators are raising concerns. if this the first time in many years that annual growth rate has fallen and unemployment figures have risen since previous election years and they're trying to seize the opportunity. they say last year's growth rate was just over 3% while inflation

was around 9%. unemployment levels was 11% and the national currency lost more than 13% of its value against the dollar. turkey relies too much on construction lower borrowing rates. >> 2010 and 2011 there are very high drop rates but we have 9% in average growth rate in two years. but it brought huge 10%. which was definitely not sustainable. >> government leaders say that the slowing of the economy are promising sustained growth. they're vowing to cut personal debt and boost annual income to $25,000 in coming years. more than 55 million people are

not eligible to vote on sunday. >> opec prime ministers are meeting in vienna. they'll keep production at 30 million barrels of oil a day. that's despite the falling prices of oil over the past year. opec produces more than a third of the world oil exports. prices again drops slightly after the announcement. >> still to come india authorities pull maggi noodles from the shelves concerned that the product contains dangerous levels of lead. >> i've come to a small coastal town in venezuela to meet the family of a man who changed the course of history.

>> welcome back. let's recap the headlines of al jazeera. the army has stopped one of the biggest attacks of yemen rebels since the coalition-led attacks in yemen began. former iraqi foreign minister aziz has died at the age of 79 after suffering a heart attack in prison. aziz was the international face

of saw dam hussein's iraq for 30 years. two people have died and more than a hundred wounded in a rally in the country's southeast. just days before the turkish parliamentary elections. trying to explain of how the records of 4 million of its current and former workers were hacked. it's believed to be the biggest cyberattack in the country's history. white house correspondent patty culhane has the latest. >> environmental lawyer david dickinson woke up to find out that all of his sensitive information has been hack: one of 4 million federal workers likely impacted. >> i think we've been naive in thinking that it's been secure for a long time. with companies and governments

that were thought to be secured you thought they would be able to afford to secure their websites but the guy down the street was a little bit smarter. >> smart enough to get social security numbers national id numbers, birth job status and current around former addresses. that is extremely valuable. >> it's valuable on the black market. it's really valuable for intelligence community. it's valuable in identifying who might be on the other side spies for us who could be compromiseed through blackmail, extortion. >> as for who the u.s. government thinks is behind t there is the official on cameraness. cameraresponse. >> i don't have information to provide to you who could have committed that.

>> but anonymous finger pointers are pointing their fingers at china. >> without investigation, they have jumped to a conclusion so quickly that is not scientific and it's not responsible. >> we know thanks to leaks like edward snowden there were $270 million on activities like exploiting foreign trusted computing platforms and technology. that is just one program. still this is an embarrassment for the u.s. president who made this a priority, asking for $14 billion to be spent on cyber security in 2014. he's likely to get that now since it has happened so close to home. >> in ukraine an

entrepreneurial meeting of the security council was called by lithuania amid fears that the fighting would be escalating. >> developments suggesting that the military track has not been abandoned in favor of the political one. the need too break the cycle of violence now before further escalation takes place. we urgently call on all sides to return to the negotiation table. >> the greek prime minister said that his government is closer than ever to reaching a deal with international creditors. alex tsipras was speaking with parliament he said they would put an end to talk about greece leaving the e.u. currency. india's food safety regulate verse banned the sale and

production of maggi noodles. an popular food often served to children. the global head of maggi insist that the noodles are safe to eat eat. a movie about and largely funded by football's ruling government fifa's film has been shown in cannes and a few places around the world since. the timing of the release is a surprise. alan fisher reports. >> the football association. >> fifa. >> it's a movie that had a has been around for a year. it tells about the creation of fifa funded with $60 million

from the organization it's gathered horrible reviews. from the u.k. the guardian called it stalinist propaganda davidpropaganda. it was described as tedious and amateurish and hilariously ill-timed. after the events of the corruption charges from those at the top of fifa and resignation of sepp blatter some of the script lines take on additional meaning. >> you have everything that you need. but you know, the slightist error, and you're out. >> i don't know where the money has gone. i mean, i have my suspicions. >> united passions only has a limited release here in the united states. it's only on in 11 cities and only in a handful of screens. the only cinema showing in and around washington, d.c. it's

sharing a screen and the smallest one at that. those who have seen the movie said that it fills the theater with last, which is unfortunate it is not meant to be a comedy. >> it's a ludicrous movie and corporate self aggrandising to begin with. it's happens to coming out in theaters the same week that sepp blatter, played by tim roth, has retired amid a storm of controversy and a handful of guys are taking out in handcuffs in switzer. >> and the movie will be available on demand. for a small fee people will be able to watch it at home so long the files are not corrupt: al jazeera virginia. >> remember, you're making history. >> joining us now from new york city is the writer for vice

sports. good to have you with us. obviously a lot to be said about the timing if the idea was to improve the image of fifa and sepp blatter maybe it's come a little bit late. >> yes, it's very curiously timed, indeed. i imagine that film releases are planned with a little bit of time but sometimes they're put off, as was the case with the famous sony hack with that movie about north korea. "the interview." and the whole thing was put off for a while. but it seems that the day-to-day that this movie is released it's already out of date. it's about the glorification of sepp blatter essentially, who has announced his resignation. >> might people be curious to go watch it because fifa is so much in the headlines. >> you question if there is some adverse affect here.

this movie is so poorly reviewed. anyone who has written anything about it has been desperately negative about it. you wonder if people will be curious to see and go see it after all. it's really a very bad movie. >> all right you're clearly not a fan but i wonder whether it will pick up fans in other parts of the world. it touches on the tension between the developed and developing countries when it comes to football. it's not very flattering of the english. do you think that will go down well in some parts of the world? >> it's extremely harsh on the english and for trays them as racist bigoted and arrogant. you feel that there was a score to settle there because the english media and officials have been the bane of fifa's existence for many years. the reason why sepp blatter has been able to stay in power so

long, he was able to consolidate power bases in africa and asia where they weren't so bothered about the things he did behind the scenes. maybe in those parts of the world the movie will have something of an audiencer audience. >> it does not tackle corruption allegations. what about the initial commercialization of football? >> well, it really credits that commercial station to bladder. i think that's fair to an extent. he did bring lots of money into the game. it doesn't make for very richtying film when he's going around meeting with various sponsors in bars or parking lots and trying to convince them to take a chance on football. but that is sort of how it went down. so in that regard that is one of the few parts i think where the movie is accurate. there is a lot of revisionist history, and like you say it does not touch on corruption very much at all, even though

tim roth, who played sepp blatter, tried to allude to it, but there is very little evidence of it in the film. >> how did they get the big names involved in the movie? >> that's a good question. this is the sort of project that is hard to come back from, and that will always sort of be--they'll be associated with it in quite a negative way. like many things in fifa, i suspect that it came down to money. >> all right thanks so much for your thoughts on that. >> my pleasure. >> now this saturday marks the 71st anniversary of the normandy landings marking the beginning of the end of the second word war. but it might never have happened if it hadn't been for a determined spaniard with a knack of lying and spying. we went to meet the man's family in venezuela. >> it's hard to imagine that this unassumeing balancing man

was a sigh with a code name. but what was, in fact, a double agent, and the man credited by some who single-handedly fooling the nazis and bringing world war ii to an end. he retired in a small coastal town in venezuela with no one not even his children knowing his secrets seems to be in character. but his life was built on such a lie. >> he was the best dad in the world. he was incredibly transparent. in our house not only could we not call anyone a liar. >> it took years for him to gain the german's trust. based in lisbon instead of london he filed a series of bogus reports for years. he even fabricated an elaborate network of fish tissues agents

but his greatest triumph was in operation fort to do to convince the nazis that the normandy would take place further north. for american writer bill hamilton who retired and since has been researching his life said of his the heart of his genius. >> he was a romantic, a dreamer. the 27 different personalities that he created living in canada india places like that, and then having a complete biography just like a victoryian novel. >> while he helped to change the course of modern history his life went unnoticed. until today nigel west tracked him down. >> my first call to juan was that i was calling on behalf of

buckingham palace, and if he was the double agent code name garvo, would he like to come to london. >> it's hard to assess the full extent of his legacy. for some he was an undisputeed hero. for others he was the greatest double agent in history. >> now in the u.s. a fake killer whale being used to scare off hundreds of sea lions. fishermen say they've become a nuisance because they block access to docks and eat lots of salmon. scientists have named the world's first shape-changing amphibian. it can change its skin from

smooth so spikey within minutes. it was dubbed as the transformer frog. it was discovered in 2009. scientists think that it's skin is used to ward off predators. more on the story coming up. the website there. [ ♪♪ ] this week on "talk to al jazeera", legendry music composer david foster . >> so mid '070, i guess i seriously. david foster has been nicknamed the hitman, a violent for many records collaborating with many big names in the industry. there's one