>> announcer: this is al jazeera. hello there, welcome to the al jazeera news hour. i'm laura kyle in doha. coming up in the next 60 minutes. the war in yemen, pro-government forces close in on a strategic city that has been held by houthi rebels for months. a bloody day in damascus as syria's leaders hold high-level talks with their close ally iran. more shock and wes hit the markets as china's central bank cuts the value of its currency for a second day running.

and picture perfect one day, choking with smog the next. one of poland's most beautiful cities tries to clean up its act. ♪ houthi rebels are strengthening defenses in the yemeni capitol after suffering more losses in the south. troops loyal to the exiled president hadi are now in the strategic city of ibb. >> reporter: in the early hours, fighters take their positions in the mountains. the winding roads lead to the city of ibb, an important flash point as pro-government troops advance to the north. they are backed by the saudi-lead coalition. in recent weeks they have made sweeping gains in the south and say they have the support of

local tribesmen. >> translator: we say to the popular resistance, go on. the people are behind you, and victory is coming. >> reporter: the fighters supporting president hadi who remains in exile in saudi arabia have been able to seize control from the houthis with the help of their allice. saudi arabia and the uae are supplying weapons, vehicles and advisors which seem to be changing the situation on the ground. fighters are preparing a two-pronged approach towards the capitol one from ma'rib in the east and the other from the south, but if they manage to take ibb completely, they'll face resistance from an area where there is support of the houthis. >> the introduction of the grand modern armor tanks and the trained yemeni by saudi make the shift, and i think after the

fall of ta'izz and ibb, sana'a will be surrounded sort of. that's the aim of the coalition. i think they want to surround -- surround sana'a, and especially the troops coming from ma'rib. >> reporter: but the houthis also have support, hundreds of protesters gathered in the capitol and condemned the saudi-lead air strikes. >> translator: our presence here is confirmation that we remain steadfast and will never retreat from our decisions, and we will stand against this new colonialism. >> reporter: there are reports of talks to try to find a solution brokered by yemen's maybe ammon. so far the u.n. hasn't been able to help negotiate a ceasefire in the war which has already claimed hundreds of lives and put millions more at risk because of lack of basic supplies. and peace will remain illusive, and pro-government fighters see

themselves in a position to defeat them. the security analyst at the royal united services, he said as pro-government forces make gains, and houthi forces retreat, a new phase of the conflict is about to begin. >> of course as the conflict moves further north, it makes the fight that much harder for the so-called loyalist forces. because the terrain is very difficult for the armored vehicles and so on. so we see a hardening of fighting. and of course the houthis will fight harder as they retreat to their homeland. >> and also let's not forget these forces loyal to president hadi are made up of all sorts of different factions, will that loyalty remain? >> that's an interesting question, because amongst them are islamists which aren't quite

as extreme as al-qaeda or is, but they do have an agenda which is different from the democratic secular agenda of both saleh and hadi. and they have a separate political outlook to the monarchies that are leading the fig fight. so there is a very complex mix of -- in the coalition, and of course on the fringes, we still have al-qaeda who are making gains as a result of this conflict, and we have the i.s. supporters, so the overall picture is not necessarily as positive as the understandable take that the saudis are putting on their advances. >> and of course let's not forget that the as they celebrate these gains on the battlefield, they are leaving

behind a decimated population. what happens to them? >> well, that is a very distinctive feature of this conflict. i can't think of another conflict where over 80% of the civilian population are suffering as a result -- as a result of humanitarian difficulties. in fact, aid agencies, the red cross included have been speaking about the complexity and the challenge. some of them are describing it as a catastrophe. so this partial victory is at a -- one of the highest prices in the region. i think that apart from the israelis attack on gaza over the last few decades, which have been described as disproportionate by the regional arab governments, this may well eclipse even that. and of course, in the longer

term, it will make it very much harder for arab and muslim governments to criticize israel for its actions over gaza. so what we're dealing with now is a long-term political and humanitarian difficulty, the price of which will only become apparent in the years and maybe decades ahead. libya's prime minister has announced that he is planning to resign, but the spokesman later said that he will not step down. united nations is trying to get libya's rival factions to form a unity government. iran's foreign minister has met syria's president bashar al-assad in damascus. the visit comes as rebel fighters shelled neighborhoods in the center of the city. at least five people were killed. government forces also targeted rebel-held suburbs on the outskirts of the city. at least 40 people are reported to have been killed there.

earlier i spoke to zana hoda in beirut, and i asked her what the trip is all about? >> reporter: well, really, iran is on a diplomatic offensive. it has a plan. that's what they say. they have a plan to resolve the syrian crisis. like you mentioned he was in beirut. he held meetings here, and now he's holding talks with the syrian president in damascus. when he was in beirut, he reiterated another call. he has been calling for dialogue, saying that iran is extending its hand to gulf arab countries in order for them to engage in dialogue, in order for them to -- to, you know, mend their differences. this is his message in beirut. but, really, there's a few details on what this peace plan is about. what we understand from iranian state media is that it calls for a ceasefire. it calls for the creation of a national unity government. it calls for amending the

constitution and holding elections under international supervision. the state media did not mention anything about the fate and future of the syrian president, bashar al-assad, which really has been the main sticking point since the beginning of this conflict. the opposition will not accept anything less than assad leaving power. in fact one of the regional players in the conflict, saudi arabia, who supports the opposition, made that very clear a few days ago when the saudi foreign minister met his russian counterpart in moscow. he said that assad is part of the problem and not the solution. we don't know the details about iran's plan, but we know iran is trying to push for this plan. but zarif was also supposed to visit turkey yesterday. some reports suggested that turkey and iran do not see aye-to-aye, because iran could have some proposal to put the

city of aleppo under protection. forming the basis of negotiations is really proving to be difficult. >> absolutely. and his arrival comes just after damascus has been hit by rebels. what is the significance of that fighting reaching the center of the capitol? >> reporter: many would interpret that as a message to the iranian foreign minister. a barrage of rockets landing in the center of damascus, the seat of power of the government. it shows that the government cannot even keep damascus safe. we understand many civilians were killed and injured, and the government retaliated by carrying out heavy bombardments in rebel-controlled areas on the countryside of damascus, where the rockets emanated from. really a message from the opposition, we're still here. we haven't lost this battle.

the international community is saying there is no military solution to the conflict, but maybe now both sides are betting that the balance of power may shift on the ground to see some sort of concession or compromise from the different players in order for an agreement to be reached, but we're still far from there. and yes, the government has lost a lot of territory, but it still controls crucial territory that allows it to stay in power. so the war, now in its fifth year, there are diplomatic efforts to try to find a solution, but so far no progress. at least six people have been killed in a suspected boko haram attack in northwest nigeria. our correspondent is in a village around 135 kilometers south of the borno state capitol. aid workers in south sudan say sexual violence against women is on the rise.

natasha ghoneim reports from an area where there has been intense fighting. >> reporter: each day the displaced women here walk into the bush to collect firewood. they will spend half a day trying to collect enough to sell. some say they are returning beaten and raped. >> translator: they pointed a gun at us and told us to drop the firewood and follow them. >> reporter: this woman we'll call mary to protect her identity says she and a group of women were gang raped by south sudanese soldiers at gunpoint. >> translator: thaf do a bad deed and they leave you like that, you are almost as good as dead. you are useless. all that is left is that they shoot us. >> reporter: these women are faced with a choice, trying to earn money when food is scarce, or staying inside this camp where they are protected by u.n. peace keepers.

the international committee says it has helped thousands of women here who have been victims of sexual violence. women told us they were beaten and raped by government soldiers, but aid groups say all parties in this conflict are guilty of sexually assaulting women. the government launched a campaign to encourage more women to report rape and seek treatment, but some are accusing it of doing nothing to stop soldiers from using rape as a weapon of war, an accusation the government denies. >> we will not allow them to do that. if, you know, we have now actually dispatched a team to investigate, you will find, you know, things that, you know, will shocked you, simply because the people whom you are actually interviewing, don't want to say the truth.

this complaint against the government. >> reporter: mary now worries that she has contracted a disease. she says she is too terrified to return to the bush. other women we spoke to say they are afraid of being attacked too, but they are still collecting firewood, and taking the risk to survive. natasha ghoneim, al jazeera, south sudan. plenty more coming up here on this al jazeera news hour. why some of the poorest people in southern india, the land distribution scheme as failed them. and the risk of being poisoned by sipping the wrong kind of alcohol in indonesia. and tom brady appears in a u.s. court to fight his four-game man as part of the deflate gate controversy. ♪

refugees in northern france say they are using people snugglers to get to the u.k. the buildup of migrants trying to get across the english channel is causing major problems for authorities in both france and london. >> reporter: the british government has a new front line in its battle with refugees, and it's here down the coast. the cars belong to smugglers who for a fee offer a way out of all of this. the people don't feel guilty about having to pay the smugglers, after all they say the west owes them for the problems in their homelands. >> they are responsible for what happened there. so now they have to give these people and let them -- let them live here in europe, better, because they have no choices. >> reporter: doctors of world

are here handing out blankets and tents, despairing at a system that forces the vulnerable to pay people who have sometimes been known to harm them. >> last time i met a young afghan man with a band-aided forearm, there was an enormous gash on his forearm, and he said he had been pulled off of a truck by a people smuggler and attacked in the process. it has to stop. >> reporter: this tiny camp has always been around for years as have the smugglers. the conditions are absolutely desperate. everyone said they wanted to get to the u.k. legally, but had no choice but to break the law. they were all from the middle east. it's hardly surprising they want to get out of here. >> translator: immigration isn't a new thing. the problem is that we have let this situation deteriorate, and some people are profiting from it. >> reporter: back at the other

camp, the smugglers were on the move again. the people smuggling operations that come out of places like this, have become the latest target for the british media, but you have to ask what sorts of choices the refugees here have. the reason why they are backed up from calais, is because this offers a better chance of getting on a lori. in the u.k. has it become the perfect vehicle to whip both the european union and these communities at once. lawrence lee, al jazeera, northern france. palestinians are volunteering to go on patrol in the occupied west bank following more attacks by jewish settlers. our correspondent has been to see the new safeguards in the

village. >> reporter: as darkness fell, they gathered on the edge of town, these are the palestinian residents of this town in the occupied west bank, armed only with flashlights and walking streets they patrol the streets on the lookout for israeli settlers. this man is around one of 200 volunteers, he tell uses the town has been targeted by settler attacks more than 60 times in the past five years. >> translator: once they set our mosque on fire. and we realized no one was going to protect our village, so we formed these patrols to protect ourselves. >> reporter: more than two-thirds of the occupied west bank is under control israeli control. this year alone there have been over 126 recorded incidents of settler-related violence, including a recent fire.com

attack that killed an 18-month-old and his father. the palestinians say these patrols are no warn the community if any settlers are near the village. palestinian residents managed to subdue and hold the settlers until israeli soldiers took them into custody. it inspired others to start patrols in their own towns and villages. the palestinian authority says with so little of the palestinian territory under the pa's direct control, it is understandable residents are take matters into their own hands. >> in order to protect our people this has to be within a political context by ending the occupation and having an international protection for the palestinian people. >> reporter: until that happens, palestinians will continue to

patrol their towns and villages, hoping no more people die at the hands of israeli settlers. hillary clinton has handed over her private email server to the fbi. she has been under scrutiny over her use of a private email account while she was secretary of state. critics say it was designed to shield her communications from oversights. now to the arnick, lead, and other toxic waste which has leaked in to rivers in the united states. >> reporter: the animus deliver no longer looks like. this the objection to kick plume continued elevated levels of

arsonic, lead, and cadmium. the governor and state officials are keen to stress that preliminary testing showed the river has already returned to normal, despite the new sediment that settled to the bottom. >> we have not found any wildlife mortality. >> reporter: is this a definitive answer as to whether this water is toxic? it's not toxic, is what that you are saying? >> i'm not qualified to make that call. >> reporter: where did the doctor go? >> again, i'm not sure he can make anything definitive in terms of what will satisfy all of your viewers. >> reporter: a local environmental group agrees that things are looking hopeful. >> the fact that this guy is still alive is -- is encouraging, but without the full analysis of this community, we can't say a whole lot more. so we can at least say after 100 hours, they are surviving. we'll continue to do monitoring,

we'll do sampling to see how the community is doing, and then next week, and then on into the fall and probably for years. >> reporter: the environmental protection agency was working on stemming toxic seepage from the mine here in the hills above silverton. instead millions of liters of waste were unleashed. the hills have been leaching toxic krem calls into the animus river for some 10 -- 100 years. it will all be diluted by the time it gets to durango. estimates suggests that many abandoned mines are constantly leaching into the nation's rivers. >> the mines have been leaking up there for over 100 years, all

the way from silverton to new mexico, the river has been compromised in some respects for many years. >> reporter: a reminder of how difficult it is to recover from the mineral rushes of the 19th, and 20th centuries. krakow is one of the most breathtaking cities in poland in more ways than one. it is well-known for its architecture, but also notorious for its pollution. jonah hull reports. >> reporter: there are plenty of reasons to visit krakow in the sunshine. the elegant architecture, and centuries of history. but when the weather turns cold, the air fills with a thick toxic smog. >> it stinks. it's dirty. it's -- you know, it -- this smog goes down to the -- to the

street. krakow during winter, there's no clear visibility, you know, everything is dirty, everything is gray. >> reporter: household chimneys belch out toxic filth that hangs in the stillness of the valley. seven out of ten family homes burn cheap coal for heat or an even cheaper cocktail of plastics and other waste. air pollution levels in the city are four times the world health organization safe limit. >> my nose started bleeding one morning. it bled for over 20 hours until a doctor stopped it. my doctor is laughing at me when i'm coming with problems. he keeps saying move out of town. move out of town. >> reporter: but who would want to leave this elegant medieval city sparkling in the sunshine, a magnet for tourists. it was once poland's royal capitol, it is now the

thirst-most polluted city in the european union. some residents complain of being prisoners in their own homes. a campaign group called the krakow smog alarm, fought back, warning residents they faced pollution equivalent to 2,500 cigarettes a year. the city council has responded with mitigation efforts, but progress is slow. >> translator: all of our assets go into teaching people to live in more ecologically sensitive ways, and we do everything we can to convince tourists that they are safe in krakow, and are breathing air that is getting cleaner. >> reporter: this family couldn't wait when they discovered their 4-year-old son was getting sick. >> because he had very strong skin disease, which appeared only when in krakow. it was enough to go out of the

city for three days, and the disease started to disappear, so it was clear that it was because of the city. >> reporter: they left for the capitol warsaw, with no plans to return. jonah hull, al jazeera, krakow. plenty more coming up here on al jazeera. russia in recession. analysts thought the worst was over for the economy, but they may have been wrong. and a mexican neighborhood exploding with color in an effort to combat violence and crime. plus the knockout that never was, all of those details coming up with jo in sport. ♪

>> [crowd chanting] hell no gmo. >> they're slamming a technology that could be used to solve problems for people who desperately need it. >> they get exited about technology whether it's in their phone or in their car, so why is it so weird on their plate? >> something's going into food that shouldn't really be there.

>> techknow investigates. >> you could not pay me to fake data. ♪ hello again, the top stories here on al jazeera. houthi rebels are strengthening defenses in the capitol sana'a, after suffering more losses in the south. the pro-government forces are now in the strategic city of

ibb. iran's foreign minister has arrived in damascus to meet with assad. aid groups in south sudan say sexual violence against women are on the rise. aid workers say both government forces and rebels are carrying out the attacks. 40 people are missing in central china after a landslide swept through a mountain town. 15 dormers to were buried along with three homes. four people have been rescued. the chinese currency has fallen to its weakest level against the u.s. dollar in four years. here is what he s behind the drop. the central banks intervened to push the currency lower. the chinese government is worried about a slowdown in economic growth. it says that was already putting

pressure and erthively forced its hand, but beijing's trading partners acute it of manipulating exchange rates to make their exports cheaper. we are joined now live from new york, thanks very much for being with us. the u.s. is already saying that the currency is undervalued, so what is the reaction there to this latest move? >> well, you have the typical reaction. this kind of devaluation of the chinese currency is designed to boost chinese exports, reduce its imports, and of course that means that other countries who want to export to china will find it a bit more difficult to do so. nobody should be surprised at this. every major trading block, north america, western europe, japan, and now china, when they get caught up in the cycles that

beset capitalism, seek to improve their situation among other things by devaluing their currency. it's the normal maneuvering of all of them. so it's a little bit disingenuous to get angry at the chinese, they have joined the international club of capitalists, and now they are playing the game the way that system works. >> and is it fair play? >> well, you know, it's a question. everybody else is doing it. it would be bizarre to expect the chinese, if they are having economic difficulties, which they clearly are, to discyst from one of the standard things you do, which is to manipulate the value of your currency. the most important exporter in europe is germany. germany benefits by having the value of the euro artificially lower, because it effects the weak economies of spain and

italy and greece, and so the value of the euro is lower, and that makes german exports more competitive in the world. do they manipulate things that way? sure they do. is part of the struggle with greece about devaluing the euro, keeping it down? yes, it is. so yes, they do it. the chinese do it. we in the united states do it. so calling it unfair suggests something is unique, when it in fact it is universal. >> how much of a hit will america and american companies take from this? >> well, that's a difficult question to answer. there will be some loss of exports into china from the united states, but not much. the devaluation is still very small, and it will have a marginal effect. it will help american companies that were thinking of investing in china, because everything that -- all of the costs of

doing that just became 2 or 3% cheaper than they were three days ago, but the ramifications will take time to work out, so mostly what you have now is symbolic noise by politicians and others, probably fearful that if the chinese don't succeed with the devaluation that small, it may be followed in the months and weeks to come by more devaluations and they may be larger. >> richard wolf great to get your expertise on the issue. thanks very much. russia is officially in recession and the figures are worse than predicted. in march analysts predicted the economy has passed through the worst of its troubles, but they were wrong, as rory challands reports from moscow. >> reporter: the economic front in russia's confrontation with the west is throwing out some increasingly bizarre spectacles. dutch flowers going up in flames

destroyed, we're told because of pest contaminations. >> translator: these are flowers from the netherland inflected with [ inaudible ]. >> reporter: russia is now testing all dutch flower imports for such beasts. though, the netherlands suspects this is retaliation over the investigation of the shooting down of mh17 last year. russia bans the import of many european foods. it has been destroying embargoed products. perhaps more destructive is what is happening to russia's economy. there was a 4.6% contraction in the second quarter of 2015, compared to the same quarter of last year. in that follows a 2.2% contraction in the first three months of this year. there's no doubt about it, russia is in recession.

of course this was widely expected what has come as a bit of a shock, though, is that the contraction was slightly worse than analysts were predicting. >> in the second quarter we saw that the real wages of the population continued to decline, also the retail end was struggling, and in my view this was constraining consumption. >> reporter: the pressure of more than a year of western sanctions playing a part in this, so too is the renewed slide in any price of oil. it's pulling the ruble back down to a dollar value not seen since february. the government here has been saying for several months now that the worst is over, it doesn't seem to be yet. some of southern india's poorest people are demanding justice over a failed land distribution scheme. the zero landless initiative was launched two years ago with the aim to provide land to poor households. each family would be given 125

square meters of looned, but so far only one in ten applicants have been given deeds with even fewer receiving their plots. >> reporter: this woman had never imagined that being given a piece of government land would cause so much despair. they were prime candidates for the government scheme. >> translator: for 12 jeers we tried hard to get the land and we finally did, but it's not in this area, and we can't move. we don't have money to build a house there, and now our landlord wants to evict us. >> reporter: the land is in a fishing area, moving would mean losing her job. though they say they can't afford to move, many here would consider them fortunate. 14,000 people have applied for the land scheme, and only 150 so

far have received land. the zero landless project was launched by the government two years ago to help poor families. these women were given papers confirming the application were successful a few months ago, but they haven't got the plot yet. >> translator: if we don't get it soon, we will protest and we will commit suicide. that's the only way. we can't carry on like this. we are all very poor. >> reporter: in recent years social unrest over landownership has become common. in the state of care la, a progressive lands right bill was established in 1957 and promised fair distribution of land. yet about 70% of households here don't own land, one of the highest in india. activists say the scheme is ineffective and just gives the impression the government is tackling the issue. >> land means existing.

existing means that land may be in water. it may be land occupied by some other persons. sometimes that land [ inaudible ] sometimes that land may be unusable. >> reporter: this district is one of the most densely populated in the country with 1,500 people for every square kilometer. state land reserves are used in the scheme but they are limited. >> it's better that government give us some fund to purchase land from those who are having surplus land. >> reporter: this person has been asking for help from the government to build a house, but has had no response. she now says life was better before she got the land. three high-ranking police officers in pakistan have been suspended for failing to investigation allegations of sex abuse of children. five of the 14 men accused will remain in custody for up to 28

days. hundreds of children under the age of 14 were allegedly sexually abused by a gang of men who, filmed and then blackmailed. police found around 400 video recordings of the crimes. indonesia is trying to limit the sale of alcohol by raising import duties and is even proposing a ban. tourist operators are worried the restrictions will put off foreign visitors. and the alcohol industry fears that drinkers will turn to brews that are often poisonous. >> reporter: this person turned blind eight years ago, two days after drinking homemade alcohol brought on the street. it is estimated that hundreds of people in indonesia die after drinking lethal cocktails containing highly toxic methanol. >> translator: his future is gone. for us as his parents it's really hard. those who die maybe don't suffer this much.

but i know him. he always drove everywhere, was very active, and now he can't see. >> reporter: even people who think they are buying official bottled alcohol run the risk of being poisoned. this illegal producer showed us how he prepares fake whiskey and then sells it as the normal thing at a third of the price. alcohol normally used to disinfect wounds, caffeine from a energy drink, and other materials. business is booming. >> translator: demand is increasing right now because of the price of real alcohol has gone up dramatically. buyers are now trying to reduce their costs and buy alcohol from us. >> reporter: indonesia's spirit and wine association say sales of drinks are down by 50%.

>> translator: people will still look for alcohol. if they don't find real alcohol, and the government doesn't put measures in place to educate consumers, the use of illicit alcohol will increase. >> reporter: according to the world health organization indonesia's alcohol consumption is among the lowest in the world, but the government says tough regulations are needed to protect its population. >> translator: people can die of alcohol poisoning anywhere. just because only a few people die doesn't mean we can let 250 million indonesians drink alcohol. that's why our policy is undesirable for people in indonesia to drink. >> reporter: a draft to ban alcohol is currently being discussed by parliament. import duties on alcohol are also being increased. a draft of the law banning alcohol says there will be exceptions for tourism and cultural celebrations, but

opponents say it won't prevent an increase in death due to methanol poisoning. whether new stricter measures will save lives remains to be seen. bringing you some breaking news from the u.n. the head of the u.n. peace-keeping mission in the central african republic has resigned. ban ki-moon has just made the announce , following allegations of rape aeven killing of civilians there in the car, but u.n. peace keepers. these are just allegations. and the u.n. secretary general says it will investigate closely into them. to the head of peace-keeping mission in the central african republic has resigned. still ahead here on al jazeera, costa ricco's manager gets into a brawl.

jo will be here to tell you why.

former drug gang members in mexico have put down their weapons and picked up instead, paint brushes. they are giving their neighborhoods a multi-colored makeover as part of the government regeneration scheme. john holman reports. >> reporter: it's the biggest mural in mexico, a rainbow colored makeover. graffiti artists have spent more

than a year planning and painting 200 houses, together with young locals like this francisco, better known as monkey. >> translator: i feel good. proud to be part of this, because in the future, my children are going to see this and how the neighborhood looks good now. >> reporter: the mexican government funded the scheme to turn around the neighborhood known gor crime and violence. it's all about putting the youth to work and giving them a positive environment, saying this exgang member and now project leader. >> translator: art with social programs can change people's lives. murals wake up areas like this one, and get us working for a better mexico. >> reporter: mexico has great artists that used it to expose the social and political problems of their time. but in this case, the painters

are looking to project harmony and unity. it's a brave color scheme, and some locals aren't too impressed. others see it as a mull think colored game changer. >> translator: we're all surprised by the new colors. this was a rough neighborhood, and now it has really calmed down. who knows how they have done it. the painters talk to the youngsters because they have come from difficult neighborhoods too, so they understand them. >> reporter: 20,000 liters of paint later, and the new-look neighborhood monkey sees as a gift to his three young children is almost finished. now time for all of the sport. >> laura thank you. super bowl winning quarterback tom brady is appearing in a manhattan court right now as he battle the allegations against him following the deflate gate

scandal. the players union says brady did nothing wrong and they are asking for the ban to be lifted in time for the patriot's first game of the season on september 10th. john henry smith has more from new york. >> reporter: don't expect the deflate gate scandal to resolve today. short of tom brady standing up and shocking everyone, by saying yeah, i did it, this case will likely continue into the month of september. both the nfl and player's union have asked the judge to render a ruling by september 4th, which is a mere six days before they begin their title defense by taking the field against the pittsburgh steelers. all indications are still that tom brady will be watching that game, instead of playing in it.

another quarterback who literally suffered a blow to his preparations to the start of the season is the new york jets geno-smith, he was punched in the face by a teammate. the coach says the whole thing was just a silly spat. >> i can't say it was anything. i just said the whole thing was childish. a little tit-for-tat, he said she said, some high school stuff that they could have handled better > serena williams began her warm-up in toronto, but had to battle back to reach the third round. williams went on to the win the next two sets, 6-3, 6-0. serena is looking for the fourth title in toronto.

the first victory came back in 2001. she earned $9.1 million in prize money so far this year, but she is not the highest paid top athlete. in that top spot belongs to her rival maria sharapova who earned $29.7 million. most of that has come from sponsor endorsements. serena sits second with a still impressive $24.6 million in earnings. the first female outside of tennis to make the cut is danica patrick, who made 13.9 million. then it's a whole bunch of other tennis players until you get to number 8, mixed martial arts champion, ronda rousey is a newcomer in the top ten. she won her last fight in 34 seconds. she has made $6.5 million. and just 100,000 dollars further

back is american golfer stacy lewis. novak djokovic has begun his chance for a victory. djokovic beat the brazilian in straight sets in canada. he did take a while to do it, though. the serb winning 6-3, 7-6 in an hour and 50 minutes. >> it could have gone either way, honestly. especially in the second set. but we both had our chances to break. we got to the tie break which i thought was fair. then it was neighbor's game. i managed to stay cool, and mentally tough in the right moment, so that's what i take out of this match, you know, the ability to -- to play my best and stay calm in the right moment and overcome this tough challenge. >> djokovic was beaten in last year's final.

and the raining champion has also made a winning start on tuesday with a 6-4, 6-4 victory. barcelona has claimed their fourth trophy of the year by winning the uefa super cup. barca lead 2-1. they fought back to force the game to extra time, at 4-4. an pedro came off of the bench to score the winner in the 115th minute. >> translator: we possessed the ball well in the first 60 minutes and we had good opportunities to score goals, but after that i think we relaxed and gave them the ball. we took a step back and they took advantage of the situation and started to score. so the game got complicated, but unfortunately we got back in and

win. [ inaudible ] has given india's cricketers a strong start. he took 6 wickets on the opening day, including removing [ inaudible ] for 5. in the penultimate test match. india doing well with the bats 128-2. an argentinean boxer has come under scrutiny for going down under suspicious circumstances. when he went down 1:30 until the second round without appearing to be hit. the punch barely grazed martinez. the referee had no choice but to award the fight to his opponent. the pressure to reach rio can be intense. costa ricco's football manager lost his cool in a qualifier

against panama. he wanted to get on to the pitch to complain about the referee's decision making. when denied he got into a fight with the security guard. and that is all of the sport for now, laura. >> thank you very much indeed. we're going to bring you more on the breaking news, the resignation of the head of the u.n. peace keeping in addition in africa. let's go straight to our correspondent at the united nations headquarters in new york. and gabe, you have been listening, haven't you to ban ki-moon, u.n. secretary general there. he had a strong-worded statement to give. >> absolutely. we did just hear from the secretary general who announced that he fired the head of the peace keeping mission in the central african republic, this

coming just 24 hours after the amnesty international reports about alleged rape of a 12 year old girl at the hands of peace keepers in the central african republic. ban ki-moon said he was anguished, angered and ashamed by the allegations. he also said that he will on thursday be calling a special session of the u.n. security council to discuss this as well as that he will be having a video conference call with all of his force commanders of all 16 u.n. peace-keeping missions around the world. so very strong response from the secretary general. let's listen to a little bit more of what he had to say just a few minutes ago. >> allegations have been raised about the conduct of the united nations troops in the central african republic. i cannot put into words, how anguishes and angered, and

ashamed i am by recurrent reports over the years of sexual exploitation and abuse by u.n. forces. when the united nations deploys peace keepers, we do so to protect the world's most vulnerable people. >> gabe we also heard ban ki-moon admitting that this was not the first time we have heard about such allegations, and indeed they have come from many countries. >> translator: that's right. this peace-keeping mission in the central african republic is very new. the first allegation actually came -- was the accusation of sexual misconduct by french troops in the central african republic last year, before the official peace-keeping mission was set up. ban ki-moon announced that he was going to be investigating that. but since the peace-keeping forces of the u.n. have been

there, there have been now two other allegations, including this one most recently of misconduct by u.n. peace keepers there. so this has been a very troubled peace-keeping mission on several levels, and clearly ban ki-moon already has a high-level investigative panel set up looking into this. but we just heard him say that he is hoping to get that investigation -- the results of their internal investigation soon, but so far none of it has been made public yet, but it's very difficult situation here at the u.n., clearly ban ki-moon taking it very seriously, reached all the way up to the very top. >> absolutely. thanks, gabriel. do stay with us here on al jazeera. loren taylor in london will bring you more on that story, and of course the rest of the day's news.

♪ >> the lives of american teenagers.

u.n. peace keeping chief in central african republic is forced to quit after troops are accused of rape and murder. ♪ hello, i'm lauren taylor this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up, this important city has been held by houthi rebels for months, now rival pro-government fighters are closing in. an important friend visits syria's president in damascus, and rebel jets pound