♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello once again from doha, this is the news hour on al jazeera. the bangkok bomber and cctv footage of a suspect apparently leaving a bag at the scene minutes before the blast. turkey set for new election and the prime minister exhausted all efforts to form a coalition government. green finger flights we report from what is the world's first solar powered airforce. i'll have all the sport

including manchester united back in the champion league and look ahead to the club. ♪ the worst ever attack on thailand is how the country's prime minister described the blast in bangkok which killed 20 people and they released security footage of the man who could be a bomber and apparently left a scene minutes before monday's explosion and veronica is in bangkok with more. >> reporter: this is an evening that has capped a day of trying to clear up the mystery of who was behind the attack and indeed clear up the debris. i'm about well a few hundred meters away from where the bomb went off on a balcony overlooking downtown bangkok. there is a fraction of the traffic and people that would normally be bustling in the

streets on a tuesday night in this city of 12 million people. the mood has been very subdued despite the fact that there appears to have been a breakthrough as you mentioned. the picture of a possible suspect in all of this. the government is trying to play down expectations, trying to say that they are keeping all possibilities open. and the emphasis of their message has been on calm on keeping the country united. this has been a difficult day for bangkok. picking up the pieces. this is a shopping district in bangkok that has seen dramatic political conflict several times before but nothing like this. dozens of people were killed here on monday, among them victims from malaysia, china, hong kong and singapore and many

injured and designed to kill as many people as possible at a high profile target, the shine. the government acting urgently to restore a sense of security for the public and millions of tourists. >> translator: in our country there are individuals or groups of individuals who are seeking to destroy the country. the ongoing attempts at destruction might be politically motivated targeting the economy, tourism or for whatever reason. the government will work to find these perpetrators and bring justice upon any networks involved as soon as possible. >> reporter: this dash cam footage shows the moment the bomb went off. five kilograms of military grade explosives that sources told al jazeera was deliberately detonated. within hours of the blast the military-run government was blaming its political enemies. now it's asking the country to unite and stay calm. >> we would like to once again

assure the public that right now look at what happens after this, but after this we will do our best in order to make sure that everybody is well looked after. >> reporter: but within an hour of that speech this happened at the main pier river transport, another high profile tourist target. the grenade landed in the water and no one was injured. back at the shrine things are slowly getting back to normal. the roads have been reopened but this is as close as we can get to the shrine itself. security has been tightened as promised but seen forensic teams arrive as they try to get to the bottom of how and why this brutal attack happened. thai authorities won't say how soon they will be able to announce the results of their investigation. we have spoken to sources who are familiar with the

investigation and they have told us that this bomb was placed in a pipe that was tied to a post and it was there for two hours before it was detonated. and it was deliberately detonated. it was set at a level of about chest height in order to maximize the casualties and that's why there was so much damage and so many fatalities. absolutely unprecedented here in thailand and one hates to do comparisons but the level of shock and the challenge to security in the country does make one tend to wonder whether this is thailand's 9/11 moment. let's move to other news turkey's prime minister failed to form a new government. he said he has exhausted all options to form a coalition after elections which happened in june. that means the country is already certainly headed for new

elections, political uncertainty comes amid rising violence and tension with turkey's kurdish minority and we will talk to a turkish political scientist joining us by skype from istanbul and can you explain to the viewers who don't know about turkish politics why he has struggled to actually form a government here? >> well, this is a long process of polarization in turkish politics. the party has long claimed to have the legitimate access to power but they lost about 10% of points and they are allotted policy positions impeded them to cooperate with the left wing main opposition party as well as the nationalists and turkey nationalists action

security breaches and increasing talk and uneasiness on the economic side so we still have at least two, three months until the next election and until then it may sway people's voice to akp or further from akp leading them to lose even more 10% compared to other levels. >> we thank you so much for your time and thoughts, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. in sri-lanka the ruling

party won parliamentary elections and final results show the united national party got almost half the seats. let's go to where this is covered in the capitol columbo and talk us through the numbers, the break down and how it will work for the returning government it looks like. >> what it means the results that we have heard the united national front that essentially the alliance put together by the prime minister singer who spotted a unp forms the biggest grouping of that alliance but they have brought back 106 seats of the 225 member parliament. now, the party, the alliance of the former president could only imagine 95 seats. given this obviously the expectation is that prime minister singer will be called on by the president to form a government. now, he does have a coalition of partners that all came together

essentially to take on the upfa so what we are going to see is some negotiation in terms of who gets what role in the coming days. >> thank you for the update for us from columbo. thank you for that. plenty more ahead on this news hour here on al jazeera. one startled by heroin addicts are offering a different kind of help to overcome their habits that plus. i'm andy in the mississippi delta, a place where ironically it's hard to buy fresh, healthy food, we will show you how one community is fighting back. and in sport one of the top two athletic legends go head to head in a bid to become president of world athletics cup. ♪

now, libya's internationally recognized government has called on arab countries to arm its military in the fight against i.s.i.l. affiliates. foreign minister mohamed made that appeal at an emergency arab league meeting in cairo. only air strikes from arab states can help them control cert which they largely controlled since may and we are in the studio who has covered the story extensively from libya, what realistic chance could this happen and arm us and help us this way? >> the chance is for the time being because you are talking about divided libya with to governments and many malitias on the ground and they made it clear past that it's not going to lift the embargo they emposed in libya in 2011. their biggest concern for the time being is to have the different warring factions agree

on forming a national unity government. they don't want to give one party weapons. >> right. how important, again, some background for viewers who don't know this, how important is this and getting it back? >> because the city of cert has fallen in the hands of the islamic state and this is a huge problem for the international community and for the region its own and the gnc is sending more fighters and weapons to try to recapture that city. but the problem you have in libya for the time being is that you have armed groups now expanding and the council is taking control of them and islamic state in control in the eastern part of the country. the international community is seeing now potential for those radical groups taking over more territory over them. what is the solution, a military option or a political option?

many now are in favor of a military option but the biggest obstacle they have for the time being is who are you going to side with, is it the internationally recognized government of tobrook or gnc and the central part of the country might just feel alienated and join the radical groups. >> when you talk about islamic state or i.s.i.l. is this the same i.s.i.l. we are talking about that operates in syria and iraq? >> it is and has allegiance to abadi and people think that is because of the intensified air strikes against iraq and syria. they think that i.s.i.s. is looking for platforms and safe havens where they can further expand and their choice now is libya for the obvious reason there is no central authority. it has been you have many armed groups, many affiliations, many

loyalties in libya and it looks like an i deal for i.s.i.l. to reign and further expand and if i.s.i.l. is given a chance to expand in libya it can use libya as another platform to launch targets against western europe. >> thank you for that and talking about libya. now the iraqi government says it entered the second phase of a campaign to retake anbar from i.s.i.l. fighters but we report from baghdad many say the claims of progress is little more than propaganda. >> reporter: on the front lines the security forces battle i.s.i.l. one shot at a time. [gunfire] despite the government's promises to recapture him quickly the battle has so far been slow. [gunfire] while the defense ministry insists things are going well and moved on to phase two of its strategy there part of the

larger anbar offensive some analysts are skeptical. >> translator: i believe i.s.i.l. and ramadi is still strong and joint iraqi forces are still weak. they have not been able to put an end to that organization in 70 days since the start of the anbar offensive. >> reporter: the defense ministry maintains its security forces are fighting as effectively as possible. but scenes like this in which a shoulder mounted rocket propelled grenade launcher is handled incorrectly by mobilization forces which are helping the government seem to underscore questions regarding how well trained these men are. still, no matter how competent they are at warfare the intensity of this struggle would leave most fighters warn out. these days arox government faces a convergence of crisis, one on the battlefield, the other in the court of public opinion.

as tens of thousands of fed up iraqis continue demonstrating against corruption and demanding a return of basic services including electricity and air conditioning. while they have been quick for sweeping reform measures they say it's not near enough and protesters vowed to keep coming in the streets no matter how hot it gets and no matter how long it takes. many say it's actions and not words that ultimately count. >> translator: it seems like the reform list and the decrees and the ratification of these proposals by the government is like ink on paper. protesters are waiting for implementation and if nothing is done it will develop into citizens. >> reporter: he is not just promising to cut corruption, he insists he will also improve

security by court marshalling officers who abandon posts in ramadi when i.s.i.l. stormed the city in april but it's not clear yet what effect that may have on these weary fighters and a weary public. al jazeera, baghdad. all parties in yemen civil war have displayed a disregard for civilian lives according to the human rights group amnesty international and released a new report which accused the saudi-led coalition leaving a trail of destruction which may lead to war crimes and 4,000 people have been killed in yemen and civilians and houthi rebels and armed groups retained the attacks into densely populated residential areas and saudi-led coalition strikes hit civilian areas where there is no military target nearby and we heard from amnesty who is a yemen researcher there and she explains more about the apparent

war crimes which may have been committed. >> all sides of the conflict have not respected the humanitarian law and on the ground they are launching attacks like houthi rebels attacking civilian areas and you can see the fighters are operating out of civilian areas and this is in thai and aiden and north of aiden and these attacks could amount to war crimes because the problem with the air strikes is they don't seem to differentiate between civilian object and military object. it's not quite clear what were the objectives of targeting things such as mosques, schools and markets. for example, we visited one school where 60 families off eo people were living and trying to escape the village and the very school they were escaping and

targeted by a saudi-led coalition air strike, no military objective as far as we can see near the school and not clear why it was targeted. >> a political and security analyst based in saudi arabia and laura kyle spoke to him and asked him firstly to his reaction to the amnesty report. >> well, of course, we are all saddened about this amnesty report and i agree this measurements need to be stepped up and we need to protect or they need to work on protecting more civilians and this is unacceptable. saudi arabia and the left coalition, they are not in the business of killing innocent people. i think the houthis who are to blame and who are liable for all these children and women deaths. >> okay you say the saudi-led coalition are killing innocent women and children, however, they are amnesty's question there put to you, why is this coalition targeting with air strikes mosques, schools,

marketplaces where there obviously are civilians? >> well, this is no stranger. saudi arabia did not invent that or saudi arabia is not in the business of actually going into there and bombing innocent people and saudi arabia and the coalition the accuracy is much bigger and better than the american british led coalition on iraq in 2003. >> that is not enough clearly. >> well, there is no war that is accurate enough when you have the houthis actually hiding women and children and minor people and weapons in a mosque or in a school or starting putting all the 50 millimeters weapons on top of the roof of a mosque. >> there were no obvious military targets at any of the sites, were they mistakes to bomb and target these sites? >> i think in everywhere there is a mistake but the mistake in this case is very minimal. the major thing is that you need to understand that the houthis

they are very good in hiding their weapons, their military putting some weapons on the roof and starting shooting on the planes of the coalition. of course when you get attacked by ground. >> 141 civilians, i wouldn't say that is minimal. >> well, the saudi coalition they did not kill 141 civilians. >> that's what amnesty says in its report. >> well, amnesty needs to spend more time on the ground. >> i think they were on the ground when the strikes were happening. >> they cannot make the assessments sitting in the united kingdom and the amnesty should have actually made the same reports they are accusing the saudi-led coalition by being and killing the innocent women and children they need to look at more regions in the world. >> okay but we are not here and this interview is three minutes and we are talking about saudi and we are talking about yemen. would you welcome united nations international commission of inquiry if you admit these are simply mistakes in the thought

of war? >> saudi arabia and the coalition they are welcoming the united nations and are part of this and work on the approval and with the international community. there is no doubt that saudi arabia would work with the united nation, work would with the amnesty to define approve the houthis are the people responsible for killing those innocence people, it's not saudi arabia and the coalition party. and this is one like saudi arabia and the coalition party by the amnesty. >> indonesia found the black box and recovered all bodies of the plane that crashed on sunday. it was carrying 54 people including five crew when it went down ten minutes before landing in the remote settlement and bodies are found to be transported by helicopter because of the remoteness of the site and bad weather hampered recovery efforts as well. the first solar powered airport has been launched in southern ionia and as we report it produces so much electricity it

is even feeding the national grid. >> reporter: the airport is known for its temple architecture and the fourth largest port in terms of international traffic. but ask anyone about the latest environmental breakthrough using solar energy and this is the reaction you will get. >> you are serious? wow. >> very surprised. and i'm very happy for the indian people. >> reporter: even the man behind the idea was unaware of what he was doing was unique. >> we thought why not we go for the green part so the whole idea came in and worked out and we consume about 48,000 of units a day so why not we produce almost equal to that. >> reporter: the project is six months to set up and cost $10

million. the airport expects to recoup all costs within five years. next to the airport in an area for a proposed cargo terminal there are more than 46,000 solar panels. the 12 mega watts will provide 50,000 units a day to cover all the airport's electricity needs. >> the foot prints will start and it's very good. so this is to be practiced in almost all places. >> reporter: the solar panels are expected to last for 25 years and during that time will cut 300,000 metric tons of carbon emissions and that is the equivalent of planting 3 million trees and falls in line with the government target to increase solar polar by 2022 and india relies on coal and the third largest polluter so in the next decade the government will

invest $100 billion in the solar sector. the government is hailing this as a model for the rest of the country. and has already directed other airports to start incorporating solar energy into their daily operations. al jazeera. very different transport and vladimir putin is living up to his action man reputation taking a submarine to the bottom of the sea to look at a shipwreck, widely publicized event and the visit to crimea which they annexed from ukraine last year, plenty ahead on the al jazeera news hour, for the first time in two decades they gave permission for oil drilling in the arctic three thousand meters below the ocean floor. i'm joe on the greek island, coming up, live in just a moment preferential treatment for syrian refugees aboard a giant

passenger ferry is causing problems with other nationalitys living on shore. in sport a setback for college athletes to be paid in the united states, that and plenty more to come. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ get excited for the 1989 world tour with exclusive behind the scenes footage, all of taylor swift's music videos, interviews, and more. xfinity is the destination for all things taylor swift.

>> i've been asked to keep my voice down cause we are so close to the isil position >> who is in charge, and are they going to be held to accout? >> but know we're following the research team into the fire >> they're learning how to practice democracy... >> ...just seen tear gas being thrown... >> ...glad sombody care about us man... >> several human workers were kidnapped... >> this is what's left of the hospital >> is a crime that's under reported... >> what do you think... >> we're making history right now... >> al jazeera america >> i think we're into something that's bigger than us >> that's the pain your mother feels when you disrespect her son... >> me being here is defying all odds >> they were patriots, they wanted their country back >> from the best filmmakers of our time, the new home for original documentaries al jazeera america presents only on al jazeera america

joining us on the news hour and welcome to al jazeera america and these are the stories thailand is looking for a suspect shown on security footage minutes before a bomb went off in central bangkok, 20 people are known to have died in monday's explosion at a popular religious shrine. turkish prime minister failed to form a new government meaning new elections are likely and said he exhausted all options to form a coalition after elections in june. amnesty international condemning all sides fighting in yemen saying they have shown a wanted disregard for civilians and in a report the human rights group said war crimes have been committed. the european union has pledged financial assistance to greece as the country struggles to cope

with a massive influx of migrants and hundreds from countries including syria and afghanistan have been making the short sea journey from turkey to kos and we are live there and john is our correspondent joining us from there, what are the conditions like for people arriving there on kos? >> reporter: well, we did have johna live but we will look at the report which he filed a short time ago. if this is a promised land then for many it's proving to be a false one. everyday they come, sometimes in their hundreds refugees and those seeking work crossing the placid waters from turkey, that is the town in the distance and everyday they wait for paperwork that allows them to stay or move on to other parts of europe.

>> there are many people, iraqis here, and iran is here but there is little procedure. >> reporter: other people have been waiting much longer? >> much longer. >> reporter: how is this? >> 23. >> reporter: 23 days and nobody has helped you in that time? >> i want to go in germany. >> reporter: and why, what do you think you will find in germany? >> because i think my future is there. >> we have here some survival kits, some baby kits. >> reporter: you feel the local authorities are in control? >> basically they are tired. you can't control something that is 100 people and this is 1,000. >> reporter: in other words no, not really. >> it's tough for them. >> reporter: things have been worse in resent days a government chartered passenger

ferry is in town providing temporary accommodation, sanitation and documentation to 2 1/2 thousand people, they are exclusively syrians on board who having fled their country's civil war are given priority here and certainly the ferry's presence has eased the crisis for weeks but other nationalitys not allowed on board like these people living on a beach in the center of town very little has changed. a group of africans from cameroon, nigeria and congo say they are being discriminated against. >> we are hungry and we are tired, we made a lot of complaint and almost everyday here and most of them have complaints and that is horrible. >> reporter: you think that is specifically because you are africans? >> they might say but what i see, they are given a petition and complaint, you yourself should know it's because we are africans. >> reporter: on the greek shore they may be safe from the

hardships they fled but here floating on a holiday lay low they are far from secure. johnna with the report. 200 u.s. soldiers sent to help firefighters battling wildfires in seven western states and the fires burned more than 400,000 hectors of land in the stayed of idaho a woman died trying to leave her home and houses have been destroyed. obesity and malnutrition and the phenomenon of the food desert, an area without easy access to fresh fruit and vegetables and it's becoming increasingly common in the united states, this is the third part of the series and andy gallagher has a report on people who are planting seeds however for a healthy future. >> reporter: for people gardening is a passion and get your hands dirty and watching the seeds you sew grow and

mature but in the mississippi delta this kind of garden is a vital lifeline. >> that is a family but that is lemon. >> reporter: dorothy used to be a nurse but when she realized that fresh food was in short supply she founded a community garden and it's a career change she doesn't regret. >> i'm preventing someone the long run going to the hospital and i'm still doing healthcare on this end and i was reluctant to do it but as i see families are coming and receiving and i get those comments from families i know at that point that is what i'm doing is not in vain. >> reporter: many of the delta schools too strive to being made to give the state's children healthier meals. mississippi has some of the highest rates of obesity and diabetes in the u.s. but there is hope that schemes like this farm to school program will help change that. >> we could do more with availability of funds but we do do a lot with what we do have

and i'm very proud of that. i'm very proud of the success of our program here in mississippi. >> reporter: and it's not just the delta's younger generation that are learning about the benefits of a better diet. she tends a small garden everyday and says her efforts are about more than just health. >> i can actually plant a seed and watch it grow from a sprout to actually being something i can eat and i can save money for that i don't have to buy that product from the store, i can focus on something else as far as insurance and medicine and other things like that. >> reporter: the mississippi delta is one of the u.s.' poorest regions and food desert are defines where places to healthy produce is different to find and commonplace but progress is being made. in addition to teaching the local community how to grow their own fresh food and showing them firsthand the eventual plan for this community garden is to turn this land into a farmer's

market to be held twice a week. when they have done it in the past the fresh food is sold out in minutes. this region has long been neglected and challenges remain. but through the efforts of a dedicated few the future now looks a little healthier, andy gallagher, al jazeera, in the mississippi delta. i want to take you back to an earlier story now and that is about the world's first airport to be powered entirely by solar power, there it is, the international airport in india and it has the distinction of becoming entirely powered by that massive solar panels and we will talk to the secretary of the u renewable power association here and this is great and i know this is a small airport by comparison of other places in india but to start this off and to say that one whole airport is powered and it's a pretty good start. >> hello, yes, hello. >> can you hear me?

>> yeah, yeah, i can hear you. it's quite interesting as we are from the industry and we are much encouraged and motivated on this but as you know all the while it was going very slow but then it's a huge project as far as scale is concerned, one to be desperate and the industry partners are trying to enhance us in the future. >> are other cities looking at coaching and thinking we could employ this technology as well for our airports? >> yeah, such as very modern location and very much required all the time, continuously and the airport has gone and spending so much money with the conference and depending on renewable energy and other airports people will be following the same thing. we understand that in one of the

other airport which is coming and they are also planning to go ahead with solar power. >> tell me more about who and how this was funded because as i understand it it's a ppp project, public, private, participation. that is quite important, isn't it? >> international airport, in fact, with the ppp plan and it's a private public partnership program and a model for other airports as well. and other airports, they are also with the same model and many people also will start this program also not only in the airport but other places also. >> this airport actually feeds into the grid as well, isn't it, so it's not just helping the airport, is it going to have a marked impact on the city as well? >> yeah.

this is because now the airport and the connection is here and the total expansion is happening in other places also. you can now understand and it has been expanded as a single city with the attention of the international airport. >> good to talk to you, thank you for your time today. and we move from renewable energies to oil and the u.s. government has given shell the final permit to drill for oil in the arctic ocean, the first time permission has been granted in more than two decades and shell will be free to drill in the oil-bearing rock at 3,000 meters below the ocean floor, that would be the first time since 1991 that has been allowed, a controversial move because environmental groups say it will harm polar bears but they have

rich reserves and the u.s. says there are 26 billion barrels of accessible oil there. i spoke to tyson slocon director of the program of the project public citizen and he says what should happen is the development of alternative fuels. >> the obama administration's approval of this drilling permit is why at the same time that the administration has touted the importance of addressing climate change and the ability of the u.s. economy to produce more renewable energy and energy efficiency, why are we undertaking this incredibly risky oil exploration project up in the arctic? and it has to be viewed through the lens of the 2010 bp deep water horizon spill in the gulf of mexico and of course it has to be looked through the lens of shell's problems of getting this

exploratory well together over the last several years, they have been be set set by a number of challenges all related to the technical and engineering challenges associated with arctic exploration. >> so when you bring in an issue like deep water horizon is that the risk you're talking about something could happen and there won't be enough oversight and won't be able to get to the place to do something about it, that sort of thing? >> correct, any time you have a blowout at the bottom of the ocean particularly in the arctic environment there are a lot of unique challenges. the approval by the obama administration is contingent on the arrival of an ice breaker that has capping equipment designed to contain an under sea blowout in the arctic, but the fact of the matter is we don't really understand if this has been fully tested in a real life environment in the arctic. there is only one other active oil producing well in the arctic

that is by the russians. there is a number of other exploratory wells by the norwegians and this one here but the fact is that there are a lot of variables that can go wrong in a tough climate like the arctic and if something goes wrong there this is a very sensitive habitat that could have even greater risk of danger than what we saw in the gulf of mexico. >> okay, there is another thing i'm thinking of if we put the economics hat on for a moment, it's not like the oil comes online tomorrow but we have a situation with a glut of oil in the environment and shale oil is big in the united states and pushed the oil price down because there is so much over supply and go back to the first question they go drilling for more oil. >> right, well i think some of that was explained in march of this year when rex the ceo of exxon mobile who chairs an advisory committee to the u.s. department of energy released a

report saying that on shore fracking in the united states is going to peak in about a decade because of well depletion rates and need to explore in the arctic because it will take a decade for wells like what shell is drilling for to come on and that is what they are thinking. but the issue here is that a big investment in arctic oil development comes with enormous risk, it's expensive and huge environmental risks and shouldn't we be focusing in the next decade of alternative fuels and the transportation sector and these are the types of investments that are more sustainable and i think better economically in the long run. the u.s. government is changing its tactics in the fight against drug addiction and fatal heroin overdoses in the

united states almost quadrupled in the past decade and now instead of being prosecuted they will get help to overcome their dangerous habit, this is from tom ackerman. >> reporter: no where in the u.s. is the drug more problem than the state of massachusetts. >> opioid abuse is stealing the livelihood of our children, our siblings, our parents, relatives and friends one person at a time. >> reporter: this year on average more than two people a day have died there from apparent heroin overdoses. in the fishing port of gloster people call it a plague. >> since 7th grade i started like smoking weed, drinking all the time and next thing i know by like 10th grade i'm doing heroin. >> reporter: state officials are giving top priority to the problem but after years of filling prisons with addicts they are shifting to a different approach. >> we are not going to arrest or incarcerate our way out of this. this is a disease. this is a public health crisis

and we must treat it and address it as such. >> reporter: the police chief has taken the most radical step promising an addict who turns in drugs for immediate treatment and no punishment. >> we do not believe in hiding it and the more we reduce the sigma the more we get people involved the less problem we will have. >> reporter: in three months more than 100 people in the small town have taken on the offer and massachusetts is one of 25 states which authorized emergency first responders to prevent addict death by administering norcan to reverse the effects of heroin this minutes. >> it's completely benign and a medicine and the only function it has is to reverse narcotic overdose. >> reporter: an addict can walk in a pharmacy and get it whether or not they have insurance coverage. the police department promises to pay for it with money seized from drug dealers.

such local initiatives are being encouraged by the obama administration but so far washington has been slow to back them up with money. >> the administration wants more money. congress is saying we are going to live within some caps and so if we don't get this resolved we are going to see more people die and more people struggling with addiction and more people getting hepatitis c. >> reporter: america has a way to go before admitting the drug problem is of demand, not supply, tom ackerman, al jazeera, washington. sport news ahead on the news hour, a major league baseballer is struck out but not quite and the rest of the sport in a moment. ♪

♪ hello again, ethiopia has had great success in resent years in dropping child mortality rates and increasing the number of school enrollers and charles stratford has this from would you believe a circus train that is working to build a brighter future for the city's children. >> reporter: these children come from poor families and a few have even lived on the streets. they come to the circus training center here everyday. blooming flower is a charity that runs it. it relies on private donations and also has helped by an italian ngo and 7-year-old shows no fear as a trainer lifts him high above his head. he is here with his sister who

is practicing her balancing skills. >> translator: i love to come here she says. i want to be good at the circus. >> reporter: organizers say the activities and training gives the children self-esteem and keeps them off the streets. >> they have self confidence and we also create an artistic background. they don't only come here to do activities, they also come here to have fun, to learn more, to bring out their hidden talents. >> reporter: they take us to their home. they live with their mom in a corrugated iron shack behind an old building. >> translator: life is difficult but my kids are good at the circus and hope they have a good future and encourage them to try their hardest and they usually listen to me. >> reporter: they are lucky they don't have to be on the streets. there are thousands of children

across here like these. this is a typically poor neighborhood and translated to wasted tears. ethiopia made impressive gains economically in resent years but it remains one of the poorest countries in the world. it's believed around 30% of the population live in poverty and that has a massive impact on the younger generation when around 50% of the population are under the age of 18. government health programs have succeeded and dramatically decreasing mortality rates and school is 90% according to the latest u.n. figures but there is a long way to go. it's hoped the children who come to learn and play here will like millions of others across ethiopia get the opportunities they deserve. charles stratford, al jazeera. we are here with sport.

>> thank you very much and the international federation is gathering in beijing where they will elect a new president in around 12 hours time. the election comes at a critical time for the organization which has faced accusations of doping in athletics over the past 15 years and it also comes on the eve of the world championships set to take place in beijing from saturday. there are just two men in contention to replace the president, the first is britain 58-year-old won two olympic gold metals for his country in distance running in the 1980s and he served as a member of the uk parliament before becoming chairman of london's organizing committee for the london 2012 olympic games. and he also is a vice president of the iaaf and is the chairman of the sports marketing company. his rival is a 51-year-old

representing the soviet union in pole vote in 1991 when he then competed for ukraine and broke the world record 35 times and won olympic gold in seoul in 1988 and has been president of ukraine's national olympic committee since 2005 and has also served as vice president of the iaaf since 2007. major league baseballer suffered a fracture to the face after being struck by a ball during a match, new york yankees brian mitchell delivered a pitch in the match against the minnesota twins but it came to the right of his skull. the ball was traveling at 156 kilometers an hour. when it hit mitchell was helped off the field and received treatment for nasal fracture at a nearby hospital. it's said such incident this season. college sport in the united

states brings in millions of dollars but rules stipulate that the athletes are not allowed to earn a cent, the ruling which would potentially change that has now been overturned. the national labor relations board has dismissed the plan that would allow northwestern university players to form a union. diane estabrook reports from chicago. northwestern football players says joining the players association or capa would give them more bargaining power over scholarships and medical benefits but mlrb said doing so would not promote stability in labor relations, response to the board's decision was swift, capa president said this is not a loss but it is a loss of time, it delays players securing the leverage they need to protect themselves from traumatic brain injury, sports related medical expenses and other gaps in protections. former northwestern quarterback

who led the fight to unionize tweet eed disappointed by the ruling but cannot deny the positive changes that were brought about by athletes standing up, proud of those guys. north west earn said it was pleased with the decision stating we applaud our players for bringing national attention to these important issues but we believe strongly that unionization and collective bargaining are not the appropriate method to address the concerns raised by student athletes. the players petition for union representation in january of last year. but the university argued that scholarship players are not employees and therefore could not organize. but a regional nlrb director said they were employees and gave the go ahead for election in the spring. players cast ballots but the votes were locked away for more than a year pending a review by the full board. although they denied the

wildcats petition it did not determine whether the scholarship athletes are employees and sports attorneys hamm says a larger group may have better luck organizing. >> from a logical standpoint it would be more like all football players in a conference or maybe all football players at division one ncaa level, now there is a lot of legal reasons why some of that could get messy. some states have labor laws that would get in the way of that and so on. >> reporter: hamm says the players have scored a victory by shine agree light on what he considers rigid ncaa rules. in a statement the association said this ruling allows us to continue to make progress for the college athlete without risking the instability to college sports that the nlrb recognized might occur under the labor petition. diane esterbrook, chicago.

millions of prize money as they book their spot in the u.s. champion lead and three time european manchester united is hosting and reached the quarter finals last season and intimated by the more fancy rivals. >> everybody has predictions but of course their chances are bigger than ours. but it's sports. and in sport i think maybe england is the country where you will see a lot of the biggest advantage. >> reporter: going to the champion league has lucrative opportunity for the teams involved and prize money is 33% this season. this means that the award for reaching the group stages is 13.1 million dollars. plus an additional $2.2 million for winning and any further

progression in the tournament t attracts greater prize money and millions that comes from ticket sales and merchandise and sponsorship. tennis star has been accused of giving up or tanking in his first round match at the cincinnati masters. the world 16 was beaten in straight sets by yanukovich in the second set and serving so quickly ball boys didn't have time to get into position and they described the performance like exhibition tennis and says he had a tee time booked to play golf. that is it for me. >> thank you for that. that is it for us and our team in doha, after the break, however, plenty more world news for you from our news center in london, lauren taylor will be with you with another full bulletin of news right here on al jazeera.

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>> bangkok bombing. thai police believes this is the person that set off explosion is killing 22. hello i'm laurent. lauren taylor. coming up. new elections are lookin looking increasingly likely in turkey. with the new president unable about to pull together a coalition plus. >> how difficult it is for a dibl