this is al jazeera. from al jazeera's headquarters in doha, this is the newshour, and coming up: jails again. a court in egypt sentences al jazeera journalists to three years in prison in a retrial widely condemned as a farce. >> the fact is that this is the a wrong. this is unjust. this is unethical. this isimmoral. >> the fight to free al jazeera's staff will continue. the network describe's today's

verd irked as an attack on press freedom. also, thousands rally until malaysia's capitol demanding the prime minister resign. >> the u.n. chief calls on governments to do more to help the thousands of refugees slowing in to europe. hello. we begin the newshour in egypt where a judge has sentenced three al jazeera journalists to three years in jail. a cairo court issued the guilty verdict just a few hours ago. the retrail of canad an mohammed sami actind peter greste has dragged on since march. there have been regular delays. it has been heavily criticized by the international community. this is some of what the judge

said a little earlier. >> the court is the sure that the defendants are not journalists and not in the journalist sinned indicate broadcasting without permits. they have made falsified videos after being edited and aired on al jazeera and they aired the videos on al jazeera channel that isn't allowed to work inside egypt. >> al jazeera's acting director has given this statement t reads: today's verdict is yet another deliberate attack on press freedom. it's a dark day for the egyptian judiciary. rather than defend liberties and a free and fair media, they have compromised their independence for political reasons. alongside demanding the release of our colleagues, al jazeera calls on everyone to continue the fight for freedom of speech for the right of people to be informed and for the right of journalists around the world to be able to do their job.

we will not rest until bahar, peter and the six al jazeera staff sentenced in abstentia are freedom acquitted from the trumped-up charges against them. al jazeera journalist peter greste was released earlier this year. he was deported to australia. he was sentenced in abstentia and he joins us now from sydney. it's been some two hours now. how are you feeling following this announcement verdict? >> stilt upset, angry, worried about what my colleagues are going through. i know the prisons they are going to have to go back to. i know the conditions that they will have to face. i also know the families, and i know what they are going to be going through. it makes me sick to my stomach to understand and know the suffering that they are going to have to go through and

particularly because they are innocent men. we did nothing to -- we did nothing of the sort along the lines that we are accused. we broke no laws. we did nothing unethical or illegal or immoral so it's just incomprehensible to see how the court could come to this conclusion. >> peter, just go through what this practically means to you now, being found guilty. what does this mean to you and your life. >> for me, this means i carry al criminal record as a convicted terrorist and i wouldn't be able to travel to any country that has an extradition countagreemed that would put an end for me

>> he made things verdict based upon politically motivated reasons. there is no other way of interpreting this. >> before we explore that point, very quickly peter, you mentioned your other colleagues that will be facing a much tougher time seeing out these sentences. what is it like in that egyptian prison? ? >> well, i am not exactly sure where they are going to be heading back to. various prisons have different conditions. some of the prisons are incredibly cramped, and there are a couple of cells i was in,

police cells, and they probably won't be going back to those but there were 16 people in one cell natural space that was about 8 foot square. it's absolutely -- it's terrifyingly crowded. there are other prisons where prisoners are held in solitary confinement in rat-infested floors with very little food but very basic water. it is really difficult. the conditions are really, really tough. particularly now at the height of summer, where some of the conditions are terribly overcrowded. it's awful. it's horrific. i really -- i can't con seem -- i can't imagine what they are going to be feeling when they go back there. >> sounds horrendous peter. very quickly, you mentioned that you would be discussing with your lawyer what's going to happen next. what's the likelihood? just playing out a scenario that you do appeal, that that entire process will then last longer than the balance, the duration of what is left on your

sentence? has the lawyer discussed that with you? >> no. we haven't talked this those kind of details. my colleagues have the opportunity to appeal to the appeals court. i don't want have that opportunity now. because i am in absentia. because i am not in egypt, i won't be able to appeal. that was the case for the other al jazeera journalists convicted in the first trial. the only option open to me is a presidential pardon. what we will be saying to the president is the that the world's eyes have been on egypt throughout this whole trial because it's become emblem attic of egypt's judicial system. people are watching us to see just how much respect the courts pay to the principles of the rule of law. this judgment is clearly political, and it is not based upon evidence, and we will be

asking the president to set this wrong right. and i have also been speaking to the australian foreign minister who has also said she will be doing everything in her power to pursue every legal and diplomatic means available to them to also support our case to have this verdict overturned. we are also going to be asking for the public to continue to support us, to support the free aj staff campaign. remember, this isn't just about what the three of us are going through. this is about the rule of law, and it's also about freedom of speech. we need to keep fighting this, using every possible means we have got available to united states. >> peter, i know this whole trial has been very kafquesque. the judge mentioned part of the reason gave you this sentence was that you were not members of the egyptian press syndicate. do you have any idea what he was referring to there?

>> the definition in egypt of a journalist is someone who is registered with the syndicate. but we are not egyptians. we don't work for egyptian news organizations. i was only in egypt for a couple of weeks, for three weeks and on a short assignment. you know, i am a journalist. anyone who -- it's hard to imagine anyone who is more of a journalist. i have spent my entire life, my entire professional career of more than 30 years working as a journalist. i've got a massive body of work, as has fahmi and bahar behind us to prove that we are journalists. the issue of not registering with the authorities is as far as i am concerned a technicality. it's an administrative offense if it's an offense at all. we weren't aware of any requirement to register with the egyptian -- with the ministry. sorry. not with the mim industry. with the journalist union. in fact, we have seen a statement from the journalist union also confirming that it's

not necessary to register with them to be declared or defined as a journalist. in any event, that is not the kind of offense that could possibly, conceivably carry a prison sentence, let alone one as serious as this. i just really don't understand why he's chosen to sicite that part of his reasoning. >> peter greste speaking to us live from sydney. let's talk to mark ellis, the executive director of the international bar association in london. thank you for joining us. we were just listening to peter greste there. i don't know if you caught one of the last points he made, not being a member of the press syndicate does not warrant the sentence handed down to them. what legal avenues do these three men now have? >> they will be limited to, i think, free or from a legal perspective, too.

one, there can be an appeal. peter had mentioned that. >> would go back to the court of kasation, the highest appeals court, the same court that returned the initial verdict and in essence, said the trial had to be re-done. in this case, though, the court can under the egyptian court of a procedural law can make a determination of its own. you wouldn't necessarily have to see a retrial. the second and this was mentioned by peter, is a pardon or at least a mitigation of the sentence by the president, and that is allowed undescript's constitution. so those are the two, i think, legal avenues now open after this verdict, and then the other would be the international pressure including potential economic sanctions if this

injustice is not -- is not resolved. those would be the three approaches. >> from your standpoint, which would you be hedging your bets on? which would you be putting all of your effort into the if you were part of those three men's legal teams? >> i would approach two. i would immediately appeal back to the court of kasation. remember, this court did see the injustice of the original verdict. so, it did recognize that there were really deficiencies in the first -- the first court's decision. so, i think that they are inclined to see that there are problems. so i would first appeal immediately and, second, i would move very quickly on a pardon by the president. the president has, i think, in the past, indicated a willingness on this but wanted the legal process to be completed, which one can say it has not been completed. the president could make that

decision on pardon. i think that would be the move to make. that would be the r50i9 decision because simply there is not evidence to support this most recent verdict. >> mr. ellis, what did you think when you heard what sentence had been handed down? what was your reaction? >> well, i have to say i was surprised, and i was surprised because we know from the first case, from the first verdict, that there was simply no evidence there. i think every independent organization including my own, the international bar association, indicated that this was really politically motivated, selective prosecution and an attempt to quiet the press. and so when the court of kasation also recognized these legal deficiencies and sent this indicates back to be retried by a different court, i felt that there -- that nothing had changed.

the evidence was not there. so, it would have been completely out of the realm to suggest that these three individuals were guilty of the crimes that they are alleged to have committed. so this is unfortunate because this recent verdict suggests that yet again, we are talking about a politically motivated process because if the evidence is not there, that's the only thing one can conclude. that the suggests selective prosecution. that's not a good thing at all for egypt. >> mark ellis in london, thank you very much for that. now, there has been a lot of reaction to that verdict on social media politically motivated seems to be what we have been that.

>> egypt conspicbus by his absence, i would say strength down here in australia as well where peter greste is from. you saw him in sydney before and in the united states, i would say welcome to our viewers on al jazeera america who are joining us at 6 be:00 in the morning on the east coast. it's trending on the west coast where it's still 3:00 in the morning. that's fantastic. thank you for that support. a few more stats to quickly show you here over on the dashboard, lots of numbers there. but i think we can visualize things here with that map. it shows that you free aj staff is a worldwide phenomenon. as we move further down, we see the strength. i am giving you a two-month snapshot to show you how it builds. see the hash tag that has its

strength, the moments. >> that's when the last time we thought there would be a augu , august -- a verdict, august 2nd. now, so much tweeting about it now. this is where i want to show you just to bear with me, a bit of an explanation here, a the blue line is showing number of tweets. the yellow line is showing the impressions. impressions is what we mean when how many times a free aj staff tweet appears on someone's timeline or in their searches. you see again august 2nd and this is good because there were fewer tweets but a lot of reach. here it's sky roblthd. 6,000 tweets with a reach of about -- let me double-check. 60 million. my numbers there. an impression reach of 60 million. it's big. it is trending as well. if you go to the twitter home page, you will see it trending on social media. i want to run you through a few tweets. this was posted in from outside the court. >> that's marwaface fatmi, only recently married, crying in tears outside the court and the

quote is, my life is destroyed. mohammed's life is destroyed as well. a cartoon sent in to me by someone here in doha who has depicted the president of egypt as the pharoah and the al jazeera character saying let me people go. some good news to bring you here from a group called liberty victoria, a civil rights group newspaper australia here, we get a shot of that, a cartoon they have drawn of the three guys told me they will present the voltaire award on 12-september. they made that decision before today. that's great. they were wanting to support the team as well. lots more to tell you about. i am going to be back later in the day to tell you. what i want you to do in the meantime is this. this is brett mason, an internal national correspondent from sbs. tweeting pictures and see it down there, the free aj staff, and one which he showed us earlier, which he posted previously with tape over his mouth. can you do that for us, please?

tweet pictures of yourself holding up the free aj staff logo with the sign. we want to get it back out there as much as possible and make it as visual as possible as well. if you want to tweet me, get your stuff on air and get it out there an easy way to do it i am at kamalaje. send your pictures, cartoons as you have seen before and follow@al jazeera as well, the statements from the al jazeera media network on this gaugedict in cairo today. back later. >> thank you very much. we have got plenty more to come here on al jazeera's news hour including trapped on the front line. we are in the town surrounded by isil, a battle against the armed group continues. also, recalling the might of katrina, george w. bush revisits knowles 10 years after the hurricane overwhelmed the city and his presidency.

>> and in the sport, gunning for more gold at the chips. we will have the details in your sport. police in tie land have arrested a man they say was likely involved in the bomb attack in central bonchek earlier this month -- bangkok at a popular relimingous shrines. dozens were injured. police have been looking for a suspect seen on security footage leaving a bag at the scene moments before the explosion detonated. scott heidler joins me now on the line from bangkok. scott, what can you tell us? >> we know that the police aren't confirming if the gentleman they have arrested is that same person that's been a key suspect closed in the --

captured in the closed circuit television footage. foreigner. they arrested him in an apartment on the outskirts of bangkok and in that arrest, they also seized bomb making materials. and it took place on saturday here in bangkok. one thing that was interesting that came out on local media while they did this, while they were briefing the media, police held up a picture of what appeared to be a bag of ball bearings. now, this is something that was used in that bomb that killed 20 people 12 days ago. if these are definitely connected, we don't know that, but obviously, this is the first break for the police in this case because there really hasn't been mistaken many major developments. they had people brought in for questioning but no major developments in the 12 days since this bombing took place. this is the first arrest and this is the most likely what we are hearing is potentially the persons they have this arrest warrant out for and a reward to bring him in and we will

probably -- that will probably be revealed over the coming hours, days because they have to sift through this material and talk to this suspect that they had arrested in this bombing 12 days ago. >> scott leave it there for now. thank you for the update. the man has been arrested in relation to that bombing in bangkok. thousands of malaysians are protesting calling for prime minister to step down. they want electoral reform and more transparency in politics. karishma, how is it going there at the moment? what are they demanding? and what's the reaction like? >> reporter: crowds are dispersing. organizers say they will reconvene here in a few hours.

at the central point, independence square overnight. they plan to be here until the evening of sunday. now, independent analysts have told me that at its height, there were more than 200,000 people who had gathered here to protest. we have not been able to verify that, ourselves, but at the moment, things are quiet. all day, it has been a very peaceful rally, almost festive but the demands of the protesters have been serious. they are looking for clean governorance. they are looking for a clean electoral system. they want to strengthen their parliamentary democracy and the government to focus on the economy as well as allow them to express their dissent when they feel it's necessary. what all of this boils down to is dissatisfaction with the country's prime minister, and

that's no surprise because over the last few months, he's been accused of embezzling almost $700 million from a state investment fund. he has denied any wrongdoing. he said that this money has come from donors, from the middle east, however, from the shear numbers of people that have turned out today, it is clear that many are very dissatisfied with his government. >> karishma, we are days away now from independence day. what's the likely outcome of this two-day protest? >> reporter: protesters over and over again that i have spoken toe say that they want the prime minister to step down. in fact, in speeches made by organizers over the last fewer hours, they have called on parliament to passionalt a vote of know confidence. now, analysts believe this is unlikely. they believe he is not likely to step down.

but it's this kind of public groundswell of public dissatisfaction against him is likely to affect his popularity two years ahead of the next election. >> okay. karishma, thank you very much for that. thank you. ban ki-moon has announced plans of a special meeting on the migration crisis sweeping europe. he's also calling on governments to do more to help people arrive okay their shores. >> i have been to the mediterranean and seen how difficult it is. i command those leaders and communities who have stepped up -- i commend those communities who have stepped up but much more is required. i appeal to all governments to expand saves channels of nd saves channels of

migration. >> 19t the 1967 protocol how to protect the rights of refugees. 148 countries have signed up to the convention. the 1951 convention was limited to protecting european refugees in the aftermath of world war ii but the 1967 protocol expanded its scope as displacement spread around the world. the cornerstone of the 1951 convention is the principle that refugees shouldn't be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or their freedoms. now, other rights for refugees

include the right to work, the right to housing, and other social benefits and, of course, the right to an education. refugees also have obligations, according to the convention. they are required to abide by the laws of the country of asylum and respect measures taken for the maintenance of public order. alexandra, a senior emergency coordinator for the unhci macedonia. she joins us live via skype. en massedonia, what's the situation like where you are? >> hello. yeah. it's very hot today again. it's about 34, 35 degrees here, but we have around 250 refugees currently here there was a train just departing about an hour ago with some 520 refugees and since yesterday, we have seen a steady

flow. so we have figures to indicate that from 6:00 p.m. yesterday until now, over 2,900 people passed. >> you said a steady flow. are they flowing through the country or are they actually staying? are some staying in macedonia, itself? >> reporter: so based on the statistics of the ministry of interior, almost 57,000 have been registered declaring their intention to apply for asylum. those 49 have actually applied for asylum. >> okay. and very, very quickly, what's your thoughts on this idea that there are legal obligations set through -- set in to those conventions? do you think that countries are doing enough, or should more be done? maybe something be done if countries are not obliging and not meeting those requirements, those legal requirements?

>> so what the country here has done and what we welcome very much is to open -- reopen the borders again. you can see it here now, the situation is very calm, very organized. registration is ongoing electronically at the moment. we will switch the ministry of interior will do the switch to electronic registration and we will be able to provide a basic humanitarian here on the reception center side which is about 600 meters from the border. we have police deployed, army deployed, and currently the government in order to set up better conditions in order to receive the refugees here. >> okay. alexand alexandra, thank you very much for that. thank you. tropical storm erica is blamed for at least 20 deaths on the island of dominica is the

beginning to weaken. heavy rains have caused severe flooding. they have triggered mudslides and destroyed roads. the prime minister says the storm has set the island back 20 years. okay. let's get the latest joined by rob mckelly. what is erica up to. >> one of the most difficult tropical storms to forecast t doesn't appear to have any particular drift of direction. let's look at the satellite picture. you can see it doesn't represent a well-formed storm. it's oblong rather than round. it's got no real eye but when it went across dominica, it stayed south of hispanola. in six hours, 525, that amount, that wasn't it. over to the east, on the pointe, 848 millimeters.

now, this amount of rain causes real damage. then it was going to be a windy storm. it was going to be a wet one. to the forecast where it's currently to say winds aren't the worry, 65 kilometers f it drifts westward and goes across cuba, it will probably fall apart, might regenerate on its way up to florida. it might stay south of the island, across jamation a and head towards the yukat a. n. the favored route takes it across cuba. it will produce a huge amount of rain on cuba, itself. if it does take that route, it's going towards florida. >>, in itself, is something of a problem. florida has been, as you know, covered in thunderstorms for the last month. a large part of the western side really where it would get wet is already water-logged if not worse. it's not a good prospect. >> 0, dear. okay, rob. thank you very much. stay with us here on the news hour because still to come, there is something rotten in b lebanon as the sea front becomes am dumping ground for political

paralysis. jordan spieth's reign comes to an end after 13 days. we will tell you why shortly. ♪

the government of canada continues to call on the egyptian government to use all tools at its disposal to resolve mr. fahmy's case and allow his immediate return to canada. natasha gname has more on what happened in court today. >> reporter: it was a heartbreaking day in court. justice denied yet again as they heard the word "guilty." they along with their colleague, peter greste who was deported earlier this year were sentenced to more prison time. fahmy and greste, three years and mohammed, three and a half years for allegedly aiding the now-banned muslim brotherhood. >> it's outrageous. it's just devastating for me. i mean i know my heart is with

bahar and th bahar and fahmy. >> ae-pauled at today's verdict. they were arrested on false charges. they have been convicted without a sled of evidence. they were imprisoned over a year, and now, they are going back to prison. it's disgraceful. >> fahmy's attorney says their strategy now is to seek an immediate deportation back to canada, something he has been attempting to do for months. even relinquished citizenship but mohammed has no such option. and the conviction will make it difficult for greste to continue working as a foreign correspondent. >> for us to be convicted as terrorists on no evidence at all is frankly outrageous.

it can only have been a political -- for political reasons. >> their legal fight continues, but greste said they need the global community to continue fighting with them by promoting the free aj staff campaign. natasha gname, al jazeera. >> let's speak to amnesty international there. joining us from london and thank you for joining us here on al jazeera. what was your reaction to that verdict this morning? >> personally, i felt like i had been punched in the gut. this is a mock reof justice. it sounds the death knell for freedom of expression in egypt. we have reviewed the case. there is not a scrap of evidence against these men. the only crime seems to be that they are journalists and they were doing their job as journalists. mohammed and baha are prisoners of conscious. we are going to be do everything in our power to release them.

>> were you really expecting egypt to give any other verdict than this? >> the truth is, the pattern we have seen from egyptian courts is that they jail people including journalists, peaceful protesters, human rights activists simply for doing their jobs, for peacefully expressing human rights. so the truth is, no. it seemed very likely these two men would go back to prison, but the truth is, we had hoped that the tremendous international pressure brought on the egyptian authorities would result in their release. >> you said you will work tirelessly for their release. what exactly does that mean? what will you be doing? >> did means thousands of supporters, tens of thousands of supporters around the globe will send appeals, writing to their governments and, of course, we'll be meeting with governments as well to bring attention to the forefront of the international community. but the truth is, it's also

important to remember that this case is just the tip of the iceberg. there were over 20 other journalists detained in egypt today. they include, for example, photo journalist shokhan detained without charge or trial until processing cutors sentence him to trial earlier this month. this case is important not just because of these three men because because it represents the total crackdown we are see okay free expression in egypt today. >> you mentioned other journalists there and egypt has plenty of journalists in their -- in their prisons. what help do they get? because as i understand it, some of them don't even have dates for trials. what access to help do they have? >> some of them have languished without charge or trial, like shelkhan for or over two years. others when sentenced in what seemed to be mass trials. 1 journalist was even sentenced to death. this is part of a total crackdown we are seeing in egypt now. anyone who questions the

authorities is at risk, and it's very clear that the authorities see journalists almost like spies. i mean look at the counter terrorism legislation they passed just a couple of weeks ago. it imposes heavy fines on journalists who report anything other than the official narrative. >> okay. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> now, more than a month after it began, a military offensive against isil in iraq's western anbar province is showing few signs of progress. the group still controls much of the territory and hundreds of thousands of civilians have been displaced. many have taken refuge in a front line town near bad dag as zeina khodr now reports. >> reporter: one of a few towns in an bar province where the state has a presence, a al falluja. the roads beyond this checkpoint lead to isil-controlled areas in north, west, and central iraq. this is the only lifeline for those cut off from the rest of

the world, but only a few make it out. >> i managed to escape but my family is still there. they don't allow people to leave. they tell the people that they should die alongside them. sometimes, they tell you if you want to leave, you have to leave your women and children behind. >> some 300,000 people fled when isil captured the capital of an bar in may. as fighting intensefies between is ill and human forces, the human crisis is worsening. >>. >> there is fighting and the airplanes are striking. instead of advancing, the army had to pull back. we had to drive in the desert to reach here. >> reporter: . >> reporter: many of these people have relatives they left behind. hundreds of thousands are believed to be in isil controlled towns. while isi may have some support, the majority of trapped. >> translator: we are hostages.

isil uses them as human shields. some are paying $500 per person to leave. others have to prove they are sick and need help. >> the mayor of this town is busy helping those who region alface fallujuah but he has to keep it safe. isil positions less thank a kilometer away. >> an bar has many front lines. one is here. isil has been trying to capture this area. but so far, the iraqi army and volunteer fighters from the town have prevented the armed group from advancing. >> much of the rest of the province, including the main roads and the border with syria is in isil's hands. it has been using suicide bo bombings, roadside bombs and bobby traps making it difficult for the army to break the defense. the main concern is to protect the iraqi capitol, baghdad, a few kilometers away. zeina khodr. >> the saudi-led coalition has

led more strikes. there are reports howe howe targets have been hit but rebels say the strikes are killing yemeni civilians. aid groups estimate 4,000 people very many died in the conflict since march. >> in syria, fighting between pro-government forces and rebels has resumed in a number of key locations after a cease-fire ended. the 48-hour truce was in the rebel-held town of zebedoni and the government held villages of alfua and kafraya. at a time facilities restored after overnight talks on a broader deal and the evacuation of civilians broke down. activists in lebanon are calling for more anti-government protests in beirut later on saturday. they began more than a month ago when rubbish started pile up on the streets following the closure of the capitol's mainland phil site. and as jamal now reports, there

is no lasting solution to the crisis. >> at a glance, it would appear that lebanon's rubbish crisis has been solved at least in the upper class neighborhood where the rubbish scapes are now empty. but a few moments drive away, you have to hold your nose. rubbish piled on street corners. after weeks of anti-government protests, authorities appear to be trying to resolve the problem or at least make it go away. waste has been taken off of the streets but the question many have been asking is: where to? since the mainland fill is closed. >> take a look at this. meter after meter, rubbish as far as the eye can see. the capitol's waste is being dumped by the sea next to beirut's port. one of the arab world's most famous sea fronts, a symbol of romance is now being lined with rubbish. beirut is surrounded by mountains and greenery from

mount lebanon to mount herman, the nature here is breathtaking. but that, too, is under threat. >> we are on top of one of the dozens of mountains that are scattered around beirut, lebanon's natural habitat is one of the things that attracts so many tourists each year. i will put this mask on now, and the reason why i have to do this is because of this scene in front of me. the smell is disgusting. piles of rubbish that authorities have been dumping here for several weeks now. it's important to note that just a couple of days ago, the amount of rubbish here was maybe three or four times as much. locals tell us some of it was burned. oerpz, they claim it was dumped into the sea, but the amount that is still here is huge, and this scene is replicated across several other mountains around bay receipt, and that's what's putting

risk. >> the environmental damage that could be caused could very well be irreversible, al jazeera, beirut. >> former u.s. president george w. bush says it's time to celebrate the resurgence of schools in new orleans. mr. bush was in the state of louisiana to mark the 10-year

anniversary of hurricane katrina. the former president was widely blamed for his slow response to the disaster and as andy gallacher reports, the process of rebuilding is far from over. >> with hurricane katrina hit new orleans a decade ago, it was too much for the city's aging levee system. catastrophic failures of flood walls and levees led to the resurgence of almost the entire city. 10 years later, though, new orleans has invested $40,000,000,000 in new pumping stations and higher flood walls. the system is supposed to offer 100 years of protection and it's a project many are proud of. >> it's been done here it gives, affords us a greater protection than we have ever had before. before, what we had was a system in name only, even in the core zone words. am i happy with it? absolutely happy with it. >> outside the relative safety of the high-tech levee system in

new orleans, it's a different story. fred overhart grew up in the wetlands and said it's a unique landscape that's changing fast. >> that low point right there was a ditch you couldn't fit this boat in. all that was land. >> was all land back there. all they had was one little ditch that 1 through here, run through that pass over there. this is all going. it's destroyed. >> land loss is a critical issue in louisiana. the state is home to almost half the nation's wetlands. he range of motion is being blamed on oil exploration, storms and bad management. it could have more deadly consequences. >> billions of dollars are already being spent here on coastal restoration projects but they can barely keep up with the pace of land loss. >> that's significant for new orleans because these barrier islands act as a buffer to storms and if they go, it leaves new orleans exposed. >> family like the sareens have been working these waters for generations but feel like their

way of life is under threat. john and his father have lost 200 acres and say this may just be the start. >> a lot of land, yeah. it will eventually be awhile, years, you know, but it will go. there is nothing to stop it. >> new orleans now has a state of the affirmative levee system that should prevent katrina like flooding in future. what's happening beyond these walls could be the biggest threat in years to come. andy gallagher, new orleans, louisiana. >> stay with us here onaj. sport is up next and the head of world athletics anti-doping department fights back. >> when you do these, you expose, catch cheaters like we are doing and the conclusion of it saying your sport is dirty. dirty.

>> my life revolves around my kids becoming champions. >> i guess i just got tired of losing and then something just snapped. >> you know... concussions, fractured skulls. this is a scary situation. >> find out what happens when the gloves come off. >> go all out, make this a war. >> the highs and lows of kids' competitive sports. >> you can't go home wondering 'did i give it everything'.

the ant doping manager for athlet e world governing body said he was shocked at the accusations that they had covered up test results. earlier this month, the british and german media alleged more than 800 athletes had recorded

suspicious blood tests. thomas captavell has been speaking to al jazeera in beijing. >> i am shocked that they even exist, these allegations, these accusations because they both are groundless and unfair. groundless because we did everything we could at the time to apprehend the cheaters and catch the cheaters. we didn't turn a blind eye. we didn't shy away from our responsibility. we did blood tests when no one was doing blood tests. we did it and now we have been accused of having, i think, sitting on our ends in this period, and we, i think we vigorously defended ourself. we have and we still do it. we have opened our files to the world agency, which is instig gating and different commissions have been put in place. we welcome them, opening the file and prove them that we did

everything we could at the time based upon the resources we have and based upon the applicable regulatory framework. >> do you find that from continent to continuenent, there is a different reason for why people dope? >> we are a universal sport. >> means we have to deal with 200 countries. every country has a different education message given depending upon the situation in the country. so every time we educate, you don't he had indicate each the same because the situation is completely different culturally, and that's a challenge for us, is being able to have, as we said before, a tailor-made doping testing program. you have to have a tailor made education program. >> fighting doping is perhaps more difficult for you as a sport whereas a support like soccer, we very rarely hear about doping issues in that. does that i you? >> does he hathat irk you?

>> these come from the blood testing back 10 years ago i ? there was a handful of organizations. those should be inrest gated now. those who were not doing blood testing at the time, not those doing blood testing at the time. and in the communication in the media, you can't win. when you do things, you are exposed, you catch cheaters like we are doing and then the conclusion of it is saying your sport is dirt. >> american golfer jordan spieth's reign as world number 1 has come to an end under two weeks. the current u.s. open masters champion missed after shooting a second-round 74. it means rory mcilroy will regain the new spot when the new rankings are released on monday. the northern irishman isn't even playing. for the barclay's, itself, his

playing partner, bubba watson followed his first round score of 65 with a 68 to be 7 under at the harm stage. a group of four players on one shot. . >> i have reached that peak already. i know it's going to be close enough to where if i get the job done next week, i will be back nothing in that ranking. >> ranking, it's great once you reach it, but it's not something that i am going to live or die on each week. it doesn't really make much of a difference. >> ball in barcelona or in action on saturday. they take on the new camp. they won 1-nil last week. namar is said to play his first game of the season after missing barca's opener, 29 goals last season in which he helped his

club win >> in the opening match. their new coach expects the return of striker to make a big difference. >> he has the quality. he can dribble. he can play a 1-2. he can run in to space. he can do everything and everything very well. we have to give him consistency. he has to work towards that. we will try to help him. i have set him that goal. he has agreed to score between 20 to 25 goals. >> investigating the treatment of the doctor stripped of first team duties.

jose morino wasn't happy she rushed on to the pitch when chelsea had 10 men. fifa will debate whether new rules real needed over medical staff. >> crystal pass as, looking for a second league win. manchester city will be looking to make it four wins out of four. they face newly promoted watford. >> to play against watford, same to play against chelsea or manchester united. i think all of them are team of the premier leagues. you know here if you play with a little less intensity or not enough concern, everything with kin the game. >> the final grand slam of the tennis season, the u.s. open gets underways on monday. one player looking good before she travels to ing meadows. am cheer high 6th in the world.

she is in the final in the connecticut open. she beat 6-2, 7-6 on friday. >> saparova will face kapiridivo. the two-time wimbledon winner winning winning a straight set, 7-5, 6-1. >> there is much more sport on our website. for the latest, check out aljazeera.com/sport and we've got blogs and video clips from our correspondent did around the world. >> that's all of your sport for now. back to you. >> thank you very much for that. stay with us. coming up on al jazeera, we will be getting international reaction to those verdicts that were handed down in egypt earlier from mohammed fahmy, peter greste and baha mohammed. stay tuned.

a court in egypt sentences al jazeera journalists to three years in prison in a retrial widely condemned as a farce. ♪ hello. live in doha. thousands >> something rotten in lebanon. the famed sea front becomes a dumping ground for political paralysis. also, can something as simple as