>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello, i'm marry ann and this is the news hour live from london and coming up, in the next 60 minutes protesters demand release of their transitional president following a military coup in burkina faso, frontier and croatia threatens to close the border as 7,000 cross from serbia. and punishment accused of stone

throwing and a teenager on house arrest for that. and i have the sport including aday away from the start of the rugby world cup and look to the opening game as host england take on fiji. ♪ at least two people have been killed in street clashes in burkina faso capital and violence broke out after an officer of the presidential guard said he carried out a coup. the presidents are to travel to burkina faso on friday to mediate on behalf of the regional block echoers and jamal has more. >> reporter: gunfire in burkina faso's capitol, moments after military leader appeared on television confirming a coup had taken place. >> translator: dear patriots and democrats and people of

burkina faso we are removing the transitional government, this will allow us to put in place a just and equal system. >> reporter: almost immediately afterward of the coup spread on wednesday people marched to the presidential palace and burkina faso's intern leaders were this a meeting when a presidential guard came in and detained them. the guard which was formed by former president blaze has been publically at odds with the country's transitional leaders in resent months. on monday a truth and reconciliation commission released the reports accused it of opening fire on unarmed protesters during last year's protests and demonstrations forced long-term president out of office last october. and at the time many said they didn't want military leaders and it would seem that that antimilitary sentiment is still apparent today. >> translator: it's the national guard, they started the whole thing. we don't like that.

if they continue like this we will go out against them. we will ruin everything. ruin evening. >> reporter: witnesses say military vehicles used to attack protesters who took to the streets opposed to the coup. >> translator: people started to come out, in front of us we saw a military vehicle that drove directly into the people and started shooting, killing people. >> reporter: elections were planned for next month which the former president and many of his allies were ban from contesting. but the military take over could very well change that and putting burkina faso into further chaos. land locked burkina faso suffered from reoccurring droughts and several military coups and although it has significant reserves of gold it's the main stay for people here. in resent years the west african regional block echo imposed sanctions on countries that witness coups and guinea face similar situations. people here are now bracing themselves for more instability as burkina faso faces an

uncertain future. jamal, al jazeera. croatia says it will close its border with serbia if another 7 or 8,000 refugees cross over in a single day. earlier crowds of refugees pushed through police lines in the eastern croatia town with people trampling and falling on each other amid the chaos. croatia police say more than 7,000 refugees entered the country in just the last 24 hours. they were forced to change their route to western europe after being turned away at the hungarian border with serbia. u.n. described the treatment of refugees as xenophobic and after pepper spray and tear gas used to stop them from entering the territory and we report from the serbia town bordering croatia. >> reporter: all day the buses came and offloaded the weary dozens at a time picking up their few belongings it was then

on foot yet again, 37 degrees in the late summer heat yet they went through the fields toward the european union. >> no problem for refugees. >> you can walk into croatia. >> reporter: most said they were syrian and not much talking just grim determination and quick feet. so the violence and contempt which the hungarian shows them which is joined up thinking between the formally bitter enemies between serbia and croatia, the routes at least for the time being through here and into the european union is open. the question of course is whether croatia will start shutting the doors as well. indeed the serbia were on the buses with macedonia and capitol belgrade and hungarian and thousands had crossed the border

an unremarkable spot marked by a couple of rocks but it was the european union and whole families passed by and some didn't know which country they were in. >> do you know where you are right now? >> i don't know. >> no? >> this is croatia and inside the european union, yeah? >> okay. >> yeah? >> reporter: croatia having said it would let everyone in and through suddenly appeared wrong footed by the numbers and having got this far the refugees were again frustrated at having to wait. the riot police here didn't have the same aggression of those on the border with hungry but all the same this looks very much like yet another flash point in the making. >> doesn't allow through the village. he told us to stay here, the bus is coming but the bus is coming and the train will not be coming. >> reporter: think back to the standoff at the rail station this budapest and again at

hungry southern border and now this held yet again by law enforcement at croatia's southern edge, apart from the humanitarian implications this is the european union at its most symbolic. lawrence lee, al jazeera with the refugees on the serbia/croatia border. >> reporter: refugees in croatia is starting to take a toll and these are the latest pictures on the border with serbia and refugees waiting hours to board a train to continue their journey towards the eu and people pushed and shoved to board the train and climbing through windows to make sure they could get a spot and the government said it will close the crossing if another 8,000 people enter in one day. well after syrians afghans are the largest group among those seeking sanctuary in counties and europe, more than 40,000 refugees from afghanistan applied for asylum in the eu last year second to syrians and globally more than 2.6 afghan refugees are living in exile

outside the country. and afghanistan's refugee crisis is the world's most protracted, it has been going on since 1979 when the soviet invasion started four decades of civil war. well a little earlier i spoke with the u.n. special representative for afghanistan nicholas and began by asking him what is behind the latest exodus from the country. >> clearly the sudden up surge reflects a level of dispondancy and particularly young ones about the future. i think as you correctly pointed out afghans have both fresh memories of a horrid and resent past but also an opaque future. there is a degree of uncertainty as to what the future holds. today i was briefing the security council, trying to argue to -- for member states and the international community to retain their levels of

support for afghanistan as it faces a very difficult moment in its history, arguing that investment now in afghanistan would do something to resolve the uncertainties that many of those who are part of that refugee exodus feel about the future. i want to bring you more now on the coup that has taken place in burkina faso and joining me on the phone is the photo journalist sophie garcia and what can you tell us about the situation there right now? >> reporter: well, the situation is touchy. today the soldiers from the rfp saw about terrorizing the country with weapons. from yesterday they started bitter rising all the local media, shutting all the radio station and television station.

yesterday night i worked with a team of private television bf 1, bfr and their office are close to the presidential palace and i can tell you that i seen this soldier and then they came inside the office, making threats to all the team from the t.v. station to make them cut the broadcast. and then we spoke to the journalist from the t.v. station and today all i can say is that the main hospital there were a lot of wounded people. a lot of wounded people. people say that today they were like six dead people officially, maybe more, and about 51 wounded people. i can say i met people and he

was wounded and he told me that a soldier oppressed him very violently and this soldier was agressing the people in the streets and young people trying to resist because yesterday residents trying to organize all the young people trying to make and try to block all the streets and they made barricades. and we all know there is a big storm with heavy rain so everybody left the streets. that is maybe tomorrow, the situation might change, we don't know but all i can tell is the soldier from rsp are acting like terrorist and shooting everywhere and they are shooting sometimes from the car driving.

they don't even stop and they shoot like not trying to, i'm sorry, they shoot from their car sometimes and they are shooting from the car on the streets and they shoot when they were just outside their house and not even demonstrating and they were just sitting in front of their house. >> all right, sophie, very worrying, uncertain, dangerous situation there in the capitol and say there has been a crack down on journalist and not a great deal of information getting out to people but we understand borders have been closed and a curfuw in place and because of the weather they are not on the streets and military and what more can you tell us about the freedom of movement, are people out and about, do the protesters plan on returning to the streets in some way?

>> reporter: i'm sorry i did not hear you well. >> what can you tell me about the freedom of movement in wagadgu right now, are there many people on the streets? >> freedom of movement, the thing is right now it's hard because of the big storm but with no storm i can tell you a lot of young people didn't want to respect what i mean not young but what they said this morning to say that it would be forbidden to be in the streets after 7:00 p.m., but people don't want to respect this. i can tell you that people say they won't respect the curfew so i cannot tell how much people

are going to not respect this curfew but people won't respect it. and there is another thing to know. chairman of the national transitional council of the national assembly appealed to the coup and he said he was taking the reigns of transition as the president and the prime minister are taking off stage. >> thank you very much, sophie garcia photo journalist in the capitol of burkina faso and clearly volatile situation at the moment and two people have been killed in street clashes and appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. as the war rages on in syria the u.n. special envoy to the country arrived in damascus and staffan de mistura is meeting officials to discuss proposals for peace in the country, around a quarter of a million people

died since the war broke out in 2011. syria foreign minister says the government is considering military assistance from russia in the conflict and insisted there are currently no russian combat troops in the ground inside syria. >> translator: there is a big difference between a russian military involvement on the ground and providing military aid, expertise and training when it comes to the weapons that we are provided to us by the russian federation. i'll say this until now no joint fighting with russian troops but felt the need and will consider the issue and request that from the russians. >> reporter: meanwhile in iraq i.s.i.l. has claimed responsibility for suicide attacks in the capitol baghdad which have killed at least 23 people. there were two explosions in the commercial district with a third in the nearby place and both areas are mainly shia neighborhoods and hospitals say a total of 68 people were

wounded in the attacks. now yemen's cabinet has held its first meeting inside the country since march. prime minister returned to aiden on wednesday from saudi arabia and he and the president abd rabbuh mansur hadi left yemen a year ago when houthi rebels took over the capitol sanaa and the government will focus on taking back territory from the houthis. >> translator: the message of peace still stands and peace is the foundation. in the up coming negotiations must first and foremost restore the state in a very real way. only after that can we move towards a political process. we must reclaim the state first. we cannot talk about political negotiations when the state has been stolen. there is much more still to come for you on the al jazeera news hour, we have reaction from the u.s. after the release of a man held at guantanamo bay for 14 years without charge. the u.s. federal reserve once again an increase in rates is

not happening and we will have the sports including the toronto blue jays flying high once again. >> that ball is launched and gone and russell martin hits a home run. ♪ now, south sudan declare three days of warning after 176 people were killed in an oil tanker explosion and happened in the state where a truck had veered off the road and thought people were trying to siphon-petrol when a lit cigarette detonated the explosion and we have more from duba. >> reporter: not a state that is affected by conflict but there has been some unrest there recently and some is political and as with the rest of the country a lot of that is economic and one of the symptoms of the failing economy in south sudan is acute fuel shortage and possible in the county, in

western ecuador state they were desperate for petrol and when the truck overturned in the ditch people were more than likely trying to siphon for personal use and when the explosion happened and when there was enormous loss of life. german police shot down a man after he attacked a female officer with a knife. he has been named as a 41-year-old iraqi man and show him in court in 2008 as he was convicted in jail for belonging to a terrorist group and attempted murder of the prime minister on the way to berlin in 2004. he had been freed on bail an ordered to wear electronic tag which he removed before thursday's attack. now tensions are high at the mosque compound in jerusalem ahead of friday prays and access of men above the age of 40 with extra security being deployed and a nearby station was set on fire after israeli police reported that stones were thrown

at the palestinian bus driver who has israeli citizen and no reports of any injuries. meanwhile israel's prime minute benjamin netanyahu wants tougher punishment for palestinians accused of throwing stones and firebombs and increased tensions in occupied east jerusalem as stephanie decker now reports. >> reporter: it's home but these days it feels like a prison cell, israeli forces have put 14-year-old under house arrest after accusing him of throwing stones in a protest in occupied east jerusalem and his life has been turned up side down. >> translator: now i got to sleep at 4:00 a.m. and walk up at 2:00 p.m., i have breakfast at 3:00 and everything changed in my life. >> reporter: it's been a month and he has five more to go until his trial. he has been denied his right to go to school and while we interview him his mother starts to cry. she asked why such harsh proc d

procedures have been applied to a child and taken to the compound detention center in west jerusalem after arrested and kept 15 days before being transferred to a prison and family says he was interrogated without a family and shackled and slapped and questioned whether he threw stones or not and can receive up to ten year prison sentence and with tensions in the past last week benjamin netanyahu wants to push through more harsh measures. >> translator: the present situation is unacceptable and intend to give soldiers and police officers the tools necessary to act very firmly against those who throw stones and firebombs. we are also going to adopt changes in the rules of engagement and for minimum sentence of those who throw stones and firebombs. >> reporter: israeli human rights lawyer who has been defending palestinians for decades. >> they tried to find some

momentary solutions to impose more punishments, to impose more pressure. believing somehow the whole population both in jerusalem and occupied territories they will settle down and they will accept the occupation and they will agree to be occupied, to be denied et cetera. >> reporter: back at the house his friends play football downstairs but can't join him and ask him what stone throwing symbolizes for the palestinian youth. >> translator: we have nothing to fight with, that is why the stone is a weapon. >> reporter: his mother says she is trying to stay strong but she dreads the pending trial and her son who loves to ride his bike and play football could end up in prison stephanie decker west jerusalem. gm will pay for faculty ignition switches tied to deaths of 124 people, in some cases it

cause cars to stall and disarm the airbag and did not tell regulators about the flaw and u.s. attorney handling the case said they paid victims far in access of what a court might have ordered. >> we are not done and it remains possible we will charge a individun individual but the doesn't always let us do what we wish we could do to satisfy a natural inclination on the part of people who are harmed by some bad conduct for accountability. suspended after corruption and involved in the selling of world cup tickets above face value which he denies. he has been released from his duties and will be investigated by the fifa ethics community and has been plagued with a series of corruption scandals this year. now the slow down in the global economy has seen the u.s. federal reserve once again postpone increase in interest

rates. federal reserve chair yellen says while it improved and unchanged rates should see more people in work and kris tin has more. unemployment is at the lowest rate in years in the united states but don't tell that to these people waiting to attend a job fair in bronx, new york and she lost her job as a guidance counselor two years ago. >> i believe unemployment is really high and there are people who really do want to work and it's very difficult. i don't know if people are hiring who they know and but it's hard. >> reporter: unemployment for african/americans is back to prerecession levels. but still more than 4% above the national average. and with most job growth in the service industry many of those who are working aren't working as many hours or making as much money as they need to survive. >> i mean when i approach a job it's terrible. i can't live off of that so that is why i chose to wait and

search and search until i could find something to support me and my family. >> reporter: on the face of it the u.s. labor market is industrial and unemployment at 5.1%, europe's rate is twice as high and putting pressure to raise interest rates which have been near zero since 2008 but some economists remain worried. recent turmoil in the global markets related to china's economic slow down could mean more bad news for the u.s. economy. >> we need to normalize rates in case there is a recession and now we had rates so low, so long we find ourselves in a tough situation. >> reporter: some say raising rates too soon will hurt low-income americans who are already struggling. >> we think it's premature because an increase in rates inevitably hits labor hiring and increase in labor participation. and for the communities we serve particularly african/americans and latinos and immigrants this is not a great time.

>> reporter: well job fairs like this offer some hope for those looking for work the central bank is betting delaying an interest rate hike will mean a stronger recovery for everyone, kristen with al jazeera, new york. for more on the u.s. economy and federal reserve outlook for it i'm joined from new york by robin wiggles worth editor at the financial times and thanks for speaking with us, after a nearly of decade of rock bottom rates there was anticipation we would see a raise in interest rates today. why didn't it happen? >> well, you have different factors, you have push and pull factors and clearly as your report stated the unemployment rate is very low even though it isn't as low as we would like for everybody. but on the other hand you have an extremely subdued inflation picture and doesn't look like inflation is coming through anyway. when you have those two factors people thought the fed would unbalance and get interest rates

of zero and with china slowing down and interruptured interruptions. >> are they concerned about the recovery abroad than at home? >> clearly there are economic problems at home and there is a recovery even though it's not as strong as we like and the last time the fed raised rates the developing is not as big and now it's half the global economy and china is as big as the u.s. and if china starts having problems and that is something the u.s. has to take into account as well. >> timing is always key with this. is there a clear strategy in place for raising interest rates and is the federal reserve communicating it effectively enough because that is really significant in terms of stemming that uncertainty that comes into the market every so often? >> that is a very good question. right now the buzz word has been data dependent that the fed will

wait for the data to be good enough for it to raise rates of zero and lots of people muddling the conversation and what does it mean? clearly people were not expecting a rate hike here but thought we were getting closer but the fed is implying they won't raise rates until december, perhaps until next year and there is a question whether that uncertainty over interest rates is almost as damaging as an actual interest rate increase would be. >> the longer the fed delays raising rates, will they have to go even higher when it eventually does happen? are people concerned about that? >> that is the worry and this is something that the fed and janet yellen herself has mentioned as a concern if they wait too long then inflation pressures might start building up maybe next year or the year after that and have to hike that much more aggressively to catch up. right now they cannot see

inflation clearly. they think they should air on the side of keeping rates low. but the danger of course is if they keep rates low for very long inflation pressures are not building, this is a super tanker and takes a long time to turn around and if they wait they might have to do something quite drastic. >> all right thanks very much, really good to get your thoughts on this robin joining us live from new york. there is much more still to come for you on the al jazeera news hour, we will tell you about the powerful quake that forced a million people from their homes in chile. bodies on the line, the block of controversial bill which will overturn decades of policy in japan. and final semi final spots in the europe basket semi finals have been snapped up and tell you who has made it through. ♪

>> business man bill browder. >> if my grandfather was the biggest communist in america, i'm gonna go become the biggest capitalist in eastern europe. >> from communist origins to capitalist tycoon. see why he's now set on taking down vladimir putin. >> the russian government remains determined to ruin me in any way they can, including killing me if they can get away with it. ♪ welcome back, you are watching al jazeera news hour and let's go to the top stories we are covering, chaotic scenes on the

croatia border with serbia as thousands try to scramble on trains to get to eastern europe and they will close if similar numbers try to cross again. returned to aiden from saudi arabia to hold the cabinet's first meeting inside the country since march. at least six people have been killed in street clashes in burkina faso capitol after an officer from the presidential guard said he carried out a coup and dissolved the country's temporary parliament. u.n. security council is due to talk about the situation in burkina faso soon and our diplomatic editor james base is at the u.n. and joins me now, james a coup appears to have taken place in this country and a week before the elections are to be held, what can we expect for this meeting with the u.n.? >> we had very strong statements coming out of washington d.c. out of the state department and here from the united nations,

people i think are shocked by the fact this country which was going to have elections to start perhaps a new beginning that is all being for now any way derailed by this coup. the u.n. security council put out a statement condemning in the strongest possible terms what has happened and ban ki-moon the u.n. secretary-general said he was outraged by the detention of the interim president and the interim prime minister. what they will be trying to get in the security council is a clear picture of what is going on on the ground in the country and particularly in the capitol. mohamed who is the u.n. man in west africa certainly would believe is still in wagadogo and giving information to the u.n. and to the u.n. political chief jeffrey feltman who will be briefing in the ambassadors of the security council and they have to discuss what to do about all this and there are very limited options. and he can try and do diplomacy on the ground but i think most

of the efforts are likely now to be placed on the regional organization for that part of africa echo-was and sending a high level delegation, the president of sinagal in the coming hours and i think that will be the center of the diplomatic efforts at this stage, mary ann. >> james base at the u.n. where a security meeting is set to take place on the situation on burkina faso. moving out of the democratic republic of congo and appears to be in the middle of a crisis and the vice president resigned, seven senior figures kicked out of ruling coalition will form their own party and harry reports from the capitol. >> reporter: charles resides from the ruling coalition. >> translator: yes. >> reporter: he is no longer the first vice president of the national assembly. he is one of seven senior politicians who say they can't work with president joseph

kabula and forming their own party to stop him from staying in party when his term ends and say others from them in a circle plan to join them. >> translator: the majority there are other people who are feeling like us and we know the best moments shall come and join us and we will build a big coalition to fight this dictator which is now coming in congo. >> reporter: on the streets people hope there will be no violence and says the presidential election is delayed keeping him in power for longer. government officials have not said if the president wants to do that and the country has no money to hold elections and opposition says he is trying to hang on to power. the constitution says he can't run for a third term. the u.n. has urged him to respect that. >> we are walking in the east to bring peace by naturalizing and

i don't think it's time to create another policy in the west. >> reporter: supporters say he is a popular president. >> what is happening now, the rebuilding and the stem of the rest of drc, you know, this country has been destroyed for a long time but now there is a renaissance of drc and rebuilding of drc and for that people love too much the president. >> reporter: some worry delay for the presidential election could take years. people know if that happens the peace they had for more than a decade could end. harry with al jazeera. now, guantanamo bay prisoner sent home after 14 years behind bars and he was captured in 2001 as he fled afghanistan with

another al-qaeda fighter and turned over to the united states and held at the base in cuba since may 2002 and has never been charged. live now to al jazeera's roslyn jordan who is in washington d.c. for us and what do we know about this morocco detainee who has now been sent home? >> reporter: he was a self described freedom fighter recruited in the late 1990s according to defense department documents and ended up in afghanistan. he really was trying to get to chesnia and told interrogators but things basically fell apart after the u.s. started the war in october of 2001. he was picked up, he was taken to guantanamo in may 2002 and as you said mary ann he was never charged and finally cleared for release in 2009 but because of various restrictions imposed by congress he wasn't transferred right away. finally the obama administration launched its new review of all

of the guantanamo detainees and received a unanimous clearance and of course the legal process to get him to morocco has become a bit controversial according to his lawyers with the organization reprieve because he was apparently moved from guantanamo back to morocco his home land without his lawyers being told, normally they are notified and then they would have an opportunity to try to meet with him either before the hand over or to meet him once he gets to his new destination and are complaining in this case they were not told by the united states government and that they are being stone walled by the moroccans and want to make certain his rights are still being accommodated even though he is now technically a free man. >> all the efforts to eventually close guantanamo bay why has it been a long, drawn out process?

>> basically a long, drawn out process because this has been a big political fight between a president who ran on trying to close guantanamo back in 2008 and a congress both republican and democratic members who have been opposed to it on national security grounds. they have put in many restrictions including one holding the defense secretary personally responsible any time that any of these detainees are released. you will recall that during the presidency of george w. bush a number of men held at guantanamo and they returned to the battlefield and so members of congress want a personal assurance that this won't happen again. even though many of the lawyers who represent the detainees say that they were simply picked up because there was money to be had by turning over men to the u.s. military, they are still having to deal with this legal hurdle and this is the 7th person who has been repatriated

since ash carter has been defense secretary and concern of defense lawyers he may not be releasing people as quickly as possible, again, because of the political scrutiny coming from capitol hill. >> roslyn jordan in washington d.c. thank you. now opposition law makers in the japanese parliament failed to stop a key step in a law change to permit the forces to fight abroad for the first time since world war ii. in chaotic scene they approved the law change despite opposition lawmakers tempting to physically block them. thousands of people in japan protested the law revision and say it violates the constitution. chile declared a state of emergency after at least eight people were killed in a powerful 8.3 magnitude earthquake struck off its coast. it struck off shore near the city almost 300 kilometers north of the capitol santiago and a million people have been evacuated and the death toll is thought to have risen now to

ten. daniel has the latest. >> reporter: chile has had several powerful earthquakes in resent years but they still come as a surprise, they are still shocking and often devastating. this quake struck early evening local time, the epicenter deep under the sea 230 kilometers northwest of the capitol santiago and felt on buenos aires on the other side of the continent. >> translator: this is one of the most powerful earthquakes in chile's history, the strongest earthquake this year and among the strongest in the world. but despite this with the information that we have the response has been good and was also something essential and that was the cooperation of the people because to evacuate 670,000 people and to do it with speed and without major difficulties implies that they are responding to the

authorities. >> followed by several power aftershocks and a million people were then evacuated as warnings by waves and tsunami that followed. >> translator: i lost everything, everything, what can i say? i lost it all, i don't have a shop, i lost my house that was near the beach. i can't even talk. >> translator: people here are prepared. it was too strong, two or three minutes after they started to evacuate and i live up on the high part, there is no damage there, it's all here in the center. >> reporter: it was along chile's northern coast and cleanup operation is underway again, chilly was hit by a powerful earthquake in 2010 that killed 500 people and caused extensive damage. there was another last year. the country has taken substantial precautionary measures but no one has ever

fully prepared when earthquakes of this magnitude strike. daniel with al jazeera. forest fires that broke out in the hills around the ecuador capitol have now spread into the city forcing people from their homes. the government has asked neighboring countries to help put out the fires and reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to arrest of arsonists thought to be behind more than 100 forest fires. now mexico has launched the world's biggest distribution of tvs and 10 million sets given to poor families to switch them from analog signals and some criticized the government saying there is an ulterior motive behind the hand out and we report from mexico city. >> reporter: unexpected gift for her and her grand daughter, clutching the new televisions the government has just given them for free. >> translator: i'm really happy because they never give you

anything. but this time they have. >> reporter: ten million digital t.v.s being given to poor families as part of mexico switch and costing over a million dollars and explain why it's worth it. >> translator: there will be more and better quality channels and the t.v.s use less electricity and there is going to be a saving of energy nationwide. >> reporter: mexicans enrolled in government benefit programs are eligible for the t.v.s and this snakes around the block. more than 4,000 televisions are going to be handed out just on the day of our visit and similar scenes are being played out across the country. but despite the general atmosphere here critics of the plan said behind it the government has a hidden agenda. all mexican parties are guilty of dishing out food and gifts for votes but the governing preparty is especially

notorious. >> translator: the pri party used to hand out food hampers for votes, now it modernized itself and in the digital era it hands out televisions for votes. >> reporter: more than 50 countries that have gone digital mexico is the only one to hand out new t.v.s rather than cheaper decoders, much of the handout also coincided with the run up to the country's mid term elections. marta along with others we spoke to said she felt no pressure to support the government in exchange for her gift. the only thing on her mind was turning on her new t.v. john holman with al jazeera, mexico city. still to come for you on the al jazeera news hour, from spotnik one to space suits and capsules and an exhibition charts russia's incredible achievements in space. also. i'm lee welding of the home of england rugby where one of the biggest sporting events the

rubgy world cup is about to get underway. ♪

♪ welcome back with al jazeera, time now for your sport. >> thank you very much, mary ann and just a day away from the start of the 8th edition of the rugby world cup and host england will take on figi on friday as lee weldings reports. >> reporter: the rugby players welcome the court palace nearly

200 years after an english school boy picked up an futbol ran with it and invented a sport. one of 20 teams who will be running with the oval ball as it returned to england for the 8th world cup and popularity is still growing. >> we are now looking at something like over 2.3 million tickets sold and it's going to be the biggest world cup ever and looking at half a million people coming from overseas and anticipated audience is about four billion and a big objective is a celebration of rugby and to show it and be the showcase around the world for rugby. >> and ticket prices at the 13 venues in english and whales suggest this is still a sport for the rich with fans unhappy about average prices of over 150 per ticket. >> it's silly money and for the rich and fans can come to events like this and with the ticket and good pricing and will watch

the game. >> reporter: the team to beat on new zeeland and defending the title they won in the country four years ago and led by richie. >> and i won't say it's silly but it changes you and how you approach what i think and this is not easy. >> reporter: opening game against of what could be a miss match of size and standing, it will be played at london's olympic stadium as organizers targeted big venues and new fans rather than rugby traditionalists and 18 are usually futbol stadiums and the opening games and final will be played at the home of rugby and play figi and england the 2003 champion are one of the only people to win the tournament but the smaller nations like japan

the next tournament host to help determine if the tournament has been a success. lee weldings with al jazeera, london. formula one championship leader lewis hamilton will match the race victories, if he can win sunday's singapore grand prix and picked up the 40th career race at the italian earlier and this much it stretched the lead in the driver's championship to 53 points ahead of the teammate nick rossburg and if he wins the title this year hamilton will equal the record of three world championships. >> a kid and my goal was to elbow emulate and after the last race i was notified how many races i had done and almost correlated with a career that he had, i want to say i couldn't believe it and i didn't know that the whole nine years or

what course i was on and so naturally it feels pretty amazing. >> tennis in britain are getting ready to take on australia and davis cup semi finals in glasgco and trying to reach the tournament and led by world number three andy murray who half carried his team after wins of europe and france in previous rounds and will play in friday's opening singles match. >> i think you know the atmosphere when we played in the first round here was phenomenal and i think that at this time it will be even better, the crowd will obviously know you know of what the team and the players need from them and i believe that we will be able to use them to the advantage over the within. >> golf and surged to the top of the leaderboard in the first

round of italian open and belgin fired 8 birdies in a row to opening round nine under 63 and also becoming just the 11th player on the european tour to do so and he has two-shot lead over rival and chases his first victory in three years. >> when you shoot nine under it's quite nice but to do it that way was quite a long birdie run and finish off with another one on it too bad on nine because my second shot just went 15-20 minutes further than expected and i had a really good showing. >> cricket and bangladesh two years after it suspended and the competition was halted following revelations of match fixing. implicated a number of high

profile players including captain mohamed and he received a ban of eight years which was later reduced to five with two years suspended. six new franchises will be added to bpl upon its prelaunch. in major league baseball the toronto blue jays protected the lead and beat the atlanta braves on wednesday and david price had nine strike outs and gave up six hits to leave the jays to 9-1 win over the braves and russell martin also hit a homer and drove in four runs and stay three games ahead of second place and yankees in the american league east. chicago held the cubs beat the pirates 3-2 and win moves chicago closer to their first national league wild card and dropped four games behind the st. louis cardinals.

lithuania through to the basketball championship after getting past italy and are looking to win their fourth european title but they were really tested by italy only trailing by one going in the last quarter and italian managed to force over time but from there lithuania won by ten. big guns of soccer face off on wednesday with a new england revolution beating the new york red bulls and step foot with new england ahead in two minutes and equalized for the red bulls and new england sealed the game after the break and making it 2-1 and result means they sit top of the eastern conference with the red bulls in second. and that is it for me, back to mary ann. >> thanks much and soviet artifacts on show for the first time and seen outside of russia. exhibition honors soviet

innovation and invention and shines a light on rivalry between russia and the west as we report. >> re-re uniteunited with her cd it's a museum piece and when it took off in 1963 this journey could quite easily have been a one-way trip. i asked her if she was ever scared. >> translator: it was work she tells me. if you were afraid you would never be allowed into space. this capsule is like a close friend only made from space technology. and returned a hero of the soviet union and the only day to fly a solo mission into space. several years earlier the soviets kick started the space age with a series of pioneering firsts. the first satellite sputnik one and then the first man in space

garan and in 1965 they carried out the first space walk together with the first space somersalt and some never left russia and had to be declassified before travel and it was seen as a challenge by the u.s. who eventually beat moscow in putting a man on the moon. it may be a legacy of cold war tensions but often here in the west these major achievements are sometimes eclipsed by nasa's monday -- moon landings but there is one clear winner the soviet union. >> land on venus and another planet and if you think about it those are incredible scientific achievements and the lunar landing is sexy and has pr but these are just as important

scientifically. >> reporter: with the space race long over tensions replaced by cooperation and join missions. after the u.s. grounded its shuttle fleet in 2011 pays 63 million per astronaut per trip and this charts man's early cosmic achievements from the space craft to the space toilet, meaningful moments in humanities journey into the unknown and lee barker with al jazeera at london's science museum. i want to show you know the latest pictures of pluto released by nasa and gathered by the new horizon space craft that traveled past the dwarf planet and shows mountains and planes and after taking the pictures new horizon moved on and it's 77 million kilometers away at which the point at which the images were captured. that's it for me for now but i will be back with a full bulletin of news for you after a very short break.

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chaos on another eu front and croatia threatens to close border as more than 7,000 refugees cross from serbia and reports from both sides of the line. ♪ i'm mariry ann and this is al jazeera live from london and also coming up, and demand the release of transitional president after a military coup in burkina faso, israel plans tougher punishment accused of stone thng