hello. this is the news hour live from london. coming up on the program. afghanistan's army loses ground to the taliban in kunduz where a humanitarian crisis is unfolding. syria's president applauds russia's air strikes in his war-torn country saying the intervention is vital for middle east civility. deaths along the french riviera as two months' worth of

rain falls in just two hours. the herbal remedies becoming harder to pick in south africa. i'm robin adams with all the sports in doha. liverpool is searching for a new manager this hour. details later in the program. also, the latest from the rugby world cup. argentina supported by the country's most legendary footballer take a significant step towards the quarterfinals. the northern afghan city of kunduz has reportedly fallen back into taliban control. government forces backed by u.s. war planes have been fighting against the taliban there since monday. this as the u.s. defense secretary promised a full investigation into whether the u.s. military played any role in the destruction of a hospital run by aid group doctors without borders which left 22 people

dead. we have the report. >> reporter: police in the northern city of kunduz have been distributing bread and rice to residents, many have lived without food, water or electricity for days. >> translator: planes are bombing us from above. towns have shelling us from the ground. we don't know what to do. >> afghan soldiers and the taliban have been fighting for control of the city for more than a week. afghan troops drive past bodies left on the ground as they patrol the city with damaged and boarded-up storefronts dotting their way. the capture of kunduz by the taliban was its biggest success since the armed group was removed from power in 2001. those who were able to escape are concerned about neighbors and relatives left behind. >> translator: there is no doctor, no medicine, and no treatment in kunduz. people are getting killed in the city, but there's nobody to help and take away their dead bodies. >> reporter: a hospital operated

by the aid organization doctors without borders was hit by an apparent u.s. air strike on saturday. >> we still have no explanation why this attack happened. a very precise attack on our hospital. it was well-known and very well-marked and without any taliban presence in that hospital. >> reporter: doctors without borders has denied an afghan interior ministry statement that taliban fighters were firing from inside the hospital. several of the aid agency's staff and patients were killed. some patients were said to have been burned to death in mir beds and many more injured. the pentagon has opened an investigation. the u.n. high commissioner for human rights says an air strike on the hospital may amount to a war crime. the hospital had at least 200 patients. doctors without borders has now pulled out of kunduz and the patients having taken to the

main hospital that has run out of medical supplies. its one doctor and three nurses are trying to help 500 patients. the government has promised to send a team of doctors and supplies from kabul. al jazeera is in kunduz province, and we have this update. >> reporter: we just got confirm again from afghan security sources and afghan residents of kunduz that the area that afghan government cleared this morning, most of kunduz city, is back in taliban's hands. now the residents are telling us still heavy fighting is going on. we keep receiving phone calls from those residents that they are stuck in their home. they're telling us that there's no water, no food, no electricity. life is miserable, and they cannot survive for long like this. they're telling us that they're also tired of -- they're also

complaining about use of artillery from both sides and heavy bombardment. they say there are dead bodies and injured people that they are stuck in their homes and cannot move them to the hospital because they believe any movement in town could be in target from one side. now, we have a bit of good news from the hospital of kunduz city just in the last hours. we got confirmation from aid of the house minister and the department of kunduz prof ins that brov ins that a group of seven doctors arrived in kunduz city from kabul. that's the good news for the people of kunduz. >> let's go live to washington, d.c. and speak to phyllis benne bennett. she's a fellow at the institute for policy studies, a foreign policy think tank. thank you for joining us on al jazeera. we're under a week away from when the taliban first took control of kunduz.

basically they have been fighting over it for a week and it seems the taliban is back in control. what it's definitely showing us is once the element of surprise was removed, afghan forces have managed to just retake kunduz. at this point what action do you think the u.s. either could or should take? >> you know, i think this entire crisis is unspeakable attack on the hospital, on the innocent frontier hospital is grounded in the long-standing failure of u.s. policy of trying to use military force supposedly against terrorism. it hasn't worked in afghanistan. it hasn't worked in iraq. it hasn't worked in any of the countries where it's been applied, and this is one more example of failure. when the u.s. tries to use massive bombardment against a heavily populated city. kunduz, is not a tiny village. it's a city of 300,000. there will be massive civilian casualties, in this case dwight the fact that they had provided the exact gps coordinates to the

united states and afghan military, it was attacked twice with a few minutes in between the two parts of the attack. so the inevitability of this kind of casualty and the consequences for the community there is dramatic. it just shows the long-standing failure of this effort to rely on military force in a way that is simply not going to work in any venues. >> the u.s. has an investigation under way to reveal the results of that. we have, of course, seen similar cases not on this horrific scale but what is called collateral damage. if air attacks can be so damaging and not really reaching just their targets, then what do you think should happen? do you think there is the prospect of the u.s. sending ground troops, or do you think at this point because the u.s. is so involved in the middle east as we have seen that ultimately afghanistan should be sort of left to its own devices?

what do you think? >> you know, barbara, i think we have to be very careful not to look at it from the vantage point of we either go to war and send ground troops or bombers or do nothing. that's never the only two options. it wasn't at the time of the 9/11 attacks, and it's not the options now. we need to provide massive rehabilitation repatriations to afghanistan. we owe the people of afghanistan such a huge debt for the devastation that u.s. wars have left their country in. we also have to be clear that we don't owe continued military occupation. that means no ground troops or escalation in air strikes because it's civilians that are paying the price. we say we are going after the taliban. the worst possible thing could be the taliban coming back. we should remember that in 1996 at the end of five years of civil war inside of afghanistan, after the long-standing war between the u.s. and the soviet union waged as a proxy war in afghanistan, the taliban were actually welcomed by large majorities of the population not

because of but despite their horrific extremisist approacheso law, to the treatment of women, et cetera, not because people welcomed that but because despite that it was seen as way of ending the war. they promised to end the civil war, and they did so for a while. in that context the others supported by the u.s., the other side, not the taliban, are almost as bad in many ways. the treatment of women is not limited to the extremists of the taliban. outside of the very center of kabul, the treatment of women is not all that different. we still see afghanistan as either the worst or the second worst country in the world for women to give birth and survive. for a child to be born and have the chance of surviving to age 5. the conditions of life in afghanistan remain horrifying, and it's true whether the taliban is in control or the warlords masquerading as a u.s.-backed government are in control. we have to figure out ways of providing the people of

afghanistan with whether it's medical care, whether it's money to repair the electricity, to guarantee clean water, to guarantee health care, without having to focus on the creation of a military-backed government that simply cannot provide security for the people of its own country. >> obviously, all the things you're mentioning would take a lot of money and effort on behalf of the americans. >> absolutely. >> whether the u.s. and nato went to war in afghanistan 14 years ago now, it was all about al qaeda after 9/11, and the taliban. now, of course, we see so many other groups that the u.s. sees as threats. isil, which has some groups aligned to it in afghanistan. we see other groups in kyrgyzstan, which is on the border with afghanistan on the side of kunduz while this is going on. i wonder from what you hear of the national and political discourse in the states whether you think that actually anyone is focusing on afghanistan. do you think that there is anyone at the state department or any level of politics

thinking along those lines as in the fight against isil isn't just isil in the middle east, but actually they have to see through what they started in afghanistan? >> well, one of the problems we face, of course, is that with the militarization of the fight against isis as well as the others, we see, for example, u.s. weapons are ending up in the hands of al qaeda. specifically in syria where the al qaeda affiliate, the al nusra front recently received a bunch of new weapons directly from u.s.-backed forces who turned them over to al nusra. we have to look at it in the context of what is the long-term impact of relying solely on military force? what we do hear about afghanistan as well as about the iraq/syria/isis venue is this notion there is no military solution. that's absolutely true. we hear it over and over from president obama and others. the problem is the actions belie those words.

if we look at the actions and not the words, it's almost all about the military actions and it's failing. so we need to have an entirely different approach where the responsibility of the u.s. is not to simply say, we go to war, or we abandon them. it's to say what -- >> if i can just -- forgive me for interrupting. are you seeing any signs of that new approach taking hold in the u.s. in the way of thinking? >> it's very, very difficult. i talk about it. other people talk about it. we don't hear it coming from members of congress or the white house or state department. i think that the horrific character, the unspeakable character of this latest assault in afghanistan where we've seen the killing of doctors, of surgeons and nurses as well as the patients who are burned alive in their beds in the intensive care unit, that may spark i can only hope this kind of discourse to be able to say, we have to stop this militarization and find a different way. there's never the choice of only

war or nothing. we have to look at those other alternatives. >> phyllis bennett from the institute of policy studies. madam, always good to talk to you. thank you for joining us. >> thank you very much. russia has stepped up its aerial bombardment in syria with a new wave of attacks on sunday. russia forces have been preparing from a base in latakia in syria's west. russia says it's targeting isil in central and northern syria. it hit training camps, command posts and munition did he pos. the syrian observatory for human rights says it's been hitting other rebel-held areas not held by isil. syrian activists uploaded video showing russian air strikes hitting positions in the west aleppo countryside. they claim cluster munitions

were used in the air strikes and there are no reports of casualties so far. syria's embattled president bashar al assad appeared on iranian tv. he said they're in a coalition of russia, iran and iraq and together they will defeat isil. >> translator: it must be a success, otherwise, the entire region will be ruined. not one or two states but the entire region. we are certain it will be a success. the coalition countries have come together in terms of intelligence, security and military forces, and therefore, they will achieve tangible results on the ground, especially with international support even by countries with no direct role in the crisis or in the region. >> president al assad speaking to iranian tv. we are more on assad's television interview. >> it's the first time we hear from the syrian president since russia's aerial campaign began. a very confident president, and

at the end of the day, the russian intervention has given him much-needed military as well as political support. the syrian president is saying that the new russian/iran/iraqi coalition will succeed and appealing to other countries to join the coalition. a very confident syrian president. its ally, russia, carrying out yet more air strikes. what we understand from the russian defense ministry is that they hit a number of isil targets, and this raises a question. this area is not an isil stronghold, and the opposition has really started to question the motives of the russian operation. it's a stronghold for rebels. yes, it's strategic, and we understand from the activists is there were heavy air strikes and they believe the russian war planes were responsible in the northern countryside of homs. what we see on the ground is the

air strikes are concentrating on an area, an arc around the province of llatikia. as of late the rebels were advancing towards that stronghold, and now we see these russian air strikes, which will undoubtedly protect latakia and protect the strategic areas controlled by the syrian government. questions are being asked about russia's motive. the president called on other nations to join the coalition and in fact criticizing the u.s. led coalition saying it did nothing on the grount. the opposition is saying they're not interested in joining the latest u.n. peace initiative. we're back at square one. there's no doubt that the russian intervention complicated an already difficult and complex situation in syria. al jazeera spoke to one of the top ranked commanders in the free syrian army. that's a rebel group fighting the syrian government. the group says russia has been targeting anyone who is fighting

against president assad, and not just isil. stephanie decker reports from turkey's border with syria. >> reporter: with russia's involvement means with the direction of syria's war, nobody knows. why now? that's something a sergeant in the free syrian army knows for sure. >> translator: russian interference in syria is a sign that assad's army is collapsing. in 2013 hezbollah's leader said we join the war because the free syrian army is getting close to damascus. then in 2014, shia militias said hezbollah couldn't protect the regime, and now all the groups couldn't protect the regime, so we have russia. >> reporter: he shows us some locations hit and says the islamic state of iraq and levant has no presence here. he left aleppo ten days ago where he's in charge of a brigade fighting the government.

he traveled nousd of syria and has been engaged in the war from beginning. >> translator: russia considering anyone fighting the regime as their enemy. they're bombing civilians and the free syrian army and other groups. >> reporter: russia says it has targeted isil, but many air strikes are in areas aren't the key province of latakia. we speak to a spokesman for one of the groups fighting in idlib, an area hit by russia. >> translator: the people are scared, and the regime bombs take shelter underground. the russian bombs are strojer than those of the regime. >> reporter: this war is into the fifth year with no end in sight. not militarily or politically. colon colonel akadi who received support from the u.s. in the past says washington doesn't seem to know what to do. >> translator: america has no clear plan. it has let down the syrian

people. it's a very weak administration. they left it all in russia's hands. they didn't support the partners on the ground, and even the group they trained left them to face their fate against the regime and russia's bomb. there's been no reaction. >> reporter: he says what keeps him and his men fighting is they have a just cause. fighting for freedom, dignity, and the need to rebuild a free syria for the next generation, but at this rate the question is, what will syria look like when that day commings -- comes? still ahead on al jazeera, battering the east coast. hurricane joaquin wrecks havoc in parts of the u.s. in sport a huge day of football across europe. we have the action as well as updates from some of the major leagues a little later in the program. portugal's center right

coalition declared victory after sunday's general election. exit polls show current prime minister has taken a clear lead. his government introduced deep spending cuts and huge tax hikes in the wave of austerity measures during a three-year recession. polls have also closed in kyrgyzstan parliament elections, and it's been a test for the young democracy which remains vulnerable to political instability after ousting two presidents during uprisings both in 2005 and then 2010. robin forester-walker reports from the capital. >> reporter: the voting has made it much harder to commit electoral fraud, but with one major drawback. voters that failed to register in time, some 20% of the electorate, were unable to cast their vote. still, the country's president believes kyrgyzstan has set a new standard.

i think, you know, it is great, because many countries, some of them not far from us, don't know what freedom and free and fair elections mean. free and fair may be, but he still has significant control over parliament. preliminary results suggest his party is ahead but will need coalition partners to form the next government. five years ago thousands of people protested on the same streets to overthrow a corrupt regime. the result of that was an experiment in parliamentary democracy. five years on, and these transparent elections suggest that experiment may be working. there's work to be done. kyrgyzstan is racked my corruption and the chronically weak economy, but it could still set a democratic example to the rest of the region. at least 16 people have died in flooding along the french

riviera. in some areas about two months' worth of rain is said to have fallen in a few hours. rob matherson reports. >> reporter: cars litter the streets, and the cleanup begins. some are still shocked by the memories of deluge that swept through their little town. >> translator: the water was up to here. somebody came to get me. i couldn't walk because of the water pressure. it was horrible. i can't talk about this anymore. >> reporter: the city of nice is estimated to have received 10% of it'll average yearly rainfall in two days alone. the force of the water was deadly. many people drown in their own cars, trapped in tunnels and undercar car parks. some managed to escape. >> translator: we arrived at this cross roads. a lot of water was coming down the two-lane road and the car was taken away and left there. we were forced to get out of the car through the window because the water was higher than the car windows.

>> reporter: french president hollande visited the towns where rescuers expect to find more bodies as the waters finally begin to recede. objects have been found in the sea near where a cargo ship went missing in the bahamas. a life jacket thought to be from the boat, which lost contact during hurricane joaquin on thursday, has been found by the u.s. coast guard. 33 people are thought to be on board. people lives in south carolina have been urged not to travel as forecasters predict that heavy rain could hit the american eastern seaboard. warnings have been issued for delaware, maryland, new jersey, north carolina and virginia as a result of hurricane joaquin. john hendron has more details. >> reporter: the eye of joaquin skirted the u.s. mainland but the rains pounded the coast from south carolina to the northeast. storms ripped down power lines, washed out roads, and wrecked homes. >> i heard this loud boom, and

it was loud. i knew it wasn't -- i knew it was a tree. >> reporter: high winds and rain dismantled this road in new jersey and floated it down the bay. thousands heeded government warnings to evacuate and others took their chances and were trapped. >> well, it's all the hardwood floors done popped up and everything is floating and the water is up below the tv above the sofa. it's 3 feet pretty much deep in the whole house. >> reporter: the storm focused its fury on the carolina coast leaving residents to improvise their commutes. coast guard search and rescue crews found parts of a freighter that left florida with 33 on board headed toward puerto rico whether it lost contact with the coast guard. >> the ship became disabled because of a mechanical problem. the ship found its way in the path of a storm. >> reporter: the historic downpour left residents banding together to rescue the stranded

and left kathy cleaning up and bracing for more rain. >> my house is totally full of water. the floors are all damaged. the furniture is all wet. everything is gone. >> reporter: coastal flood warnings have been issued for parts of delaware, maryland, new jersey, north carolina and virginia as the storm heads northward. john hendron, al jazeera. plenty more to come on this hour on news from london, including -- >> i'm nick clark reporting from the heart of the arabian gulf on the extraordinary annual aggregation on the jienl of ocean, the whale shark. tools in south africa are put down where thousands of workers go on strike. in sport a handsome payday for a jockey. robin has that and the rest of the sports later on.

in the taliban is taking most

of the northern african city of kunduz despite u.s.-backed sources saying they made more gains. russia has carried out bombardments for a fifth day. however, the strikes have largely targeted other syrian rebel groups. israeli security forces put severe restrictions on palestinians entering the old city of jerusalem following two separate attacks on israelis by palestinians. well, for more on that story, hamas has called those latest restrictions on palestinians entering the old city as racist and illegal. for more on that we can cross live now to al jazeera to mike hannah live on the phone from east jerusalem. first of all, mike, tell you gos what is the situation there as well as in the rest of the west bank. >> reporter: barbara, there's a

series of clashes throughout the occupied west bank in the course of the evening. it's particularly heated clashes between palestinians and israeli police and army in ra ramallah. there's pressure in and around the old city. certainly the tension showing no signs of easing as you mentioned, benjamin netanyahu returning from the united states convening a meeting with the senior security chief introducing a series of punitive measures, whether they do anything to dampen the situation is something that will become apparent over the next 24 hours. >> mike, obviously these latest restrictions in response to attacks we have seen on israeli in part of a bigger context. if you can put this in context

for us, how much do you get a sense of an escalate in tensions between palestinians and israelis? >> reporter: the situation in the old city and access to the old city and the al asqa mosque has been brewing for some time and intensified in the past week culminating in extraordinary measures preventing access to the old city by muslims and palestinians generally. but the sparks it would appear for the latest heated exchanges was the killing of two settlers in the west bank on thursday last week. that sparked off a number of israeli raidses in the west bank and culminated in the crest nengs around the old city. what one has seen as well is an increase in the groups. the res crescent says at least

14 ambulances have been attacked, so there is a widespread increase in conflict, a widespread increase in violence and also overnight as well two rockets fired from gaza. only one of them exploded in israel. no casualties were reported, but once again, the conflict is erupting on all fronts in the occupied west bank and in gaza as well. >> mike hannah, you will monitor the situations and developments there for us for the moment. thank you. let's go to niger where ten people have been killed in the town of diffi. two suicide bombers blew themselves up after being stopped by soldiers and another detonated his vest close to an army base. children are among the dead. at least eight people have been killed in shootings between police and protesters in burundi's capital. they accuse the government of

targeting critics of the president who was returned to power in a disputed election. 30,000 coal miners in south africa have gone on strike over a pay dispute. negotiations had broken down between the country's biggest labor union and the coal industry on thursday. south africa relies heavily on coal for producing electricity. the state power company says it only has enough coal to last for a month. we have more now from johannesburg. >> reporter: about a third of coal miners are on strike in south africa this evening after wage talks deadlocked in the last week between the national union of mine workers and employers in south africa. the mine workers union wants an increase of at least 14% for its lowest-paid workers, who at this point are earning under $400 a month. they want an increase of at least $80 per worker. now, the employers are facing rather difficult environments across the coal industry as the

chinese economy has slowed down, the price of coal has, of course, dropped, and employers have to pay higher labor and power costs. now, the major concern in south africa is how the power provider, the electricity utility will be able to keep up and provide electricity across the country. south african are reliant on coal. they only have about a month's supply of coal available, and if this strike goes on longer than a month, it has to have contingency plans. once the reserves dry out, it has to go to the mines to bring in coal directly from the mines to the power plants, but that, of course, will mean higher costs for escom. at this point across south africa the major concern is the duration of the strike and how it will impact the provision of power as well as the economy. herbal medicine has a long tradition amongs south africa's traditional tribes.

but strict regulations in national parks threaten the harvesting of the herbs. one bush doctor came up with an urban solution to the problem of south africa's rural heritage. from capetown here's tonya page. >> reporter: neville comes to the national park in capetown to be inspired. he's a bush doctor. the healing powers of these plants have been used for centuries, but unlike his ancestors he's supposed to have a permit to pick herbs. >> at the first instance it is not right. we have picked herbs through the generations of the indigenous people without permits. >> reporter: the restrictions mean herb sellers like dorothy williams struggle to get enough stock, yet, demand is high. >> there's a lot of youth that are coming onto us, you see? so they know where the knowledge is and where they get the right

stuff. >> reporter: her grandmother is one such convert. she says bush doctor's pain relieving oil is better than the cream prescribed by the doctor. >> we started to use the oil that he recommended to us. then we started to see that she was like restless at night from complaining about the pain. >> reporter: the challenge is how to keep an chents traditions alive in a modern world full of rules and regulations. the u.n. recognizes this national park as one of the richest areas for plants in the world. it should be protected but finding a balance between preserving nature and tradition is difficult. he's come up with a compromise. it's a herb garden right in the heart of township where people need it most with all the herbs bush doctors need. >> it is good for chest complaints because of flu. our people used to use it for their high blood pressure. >> reporter: by moving the herbs closer to the houses in a city

that is sprawled at the foot of mountains, he's keeping an increasingly urban people in touch with their healing roots. how to deal with the threats facing the world's oceans is the focus of a major conference in chile being attended by the u.s. secretary of state, john kerry. oceans cover 70% of the earth's surface and are under severe pressure on several fronts. overfishing and illegal fishing activities are putting the amount of food collected in the ocean at risk of being exhausted, and then there is pollution. it's estimated more than 8 million tons of waste is dumped into the oceans each year. despite the pressures there's marine wonders to be found sometimes in the most unlikely places. nick clark has more. >> reporter: we're speeding out to a site in the heart of

arabian gulf close to the march time border between iran and qat qatar. 80 kilometers out, a high security zone closed to the public. right here every summer something extraordinary happens. the whale sharks arrive in huge numbers. gentle giants filter-feeding on the surface. it is a bewildering sight and then come right up to the boat, some 9 meters long or more. nearly 400 have been identified here. you think for all the world there would be nothing here at all. the outside air temperature is plus 40, and it's not that different in the sea itself. yet, every summer there's this enormous aggregation of this iconic species. the platforms are owned by mersk

oil, and for five years they research this annual arrival. >> the plan right now is to get our equipment ready and get this satellite tag ready. we really want to know where the females are going because we don't know where they give birth. hopefully they can tell us more about where the females go. >> reporter: from the surface it's impressive. from below it's just astonishing. the sharks come here mouths agame sucking in the invisible eggs of small mark mackerel tuna spawned in millions. what draws them towards this thought to be too hot for such biodiversity. >> we think the secret to this place is the current, cyclonic current and that sucks all the water up. maybe also platforms. >> the platforms have turned into artificial reefs which attract species that wouldn't otherwise live here and perhaps

help to concentrate the mackerel tuna spawning. >> it's a unique place to study whale sharks. you haven't got the influence of people being in the water with them at the same time. there are no ago fwragss. just a lot of problems and conflict with regards to tourism, but obviously here it's very far ashore and quite a hostile environment. >> reporter: back the laboratories they monitor the signals put out by the satellite tags. >> what we see now, they're still aggregates around the platforms. then we still have four females that were tagged, so it's exciting to see what they do next. hopefully they'll go on a long journey and reveal where they actually give birth to their young. >> reporter: it is an unlikely sight in the heart of an oil and gas field. soon the whale sharks will disappear for the winter to

return next april. the natural wonder that only goes to demonstrate how important it is to look after the oceans of the world. nick clark, al jazeera, the arabian gulf, qatar. we're joined now from santa cruz in the united states by george leonard. he's chief scientist with ocean conservatory and is involved in the program called frash-free seas. thank you for joining us hooker on al jazeera. that report showing the wonders of the oceans, but then there's this conference in chile highlighting all the risks. what would you say are the biggest threats to the oceans right now? >>le with well, your story highlights that the ocean is really full of mystery and wonder, but it's very much under threat. we take too much out, and we put too much in. as the chilean conference next week will be an attest to, we offense take too many fish out

and put too much carbon in from climate change. increasingly we put way too much plastic in the ocean as well. >> the sort of taking too much out could be solved. if the will is there, the countries could decide not to overfish and to try to stamp down on illegal fishing. i'm guessing a lot harder to take the plastic out. give us an idea how much plastic there is in the ocean and how damaging it is. we always think of perhaps a plastic bag floating around, but the plastic is degrading somehow and actually getting into the food chain, isn't it? >> well, it is. getting plastic out of the ocean and fixing this problem is going to be a challenge. at ocean conservative we think it is possible. you made reference earlier that a new scientific study suggests up to 8 million metric tons of plastic is flowing into the ocean every year, almost 17 billion pounds and that's a lot of plastic.

we statement that's essentially one garbage truck full every minute. a lot of materials come in. it breaks down into smaller and smaller fracments and microplastics and they become the size of food for much of the marine food web. small fishing, zoe plankton, which are the smaller in the ocean. plastic is pervading much of the global ocean, up to 660 species are known to be impacted by plastics, so it is a major threat and one that needs to be solved and needs to be solved on land. >> so just focusing on the way it's entering the food chain, presumably whenever we eat seafood, for example, we're injecting plastic as in humans? >> well, that's right. that's a logical kind of conclusion. as an ocean scientist i'm very much worried about just that issue. there's new science out both here on the west coast in california and indonesia showing that much of the fish that we

eat does have plastic in it. we still don't know what the impacts to human health of that plastic in that seafood that we eat is. it's an area of active research, and we need more research to better understand those risks. as an ocean scientist i'm concerned about that. >> you mentioned the solution was found on land rather than in water. so what is or what are some of the answers? i know in some supermarkets in the west in europe and in the states that are charging for plastic bags to try to dissuede people from using them and recycle other bags. there's also biodegradable plastic. does any of that make a difference, do you think? >> well, i think this is a complicated issue, and it requires a range of solutions. certainly we can get rid of the products that we don't otherwise need and are harmful to the oceans. many states and countries ban plastic bags. you can get along without them

and they're a big threat. we can get rid of microbeads, which is are these small invisible to the naked eye pieces of plastic in toothpaste and facial scrubs. there's no reason to need those. plastic, you know, in general is a pretty amazing material that's in a lot of products that we use. so simply banning plastic isn't likely to work. so what we need to do is we need to focus where the vast majority of materials on stemming the tide before it gets in the ocean in the first place. new information that ocean conservatory released this week suggests about half of the plastic coming into the global ocean is coming from a half-dozen or so developing asian nations where the pace of development and mraplastics use outpacing local waste management infrastructure. a big foundational strategy is improving waste management in parts of the world where a large amount of mrafshgs is flowing

into the ocean. >> it's interesting to see what comes out of this sequence in chile about the health of the oceans taking place now. for the moment, sir, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us. thank you. >> thank you for having me today. i appreciate it, barbara. still hots more to come on the program. >> these are some of the most intense rapids anywhere in the world and for a few weeks each year people flock here to risk it all for the ride of their life. i'm on the gauley river. that story is coming up. and ireland's rugby stars continue their pursuit of a quarterfinal place at the world cup. all the details are coming up in the sport in just a moment.

it's considered one of the most daunting and dangerous rivers in the world for whitewater rafting. the gauley in west virginia draws people from all over the world to try their luck on the rapids. it's from there that we have the report. >> reporter: with paddles in hand, they're geared up to face one of the world's wildest rivers. it's the gauley, and it's particularly ferocious because for six weeks every fall the floodgates of a nearby dam are opened wide sending a huge amount of water gushing down the river. >> it makes the rapids alley optimal for whitewater rafting.

>> they came all the way from the u.k. >> it's just a challenge for you. >> that's why we're doing it. >> it's going forward. >> a few minutes in and the force of the gauley rapids are evident. the guide shouts out commands because every paddle stroke is critical. they make it out. there's more to come. the rapids are ranked based on their difficulty. 1 being the easiest and 5 being the most difficult. here on the gauley, there are 14 class 4 rapids and six class 5s includes this one called pillow rock. there's a shear drop-off. they say it's the ten most exhilirating seconds of whitewater rafting anywhere in america. it doesn't always go as planned. in the last ten years, 14 people have died on the gauley, but some of those were without a guide, but there have been no

fatalities the past two seasons. adventures on the gorge, the biggest of the seven rafting operations here, will guide at least 10,000 people down the gauley this season alone. they say the guides are the key to safety. >> with every company on this river, these guys are highly trained and they know this river backwards and forwards. they are very adept in reading water, so when situations change they can adapt to it. >> reporter: for thrill seekers it's easy to see why so many choose the gauley nestled deep in a mountain gorge in west virginia. the river is more than 41 kilometers long, nearly 100 rapids in all. after a couple hours on the river, they take a break and it's all smiles. >> it was really good, yes. >> the waves splashing your face and hanging on. >> reporter: on a river where the only guarantee is that everyone will get wet. al jazeera on the gauley river in west virginia. to sporting tights of a

different kind, let's cross live now to doha and get all the sports news from robin. >> barbara, so good to see you. good to have you along. we have rugby news to come. we start with europe where it's an eventful day on and off the pitch searching for new managers at the moment. liverpool sacked brendan rodgers the northern irishman who was gin the job since june 2012 was given her marching orders. he sat through 1-1 with everton on sunday. liverpool has dropped down to tenth in the table. the dismissal seemed inevitable, he had spent $121 million on new signings in this summer's transfer period. they haven't delivered a single trophy in three and a half years. the club said the search for the new manager is already underway.

a couple of names are bantied about as potential replacements. one is former manager klup and the man who guided real madrid to a championship league trophy. he was worked with chelsea. they're both available and out of work at the moment. arsenal fans are celebrating their first league win of manchester uitted in four years. it was a convincing win, too. the result at the emirates sealed within 20 minutes. alexis sanchez absolutely deadly, scored two. there was a goal giving the home side a 3-0 victory. arsenal goes second in the table while united slipped down to three. >> to win a big game is an overstate, and we are in it. we are two points off the leaders. off manchester center.

i hope that result today will give you belief and ambition to fight for it, yes. >> they also dished up exciting darby matches in europe. we mentioned a little earlier, 2-1 winners in the french league. over in spain real madrid were in action with athletico. they squandered a chance to go top of the premier league standin standings. the early goal was canceled out seven minutes from the time. 1-1 the final score. real madrid is second at the moment. right now it's viva real that leads the way. the two powerhouses of dutch football, ix and p also made the clash in amsterdam. between them the two teams have won 55 league titles, five have been encapsulated. they have won four of those. on sunday it appears the anchor came out on top.

gaston pirrero scores twice to give his team a 2-1 lead. that closed the gap on the leaders. that gap is only two points at the moment. one of the biggest rivalries in german football was renewed on sunday and swept aside to get their eight straight win. two goals each from mueller and robert helping them to a 5-1 win with 7 points clear at the top of the table. they qualified for the quarterfinals for the rugby world cup after a hard-fought win over italy. it was the toughest match of the tournament. there's a lot riding on the result as mark explains. >> ireland won this match now in a draw or win would be enough to secure a quarterfinal status. the irish kept a world cup

record eighth try. italy kept in touch. when ireland had two minutes remaining, it was gain on. the six nations champions held on for a less than convincing 69th win. they play france next to decide which team will top it. new zealand is playing in the quarterfinals. >> so much quality now in the rest of the competition. when we played france, if you turn over the ball to them, you know, with the forward carriers they have, with the backs they have, you'd be in big trouble. that's something we haven't done when we've won big games and when we've performed well in the international with the six nations. >> argentina had taken another step towards the quarterfinals with a bonus point win in the clark of citi stadium. he dominated early, though, and

the high team stat was awarded scoring the match's first try. back-to-back tries midway through the first half saw the eighth ranked team stat to take control of the match and watched on by football legend, argentina showed their class in the second half. the man of the match nicholas sanchez sealed the 45-16 victory. they even were impressed maradona was there to watch. >> i think it's good. i think he's a legend in his own right and i'm glad he turned up and supported argentina. >> they played new zealand on friday and argentina can clench second spot with a win over namibia on sunday. the richest horse race is won by a fourth time by the same jockey. they're celebrating it well pr

it crossed the line. golden horn won the derby? june and after winning this $3.6 million in paris he's heading to the breeder's cup in kentucky. >> back to barbara in london. thank you. finally this news hour, u.s. space agency nasa has uploaded more than 8,000 photographs taken by apollo astronauts during trips to the moon. the images are high resolution versions of original nasa photos taken during the missions back in the 1960s and '70s. every photo taken on the lunar surface by astronauts with their chest mounted cameras can be viewed. now, the photos include some blurry outtakes and candid shots of astronauts shaving because you have to sometimes. during the three-day journey between earth and the moon. amazing stuff, and that is it for this news hour. i'll have more news for you in just a few minutes.

i hope you're able to join me then. thank you for watching. bye-bye. >> the money fell victim to the politics. >> they're more focused on getting jobs than our education.

>> gang life... this was our foundation. it's what we all knew. when i met daisy, it was the best day of my life. i told my co-workers, i'm gonna marry her... when my past caught up with me and made us all pay the price. >> it was very confusing... they were just, "where is it? where did he put it"? the social worker said, "i'm gonna have to take the baby". you're gonna have to kill me to take my child. they took my family. he's like, "they're using your child as leverage". the day i think i'm getting sarah back, my public defender tells me they're gonna take me to trial. i don't know how i'm gonna do it but... i need another lawyer. >> that judge is not known for his compassion. >> if at any point i'm not fighting for my family, i don't know what that would do to me. >> families don't survive this.

rare se hello. you're watching al jazeera live from london. syria's president applauds russia's air strikes saying the intervention is vital for middle east stability. deaths along the french riviera as two month's worth of rain falls in two