>> announcer: this is al jazeera. welcome to the newshour from doha. merkel and hollande prepare for an historic address to the european parliament. doctors without borders demands a u.n. backed investigation into the u.s. bombing of a hospital in kunduz, which killed 22 people. [ singing ] trade unions across south africa hold rallies, calling for

a boost to the minimum wage. >> and i'll have all your sport, including the f.i.f.a. world cup gets ready to welcome the newest team as south sudan begins a journey towards russia, 2018 a military operation to catch human traffickers begins in the mediterranean. european naval ships will patrol the waters to find smugglers who charge refugees to take them across the sea. the united nations high commissioner for refugees says 550,000 entered people by sea. most landed in greece. more than 400,000 people. over 130,000 arrived in italy. many never make it. the u.n.h.c.r. says so far more than 3,000 people drowned or are

missing. neave barker is live from strasbourg where the german chancellor and french president are due to make an address. what is the plan, neve, to tackle the people smugglers. >> that's right. despite differences of opinion across the european union, there is some consensus in the shape of this joint naval task force designed to target the people smugglers. those who are responsible for bringing tens of thousands ever people across from africa, in countries like turkey, to the european union, contributing to the different opinion, and the risks that we are seeing here in europe on how best to deal with the situation. in the past, the e.u. focused solely on life-saving operation, but now europe believes that the more robust way of dealing with

the situation is necessary. as you mentioned there in the last year, 3,000 people are believed to have died trying to make that perilous crossing into the european union. now the e.u. says that more needs to be done, it's time to send in the armed forces. talking about that point, neve, italy's coast guard says it rescued more than 2,000 at sea, hundreds intercepted daily on the other side of the mediterranean in italy. let's listen in now. >> desperation doesn't recognise borders. which is why hundreds of people are still being picked up off libya, the main departure point to europe. anti-immigration teams, and supporting aid staff here are overwhelmed. >> we received a call informing us of a boat at sea. carrying 142 people, including men, women and children.

we brought them here. >> lucky to be alive. but feeling not so fortunate to have had their trip cut short. they have, after all, crossed the sahara desert. a journey sometimes harder than the one on the mediterranean. >> the children are happy to get new toys, but their mother is after a new start for them. libya is at the final desperation. >> why i left my country because of boko haram. boko haram - they kill our parents, they kill our brothers and sisters. that is the problem why i have to run from a country to find and give good education for my children. >> a day earlier the italian coast guard picked up some that made it further - from the young to the elderly. once they survived violence at home, the sahara desert and libya, rough seas may be a short

step towards the goal. they have made a journey few would dare, for this - to be registered as refugees in europe. >> neve, as indicated, it is clear that the refugee crisis is one of the latest issues to expose, perhaps, the divisions and the need for reform within the e.u., will they be agreed by francis hollande and angela merkel today? >> firstly, it's important to note that martin schultz described the visit as an historic visit for historically difficult times, such is the level of concern about the numbers of different matters that face the european union at this time. when merkel and francis hollande address the group, they'll have q and a.

they'll be aware of expectations upon them to address the challenges, and will set forth their vision of how to deal with these issues. we are talking about the war in syria, the situation in ukraine, unemployment among the youth in the southern european states, the lingering affects of the eurozone crisis, the need for monetary reform when it comes to the aftermath of the greek debt saga, and the biggest challenge in the european union, that of the arrival of hundreds of thousands, searching for a new life here in europe. it has created deep divisions between the countries willing and able to anticipate numbers to settle and start a new life here in europe. and those who feel this it's necessary for different reasons, for europe to keep its doors closed. talking about hungary, slovakia,

czech republic, romania. it was felt that the christian identity would be undermined by the arrival of large numbers of muslims. it will be imperative for merkel and francis hollande to reinvigorate a sense of unity put under strain by the european crisis. >> e.u. leaders are meeting tomorrow. is there a push to get them to agree on returning more refugees now? >> well, something that seems to have changed the situation lightly is a piece of information that was leaked this morning to a u.k. civil rights group called state watch. that was a document from the european council that suggested that europe, behind closed doors, may be drawing up plans to send back tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of failed asylum seekers, some

of them economic migrants, back to their countries of origins. from what we gather, from a document that we have seen, as much as a million will be spent on doing this, and there'll be different variations within e.u. member states on how exactly this is done. what it really indicates is the level of concern, the kind of strains that the european union is under as it faces the current refugee crisis. what we gather is that in luxembourg, at the meeting of e.u. interior ministers on thursday. this may be discussed further, giving us a clear idea of how europe intends to deal with the challenge. >> neve barker there, thanks for that update doctors without borders is demanding a u.n. backed bombing.

the president said if we let this go, we are giving a blank check to countries at war. they can't rely on inquiries by u.s. and afghan forces. 22 doctors and patients were killed by the air strikes on saturday. who ordered the attack and why is unclear. >> what happened is that a plane arrived, and in several ways, it came four or five times over the hospital and every time extremely preciselily, a hit of several. >> from monday, the top u.s. commander in afghanistan, general john campbell, said the attack was not to protect u.s. troops. >> on october 3rd afghan troops

advised they were taking strikes. an air strike was called, several civilians were struck, different from initial reports which indicated that u.s. forces were threatened and it was called on their behalf condemnation of the attack has been growing. >> we condemn the attack against the hospital in kunduz. it was the last remaining hospital serving a need that was dire in the area. the attack, you know, is against medical facilities, that could amount to the war crime. >> on tuesday, general campbell said the hospital attack was a mistake. >> the decision to provide aerial fire was a u.s. decision, made within the u.s. chain of command. a hospital was mistakenly struck. we would never intentionally target a protected medical facility after more than a week of fighting the afghan city of kunduz still contested afghan

government forces supported by u.s. fighter planes, taking territory, but have not established full control. one of the only journalists is in the city. what are you seeing? well, the city is quite. the two sides are not far from each other. taliban governments are a few hundreds meters from each other. civilians were suffering almost 10 days with no food, water, stuck in their homes, no electricity. some are leaving the area, we spoke to some residents. they are saying they don't have

faith on afghan security forces any more. they believe the fighting will continue for some time. we talked with civilians in the market. we have, despite the risk, why they are in the streak. they don't have a choice. 10 days they didn't have food or water. now they have to do shopping to survive. we talked to afghan security forces and asked why they are going slo, if there is lack of capability, and security officials are telling us here that they have lack of leadership, coordination with the 7,000 forces, and the second reason is that the taliban are

hiding. if the afghan security forces are giving it a hard push. that is the answer that we are hearing from afghan security forces on the ground. >> food stuff there in kunduz. russia carried out more air strikes in syria as part of an air campaign it says is targetting i.s.i.l. the u.s.-based think tank says the russian air campaign is hitting other groups in areas far from where i.s.i.l. was based. the i.s. w identified locations where it is confident that russia carried out a number of sites. a large number in homes, and the north western idlib province. >> sw says three were in

i.s.i.l.-held territory. zeina khodr is follow developments. i understand there has been a shift in the russian strategy of air strikes, tell us what is going on? >> well, yes, the russian military intervention is entering a new phase. over the past week we see russian care strikes targetting positions like you mentioned. in the countryside of hama and idlib. positions that surround the strong hole in the west. they were weakening the defenses of the rebels and the air strikes stopped the air strike advance, they were advancing as of late. now the air power is used to allow the syrian army to push into rebel controlled territory, we understand there's a ground offensive in the northern

countryside. the government is trying to push into towns, to secure an important corner of syria where damascus, aleppo, the main highway between the cities passes through under the control of the rebel. now it is clear that the russian aerial campaign objective is to change the balance of power on the ground. what have been hearing is that they are promising to fight back. this is not going to be an easy fight from the government. and the latest defensive replaced thousands of people. some are talking about tens of thousands of people fleeing from a town in the hama countryside, heading north in search of safety. >> zeina khodr there, thank you four the update as syrians try to survive

the air strikes, political cartoonists have been illustrating the crisis. it won't make the americans happy. one is break glass and call russia, and a giant polar bear in russian colours walks by, and this - the russian strongman, vladimir putin, with u.s. president obama in a headlock . >> more to come on the newshour. we'll hear allegations of war crimes in yemen. the biggest producers discover gems not so precious any more sport - houston astros cut the yankees season short

the saudi-led coalition fighting houthi yimens is accused of gross humanitarian violations. amnesty international says they should be investigated as war crimes. they looked at 13 air strikes between may and july. at least 100 civilians died. half children. there was a clear pattern of what it calls disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets. amounting to collective punishment. it is concerned about the lack of accountability, and the group urged all states to stop selling weapons to saudi arabia. i'm joined by a researcher on yemen, from amnesty international international. joining me from london. >> in the past i spoke to

officials. they said any civilian deaths are unintended. are you saying you are seeing a different pattern. >> yes what we see is not unintended death, but target strike. the strikes have a pattern. you cannot say ta civilians are unintended casualties or collateral damage from the findings. that is why we are saying the violation, the air strikes are in violation of international humanitarian law and should be investigated as war crimes. >> your report talks about the use of cluster bombs. >> have you determined who you think is using cluster bombs in the conflict. >> yes, there are u.s. cluster bombs accused.

they have long devastating effects because they can turn into landmines and children and atilts can check on them. we found that the saudi-led coalitions used the bombs. >> cluster bombs were banned when used in heavily populated civilian populated areas. is that what you are saying, they were not dropped in open battlefields but civilian areas. >> we found in the two attacks, they dropped them over villages, full of civilian and houses and farms, and dropped over the area the size of a field or impossible field. they have been spread quickly and be mfior them to be found once they are kidden. that is internationally banned.

they are calling for an investigation. >> how do you respond to criticism that the report doesn't deal with a lot of detail, houthi violence has also been accused. >> this report affections on saudi-led coalition crimes in the stronghold of sadr. we covered houthi crimes in other reports, primarily in the south of yemen when, where they launched attacks against civilian areas. >> thank you so much for your thoughts on that. amnesty international asked saudi arabia to comment on its fi findings but they had no response. we requested an interview and will continue to do so in jerusalem, an israeli police spokesperson said is man

stabbed a woman. mike hanna is in west jerusalem. the latest incident highlights tensions that continue to grow. tell us about the restrictions put in place on muslim worshippers. >> what happened with the end of the jewish holiday is restrictions throughout the city were lifted by the israeli government, and, indeed, the restrictions on pairs at the al-aqsa were lifted. at the moment there's free movement within the context of the occupation for palestinians to move in and around the old city and to pray should they wish. that's the attack in the course of this morning. once again the situation is far from returning to calm.

once again there is a propensity of violence to provoke reaction on all sides. >> despite the rhetoric, i understand security meetings are ongoing between palestinians and israelis. tell us about that the israeli splitry told civilians there was a meeting last night. the level is not particularly clear, but the military spokesman said that the meeting was aimed at counting ways to reduce tension. there was to be an attempt from security officials to try to calm down the situation. binyamin netanyahu had a long meeting. this was the first time in

two years that such a meeting took place. binyamin netanyahu was accompanied by his defence minister. he told the settler leaders that he was not considering on allowing the building. from all sides, it appears to be some attempt to call the situation down, needed given the intense operations the army conducted in the occupied west bank in recent days. >> the crack down resumed before down. the israeli army arresting to people. the resistance was fierce. then two men believed to have

been involved. the attacks occurred nearly a year ago. they described yet another illegal act of punishment. >> yesterday at midnight army forces raided the mouses. they hit people, ordering the evacuation from people. >> while in bethlehem, the funeral of 13-year-old abdo raqman abdullah, the family adamant that there were no protests taking place at the time of the shooting. >> my son went to school and he finished school. he never came home, he shot him. >> in ramallah protesters need to be dispersed by tear gas. gunshots were fired.

>> as palestinian frustration mounds, so too the political pressure. there were questions as to the nature of security operations within israel and within his own factions as to whether he intened to abandon the oslo accords or not. a fundamental framework. it was made clear that palestinians are forced to defend themselves. >> when settlers come in attack a village, what do you expect the response to be israel has to stop and reach out in a peaceful way. >> another day of rage, another day of israeli occupation.

>> let's get the weather with richard, who can tell us how the forest fires are causing problems. >> if we look at this, you can see the state of affairs at the moment. it's hampering the effects of seeing clouds. certainly it's having a greater effect on internal flights. as far as pollution, it's not bad. only moderate. across parts of borneo, the levels are very, very high, unpleasant. >> if you look at the satellite. you see not much in the way of cloud. it looks like it will continue in this vain. moving north, we had heavy rain recorded across parts of china,

close to hong kong. 24 hour rainfall totals. and further heavy rain. >> meanwhile. up in the far north of the reason there was a cloud feature there. there was a weather front here. they'll move up to the coral islands in and have an impact on al qaeda, chilly conditions, and could be torrential rain. >> let's bring pictures in from brussels. that is what is going on right now. what we are looking at is demonstrations against austerity, austerity being a common theme for many european countries struggling from the aftermath of the financial crisis, those people unhappy with the measures brought in, that they feel are impacting society in the wrong way still to come on al jazeera.

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this is al jazeera, a recap of the headlines. >> european naval ships will patrol the mediterranean to control smugglers. the crisis likely to be addressed by angela merkel and francis hollande at the european government an investigation into a bombing of a doctors without borders hospital. 12 staff and patients killed by u.s. aircraft. russia carried out more air strikes in syria as part of a campaign to target i.s.i.l. the strikes focused on idlib, and qatar. there are reports of civilian deaths more on the top story in europe. one of many issues discussed at the european parliament in coming hours. german chancellor angela merkel and francis hollande will speak in strasburg, the first speech

since 1989. >> reporter: when the leaders of france and germany face the european parliament, they face a government under strain. there have been moral and constitutional dlemas. the last time the leader of france and germany gave a joint address was in 1989, two weeks after the fall of berlin wall. now it faces divisions. half a million refugees arrived in europe this year. many heading for surgery. but the crisis has opened up fault lines for those willing to accommodate refugees, and those that want to keep them out. hungary has been fortified. refugees threaten a christian identity.

hungary, the czech republic, have objected to plans to share refugee becomes. the authorities found themselves overwhelmed. >> the syrian conflict, the rampant uth unemployment in southern european democracies, not to mention the prospect that major players is contemplating leaving. obviously at the moment there is one specific crisis that is bearing down on the e.u., which is the current refugee crisis, which is posing arguably the challenge. >> when angela merkel and francis hollande addressed the 28-nation assembly, they'll want to put aside political differences to champion unity and reforms. including a larger european budget and changes to reduce the differences, as germany and

france push for greater integration, the limits continue to be tested and associated press found criminal networks with suspected russian ties tried to sell radioactive material to extremist groups since weapons grade uranium and bombs were offered for sale. another undercover agent posing as an i.s.i.l. representative imposed cash. the sellers claimed to have a huge amount of the dangerous form of material that can be used in a bomb. >> police in australia arrested four people with the killing of a civilian police worker. 200 officers raided homes in western sydney. curtis cheng on friday was shot dead by a 15-year-old iranian. it's believed it was politically mote vivid,led to terrorism

at least 18 people had been killed and three separate suicide bombings in nigeria, it happened in the town in the north-east. the national emergency management agency said two went off in a housing estate outside a mosque. a third happened in a settlement on the city's outskirts. >> south africa's biggest trade union organized marches across the countries. workers call for the minimum age to be raised. a recent report found 5.5 million people work full-time, but still can't afford to keep their families out of poverty. tania paige is at a rally. >> the workers are demanding a national minimum age between 230, to 240. they take it as a bare minimum. someone should earn support with the average family, and they have all their basic needs.

there's about 5.5 million working for it in their country. there are people ending up 35 plus, and can't afford to cover all the family's basic needs. i put the proposed minimum wage to the national employers nation which represents 23,000 small and medium sized businesses. they say it will kill small business. they want the government to intervene to create millions of jobs and intervene particularly in the mining sector, where tens of thousands of jobs have been impacted by a rising wage bill and falling commodity prices. people in a difficult position. they need jobs. they need to pay them a decent fair wage botswana's document industry is losing its sparkle. there's too many of the precious stones on the market. sales are falling.

thousands working in the industry lost their jobs. >> botswana's bread and butter. diamonds contribute. sales are down, and so are prices. >> clearly it's a challenging period for everyone in the pipeline, us as well, manufacturers and the retailers. and that imbalance will pull through, and we are working hard to ensure that consumers desire diamonds. >> sales reached $80 billion for the first time last year. this year the economic uncertainty in many countries and the slow down in growth in china is damaging the industry. demand is strong, despite a more than 20% drop in sales. >> we are investing heavily in the long term. >> for jobs lost in botswana and

other countries, which cut and polish diamonds. a third of employees in botswana's cut and polish industry have lost their jobs. two companies have shut down with others cutting down production. this year's christmas period, they hope, will help it recover. . >> it is really the lifeblood of the economy of botswana. >> it is the lifeblood of the economy of botswana. a lot of life size. the offspin of it, we are talking about people in the government, employees, people in hospitality, education. >> the trade union says diamond need to be marketed differently to appeal to younger buyers. executives are urging government leaders to make concessions. >> they wanted to buy diamonds, ship them out of the country,

they called it flexibility, and wanted to have services removed from the diamond. they have all sorts of things. there are those which we have. >> reporter: botswana cut the economic forecast by half. they ensure that it diversifies what is heavily defiant. it looks like it's losing its smashing now volkswagen will recall cars affected by the emissions scandal from january. vw's new chief executive says they will be fixed by the end of next year. up to 11 million diesel cars are said to contain software. the international monetary funds predicts economic growth will shrink 0.3 of a per cent.

the economic outlook may be grim, peru says its economy is strong, so strong that it takes part in the economic partnership. >> it's the first retegs in latin american and the caribbean in six years of after years of growth decline, the international monetary fund says this region and other emerging economies are at their lowest giant. >> commodity price balls have an intense effect. these are more than half of g.d.p. and the world growth. 2015 is projected to be the 5th straight year in which emerging and low income growth declines. >> but the this was different. it is recovering from the slowdown. the economy is expected to grow

six times the average in latin america. it has the lowest insulation in -- international monetary fund says it has the lowest inflation in the region. in the last 15 years, poverty has to reduce by 15." the gap has shrunk. peru's minister said the i.m.f. was too pessimistic. it's celebrating includes in the transpacific partnership or ttp. many say the new trade deal will help to expand the exports. >> we celebrate with two other countries in the region, which agreed to a commercial treaty. the critics believe that they have free trade agreements and a new one will not turn into an engine to reactivate congress. >> the president said the treaty will diversify production. if they would have been the panacea, it would not be a

crisis. we should have policies that make a fit. i'm not against them. they are not the panacea. >> some believe the policies are not strong enough. the improvements in the livelihoods of thousands of peruvians in a decade of financial perversity may be lost prisoners at a prison in southern brazil overpowered cards. at least 10 people have been taken hostage by the riots. caroline malone reports. >> reporter: they are supposed to serve time for crime. prisoners are in control of this unit at the state gaol. they are armed with knives and sticks, and threatened to throw their hostages, fellow inmates, off the roof if demands are not met. their complaints have been heard before - conditions are inhumane and prisons are notoriously

overcrowded. nearly 600,000 are in prisons in cells designed to hold less than 300,000. many, around 40%, have not seen a judge and have not been convicted of a crime. >> these questions are for people waiting for trial, held together with convicted prisoners. that's a violation of the law. >> the rye shots started tuesday in a section housing sexual offenders. prisoners smashed windows and set part of the building on fire. others were injured trying to run away from the mob, fearing they, too, would be taken hostage. police and inmate's family members gathered outside while the riots and other major issues carried on. verbal sports gambling is a $500 billion a year industry. one kind of online sports comes

under scrutiny after allegations of insider trading. gabriel elizonda has more from new york. >> it's a wildly popular online sports betting company. television commercials tempt fans with a chance to win big money in american football. >> everyone knows draft kings makes more million airs than anyone else. >> reporter: it's called fantasy sports. fans pay an online entry fee from $1 to $1,000 to join a pool. fans pick players, assemble a hypothetical or imaginary team and win or lose, based on how well the players perform each week. lots of money is involved. it's a $2.5 billion a year industry and expected to grow to 14 million by 20, 20 and face a scandal, accusations of an employee won hundreds of thousands betting on american

football, with a rival company allegedly based on information not available to the public. it's being called a case akin to insider trading or cheating. >> when you play poker you figure no one else has action to the cars. that's the question here. what data and what information could people have action to and what protections are on that. >> draft kings are the other country, issuing a joint statement denying the employees had insider information and said: both companies put a ban on countries participating and internal investigations condition in america, unlike casino gambling or online poker, fantasy leagues are not freighted by federal law.

the latest controversy has them wondering if they should be. >> they are drafting to run of the games themselves. there's no third party, no government oversight. that's where the question comes in. >> fantasy sports fans investing on a level playing field still ahead on the show - scientists are baffled by n unexpected discovery in the waters off hong kong. >> in sport, we tell but a comeback for romania's rugby team at the world cup. raul with the details.

welcome back, scientists in hong kong made a discovery, marine life is thriving despite developments at the harbour. hong kong made an unexpected underwater discovery. marine life is thriving, despite major developments at the busy harbour. sara clerk reports. >> cranes and construction sites circle the hong kong harbour front. and the city expands the footprint. scientists are keeping a close watch on what is happening on land, and a closer watch on what is going on beneath the water, and what might be happening to the coral. >> we have pollution that derives from development. particularly from sewerage. industrial effluent with heavy metal contamination, and

sedimentation resulting from reclamation activities. so all of these things synergies affect coral in a negative way. >> david baker is leading the team. they are diving, logging coral species, and how they are faring in the face of tough conditions. no one was suspecting this . >> i'm surprised because we have the numbers of water quality and emissions, there should not be coral in hong kong. a few miles from the ports. major construction sites and 7 million people, divers have found coral not just alive, but thriving. . >> it's remarkable. we can dive in places where you think no coral could survive. polluted harbours, areas close to waste water, and you still can find coral relatives.

>> reporter: the team have recorded 80 different species of hard coral. that's more than what has been identified in the entire caribbean sea. >> it's clear in hong kong. at this site we saw a diversity of coral, and schools of fishes. it's a nice day today. >> like any other marine environment around the world. this region is feeling the impact of climate change and development. the stronger types types of coral species are holding on. despite unrelenting conditions. scientists are trying to establish how they survive. on each dive the scientists collect fragments of coral. to monitor and cultivate. >> we can actively grow them, fragment them, create baby corals. eventually the goal is to put them back in the site. the fact that the coral is thriving is leaving scientists baffled.

. >> we could make a hypothesis that only the stronger survive. so it could be the corals in hong kongar super corals that may hold a secret for global survival in the future. >> it's an underwater mystery offering a glimmer of hope for habitat under threat raul is here, we know what that means. >> football, and in a few hours time the world's newest countries, south sudan, make a world cup debut. playing he in the white strip may mauritania. south sudan have been playing since their independence in 2011. they joined the african confederation the following year and f.i.f.a. soon afterwards. these are pictures from the first official international, against uganda, in juba, 2012.

>> the first game was in july 2011, when they played the kenyan club side, in the capital juba. south sudan scored first, but went on to lose 3-1. >> the following year they were admitted to africa. south sudan becoming the 209th member in may 2012, and the first international, coming up with a 2-2 draw in the capital of july of that year. it took until september this year for them to get the first competitive win against equatorial guinea. >> on wednesday, mauritius host kenya, and tanzania take on molawi. 2016 - home and away legs will be played and winners going to the second round. zimbabwe are the only national country not competing, disqualified which f.i.f.a. for

failing to pay a debt. millions of fans have been angered, and the government is set to intervene. >> reporter: football fans in zimbabwe can't believe this is happening. f.i.f.a. says the national team, the warriors, cannot take part in the world cup qualifying stages, because zimbabwe's football association owes a former coach 60,000 in unpaid salary. it faces financial difficulties for fans, football and soccer. they are in trouble. >> zimbabwe is a country - we love soccer, we ate and drink soccer. this zimbabwe football, it said it is the badge. >> no team made it to the finals. for supporters, for the qualifying stages. it's a matter of pride.

they don't know me. i just wanted to see our guys, the players. allegations of corruption including pov eting money. they led the football association in a crisis. >> the president has been fired. there's a new sports minister. most football supporters know it could take a long time to fix what has gone wrong. >> government officials appeal the suspension. but they have to grow against split equal interference. >> the government does not want to interfere so far as running the football. government would like to advise those that are in charge of running football. we need to mobilize f.i.f.a. so we walk along side each other as far as the issues are concerned. >> fans say they miss the good old days. >> players are paid in time.

where supporters - it doesn't happen. there's scandals. >> the disappointed supporters feel scandals and corruption tarnished the game and embarrassed the country. >> new york yankees are out of major league baseball's play-offs, losing 3-0 to the houston aft ras at -- astros at yankee stadium. a scorelessings, to 22. astros went from losing 104 games over four seasons to reaching the american league division where they face the kansas city royals. >> never would have imagined that we would have pitched or played that well. that's what we have been doing all year. nobody really gave us anything at the start of the year. and i don't think anybody gave us a shot at the end of the

year. >> it's really disappointing. >> it's hard, you know, seasons end abruptly and it's difficult. this is a club that they fought all year long. there's a lot of character in the room. it hurts. we didn't get it done wednesday's national league game sees the pittsburgh pirates take on the cubs. the cubs are trying to win their first world series since 1908 under first year. the cubs have gone from winning 73 games last season to finishing with the third best record in baseball at 97 wins for 65. >> romania's rugby team are closing in on a spot at the next rugby world cup. they trail canada 15-0 in the second half of the pool c game. and came back from a win. 3 minutes from time. lifting to a 17-15 victory, if

they beat italy. they'll sale their place in japan. >> a win in the world cup is important. the game is important. it gives us the opportunity to win two games and qualify for japan, and gives an opportunity to be able to develop and progress for four years. that is something that has never happened in romania. that is a big plus. >> uruguay scored the first try of a tournament. carlos going over the line against fiji. but there wasn't enough as the opponent ran in seven tries for 47 points for 15 win the last three-quarter births continue to be built on wednesday south africa expected to confirm their spot. the springboks made one change

to the team since their victory over scotland. it was a must-win, following the loss to japan. they need three more tries to equal jonah's world cup record of 64. the other game, georgia play namibia to secure the spots in the 2019 world cups. there is a lot more sport on the website. >> a top story there. lionel messi has been cleared of tax fraud, but his father could be facing a prison sentence. the address aljazeera.com/sport. that's all the sport for now. more later on all right. thank you. that brings us almost to the end of the al jazeera newshour. back with another full bulletin of news in a couple of minutes. of course, you can head to the website at any point for an update. jom.

-- aljazeera.com.

[ ♪ ] as angela merkel and francis hollande prepare for an historic joint address for the supereen parliament, an operation -- european parliament, an operation begins to target people smugglers in the mediterranean you're watching al jazeera, also coming up, doctors without borders demand a u.n. backed investigation into the u.s. bombing of its hospital in afghanistan killing 22 people. amnesty international accuses the saudi-led coalition of committing war crimes in yemen, pluses