the forces are not as strong as they need to be. in a dramatic shift of strategy barack obama announces that u.s. troops will stay in afghanistan to combat a resurging caing tal. they launch a major offense in the strategic city of homs. nearly 30 years after the

disaster scottish prosecutors identify two suspects and accuse home land of being racist with names on the u.s. hit t.v. show. >> i'm in doha with the stories for you including suspended futbol chief has the organization in for fifa president and reaction from the headquarters in switzerland coming up, in the program. ♪ now the u.s. president has announced a major shift in policy in afghanistan saying more troops will now remain on the ground there through 2017. president obama says afghan forces are doing well but they are still not strong enough. currently 9800 u.s. troops in afghanistan, most of them are meant to be withdrawn by the end of next year but the u.s. is now

expected to keep 5.5 thousand in the country when president obama leaves in 2017 and focus on counter terrorism and training forces and pushing for more u.s. support after taliban fighters captured the northern city of kunduz for three days and al jazeera roslyn jordan has more. >> reporter: the u.s. president wanted to leave office with almost no troops deployed in afghanistan, but circumstances have forced barack obama to give up that goal. 5500 troops will be stationed around afghanistan after 2016. >> the mission will not change, our troops will focus on training afghans and counter terrorism operations but these bases will gives the presence and the reach our forces require to achieve their mission. >> reporter: right now there are about 9800 u.s. troops in afghanistan, their training in providing battlefield advice and under the president's original

plan the number of troops dropped to about 1,000 by the end of 2016. the political pressure on obama to cancel the troop draw down has been building for sometime. on wednesday more than 30 former u.s. officials sent him a letter warning of chaos if u.s. troops leave. >> i think it would be a great loss for all of us if a too rapid withdraw of american capabilities and counter terrorism capabilities in afghanistan led to a deterioration in the situation just as a new president is coming into office. >> reporter: also key factors say analysts the taliban's temporary takeover of kunduz city and continuing the stability in iraq. >> the obama administration is also probably taking a hard look at their plan for withdraw in light of what has happened in iraq and the pace we pulled out of iraq and without saying it is right or wrong call in iraq i'm sure it's raising red flags

looking at the time line for afghanistan. >> reporter: last year president obama made a promise to young military officers. >> you are the first class to graduate since 9/11 who may not be sent into combat in iraq or afghanistan. [cheers and applause] . >> reporter: preventing afghanistan's disintegration means obama is breaking the promise both to the troops and his political legacy. roslyn jordan, al jazeera, washington. al jazeera's jennifer glasse is this the afghan capitol for us and says the extension of the u.s. mission will be well call news for the afghan government. >> reporter: comes on a back drop of fighting taliban taking the kunduz city the former stronghold and holding it for three full days and having a presence there for two weeks after withdrawing and afghan security forces taking that back and also saw this week fighting

in the south and taliban taking control of the highway between kandahar and stranding thousands there and crippling any transit between the two major cities in afghanistan also in zobel and helman the attacked checkpoints killing more than 20 afghan policemen this week and the afghan security forces were able to repel an attack on gazni city and taliban making their presence very much known around afghanistan, afghan security forces will have the help of u.s. forces for another year at least. i'm joined now by professor nate from the university of southern california, he joins us live now from los angeles, thank you very much for speaking to us on al jazeera. let me start by asking you what difference a slower u.s. withdraw from afghanistan will make to not only fighting the taliban but of course to also strengthening the afghan army?

>> well, the main difference would be peace. right now there is no peace in afghanistan because of the presence of foreign troops in afghanistan which means that troops of the united states and some of the nato countries, the taliban and the afghans in general they do not want foreign troops in afghanistan and unfortunately the foreign troops are still there and it's very unfortunate that president obama announced that he is going to keep the foreign troops beyond 2016 and that is a great disappointment for the afghan population. it's also a great disappointment for the american public and to the world public because the entire world was tired of this 14-year war and the damages that have been sustained by the united states as well as the

afghans, especially the afghans, as you know afghanistan is a country of villages, there are 36 thousand villages in afghanistan and most of the people live in villages so basically the war, the 14-year war has been between the villagers and the super power. and the villagers look like they are winning the war. >> actually within afghanistan itself the government in kabul welcomed the news and they say that they very much want a u.s. withdraw, a slower u.s. withdraw, this is something they need, they want the u.s. to continue to advice, assist and train their forces because they are simply not capable of dealing with a resurging call ban on their own. >> yeah, but the government wasn't strong by the united states. that government was not a government of the people of

afghanistan. so you see the united states should leave afghanistan and let the people, you know, form their own government. >> what do you think needs to change fundamentally in the way the u.s. deploys its troops in the country? >> well, the united states should stop killing afghans. right now, as you know, they bombed a hospital in kunduz. you see, and 22 people were killed and 32 people were injured, that is an example of what is happening in all of the villages of afghanistan. the united states forces have bombed and dropped 30,000 pound bombs on villages which is very similar to this hospital that they blew up, all right? the point is that in this

instance the hospital is run by, you know, volunteers of doctors without borders and they asserted there were no taliban there whatsoever and that they had informed the government of the united states that this is a hospital and this is run by the international agency, still they were bombed, okay? but the same thing is happening throughout afghanistan, especially in the areas, the united states has bombed the villages and have dropped 3,000 bombs and kills people and kills animals and insects and blew up the whole village up in the air and happening for the last 14 years. >> thank you very much, it was good to get your thoughts on this story appreciate it. we want to bring you breaking news coming from nigeria, there has been an explosion at a mosque in the northeast of the country. it took place in the area of

borno state. of course we know there has been ongoing fighting, ongoing instability in that part of the country as the government tries to do everything it can to contain it. let's speak on the phone about this and take us through what we know and what has taken place. >> well, basically two suicide bombers apparently attacked muslim worshippers in a mosque as they were praying this evening and one of the bombs went off inside the mosque and the other outside of it. putting total number as 14 but actually on the scene are saying that at least 25 people have been killed in the twin explosions and more have been injured. the force of the blast according to eyewitnesses have destroyed the mosque while they were praying for probably or maybe

having more number of dead. >> and how is the army there, how is the nigerian government responding to what is happening? >> well, basically the nigerian army has degraded the capacity of boko haram in attacking and holding territory in nigeria but what we are seeing now over the past two, three months is increasing number of suicide bomb attacks. initially the army was so successful in destroying some bomb making factories operated by boko haram when they chased them out of towns and villages but again we are saying that boko haram is a resilient force and master of its day and attacking with gorilla attacks on vulnerable communities. so far the activities of boko haram is concentrated in isolated communities which the military is chasing them out ahead of the united nations

mandate to the multi national world task force to attack or defeat boko haram the nigerian military with chad are making concerted efforts to see the fighters have been boxed into a corner for a final onslaught. >> all right well thank you very much, bringing us the latest of what is happening there, explosion in a mosque in northeast nigeria, this as fighting and instability continues in that part of the country as he was saying there and the government and the army there have launched an offensive to try and contain the situation. but let's move on now israel expanding security operations in the occupied west bank and 32 palestinians and 7 israelis killed since the beginning of october and mike hanna has more on how the measures are impacting people's lives. >> reporter: intense security at entrances to the old city.

police ordering palestinians to lift their shirts, some instructed to remove their shoes. but this group waving israeli flags passes through unchecked. the security clamp down is directly related to the degree of anxiety among jewish israelis. false alarms sparked panic in israel and have been several reports of israelis with dark complexions being attacked by fellow jews after they were mistaken by palestinians. >> our security forces work together with the members of public who have a wide and large understanding of the security issues involved and also are aware of the tense period that we are in at the moment. there is definitely not panic. >> the police spokesman is wearing a stab best. >> my safety is important and walk around with a religious man and therefore have to be careful both being jewish, religious and a police officer, i could be

targeted. >> reporter: occupied east jerusalem a number of neighborhoods have been sealed off and all residents having to pass through police checkpoints. this barrier adds at least an hour of commuting time for those needing to go to work or university. only a handful of individuals have been involved in the attacks and the dominant emotion among residents here is anger that so many are being made to pay for the actions of so few. mohamed is a prominent community leader here and he voices the frustration of his fellow residents. >> translator: netanyahu is putting pressure on the palestinian people and the people of jerusalem. this pressure will create a bigger explosion. it won't calm things down. to calm things down you need a political decision, not a security one. >> reporter: the warning that this punishment of the people, the structured humiliation may threaten the very security

israel contends it is designed to enforce. mike hanna, al jazeera, occupied east jerusalem. well despite the new security measures more violence has broken out in the west bank city of bethlehem. mosques palestinians hit israeli military car with a molotov cocktail and burnt tired and hurled stones and threw tear gas and on the border with gaza the army is deploying two batallions and took part in a solidarity rally of support of people in the west bank and al jazeera andrew simmons is in jerusalem for us with comments from the prime minister benjamin netanyahu. >> reporter: netanyahu did say he wanted immediate unconditional talks with the palestinian president all in the context of the u.s. secretary of state john kerry visiting imminently israel to try and

solve the crisis out, he is not optimistic, the likelihood of the two leaders actually meeting is, well, remote, it has to be said but there is a possibility that king abdullah from jordan could be involved and could be something to go on with that. netanyahu went on in this briefing very thoroughly to accuse the palestinian president of lying and the context of this was a full presentation to the international media claiming that there was provocation, there was incitement from the palestinians over the attacks in the way that the local media and palestinian media and social media were projecting what was happening inciting youth into violence, there has been a response from the palestinians. the plos say arocat said what happened here was a failed attempt to distract from the palestinians suffering in the

children were systematically targeted all the time by israel. well there is much more still to come on the al jazeera news hour, an anonymous whistleblower leaks classified documents about u.s. drone missions authorized by president obama and we will bring you that story and deep under ground iran t.v. shows what is said to be a missile base and in sport game five between the toronto blue jays and the rangers in the major league playoff. ♪ now scottish prosecutors say they identified two libyans as suspects in the bombing and believe the pair were involved in bringing down the pan am plane in 1988 which killed 272 people and u.s. attorney general want to work with authorities to interview the suspects in

tripoli, the only person convicted of attack was a man who died in 2012. we can now speak to george thompson who worked at the criminal defense investigation and thank you very much for speaking to us. first of all, could you begin by giving us reaction to the news how much of the breakthrough is the identification of these two suspects? >> good evening. it came as no surprise to me that this announcement was made today. i've been watching for the past three weeks a program which went out in the united states, it was a theatre program, done and produced by a gentleman whose brother died on board pan am 103 and people named as suspects were named in the program and in my opinion there is just not one iota of evidence whatsoever

tying them to the case. i'm not an apologizing for the people but i'm sure he had nothing to do with the bringing down of that plane and that the evidence against him is very, very, very suspect. >> why what do you suspect then will happen now? you obviously stated your views on mcgrahee what about these two new suspects, is it ever likely they would stand trial? if i have to think there were two new iranian suspects i would maybe have been quite hopeful. hearing that there are two libyan suspects based on evidence i saw on that program and that is where it's coming from, i say there will be no

further developments in the case against these two people, these two suspects. >> why then continue to pursue this? >> there is an awful lot of people on the prosecution side in scotland who have been involved in this case for a long, long time and they have reputations to uphold. the evidence is coming from many quarters to say the case was fabricated and i firmly believe that and a lot of them have their own positions to uphold and they will seize any opportunity they can to get some kind of publicity, let the public think they are doing something but if they are going to libya to pursue these two men based on the evidence contained in that three documentaries than

i would suggest it's a waste of public money. >> and very difficult for them to on a practical level to do this given the security situation in libya right now, is anything likely to come of this? >> well, the things hopefully are getting better in libya. i was in libya myself. i met with mcgracki weeks before he died and it was quite a strange feeling and he would lie at night and there were guns going off all around the boat. so it got a lot worse since that so i think that it would be dangerous for scottish police officers to go to libya just at this moment. and i don't think there is anything going to happen anyway. >> thanks very much, good to get your thoughts on this, george thompson who worked as we said as a criminal defense investigat investigator. now the syrian army launched the long awaited offensive in the

northern homs countryside and fighting focused on two areas restan and balbisa on a highway that links the provinces of homs and hanna and the government wants the route to bring supplies to battles up north especially in idlib and aleppo and also wants to secure a corridor between its strongholds along the coast and the capitol damascus and dana has more. >> reporter: the battle in northern homs countryside has begun. rebel held towns are coming under fire. this is a coordinated assault between the syrian army on the ground and the russian airforce. it is the second offensive of its kind since the military intervention of russia, its airforce is providing support to allies on the ground as they try to advance into opposition territory but civilians are caught in the middle. >> translator: this is a civilian area. i.s.i.s. is not here. you russian dogs, the whole

world should see this. >> reporter: activists are reporting fighters as well as civilians are being killed and injured. tens of thousands of people live there. many of them displaced from fighting elsewhere in the country and this corner of syria has been surrounded by the army for years. the only roads out lead to government controlled territory. >> translator: people are afraid. people started to leave the areas that are being hit but they can't leave the countryside because all the roads are blocked. there is only one route out but it is under government control and people are afraid they will be arrested if they go there. >> reporter: the syrian military says the aim of the offensive is to end the presence of what it calls terrorists and restore security and stability recapturing the homs countryside would help the government secure territory linking its seat of power in damascus to its popular base the coastal alo white heart land. >> translator: homs is the area they wanted to control and in center of syria and there are

roads that lead across the country. it's important for the regime and for the opposition because this is the capitol of the revolution and we will fight until the end. >> reporter: the opposition is also under attack on other fronts, northern countryside and areas in the nearby providence of idlib are battle grounds and there are reports of a major ground operation being planned around the northern city of aleppo. the homs offensive is linked to a broader military campaign that began two weeks ago when russia started air strikes targeting opposition-controlled areas in the west of the country. the syrian government and its allies are on the offensive and for now have stopped rebel advances in the area. this is one of the biggest military operations against the opposition in years. the immediate aim is to recapture territory and weaken the opposition, it's also about using force to bring about political concessions.

dana with al jazeera, beirut. ukraine has won a seat on the u.n. security council giving it a new platform to spar diplomatically with permanent member russia and egypt, japan and sinagal and uraguay elected to the country and four were non-opposed to the permanent seat and with possible problems between ukraine and russia there is clashes between japan and rival china also a permanent member as well as russia as japan has territorial disputes with both countries and the five will join for two year terms starting on the first of january. u.n. nuclear watchdog said iran has given what it needs to determine if the country's past activities are linked to nuclear weapon and part of the deal struck this july calls the sanctions relief for restrict n restrictions on nuclear activities. earlier the parliament and high counsel approved the nuclear accord despite opposition by some members, meanwhile i ran

t.v. has what appears to be an under ground missile base and broadcaster said it was given access to the site by the powerful revolutionary guard and did not disclose the location but said it was 500 meters under ground. now, amnesty international is calling for an independent inquiry into drone strikes overseas by the obama administration. it comes after an anonymous whistleblower leaked classified documents about how president obama authorized drone missions between 2011 and 2013. amnesty says the papers raise serious questions about the human cost of drone strikes. rights groups also say that u.s. government could be in violation of international law. well, for how on this let's go to new york and speak to jeremy who is an investigation reporter at the intercept where they were published and you wrote the

implicit message on drone strikes from the obama administration has been one of trust but don't verify, could you start by telling us a bit more about what you mean? >> well, i mean this is a program, the drone wars that has existed since in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and in total secrecy and not until 2013 that a sitting u.s. president gave an address on drone strikes and like the bush administration before it makes assertions that the drone program is precise, that it is engaged in what they call targeted killing that civilian deaths are minimal and that this is the sort of cleanest way of waging war. what the documents provided to us by this very brave whistleblower show is in some cases documents indicate that drone strikes and other strikes conducted by special operations forces kill as many as nine out of ten people that were not the intended target so when you have statistics where you say 90% of

the people were killed in the drone strikes we have no idea who they are, that gives lie to the pronouncements this is somehow surgical or strategic or targeted. >> right because really a lot of the debate and information around u.s. drone strikes, it tends to focus on the accuracy of technology used rather than nature of the targets and where the strikes are taking place. >> right, i mean drones are a tool, not a policy. the policy is assassination. and you know whatever phrase they want to come up with from orwel's dictionary this is assassination and systematic hunting down with attempt to assassinate and not charged with a crime or judicial process and are set to die based on an edict issued by the president of the united states after a bureaucracy of killing signs off on it. so we have president obama sitting on top a secret parallel

justice system that believes it has the right to sentence people to death around the world. and many, many civilians have been killed in these strikes. i myself have spent a great deal of time in yemen and somalia and american citizens killed and 16-year-old killed while he was having dinner with his cousins, he was a u.s. citizen, three other americans that we know of have been killed in these strikes but the vast majority of people killed are local people who are often caught between atrocious forces like the taliban and u.s. occupying force and al-qaeda and the peninsula and yemen leadership and american's drone wars so people suffering from these wars are overwhelmingly civilians and overwhelmingly arabs in yemen and muslims of various ethnic groups inside of afghanistan. >> yet when you look at the language used to describe drone operations it's widely seen, it's widely viewed as a policy

as you say rather than as a tool, it's almost been normalized in the battle against terrorism at a time when governments are keen to avoid past mistakes that we saw during the invasions of iraq and afghanistan and of course when there is a reluctant to connect troops ton ground is anything therefore likely to change? >> well, look, i mean i'm talking to you now at a time when there are calls from around the world for an actual independent investigation into why the united states bombed a hospital in kunduz in afghanistan killing many medical staff and civilians, there are reports now emerging that u.s. special operations forces knew it was a hospital and that they decided to target it because they were going after someone who was purported to be a member of the taliban, that is illegal under international law, that is a war crime. president obama today said the crimes are going to continue and that the war is not going to end and you know who is going to be at the tip of the spear and

obama has now expanded unending afghan war the very people who are conducting the operations that we write about that are killing so many unknown people or innocent people. >> jeremy scott hill thanks very much and appreciate you taking the time for us there in new york. still ahead for you on the al jazeera news hour, a diplomatic balancing act and south korea is in the middle between the u.s. and china. attacking home land and taking a swipe at the u.s. hit show, in sport cook adds his name as he fights to keep england in the first half against pakistan. ♪

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put death toll much higher and it's in the area of borno state. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is open to meeting the palestinian president and weeks of unrest between israelis and palestinians and it comes as they expand the military presence in jerusalem. now seven people have died after a greek coast guardianship hit a boat carrying refugees off the greek island of lesbos and four of the seven who died were children, 31 people were rescued by the sea from the coast guard and the police said the vessel had been trying to flee the authorities and nationalitys of the dead are not known. there are reports from brussels of a proposed deal between the european union and turkey to stem the flow of refugees trying to cross into europe. that story on al jazeera with lee barker who is outside the summit in brussels and they are still talking there. what is the latest and how close are they to a deal? >> well, we know for certain

that a deal is on the table even if a final agreement seems a long way off, yes, of course, if any agreement among the eu leaders is reached here we will then automatically have to be ratified by the european parliament and there is a long bureaucratic process before anything is tied up in principle but what we are hearing from reports about that specific deal is that in return for 3.4 billion dollars in aid to turkey, turkey would in response increase the number of incentives available to people arriving in turkey from the likes of syria to stay within turkey rather than automatically heading towards the european union. we are talking about increasing living standards, increasing also levels of integration too and perhaps giving people access to labor market, giving them the chance to work as well, giving them a sense of perhaps being able to stay a little bit longer in a country that is not

essentially their own. there are also other details within this deal as well that would provisionally potentially see the relaxing visa restrictions for turkish nationals giving up to 75 million people more freedom of movement when it comes to traveling into the european union. and it is to some extent a bit of a double-edged sword and the last time there was litzation like this was one the balkin states and automatically led to a significant number of people claiming asylum within the european union. the feeling here is if liberalization happens once again for turkish nationals a similar situation might happen but of course on much lower numbers than are currently being seen in contrast with many hundreds of thousands of people who have been arrived to the eu from outside the eu and syria and other war-torn countries and poll polarized and france and

germany have been supportive showing solidarity to refugees they are weary about conceding too much to turkey but with the eu very much backed into a corner when it comes to desperately trying to find a solution to the refugee crisis, it looks like this deal that is on the table may be the only deal up for negotiations any time soon. >> all right, we are live from the eu summit in brussels where an agreement is thought to have been reached but we are still waiting for a final announcement. south korea's president is in washington ahead of a summit with our u.s. counterpart barack obama and harry faucet reports from seoul balancing the relationship between them and china is an increasingly delicate task. >> reporter: postpone visit to paying tribute to veterans of the korean war and it's a reference point for the alliance between these two nations but

it's alliance showing some present day strains and last month he was in beijing an honored guest as they celebrated since the end of world war ii with huge display of military power and to improve the political relationship with china to match south korea's vital economic there risk unsettling the country's main ally. >> on one hand china has enormous with the south koreans and successful eta as with americans and of course we realize china will grow with the unification pr unification prospects but our biggest leverage comes with ties with the americans. >> reporter: one of the most sensitive issue is for the high altitude area defense an antimissile system on south korea and pushing on seoul to push back on the plan and not just north korea but china's own capable. officials have been quick to

point out they are taking their defense minister along with in the issue will not be on the agenda for discussions and the fact they felt the need for it shows a sensitive issue at a time when they are trying to balance its relationship with china and the united states. north korea should provide easy territory for agreement, at a parade at the weekend the leader kim jong un and could they start talks with pyonyang. >> they should not, no, and americans long ago realized that north korea is not going to surrender its nuclear weapons. at the same time the threat of the north korean nuclear missiles is real but it's remote. so the white house is in no hurry and they are likely to continue the current policy.

>> reporter: after the ceremony the president moved on to a massive facility and seoul is hoping for the transfer of technology for its space program and an example of range of issues being crammed into this one visit but it's as much about simplism and a joint statement will have a summit with president obama to confirm the continuing strength of their partnership, harry faucet, al jazeera, seoul. ♪ now graffiti artists hired by the u.s. show homeland wrote messages on some sets criticizing the show for stereotypes of the muslim world and scenes of a refugee camp in lebanon but had grievances against the show, one of the meech messages says home land is racist is the main character

strides past the wall and another says home land is not a series while this one reads black lives matter. the scenes feature in the second episode of the fifth series the artist saying no one working on the show checked what it was they were writing. and we have one of the artists behind the messages and part of a group called the arab yanukovich street artists and joins us via skype from cairo and thanks very much for taking the time and seems like an obvious questions and went through of what you wrote on the set of home land and i will ask it tell us why you decided to do this and why you are not exactly a fan shall we say of the show? >> i mean i think it's really important to days the problematics of shows like home land, who depict the middle eastern and the muslim world in general as one dimensional stereotypical way, in essence it

harms real people. >> are you surprised they didn't check what you had written? was that something you anticipated? did you expect that it would actually go to air? >> i mean, we definitely did not anticipate it but in a way we weren't surprised, right, just based on previous fopaus that were aired in seasons before. so it came as a surprise at how easy it was but it was kind of in line with what we thought about the show to begin with. >> yet you yourself have admitted that this is a show that enjoys enormous popularity, it's won awards for its acting, for the production, it's an award-winning series so i guess, you know, your problem with it perhaps not something that is widely shared when you look at the success that the show has enjoyed. >> there is no doubt the show is incredibly well produced with

great actors. but that is kind of besides the point. it's still important to address this idea that stereotyping and all entire region of people, a huge region of people to a very shallow and one dimensional perspective is something that is potentially dangerous and we wanted to use this opportunity in a way to claim back our image. >> and so what are you hoping, tell me more about what you are hoping to achieve by this, do you think it's going to make people kind of sit up and listen? >> well, gauging but the huge response we have gotten in the last day it seems to have resonated with people and seems to have spurred discussions, multiple discussions and in essence that was what we were after. so for us that is a very positive reaction. >> i mean obviously we are talking about a piece of fiction

here but it tackles a crucial contemporary issues that the ideological clash that we have seen between the west and the muslim world, the battle against malitias, groups like is, is it just the stereotypes and the sort of miss conceptions in the way that muslims are portrayed? i guess it's not something that is just limited to home land in your view. is there an issue with the sort of culture surrounding programs like this? >> well, absolutely. i first want to address the idea that we can't undermine the power of fiction, i mean regardless of the fact of it being fiction it presents itself within a realistic context and uses real world contemporary issues addresses them as fact and, in fact, it has the power to imprint on people and to affect the opinions and perceptions of people as they

watch regardless of whether or not it's fiction. >> all right, thank you very much. >> thank you. we approached homeland for their reaction, in a statement the show's executive producer said we wish we caught these images before they made it to air, however, as home land always strives to be sub versive and a stimulus for conversation we admire this sabotage. returning to nigeria with an explosion at a mosque, at least 14 people are known to have died. nigeria's government has been battling to beat the armed group boko haram which has been trying to carve out a state for itself in that area. the nigeria's president buhair asked them to defeat boko haram by the end of the year but since he has been in office the deaths and the violence in that part of the country have continued.

al jazeera asked if his goal was a realistic one. >> when evever we mention it, w don't hide anything from anybody. but definitely in terms of higher ground, we are gaining ground and boko haram is virtually now confined to the forest and the operations are not well coordinated and as soon as the rainy season comes, which is by the end of the year, coincided with that, boko haram will virtually be out of their main stronghold. >> you can see more of this interview with the nigerian president on friday at 1930 gmt. more to come for you on the al jazeera news hour, after more than 400 days behind bars al jazeera welcomes back our

journalist bahar mohamed and a tough match for nadel as he struggles to make the quarter finals at the shanghai mark. ♪

♪ welcome back, now london's mayor has become enthusiastic and was too enthusiastic during a game of rugby knocking down a ten-year-old japanese boy and the match on a tokyo street got out of hand when he charged to the line and the school student hit the ground before picking himself up, surprised and not

hurt and suddenly popular in japan after the national team had big wins at the rugby world cup in england. robin is here now with more of the day's sports news. >> funny pictures they are, thank you and futbol for members who pledged their support for suspended michelle and bid for the fifa presidency after a crisis meeting at the organization's headquarters in switzerland and being investigated over a $2 million payment made to him by fifa president blatter nine years early and got the backing of absence of any written contract for the payment resulted in thursday's high-level meeting and said he should have the chance to clear his name. >> we support that he has a right to a due process and a fair trial and to the

opportunity to clear his name. we strongly call on all instances involved in the current process and fifa and sport to work very rapidly to ensure that there is a final decision on the merits of the case by at the latest mid november 2015. so one month from now. >> so the big question where exactly does this leave him, our sports correspondent lee weldings explains. >> reporter: well, this is an extremely difficult situation for the fifa and extremely difficult meeting between the executive committee and 54 member nations and of course he has been given their backing for now and they say he should have a fair trial, nothing has been

proven yet. there is still plenty to be said about that situation involving him and mr. bladder but what happens going forward, however the situation with fifa is resolved, he needs somebody representing them when a new president will be announced on february the 26 and put someone forward like van prog who was going to stand in the election and eventually stood to the side and do they look outside of europe and get a candidate from the middle east, this is a very difficult time because they want to give their support to him but there was disagreement between representatives in that meeting where he himself wasn't there, he was represented by his lawyers. moving forward even though all 54 nations have released a statement saying they are behind him for now, that could still change in the future. >> ali has officially submitted candidacy for the up coming fifa election and the jordan people

failed to make the blatter emotion but the resignation created a vacancy again, on wednesday prince ali warned against delaying the meeting which he believes could have more instability within fifa and if elected the prince will restore the image of the world football governing body and saying the crisis atrophy fa is for change with discussion over the future and a better future will only come if ideas turn to action and will happen if fifa has the right leadership. and at fifa and his first day on the job in zurich and takes over bladder on thursday and reiterated that fifa is focused on the president to the presidential election and supporting the current investigations. world number one yanukovich was

taking on lopez and yanukovich losing five games in total to a five straight win and will be in the last eight. and yanukovich will be joined in quarter fines by nadal and had to work hard in his match and winning straight sets he wrapped it up by clinching the tie break in the second. new zealand brandon has told a london court his former teammate asked him to spot fix matches back in 2008 during the indian primi league and said he declined the offer, cross examination said it took to 2011 to report him to the international icc and faces perjury charges stemming from a successful 2012 libel action against modi the former head of the indian permi league and fixing matches in a tweet this 2010 and accused of lying in that case but he said he never

cheated. england trailed pakistan by 233 runs with 7 wick ets in hand after the third day action after the first test in abudabi and brought up 50 of 75 balls and fellow opener fell for 35. cook continued to make the most of the good batting conditions in the united arab emirit and out of 168 and cook becoming the second england person to score a thousand in a year four times, england would resume day four and 290-3. and day two of the first test against the west indies and brought up his 150 short later and 100 as well and sri lanka were 484 and west indies finishing 66-2 at the end of the day's play, blue jays celebrating a win over the texas rangers with the game locked 2-2

and they went ahead in the 7th inning with the umpire said a blue jays hit the bat of a ranger player and texas were awarded a run despite blue jays protests. toronto jay hit the decisive homer for the blue jays and the first post season win at home since 1993. sgll . >> a lot of changing and momentum from team to team and obviously in the game tensions are going to be running high and, you know, people's emotions get involved and it's a different type of game and came on top and what we came to do. >> plenty of sport later and back to london. >> thanks robin and that is it for me for the news hour but i will be back in a few moments day with more of the day's news for you including a round up all of our top stories and leave you with a special day for al

jazeera as we welcome back our journalist bahar mohamed. ♪ welcome baher. [applause] thank you for your determination, for your humility and being such a humble and nice gentleman. [applause] i'm very honored and humbled to work every single one of you, you are my back, you are my backbone. >> wonderful to have you. welcome home. >> you are not only a free man but a role model for all of us. let's continue to release every single journalist behind bars all over the world. >> we are very proud of the work that baher has done. [applaus

[applause] ♪ >> killing of journalists is a question that is directed to society. >> they are impartial. >> if you wanted to be a good journalist in iraq, you had to risk your life. >> they observe and report. >> kidnapping is a very real

problem. >> journalists on the front lines. >> sometimes that means risking death. >> getting the story, no matter what it takes. >> that's what the fourth estate is all about. that's why i'm risking my life. >> every saturday night. >> i lived that character. >> go one on one with america's movers and shakers. >> we will be able to see change. >> gripping... inspiring... entertaining. no topic off limits. >> 'cause i'm like, "dad, there are hookers in this house". >> exclusive conversations you won't find anywhere else. >> these are very vivid, human stories. >> if you have an agenda with people, you sometimes don't see the truth. >> "talk to al jazeera". saturday, 6:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america.

♪ afghan forces are still not as strong as they need to be. >> in a dramatic shift of strategy president obama announces that u.s. troops will stay in afghanistan to combat a resurging taliban. ♪ hello, i'm mary ann and you are watching al jazeera live from london and also coming up, a syrian army launches a major offensive north of the strategic city of homs. eu leaders agree a multi before dollar deal with turkey to help