pumpkins could be hauntingly bare by the end of the holidays. i'm stephanie sy. thanks for watching. ♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello there, and welcome to the news hour. i'm laura kyle in doha. at least 55 people are killed by a syrian government strike on a busy market near damascus. an international summit is taking place in vienna to try to bring an end to the conflict. plus more than 20 refugees drown as two more boats sink off of the coast of greece. the last british pilsner has been released after more than a

decade in guantanamo bay. i'll have all of your sport, including australia, getting all green and gold fever as the wallabies prepare to take on new zealand in the rugby world cup final. all the build up to the clash coming up. ♪ as syrian government mistile attack on a busy market has killed at least 55 people. witnesses say around 100 others were wounded in the rebel-held area of duma, east of damascus. activists accuse government forces of firing at least 11 missiles at the market. since the civil war began nour years ago, more than a quarter of a million syrians have died. foreign ministers are meeting in vienna for a second day of talks on the war in syria. iran is included for the first time after the united states and

its allies dropped objections. let's get the latest from mohammed jamjoom. we have not been hearing much from inside where those talks are taking place, but plenty of noise outside there. >> reporter: absolutely, laura. the french foreign minister was expected to come out and brief the press here about two and a half hours ago, that was supposed to happen imnextly at that time, still hasn't happened. as far as we know, and the diplomats are talking at this hour, this plenary session is still ongoing. outside this is where a crowd has assembled, and if we can just pan the camera, yoni. there are a few dozen opposition activists out here, calling for the immediate removal of syrian president bashar al-assad. very angry about the talks that are going on inside, because they don't believe these talks

will benefit the syrian people in any way whatsoever. now i have been speaking to several of these protesters. many were moved from the front of the totel to just across the street. one of them was telling me why she had no trust in the talks that are going on inside the hotel. let's take a listen to what she said just a short while ago. >> we know they will not work for [ inaudible ] because otherwises they have had the chance for five years, five long years with all of this blood, with all of this kind of [ inaudible ] with the chemicals. so how -- how we will accept -- expect any good from them? any -- any benefit from them? >> reporter: as the crowd is getting noisier and rowdier out here, inside it has really been

silence. we don't know when we will be hearing from the diplomats, when expectly these talks will be over. we're expecting there should be some press statement at some point soon, but it really goes to show, everybody expected these talks would be difficult, and judging by the fact that we have heard nothing and the schedule has been so topsy turvey, it seems to indicate it is perhaps more difficult going than even the diplomats gathered here had anticipated them being. laura. >> okay. thank you very much. if we hear anything, we'll of course come straight back to you. iran is represented at those talks in vienna. the first time it has been invited to take part. a research fellow in the middle east and north africa studies from iran joins us now live from tehran. what do iranians hope to get out of these talks? >> hello. i think that the iranians are

now thinking about sustainable solution, which -- it's essential this solution that all sides do not speak about any preconditions. i think iranians are now thinking and trying to find sustainable solutions with respect to the role of syrian people inside and outside syria, and also the oppositions, and with respect to the legitimate government of the syria, and the rule of president assad. >> yeah, you mention there, crucial to any solution. do you think some common ground can be found, regarding the future of assad? >> i think that today in vienna, there are examining the possibilities of finding compromise, compromise on the future of syria, and i think

because there's no preconditions for these talks. it means that they could find a solution with respect to the role of president assad, yes, i think so. >> what would a solution look like in iran's eyes? >> i think that this solution could be a combination of the political issues, domestic political issues of syria, and also the problem of terrorism in this country, the role of isil and other terrorist groups, and it is important to know that the syria issue for iran is not only about this country, it is a matter of security for all countries in the region in the middle east. it is about -- also it is about syria, but it is also about the future of iraq. it is about the security of jordan, about -- it is about the kurds. it is about yemen also.

it is a very complicated issue, and we should wait for them for any conclusion of these talks. but i think that it is the first step. we could not expect any final solution for these talks now. >> no, indeed. and we will continue to wait to hear something from vienna. thank you for joining us there from tehran. we're getting breaking news regarding syria. the u.s. is to spend special forces to the country to assist in the fight against isil. let's go to rosiland jordan for more on this announcement. ros? rosiland jordan can you hear me? do tell us more about this announce we have had of special forces being send to syria. >> reporter: yes, laura, we're

having a little bit of audio problems here, but as you just noted president barack obama is authorizing the deployment of fewer than 50 special operations forces to northern syria to work alongside the members of the syrian opposition as they go after isil targets. the president has always authorized the deployment of a-10 aircraft, and f-15 fighter jets to the air base in turkey to help with the ongoing air war against isil inside syria. what we don't know is whether the u.s. has received permission from the syrian government to allow the deployment on the ground of u.s. special forces inside that country. let's not forget when the air war started a year ago, september, the syrian government complained that the u.s. air war against isil targets inside

syria was a violation of its sovereignty, but that said, syrian aircraft did not try to engage u.s. aircraft and other coalition aircraft as they have continued their attacks on isil targets. now we are trying to find out what the reaction is from syrian officials, but the obama administration is portraying this as a way of intensifying the fight against isil. trying to work with those members of the opposition in syria, as well as with iraqi security forces and kurdish forces inside iraq to go after isil targets and to try to destroy their capacity. >> ros, what has prompted this? perhaps they are rattled by russia's military involvement, they are feeling the pressure themselves to get more involved on the ground? >> reporter: we don't know whether or not the russian military presence inside syria had anything to do with this. certainly any time you deploy

ground forces of any sort, you are increasing the chances of casualties. so this has to be a decision that -- that president barack obama had to take very seriously before authorizing it, because the risk of losing someone in a combat situation is going up. but that said, they do believe that when u.s. forces are working very closely with their allies on the grown, they tend to be much more successful. there has already been allusion to last week's hostage rescue effort where u.s. forces ended up getting involved to try to protect the kurdish fighters who were involved in that operation. one master sergeant lost his live in that incident. but the pentagon noted this could be a very successful way of going after isil. >> okay. rosiland jordan thank you very

much. following that announcement that dozens of u.s. forces will be put on the grown in syria. greece's prime minister has said he feels ashamed by europe's response to the refugee crisis. he spoke after two boats carrying refugees from turkey to greece sank. more than 100 people were rescued from the water. >> translator: i want to say that as a european leader i feel shame. shame both for the inability of europe to deal with this human crisis, but also for the quality of the debate. today the waves of the aegean aren't just washing up dead refugees and children on our shores, they are wiping out european civilization itself. the number of refugees crossing from turkey to greece has surged in recent weeks. the e.u. wants greece to create

holding facilities for tens of thousands of them. but as john psaropoulos reports, it is struggling to cope. >> reporter: these people are heading for athens and a perilous track on foot across the bakkens, but right now they are relieved they crossed the dangerous waters in these rubber dinghies. most are refugees needing international protection. still waiting for his travel documents is this avenue gan. he paid the price as working as an interpreter by u.s. coalition forces by being hunted down by the taliban. >> they came and shoot bullets in front of my home. and they put a letter on my door. when my dad the letter my dad told me because of you, i told you don't work with these guy, and because of you my family life is in risk. take that money and get out of

afghanistan. don't come back in my home. >> reporter: he has waited for two years for an american visa, he with wait no more. but the process for him and thousands more who arrive here is bureaucratic and slow. they now spill over barbed wire fences into the surrounding olive groves. there's no running water, nothing to eat, and nowhere to sit down. only children manage to escape briefly. this is greece's first e.u. hot spot where new arrivals are screened. there is room for about 10,000 people in camps like these across the country. but greece has been forced to race that capacity to 50,000. the reason is that'sern european countries are overwhelmed by the convoys of thousands, prompts

some to shut their borders. the greek migration minister says european leaders were pressing greece to do even more. >> translator: instead of the 60,000 hospitality positions in one camp that they were asking of us, which in reality would be more like a concentration camp, we oning seeded to gettal proppal for 20,000 places of temporary places. >> reporter: the greater the surge in refugees trying to beat the onset of winter, the greater the risk to free movement. well there have been more chaotic scenes on the border between slovenia and austria. austrian police said around 7,000 refugees gathered after slovenia brought large groups of them there by train. thousands have been trying to climb over the barriers. our correspondent has more.

>> reporter: compared to yesterday's dramatic events here at the border crossing between slovenia and austria, today's situation is calmer, but still very, very tense. about a thousand people spent the night here in no man's land. during the morning around 500 people managed to cross the border, but the intensity is still very slow. as austrian police opened the gates, people pushed to get through. we have seen some fainting. in the camp on the slovenian side, there are about 3,000 people. on occasion incidents happened in the fenced area when refugees tried to enter austria by using force. people are tired, nervous, lacking clothes, food, and water. on the austrian side a fence has been built in order to prevent

forced entries. >> reporter: the last british prisoner to be held at guantanamo bay has been flown back to the u.k. the jet landed henear london. he has been held in the u.s. prison in cuba for 13 years without charge or conviction. >> reporter: he was held at guantanamo bay for more than 5,000 days, never charged, never convicted. the last british resident to be detained at the u.s. base has now been released. >> the americans announced some weeks ago that they were going to release him from guantanamo, and i can confirm that he is on his way back to the u.k. now, and he'll arrive later today. >> reporter: his supporters have always maintained he is an innocent man, and that his family have been robbed of a father and a husband. the campaign for his release has been a long one.

>> 14 years of torture. i mean torture is bad enough, but when someone has never been charged and therefore assumed next it is just inforable. >> reporter: he detained in afghanistan in 2001 while working for a charity. in 2002 he was transferred to guantanamo bay. by 2007 the bush administration had cleared him for release. yet he was still in custody in 2009 when the obama administration also cleared him for release. he went on hunger strikes several times, one of the many prisoners to protest in this way. campaigners say he was held in appalling conditions sometimes in solitary confinement, and also allege he was baent. it is expected he will be reunited with his family, including one child born during the initial stage of his incarceration. do stay with us here on al jazeera, still to come,

overcrowding in u.s. prisons forces the government to consider early release for as many as 48,000 inmates. plus a proposal to create the world's biggest mar rear reserve hits another hurdle. and in sport why this american gymnast could become one of the biggest stars at next year's olympic games. ♪ israel has agreed to release bodies of palestinians who died in recent fighting. on friday israeli forces shot another two palestinians at a check point. one of those men has since died and the other is in this critical condition. israeli police say they opened fire after the men tried to stab a policeman. that's the latest violent incident since the beginning of october. another palestinian has died

after being shot in jerusalem. and stephanie decker has more from west jerusalem. >> reporter: this is the first incident in two weeks in jerusalem where we have had -- according to israeli police they say a 23 year old from the area behind the separation area, but they say that he stabbed a student. in that student is in moderate condition. and this happened on the seam line which separates west from occupied east jerusalem in west jerusalem. and we had one of our al jazeera colleagues on the ground. he saw the latter half of what happened. he said he saw a young man lying on the ground and was then shot seven or eight times. incredibly tense situation still. a lot of these sindh identifies have been happening in the occupied west bank. this latest wave started in

jerusalem and moved towards the west bank. starting today in the u.s. the first of up to 48,000 federal prison inmates will be released early. the inmates are all held in federal jails. they have been serving sentences for non-violent drug crimes. patty culhane has more. >> reporter: charles ford is a man who really likes to talk about his brother todd. >> comedian, just -- he demands the room. just has that certain aura about him. >> reporter: his pictures show an inseparable pair always smiling. but this is where the pictures stop. at 24 years old, todd foster in his first run-in with the law was found guilty of dealing crack cocaine, along with 7 others they possessed a combined

15 kilograms. and that meant his sentence, life in prison, no chance of parole. >> life without parole for something you can put in your pocket? no. i would never see that in a million years. >> reporter: the judge had very little discretion, because federal law requires mandatory minimum sentences. the independent commission that oversees sentences just changed the formula, reducing the time, future and past prisoners will have to serve. shaving an average of two years of prison time for drug offenses, but for people sentenced to life it means they will know freedom. part of the reason, money. the u.s. spends $80 billion a year on prisons, and they are overcrowded. almost half of the inmates are there on drug charges. congress is considering lowering the penalties further, but that

has its critics. >> it is going to drive the crime rate up. because unfortunately many will go back to what they did previously, and that is victimize the public by selling a poison. they are all in fact poisons that destroy people's lives. >> reporter: the vast imagine yourty of prisoners that get out, end up going back to prison. >> but with me i'll be his support system. you can call me. i'm there. i'm going to be tight like this. i'm going to make sure he is right. he definitely going to be good, i promise you that. he ain't got no choice but to do the right thing. >> reporter: after 212 years of thing there was no hope of freedom. now we he'll have a chance to find out. >> let's speak live to patty now. you are at a halfway house, i understand, so what is life like there, for these people once

they get released from prison? >> reporter: well, just to give you an idea, 52 people walked out of this halfway house this morning to freedom. they have to come to facility like this where they are offered services, trying to get them back into the community. but the recidivism rate is high. 76% of people who have been in prison get rearrested within five years. one of the biggest problems is it's really hard for felons to find a job that will pay a living wage. the recidivism rate in this country hasn't moved in decades. there were 4300 people who went to halfway houses like this and are now free across the country [ inaudible ] and they will be

deported. >> patty we'll keep on battling the noise of the road just behind you, because it is an extraordinary situation the u.s. finds itself in. what are the problems with prisons there that has lead to this announcement in the first place? >> reporter: laura, i have to admit i lost you through most of that question, but i do want to give you a sense of what the prison population in the u.s. looks like. it has exploded since the '80s when they launched that war on drugs. at that time the nation spent $17 billion housing inmates across the country, it is now $80 billion. the gentlemen in my story, his brother will have served 22 years in prison for distributing crack cocaine. in that cost the federal government almost $650,000 to keep him in jail. so it's a huge concern. there is also a lot of talk about changing the mandatory minimums because of the racial

disparity. almost half are hispanic, a quarter are african americans. plus the prisons are just overcrowded. 48% of people in prison are for drug offenses, not violent offenses. >> that answered my question. thank you very much for joining us there from baltimore. the united nations is warning the world is not doing enough to cam bat climate change. world leaders will meet in paris in december to try to come up with a legally binding climate agreement. antarctica is on the front line of the fight against climate change. russia has failed to back the creation of what would be the world's largest ocean sanctuary. but as andrew thomas reports there is still some optimism. >> reporter: it is the least-touched continent on earth, millions of square kilometers of sea, ice, and

life. no polar bears. but penguins, other birds and fish that live nowhere else. antarctica's ecosystems are available within themselves. but they are also essential laboratories for measuring the effects of climate change. >> given all of these impacts, it's important that we're able to establish what has happened through climate change and what has happened through fishing, whether it's tourism, shipping, or fishing. so by having control areas, you have those areas contracted and get a good scientific control. >> reporter: for the past five years meetings here, delegates have been dnegotiating. agreement needs consensus. in previous year russia and china vetoes proposals. they want the right to fish

freely. >> every year that these are not established, it's open for fishing, and other activities that could degrade the ecosystem, so it's really system that these are put in place as soon as possible to protect them. >> reporter: disappointing, but delegates this week again failed to reach consensus. there is of course some frustration here, but most delegates are leaving more optimistic than they have been. they may not have quite reached agreement, but they say substantial progress has been made. importantly for the first time, china says it now supports one of the two proposed protected areas. russia, though, remains opposed. >> they have indicated they are not quite ready to proceed with this protected area yet, but they have indicated they are willing to talk with us, and we'll take them up on that offer, and hopefully we'll be able to convince them. >> reporter: so there's growing hope it's coming, but for now,

antarctica still lacks the protection it needs. plenty more still to come here on al jazeera. as pakistan recovers from a massive earthquake earlier this week, business owners are facing an insurance problem. also zimbabwe tries to boost solar energy use. but some people are feeling left in the dark. and a controversial refugee decision and ended in a hostage situation. we'll have all of the details on the top-level football match in turkey.

>> tough that the country gave up on me. >> look at the trauma... every day is torture. >> this is our home. >> nobody should have to live like this. >> we made a promise to these heroes... this is one promise americans need to keep. hello again, here are the headlin headlines. a syrian government missile attack on a busy market have killed at least 55 people. witnesses say around 100 others were wounded in the rebel-held area of duma. foreign ministers are meeting in vienna for a second day of talks on the war in syria. meanwhile the united states has

announced it is deploying a smul number of special forces in syria to assist in the fight against isil. and greece's prime minister says he feels ashamed of the european response to the refugee crisis. while world diplomats talk peace in vienna, their air forces are dropping bombs on syria. our correspondent looks back at the events of the last 30 days and what is at stake for moscow. >> reporter: russia didn't start the war in syria, but may be trying to finish it. for one month, russian jets have been bombing areas across the country. twrn we will support the syrian army only in its legitimate fight specifically against terrorist groups. >> reporter: 30 days and more than a thousand air strikes

later, military analysts are trying to determine who putin defines as terrorists. the kremlin says it is going after isil. while some air strikes have hit isil areas, many haven't. the united states, which is also bombing isil in syria isn't convinced. >> assad has really chosen himself to fight isil. >> reporter: last week assad made his first foreign visit in four years he has been at war with his own people. moscow is a long time ally. not long before putin announced though military campaign, assad admitted he was running out of soldiers. >> translator: the terrorism that is spreading today would without your decisions and actions have spread to even more territories and states, not just in our region. >> reporter: russia's propaganda machine has always been hard at work, slick internet videos

appear to glorify its role in the conflict. but they are filmed from the vantage point of the russians. here are ones that aren't. russia denies deliberately targeting civilians but with hospitals being hit, tactics are also being scrutinized. a senior research fellow joins us now from london. good to have you with us. what would you say has changed in syria since russia has got more militarily involved? >> well, what has changed is the come bin indication of the situation. the situation is now much more difficult to resolve than it was before. russia is after all a very powerful player, and when it creates obstacles there, that means they are serious.

>> it had a thousand air strikes, we're just seeing a new line from reuters where it says it has hit 1,600 targets. but who is russia targeting there? >> well, that depends on the actual count, but -- calculations and information on the targets of this strikes shows that between 80 and 90% of these targets are not associated with daesh. these are targets mainly of the moderate opposition, or maybe algnus are -- al-nusra and other islamic groups. >> so what is its goal? >> the goal is probably to defe defend assad and russia's interest. it seems to me the russian grand

plan is to fundamentally change the situation, where now americans have choice to like if they want to fight daesh, and they are allying moderates. if moderates will be defeated with russian assistance, then there would be no other choice for americans and american-lead coalition just to ally assad, you do not destroy, you do not undermine your military ally, so that means that americans will secure russia's position in the middle east. >> as we well know the syrian conflict is incredibly entrenched, does russia have what it takes to stay the course and see that goal come to fruition? >> that is certainly difficult to achieve that goal if possible. i think it is impossible, but the problem is that the kremlin -- kremlin's leadership seems to be slightly detached from reality. they probably do not pay

attention to fine details. interesting statement by putin just 14 days ago, when he said he did not differentiate between sunni and shia muslims, all of them are similar for him. so he misses the very important driving force behind this conflict. that is the recipe for disaster. >> we saw in the report that there is this propaganda presence online glorifying russi russian's role in syria. is it popular among russians? >> yes, because it's a sort of cnn-style war. so it looks very, very attractive. russian pilots carry out remote attacks. no one dies, except several russian soldiers which were just moved to russia in coffins recently. but at tracks attention. that allows people who are

titillated by the russian government's pollty domestically. that allows them to improve their self-esteem. >> thank you for joining us from london. >> you are welcome. the syrian activists opposed to isil and his friend have been found beheaded in the southern turkish city. they were from the industry of raqqa. he had fled to turkey a year ago and was a member of an activist group. turkish media says seven syrians have been arrested. and sunday is election day again in turkey. it's a rerun of the vote in june which failed to find an overall winner. >> reporter: remote kurdish villages like this one in southeastern turkey have helped keep the party in power for 13 years until june. that's when many voters switched

to the procuedish people's democratic party, known as the hdp. >> their approach was way different than the other parties. >> reporter: many people say they are going to vote for the hdp again onning sunday. the party has broadened its appeal. but it was hundreds of thousands of socially conservative kurds who put them in parliament for the first time. >> translator: things changed when whenco -- kobani happened. we want peace, not war. many kurdish former voters felt the government abandoned them by not intervening in the battle to save the border town of kobani. and since june, there has been

renewed fighting between the state and the armed kurdish separatists group, the pkk. the peace process, the akp brought about has unravelled. >> translator: all of these security operations by the state in the region, made the kurds aband abandon the ak party. the ak party has said nothing to appeal to and win the hearts of the kurds. the akp still has support in what is effectively the capital of kurdish turkey, but in june's election, it's share of the vote was just 14%, a 20% drop from the previous poll. the high levels of security may be one of the reasons why the crowds are down. but even among those who have turned up, the mood is quite somber, you get the feeling there isn't the high level of

enthusiasm there once was. a candidate for [ inaudible ] party in the up coming myanmar general election has been attacked with machetes. he is in hospital with severe head injuries and deep cuts to his hands. the opposition candidate was attacked at a rally on thursday. china says it won't participate at a dutch arbitration court over a maritime dispute in the south china sea. the court in the hague has ruled it has jurisdiction to hear territorial claims filed by the philippines against china. >> translator: this ruling was an inappropriate ruling made ignoring china's rights. from this ruling you can see that the philippines aim in pursuing the arbitration is not to resolve the dispute. it's aim is to deny china's right in the south china sea and

affirm its own rights. earlier this week, pakistan's government promised compensation and aid to survivors of monday's earthquake. but businesses affected by the disaster will not be receiving any help, and many of them have no insurance. our correspondent reports from islamabad. >> reporter: people in this clock shop are not quite sure what is happening. and then they realize, it's an earthquake. they run out into the bizarre. and the clocks on the wall continue to shake. the tremor lasted over a minute. no one was hurt hear at one of the busiest bizarres. it could have been much worse on monday. but no matter where you look, many of these shops are not insured. this man has been a clock distributor in pakistan for nearly 40 years. he depends on his shop to support his family, and is helped by his sons.

but he told me many shop owners are not insuranced. >> translator: the money we would spending on premiums could easily be invested in the business. we get nothing in turn for a claim, because companies would never pay up for rebuilding the shop. >> reporter: generally a policy includes protection for fire and theft, but natural disasters is an option to be added at the discretion of the customer. legally, businesses aren't obliged to insures themselves. >> translator: if the government forced businesses to insure themselves, this would encourage everyone to see the benefits. >> reporter: the majority of people affected by the earthquake have no insurance. and earlier this week, the prime minister announced compensation packages for familiar list of the dead and injured, but

nothing for businesses. this commercial property was always badly damaged in the earthquake which happened over 250 kilometers away, the facade is crumbling, and there's a real fear that the build may collapse if there is another strong after shock. the structure itself also s also not insured. back in islamabad, the construction continues next to this man's home. these properties are valued at approximately half a million dollars. as a religious man he feels his family has been protected in the past and will be in the future. now the fallout of the presidential election in tanzania. supporters of the ruling party are celebrating victory. his opponents accuse him of election fraud, however after the most fiercely contested poll since the party first came to power 54 years ago.

catherine soi has the latest. >> reporter: he receives his official election victory certificate. tanzania's national electoral commission says he won the poll with 8.8 million votes. its extends the ruling parties reign which has been in power for 54 years. missing was the main opposition candidate. he is rejecting the results, saying the election was rigged. the national electoral commission denies the allegation. >> the law makes it very clear, [ inaudible ] has been done but the electoral commission. >> reporter: preliminary reports say the poll was reasonably fair. the president elect wants to continue what he started and then minister for public works.

he says he is going to be tough on corruption. but those who voted against him, say they wanted real change. and his party does not represent that. there is anger in this neighborhood. jobless graduate, joseph was among the 6 million who voted for the opposition. >> translator: there is no democracy. nothing like the so-called [ inaudible ] in tanzania. it's over 50 years and we are still being ruled by one party. >> reporter: families say the president has a tough job not just united the country, but also dealing with factional divisions within the ruling party. >> he should rebuild his party. his party is comparatively -- comparative to all of the good days, a weak party. he has to try to infuse the old

ideology [ inaudible ]. >> reporter: there's a desire for change here,est specially among young people. the president elect is appealing to them to give him the chance to make those changes. catherine soi, al jazeera. still ahead in the sport, we'll be looking at the rise of algerian football, as one of the top clubs prepares to play in the afghan champion's league final. ♪

government leaders in zimbabwe are looking to the sun

to overcome electricity shortages. solar powered water heaters will soon be in homes. >> reporter: continuous electricity shortages in zimbabwe haven't stopped simon from working. this $50 solar system he has had for six months keeps him in business. >> it helped me from morning to evening run my business. >> reporter: zimbabwe currently produces about 1,000 megawatts of lurk triesty a day, less than half of what is needed. government leaders are telling zimbabweans such as gloria, she has to buy a solar-powered heart because electric ones will be phased out. >> i don't think people can afford it. people are being laid off of jobs, and the cash is not available. >> reporter: a water heater

costs about $400 after installation. the average life span is about three years before some maintenance is needed. >> you are likely to be producing 300 megawatts or more. so if we go solar it means we're going to be serving 60% of what we pay for the energy. >> reporter: poor families are being told they will be able to buy imported hearts at a government subsidized price. >> we are working with india and china, and other countries. we are working also with european countries, in particular germany, because they have got technology in the solar sector, but we are working with all countries, and would welcome any investments into the energy sector. >> reporter: this current energy crisis is being caused by low

water levels in the dams and aging thermo power stations. regular power cuts means streetlights don't always work, so they are being replaced bier the solar ones. it is estimated around 8 million of the 13 million people don't have access to electricity. using more solar energy could change that. government officials are soaping the energy crisis will be solved within the next three years. let's get you all of the sport now. >> laura thank you very much. now just 24 hours to go before australia take on new zealand in the final of the rugby world cup. green and gold fever is catching in sydney where the opera house gave its own tribute. as for the team itself, the squad have been training on friday. australia, of course, returning to the ground where they won their first world cup back in

1991. ahead of the game david was named as one of the six short listed for rugby player of the year. the coach well aware he and the rest of the teammates will need be at the top of their game mentally and physically. >> we know it will be extremely fiscal, and we want to be able to last. i believe we have prepared accordingly. you know, once though 80 minutes start not only will your preparation take a hold, but also a lot of the reasons that are driving you mentally. in that takes over the physical part, and you only feel the physical parts later. >> reporter: the all-blacks have named an unchanged 15 for the clash. new zealand bidding to become the first time to successfully defend. dan carter one of the six players nominated for player of the year. he will retire after the final, and he is expected to be joined

by his captain. but before that encounter south africa and argentina have a consolation prize to play for. in that match will take place on friday. on saturday the biggest game in african club football will take place as the algerian side will host the democratic republican of congo. it is the first time they have reached the final in their 78-year history, however, it is the second successful season that algeria has reached this stage, winning the champion's league just last season. the appearance comes at a time when algerian football seems to be really flourishing. the first time algerian football made an impact on the world stage was at the 1982 world cup

in spain where they beat west germany in the group stages. they improved at the 2014 world cup in brazil as they reached the knockout stages and taking germany to extra time in their last encounter. they moved up to 19th in the fifa rankings, making them africa's top club. and now we have the second algerian club in two years to win the african champions league. >> translator: preparation has gone very, very well. we are all focused on this match, which is historic for the club. turkish football federation have launched their investigation after a group of referees were held hostage. the club president ordered they

be locked in the stadium after failing to award the home side a late penalty in their draw. the boss says he only allowed their release several hours later following a call from turkey's president. the major league soccer season in the united states is reaching its climax with the start of the playoffs. the playoff began with an amazing match. portland, the home team took the lead in the second half, but the home crowd was silenced when kansas equalized with 3 minutes left to send the game into extra time. in extra time kansas took the lead with a fantastic solo effort. only for the timbers to level in the 118th minute. so on to penalties and, you know, it's not going to be your day when this happens. the defender seeing his spot kick go everywhere apart from across the line.

it was left to the goalkeepers to settle the match. adam scoring his penalty and then saving timothy's efforts. that means portland goes through to play vancouver. things a myth more straightforward in the eastern conference. someone who scored 104 goals wearing the blue of chelsea now doing the same thing for this team. the world series heads to new york on friday for game 3 between the mets and royals. both teams canceled their formal workouts on thursday after arriving in new york in the early hours of the morning. the mets know this game is crucial if they are to entertain hopes of winning their first world series since 1986. the game gets underway at citi field just a few hours from now. >> obviously we didn't plan this

to happen, being down 2. but coming back home is a great thing for us. we have the great -- greatest fans in baseball. an american teenager is setting herself up to be one of the big names at next year's rio olympic games. she became the first woman to win three consecutive titles at the world gymnastics championships. the 18 year old won the women's individual all-around final in glasgow, finishing ahead of the reigning champion. rio will be her first olympic games. the united states also won gold in the women's team competition. that's your sport. >> great. thanks very much. do stay with us here on al jazeera. barbara sarah has another full bulletin of news for you right

ahead from london. ♪

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