tv News Al Jazeera December 21, 2015 9:00am-9:31am EST
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>> suspended eight years. whatever you fight, you fight for me or you fight for fifa. >> seth blatter will appeal against his eight year ban from football. hello, i'm martin dennis from doha. also to come on the program, the taliban gained control of a key district in southern afghanistan. political shakeup in spain, the rule party fails to win a majority. the key question now is how does he form a coalition.
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i'm in port-au-prince, a country with more than 2,000 people in slavery. we'll highlight the work of one radio program tackling the issue head-on. fifa banned seth blatter and michel platini for eight years. ethics judges said a payment made by platter to the european football chief platini in 2011 broke the rules. both men have said they'll peel against the verdict. we have more from fifa headquarters in zurich. >> seth blatter once again the center of attention, the 79-year-old swiss fighting to get into a press conference as he fights for his very future in football. on monday, the suspended fifa
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president platini were given eight year bans over a $2 million payment made by blatter to the frenchman in 2011. the swiss isn't going quietly. >> i would file for me and i will fight for fifa, suspended eight years for what? >> for years, two big figures at fifa had a plan, long serving president seth blatter would pals the top job to his friend, uefa president, but he didn't make the deal. platini supposedly carried out work a decade ago with no contract and payment made in 2011, a presidential election year. the ethics committee set up by blatter at fifa delivered the ban. >> the committee has banned
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mr. blatter, president of fifa for eight years. >> platini refused to attend the hearing. >> fifa president for 18 years, the committee exposing him as corrupt. in may, he final by resigned. he wanted to hand over on his own terms the u.s. and swiss attorney generals and even his old allies decided otherwise. if platini is to have any chance of running for the fifa presidency, he needs to clear his name before the deadline on january 26. that will involve going through bolt the fifa appeals committee and the course of arbitration
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for sport. before he can begin the process, he needs a full written statement of the decision from the ethics committee, a process that in itself could take eight weeks. >> one is a football legend, the other fifa's great political survivor, both brought down by football's biggest ever scandal. paul recent, al jazeera, zurich. the leader of spain said his party will not allow the people's party to govern. spain is interesting political uncertainty after no clear winner emerged from sunday's election. we have this report. >> it's the strangest victory celebration you'll ever see, at the headquarters of spain's popular party, they were trying to work out what it all means. they came first, but with their lowest share of the vote since the 1980's. the subdued mood here reflects the atmosphere of political confusion. the prime minister has fallen
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well short of an absolute majority, and it's difficult to see how he can build a stable coalition. all this means that spain could be in for prolonged period of political uncertainty. >> when mariano rahoy came to speak to supporters, he insisted he would try to stay in office to lead spain toward economic recovery. >> there are still a lot of people in difficulty. we need to create a lot more jobs. the spanish need a government that has parliamentary support and therefore, i will seek a stable government and continue in the general interests of all spaniards. >> on the other side of town, they were celebrating a political earthquake, the anti austerity podemos party has burst on to the scene and will now be a major force in the new parliament. for many young spanish people,
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tired of corruption and unemployment, podemos is the future. >> we are very happy for the fact that in spain, the turn, the two party system is ended, and we are happy because we are starting a new politicall era in our country. >> for the socialists and their leader, pedro sanchez, this was not a good night. they recorded their worst result in decades, and yet, such is the lack of clarity that surrounds this result. they could be crucial partners in any future coalition. that leaves the citizens party, another new force which could play a prominent role in the maneuvering to come. like podemos, the citizens have tapped into a disenchantment with the old political establishment.
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at the end of a long night, the party faithful made their way home, still arguing about who won, who lost and how on earth a government will emerge from this messy situation. barnaby phillips, al jazeera, madrid. >> another of our correspondents in the spanish capital is david chaser. an extraordinary vote in spain, a vote that has changed the political landscape, one clear winner, one clear loser, the winner, pablo iglesias, who's poe dame must party vowed to break the two party system here in spain and he has achieved that. that means there is no clear coalition that can be formed in what is now a fractured lower house, the congress of deputies. to find out how the complex coalition negotiators are going to go, i have with me a senior member of the people's party who's in charge of social
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policy. >> can you tell me exactly what the next step is for your party? >> well, we now have only two different choices, and the stability is at risk. people's party means continuing with the stability and reforms and growing in our country in spain. the other chance is a coalition of parties who didn't win the election, including the communist party, podemos, the one who is very similar to modero in venezuela and want to create different countries inside spain. >> when you look at the political arithmetic in the congress of deputies, it does appear that the obvious way of getting that majority is to go in with a grand coalition with the social i have the party. they've said no. do they mean no? >> well, one of the members of
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the socialist party said no today, but maybe there are different opinions in the socialist party. maybe the socialists need to think a little bit more before explaining what you're going to vote in the next month. >> thank you very much for that insight. so many weeks perhaps a month or two before we can actually see whether they can form a ruling coalition. the afghan taliban has taken control of a district in a southern province a day after a senior local official warned the entire province is on the brink of falling. in recent months, a taliban's gained territory in the north, west and south of the country, stretching the afghan army resources. we have this report. it's hard to fix your aim on a moving target.
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these soldiers and police officers are trying to do just that. >> we are fighting to remove the taliban from this area. therefore, we need support from our army to help us. right now, the area is controlled by taliban. >> right now, they're outgunned. taliban fighters have taken over important believes in the town center in hall men province. the deputy government posted this message to the of a goon president on facebook: >> he also complained as to soldiers and police officers aren't well fed and don't have enough ammunition. it's unusual for a message like this to be posted on social media. it could either be a sign of how desperate the situation is, or
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how fed up some local leaders are with central government, or both. this may be why. >> the problem with the government at the moment is that it is concentrating on making peace with the taliban, and not really having a military strategy to chase the taliban away from the centers of population. >> the afghan taliban appears to be gaining larger pockets of territory, two months ago, its fighters took kunduz in the north for two weeks, crippling the city. the more land they seized, the stronger they'll be in negotiations with the government. in the south, hellman produces most of the world's opium. if it's taken from the government, it controls most of the lucrative trade. further north in the country there's been a suicide bomb attack close to a nato military base.
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six nate sow soldiers died in the attack close to the air base. the taliban has claimed responsibility. baghram is about 40 kilometers to the north of kabul, the capital. >> still to come on this from, we'll speak to an international sports lawyer to find out more about that ban on seth blatter and michelle platini. plus we speak about the hundreds of arrivals of refugees every day. when you're on hold, your business is on hold.
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fifa banned seth blatter and michelle platini follow football related activities for eight ye. both men will appeal the verdict. on sunday, the deputy governor appealed to the afghan president on facebook, asking for help. spain has been left with no clear governing majority after a general election produced a hung parliament. the prime minister's people party as well as the newcomer have refused to be part of the coalition with the ruling party. let's go back to fifa banning both seth blatter,
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former president and michel platini. we can live now washington, d.c. basically central to seth blatter's defense if you like as we heard in the news conference was this gentlemen's agreement rewarding the payment of $2 million to michel platini. what is that all about and is that defendantable under law? >> it's a strange, strange transaction that was paid nine years after the fact, and the question is whether a verbal agreement is enforceable under swiss law. it's my understanding that it is, but the other kicker is that the agreement, these types of arrangements, my understanding they are payable within five years and not thereafter. the question is really whether it was valid that this debt was owed in the first place. there's still a lot of questions surrounding this transaction.
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>> both me said that they're going to appeal against this ban. there are several layers of jurisdictions for them to get through. in this first instance, they're going to appeal to fifa. >> the first process that they'll undergo is an appeal to fifa and then one can expect that they'll appeal to an arbitration panel called the court of arbitration for sport. the sport body decides cases, sort of sitting like a court, but they're not really a court. >> ok. at the end of the day, though, this is something that fifa really needs to put to bed, isn't it and with these appeals on going, this would appear that this is a process that is going to allow for rather a long time. however is fifa itself still in the spotlight for these kinds of opaque transactions, shall we say? >> well, i think offensive that
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still has a lot of questions to answer. all the safeguards of a normal court are missing in this pros, so i really don't think we're going to get to the bottom of this and i don't think we are promised anymore details on this. once again, we're in a position left to guess what happened and who did what. >> in your opinion, is this it? is he down and out, or is he just down? >> well, i think that look that cass overturned fifa. we're waiting to see what happens. >> what about platini? he was seen as a prime candidate to take over at the end of the next year. >> he was. he has offered that there is paperwork that validates his condition. it is going to be interesting to
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see what the court makes of that and we're going to have to wait and see. >> thank you, david larkin live in washington, d.c. to northwestern syria where more than 40 have been killed in airstrikes thought to be from russian water planes. six strikes hit idlib, injuring another 150 people. russia began the airstrikes in september and has been accused of targeting fighters battling president assad instead of isil. the french defense minister is due to meet his russian counter part in moscow to talk about an increase in the number of airstrikes from russia directed specifically at isil. peter sharp has the details. >> the defense french minister will be meeting with his russian counterpart at the kremlin where
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france will formally ask for an extension and increase in the airstrikes being carried out by russia in syria. they also will be consulting on how to share intelligence between the two countries. the french defense minister said he knows there are many russian speakers in isil and will be asking for information on them and be prepared to supply information on french speakers in the jihadist group. russia has now 60 aircraft fighters and bombers in the air base and is carrying out continued strikes against isil and other what it deems terrorist targets. it's carried out about 4,000 sortes since it started at the end of september. meanwhile, the french have moved their aircraft carrier charles de gaulle into the gulf and it has 26 bombers onboard. on the ground in syria, the red cross is saying that hundreds of thousands of people are lacking basic necessities
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and they're in immediate need of help. we have more. she scarce the alleys, looking for things to burn. she gathers twigs, leaves. >> even garbage, anything to burn to make a fire so i can heat water to feed my issue children. clean them with warm water. heat and oil is too expensive. everything is expensive. >> her husband abandoned her and their kids. without an income, without any means, she struggles to find milk for her infant. every day she worries about how to put food on the table. these are desperate times for millions of syrians like her. in another neighborhood devastated by bombs dropped by
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government forces, another bomb fire. this one keeps these neighborhood kids warm. >> we were at home but it was freezing there, so we came down here to warm up with the fire behind us. on the way, we found nylon bags, paper, just to keep the paper, just to keep the fire burning. at home, we have no blankets or anything to warm up. we come here until the fire goes out. >> aleppo is one of the longest continually inhabited cities of the world. the fires of the city haven't gone out for 5,000 years. the 5-year-old civil war has now turned brother against brother. it's permanently destroyed and changed millions of lives, like this man said, an air strike just destroyed the home he's lived in for more than 40 years. >> i came back to my home four days ago and found it destroyed by strikes. i just picked myself up and i'm now roaming. >> before the fighting, more than 2 million people lived in aleppo.
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many are now hopeless, some lost, most looking for a helping hand. >> it's the regular people who feel sorry for me and they're helping me to survive. every few months, i get some aid, but it's not enough. i just yell and scream from time to time, realizing my situation is so dire. >> drones flying over what was once a favorite tourist destination show the destruction. the urban warfare in this once cultural and financial capital of syria threatens its future and its past. those who have been able to leave have left. those who have had to stay behind don't know how they will survive. al jazeera. it is many of those syrians who have left that kind of situation who are making up the more than 800,000 refer jesus who have made the perilous journey across the mediterranean to greece so far this year. we spoke to the greek migration
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minister about the challenges of coping with the hundreds of people arriving every day. >> almost 1 million people have crossed greece to europe this year so far and thousands of them remain stuck in athens. the greek migration minister would the crisis requires a global response. >> it's a european and global problem that is happening in greece. therefore, greece cannot manage it on its own. i believe that the decision made by the european union to create proper refugee camps in turkey and that resettlement take place from there is the main solution. we have asked for 1,600 officers to be sent and only received 800. we have asked 100 desks for fingerprinted, got 50. we requested 100 coast guard vessels and got 10. therefore, there is no blame
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game. >> failing to stem the flow of refugees reaching its shores, greek officials say their borders are protected, but they will not allow people to drown in the sea. burundi's parliament has voted against allowing african union peacekeepers into the country to help stop the growing unrest. the e.u. wants to send 5,000 troops amid fears the country is heading toward civil war. more than 400 people have been killed since april. that's when the president decided to run for a controversial third term. his government has called the potential deployment an invasion. the troubled japanese company toshiba will pay a $4.5 billion loss in the financial year ending march. it will cut 7,000 jobs as the industrial giant struggles with poor sails. the company employs 200,000
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people, toshiba shares were down 10% monday. its chief executive resigned after the company admitted it had inflated profits by $1.3 billion over the past six years. the company has lost about 40% of its value since the scandal emerged. i've been speaking to adjunct professor of political science in tokyo. he said it's not just toshiba, but many appliance companies in the country have had losses for decades. >> these losses are atypical an in a company where employment is so important, cutting jobs is dire straits for a company. this is about japanese companies in general. all of japanese it. >> electric and home appliance giants have been doing terrible business for decades now, and
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the moves that they need to make or have need to be made over the last decades just didn't get done. the irony of this whole thing is that within the country, the toshiba story is sold as a made in america problem, that the executives of toshiba imitated american executives in having flamboyant and crazed sails goals that they would inflate figures and play with the accounting. now, that's not the way they play it on the international level and today's announcement was definitely for international investors, but whether the lessons was tee sheba will come home and be applied in japan, that's a real question. >> there are nearly 36 million people around the world who are enslaved and haiti is high on the index. we have this report from port-au-prince.
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>> a group of actors are going through their lines. it's a passionate affair with good reason. this team processed more than a dozen radio shows every month that aim to entertain and he had indicate their audience. one of the biggest issues they write about is child slavery. they've recorded scenes both powerful and disturbing. >> i had goose bumps listening to that and that's horrible, but this is why we're here, to have people face the reality and really realizes how hard it is. >> in haiti, radio is a dominant medium. the show reaches well over a million listeners. the idea is that this is a soap opera for social change and those involved say it's working. >> this actress tell us many listeners never miss a show, pay close attention to the plot
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lines. in a country where childhood slavery is a huge problem, that may just save lives. >> many child slaves were sold by their own families. thankfully, there are places of refugee for those who escaped and can be safe. >> for those who manage to break the bonds of slavery, this is an obvious sense of relief, but the lifts they left behind are a constant reminder of a shameful problem. >> try very hard, because you have to do domestic work, the cooking, cleaning and everything else. they treat you badly and if one day you speak out, you get cursed at and badly beaten. >> this kind of drama has never been broadcast in height tee before. it's been on the air for only a couple of years, but its producers say they have a loyal audience and powerful voice in
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the fight against childhood slavery. port-au-prince, haiti. there's lots more on line at our website and all the days top stories at aljazeera.com. >> panic on the las vegas strip, a driver mows down people outside a casino. >> it looked like she wasn't trying to stop the car. >> one dead, dozens injured in what police call an intentional act. in new hampshire, public schools shut down over a specific threat of silence. the head of national soccer plans to appeal after handed an eight year ban.
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