>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello, welcome to the news hour. i'm laura kyle in doha. starvation as a weapon of war. 400,000 syrians under siege says the u.n. belgian prosecutors believe they found the appoint used as a hideout by one of the paris attackers. winter comes to nepal, we report on how communities devastated by last year's earthquake are struggling to

keep out the cold. the football association is raided looking for evidence of corruption. and we'll look ahead to this man's first match since taking his position. ♪ at least 400,000 syrians are living under siege. what this means, according to the united nations is that they are completely cut off, with no access to aid, food, nor medicine. the u.n. says both the government and the opposition are stopping supplies from reaching people who desperately need them. almost a quarter of a million people are trapped in three key areas. just outside of damascus is a rebel strong hold.

and 9,000 people are trapped in this area. madaya to the south has been under siege by allies of president assad's government since july. the u.n. says 42,000 people are stuck there. meanwhile the united nations says isil fighters have trapped 2 -- 200,000 people in parts of this eastern city, and rebel groups including al-nusra front have blocked two more towns, around 12,500 are trapped there. humanitarian aid is on its way, but many people feel they are being ignored. >> reporter: this man is one of thousands of people trapped by blockades. he says he has been forced to eat grass. >> reporter: it was brought here because i got poisoned i was eating herbs from the ground.

>> reporter: may -- ma dayia is just one of several towns that are blocked. in madaya salt is handed out. >> are we not arabs as well? this child, what wrong did he commitment? -- commit? >> reporter: the united nations says hundreds of thousands are being prevented from getting humanitarian aid in syria. the international committee of the red cross says the trucks could start to arrive soon. >> we expect that the operation, the joint operation of the syrian [ inaudible ] and the u.n. should take place in the

coming day. >> reporter: meanwhile a plea to the world. >> translator: let the world see and hear about this, and know there are people dying of starvation. >> reporter: for those trapped, the hope is whatever help they get, won't be the last. earlier i spoke to the syrian campaigner for amnesty international in london, she says what is happening in madaya is similar to what is .hahhing in other parts of the country. >> what we are seeing in madaya is what has been happening in the east for the past two years. the syrian government is using starvation as a method of war. residents told amnesty international that some government officials at the check points besieging madaya have told some women who protested there, that as long as

they continue to be under siege, madaya will continue to be under siege as well. >> there is so little food and supplies in this places i understand it is creating a war economy. can you describe what that means. >> yes, we have documented the emergence of this war economy in the east, and we have seen the same thing happening in madaya now, whereby suppliers are buying rice and other kinds of basic food from government officials, security forces and hezbollah members as well at these check points for very high prices. a kilo of rice would reach up to $270. these suppliers are then selling these food items at very expensive prices, which people cannot afford at all. >> we have got the united nations special envoy heading to

syria. he is due to go in today. what message do you for him as he goes to damascus. >> at amnesty international we have been calling to the u.n. security council to basically pressure the syrian government to comply with the resolutions. all sieges must -- must be lifted immediately by all parties to the conflict. i mean we welcome the government allowing the convoys to enter madaya, but we need all sieges to be lifted immediately. care line malone is at a refugee camp. >> reporter: today there has been hail and rain now and it's getting pretty cold. people are not ready for these kind of temperatures. they are getting support from the united nations and ngo's, something like $150 a month for

families of six to seven people. and they need something like 4 to 5 hundred a month. they need things to keep them warm, and stoves to cook on, and that is the sort of money they are not receiving. they can't work. there are visa restrictions for syrian refugees, that means adults are not allowed to get work unless they are sponsored by a citizen. we have heard stories of adults who are going two meals a day, or one meal a day, and giving what they have to their children. but it's just not enough for people to survive. and the winter is just beginning here. we have heard there could be another snow storm coming in a week or two, and when those temperatures drop, people will burn whatever they can find. people are literally taking old

shoes and putting that on the furnace to burn. and it's incredibly dangerous to be burning that kind of plastic and rubber. around 400 syrians are stranded at beirut airport. turkey has introduced new visa restrictions for syrians for anyone that didn't enter directly from syria will be sent back. yet more refugees have landed on the greek island of lesvos, braving the bitter cold and rough seas. rescue teams and volunteers were waiting for them, ready to help those in need, as well as several other greek islands have been the main gateway for refugees trying to get to europe. more than a million people

climbed asylum in the e.u. in 2015. belgian investigators have found an apartment in brussels that may have served as a bomb factory for last year's paris attacks. the apartment may have also been used as a hideout. the attacks on the french capitol in november, left 130 people dead. jacky rowland is live for us in paris. jacky what more do we know about this apartment? >> reporter: well, the first thing we have to stress is this discovery hasn't just been made now. in fact the stuff that was found by the police it was on the 10th of december last year, so almost a month ago, but it is only now that investigators are choosing to make the information public. they are saying it concerns a flat in one district of brussels. the flat had been rented by

season using a false name, possibly one of the suspects currently in custody in belgium. they say they found a number of things in the apartment, including homemade belts of the kind that could be used to make suicide vests. also some traces of explosives and crucially they found a fingerprint which was a watch for that of the suspect who is still on the run. >> jacky thanks very much indeed for that update there, on -- from paris. now to a breaker news story. israeli forces have killed an arab citizen wanted over a shooting in tel-aviv on january 3rdrd. what can you tell us about this man being killed by security forces? >> reporter: that's right. well, this news is just coming in. israeli media reporting quite

extensively that a man identified as a key suspect in a mass shooting on new year's day in tel-aviv has been shot dead in the town, which is in northern israel, not far from where this man is originally from. in fact, we're hearing he was found in a mosque and that is where he was hiding, and that is where he was killed. now this case of course has had intense scrutiny here in israel. the fact that the alleged shooter of a number of people at a bar in tel-aviv was able to be on the run for so long. even though he was identified very quickly. there's an awful lot of criticism of the israeli security forces for the fact that they could not find him. of course as we have been saying that we're hearing that the alleged attacker has not only been found but killed by israeli

security forces. they are saying that he was found hiding in a mosque and that is where he was shot. >> okay. thanks very much for that. giving us more details on breaking news we're getting of israeli forces killing an arab citizen who was wanted over the january 1st shootings in tel-aviv. the first arrests has been in a case that has shocked in germany. around a thousand men were accused of attacking women on new year's eve. witnesses describe some suspects of being of arab origin. emma hayward reports. >> reporter: it was supposed to be a night to celebrate, instead new years eve turned into one of chaos and violence. with allegations of serious sexual assault, robbery and threat by groups of men against dozens of women close to the

cathedral. >> translator: i thought to myself if we stay here in this crowd, they could kill us. they could rape us, and nobody would notice. >> translator: there was so many people i was no longer in control of myself. >> translator: they felt like they were in party and could do anything with the women who were in the street partying. >> reporter: protesters say the police could and should have done more. what happened more than a week ago is fuelling the debate in germany about immigration. witnesses said many of the suspects looked like they were arab or north african. more than 30 suspects have been identified by german police. some of those are asylum seekers, but they aren't being connected to the sexual assault allegations, but face violence and robbery charges. the chancellor has demanded a far-reaching investigation.

>> translator: the feeling women have in this case of being completely defenseless and at mercy and for me intolerable, so everything that happened must come out into the open. >> reporter: people are worried that people are pointing the finger at muslims and north africans when the facts are still not clear. >> translator: it has nothing to do with the religion. it's about the individual. lack of respect for a woman isn't a religious problem. >> translator: everyone says this has something to do with muslims. i have been here for 30 years myself, and i have never seen anything like this. >> reporter: the german chancellor has warned that any foreigners involved in the crimes could face deportation. coming up here on this news hour -- >> 30 years ago, this bill was

worth more than $100. today it is worthless. i'm in venezuela the country with the highest inflation rate in the world. plus why scientists believe we have entered a new chapter of the planet's history. and replays for referees, how football officials could get a second chance to get things right in the future. details coming up in sport. ♪ south korea has resumed propaganda broadcasts into north korea after pyongyang's acclaim to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb earlier this week. >> reporter: it's a tactic not used since august, and once the north koreans call an act of war. exactly at midday friday, south

korea started its loud speaker propaganda broadcast. a former military officer defected to the south ten years ago. she says the broadcasts are effective. >> translator: there are people who defect after listening to broadcasting. it's the soldiers listening to the loud speakers. these soldiers get a lot of idealogical education, but now they are exposed to propaganda broadcasting. >> reporter: those loud speakers aren't just anti-north korean government, they also include weather, news, and even music from south korea. the south korean government says the broadcasts will continue indefinitely. british foreign secretary urged south korea to show restraint. but it's not clear how north

korea will react. >> they might also respond by taking hostages, for example, tourists or ngo's that work in north korea. these guys are sometimes taken hostage and picked up for pseudo crimes, so north korea mighting respond like that. >> reporter: for now the military and the people wait for a response from its northern neighbor. along with the rest of the world. another volatile day on china's stock markets. but without the panic-selling scene on monk and thursday. adrian brown has this report. >> reporter: in china red is a lucky color. nine months ago there was a lot of red. chinese investors were buoyant, the share market was at its highest level for 2007. but for now that winning streak is over. the market is in a slump. since june stocks have lost more

than 40% of their value, and some small investors are less than happy. >> translator: don't film! we don't want to talk about it! we need to go back to play cards. >> reporter: they blame their problems on foreign speculators as well as a measure that was supposed to calm markets but had the reverse effect. >> translator: the government is trying to protect individual investors, but to be honest, the system is not perfect. it needs to be improved. >> reporter: the authorities have responded, surpending the circuit breaker rule that halts trading when shares fall sharply. as a result the market rose on friday, panic was subsiding. but the start of 2016 has set a pattern for what is expected to be a very difficult year for the world second-alarmest economy. >> we do think there is a chance of a hard line just like in any economy.

in china, we put it right now at about one in four. >> reporter: the stock market is an cater, but not the cater of china's economy. the leadership has more pressing issues, namely, burdening debt, a housing bubble, and overcapacity in state-controlled industries like coal and steel. and then there's what china can't control beyond its borders. in neighboring north korea the military this week claimed to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. the markets also worry about deepening tensions between iran and saudi arabia. last week's china's president seemed to allewd to the challenges. he told the nation that fruitful gains come with persistent efforts. his way, perhaps, of saying it is going to be a tough year. well, it's not just stock markets that are facing troubled

times. oil prices have slumped to their lowest level in a decade, that is putting real pressure on the budgets of oil-producing countries. >> reporter: this shop specializes in selling old bills. some are carefully kept almost as if fresh from the mint. while others seem carelessly stacked. he says he loves old and new alike. but admits that the story his collection tells is grim. >> translator: this reflects the loss of the currency's power that venezuelans suffer. this bill was equivalent to $116. now it is only equal to $0.50, which isn't even good enough for a candy. >> reporter: a recent report puts the oil-rich country's inflation rate at 270%. according to economists it is

the worst crieses sis in the country's modern history. >> venezuela is in the process of hyperinflation, huge fiscal deficit, lack of foreign reserve, and the only commodity of importance, oil, falling at levels below -- over the last 11 years. so it's the perfect storm. hardship is being widely felt by venezuelans. poverty has increased from 25% to almost 70% in just one year. because it depends almost exclusively on oil, they are particularly vulnerable to a fluctuation in oil prices. the drop has left this economy in a freefall. this mix many fear could bring on a wave of social upheaval. an informal food vendor who

works night ships as a phone operator in a bank says even two jobs are not enough. >> translator: this situation affects us deeply. on top of it we can't find what we need. so we are constantly having to find new ways to make things work. >> reporter: experts fear the magnitude of this crisis could snowfall into social commotion. as more as more people are effected by the deep recession. virginia lopez, al jazeera, caracas. saudi arabia's oil giant is considering a public sale of shares. it has more than 15% of global deposits, with oil prices falling to just $34 a barrel, the sale would raise revenues for the saudi state. a group of scientists claiming there is enough

evidence to show our planet is in a new geological age. they say we are now at the dawn of a new age. this chart here shows the division of geologic time dating back 350 million years. we're currently in what is known as this period, and the most recent epoch within that is this scene. but scientists say around the year 1950, earth began to change due to new materials we're using and depositing in the land here as examples. roughly 300 million tons of plastic are produced annually. the pack -- particles are ubiquitous in our land and waterways. and in addition, nuclear weapon

tests in the 1950s and 60s have left traces of two different isotopes that can still be identified today. scientists are hoping that the international geological body that determines time divisions recognizes this epoch this year. a professor of pay leo biology joins us. you believe in this new epoch, and i have to say the evidence for it is pretty convincing, if not -- pretty scary. >> there is wide evidence that the earth system has changed substantially as you said since the mid-20th century, and that has left traces in the rocks forming which will be visible for many million years into the future. >> if this epoch is formally

accepted, what impact might that have? why do you want it to be accepted? >> well, it's -- we are trying to determine how real the phenomenon is. the idea has been suggested that for about the past 15 years, and we have been examining thef dense to determine whether the earth has really changed sufficiently to make this scene possible as a formal unit on the ecological time scale. and the evidence that we have suggested that the earth indeed has changed sufficiently. we have changed the course of earth history, and the pattern of strata on the earth. and while there can be many possible types of reasons for -- for having that. at the moment we're simply saying that the earth has changed and the strata has changed too.

>> if there is acceptance of this term, will it finally force people to recognize the impact, and perhaps reduce the impact that we have on our planet? >> it probably will help in that, because what the term does is it gathers together evidence of a wide range of different changes, most of which is usually examined just by themselves, but in this case, we're looking at a total range of change, and also comparing that to some of the very big changes of the past. so i think that will provide quite a perspective on what humans are doing to the earth. >> are we talking about a change of the environment or complete destruction of it. if we look at the evidence, the future doesn't look like a particularly bright place to be in? >> well, we can say some of the changes are not good for earth or the species.

so the habitat destruction, the extinction of species, the wide-spread types of pollution which are effecting animals and plants everywhere, all of those are things which we are now saying are having not just a environmental, but also a geological impact. >> one final question, do we have time to turn around and not get into this epoch? >> well, some of the changes are already irreversible, so the changes to the biological fabric of earth are -- can't be undone. but some of the -- the changes -- particularly changes to the earth's chemistry and its climate, there is still time to either halt those or perhaps even reverse those, if we act soon enough. >> okay. very interesting indeed to speak to you there at lester

university. >> okay. thank you. still ahead here on the program, free from isil but wary of going home, iraq's yazidis continue to live in fear. plus testing the limits for [ inaudible ] as armed men continue to occupy government buildings in a small u.s. town. and defending champion roger federer is given a stern test as the battles the flu. details later in sports. ♪

>> still living in these tent cities. >> we're back to square

minus one. >> the city is a powder keg at the moment. >> you see transactional sex and no one is held to account for that. >> the united nations has never accepted responsibility for this. >> an ali velshi on target special: ♪ hello, again, here are on headlines this hour. united nations says 400,000 people are living under siege in syria. they are completely cut off from aid, food, and medicine. the red cross has told al jazeera that aid won't arrive in madaya until sunday. hundreds of israeli soldiers

were deployed to find a palestinian who was shot dead in a shootout. and belgian investigators have found an apartment that may have been used by one of the paris attackers. people living under siege in syria say any delays in getting aid in, will mean more lives lost. my colleague sami zeidan spoke earlier to a person who lives close to madaya. >> translator: we have been under siege for more than six months nothing has been allowed in during that time. people are hungry, so far 30 have died because of hunger, and it's a increasing day by day. >> give us an idea of the daily toll, when you say it is increasing daily. how many are dying daily? >> translator: it comes in stages. people have been losing consciousness.

each day it becomes more or more. five or six have died in the last week. >> what are people eating if you haven't had supplies for six months? >> translator: there is one united nations food truck which got access in the last three months. this food is enough for one family for up to ten days, but if the family is big, there is not enough. we are desperate to eat anything. even leaves off of the tree and insects. >> when is the last time you had a normal meal. >> translator: five or six monks ago. >> are you hopeful that the regime says it will allow supplies in. >> translator: each week we hear aid will be let in. but until i have a food basket in my hand, i won't believe it. i have lost hope. >> do you see who is besieging

your town? >> translator: we are under siege from syrian forces and their allies like hezbollah. >> do you have any communication with these people? i'm curious what sort of contact you may have with people you say are starving you to death. >> translator: there is no contact. >> what would you say to people in the outside world who are perhaps listening to this interview? >> translator: i just want to remind people that we are here; that we are human. if people don't care about us, i just want to tell them to get animal rights groups concerned about us. honestly we starving and eating cats and dogs. the children don't have any strength. they can't stand up from their beds because they are so hungry,

and they are saying i want to eat. i want to eat, and the answer is the same. there is no food. in iraq it has been two months since kurdish fighters have recaptured the town of sinjar from the armed group isil. but for the ethnic yazidis that were driven out, the possible of returning is concerning. >> reporter: for these displaced yazidis, if returning home wouldn't help. >> translator: if my family isn't there, i don't have the heart to return to sinjar. it's like an open wound that salt was pored into. he shows us a picture of his older son whom isil kidnaps in august of 2014. his daughter, daughter-in-law, and grandson were also taken.

written on every face inside this tent are stories of unrelenting pain, unbearable loss. his sister-in-law has two of her children kidnapped. a 14-year-old and a 3-year-old. she has no idea if they are alive or dead. >> translator: how can we go back? we can never go back. i can't sleep a single moment at night thinking of them. >> reporter: at the camp in iraq, many have become accustomed to living in kind of purgatory. children, women, and -- men still against the cold, but it is nothing compared to the hell they have been through. another sad reality is while many of them would like to return home, they can't.

neighboring sinjar, while cleared of isil two months ago by kurdish peshmerga fighters is still off-limits to the yazidis who do want to go back. everywhere you look, ruin. brigadier tells me they can't allow the yazidis to return until mosul is also cleared of isil, and there's no telling when iraqi forces will be able to accomplish that. but there is another reason too. >> there is no buildings. it is ruined completely. it's everywhere they are starting in all of the buildings, all of the houses, so this is one of the difficulties, there is no place to live in. >> reporter: but for this man, none of that makes a difference. his families house in sinjar is also destroyed, but even if it were still standing, without the rest of his family, he would never consider it a home again.

mohammed jamjoom, al jazeera. there is a story we're running today. the police chief of cologne is to resign. police say that a group of around 1,000 men attacked people who were celebrating, and you remember the other news today from that story is that 18 refugees have been questioned, but there has been significant criticisms over the authority's handling of the incident. and in response, we are just hearing the police chief is to resign. in the u.s. state of oregon, an armed group occupying the headquarters of a federal wildlife refuge have rejected the police's bid to end the standoff. the ranchers took control of the site after a dispute on land

rights. >> reporter: fourth generation rancher knows his land better than anybody, and he knows the problems too. like so many other ranchers in this part of western america, he says the problem is the federal government's management of the land, which restricts the area his cattle can graze, affecting his livelihood. the u.s. government owns and manages nearly 70% of the land here. the imagine yourty is run by a government agency most ranchers say ignores their concerns. >> nobody listens. it's hard to get our voice out there. that's the biggest problem. we have our representatives, our congressmen that fight for us, and it's getting that word heard at a serious level. >> reporter: it's this kind of frustration with government that lead armed militia to take over

a nearby wildlife refuge. shane and others like him, support their demand that the government give locals land they say they can manage better than the government. but it's not only local ranchers like shane who have a stake in this land, there is another group as well, and their claims to this land go back even further charlotte is an elder in the native american tribe who have been on this land before the settlers arrived here then forced them out. the federal government designated their land a reserve more than 135 years ago. the tribe wants the armed militiamen gone, because part of their ancestral territory includes the wildlife refuge that has been occupied. she worries they will desecrate tribal artifacts on the land.

>> these people have the mentality, that we'll get more at tenning. we'll step on them and bust them up. >> reporter: shane hopes when the occupation is over, the federal government will have heard the voices of the people. >> listen to the ranchers, and the people of this community. the government of the u.s. state of california has declared a state of emergency following a natural gas leak in los angeles. more than 2,000 families have already left their homes. andy gallagher reports. >> reporter: this is a neighborhood northwest of los angeles. since october the canyon well run by the southern california gas company has been spewing methane gas into the atmosphere. the gas is invisible to the naked eye.

environmentalist blames poor regulations for the leak, and says the consequences for california would be dire. >> from the most recent estimates we have, the amount of natural gas that has been spewing into the atmosphere for the last couple of months the equivalent to adding a half million cars to the roads for a year. >> reporter: more than 2,000 farmers have already left their homes. many complain the gas has been making them sick for weeks. >> yeah, you are feel the smell and a little bit of coughing, nose bleeds, respiratory distress, yes, you are feel it. >> reporter: there is growing anger that the well still hasn't been capped. the gas company are helping rehouse residents, but even they admit stemming the flow of the gas could make months. >> it's a rather painstaking process, so we're making great progress, but we're looking at

probably the end of february to the end of march or thereabouts before we can stop the leak. >> reporter: the governor has called for a full investigation and has promised to tighten regulations. stopping the leak be no easy task. engineers are in the process of digging 2.5 meters below ground so they can cap the well. but experts say the leak is now accounting of a quarter of all methane emissions in california every day. a wildfire in western australia is stressing another town. it's already destroyed more than a hundred homes south of perth. the blaze is now moving towards nearby harvey. last year australia had its fifth hottest year on record. >> i heard this morning that just about everything is gone. like even our home and my neighbors, and our community.

it's all gone. almost nine months after nepal suffered a devastating earthquake, the slow pace of reconstruction means that many people are facing a long, cold winter. >> reporter: in this village many have heard of the teenager who gave birth to a baby boy last month who died four days later. people here say the cold stole him away from his mother. >> translator: the sun didn't shine for four days. i could not keep him warm. i lit a fire inside, but the cold gets in through these walls and the roof. my baby september shiver -- kept shivering. we didn't have enough clothes. i wrapped my own clothes around him, but it wasn't enough. >> reporter: nine people live here. the bamboo walls are inadequate to keep the cold out. food is scarce.

last april a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit nepal. this family had to move to a small patch of land where they would have grown corn. the iron shoot loses heat and the dew drenches their blanket. there is a concept known as winterizati winterization, which means preparing people for the weather. the government started distributing the money meant to buy new clothes, but the amount was just about enough to meet the short-term food needs. private dones or have been distributed blankets and warm clothes. but just in this village six people have died in the past few weeks. the government has instructed aid organizations to end relief

work within a week and start reconstruction. for officials, it's been frustrating. >> translator: it's already very late. the earthquake was in april, the reconstruction authority has only been established now. the authority should develop mechanisms and clearly define plans at a local level so the local people could participate in the reconstruction. >> reporter: the survey of how many houses were partially or fully damaged has not been conducted. >> up to 2016, which was the day that earthquake happened last year, we are thinking all [ inaudible ] be finalized within the month, and the reconstruction will be started. that is our expectation at the moment. >> reporter: back at the village, she says she does not want to live anymore. she says her husband thinks of

their baby and cries every day. these mountains can be harsh but for survivors of the earthquake, this winter has been particularly painful. around 340,000 bank employees across india have gone on strike. they are against new working conditions that they say violating a agreements with their perspective unions. >> reporter: turning out in masses to send a strong message. employees from five banks affiliated with the state bank of india are on strike. across the country and here in the capitol, new delhi, they are protesting against moves that they say look more and more like an impending merger. >> by doing this they will [ inaudible ] we cannot accept

[ inaudible ]. >> reporter: at the root of the issue, a new rule that governs terms of service and the career progression of workers. the five banks already share the same kind of technology, branding and work flow with the state bank of india, but the employees say the new conditions are being imposed without the consultation of their unions. >> we are having open mind, but they are not ready to [ inaudible ] small [ inaudible ] what they have decided. we are not against the [ inaudible ] in place, but they want to impose it unilaterally. >> reporter: local media report that some banking operations have been interrupted as hundreds of thousands of workers stay home, and the fact the strike, happening on a friday, is making things worse with banks closed on the weekend. the unions representing the demonstrators have threatened to

go on an indefinite strike if the demands are not met. a giant golden statute unveiled days ago in sent sentra -- central china has been destroyed. it was apparently completed in this crop fields in december with funding from a local businessman, but state media said it had no approval from the government. the founder of the people's republic of china known as chairman mao ruled until 1976. a rarely seen spotted oil has been seen flying outside of montreal. it used to only travel to look for food. still ahead here on the program, slowing down, the

norwegian sprinter who has become quite the online sensation. jo has that and the rest of the sport in just a moment. ♪

♪ now time for all of the sport, and here is jo. >> laura thank you. rental doe is going nowhere. following the sacking of the previous coach on month, the

former coach of real's b team has been quick to praise the portuguese who like him is the three-time world player of the year. >> translator: he is more than irreplaceable. he is the life and soul of this real madrid. i'm laughing, because he will not leave while i am here. >> translator: what is very good and what makes me so happy is i see the team is very well, very well, very, very well. and that's something. wow. that's why i'll sleep well tonight, because we had a great practice today, actually the last three days, but especially today. it was spectacular. >> barcelona will appeal a two-match ban stands for their striker. barcelona won the first leg of the round, but it was a badtempered encounter with eight espanol players being booked and

two sent off. after the final whistle, a fight broke out in the tunnel. football referees could soon be using video replays to help them rule on goals, penalties, and red cards. football already uses goal-line technology to determine when a ball has crossed the line, but players and managers have increasingly called on video technology to be used in other aspects of the game. >> i think the reality is of course as a referee, it's a very difficult job. and of course many games now we have 10, times 20 cameras, and millions of people watching the game. the game is getting faster, the stakes are higher, and ultimately we have got to do what we can to support the referees. authorities in paraguay have

raided the headquarters of a football organization as part of an investigation into fifa. several top football officials and businessmen have already been indicted in an alleged scheme involving bribes for broadcast rights. >> translator: a raid was conducted at the request of u.s. justice officials, following a corporation agreement, documents are being solicited. a search warrant was signed by a judge, and we have been corroborating with u.s. officials and with the court of paraguay and other countries in all matters relating to the investigations so they can connect the elements that are needed. michelle platini has announced he is pulling out of the race to become president of fifa. he was suspended by fifa's

ethics committee for eight years, alongside of sepp blatter. they were banned over a $2 million payment made to the frenchmen by fifa with blatter's approval. speaking in his first tv interview since being sus sus -- suspended. he claimed the ban may be down to jealousy. >> i think there is a great jealousy from fifa towards uefa. i think it's especially the case that i'm the uefa president. more than 150 organizations were ready for me to do what i did. it's not a plot -- i don't really know, but my arrival was seen rather negatively. some of the biggest names in world tennis are continuing their preparations down under for the season's first gland slam, the australian open.

roger federer battled the flu, but still managed to keep his title on track. he was given a rather stern test. he won the first set, but lost the second on a tie break. as his exhaustion began to show. he recovered well to take the next set, earning a spot in the semifinals. [ cheers ] earlier there was an upset for the second seed of japan. he was beaten by home favorite in three sets. he will now face last year's finalist in the semifinals. defending champion, patrick reid leads the way at golf tournament of champions in hawaii. reid who was playing in the final pairing with jordan spieth

at his first tour of the year, got an engineer -- eagle on the 18th hole. we'll be well aware of the threat, jason day poses. day could reclaim the top ranking this week. the australian shot a 3 under par, 70. and is tied for 12th. and if you needed inspiration to get back to the gym this new year, take a look at this. this norwegian sprinter has become an online hit. she is seen leaping upstairs in south africa. she is also involved in a quite demanding gym session in the canaries. that is all the sport for now. >> jo thank very much indeed. do stay with us here on al jazeera, london will have a full bulletin of news for you right ahead. ♪

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cold and starving, the undersays 400,000 syrians are cut off from food and medical supplies. ♪ hello, there i'm barbara sarah. also coming up in the next 30 minutes, cologne's police chief will step down. and north koreans celebrates reports of auc