>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello, and welcome to the al jazeera news hour. i'm martine dennis in doha. coming up in the next 60 minutes, a suicide bomber suspected of setting off an explosion in the heart of turkey's biggest city. and over the border food and medicine finally arrive for people suffering in some of syria's besieged towns. oil prices continue to fall,

crude is now below $30 a barrel. president obama prepares for his last state of the union address. ♪ but first, the turkish government says a young saudi-born suicide bomber was behind an attack in the historic district of istanbul. at least ten people are dead, among them german tourists. the turkish government says it will share the details of the investigation with berlin. our correspondent reports. >> reporter: it's the heart of istanbul, and one of its most popular tourist spots. this is the square less than an hour after an explosion. the site cordoned off and security tight. >> translator: it was a suicide bomb, yes. i went there and saw it and came

back to the hotel. it was chaos. police didn't see this coming. they were upset but trying to evacuate the area, because they say a second bomb could go off. istanbul is turkey's biggest city, where this square is a major attraction for tourists. some in turkey had been expecting attacks since turkish forces launched an offensive against isil, as well as kurdish pkk fighters. [ explosion ] >> reporter: in october at least 102 people were killed in a double suicide blast on a peace rally in the capital. >> translator: i strongly condemn this attack. this apparent terrorist act caused by a suicide bomber. i would like to offer my

condolences to those who lost their loved ones, and pray for those who lost their lives. once again this shows us how important it is to be unite against terrorism. >> reporter: the district is now locked down. it's people left bewildered that a suicide bomb blast has torn through their beloved and historic city. live now to al jazeera's correspondent who is in sultanma square, this popular square that is such a magnet for foreign tourists, what is the situation now? >> well, things are getting calm in the square. a sense of normalcy is returning with the trams running again, but we have just heard from the turkish prime minister who confirmed just moments ago what we had been hearing first that the -- all of those who lost

their lives were foreigners; that there were only injured turks, so confirming first that all who lost their lives are foreigners. we also for the first time, the turkish government had been telling us that this was -- it was a 28-year-old syrian citizen who had been the cause of the blast. they are now for the first time saying it is a, quote, foreign national linked to daesh or isil. so just to reit -- reiterate, speaking a few moments ago the turkish prime minister saying this is a foreign citizen linked to daesh. >> as we have seen the president and the prime minister addressing the turkish people, anxious no doubt to reassure the people of turkey. >> reporter: exactly.

you could say that turks have been somewhat on the edge in the last -- in the last six months, especially following the double suicide attack in ankara. there has been heavier police presence on the streets of istanbul. some of our friends have not left their houses on new year's eve for example. others have stopped using public transport for example. so, yes, there will be a heightened sense of danger in the city in the months to come. >> okay. thank you very much indeed. immediately now let's go to the german capitol and talk to our correspondent there, dominic kane. unfortunately they figure on the casualty list. >> reporter: well, so it would seem, martine. there has been no confirmation from the german government about whether its citizens are among the fatalities here. we have heard from the

chancellor, angela merkel, and from her foreign minister where he has said that he believes it is very likely indeed that gearmans are indeed among the fatalities. separately sources in turkey suggest that someone from the turkish prime minister's office has told reuters, the reuters news agency that germans are among the fatalities and that he has called chancellor merkel on the phone to expense his condolences. the foreign minister here in berlin has said that this is a barbaric act of terrorism. he has condemned it, and said that the german government will be very interested to follow up on the investigations, and we can be sure when the bodies are repatriated here eventually, that it will be a blow to german society if it is proved correct

that germans are amongst the dead. but to reiterate so far at least the german government has not confirmed its citizens are among the fatalities, but the foreign minister has said it is very likely. >> thank you very much. dominic kane in berlin. now the senior fellow in turkish and kurdish studies joins us live from istanbul. this is the first time, then, that -- of this particular incident that the turkish government has attributed blame to isil. does this change the lay of the land now? >> not very much, even though previously as i said, you know, it hasn't been confirmed for the previous attacks -- previous terrorist attacks against turkey in the last six months, but nevertheless it is widely believed that it was conducted

by isis. never the less this attack has shown that turkey needs to actually increase its -- increase its alert level vis-a-vis terrorism, and turkey's new security architecture needs to include a very strong and a very significant aspect of fighting and unconvention international terrorist organization like daesh. it indicated al-qaeda in 2006. they have been [ inaudible ] conducted by al-qaeda, but turkey has never experienced a terrorist action on this level from a international terrorist organization. so in this regard it is unique. in this regard turkey faces a new challenge, but nevertheless

i think this has been going on for almost one year, and turkey already more or less knows what it is facing. >> and indeed it is quite recent that turkey has stepped up in participation in the fight against isil both in syria and iraq. >> well, turkey did participate. previously turkey was insisting that, you know, we should not only and solely focus on isis. also let's not forget about the major factor that is generated terrorism and radicalism in syria, which is the assad regime. so therefore turkey wants to have a package deal, isis plus the assad regime, but nevertheless as this event has forced turkey to some extent to prioritize isis for a very simple reason, because it is a major threat to turkey, to europe, and to -- you know, to all of the countries in the

region. but again, the threat of isis is not just a security threat. it is a political threat, a threat on the narrative, and we will not win this battle unless we focus on this broader threat, which includes political dimension, dimension of narrative, and therefore we cannot lose the sight of the bigger picture that gives birth to isis, which is a failed state in iraq, and civil war in the form of syria that has been ongoing for quite a long time now. >> okay. thank you very much. talking to us live from istanbul there. the u.s. humanitarian chief says 400 people need to be brought out of madaya for life-saving treatment. he made the call as food and medicine finally got there, reaching three besieged towns. under a deal, an aid convoy arrived from damascus on monday. supplies have also been

delivered to the pro-government villages. opposition groups are surrounding those villages, but there are many areas not included in this deal including in the east around 176,000 are said to be in urgent need of help. 9,000 people are trapped in a damascus suburb. and the u.n. says isil fighters have cut off 200,000 people. james bayes reports from u.n. headquarters in new york. >> reporter: trucks finally arrive in madaya. a town of more than 40,000 people. where they have been eating their pets, and then survived on a diet of soup made from grass. >> translator: people killed cats to eat them. others and it grass. i saw people sitting on garbage and eating it.

we need to break the siege. >> reporter: as approximate -- many as 28 people have starved to death. but the syrian ambassador seemed to dispute this. >> the situation in madaya is based on false information l. >> reporter: we have seen reports of deaths some in the last few hours. we have seen pictures of starving people. are those propagations? >> yes, indeed. >> reporter: so reports of mass starvation and these deeply disturbing pictures of the town's population, including children suffering from malnutrition are, he claims fake. but he also seemed to have a different second explanation. >> the terrorists are stealing the humanitarian assistance from the syrian red kre sant, and they are keeping it and use it

as a leverage of political and financial gain for them. >> reporter: the u.s. ambassador samantha power told the u.n. general assembly she had no doubt who was to blame. >> look another the grotesque starve or surrender tactics the syrian regime is using right now. look at the haunthing pictures of civilians including children even babies. there are hundreds of thousands of people being deliberately starved right now. and these images, they remind us of world war ii. >> reporter: but on the ground in madaya, one woman seemed to back the syrian ambassador's explanation. >> translator: the situation in madaya is so bad. before the siege we used to live a proper life. the armed rebels when they entered the village and acted as we all know, they revealed their true colors.

it has all become clear now, they are nothing but traitors of people's blood. >> reporter: getting to the truth in any chaos and turmoil is very difficult, the camera crew who filmed these pictures were operating under syrian government media guidelines. syria remains a country where it's difficult to speak freely, and where basic humanitarian needs, the access to food, is being used as a weapon of war. the u.n. now says it needs the urgent evacuation of 400 people from madaya who need life-saving treatment. james bayes, al jazeera, at the united nations. a logistics officer for the world food program was part of the convoy to madaya on monday. >> we got in there quite late last night. it was dark. it was very cold, and it was quite miserable. the people in there are -- their first question to all of us, was

do we have food? so there is obviously quite an issue with food. there are approximately we estimate, 43,000 people in there. and there was food and the same items that went into madaya, going into the other towns. we took in basically a ration, wp ration that we give out to all of the people in syria, who are in need of food assistance. it has rice in there. it has pastas. it has paste. it is enough to keep a family going for one month, and we will be going back again in a few days with wheat flour to also give to the families. if you look at syria itself, there are many other areas that are besieged, and in the same dire conditions. i can't even compare what i saw yesterday with anywhere else in the world because every

situation is difficult -- is different as you can imagine. but it was very bad conditions, desperate conditions i would say. very similar conditions that we are seeing throughout syria at the moment in both areas. traveling around the country has become a challenge. getting transportation to go into these areas is a challenge. but we are getting there. we are making successes, and we are actually finding ourselves in these places, so this is a good thing. this was a very big success yesterday. >> we have got a lot more coming up on this al jazeera news hour, including brings the classroom to the children. how nigeria is educating those who have been displaced by boko haram's war on learning. an indonesian cleric jailed, appeals against his conviction. and it is being described as

the biggest doping scandal in australian history. ♪ nigeria's oil minister is calling for an emergency meeting of opec because of falling prices. they now hit a low not seen in more than a decade, and they are forecast to go further down. in 2008 a barrel of oil cost more than $147. now it has fallen to around $30 per barrel. that's great news for us, filling up our cars or heating our homes, but it's bad news for the oil-producing countries like saudi arabia which has resisted pressure from some of its opec partners to cut production in the hope it would lift prices. none of these countries are getting enough for their oil to cover their costs. one of those countries nigeria. our correspondent joins us now

from the capitol, abuja. first of all this is the minister of state who manages the day-to-day functioning of this crucial ministry for nigeria addressing the meeting in the gulf. >> reporter: that's right. it was during this meeting, martine, that he said perhaps opec needed to re - re -- restrategize its approach. so far opec countries which produce around 21.5 million barrels of oil every single day have decided not to cut production as a strategy to try to bolster the price of oil. this is clearly having a devastating impact on the economies of opec that rely very heavily on the state of oil, countries like nigeria, algeria, and venezuela, and it appears there is some growing divide between those countries and

countries like saudi arabia, which basically controls the lion's share of the oil, produce the lion's share of the oil that comes from opec countries. shortly after those remarks, it is apparently that the oil minister for the uae dismissed what he said, and said there wouldn't be any artificial interference in what is going on. there wouldn't necessarily be a meeting before the scheduled meeting of june. and all of this is putting immense pressure on the nigerian government to do what it has promised to do for many years, which is diversify its economy. now it needs cash badly, and what it depends on for cash is plummeting the price of oil. >> this must be terrible news for the administration. we know saudi arabia has a huge amount of foreign reserves, but for now long can nigeria cope?

for how long can that muddle along with oil prices at this particular price, very low, and indeed predicted to go even lower? >> reporter: well, that's right, and -- [ audio lost ] >> i'm afraid we have lost yvonne. that's a shame, but we got the gist of what she was trying to say. now the coordinator of the syrian opposition has said that history will not forgive the u.s. president barack obama. he says the u.s. has backtracked on commitments it made earlier, which could doom the up coming peace talks. syria is likely to feature in obama's final state of the union address. the u.s. president is promising not to follow the usual script. here is our white house correspondent. >> a willingness to take responsibility for our future. >> reporter: seven times now,

u.s. president barack obama has done there, detailing how he sees the state of the union. this last time, it's all about legacy. he is expected to focus mostly on his past accomplishments. >> presidents are often in this -- sort of last year of their presidency, looking to set a narrative about who they were, what they did, and how historians and, really, the public should judge them for the rest of their lives. >> reporter: he'll be addressing members of congress are but he'll really be talking to the american people at home. trying to get them excited for the coming election, a final push to try to get his party back in power. >> it is what i want to focus on in this state of the union address. not just the remarkable progress we have made, not just what i want to get done in the year ahead, but what we all need to do together in the years to come, the big things.

[ applause ] >> reporter: this is a president that has had a very difficult relationship with congress. that was apparent at the beginning of his first term when he was heckled by a congressman. >> you lie! >> reporter: and in last year's address. >> i have no more campaigns to run. [ applause ] >> my only agenda -- [ laughter ] >> i know, because i won both of them. [ cheers and applause ] white house officials say he will ask them to pass criminal justice reform and the pacific rim pact. and if they don't act on issues like closing guantanamo bay, cuba, he might on his own. this is a president defining his legacy. looking for a few more accomplishments with or without

congress's help. supreme court judges in the philippines have backed government plans to allow the return of u.s. government bases. after the bases were shut down in the 1990s, u.s. commanders again want a foothold in the philippines. it is at the center of rising tension in the south china sea where china has built artificial islands and airstrips. a judicial review has been opened and adjourned into the case of a cleric who is serving a 15-year jail sentence. our correspondent is at the court as he made his first public appearance in five years. >> reporter: supporters are representing their anger at the district court. security in town and at the

court is tight. he is a spiritual leader, of an nationally recognized hard line islamist organization. he insists that his donations to a training camp were meant for humanitarian purposes. >> translator: my role in this group is unimportant. but i received the heaviest punishment, so it is clear this is a conspiracy, not a fair sentence. >> reporter: he used his rare public appearance as an opportunity to lash out at police prosecutors and judges. >> translator: the name is never mentioned in the primary allegation at the beginning of the hearing. he is not involved in the mentioned terrorist act, but why does he become a terrorist in the following hearings. the verdict is a mistake. >> reporter: hundreds have

travelled to show their anger over the conviction. emotionally they have demanded his release. it is now up to the supreme court to decide if evidence prevented five years after his conviction will be enough to release him. from prison he pledged alliance to isil in 2014. his son says he has since withdrawn his support. >> translator: i believe he doesn't support them anymore. the problems are not like what he thought before. >> reporter: the court is expected to hear five witnesses two weeks from now. in february, the supreme court is due to decide if their testimonies about his role are enough to release the 77 year old from prison. still to come in this al jazeera news hour, new claims that syrian refugees in lebanon are being forced into illegal jobs. plus --

>> i'm in tel-aviv, coming up, we'll tell you why an arabic language song has not only topped the charts here in israel, but is also braking barriers. and we have the action from the nba later this hour with andy. ♪

>> we do these things because ultimately they will make us safer. >> president trying to figure out just which course to take. >> this is how you can fight the republicans, and he's putting them where they have to respond. >> and after the address...

♪ hello again. let's have a look at the top stories here at al jazeera. the tur kirk prime minister says isil was behind a suicide bombing in the historic district of istanbul. at least ten people are dead, among them german tourists. the u.n. humanitarian chief says at least 400 people need to leave madaya immediately to receive life-saving treatment. food and medical relief has finally reached trapped people in three -- blockaded towns.

humanitarian rights watch says rules are forcing many syrian refugees into illegal jobs. the latest report says lebanese authorities are effectively blocking many syrians, some children, from renewing their residency permits. and that means they can't legally work or go to the police. some refugees report being underpaid, and some say they have been sexually exploited by their employer. >> reporter: this boy is employed in a garbage to support his family. despite being a child, he feels a sense of responsibility to feed his parents and four younger siblings. >> translator: i have been working for two years.

i stopped going to school to be able to work to help my family. to be able to get a loaf of bread. >> reporter: he earns $10 a week, barely enough to survive. he would rather be in school. syrian children often work because their parents face arrest for not having a residency visa from the lebanese government. while many syrians live in refugee camps, thousands of others live in poorer suburbs of beirut, trying to eke out a living, that has been made even harder by stricter rules. some business owners are willing or able to offer sponsorship. >> translator: the situation is really hard now for syrians. all of them. they are living in misery and every day they suffocate under these laws. the majority are working illegally with no sponsorship.

>> reporter: human rights groups say more syrians are being forced to work illegally. this is one of them. he says he can't find a sponsor. >> translator: the last time i went to renew my papers they asked me what work i do, i had to lie and say i stay at home. we fled from syria because of the war. we're not supporting any side in the war. we just want to survive. >> reporter: many others can't afford to pay the $200 needed for official documentations. syrians like this one who have been living here since the start of the war. >> translator: i don't have residency. i don't have the means to renew my papers or a sponsor. >> reporter: whether older and resigned to working illegally, or younger and taking on the breadwinner's role as a child, most syrians in lebanon are just trying to earn enough to live off. a struggle made harder by

lebanese law. caroline malone, al jazeera, lebanon. an advisor to lebanon's interior ministry, and he says lebanon rejects the findings of the report. >> it's important to reflect on the whole picture, not to focus on something very specific. today all syrians who are not registered as refugees, they can easily work. they just need to have a local lebanese sponsor, whereas for syrian refugees that are registered they can use it to renew their residencies. the only thing that is mentioned in the report is the issue of fees for renewal of the residencies. this is something that has always been there. it's part of lebanese legislation. it's not something new. now the u.n. has announced that yemen's peace talks have been postponed until next tuesday. another setback for yemenis who

are desperate for this conflict to end, including a quarter of a million people who are in dire need of food and medicine. our correspondent reports. >> reporter: houthi gunmen herd residents away from their check point at the western gate of ta'izz. >> we are insulted and humiliated. they say we are not allowed to leave the city. >> reporter: more than a quarter of a million people have no access to food in the city. [ explosion ] >> reporter: ta'izz is under siege by houthi fighters who control the city suburbs. fighters loyal to president hadi control the city's main districts. >> translator: we hear explosions all around us. we cannot even sleep at night. >> reporter: the yemeni national army is trying to recapture ta'izz with air support from the saudi-lead coalition. the coalition is supporting the

internationally recognized government. >> translator: where can we go in this is our country. >> reporter: some in ta'izz are risking their lives to smuggle in food over mountain passes. the u.n. says 21 million yemenis are in dire need of help. the saudi-lead coalition began air strikes last march. since then more than 6,000 people have been killed and 2,000 civilians injured. the world health organization says hospitals in ta'izz have had to stop treating patients, because hospitals are overwhelmed. blockades and air strikes are preventing international agencies from delivering food, medical supplies and even oxygen. child mall nourishment is widespread. >> translator: everything is getting worse day by day. they say they won't allow us to leave. >> reporter: as military and diplomatic efforts continue to fail, activists are turning to social media. >> they hope the hashtag end

ta'izz seize will pressure forces to allow humanitarian aid. syria is not the only place where people are dying from disease, starvation and selling. iraqi rescue workers have been searching through the rubble of a bombed-out shopping center in baghdad. a suicide bomber and gunmen stormed the mall. isil is claiming responsibility for the attack in the mainly shia district of the capitol. [ inaudible ] has met rebel leaders for the first time aimeded a ending decades of fighting in myanmar. but some refuse to at tend as wayne haye reports. >> reporter: this is one of the final acts of the out going military-backed government. they are hosting the union peace conference. five days of talks between the government and armed rebel groups. >> translator: the holding of

union peace conference, an indication that political transition is moving ahead [ inaudible ]. >> reporter: the eight groups venned are the same ones that signed in october what the government called a nation-wide ceasefire deal. in reality it was anything but nationwide, with some of the largest groups boycotting the signing and this week's conference. they were unhappy that a few of the smaller armies were invited to sign the deal. for decades armed groups have been battling for independence or greater autonomy. the latest talks are aimed at developing a road map. the leader of this party will oversee the peace process in the future. they won last november and is

forming the next government. >> translator: based on the mandate, it's right to do what people want us to do. we are ready to take the responsibility of building forever peace. i hope everybody will help us. >> reporter: the group she really needs help from is the army. its commanders will remain a powerful political force. there is a deep mistrust of the military in the rebel-held areas, and they may be keen to exert their influence and power for some time yet. now for the first time in 40 years, thousands of junior doctors in england have gone on strike in a dispute over pay and work conditions. there are operations and procedures being canceled. it's the first of three days of protests to hit the national health service. >> reporter: they and thousands of others should have been on shift, but instead, and under the shadow of the u.k. parliament, junior doctors

walked out, angry over plans to change their current contract. they say it could see them working more hours in britain's free health service. >> obviously patient safety is the main thing that worries us, and what the government is hoping to do with the new contract, we fear will jeopardize patient safety. it will be bad for staff, bad for patients and bad for the nhs. >> reporter: this is the first doctor's strike for more than 40 years. it has lead to more than 4,000 non-emergency operations and procedures being canceled. many say they are staging this protest with a heavy heart. this strike comes at a time when the nhs is facing extraordinary financial pressure, and morale among staff is low. the government has consistently defended the new contract, saying it will help bring in a better service with better cover at weekends, and that junior

doctors won't see a pay cut. >> you have to go back to the negotiating table, discuss the points of concern on both sides, and come to a negotiated deal. that is the only solution here. >> reporter: it takes about five years to get a medical degree in the u.k., and after that you can spend ten years as a junior doctor. some of the next generation training believe this strike could be a defining moment for the profession. >> you have to work longer hours to suppliment their income to earn similar wages, then it is going to have a knock-on effect with people being more tired. safeguards people to be, being eroded. >> we don't know what the contract is going to look like when we start. we have no idea what our hours will be, the kind of support we'll have. >> reporter: a recent poll suggests two-thirds of the public support the junior doctor's actions.

two more strikes are planned. emma hayward, al jazeera, in london. ♪ coming up in just a little while, andy will be here with the sport including the manchester united manager admitting he has been rather bored watching his own team play. ♪

♪ all right. let's go back to nigeria now where classrooms are being taken to children who have had their old ones blown up. boko haram fighters have

targeted schools in particular. now it's reckoned that more than a million have been displaced during the past six years of conflict. and now the government is setting up mobile classrooms. our correspondent reports now. >> reporter: this child is finally attending school. like everyone in his class, he fled from his village after boko haram attacked and occupied it. the armed group is opposed to western education, and has kills tens of thousands in nigeria's northeast. the nigerian government and its develop partners are providing mobile classrooms like these to help children displaced by the violence catch up on their education. >> it's a collaboration with [ inaudible ] we have established and -- mobile units,

and mobile units a classroom that is fully equipped with furnitures, and even generators, and electricity and solar panels, and wash facilities. so it's really a fully equipped classroom that can host 40 children, which is standard -- standardized ratio in terms of student and teacher ratio. >> reporter: but even with these classes running in the morning and afternoon, the facilities are simply not enough. as many as 70% of children in borno state were not attending school before the boko haram violence. that number has significant increased over the last few years. most schools have been destroyed and hundreds of teachers killed. although the mobile classrooms may not be enough, they offer a new start. little selma has been around violence since she was born, but

this has impressed many year. the mobile classrooms are offering her a chance to chase her dream. something 11 million other out of school nigerian children aren't able to do. al jazeera, nigeria. three palestinians have been shot dead in the occupied west bank. the 21-year-old man was killed by israeli forces during confrontations near bethlehem, and in a separate incident, a 17-year-old boy was also shot by israeli forces following an alleged stabbing attack. he later died in hospital. a third person was killed north of hebron. now for the first time a song entirely in arabic has topped the charts in israel. it gives traditional rhythms and lyrics from yemen a hip hop treatment. our correspondent has been

listening in. ♪ >> reporter: it has been viewed online more than 2 million times. ♪ >> reporter: and stormed to the top of israel's pop music chart, the song is her first single. it's success is an impressive feet for any group, but almost unheard of for a jewish israeli band that sings folk songs. it means yes in colloquial arabic. they are unlike any other band in israel, and they are proud of it. >> music is a language in its, so i don't think it should have any borders or something. we just want people to enjoy our music, no matter where they come from.

>> reporter: the sisters are descendants of yemeni jews who moved to israel after it was created in 1948, they grew up singing the songs of their homeland, around 3 million israelis are jews who trace their ancestry to the middle east, and around 20% of israeli citizens are arabic-speaking palestinians. both communities have historically been among the poorest and most disen franchised. it seems a given that this kind of song should achieve success, given the majority of the population comes from arabic-speaking countries, but there is another reason why this is the first song of its type to top the israeli music charts. for decades after the creation of israel, arabic music, was rarely played on israeli radio,

the early leaders of israel were european jews, and their culture dominated. that slowly started to change in the 1970s with a select few artists achieving commercial success, but all of those artists even blended arabic with hebrew or english, or gave their music a distinctly israeli flair. >> i think the system made it very clear to us from the get-go, from the very early 50s, that you need to work twice as much harder to prove to us that you are not that kind of arab. >> reporter: from tel-aviv to tangiers, brooklyn to beirut, she hopes to transcend israel's politics and history with their music. al jazeera, tel-aviv. okay. it's time for the sports news.

here is andy. >> thank you so much, martine. more than 30 of stral yoo's football players have been hit with drug bans. 34 past and present players have been found guilty with being injected with growth enhancing drugs. the team doctor was found have injected the players with a banned substance that promotes muscle growth. the players had claimed they were unaware they were being given a controlled substance. >> this entire episode has chronicled the most devastating case of self inflicted injury by a sporting club in australia's history, and this self inflicted injury began with a decision to embark upon an injections program designed to give this

sporting club a competitive edge against its rivals. >> we have maintained a consistent position that these players did nothing wrong, and today's decision does nothing to change our view. it is important to note the players took all reasonable steps to assure themselves that what they were being given was compliant with the wider code. they sought confirmation that all supplements were in compliance with the code, and were provided with written documentation to this effect. >> andrew thomas is in melbourne and he says the impact has been felt throughout the entire league. >> reporter: in melbourne, the verdict could not be worse. not only did the court find that a systemic program of perform-enhancing dopes did take place at this club, it is found that the players themselves were significantly at fault. for the 34 players involved

two-year bans from the game. they will be backdated to last year, but they will miss the up coming season entirely. other players played for clubs right across the league. so it will have big implications across the land of australian football. and there are huge financial implications, individual players may sue the club. they may say they suffered reputational damage, career damage, because of a system of doping that was run and managed by those running this club. >> we have been talking to the former head of the australian sports anti-doping agency, he says this incident provides further evidence that drug testing needs to be taken away from sports bodies. >> i think one of the things that is very clear from what we're seeing at the iaaf, and

with the australian football league, is that sports have a massive conflict of interest in promoting this sport and promoting their athletes, whilst being ask to put in place some quite tough rules and regulations which may throw various athletes and clubs out of competition. that is an inherent conflict of interest. it has been proen to be a problem, and it is time that anti-doping was taken away from sport and managed by an independent sport authority. >> sorry about the quality on that video. manchester united manager has admitted he has been bored at times watching his team play this season. they were booed off of the field this weekend. newcastle drew 0-0 with united when they traveled to the area

earlier this season. dangerous team. very good players on the deck and can -- can really control the game and can really hit at you. we just got to make sure that they don't. we are at home. we have to be positive. i think we take heart from the performance last weekend, and we need another kind of performance like that, we'll utilize discipline, and hopefully have a better end product. bayern munich has apologized for announcing to move to the premier league next season. he is in qatar right now, and he said he is sorry of news of his arrival has increased pressure on some managers. he has yet to reveal which team he will be joining, but says it won't be easy to leave buyearn.

>> i'm a personal guy who needs to meet new things. that is the only reason why. so my career will not finish -- hopefully will not finish in england. maybe i'll be curious to go with -- i don't know. but after that, i have said many times, i would stay here for a long time. here is the perfect club. and the golden state warriors have extended their home winning streak to 36 nba regular season games. over in chicago, the bulls lost their second game in a row. in time at home to the washington wizards. john wall got 17 points for the wizards. they won 114-100. that's sport for now. thank you. it is exactly 40 years since the created of [ inaudible ] died. agatha christy is perhaps the

world's most famous crime writer. >> reporter: we're following in the footsteps of the world's most famous crime writer in the city where she first found fame. any journey began in china town which in the 1930s used to be the detection club. today it's a chinese restaurant. >> this is an elite club for people who wrote detective fiction. they would dine. they would meet. discuss ideas, discuss whether murder was ever justified, work out plots, and sometimes they would work together and produced some books. >> reporter: they also had an unusual rituallization. >> you had to place your hand on

the skull, through that, during parts of the ceremony, his eyes would light up. >> reporter: she is best known for her 83 detective stories. she has been sold in at least a hundred different languages. she has only been outsold by shakes spear and the bible. her story also lead to a string of film and television spinoffs with actors playing the roles of the supersleuth, and belgian detective. the characters were even adapted into japanese cartoons. but christy's first love was for the stage. >> do you prefer writing plays or books? >> oh, plays. >> why? >> much more fun. >> reporter: when the mouse trap was first staged in 1952, christy only expected it to last a few months, 64 years on, and more than 26,000 performances

later, it is the world's longest-running play. >> it really is the classic who dun it. it's a group of people trapped in a place. no one can escape. and what agatha christy does is throughout the play, she makes all of them possible murders. >> reporter: in the heart of london's theater district is a statute of christy, her work continues to generate royalties of $4 million a year. and last year ten lost place were rediscovered. keeping people guessing even beyond the grave. agatha christy died 40 years ago. there is lots more to come here on al jazeera. felicity barr will be here with you to take you through the next couple of hours bringing you the very latest to come out of istanbul, so don't go away.

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a bomb in a tourist area of istanbul kills at least ten people, most are reported to be german. ♪ hello there. i'm felicity barr and this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up, aid workers in the syrian town of madaya, say malnourished people there urgently need medical help. the mobile classrooms annoying children to go to school in nigeria. and britain sees its