>> and a very warm welcome from me, david foster, wherever you're watching this news hour, these are our top stories, stepping up the fight against isil. meeting in paris as the group faces losses across iraq and syria. pakistani taliban condemns the attack on the university that killed 20 and wounded dozens. >> calling this a sophisticated

people-smuggling ring in turkey and germany. going up, oil prices monitored closely as business leaders and heads of state meet for the world economic forum. ♪ >> all 26 countries involved in the coalition against isil are being called on to contribute more to the fight the meetings have been planned for three weeks i'm to discuss how best to do that. the coalition is seeking to capitalize. seven of the greatest

contributers met in paris. missing from the table was russia. it is also bombing isil but it was not invited to the talks. we'll have more on that in a moment. a long side airstrikes training syrian opposition remains one of the best ways to defeat isil. hire is jacky rowland in paris. >> this is the first high-level meeting of the seven countries most heavily engaged in the fight against isil. the objective is to intensify the campaign in iraq and syria. the u.s. navy launches bomby raids from the golf. the coalition wants to weaken isil and degrade it's ability to capture and hold territory. part of the strategy is to target isil's logistics and resources and that includes oil.

these images from the british defense ministry apparently showed jets targeting oil facilities controlled by isil in eastern syria. >> it's resilience should strength our action. we should keep fighting this organization on all fronts. we'll root them out on the ground and in people's minds. when it tomorrows to fighting on the ground the coalition depends on local iraqi and syrian forces. several countries are providing them with training, but there is no talk of putting their own boats on the ground. >> we're enabling local motivated forces wherever isil has spread. as the only practical strategic approach not only to defeating isil, but also of sustaining its

defeat there after. >> it was a large gathering, nevertheless, there were notable absences from the table. russia, which is carrying out it's own airstrikes in syria, and turkey, which serves as a root for isil fighters and supplies. >> we saw this coalition in history already, in afghanistan, and i don't think hugely successful in afghanistan. the second main reservation is that two important partners are missing which is turkey and russia. there is a huge role between turkey and russia. >> this meeting mostly focused on iraq and syria. it is gaining strength in libya and extending its strength further. >> this is not a conventional war. the battle lines keep shifting. sometimes even to the heart of western capitals.

>> another meeting will be bringing together a much larger coalition members. acknowledgment that isil is becoming more tenacious. >> missing was russia. it is bombing isil, but it wasn't invited to those talks. instead, secretary of state john kerry met met up with russia. those two countries have not been able to agree on who should represent the opposition at the negotiating table. there are indications that those talks can be delayed for just a few days. >> we don't have any thoughts of moving the start of talks from january to february. this is the position of both russia and the united states. we are confident that in the coming days in january these

talks will begin. >> we will take a closer look now at some of the territory held by isil, some of which has been accomplished by mid 2015 isil held large parts of the north of syria and iraq. you can see it there in gray. multi. fronts with kurdish forces taking large parts. you may remember the fight for kobane on the border, and they largely pushed isil so far out of ramadi. some gains for the group, but few, they have made strategic value and looking forward to the two cities raqqa in syria and mosul in iraq. there is a lot of diplomacy

going on in different parts of europe, but what is the most significant thing that you've heard from those attending those talks and from those who are attending the talks. >> in paris i think we might be seeing the decline if not the demise of the prerussian involvement strategy. of course then the west needing a coalition including regional players bombing syria, assisting the kurds and the iraqi regime in iraq. what we've seen since the russian involvement is a very slow and quiet leaving of the battlefield by the regional forces, the saudis and others. they're not coming to paris. and what we've seen as a result of the elections in canada, the canadiens have moved out. and so the defense secretary and secretary of state u.s. is

saying look, we're going to have a chat about ideas and we'll look at the process. >> when he said we need to chat ideas does it mean that they don't have any? >> in his words, there is a need to accelerate the process. there is a recognition around the world and hopefully within the pentagon itself that without an effective ground force there is no way that you can deliver success in the short term. i think that that is a challenge that's facing the aerial coalition is how to have a coordinated air and ground strategy that will deal with daesh. this is going on in parallel with the political talks, these talks about which do involve the regional players and hopefully will continue to involve iran. >> i think the question of how you sell any kind of ground

campaign we'll leave for another day. but what i want to ask you when we heard from sergei lavrov and john kerry in zurich, not--well, not uncordial, but not desperately warm. ash carter and others in paris saying that the russians have got it entirely wrong. what strategy do we see with the coalition trying to deal with russia? >> there is that continuing problem that both america and russia have. they've got huge conflicts over various conflicts. they're not happy about having to work together with syria, but there is a grudging recognition, that's why they're talking, but they have not come up with an agreed plan to deal with particularly the syrian issue. what do we do with assad in order to be able to deal with daesh. i think there is an emerging consensus that assad is a lower priority than daesh, but how to square those two semi

conflicting areas, i think there is a ways to go on the diplomacy front to get an agreement. as the time goes on the commitment seems to be waning. certainly the commitment we had three months ago, that seems to be--the momentum seems to be going out of that. there seems to be an attempt to re-energize the process. >> just in terms of territory we put up that map that showed areas that isil, daesh, had lost. how much does it matter to the group in terms of the military and in terms of recruitment? because the idea is to spread the caliphate, and now it seemed to be shrinking somewhat. >> two points on that. one is we have to be skeptical about those maps. they're not very accurate. they're based on assumptions. the other thing is with insurgency groups like daesh, a loss now is temporary.

they do spring back. they do withdraw when confronted, but territory is critical to daesh's self identity. if they lose territory they can no longer claim to be a state. they can no longer claim to be a caliphate. denying them territory significantly will be destructive to them as an organization. >> we have to leave it there. but that brings us back to the point you made earlier, that perhaps this is the only way to take it forward. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> now, a day after the arrival of the shipment in madaya, the town under siege from government forces, al jazeera has been hearing from some of the people living there. they say they're very grateful for what they've received, but above all they simply want that siege to end. >> first of all i have to say thank god for what we have received, but let's face it, it is very little. it will not be enough.

what the u.n. brought us may last 15 gays. but if the siege continues we'll go back and relive the same misery. we need help. the world must do something about this horror. >> the u.n. help was good, but it's never enough. people were dying of hunger, starving, any help that is coming cannot feed the children after what they've been through. we're cooking but we're hungry because we're worried about what will happen next. there is not enough milk. we just want them to lift the siege and open the roads so we don't have to be stuck here. >> the hardship is till here. it didn't go anywhere. there is no wood. no heating oil, nothing. what can i tell you? the situation is still miserable. we hope they open the roads and lift the siege, the sooner the better. >> isil fighters have managed to destroy the oldest christian church in iraq.

it was built more than 1400 years ago on a hill, and isil fight whose control that spot, the islamic state in iraq and the levant has destroyed buildings that they consider to be against their interpretation of islam. hyder al abadi was north of baghdad, and their government-backed shia fighters have attacked sunni-owned businesses and mosques, and civilians have been caught in the cross fire. >> the streets look calm for now, but the mood remains tense. while many school children are back in classrooms, and bakeries are selling bread once more. the remnants of last week's sectarian violence are easy to

spot. from the wreckage brought by isil, to the burned out remains from a sunni-owned market fire bombed in reprisal attacks. >> today the displace ready not able to return to their homes. >> this sunni family are so scared they've asked us to blur their faces and not to reveal their names. the last thing they wanted to do was to leave. >> we were ordered to go. we were displaced by the militias. i took my children out of school, and now i have my entire family living in one room that i can barry afford. >> for the time being they've moved and have no idea when or if they'll be able to go back. >> many houses owned by sunnies were fire bombed in the last few months. members of the community were killed, too. now we have nothing but what we'vwe have--but the mercy of

god. >> they have the population made up of sunnies and shias. since isil was pushed out of the town in 2015 shia militias have essentially been in charge of security there. anger from sunnies who feel aggrieved and marginalized have been arriving. >> when the prime minister arrived on tuesday they vowed to bring security to all residents. but too many sunni lawmakers those promises ring hollow and they're accusing the government of not doing more to rein in militias and protect citizens. >> in diyala there have been many violations and several towns and villages. we see the retaliatory attacks. the government is not able to control the initial action or the reaction. >> as it battles isil and confronts a growing humanitarian crisis, iraq's security forces and government are stretched very then.

the threat of rising sectarian violence only makes an already volatile situation that much more dire. al jazeera, baghdad. >> a little look ahead to some of the things we've got coming up on the news hour. we'll be reporting on the syrians who have won the right to be reunited with their family. plus the how the falling price of oil has been playing russian roulette with that country's currency. >> i'm andrew thomas outside of sydney's cricket grounds. i'll be explaining why a new tournament for women marks an important moment for the professionalization of the women's game. >> the death toll following a attack in pakistan is now 20.

less than 40 kilometers from where the taliban killed 140 people in the school attack in december of 2014. the pakistan taliban has said it was not behind what happened as condemned the splinter group which has sense claimed responsibility. >> security forces now patrol the fields along side the university. gunmen had earlier taken advantage of of the winter to scale the walls, storm the buildings and open firing on students and teachers. >> we felt some people were fighting. then the gunfire increased. we said stay. rooms, don't go out. then the security forces came. >> the class has begun for the day. 3,000 students study here and they were runs of others at the university, too.

600 special guests were there to mark the guest of who the university was named after. the same region where fighters killed 140 children. reactions where hundreds were killed. they say they're confident that they've killed the gunmen leaving families and thousands of students to mourn the dead. al jazeera. >> suicide-bombers have killed several people after detonating a device near the afghan

capital. a mini bus carrying employees of an afghan tv channel were targeted. they say 24 people were hurt. nobody has yet said they carried out the attack. police in turkey and germany managed to break up a sophisticated people-smuggling ring. refugees were sent across the mediterranean in freight ships. germany's federal police chief said that the traffickers would be directly responsible for the deaths of any refugees. >> those who cram 1400 people into a run down cargo vessel that is ready for the scrap heap and get themselves to safety while leaving the people to their own fate, well, those people risks were accepting the

death of those people on board. >> a british court has ordered four syrians living at the call lay refugee camp in france should be brought to the u.k. to live with their relatives. they heard that the young men, including three unaccompanied teenagers all faced what was described intolerable conditions. well, this case could set a precedent that would allow refugees to come to britain. the group which brought the case to the tribunal said that there are many children in the same situation. >> from lebanon, turkey, greece, then they're stuck in what we

call the jungle. people are treated like animals there. right now if you go to the camp in calais you've got tear gas in the air because the french police use tear gas so much that it is thick. people are crying all the time. imagine a child living in that environment. and i, myself, met a few children willing to make the journey to try to cross the channel going from france to england. one of them, as he was talking to me, was showing his wrists and arm. you have that huge scar, he told me, yeah, i injured myself, it's not the first time, but i will go through. many of them tried. some of them suffocated in trucks. it's a huge victory for these families. these children won't have to face that kind of danger. >> well, dozens of refugees were spotted in the water near the turkish coast near wednesday

apparently after being abandoned by people smugglers. they were rescued by the greek coast guard where they were given dry clothes just a few of the millions of people currently on the move. the world economic forum in switzerland. the german president said 60 million people are fleeing their homes and many are heading to europe. well, the swedish prime minister said that the e.u. must work to find a more equitable way of distributing the massive numbers of refugees. >> of course, we want to be a part of the international conventions. these are human beings. but we ended up in dramatic situation because it was unsustainable situation. we need to take measures, bring down the numbers of refugees coming to sweden and make sure that other countries also take their responsibility. and we need to keep that situation because we need also to make sure that our society

functions, and the welfare system is functioning. it needs to be done. if we can't handle this situation, then the european union in itself is at risk. it will be much, much weaker. the schengen cooperation may be at risk. we believe that those countries today don't want to take that responsibility need to see that other perspective, the larger perspective, and it's not easy. but we need to take that discussion. >> well, that was the swedish prime minister on the sidelines. a summit that could be overshadowed by the falling price of oil. my colleague carlos santa maria is there. >> on day one in 2016 the news was mostly bad.

the fall on the could i niece markets overnight. another drop in the price of oil. for so long we talked about economic recovery, now it's a situation potentially worse than the crisis of 2007. the organization for economic cooperation and development reckons we're out of ammunition to fight for down turns. it's time for a change in thinking. >> we continue to rely on the central bangers doing more. they've run out of ammunition because they've been the heroes of the last four or five years. now it's a time for the for the education ministers. it's a time to go structural. it's a time to go green, institutionalist, social, it's a time to do all the structural measures that we did not take. but is it too late? markets and currencies are already crashing, and here the

real struggle to get moving again. i think we made the mistake in not boosting demand more strongly at once. we introduced austerity too soon in the u.k. and we don't get any momentum. >> so the talk goes on. how bad are things really. what do we do now? the opinions are as abundant as the snow. >> many say they're committed to improving the state of the world when they see it's a bunch of rich people in a very expensive ski resort in the middle of winter. but what they're trying to do in davos is bring people from all over the world and get them talking. >> think of russia.

it's become involved in the war with syria, fallen out with turkey and accused of adopting a cold war mentality. >> even in the u.s. we believe that russia should be treated with respect. many of the sanctions people have tried to impose-- >> with oil taking a dive t $30 a barrel, even russia knows that 2016 will be tough. and to think it's only january. kamahl santamaria, davos. >> well, he's on the way out. the oil prices are still going down influencing markets all over the world. thclosing down the opposite of

what had happened earlier. the dow jones index fell for much of the day, but it did manage to get back some of its positive territory before finally closing down 245 points. what's happening to drag the russian currency to a record low. the ruble to $1, the russian economy and government revenues are suffering because of the dependence on oil. even though it's an massive exporter it didn't get the money it wanted, but prices are down to a 12-year low. coming up, how astronomers have found a ninth planet? the deepest darkest recesses of our solar system?

and in sport golf's number three rory mcilroy get the better of 2016 as the northern irishman hopes to kick off the new season in style in the desert.

>> at 9:30 - "america tonight" - top investigative reporting, uncovering new perspectives. >> everything that's happening here is illegal. >> then at 10:00 - it's "reports from around the world". >> let's take a closer look. >> antonio mora gives you a global view. >> this is a human rights crisis. >> and at 11:00 - "news wrap-up". clear... concise... complete.

>> top stories here on the news hour. the u.s. secretary of defense ash carter calls for a meeting with the countries involved with the coalition against isil. >> and the oil prices still leaving it's mark on the european markets.

>> the poisoning of the russian spy report comes out on thursday. the prospect has been lifted by the russian's widow, but there is no word of what action they will take. alessandro litveneyko was working part time for the u.k.'s intelligence service m mi6 just a month before he accused moscow of being behind the murder of an investigative journalist.

he fell ill shortly after meeting with two russians. it is later discovered that he drank tea with poison substance. it finally got under way with promises fought to pull any punches. >> i make it clear now that i intend to make public my final conclusion on the issue of russian state responsibility. together with as much as possible you'll get involvement.

>> pain taking evidence was presented. it matched palestinian tone yum traces to the movement. >> the evidence is demonstrated step by painstaking step that putin and his personal cabal are directly implicated in organized crime. they're willing to murder those who stand in their way. and that mr. letvenienko was murdered for that reason. >> letvenienko's widow is to spea speaking.

what happens next could prove a tougher questions to answer. >> tunisian riot police have used tear gas on as many as a thousand people who have been demanding jobs. now there is a night curfew where protests began after a jobless man committed suicide two days ago. the unrest has spread to three other tunisian cities. the arab spring up rising i in 2011 began when a market vendor also took his life. the deep recession in brazil has taken a toll on public health. public health services. several states have declared state of emergency when patients are turned away because there isn't enough commitment. >> alexander has been pacing up and down for four hours since arriving at this maternity

clinic still bleeding from an apparent miscarriage. >> a human being not dog. i'm here waiting, and i'm told there is no one to see the doctor. >> she's not alone. the entrance in the clinic are in labor waiting to be admitted. >> i'm here with my daughter, and they say there is no space available. i'm terrified. she's suffering to give birth. what can we do? we have to go from one hospital to another by bus. >> we're told upstairs women in labor are undergoing cervical examinations in chairs because there are not enough beds and equipment or doctors to cope with demand orthopedic wing of another hospital looks as though they are in a war zone patients packed into a corridors. many forced to wait for a week

for emergency surgery. all over public hospitals and clinics are collapsing due to lack of funds. what you see here is the result of years of mismanagement and accumulating debt on civil and state levels compounded by the worst economic crisis in brazil in decades. it's a crisis impacting not only the public health sector but in many of brazil's largest states including rejoe de janeiro. a public health emergency has been declared in rio where the state has run out of money to pay for doctors and nurses. and an epidemic of a dangerous new mosquito-born virus called zika has prompted authorities to declare a public health emergency, which, in fact, already existed. >> there are doctors, but the deficit of rooms and resources. people need to protest to demand their rights.

>> but to slash spending in the midst of a deep economic recession the government argues it could only provide limited emergency funding to the states to alleviate the crisis. back at the maternity ward, they could take no more. while others in less pain do their best to comfort her. clearly shaken themselves as they yell for a doctor who doesn't arrive. lucia newman, brazil. >> the first cuban migrants who were stranded in costa rica are now arriving in the united states. they're among the first thousand who are allowed to make their way north part of a pilot program. they were stuck in costa tree are a after nic nick schifriner

august witnickcosta rica when nicaragua closed it's borders. >> these people flew to ecuador and did a whole round about land crossing through mexico and to the u.s. border. according to u.s. law if they make it to the land crossing or get to the u.s. and report themselves to u.s. authorities they can ask for political asylum, and they're always given it. they are unique among migrants from around the world. and it contrasts central with central american migrants from some of the violent countries in the world. that's not to say that cubans don't have a tough time in their countries, but once they get to the u.s. they can travel freely. they don't have to be smuggled any further. >> you talk about the other people from equally difficult

places. they're not allowed to do it because the u.s. is now cosying up to cuba, or if something else? >> well, there is this fear, david, in cuba, and i have to say that no u.s. politician is really floating the idea of getting rid of the adjustment act. so cubans have this fear or fear that this law is going to close. we don't see that happening just because of warmer relations. despite that we're having record numbers now that they can get passports in their own country. they fly to their a third country and they do what they can to travel over land to get to the u.s. one reason they can do this now is because of reforms in cuba that allows them to sell properties. that gives them thousands of dollars in cash. instead of investing in their own country they get out because

they say changes are happening too slowly. they want to make a life of it in the u.s. >> adam raney there in florida. elsewhere last year was apparently the hottest on earth in recorded history. so says nasa in the oceanic atmospheric administration. they've been looking at 100 years worth of records. tom ackerman. >> this visualization shows the long-term warming trend on earth since the industrial age began. the orange colors show a steady progression of rising average temperatures, especially in the northern hemisphere where carbon dioxide levels are highest. since 2002 we've seen nine of the ten warmest years since record keeping began more than a century ago. and in 2015 the average temperature across the planet was more than 20% higher than the previous highest year.

in the u.s. last month was both the warmest and wettest ever partly accountable to the periodic el niño weather affect. the trend isn't just being felt on land. more than 90% of human-generated heat energy winds up in the oceans. a new study found that over the past 18 years the amount of heat put into the sea has doubled. despite a broad consensus among scientists, acceptance of global warming and human responsibility for it remain a political issue in the u.s. the leading republican presidential candidate donald trump along with others in his party denies that it is real. >> i doubt there will be little change. it will go up, it will get cooler just like it has for million of years. it's called weather. >> but the democratic contenders have ranked it among their most serious concerns. >> the debate is over. climate change is real it is

already causing major problems. if we do not acted boldly and decisively, a bad situation will become worse. >> meanwhile, barack obama has ordered a freeze on all coal leases on public land saying he recognizes the impact of fossil fuels on climate change. >> astronomers believe there could be a ninth planet in our solar system. they say that the planet x also known as planet nine could be ten times the size of earth. if that's not enough it's also 20 times further away from the sun than we are. now the man who reckons this could well be the case one of the researchers mike brown, the professor of planetary science in the california institute of technology, welcome to you, mike. i'm going to preface this to you by saying you're the man who

killed off pluto. we'll get to that in just a moment, but this planet, which could be your mea culpa because you did it from--nobody has seen it at all, have they? >> no, it's true. we have not seen planet nine yet, but we have felt it. we can look in the outer part of the solar system and see its effects on other objects out there and figure out where it is and what it is doing. >> how far away is it? >> it's something like 200 times further from the sun than we are at its closest approach then it goes to something like athousand times away from the sun. so it's quite far away. >> i was way off when i said 20 times. that is if it exist it would take ten thousand years to orbit the sun, is that correct? >> that's correct. >> tell us why you think it's there. >> we noticed the very outer edge of the solar system. the distant object in the solar system. these things in the region of

pluto that the ones that are the very most distant, the lease connected to our solar system are always being pushed in one direction. and it took a long time to understand why. it's a strange thing. it shouldn't happen. we looked to see if there was something outside of the solar system that could be doing it. that doesn't work. we looked inside, and we realized the only way to get these things pushed off in this direction is by a massive planet pushing everything to where-- >> so things were happening that could only happen if this was the case. is that what you're saying? >> that's what we found. >> how are you going to prove this now? >> well, on this one the proof is easy. nobody will consider it proved until we actually find the planet. so we've been searching for a year now, but now that everybody else knows that it's out there i suspect that astronomers will get on the case very quickly. i predict that it will be found

within five years, i think. >> did you it for pluto, because it is no long arrest planet. and you wrote a book called "how i killed pluto and why it had it coming." and your daughter cannot figure you for this. >> she told me five years ago. she's only ten. so she was only zero when pluto was demoted, but she's been angry about it since then. she said, you know, daddy, it will be okay if you go find a new planet. then i won't be mad any more. so this set off my quest. >> fy looked out the window tonight. and i saw it. it would be called foster's planet in the brown's planet. i need a telescope, don't i? >> it's true and tell me what

happens next? >> so now we set off this worldwide search and we have basically given astronomers a treasurer map and where to look and somebody is going to find it and when they do it's a pretty momentum point in history when we find just the third planet in recorded human history, it's kind of like finding a new continent or something else in your neighborhood. >> okay, just a quickie, those space things like the hobbler et cetera they are not going to go near it, they are too far away. >> as soon as we find it we are going to use every telescope we can find like the hubble space telescope and the james web telescope and all of those are key for studying the tree nature of planet nine when it's finally discovered. >> mike brown on planet foster

thank you very much. >> my pleasure. still to come on the news hour, while this two-time grand slam winner will not be adding the australia open trophy for the collection this year. ♪

♪ thank you very much, david, we start with tennis and reigning champion yanukovich is to the third round in melvin and world number win had a two-set lead up against french qualifier and the

19-year-old fought back in the third set forcing a tie break and yanukovich was too strong and closing out the match 6-1-6-2-7-6. >> powerful player. you know big forehand and being aggressive every time he had an opportunity and he was firing shots from all corners from back of the court and you know he deserved the credit and applause in the end of the match for a fight. >> federer in the 56 slam and beat alexander in straight sets to advance and swiss had not won since 2012 but insists he has not made a decision when he will retire from the sport. in the women's draw defending champion serena williams had a few problems in her second round match. the american beat the 90th ra

ranked of taiwan this straight sets 6-1-6-2, 6th time champion took an hour to wrap up things with an ace, her seventh of the match and she will be in the next round and beat the russian two weeks ago. there was only one big upset on day three, two-time grand slam winner is out and was beaten by australia 6-4-6-4. and futbol and barcelona a step to reefing the semi finals of spain's copa-del, ray and scored in the first leg quarter final against atletico without the band and the injured messi and getting their second goal of that game and earlier drew nil-nil with atletico madrid and

also have been games in england and heading through to the fourth round of the fa cup. they have won two nil and they will replay at fellow premire league and liverpool joining in the next one and three-nil up against manchester city. less than 200 days to go until rio olympics and they made further budget cuts and grandstands are growing and beach volleyball and has been scaled back as part of a $500 million cost cutting mission and brazil is suffering from the worst economic crisis in decades which is affecting several aspects of olympic preparationings and half of the 4.5 million tickets for locals have been bought. earlier we speak to jules an olympic author and professor and political science and spent four months in rio recently and he

says despite the cuts the situation will still get worse for brazil the closer they get to the event. >> there have been credible estimates from economists that the eventual price of the games is going to rise closer to $20 billion and there is a sort of iron rule of olympic spending that the closer you get to the actual olympics the higher cost to pull it off so we may still see rises in the over all cost of the olympics and it's a pretty serious consideration and for everyday people in rio and it's quite striking to them to see 2 1/2 weeks sports party where billions are spent on one hand and the other hand with cutbacks in education and cutbacks at the hospitals where we just heard recently that there has been the scholarships for college and universities have been slashed by more than half so the optics are not good but it's also not good for everyday people in brazil. >> well-being an international cricketer can be a lucrative

career but traditionally only if you are a man and for the first time a professional league is played in australia and andrew thomas reports from sidney. >> cricket is a fairly noxious sports and played in few countries and traditionally only by men. but this january in australia a competition of 2020 the fast-paced short form of the game has a league for women for the first time and it is proving a success, bringing in and paying the best female cricketers from around the world. >> in south africa we get some good money. obviously this is also really good for us so we are hoping for more of these kinds of tournaments in the future. >> people are always looking for content and now women's cricket is starting to provide that content so i think you will start to see a lot more women's cricket on the tela cast. >> reporter: that includes

parts of this tournament, the crowd at this match on a damp weekday afternoon may have been small but the weekend games are attracting reasonable numbers and crucially the league has signed a t.v. deal. >> some of the games are averaging $300,000 and that is phenomenal and three or four times more than the a league which is a men's futbol soccer league in australia and absolutely brilliant. >> reporter: on saturday there was a steady stream of spectators. >> why are we here? >> for have fun. >> and see the women play and support women. >> because women are just as good as men. >> reporter: one sign of how far women's cricket has come is our camera was not allowed inside the ground. this is as far as we can go. we are not allowed to film inside there because the rights to show the action have been bought by an australian t.v. channel, that is common for cricket but the fact there is money at stake for the women's game too shows how seriously it

has been taken. in fact, the australian broadcaster with the right is paying more than $10 million to broadcast both the women's and the men's tournaments which are running in parallel and ratings for the women's games have been better than expected. those playing women's cricket of course have always taken it seriously and the tournament has a punishment schedule of matches and the women train hard on the few days they have not got a match. it is, in fact, a timetable rather like the men's exactly how the women want it. andrew thomas, al jazeera, sidney. golf's world three mcilroy is getting renew for the rivalry with spieth for the first time and mcilroy dominated the game the last two seasons and pair won four of the last eight major championships between them, the two golfers will play together

on thursday. >> i don't have to beat jordan spieth and he has to beat another 142 guys so it would be foolish of me to think that is all that my competition was because and i think it would be you know injustice to every other player in the field because there is so much talent and if you forget about everyone else that could win the tournament it doesn't and it's not really smart to do that. >> and that is all the sport for me and i will hand you back to david. >> thank you very much indeed and i believe it's mcilroy, spieth and ricky foul ner one group for the championship and i will be tuning in and go to our website if you want to keep up to date with the global headlines and that is al jazeera.com, that is al jazeera.com. that is it for the news hour but more news in just a couple of minutes.

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stepping up the fight against i.s.i.l. - defence ministers in paris, as the groups faces losses against iran-syria. good to have you with us, i'm david foster, good to have you with us. taliban - attack on a university that left 20 dead and dozens wounded. down raids break up what they've been calling a sophisticated people smuggling ring in germany. >> 2015 said to be the