♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello and welcome to the al jazeera news hour, i'm live from al jazeera headquarters in doha and coming up, in the next 60 minutes, talks to end the conflict in syria are at risk before they even begin as rival sides fail to agree on terms. the u.n. reveals new allegations of sexual abuse of children by european soldiers in the central african republic. sounding the alarm as the zika virus is suspected of birth

defects infects thousands and is in 23 countries. >> i'm an maniac and everyone on the stage is stupid, fat and ugly and then you are a terrible surgeon and now we got the donald trump portion out of the way. >> reporter: presidential rivals talk about donald trump for boycotting the republican debate in iowa. ♪ but first syria's opposition insists it won't be attending talks at ending the war despite the u.n. saying the talks will indeed go ahead on friday. opposition leaders say representatives will not travel to geneva unless certain conditions are met and these include a lifting of sieges, a halt to air strikes and the release of what they describe as wrongfully detained prisoners of conscience, a syrian delegate

led by the foreign minister had already said that it would attend. we can go live now to geneva, our diplomatic ed tore james base is there for us and james who is there and who is not? >> well, no one is actually here yet. the united nations for talks that were supposed to take place and be underway, proximity talks with key figures from the opposition and key figures from the government, the government side yes they are ocean specificed any moment to land at the geneva airport and will be led by the u.n. ambassador coming in with a large delegation we understand from damascus and he will make his way from the airport here in geneva to the u.n. headquarters by lake geneva in this grand building where he will meet staffan de mistura the u.n. envoy. we have some other opposition figures who are in geneva, been here for some days and are not

part though of the main opposition block, that main block of political groups and armed groups who were convened in saudi arabia, the so called riyadh list and they have written a letter making their position very clear to the united nations and security council we are not coming to geneva until our conditions are met and having said they they are coming to geneva, a small group of the negotiating committee we understand to begin with and maybe three or four people are actually going to now make their way to geneva to have discussions with staffan de mistura we believe probably to make it clear what the rest of their negotiating team are not coming here and it's not really clear whether this is to prepare the way perhaps to back down a little and for the rest of their team to come here all simply to explain and make their case very publically because the government will be here why they have problems with these talks and why it's impossible for them to have peace negotiations in geneva while on the ground in

syria, their colleagues are under bombardment all of the time. it's also not clear whether that high negotiating commission back in riyadh is represented by all who are coming here. it has been very cow -- cohesive and how the political figures in riyadh have stuck together and stuck by the same decisions and is there a split now that is not clear. >> i guess it's important james isn't it to realize this is not an event, this is a process and the process no matter how difficult does seem to be underway. >> reporter: the process is certainly underway and staffan de mistura did tell us back on monday which is when this was all supposed to start that this is not going to be easy. he said you're going to see walk ins and see walkouts. well we had walkouts effectively before it even started, people not turning up. i think it is diplomates say

it's possible we will get an opposition of sorts in the coming days and now that we have that initial small team coming here from riyadh to discuss the possibilities, to discuss the modalities of these talks and to discuss those key conditions that were set down that perhaps something can be arranged that they can be persuaded that their presence is here and it's worth parting out to you marteen and even though the conditions with geneva and said they want to be part of the process and support the process and want there to be a transition in seer yeah and just say while their people on the ground are being besieged and bombarded it's not acceptable if they are there talking peace. >> james base diplomatic editor in geneva and an outside player is turkey and it's saying that it hopes the syrian opposition will indeed go to geneva.

the prime minister said demands are justified and hopes they will be met. >> translator: the sitting opposition continues to hold talks and hope they will decide to participate in these geneva peace talks and also encourage them to attend and closely follow with the sitting opposition until rightful demands are met and we hope talks will be established as soon as possible and humanitarian need will be delivered in syria and a new period to begin and turkey is ready to give contribution for this purpose. >> we will be returning to those syrian talks and that whole process later on in the program but in the meanwhile let's look at another major story that has broken in the last hour or so that of the united nations which revealed new allegations of child abuse by european soldiers and sent to african republic and the cases involve minors age between 7-16. some of the alleged victims

identified french and georgian troops as their abusers. >> these are of course extremely serious accusations and it's needed to be investigated and the countries concerned as well as the european union that they take these terrible allegations very seriously. we will continue to closely follow-up on these cases and any others which emerge as the u.n. team on the ground continues its investigations. >> we can go live to our correspondent gabrielle at the u.n. headquarters in new york and the allegations of misconduct surrounding the whole central african republic mission seem to be mounting and pressure on the united nations i would guess to do something, what can they do? >> well, the united nations is clearly troubled by the latest

allegations and a part of a string of sexual abuse allegations that have come to light in the past few months and years really since last year from both non-u.n. troops, non-u.s. peace keeping troops as well as peace keeping troops and this from the u.n. that just came out are very serious claims and i think it's important to go through what we know right now about these newest allegations. first, they involve european troops that are not officially u.n. peacekeepers, that is number one. number two is these allegations date back to 2014 accounting to the u.n., let's go through them and there are two groups here and number one there are six total new cases or allegations, two of them involve french troops, french troops have been in the central african republic since 2014 and there are still about 900 troops there roughly, the new allegations are from a

boy and a girl age seven and nine who claim that they were both sexually abused by french troops in 2014, new allegations. there is also a set of other allegations by four children in the central african republic alleging that eu troops european union troops in car in 2014 also abused children. these children were between the ages of 13-16, two of the children, girls claim they were sexually abused by soldiers, two others say they were forced into sex with soldiers in exchange for money. now the nationalitys of all of these allegations are not clear, however, three of the alleged victims say their abusers were from the georgian contingency in the central african republic. now these cases all took place in a camp for displaced people

outside the capitol of banji, very serious allegations as we just heard from high commissioner of human rights and all these cases have been refers to the country's responsible eu, georgia and france. now, if that wasn't enough, we also are hearing from the united nations that as part of this investigation that there are more resent cases of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of u.n. peacekeepers, more recently that is what the u.n. is saying but they so far have not released details about that, we hope to get those in the coming hours. >> all right for now gabrielle at u.n. headquarters thank you very much and we can now talk a bit more with melanie in the university of queens land in australia and is live from brisbon and thank you for talking to us at al jazeera, the central african republic peace keeping mission seems to be

completely rife with these very serious allegations, whose responsibility is it now to take action? >> it's the responsibility of everyone. it's not just the u.n., it's the sending states who have to take action and it's heartening to hear from the high commission of human rights, the prince, that some of the countries are actually taking action and i think that shows that this concept of naming and shaming which i fully support will go somewhere to actually making states take action. if we publically denounce the men and say which country is responsible for taking action for prosecuting peacekeepers for these crimes then they will actually be pushed to do it. >> and allegations as we heard from gabe in new york from georgia and indeed from france and these are countries that had the legal capacity to bring criminal proceedings against

individuals. >> and they are over their personnel when they send them and the u.n. can only take the steps before it's the responsibility of states and it's the responsibility of states to prevent from the beginning and should be able to persecute for crimes and let them know they will take action and will take steps to prosecute for crimes committed and we have to acknowledge that is what these are. we continually use the word misconduct when it comes by the conduct of peacekeepers but we should call it what it is, criminal conduct they are committing crimes. >> talking about the central african republic contingent but peace keeping missions historically have been claimed by the accusations of misdemeanors and some more serious than others and thinking

in hatety where the peacekeepers were accused of bringing cholera to the country. >> absolutely and when it comes to sexual exploitation and abuse it has been more than a decade now since this has been revealed, the problems have been brought into light and haiti is also not just the cholera but it is one of the peace keeping operations where we have seen a huge problem with sexual exploitation and abuse and dr congo is another one the peace keeping mission there and we just see and you know after more than ten years of the u.n. taking action and reporting on this that it is still happening and i think we need to ask ourselves why and why are not sending states taking more action about sending their personnel. >> thank you indeed for your thoughts on this melanie o'brien live from birsbon and news and global alarm of virus being

linked to birth defects in thousands of infants and who says the zika virus is spreading quickly and could effect four million people in the americas within a year, the w.h.o. is holding an emergency meeting on monday on how best to respond to the out break and brazil is the worst hit country with around 4,000 suspected cases of microencephaly in babies and rousef called for a conference on wednesday in iriguay to tackle this mosquito-borne disease and we report from the chile capitol santiago where they are taking special measures to deal with the outbreak. >> reporter: chile's health minister arrives at santiago airport to distribute leaflets and travels take percussions against the virus as they embark

on their summer holidays and advises pregnant women not to travel anywhere the virus has been reported and keeping with the world health organizations directives. >> the possible links only recently suspected have rapidly changed the risk of zika from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions. the increased incidents of microenc eric phaly is particularly alarming as it puts a burden on companies and communities. >> reporter: back at the airport the minister announces another measure. >> translator: there is an important festival next week and number one tourist attraction and have highly concentrated insect repellants to everyone who gets on the plane there. >> reporter: the tiny polenesian island that belongs to chile is the first place

outside of africa to be infected with zika but when it experienced a new outbreak in 2014 it raised no alarm bells. >> translator: the number of inhabitants of french polenesia was small and initial impact not registered and they built up immunity in brazil with is 200 million people and no immunity the consequences is up and perceived. >> reporter: the people are about to get on an airplane are going to countries where the zika virus has already been detected and the main airline agreed to refund pregnant women even with nonrefundable tickets because of the unforeseen danger that traveling would represent to them. as they prepare to fly to rio this couple said they are again using birth control cancelling their plans to conceive a child on holiday. >> we have taken insurance and we will use plenty of insect

repellant. >> reporter: as the w.h.o. declares a worldwide health emergency next week the epidemic continues to spread through the americas, santiago. republic presidential contenders in the u.s. squared off in their last debate before monday's vote in iowa, that is the first contest in what is expected to be a drawn out struggle for the party nomination and donald trump skipped the debate complaining of unfair treatment by the host network fox news but as allen fisher reports the frontrunner still cast a shadow over the event. >> reporter: the final debate before the first vote and the frontrunner missing and he had to be the subject of the very first question. >> let me say i'm an maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat and ugly and ben you are a terrible surgeon and now that we have gotten the donald

trump portion out of the way. [laughter] as trump and cruz top the iowa polls this is shaping up to be a battle between people like them and their republic establishment a wing being led right now by rubio. >> this campaign is not about donald trump, he is entertaining and greatest show on earth and this campaign is about the greatest country in the world and a person who destroyed what was special. >> reporter: attracting hundreds and publicity and says his boycott will make him be a strong president. >> you have to stick up for your rights and when you are treated badly you have to stick up for your rights. you have to do it. and whether we like it or not, whether it's something we want to do or not and that is what our country has to do. as an example the way they have been treating us with all of the horrible is one of the worst deals i've ever seen negotiated under any circumstances and we

just take it. >> reporter: the events saw several protests with loud exchanges in the hall. >> move on to the topic of immigration. >> reporter: back at the official event one of the most spirited parts of the debate the question of immigration and if candidates switched position over offering a path to citizenship for undocumented workers >> when that was waged my friend rubio stood with obama to support amnesty. >> you have been willing to say or do anything to get votes and you worked for george w. butch's campaign and helped design george w bush's immigration policy. >> this shows how the campaign has been, on one channel almost all candies arguing their case explaining why they should get people's votes and almost every single other channel they are putting reasons for not being at

the debate and why he should be the republican nominee. donald trump claims he raised almost $6 million for charities for events but the more important counting will be the votes here in iowa on monday, allen fisher, al jazeera, at the republic debate in des moines. >> reporter: lots more to come on this al jazeera news hour including find out what has got farmers all fired up in greece plus calls for radical change with the massive influx of refugees and in sport how the olympics will be providing a home for a team of refugees. ♪ fire by houthi rebels in southern yemen killed 13

including and children and homes were targeted in the city of tie and we report. >> reporter: they live in fear children too young to understand war but forced to cope with dea death. >> translator: my friend was killed by a shell. he was 11 years old. >> reporter: these are the most resent victims of bombardment by houthi rebels and those loyal to saleh. tie under siege by houthi rebels for month, there is no more food, hospitals run out of medicine and supplies, the u.n. food program was able to deliver emergency supplies this week after its trucks had been blocked since november. the latest attacks targeted residence residential neighborhoods far from the battlefield and hadi says it's

genocide and half of them have been civilians and talks to end the fighting have failed and the u.n. has more than 80% of the yemeni population now requires emergency help to survive. paul with al jazeera. police in france are questioning a man who was carrying two handguns at disney land paris, staff were alerted when he went through a metal detector at a hotel on the disney land site. the handguns were found inside his suitcase, a state of emergency has been across france since the paris attacks of november. roads blocked in greece by farmers protesting against new taxes and social security costs and government leaders say paying more taxes now farmers will eventually receive higher pensions and john reports from the northern city where the farmers complain they won't survive long enough to get their

pensio pensions. >> anger simmering for months breaks out in the open and they storm a farming exhibition where greece's agricultural minister was due to speak forcing him to stay away and rising taxes and falling incomes are threatening their industry with annihilation and for days they blocked motor ways diverting traffic. >> translator: today 50% of farmers cannot pay their social security and have no hope for a pension and no health coverage, there were cases where people needed an operation and had to go asking around to borrow money to do it. >> reporter: farmers were once a pampered group and two decades ago they paid no social security and until two years ago their tax was just 6% and if austerity came late it came swiftly. it was 13% and promised a return to the good old days.

instead it doubled their taxes again and cut their fuel subsidy in half, many here feel betrayed and fear they won't survive and making matters worse they are gradually losing half the farm subsidies from brussels and said it had no choice with the euro zone and will cut $2 billion from social security costs and farmers by twice that and most at roadblock are small land owners and many have another job and are most at risk and he hopes to leave his farm to his two sons and now fears they will have to sell the family land cheaply because it's not worth working it. >> translator: up to two hectors of property are finished and need to be big to survive and my income tax and costs climbed half of that. if i didn't work the land myself i would pay more for labor so

what is left. >> reporter: the crisis brought salary cuts to the urban company, here in the countryside it's tearing people off land they have help for generations. many would rather mark the end of an era with a bang, not a whimper. john with al jazeera. a search for survivors is continuing in the mediterranean sea after a sinking boat was found, six bodies recovered by the crew of an italian navy ship and 290 people were rescued. the deaths of the first to be reported this year on the refugees' route from north africa to italy. the german chancellor ankle la merkel will meet the prime minister on friday to talk about the refugee crisis and germany added to the list of safe countries algeria, tunisia and morocco and unlikely to be successful but mrs. merkel it's

she will encourage integration in the country as we report now. >> reporter: their struggle to get to germany is over now the main task is to learn a new language, safely installed in a classroom these syrians are glad to have left their countries troubles behind. >> translator: i came here to have a peaceful life. it feels good. i have security and i have the peace i have been longing for but it was hard to leave home and family. >> reporter: the refugees teacher is mrs. schmitt and she came to germany 12 years ago from dubai and said her experience made her want to help these people integrate but in resent months things have gotten much tougher and she says the attacks on women on cologne on new year's eve changed everything. >> there were a lot more people, german people that were excited

as the thought of having refugees here in the beginning than they are now, telling the ge german is like a slap in the face. >> reporter: for the first time majority of germans believe their country cannot cope with the refugee influx, more than two thirds expect crime will rise as a result and nearly three quarters favor tougher laws for dealing with asylum seekers who commit crimes. that is a particular concern for social workers like this man who gives advice to new refugees and migrants in this area of berlin and he believes one problem is most of the resent arrivals are looking to integrate into society, other new arrivals want to prey on it. >> translator: there are people that want to live here and enrich our society and we have people that are hostile through

their actions and not only that money plays a role but also they are hostile and dishonest. >> reporter: angela merkel's view on refugee policy is we can do it but now several senior members of her own party are openly disagreeing and demanding radical changes, whether they get them may well depend on public opinion and the first key test of that will come in six week's time when three states hold parliamentary elections, dominick cane, al jazeera, at the cdu headquarters in berlin. all right time to get the weather now, here is rob and australia's weather has turned wet and violent it says here. >> big thunderstorms and no sporting, the first named cyclone of the season and let's go to it and satellite picture if you watch things row state around the edge and would be correct and circulation to the west of melvin around for to days and concentrating the rain actually to the south in

tazmania and forecast and warnings for it and 178 millimeters on the island and okay that is not a big problem but on the big part of tanzmanitanzmani tanzmania, 100 millimeters in 24 hours and there are frontal systems wrapped in here to enhance the weather elsewhere and showers from the coast up through queens and behind me head and a quick word about that in a second but there are lines here, if you see it go through where sidney was and they are thunderstorms caught rather nicely by somebody who had a video camera and this is sidney being struck by lightning, a nice dramatic science you might think yes it is but not just sidney that caused it, thunderstorms elsewhere and 16,000 currently without power as a result of that. as i said there was also a

tropical cyclone here and has been named stan and the rain will be the main problem, marteen. >> rob there thank you. lots more to come on this news hour. including the legacy of sri lanka's civil war and looking at rebuilding a nation torn apart by a long and bloody conflict plus we report on a tragedy that highlights the plight of thousands of migrants in southeast asia and in sport find out what happened to this player after he hit and nhl official and farrah will have all the details. ♪

♪ hello again you are with al jazeera and these are the top stories the u.n. says talks aimed at ending the war in syria will go ahead on friday and some opposition figures will attend those talks despite others within the opposition insisting they won't take part. the u.n. says it is alarmed over new allegations of child abuse by european soldiers in the central african republic, some of the alleged victims identify french and jordan troops as their abusers. the world health organization warns the zika virus is spreading explosively in the americas and the mosquito-borne disease could affect four million people within a year. all right our main story today are the efforts to get talks going in geneva on the syrian war. here in the studio with me is a

syrian academic as well as associate analyst at the doha institute and thank you very much for coming in. today is supposed to be the start of talks, we are not seeing anybody sitting around the table in rooms in a hotel are we but we are getting sort of negotiating demands being transmitted across the air waves. >> but the whole situation i mean looks to me as a mess because i mean maybe the best word i might use actually to describe the whole issue is anarchy because the negotiations are about to start according to staffan de mistura and we don't know if members of the opposition will be attending the talks and when we talk about part of the syria opposition of the day we are talking about the opposition which means, in fact, the regime we will be talking to the regime somehow. >> diplomatic editor james base

has been reporting to us this hour that there is a small conte content -- contingent from riyadh opposition groups representing so many different groups in syria and they are coming to geneva possibly with the idea of negotiating these demands, these demands that have been submitted to the u.n. >> very expected actually. i mean the syrian opposition findss itself in a very difficult and awkward position because on the one hand they know if they don't go i mean damn if you go or don't and if they don't go they will be blamed by the syrian regime and maybe for the rest of the community not being interested in a political solution. the goal without having some of what they call the confidence-building measures on the ground, ie pressure and stopping the opposition of bombing on the ground and allowing access for the besieged

cities in towns in syria to have the aid and relief, humanitarian relief they need they are going to have a very difficult position regarding their own audience and inside syria why they are in geneva in the first place. >> it's all about negotiating the sequencing of events, isn't it when it comes to a big negotiation like this, can peace talks realistically begin without there being some form of ceasefire on the ground without the siege being lift? there are a few things and what makes the position of the opposition very difficult, these two things are not somehow dealt with as i said and how are we going to negotiate, why the russians are still bombing us, this is on the one hand and how can we negotiate why the people and civilians are actually still don't have access to food, medicine, water and all this so i think these two things are really essentials for the opposition to convince the

opposition to go and participate in a practical way in these negotiations otherwise it's going to be very difficult as i said before. >> thank you very much indeed, thank you very much. >> thanks a lot. now just been over a year since the city center became president of sri lanka after a long and bloody civil war and promised national reconciliation to include the minority and some military occupied land has been returned and displaced people are beginning to return home but as we report from there things are far from returning to normal. >> reporter: it's a bitter sweet moment, she and her brother had not seen their family home since 1990, during the war the area had been designated a high security zone, everyone living here was expelled and the sri lanka army moved in and now both barely recognize the house they grew up

in. >> translator: we were really sad the first time was saw it and we kept on looking and then we left. this was the sitting room and visitors used to come here and it was always alive and nice and the only thing left is this painting, everything else is gone, everything is broken. >> reporter: six years after the war and ended the soldiers are gradually pulling back, about 700 hectors confiscated in the north were returned to their owners over the past year. people won't be able to come and live here any time soon, the land is over grown and needs to be cleared and then there is no water. the wells are either contaminated or destroyed, still they are glad that after so many years they got their property back, a first step towards national reconciliation even though many say the government needs to do much more. many members of the tigers are still in jail.

others like her husband were detained after the war ended. he is going through a government sponsored rehabilitation course but she doesn't know when he will be back home. >> translator: all this time my husband hasn't been with me. if he were alone society doesn't accept you. there are many females like me who are alone and isolated. >> reporter: the war has affected everyone here. and they demanded one member of each family join their ranks. so she was drafted one day after she turned 18, she was injured and detained at the end of the conflict in 2009. >> translator: life under here was not difficult. we were in the same situation and because we were injured in the fighting, i wonder if they would have taken better care of us now. there is still work to be done the they want to reach real peace, it will take time for

things to settle and it won't happen overnight. >> reporter: hundreds remain stranded in camps, some have been here for 25 years. for them the pledge made by the president to restore sri lanka democracy and reunite the country will only come true once they finally end their lives as displaced people, al jazeera in northern sri lanka. >> you can see the whole interview with the city center, the president of sri lanka talking to hamid on talk to al jazeera at these times on saturday at 4:30gmt, sunday at 8:30gmt and 1930 gmt and if you missed it you can catch it on monday at 1430 gmt. the bodies of 23 indonesia workers found in the sea after people smugglers tried to take

them illegally to malaysia and their boat capsized in large waves on tuesday and half of the indonesia workers in malaysia are thought to be there illegally and we report from central java home to one of the workers who drown. >> reporter: after visiting his family in indonesia he flew back to malaysia to return to his job in construction. relatives say he was deported soon after he landed. back in indonesia the 36-year-old paid a smuggler to put him on a boat and it was capsized on the cost and bodies of 23 men and women have so far been found, his was the first to be identified. >> translator: we called our sister to say he wanted to cross to malaysia because he had been waiting too long and needed money to pay for his children's school. when he was at sea the boat first turned back because the waves were so high.

next thing we know he has drown when they tried to cross again. >> reporter: every year millions of indonesia people try to find work abroad, mostly domestic or construction workers. it's good business for recruitment agencies which charge six months salary or more to get them there. >> translator: you need money to officially work in malaysia and you have to pay the agents more than $700 that is why for some it's difficult to travel legally. >> reporter: the indonesia and may lasha governments tightened regulations for workers following murder and abuse of workers, despite their loss they say they have no work but to work and are pleading for help from the prime minister. >> translator: i want to ask for help for us because in malaysia most workers are from indonesia and many of us are now being sent home but it's very difficult for us to find work here and as farmers we can't

make enough money to pay for our children's schools. >> reporter: so the body has arrived back home while police in malaysia try to identify the other bodies. accidents like these happen a few times every year the relatives say they will still go to malaysia to work even if they have to risk their lives. indonesia government leaders have recently announced they want to stop indonesia people from having unskilled jobs abroad and so far they see no alternatives and finding ways to go, al jazeera, central java. we have breaking news from saudi arabia, news coming in to us but there as been a shooting inside a mosque in al-assa in the eastern part of saudi arabia, three people having been killed. apparently the authorities have arrested the person who shot the three people and apparently he was wearing a suicide vest and

details just coming in to us from saudi arabia and of course we will bring you more on the attack in the southeastern part of saudi arabia as soon as we get it. but in the meantime we will go to burundi because two journalists have been arrested reporting the unrest there and john is the chief for the french newspaper and phil moore is a british photo journalist and the security says they were arrested with armed criminals in the capitol bujumbura and they cracked down on the press forcing some journalists into exile. mass graves reported to have been found in burundi and amnesty international says they have seen evidence suggesting dozens of people were killed by security forces last month and their graves were found on the outskirts of bujumbura. now in northwestern africa where fighting poverty and drought have forced many people to leave the country in search of a

better life around 200,000 people are displaced in mali and neighboring countries and further abroad as carolyn malone reports. >> reporter: like many people here in a white jacket wants to go somewhere he can safely make a living but there are many hurdles to overcome. >> translator: the problem is that we left from the city of gow and reached the first check point and arrested us and asked us to pay $17 and after we paid them they searched all of us and even our phones were confiscated. >> reporter: charge a hefty fee north towards algeria and no doubt paying bribes on the way and can cost thousands of dollars and are scammed to pay more than they agreed. >> translator: i've been the driver and he is the only one not searched by rebels who intercepted the truck and searched every one else and the driver was not searched nor was his assistant. >> reporter: estimated 200,000

people left their homes in mali and weather and poverty and people are in need of humanitarian aid but there were also other nationalitys on the stretch of desert road including syrians who have already traveled a long way to get here after escaping war in their own country. >> translator: we do not want to go to europe, we only want to go to a place we live peacefully and a place to live, eat and drink and that is all. >> reporter: then there were people heading in the other direction to mali and got as far as the coast but were unable to make it any further and so after a clear of trying to escape troubles at home they had to return, carolyn malone, al jazeera. four occupiers remain on a u.s. wildlife refuge that was taken over by malitia earlier this month and f.b.i. showed how one was shot dead by oregon

officers after they stopped the truck he was traveling in and we have more from burns, oregon. >> reporter: f.b.i. said it released this video for miss information about what led to the death of the spokesman for the occupiers seen at the wildlife refuge. two vehicles are seen stopping at the roadblock, established by oregon state troopers. and he is driving the white pickup and militia leader bundy is a passenger in the jeep. if you look carefully one person who left the truck is seen in the lower right screen with his hands in the air. nearly four minutes past as the agents demanded the others surrender and then he speeds off. >> as the truck approaches the roadblock there is a spike strip across the road but missed it as he attempted to drive around the roadblock and nearly hits an f.b.i. agent as he maneuvers to the left and the truck gets stuck in the snowbank.

>> that is when he gets out and reaches towards his jacket and according to the f.b.i. he was carrying a weapon. state police opened fire. >> we did everything we did to bring this situation to a peaceful resolution. second, as was noted in the video and as you will see when you download that video again we waited a very long time, that we were able to get one individual out of that truck safely back and in custody. >> reporter: f.b.i. officials say they know the occupation of the wildlife refuge has caused disruption and stress for local residence and negotiators are working around the clock to get those remaining out of there safely and quickly. just four people remain on the refuge, three men and a woman who say in videos posted online they will leave with assurances they won't be arrested. >> we want to go home peacefully, safely. >> reporter: speaking through his attorney their jailed leader called on them to leave. >> my message still remains turn

yourselves in. do not use physical force. use the national platform that we have to continue to defend liberty. >> reporter: he vowed to continue their fight for local control of federal land through the courts, kristen in burns, oregon. still to come on al jazeera. >> welcome to sugar cane fields of veracruz, mexico and it's back-breaking work and work being done by children, coming up, we will tell you about efforts to eradicate child labor. and in sport the new double champion crowned at the australian open and all the latest from melvin park after the break. ♪

time for the sport and here is farrah. >> thank you so much and start from the australian open where the men semi final and number two murray is facing the number two seed of canada and took the first set and andy murray came back to take the second and tied in the third and really could be anyone's game and switzerland and india lifted their third grand slam in a row and defeated andre, 7-6-6-3 for unbeaten run for 36 wins and the first australian open title for the

pair. >> our fairy tale continues and the run we had and amazing since winning wimbledon and after that we only lost two more matches and we keep going so, yeah, when we saw that floating and going out okay i was very relieved because we kind of feel like we can dig it out and don't always play the best tennis but we find a way. >> women's takes place and world number one williams faces seven seed and williams looking for the 22nd grand slam title and this year the 34-year-old is yet to drop a set and played six times before with the german only winning once in previous meetings and that was back in 2012. >> everyone is like has expectations i'm the favorite, i

was the favorite in new york, i feel like i could have done better in new york but that was a learning experience so i'm going to hopefully take that to the court for not only this tournament but for the rest of this. >> i can go out there and try to play like i'm playing without pressure, without nothing because, yeah, i think when you ask a lot of people i think most will say okay serena will win but this is the challenge i can take to go out there and nothing to lose and not so much pressure like she has and this is what i mean i have nothing to lose but i know i can lose the match and that is why i'm going out there to try to win the match. >> reporter: ioc will issue guidelines this week ahead of the rio olympics aimed at protecting athletes and visitors from the zika virus spreading

across south america and thomas fox says they will pass through a refugee camp in greece during a visit to a camp in athens he also said a refugee would be among the torch barriers and athletes will complete in rio under the olympic flag. >> we try with the sport maybe to heal some of the wounds and there are these people that have to suffer from and also give them a little bit of hope and confidence in their dive life. >> and the toronto beat the new york nicks for a franchise record of ten games and pacers snapped three game losing street beating the atlanta hawks and scored 25 points and rookie turner added 20 more to lead indiana to 111-92 win.

in the nhl the flames defending dennis wideman suspended indefinitely for knocking down official during an nhl game and happened during the loss to nashville on wednesday and first hit by the predator and watch what happens next and wideman strikes don henderson trying to get off the ice and he will have a hearing next tuesday. two american golfers scott brown and andrew loop share the lead at the farmer's insurance open in california and the pair were tied six under after both had opening rounds of 66 and meanwhile big names are struggling at torrey pines and jason dey suffering with a virus carted a 72 on the north course. >> that is good, baby. >> reporter: and that is all your sport for now and it's back to you. >> thank you very much. now peak of harvesting sugar

cane where workers are children and parents offered cash incentives so kids stay in school instead of going to the fields and we have more. >> reporter: said good-bye to his childhood at the age of 12 and for the last few years the 16-year-old has lived during the harvest for sugar cane and tomatoes and cherries and went to, who after his wrist was broken at school. >> translator: i wasn't going to let them bully me like that any more and i wasn't going back, from then i had it up to here with school. >> reporter: he says his family begged him not to drop out but like the other teenage boys we met in the fields he now helps support them. the mexican government says there are 2 1/2 million children working in mexico, one of the ways it has found modest success in curbing child labor is by

paying families to keep their families in school. it's called the prosper program launched in 1997 it has been copied in several countries. according to a 2013 world bank unicef report the prosperity program reduced child labor among 12-15-year-olds by 5 1/2% but the program is not available to all families inneed specifically in rural areas. the almost $2000 a year she and her three daughters received changed the course of their lives. she says without the money her daughters would surely have had to drop out of school. >> translator: i had to work in the fields when i was little, life wasn't easy for me and always wanted things to be better for them and thanks to the program i have been able to do that. >> reporter: the prosperity founder says eradicating child labor is impossible and the program alone cannot reduce it.

>> translator: i'm telling families to send their kids to school but if the teacher doesn't seem to care then there is no link, we all need to work on the same page, all the agencies and we will work together and they would have better results. >> reporter: he says she a working man now but that doesn't mean he doesn't wonder what if. >> translator: you do regret it later when you look for differ work and they ask for your qualifications and think to yourself why didn't i go to school. >> reporter: he says one day if he has a son he will do everything he can to ensure he stays out of the fields and in the classroom. al jazeera, mexico. stay with us here at al jazeera and we will have more news on that incident in a shia mosque in saudi arabia in which at least three people were killed. we will have more details on that and of course the rest of the day's news and don't go away. ♪

>> a critical first step on the road to the white house. >> you have to find common ground. >> i'm doing what's right for you. >> that's the kind of debate that we need to have. >> stay with al jazeera america for... >> it's going to be about getting people out to the caucus, which is not an easy thing to do. >> comprehensive coverage that's... >> the focus will be on south carolina tonight.

♪ talks to end the conflict in syria are at risk before they begin as the sides fail to agree on terms. ♪ hello you're with al jazeera live from doha also to come in the program the united nations reveals new allegations of sexual abuse by children by european soldiers in the central african republic. sounding the alarm as the zika virus suspected of causing birth defects infects thousands and spreads to