joining us. i'm richelle carey. the news continues now live from london. keep it here. ♪ ♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello i'm barbara and this is the news hour live from london and coming up in the next 60 minutes syria peace talks, the u.s. pushes for immediate ceasefire after russia's proposal for it to start in march.. >> jefferson. >> reporter: president under pressure in south africa and zuma and parliament as protests continue. families frustration after more than 50 people die in a prison riot in mexico. and a new window on the study of

the cosmos says einstein was right about gravitational waves. i'm robin adams in doha and stories coming up including iaa president and fight the decision and its sponsor ship deal with athletics following resent corruption scandals. ♪ talks have started in munich aimed at revising the floundering syria peace process and u.s. secretary of state john kerry and sergei fedorov are hosting discussions and said a ceasefire to start on the first of march but the u.s. says it will push for the ceasefire to begin immediately. meanwhile on the ground there is continued fighting near syria's border with turkey in the latest battles they captured an

air base which was originally controlled by the syrian military before it was seized by rebels. elsewhere nato defense ministers meeting in brussels agreed to send war ships to the aegean sea to stop smuggling refugees and migrants to europe and lots to get through first and we will start in munich and speak to our editor james base and the talks have finally got underway james, but very difficult challenges ahead of everyone there. >> very difficult challenges. we have the full international syria support group, 19 different delegations of international and regional players trying to get the whole process back on track because remember those geneva talks between the syrian government and the syrian opposition were stalled. most important meeting though happened earlier and that was the meeting between the russian foreign minister sergei fedorov

and the u.s. secretary of state john kerry and you just look at their faces at the beginning of the meeting to tell the story how difficult this all was. russians proposing a ceasefire from the first of march and u.s. and the arab and western allies saying that would mean three weeks of russian bombardment changing the situation on the ground and john kerry saying a ceasefire should start as early as this weekend. there is talk too about some humanitarian access and improving humanitarian access on the ground some of these conditions from the opposition if they were to return to geneva and the opposition representative of the high negotiations committee solomn-muzlit spoke to reporters earlier. >> it's important to start the syrian aggression and syrian people and we are working to bring relief to the people under

siege in syria and were trying to find a solution. it's important for us to see implementation of resolution to u.s., i mean security council resolution to fight for. this is very important to us to start the negotiation. >> reporter: and james almost since the beginning of this crisis especially the western allies have always been saying there has to be a diplomatic solution, nothing else to be considered but what hands if the diplomacy we are seeing going on today and for weeks, what if that fails, then what? >> well, as you say they have always talked about a political not a military solution but that is not looking very close right now. high level sources telling me certainly on that idea of ceasefire they are very far apart and possibly some sort of statement at the end of the day saying there is going to be more humanitarian access but it's clear that some of the key

parties here are also looking at a plan b a military solution and some diplomates will tell you russia is midway through plan b, that is what they are doing in northern syria right now that is what the bombardment is and the advance of the syrian government is and it's also clear on the opposition side they are talking about this too, a meeting a few days ago between the leadership of the opposition turkey, qatar and saudi arabia the opposition now talking some of the sources that i've spoken to about new tactics, gorilla tactics in syria and looking for key allies to support that strategy. >> james base with the latest from munich and james thank you. hearing on the ground in syria the fighting is as fierce as ever as al jazeera zaina now reports. >> reporter: the syrian opposition lost more ground in aleppo and the military air base however was not recaptured by government troops and their allies. it was taken by the kurdish

armed group the ypg and arab allies. syrian opposition says ypg has been taking advantage of the damascus offensive to expand areas under its control in aleppo. >> translator: ypg has been working for its own interests and created an autonomous area and never recognized the revolution and used it to create its own state. >> reporter: capture means ypg is close to the main rebel held border crossing with turkey and increased concern in turkey and considers the group and its political wing pyd a terrorist organization. >> translator: pyd will gain the territory and stretch all the way to the west. it is not logical for turkey to carry out military operations against the pyd while i.s.i.l. has a presence and it will draw

presence. >> reporter: the syrian democratic forces are partners of the u.s. led coalition against i.s.i.l. and they criticized the u.s. for accepting the groups as allies but obama administration has made it clear this policy is not going to change. the ypg enjoys good relations with russia. it's a complicated web of alliances on the ground and damascus and pyg are not allies and have not turned guns on each other since the start of the up rising and not clear if there is coordination in offensiveeive of the p and are going to aleppo's border crossing with turkey. the border towns received tens of thousands of syrians displaced by the on going military operation and turkey criticized for not all lowing them to enter and they can remain on the syrian side of the border, such a safe zone would

serve national security interest acting as a buffer and stopping ypg's expansion and keeping the syria regime away from its doorstep southern turkey. more to come on the al jazeera news hour including south korean workers arrive home after being expelled by the north from a jointly run industrial park. the first pictures emerge of some victims of a double suicide bombing at a nigerian refugee camp and in sport we will tell you why a lack of icy conditions has made a rally of sweden more dangerous for drivers. ♪ they disrupted proceedings ahead of the president's state of the nation address and led to zuma storming out of the chamber when it was clear his speech was

not going to start on time and far left opposition group called the economic freedom fighters raised questions ahead of the address and zuma briefly walked out but did return to deliver his speech. >> translator: madam speaker on this important anniversary the president has spoken and i need to say the women march. >> madam speaker. >> reporter: well quite a scene in the south african parliament and we will go to miller who joins us live in cape town so there were protesters against zuma in the parliament and outside, did he manage eventually to get through what he needed to say and do you think it's going to appease all

the people who oppose him right now? >> reporter: well it has taken president zuma an hour to begin his state of the nation address as we saw there, protests from the economic freedom fighters and opposition party raising points of order. they made the promise in months prior to the state of the nation they would disrupt proceedings and want answers from the president. prior to that we also saw another member of opposition party from the coke political party leading parliament saying the president has not honored his oath of office and doesn't deserve anyone's respect and walked out and voluntarily left the chamber saying the president doesn't deserve anyone's respect and this is related to his conduct in the last several months around the economy, how he negatively impacted the economy with some of the decisions he has made as well as issues around his private

resident and taxpayers money to use it for upgrades at the residence which was around security but in a constitutional court that is on going, a constitutional case that is on going he admitted through his lawyer he didn't follow the correct procedure and this is very much the argument coming from opposition parties but president zuma should not be addressing the south african republic and why they raised the points of order. have not got very far having concerns addressed and the speaker of the national assembly constantly opposing points of order ultimately a show down between opposition parties, eff specifically and president zuma in cape town. >> miller with the latest from cape town and thank you. 52 people are believed to have died in a prison riot in northeastern mexico. flames could be seen at the jail in monteray and inmates set fire to mattresses and relatives

gathered at the prison gates demanding to be let in. adam rainy is live from mexico city relatives gathering outside the prison because they know 50 people have died or 52 and don't know who, if it's their relatives, how much do we actually know about what happened in this prison? >> what we do know barbara is a little after midnight on thursday in this northern state of the prison riot got underway prisoners lighting mattresses conflict, a fight broke out between rival gangs and by 1:30 in the morning, 2:00 a.m. they put out the fire authorities and took control of the prison but not until after 9:00 a.m. local that the governor of the state spoke to people and said 52 people confirmed did and didn't make the names public. what we have seen in the hours since then are these hundreds of family members outside the prison some getting quite forceful trying to break in through the grates and being pushed back and want more

information. one woman we saw on television with local media was crying just asking for the director of the prison to give them information because as you might imagine people are wondering if they loved ones were some of the people killed or injured in the riot. >> adam explain to us how rare is this kind of event in mexico prisons because in a couple days pope francis is coming to mexico and due to visit a prison there. >> reporter: well they are not rare at all, barbara. in fact, the mexican human rights commission conducted a study of more than 100, 101 of the most violent, crowded prisons in mexico and some 65 of them run by inmates in very violent conditions. we have every year scores of reports of gang fights of stabbings, sometimes very large riots in which dozens of people are killed. in fact, in 2012 in the same state more than 40 people were killed in such a riot often people escaped, this is a system of prison that is very corrupt,

from the warden to the guards and somes an employee of criminal organizations and sometimes the criminal organizations use these corrupt relationships to get weapons in and out of the prison or escape. this is nothing new and pope francis is set to visit a prison in the north of the country in six days at the tail end of his visit which begins on friday in mexico. one reason he is going to this prison is it has been greatly reformed but that prison is right on the border of the united states and was one of the most violent and corrupt in the country until it was taken under control by authorities. >> the latest from mexico city and adam thank you. staying in mexico a journalist there kidnapped earlier this week has been found dead. and she worked as a crime reporter for a local newspaper in vera cruz and armed men dragged her from her house on monday. her body was found on a highway a day later and a post mortem

examination says she died of asphyxiation. tension when the koreas escalated when they ordered south koreans to leave the jointly run industrial park and ceased all the assets. it's called the south decisions to suspend operations there a quote declaration of war and harry faucet reports from seoul. >> reporter: on the southern side of the korean border the resent rocket launch. vehicles headed south from the complex and the joint venture they declared indefinitely closed as of wednesday. >> translator: i feel horrible. if it stops operating companies like ours have to close business. it's difficult. >> translator: we jokingly said kaesong may be shut down but surprised it's happening and feel sorry for the north koreans because they are more worried than we are. >> reporter: as the vehicles start to come through it is

clear this is not going to be a quick process with 124 companies inside the kaesong industrial complex getting all their equipment and finished goods out is going to take a while. but a few hours later it became clear it wouldn't be happening at all. north korea said seoul action was dangerous declaration of war cutting the last lifeline of north-south relations and freezing south korean assets and ejecting south korean nationals. three hours after the deadline they imposed 280 staff members streamed south and products and raw materials and valuable equipment all had to be left behind. the cattlist had the launch of north korea of the long range rocket a month after it carried out a test and he showed the footage of the launch on

thursday and guided by the nation's young leader. there are mounting reports that he had other pressing matters on his mind and a south korean official quoted saying north korea army chief of staff was executed for corruption and abuse of power this month. can't be corroborated and such reports have proved false in the past but it would chime with a high level meeting in pyongyang last week and declared a crack down on corruption and the fact that he has been missing from post rocket launch festivities, harry faucet al jazeera, seoul. the first pictures have emerged of some of the victims of a double suicide bottoming at a refugee camp in nigeria as many as 70 were killed when two women blew themselves up there on tuesday and rob math son has the story. >> reporter: frightened and bewildered some young victims of the latest bomb attack in nigeria and two women said to have blown themselves up at a refugee camp and one woman

attacker has been arrested. >> according to the one that was arrested life she compares and she even hints to the military leader because she feels that a parent i have become and that is why she refused the bomb. >> reporter: attack is said to be the hallmarks of the armed group boko haram and fighting to establish an islamic state in nigeria. 2015 the nigeria army took back large parts of the country which were seized by boko haram. in december they declared the group had been technically de feeted but they carried out three hit-and-run style attacks and people were killed in the village outside the borno state. >> they moved a little from asymmetrical warfare which the government was actually

successfully trying to hinder them in december and early january to these gorilla attacks you see happening now. >> reporter: refugees fled to the camps hoping to find protection from boko haram but it seems even there they are not safe. rob matheson al jazeera. the head of google in europe has dodged questions about how much he earns during a grilling by mps in london and britain was being asked about google's tax affairs following public outcry over the amount of back taxes that the company had been allowed to pay. >> i understand the anger and indeed. >> do you really understand the anger mr. britain, what do you get paid mr. britain? >> if that is relevant i will disclose that to the committee. >> i'm asking what you get paid. >> i will disclose that if that is relevant. >> i'm asking you it's a relevant matter can you tell me. >> i don't have the figure. >> you don't know what you get

paid? [laughter] well google is just one of several big multi nationals in europe whose tax arrangements have come under the spotlight but one welch town believes it has found a way to ensure that everyone is tacked fairly and barnabie reports now. >> reporter: a small town in the welch hills hopes to start a revolution in how we the consumers, behave. calls itself a fair tax town. campaigners here want large companies, google "starbucks," amazon to pay the same tax of small businesses across the country. steve lewis is busy in his coffee shop and returning parcels to amazon with this and he wants people to say is it right to use companies that give so little back in tax.

>> the brand is it and if you erode the brand in the customers' mind and say are these guys good citizens and part of our community and if they are not what are we going to do about it but it will require the customer and the consumer to step up. >> reporter: steve lewis would like people to use local companies and in this town that is still possible. one of the interesting things when you walk around here is seeing that almost every shop is locally owned, they are independent, and that is so different to the typical british town these days which have dominated by the same old big chains and it helps explain why people in this town are passionate about the fair tax campaign campaign. steven is the town's baker, always ready to tell his customers why fair tax matters. >> we have to make people realize it's them that are being short changed. if everyone pays a fair share we

have a hospital full of doctors and nurses and police force and not pot holes and we would have good service and perhaps people would pay a little less tax. >> reporter: around the corner jeff sells clothes in the welch hills and is a prominent member of the campaign. >> this is a nice well-fitted jacket. the whole thing is just so wicked and naughty. enormous firms in britain making millions and millions of pounds and contributing nothing to the infrastructure of the country and the civilization as we know it if it continues as it is. >> reporter: are they ready to take on global corporations and are we ready to start searching on google and friending on facebook and drinking coffee in "starbucks" and they think it's the way we choose to live our lives. 100 years after einstein

first predicted their existence a team of scientists say they have actually detected gravitational waves for the first time and sent a ripple of excitement through physics and astronomy as a new way of looking at the universe. >> this is what and what we saw september 14 last year we saw this signal in livingston louisiana that is a measure, that is a way forward that we saw. the units is a distortion of space time and you can see a peak value the largest value of this wave form was 10 to the 21. for four kilometers that is a tiny tiny fraction of a diameter. that is incredibly tiny. >> reporter: it is more now from our science editor on why

this discovery is so exciting. >> reporter: einstein predicted some of the most powerful processes in the universe like colliding black holes or exploding stars would cause disruption for the fabric of the universe and thought the energy would radiate in waves at the speed of light in space time but the problem was these gravitational waves were thought to be weak and almost impossible to detect. that has not stopped scientists from trying and an upgrade was completed last year to the 620 million dollar advanced laser gravitational wave observatory in the u.s. and it uses four kilometer long lasers to attempt to measure the minute squashing and stretching as a result of gravitational waves. >> at the moment we look at the universe using telescopes that collect light but now we are going to be able to change mode look out into the universe in a

completely different way and find very different objects to what you would be able to see directly with a normal telescope. >> reporter: scientists are also testing technology in space that could be used to detect gravitational waves away from interference on earth and the path finder mission was launched late last year and measures movements as small as one millionth of a millimeter and hoping they will eventually aid to those to observatorys on earth. >> to develop the technology and in particular open new detectors at different places on the erand allow effort and try angulate where the waves are coming from and pinpoint objects. >> reporter: looking at the universe with radio waves we are able to increase what we see and images like these would not be possible without them and let's hope the gravitational waves will do the same and have more

information of structures and behavior of black holes and evolution of our universe. reporting there, with lots more to come on the al jazeera news hour including one of the oldest surviving nazi guards stands trial for the killing of jews at alschwitz and 18 films are fighting it out for the coveted golden bear. i'm in northeast india for the south asia games where athletes from 18 countries are vying for 1800 metals. ♪

>> 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. ♪ welcome back here is a reminder of the top stories on al jazeera, diplomatic discussions to revive talks on syria are underway between the u.s. and russia in munich. moscow says it will begin a ceasefire in syria on march the first but washington says the ceasefire must begin immediately. south africa's president jacob zuma interrupted making his

annual state of the nation address and outside parliament in cape town police fired stun grenades at protesters who want zuma to stand down and at least 52 inmates died following a prison riot in northeast mexico. nato ships are being sent to the eastern mediterranean in response to the on going refugee crisis and multi national group of destroyers were requested by germany, greece and turkey and paul has more reports from brussels. >> reporter: tougher boarder controls and in spite of dangerous storms and seas they attempt the aegean crossing to greece and this group was rescued on tuesday and so far this year 1500 people a day are making the dangerous crossing. turkey has taken in some 2 million refugees from the syrian conflict and now wants help. turkish president in a critical speech on thursday warned that without more support he could

simply open the borders and let the refugees leave. >> translator: in the border town we put them in a bus and turned them back but we can only do this once or twice then i'm sorry but we can open the doors and tell them have a good journey journey. >> reporter: nato defense ministers have been meeting in brussels but the german turkish greek proposing to send ships to aegean was floated on monday this week and seemed to take nato by surprise and nonetheless the ships are being sent. >> military authorities will workout all details as soon as possible and allies will be looking to reenforce this mission. this is not about stopping or pushing back refugee boats. nato will contribute critical information and surveillance to help counter human trafficking

and criminal networks. >> reporter: it's not going to be plain sailing, in nato group will arrive in aegean with the mission still being worked out. the greek and turkish vessels in the group will have to stay in their territorial waters and for it to week they need the turkish coast guard to work effectively on nato intelligence which will be provided to it. one thing this mission is not is intercept and rescue operation. any refugees that are saved by nato vessels will be returned to turkey and they have a willingness to receive them back but for how much longer? paul brennan, al jazeera, brussels. the u.n. is warning of an impending humanitarian crisis in homs where an estimated 120,000 people have been cutoff from aid since the middle of january. meanwhile casualty figures for the duration of the five-year war have laid bear the devastating affect that it's had

on syria's people. the syrian center for policy research says 11.5% of the population has either been killed or injured in the war. death toll of 470,000 people includes 70,000 who could have been saved if they had adequate healthcare, water or housing. a staggering 1.9 million syrians injured in the war. life expectancy in the country has fallen from 70 which it was in 2010 to 55. with me now in the studio is benedict europe policy director at the international development organization and thank you so much for joining us here on al jazeera. now, these figures from the syrian center for policy research, i don't expect you to know exactly if they are correct but do they sound right to you, do they echo the kind of what you have been experiencing in this war? >> yeah as you say i don't know the details exactly of this research but the sort of scale of humanitarian catastrophe they

are referring to is in line with the sort of things that our team is seeing on the ground in syria every single day. they are absolutely catastrophic conflict and your view as i'm sure will have heard this over many many years tragically the suffering in syria. >> after the u.n. you have the largest aid delivering operation in syria which is impressive in itself tell us a little where you are working and you work in the north so obviously you are seeing the exodus of sorts from aleppo right now what are you people on the ground telling you? >> it's an extremely complex situation and a testament to our members of staff particularly people inside syria who are delivering it on an extraordinary scale and navigating a very complex and shifting dynamic with different front lines and different people in the conflict. and they are seeing an absolutely catastrophic humanitarian crisis and know there are about 51,000 people newly displaced out of aleppo

gathering near the turkey border and they are managing to reach a lot of those people with urgently needed aid. we are still managing to get some aid into aleppo city itself and managed to get ten trucks in there just in the last day or so which will feed around 3,000 people or more for about a month. so there is a constantly shifting conflict that our people are having to monitor on a very very close basis and risk their lives and a lot of people who work are often displaced people and sticking with their job and working as hard as they can to bring life-saving aid even though they and their families have been forced from their homes. >> there has been understandably a huge focus on the syria war for years now and the humanitarian disaster and you work in other parts of the world by war and defected by refugees how would you compare the syria crisis to some of the other ones your organization works on?

>> i think there is little doubt that syria is the single biggest humanitarian crisis of our generation. it is absolutely catastrophic and extraordinary the scale of the crisis more than 12 million people displaced within syria more than four million people forced out of the country. i mean the latest report although i don't know the details of the research is giving an indication of the sheer scale of suffering. i think as you mentioned mercy core worked in 40 countries around the world. i think one thing we are very aware of there are lots of other places that let's need a lot of attention and syria was so catastrophic it's getting a huge amount of tension and rightly so and should be attention on other countries as well like central african and sudan with less attention but syria is the biggest crisis we have seen in a long time. >> director of the organization and best of luck with the work you do and thank you for joining

us. >> thank you. let's go to yemen now where forces backed by supporters of hadi are in control of a military camp close to the capitol sanaa and the camp is about 60 kilometers north of sanaa. its capture could be an important step as troops advance towards the capitol which is held by houthi fighters. palestinians held a rally in gaza in support of a journalist on hunger strike and claimed in november by israeli forces and doctors and human rights groups are concerned about the 33-year-old's deteriorating health. a former nazi guard has gone on trial in germany over the murder of 170,000 people at the ach witch death camp during world war ii and henning who is 94 admits being a guard but denies any involvement in mass murder and from munich here is dominick cane. >> reporter: he entered the court as an elderly man with a

dark past and in his youth he was a guard at auschwitz and on thursday that past caught up with him and accused of being accessory to the murders of 170,000 people. auschwitz was the most murderous camp they ran in the course of the holocaust and thought a million jews and around 100,000 others were exterminated there during its 4 1/2 years existence and he has admitted being at the camp at the time but denied involvement in mass murder. the prosecution alleges that he met jews as they arrived and may have escorted some to the gas chambers. when the soviet army liberated auschwitz they found belongers of those killed evidence of the mass murder for which the camp became synonymous. this trial is the first of four such that are due to take place in germany this year. a fact welcomed by the survivors

of the camp who say they have lived for the chance one day to confront people like henning. >> translator: for me it's only about justice. i would like the man who is to stand trial mr. henning tells the truth and going to schools and tell the truth about what happened then and he should also tell that. >> reporter: very few of the people who survived auschwitz are still alive today. still fewer are those who served with the ss there. henning says he is not guilty but it will be for the court to decide. dominick cane al jazeera, munich. in the u.s. the family of a boy who was shot dead by a police officer have been sent a bill for the ambulance which took him to the hospital. 12-year-old tamir rice was holding a pellet gun when he was shot by an officer in november 2014. a grand jury decided no one

should be indicted. the city of cleveland is demanding $500 for ambulance and medical services tamir's family described it as callous and insensitive. berlin festival underway and trying to do more to include some of the tens of thousands of refugees who now call the german capitol home. almost 80,000 arrived in berlin last year and this edition of the festival is focusing on getting them involved. meryl streep will hand out the coveted golden bear award for best film and appearances from george clooney and spike lee and a range of films looking at the risks people take trying to get to europe and al jazeera is in berlin for us and a big show business event but one with a serious message as well. >> reporter: it's exactly that

barbara as you said meryl streep is heading the international jury this year a big scoop for them and extremely popular. in fact, i say she got the biggest cheer as she arrived this evening and spent a lot of time signing autographs and meeting fans and running her a close second in the noise stakes was george clooney and arrived with his wife and he is actually gone out of his way to do non-acting and non-film promotional activities in berlin. he is going to meet angela merkel the chancellor on friday and separately meet a group of asylum seekers and interesting he is taking time to do that because something the organizers have been flagging up the director of the festival told us that the theme of refugees is important but also action as you said provided free tickets for some refugees here in berlin

and many of the films, in fact will look at that theme. i think that the fact that people like george clooney are willing to talk about it anger pan culture administrator as she arrived said it was important for her country to be seen to be promoting the rights of asylum seekers and refugees. of course angela merkel went out on a limb last year inviting so many people in and it has proved very controversial. organizers of the festival backed her saying it's part of german culture they want to flag up here at the festival. >> the real message of the festival but tell us about the films that are going to be featured. >> reporter: well barbara as i was saying many of them do feature refugees either fiction or factual and there is a fire at sea which is based on the

italian island of lampadusa where so many migrants arrived and often whose waters so many have drown treeing to reach europe and another documentary which involved film makers giving cameras to young refugees in camps in places like syria and iraq. it's not all serious though and lots of people will be looking to see who wins the golden bear. perhaps it will be ceaser and raised a laugh when i watched it earlier on. >> live for us at the berlin thank you. still to come on the al jazeera news hour, russia's orthodox patriarc on his way to cuba with his historic meeting with pope francis plus. jessica baldwin in the netherlands and denmark is celebrating its favorite painter bosch. and german futbol hire a 28-year-old as their new coach and he and the rest of the sport

in just a moment. ♪

♪ for years work has been going on to make it happen now one melenium after worlds of christianity split the orthodox church will meet the pope and pope francis will hold talks in cuba on friday and rory reports from moscow. >> reporter: the sights and sounds of a russian orthodox service. in the great of 1054 political

and theological differences split christianity in what are the eastern orthodox and roman catholic worlds and other patriarchs have met the pope since, he never has. >> translator: the main topic on the agenda is going to be defending christians in the middle east who are destroyed and loud voices from the catholic church and the orthodox world and russians calling for people to pay attention, unfortunately these voices haven't been hear. >> reporter: for some of russia's faithful the meeting is a welcome, if rather abstract event event. >> translator: i think any negotiations are good. maybe they are going to discuss some issues or solve some problems. >> translator: we hope this meeting will be useful for people for the world, for everything. peace is the most important thing. >> reporter: president putin was not among the priests waving him off on thursday the kremlin

has presumably given this diplomatic trip its approval. in cuba after several hours of talks with the pope the two men will sign a joint declaration. as well as the fate of christians in the war-torn middle east political tensions between russia and the west might well be discussed too. after resent meetings it seems putin views the argentina francis is left critical of russia's policies than many western leaders. mosquito's main catholic church serves varied congregation services are held in polish armanian spanish, english and russian and on the trip to cuba he has high hopes. >> when leaders come together and they show their willingness to speak, to talk to each other, to overcome hostility, not hostility but suspicion towards each other something is changing. >> reporter: historic as this meeting is it's not really about

history. in the end it will be judged on whether the meeting can in any way help with the problems of today or open a new chapter, a new era of greater cooperation between the roman catholic and the russian orthodox worlds. rory challenge with al jazeera, moscow. now it's time to get all the sports news here is robin. >> thank you. and international athletics president sebastian won't accept decision of misled and sponsor ship of the organization and food and drink giant announced on wednesday they are ending the partnership with the kids athletic program and allegations of doping and corruption within the sport could negatively affect the company's reputation and image and he says he is angered and dismayed by the decision adding the kids will be suffering. and several sports have been affected by high profile corruption scandals including

futbol and cricket and sponsors thinking about their relationship with the sports and the decision of nestle comes after a statement by adidias saying it's in talks with iaaf of pulling out of their deal and last october mcdonald and coke said for blatter to step down following a host of corruption allegations, and cricket's richest tournament ipl say pepsi quick after several players were arrested for match fixing and we have a marketing consultant based in sidney and telling my colleague that despite its problems futbol is one of the sports that sponsors would be reluctant to leave completely. >> when it comes to futbol it's probably the best sponsor ship in the world so fifa despite all the ills holds all the power or the actual game holds the power so if a sponsor runs or walks away from futbol or the world

cup the sponsors actually use because of the view heirship and brand equity and all that kind of stuff whereas if you look at athletics really to be quite honest it's a niche sport and doesn't have big sponsorship and doesn't get big crowds and doesn't have a big following therefore you know it doesn't have the power to retain sponsors. so that is why there is a really big difference say between fifa and the iaaf. >> just quickly andrew we were talking about how this is not a big financial fall for the iaaf with draw of nestle but the battered image it's huge isn't it? >> yes and sending a clear message again and you mentioned in your introduction the list of sports and sponsors that have made noises about getting out of sports or criticizing the sports governing bodies that sponsors had enough of rigging and vetting drugs, corruption poor administration or poor

viewership and i think they are putting the sports governing bodies around the world on notice they have to cleanup their act right across their sport or they are not going to be associated with it. german club announced a new coach and would you belief he is only 28 28 and plus he has not completed his coaching exams yes and this ladies and gentlemen is the youngest coach in history and he relegated the season and set from bottom in the league and he went into coaching after injury problems in his playing career and returns having been the assistant coach three years ago where he helped the club avoid relegation. over all lead of cycling tour of qatar and started the day with a 26 second league and suffered a puncture of four kilometers remaining and with the teammates and alexander won and turns to the top of the over all

standings heading into friday's final stage that finishes on doha. frenchman goes to the final quarter finals and the tennis world number 18 these days secured his passage with 6-3-5-7-6-2 over borno. india hosting the south asia games in the far northeast of the country and more than 2 dhou ,000 athletes are competing in the events and we report. >> reporter: this young woman hopes swimming will be here ticket to a better future. she is a 16-year-old bronze metalist from bangladesh. >> translator: we had to struggle to get the metal because we are not well off at all but insight of this my father provided me with whatever i needed for my training. >> reporter: this region is home to 1.7 billion people, roughly a quarter of the world's

population yet none of the south asia nations win olympic metals on the same level as china, russia or the u.s. and according to this sri lanka silver metalist it's a training ground for bigger better things. >> translator: the next step for me now is to keep training hard with my coach so i can compete at the olympics. >> reporter: but for every victory there are many more who have reached the end of the road for now. most of india's top athletes are not competing, they are in leagues or preparing for the old picks so many are asking what is the point of this tournament. he is one of the organizers. he says many of india's best athletes were already engaged when the dates for the south asia games were announced so they couldn't participate but india still wins most of the

metals here. >> because of the number of athletes and participation and many of the advantages that india has. it doesn't matter that other people don't have that advantage. >> reporter: sport is also not seen by many here as a desirable career choice. most south asia kids who can afford an education are encouraged to follow a more traditional career path. but as the india home crowd cheers its archrival pakistan before a hockey match all political and social differences are set aside. for many this is what sport is about, al jazeera in northeast india. rally of sweden gets underway on friday despite a shortage of ice. one warm conditions across

scandanavia and without ice the conditions are dangerous for drivers and the public. organizers slashed eight stages from the event. problems at fenway park in boston one of the most iconic stadiums in the world for baseball but in the next week it's home to some of the world's best skiers and snow borders and this competition is known as the big air. that's your sport and back to barbara in london. >> reporter: little is known of the life of dutch painter bosch born in the netherlands in the 15th century and his works inspired many other artists and now some of his paintings can be viewed for the first time in years in his hometown jessica baldwin went to have a look. >> reporter: gouls and animals and scenes of fantastic imagery,

the world of medieval painter bosch and to commemorate 600 years since he died 17 of his 24 paintings are reunited at an exhibition in his hometown. the lighting is low to protect the works. it's difficult to film. bosch has fascinated for centuries. the interest hasn't waned. his works have a modern feel inspiring gally and mural among others. >> his paintings are traditional in a certain way, he is very modern in the way he is painting in his imagery. >> reporter: the pictures have come from museums around the world, part of a trip tick has been temporarily reunited with works from the leuve and they have defied interpretation and are they war and plague or society unraveled or are they

religious reflecting a powerful medieval church. bosch would have passed these gargoyles as he went to pray at the chapel but we don't know if it changed his work. not much has changed in the square since he was born here around 1450. the painter had his studio on this square and he was born in the square in the greenhouse behind me. at the time this city was a thriving thriving thriving metropolis and plenty of supporters for his painting. this is the favorite son and took his name bosch from here and now the city is celebrating his virtual return 500 years later. jessica baldwin, al jazeera, bosch, the netherlands. that is it for barbara and the rest of the team lauren will have more of the day's news in just a few minutes, thanks

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♪ syria talks, the u.s. pushes to an immediate ceasefire after russia's proposal for it to start in march. ♪ i'm lauren taylor and this is al jazeera live from london and also coming up president under pressure in south africa and jacob zuma is heckled in parliament as the protests continue. mexican prison riot frustrated families demand answers after more than 50 people die in an