the world has safe water to drink, that's really third rail. ♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ welcome to this news hour with me peter in doha and 60 minutes of news and comment, today, russia warns ally bashar al-assad to tone down his rhetoric to a fight to the end in syria and take the diplomatic route. uganda president set for five years in office but there are arrests and vote rigging allegations. ruling party supporters in south africa a taking to the streets

against racism, more than two decades after the end of apartheid plus. >> translator: the person who only thinks about making walls and not bridges is not a christian. >> reporter: pope francis and his stinging review with donald trump's views on immigration. ♪ military experts and diplomates from russia, the u.s. and several other countries are discussing how a ceasefire might be implemented in syria. the meeting in geneva following last week's agreement in munich and they reacted to comments from president bashar al-assad and they will continue fighting until all rebels are defeated and kremlin warning that a difficult situation could arise in assad doesn't follow russia in accepting diplomacy, the u.n. is planning aid drops of humanitarian supplies to the

syrian city which is besieged by i.s.i.l. fighters, 200,000 people are in desperate need of food and medicine and daniel lack has more. >> reporter: convoys of badly needed food and medicine began rolling into five besieged towns in syria this week, aid trucks were allowed into government and rebel controlled areas and officials say there will be deliveries by road to others soon and ground access is not possible and under government control but surrounded by i.s.i.l. fighters and u.n. says the only way in is by air. >> we will also hope then to have progress in reaching the poor people inside of the city which is as you know besieged by islamic state. that can only be done by air drops and the food program has a

concrete plan of doing so. it's a complicated operation and would be in many ways the first of its kind ever. >> reporter: in south sudan the world food program has dropped supplies from the air, air drops are expend shun and difficult to organize but sometimes the only way to save lives. the within special envoy on syria says it's not just this city that has urgent need that can only be met from above. >> if in aleppo and even, in fact, in the eastern guta and many other places where people are in need of help. >> reporter: the logistical challenge also be immense and planes will have to employ high to avoid the fire and russian aircraft are often in action here prompting questions from journalists at u.n. headquarters in new york about plans to use a contractor from russia to fly some of the air drop missions. >> if there were any air drop i

think involved, and air drop in syria, you know, in other places the w.f.p. planning is a high altitude air drop which would demand some very specific skills and experience in terms of doing these kinds of air drops. so that is why they are considering using one of their contractors which has worked for them in south sudan. >> reporter: u.n. officials stress only a ceasefire and work towards a political settlement will begin to ease the huge humanitarian crisis in syria but with peace talks in geneva making little if any progress convoys and soon air drops may be the only way to get help to the millions of syrians in desperate need in their country, daniel lack, al jazeera, at the united nations. let's take you straight to moscow now and fred is the correspondent for the christian science monitor and welcome to

the program is moscow very pilotly but still sending a very tough message to damascus here? >> sure. obviously, you know, an awful lot has been said and written about all the problems the americans have in getting their various clients stakes and proxys on to the same page and keeping them there and everybody seems to assume that the russians don't have those kind of problems but this is clear evidence that they do and in this case it's in a good way for the russians because it is the byproduct of the rather extraordinary battlefield success that they have been enjoying in the past few weeks. you see the russian agenda was going in syria and limited intervention, bolster assad and make him look undefeatable and then take that to the negotiating table where we russians will do the thing that we do when we sit down with the americans and divide things up.

the russians have a bigger agenda there, they want sanctions lifted on russia, they want a broader understanding with the americans where russia gets more respect and is a more important player and assad now is threatening to take that away from them because he is winning now and he thinks what do i need negotiations for. so this is a russian shot across assad's bow and probably not very serious and i don't think we should look at this alliance crumbling any time soon but it is obvious that probably much more intense conversations are taking place behind closed doors there in damascus. >> interesting when you talk about the intense conversations, fred and one looks at the language over the past six or eight weeks or so and the language coming out of the state department and it's almost as if they were coming and pasting words from the foreign ministry in moscow at one point and if what you are saying is correct does that mean we will see a

diverging from the states and russia and not on the same page because what is going on the ground and bashar al-assad is winning and only runs 15% of the territory. >> yeah, that is true. but most of that territory is empty and there are considerable signs that there is momentum, it's not just battlefield momentum but that rebel morale is crumbling and they never were a united block in the first place. i mean assad must have his reasons for thinking that he can go the whole distance. the thing is, and this is ironic but the russians don't actually want him to completely win. they want to take this prize to the negotiating table and get their payoff. of course they want assad to stay, they are not selling him

out, it's just that they want what they went in for which is a bigger thing. it's on accord with the americans is what the russians are looking at and if assad goes and wins it all they don't get that. >> are they going to have to restate what the rest of the world has assumed for the past year or so and it's this: they will have to say to bashar al-assad listen you are not going to win in totality so you have to have a plan b? >> i think they must be saying that to him already and it is a difficult thing to picture assad winning in totality. there has to be a political solution and one that encompass the fact that huge part of the population is syria rose up against assad. i mean, that is generally right and it's just the means that the

russians will use to twist assad's arm and make him come to the table and do that deal are hidden from us. i think that the person who made the statement said assad should come to the table for his dignity. that is a pretty strong thing to say so it's clear that there is some sub terranian conversation going on now and i guess because the russians did remind how much they have done for assad that they will use that as a leveler to pry them along their lines and we won't see it happen but know it will happen when assad comes to the table and i'm pretty sure he will. >> thank you very much, fred. turkey's prime minister has been to the site of the bomb blast last week where 28 people were

killed on the suicide attack accompanied by officials and he played flowers near the headquarters in ankara and blamed a syrian kurdish fighter working inside the attack and vowed retaliation. in some areas of uganda voting is beginning a day later than scheduled, results from thursday already show the president is ahead with 62% of the votes counted to far in a presidential election that could see him serving a fifth term and meanwhile social media has been shut down amid allegations of vote rigging and we are in campala. >> reporter: in the capitol people came early to vote, across the country polling in most stations proceeded peacefully and campala opposition leader and the supporters took journalists to a house that they said was a vote rigging center. >> the kind of activity we have seen around here in terms of

delivery of materials right now we have seen boxes being thrown off over the fence as we demand to see them. >> reporter: when they knocked on the gate some people inside jumped over the back fence, opposition supporters fought them and found them armed and the police came and found access in the house and they told us it was a private home and the police later said the access was barred because it's an intelligence facility and he was detained and taken to his home for the third time this week. the ruling party says he was trying to provoke police and cause disruptions. meanwhile the president has been in power for 30 years and wants five more and voted in his home area. >> there will be no violence and put him in the deep freezer and he cools down and calms down.

>> reporter: back in campala at this polling station opposition agents say they were thrown out by police complaining about names being added to the vote as to the register. the agents in the ruling nrn party said the police were just keeping order. >> it is basically in our aim we are calling the shots. it's in our aim we are throwing agents from the polling stations and not the preceding office, and the preceding office is what to do with the help of the police. >> reporter: at many pollingly stations in and around the city the polling materials arrived six or more hours late. at at least three locations police fired tear gas at angry crowds. at this polling station riots and tear gas was fired here and the voting materials came about seven hours late. nobody voted in the end and when the materials came apparently

they were not in order and the crowds who left here are still angry. polling will happen on friday and as they await for results many opposition supporters are skeptical about the polls. >> and over to you. >> reporter: counting of the votes has begun and with me is the spokesperson of the electoral commission. thank you, jonathan and first tell us how is it going, how is the counting going? >> it's going well. no problem. we are receiving results last night. they were able to announce this so far so good. >> reporter: and the results here show a lead for inencumbant

and say with the lead and how do you respond to that. >> they showed us where the rigging took place and if they have that information it can be fraud rather than an allegation. in my view we did a very good job. whatever we did it was transpare transparent. we had their agents and anything like that and it's something that is not clear but if they are not sharing that information with us and they are talking to the media then it remains an allegation which i unfortunately don't know how we can carry that risk. to the best of my knowledge all has gone well so far. >> reporter: right now the office of the party has police and soldiers outside while him

and his staff we understand are trying to release some of their tally results to the press. this constant stream of incidents and security forces and the opposition, don't you think that under mines the credibility in the eyes of some uganda people? >> the power is under the law to announce their results. let them stay under the law to announce. if they announce the results then we have a job as electoral commission and the commission is by the law and tally and announce results and declare the winners, okay? as for the police and security i don't know. you may need an opportunity to speak to a spokesperson or the police spokesperson but as far as announcement is concerned nobody should be getting to that. you can tally results for the

electoral commission, nobody can dispute that but you cannot make announcement for announcement because that is illegal, illegal. >> reporter: and yesterday in some areas people didn't get to vote after delays with materials and some unrest at some polling stations, what is being done about that? >> yes, it was unfortunate and it was regrettably, the commission had an apology, good thing the fabric finally comes especially in the areas of campala and other districts. we finally had stations open and vote and but later in the day the commission and the electoral commission we extended the closure of the voting period that was scheduled for and extended it to 7:00 p.m. in the evening. now where the voting was not able to continue, we postponed those ones and as we speak, as i speak to you now voting is continuing in the polling

stations about eight of them so all so far has been settled and all is well. >> reporter: okay, thank you very much. >> you are most welcome. >> reporter: that is the spokesperson for the electoral commission here at the national vote tallying center at the nation's capital camp arc la. and stay with us in the news hour and protests spread in india after arrest of a student leader on charges of sedation, plus marathon talks continue in brussels to prevent britain walking away from the european union. and in sports news things go from bad to worse with manchester united and their boss, details coming up, with joe later in the program in about a half an hour. ♪ the governing party in south africa the anc marching against

racism in the capitol pretoria and demanding action after several racist incidents and they are in the spotlight again two decades after the end of apartheid and we are live in pretoria and there is talk of new legislation but presumably even if and when that gets on to the statute books there will be a bit of a delay between it actually happening and the country really changing. >> that certainly would be the case especially as the talk and this debate around racism began at the beginning of the year and it's now the ruling party and the national congress said they want to change legislation to criminalize race specifically and of course this stems from decades of apartheid and the ruling party called the government at the union voting and while it says it's to bring all south africans together to fight racism the vast majority

if not all the people here are supporters of the party. but it's also using this opportunity for to rally support for the party. it is of course an election year and local elections are due to take place later this year and uses this opportunity to rally support and get the opposition the democratic alliance saying the party as they say harbors racist and democrats and allies has its back saying that anc has not done very much to grow the economy and create jobs and in that way eradicate racial inequalities so this issue around racism has very much become one where these opposing parties rally support of antiraci antiracis antiracism. >> as far as the tension is concerned it seems palpable and the tension one assumes is not

about to go away soon, is this different for the anc, the governing anc in effect to sell this to tell material, you were talking about the elections not so far away because all this was supposed to be a thing of the pa past. >> reporter: this was supposed to be a thing of the past but what is going on today is rooted in decades of institutionalized racism and in their argument says not enough has been done to eradicate that and the issues of racism are linked to the economy with many black african people in south africa says not enough has been done for the communities and much of the economic unrest with the white population and this very much continues to be election issue around economic empowerment and the minister comes from the african national congress and he said the responsibility to

eradicate racism and deal with the economy rests with the african people so this is not an issue that is going away any time soon and some said 20 years we should have seen more progress made in terms of economic power and development and in that way dealing with the racial issues. >> thanks very much. war veterans have been attacked by riot police in zimbabwe and were infuriated by grace and said they were special because they fought in the 15 war of liberation and led to white minority rule and many support the vice president and the increasing feud to succeed the president robert mcgobi who is t 91 years old, in ghanna they had a head on crash near the northern town of contempo and said the bus had problems with its brakes.

now to europe because the uk cameron is trying to negotiate a deal with eu leaders to keep the uk inside the eu and mr. cameron is pushing to make key reforms before a referendum on eu membership is held this year or early next year and it's the second day of an eu summit in brussels and german chancellor angela merkel says reaching an agreement says it won't be easy and al jazeera emma hayward is there and as far as mr. cameron is concerned difficult to negotiate in brussels and when he goes home to london a tougher one possibly to sell. >> reporter: he had a very long night peter and when he arrived here about a half an hour ago and looked gleary eyed like a man who had not slept and left after 5:00 this morning and a very, very long night of negotiations, tough meetings, much tougher than a lot of his aids and he was anticipating.

we know there are still many sticking points particularly surrounding the idea of curbing benefits for migrants who arrive in the uk and also on the idea of financial regulation, now he will go into more meetings with the french president francois hollande and the president of the european counsel and it's likely to be a tough morning and possibly a long one as well. >> so they have talked into the hours and having an english lunch hast past midday your time, local time, what is the problem for the other countries, the other 27 members, why are they so dead set against the idea that the uk leaves the eu? >> well, let me just say to start off it was supposed to be an english breakfast but turned into an english lunch and many of the other members concerned about the fact that britain may get a veto on financial regulation that is one of the things that upset france and the

eastern block countries are very concerned about the proposed curbs to benefit some of their citizens who could arrive in the uk in the coming months. now the summit is supposed to end today. there is talk here it could go on but i think downing street is key to get david cameron back in the uk with a good deal so he can then start or announce the date of his referendum because the day that is being put around is the 23rd of june and that is just a few months away peter. >> emma thanks very much. time for the weather and here is richard talking about the south atlantic masquerading as the south pacific. >> yes. south pacific. we've got a really big tropical cyclone peter and have a look on the weather map behind me and you can see australia and new caledonia and fiji and this is where we saw the storm

developing over quite a period of time and it has been going around for days and days and there it is and you can see it is gradually moving to the east and then it has turned around and it's coming back towards the west. you can see the eye wall there for a time indicating there was a developing system as the extremely powerful so we have tongo and fiji and looks as though it's going to be threatening fiji in the next 24 hours. so here it is tropical cyclone winston with 230kph and makes it a category four storm on the australian five point scale and it's expected at the moment to run across fiji as category four and take a sharp left turn and going around for days and came down between fiji and new caledonia and across tonga and come back and can almost do anything and bottom line is very

severe weather will be affecting fiji and tronnel rain and winds and disruption in the region the next few days. donald trump is responding to comments from pope francis and said mr. trump is not a christian for proposals to build a border wall to keep migrants out of the u.s., the frontrunner for the presidential nomination said the pope's comments were disgraceful and then said he has great respect for the head of the roman catholic church and john is in chicago. >> reporter: the latest twist in an election already stirred by donald trump's rhetoric and pope francis had this to say about the billionaire's plan to build a wall between the u.s. and mexico. >> translator: a person who thinks only about building walls wherever they may be and not building bridges is not christian. >> reporter: trump seemed undaunted by the dressing down of catholics in the world and

the u.s. >> the pope said maybe donald trump isn't christian and he is questioning my faith, i was very surprised to see it but i'm a christian and proud of it. >> reporter: and he fired back as only trump can. >> for a religious leader to question a person's faith is disgraceful. >> reporter: it is a confrontation unlike any other in american political history. >> it pins the needle on unusual. it is as unusual as it gets and it's just another totally unprecedented event, john, in this 2016 presidential campaign. i don't think you could find another case where a pontiff got involved with a domestic, political issue during a campaign, let alone getting involved with and actual candidate. >> reporter: the extraordinary face off has american voters across the u.s. taking sides. >> you can't be building walls with people, what do you do, you

reach out to the people that other people don't want to reach out to, that is a christian mission. >> reporter: you agree with the pope in this respect? >> yes. who agrees that trump is intelligence >> i agree with the pope as well. i don't think it's very christian or catholic to put up barriers of any sort. >> reporter: donald trump likes things big, big buildings and big publicity and big fueleds and doesn't get better than a feud with the pope and he is not backing down and said if the vatican is attacked they will wish and pray donald trump is president and he is surprised in the presidential campaign often saying what no other candidate will say and finding support among american voters. >> i don't think it's un-christian, i think it's more they are protecting their country and the countries are protecting themselves and don't think it's un-christian like. >> reporter: you agree with trump. >> somewhat, i'm sad to say but i kind of do. >> reporter: trump will soon

find out whether joining a spat with one of the most powerful religious leaders comes with a penalty at the ballot box, john with al jazeera. plenty more news still ahead in the news hour including these ones a possible reset in relations between new deli and kathmandu after months of tensions after nepal's constitution plus we will report on an industry that is taking off, we will be at the singapore air show. high flying san antonio spurs get their wings clipped in los angeles and joe is here with that and the rest of the news in about 20 minutes. ♪

welcome back, you are with the al jazeera news hour and my name is pete and top stories and a difficult situation could arise if the syrian president doesn't follow the lead on diplomacy and assad said his army will fight on until all rebels are defeated and talks continuing with russia, u.s. and several other countries on how to implement a ceasefire in syria. polls opened in some parts in uganda a day later after scheduled and ballots were not given and show the president is ahead and polling 62% and thousands of protesters are marching against south africa and racism and the ruling party anc is demanding urgent government action and follows several different racist incidents. going to the polls on sunday but it's at a time of heightened tensions and concerns about

security and battling the armed group boko haram on its eastern border and faces threats from other armed groups from libya and northern mali and how the conflicts are expected to influence the election outcome. >> the capitol is on high alert within 48 hours millions will go to the polls to elect a new parliament and president. it's the moment of uncertainty in a country that along with others is waging a war against armed groups including i.s.i.l. and its local boko haram. nigir has supporters with libya, mali and nigeria where those groups are active. al-qaeda also is capable at the heart of west africa and resent attacks on houthis in the capitol of mali and bokino-faso says they are scared of something happening her but

saying the world should help more. >> translator: nigire is stable and peaceful and protected the citizens and property and no armed group is here but regret that western powers are neglecting what is going on in the chad region with regards to boko haram and cameroon shared nigeria are in need of much more assistance as they combat faceless barbarism there. >> reporter: sent armies in nigeria for months to try to squash boko haram but until now the group is capable of attacks in lake chad and leaving a quarter of a million people who are refugees and displaced. the opposition accuses the government of failing to protect people in the east. >> translator: if you go to east nigir you will see extreme suffering caused by lack of security and we are responsible

for the situation there. by we i mean the current government. >> reporter: security is a rallying cry in the country especially during the current election season and why many of the candidates spent weeks in the east trying to win the hearts and minds of the affected population before they come back to the capitol for the final day, al jazeera. new zealand's prime minister offered to take in australia's unwanted asylum seekers and they have a plan to send 267 refugees including a baby girl recently treated for bad burns back to a detention center on the island of naru but while they await their fate malcolm has yet to embrace that offer from john key. >> it still stands and up until this point it has not been exercised by the australian government but in the future of australian government decided they wanted to it's definitely a possibility and i can simply say

their offer remains on the table. >> we are utterly committed to ensuring we give no encouragement and no marketing opportunities to the people smugglers and we are taking into account what john has proposed and what john has offered but we do so very thoughtfully recognizing that the one thing we must not do is give and inch to the people smugglers. >> peter chan is a senior lecturer in australia politics at the university of sidney and peter do you think this offer will ultimately be acceptable? >> it doesn't seem likely. the australian government of varying political persuasions has maintained an incredibly hard line with regards to asylum seekers and you heard the prime minister of australia malcolm just there just reiterated what

has been a line that has been used by many, many governments in australia and that is that the issue of asylum seekers is not one of human rights but it's about the market of people smugglers and that the governments have maintained extremely hard lined policy not allowing people who arrived by boat to stay in australia and pushing them out to naru and papa new guinea and a means of detearing of people wanting to come to australia and the reason they rebuffed on many occasions new zealand's offer to take asylum seekers is because australia has open border policy with new zealand and paranoid that refugees will become new zealand citizens and come across to australia. >> but this policy of zero flexibility is one thing but if we put that to the side for just a second, the relevant i think it was the home office minister said he would never send a child

into harm's way, very difficult to prove this but reports say that where this child and her mother were living was infested with rats. the child got gastrointeritis and the tents they live in leak and it's not far away from the rainy season and is the way the policy implemented can that be changed and in effect make sure the people are safe and well and the australian government can wiggle off its own hook if you will? >> the policy is designed to be cruel but cruelty is part of the policy and the reason why australia has utilized this in terms of their own economy and received australian aid is to elect the government against legal recourse.

we recently had a court case in australia's high court which found the australian government does have the right to move these people to naru and once they are in naru the australian courts really have no opportunity to over see their conduct. the sort of exercises by private security firms that are employed by the naru government and paid for by australia are completely beyond the recourse of refugee advocates in australia and if there is a possibility the camps could be improved and certainly to some degree the opposition support a policy that is similar to this and the camps the refugees seem it's clear the poor quality of the camps is the whole point of the policy. >> is there a point if this carries on as it might carry on when the government has to bend its own rules because if you have got a hospital saying we

will not release this one-year-old baby to the correct authorities even though we know that legally they could walk in and take her and put her on a plane back to naru because human rights are one thing and zero tolerance policy is something different but the pictures of a badly scalded and badly burned little girl get on the front pages and stay on the front pages that difficult for the government and maybe difficult for the people of australia who support this as a policy. >> i think that is an interesting proposition. we have been here before just less than a decade ago where a former government under john howard also maintained a very hard line policy and eventually that did become under minded particularly around the issue of keeping children in detention centers be they within australia or internationally and the sort of mental health effect that has proven that that sort of long-term incarceration in poor condition has on those

individuals. eventually there was a backlash but that backlash is incredibly tickle, the australian population is fickle and looking at polling from last year the vast majority saw the entirely possible as entirely acceptable or too lenient and today it's 50/50 in regards to how australian's think about it and if it is reversed and leads to uptick in voter rival it will swing back again and they have a heart on this issue and doesn't be able to be shifted in a kind of permanent way and this is the point that john key is highlighting to some regards with respect to his offer to take asylum seekers, partly that is a genuine offer but also it play force a domestic audience in new zealand who like to see themselves as a more compassionate country than australia, australia is more

conservative than new zealand even though it's culturally similar. >> peter thank you. nepal prime minute certain is in india for the first visit after being sworn in and in the next few days they will discuss ways over nepal's constitution and the five blockade was lifted and one of the conditions before his visit. and from kathmandu we tell you what exactly the napaleese are hoping for in terms of what will come out of this visit. >> reporter: he begins his maden visit to india as the prime minister of the country today and it's a normal relationship between the two countries and nepal ratified the constitution on the 20th and accused of supporting protesters by imposing a 4 1/2 economic blockade and this is what the prime minister had to say before he left india.

>> translator: this visit comes at a special time. there have been disagreements between nepal and india in the past few months and experienced the effect of this, the crisis caused bid the disagreements are coming to an end and no need for people to take this kind of turn and nepal had to suffer a huge lost in terms of post reconstruction and development. >> reporter: and this is the result of the crisis, and supply lines and now everyone in nepal has suffered especially victims of nepal's earthquake, rebuilding has not started yet. the standoff finally ended early this month after nepal ended the constitution but supplies have not normalized yet. nepal did reach out to its northern neighbor china and prime minister modi after he returned from india. >> india has been paranoid with the relationship with them. it won't be easy for india to

have another economy to block it so what are the leverages that india can use to try to influence the prime minister not to improve his economy integration with china is a question. >> reporter: he says he is not playing the china card. many analysts say those nepal in india seem to push themselves in a corner with the blockade and the visit is a faith saver. there are some hopes and one is nepal eastern guy crisis and india of extension of transmission lines and hydropower and people are tired of this and the hope is the prime minister will play his cards right and their life will normalize soon as well. india's supreme court has referred the case of the student leader kamal back to a lower court and faces charges of sedation after anti-india slogans were chanted at a university event and spawned

days of protest across india calling for his release and we are in the capitol new deli with this update. >> reporter: the supreme court refused to hear this saying it could perhaps set a bad example or send a message that lower courts were incapable and say lawyers should have followed protocol and gone to the high courts instead. and his lawyers said that they had approached the supreme court due to what they are calling extraordinarily hostile circumstances. now, they are referring to events at the court premises on monday and wednesday, both times on the bail plea was to be heard and both times there was violence outside the court premises where a group of lawyers attacked journalists and even the lawyers and on wednesday he was attacked between the time he stepped out of the police car and walked into court. his lawyers say they fear for his life and that he should be let out on bail. thursday thousands of people

took to the streets of deli calling for his release, they say this is a sign of growing intolerance from the government of decent and debate in the country. he was arrested last week for allegedly holding an event at his university campus which anti-indian slogans were used. u.s. president barack obama is to fly to cuba next month and the first u.s. president in office to visit the communist neighborhood ner almost 100 years, the white house hopes the trip will be similar to when the berlin wall came down ending with reconciliation after years of hostility. two days of power cuts in the capitol because of a heat wave and people in buenos aires are affected and blackouts are common in summer with people using their air conditioning and earlier this week they took to the streets against the power cuts. airline passenger numbers are at

a five-year high in the asia pacific region and as it sores airlines are struggling to find enough well-trained pilots to fly all the new aircraft and scott reports from the singapore air show on the concerns for safety. >> reporter: one out of every three airline passengers in the world last year took off or landed in the asia pacific region. growing middle classes and new markets are pushing industry numbers up. last year the number of passengers here grew 8% more than anywhere else in the world. a soaring demand for more flights means the need for more airports. industry leaders say if governments remain focused on global standards there is no reason why growth should come at the expense of safety. after the u.s. regulator in december downgrade thailand's safety ratings that issue is more influence than ever. >> in the region the united states faa for example has

downgrade thailand and there are some other countries around the region where governments are having to work to step up to the plate. >> reporter: many new arlines have taken to the air and causing established airlines to rethink how they operate. in financial trouble thai airways is in the middle of restructuring and at a disadvantage in the short term but may make it more competitive in the long-term. >> while we restructure and means our cost base is high, most of our competitors because of the keep dropping the price as well. and the cost base are low. >> reporter: growth of the airline industry in asia pacific has been so rapid over the last ten years there are concerns that the infrastructure is not keeping pace and that airlines are scrambling for experienced pilots and proper training. years ago most airline pilots came from the military, not any mor

more. >> training pilots is done by airlines and flying school and that system works well but it does again have to keep pace with the growing demand and airlines can always find enough pilots but don't like what they have to pay them. >> reporter: regional shortages of pilots drive up salaries so while the demand for these seats is increasing in asia pacific there are challenges, for the airlines the challenge is to expand carefully in this era of thinning profit margins. and for the government to make sure that safety standards do not slide as the industry expands and demands new, busier airports and commercial aviation have been safer than the previous five and this is a trend that airlines and governments will want to maintain, scott with al jazeera singapore. still to come here on the news hour for you, in sport we will tell you about a former u.s. military medic who is known as the god father of mma in

pakistan. ♪

time for sport and this is joe. >> thank you very much and it's worse for man chester united and slumped to the 11th feet of the decision and saw the three-time european champions beaten by a team formed back in 199, the latest defeat came in the first leg of 32 tie for the league and the team throwing away one goal lead to lose two on mitchell land and the second is next thursday. >> disappointing, like we are

disappointed so i'm very grateful for the fans who are supporting us but we won't win and we have to win in alternative and then we are in the next round but we have to do it. it's not easy but we have to do it. >> people told me also before the game try to enjoy the moment, also this evening, i think can i enjoy it now and i can look back on a very good performance for the team and for the club but it is only the first game. we have not won anything yet but we will give ourselves a good resolve and look forward for the next game. >> there was also bad news for former favorite and the current manager saw his team lose 3-nil at defending champion and trying to win a hat trick of europa

titles and they will play at elksburg and 2-nil winners over porto and victory for one man united old boy as nevils had back to back wins as valencia manager as they thrashed rapid vienna. south america top club competition where they are at the group stages now, five time winners of uraguay traveled to peru and a packed crowd in lima saw the team fall behind in 40th minute as lewis opened the scoring for pinerol but with 15 minutes left rodriguez had the equalizer and final score was one, one, two ranked the san antonio spurs beat by the clippers and went on the game

off the back of six straight wints and 28 points and 12 assists by paul and saw the clippers win this 105-86 the final score. and jordan spieth may be number one but did not live up to it and the american's shot one of the worst tours with 8 over 79 in the first round of the northern trust open and sits near the bottom of the leaderboard and one of his greatest rivals rory-mcilroy is at the top and opening round of 67 and then we have the columbia who missed four cups in a row on the tour and the round two. defeat on the favorite clay service but he is building it backup and winning form in rio this week and reached quarter

fin finals after winning 6-3-7-5 and will play for a place in the last four later having been knocked out of the semis in buenos aires last week the world number one says he is in better shape at this tournament. >> a little bit of trouble with my stomach there with the whole week and with the humidity that was unbelievable. i felt so bad physically on court, suffering very much. and here physically i'm feeling much better because my stomach is better so that is the key on my improvement on my game and victory helps. now mixed martial arts or mma as it is better known is vastly becoming better in pakistan and largely thanks to this man and competes in asia top championship with the next big fight on saturday and met with the god father of mma in pakistan to find out how a

former u.s. military medic is at the top of the sports and helping children in the country do the same. >> i'm a marshal artist and one championship where i represent pakistan. i'm known as the god father of mixed martial arts in pakistan. before i started mixed martial arts i was a student at university in george mason. i was in the military as a medic. i had the desire to compete in mma because competing against someone who is trying to defeat you is really the best way to know whether the things you have learned will work. this is my first fight, a very important fight for not only me but for mma and pakistan. i believed in myself, everybody else believed in me too in pakistan and it was a war.

it was a war of a fight and you can see from all the blood but i came out with the win. mma has grown substantially since i first came here in like 2005. from here the people i have taught personally, there is one who has already competed in one championship and then you have guys and it's a pakistani marshal martial art and it's going to be known as champions and we get no support from the government and that doesn't bother me because i feel if the government did support it there would be strings attach and may stifle the sport and the funding is coming from ourselves and i'm funding this from my own pocket and what i get from the gym. the fight for peace and ngo is an organization that creates and manages training for under privileged youth and in bad neighborhoods.

this is a great organization that gives a very positive image for the sport of mma all across the world. i'm fighting february 20th in dacarta against jimmy of the philippines and i've been training hard and smart, he is a tough opponent and look forward to challenging him myself by competing with him but i see myself being victorious in the first or early part of the second round. >> reporter: nhl champions chicago blackhawks are regular visitors to the white house in the united states and stanley cup holders stopped by to visit president barack obama for a third time in six years. obama was presented with a personalized jersey and miniature replica of the stanley cup. and that is all the sport for now, more a little bit later, peter. >> talk to you then and thanks very much, we are back at the top of the hour and see you then, good-bye for now. ♪

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♪ uganda's opposition leader has been arrested again with elections marred by arrests and vote rigging allegations. ♪ hello and welcome i'm peter at headquarters in doha and also in the 30 minutes russia warns ally bashar al-assad to tone down the rhetoric for a fight to the end in syria and to take the diplomatic route. it's a tightrope walk for david cameron and has talks in brussels how the uk