>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello, i'm lauren taylor. coming up, the u.n. delivers the first aid by air drop to the besieged syrian town of deir al-zour. and people get ready to go to the polls in iran in two elections. a european telecom giant sold surveillance equipment to a secret branch of the egyptian government. and the south korean protest without any protesters.

we'll tell you why. ♪ the u.n. says it has delivered its first air drop of aid to the besieged town of deir al-zour. there have also been developed in the planned cessation of hostilities in syria agreed by russia and the u.s. can moscow confirming that it started negotiations with rebel groups in the country. and there is evidence the ypg are coordinating with the syrian government and the russian air force. the group has previously been helped by the u.s. to push isil forces out of northern syria. james bayes is at the united nations in new york. tell us a bit more about this first air drop of aid. >> reporter: well, this is important, because the town of dare -- deir al-zour is

effectively cut off by isil. and this is the first time the u.n. has brought aid in from the air. any delivery at this point is not just to help the desperately needy people in those areas, it is also to try to encourage the peace process, because they want to get peace talks started again next week in geneva. the announcement of the air drop was made to the security council by steven o'brien. >> earlier this morning, a wfp plane dropped the first cargo of 21 tons of items into deir al-zour. we have received initial reports that pellets have landed in the target area as planned.

>> reporter: he also as well as welcoming that air drop, was critical, though, of the syrian government. and the syrian ambassador was sitting there, and he said that syrian government put all sorts of bureaucratic obstacles in the way of aid deliveries to some besieged communities. he said the number, scope, and complexity of obstacles was in his words staggering. >> and there are reports that russia has been meeting with the opposition. what more can you tell us about that. >> reporter: well, i think you will find there is everyone meeting everyone at this stage. russia and iron are speaking to the syrian government, russia is also speaking to any opposition, but the opposition will also being coming under pressure from the u.s. and regional countries, because i think there is a lot

of effort to make the sus accusation of hostilities stick. i hear of another effort underway to support this idea as well. and that's talk, perhaps, of a u.n. security council resolution on friday, legal basis for the cessation of hostilities that could come in just hours before that cessation is supposed to stop. we understand the u.s. and russia are talking about that, and could bring this to a vote on friday, just a few hours before the cessation is supposed to start on saturday. >> james bayes thank you very much indeed. russia said it started ceasefire negotiations with rebel groups in five provinces. it follows that agreement between russia and the u.s., the russian and syrian president have had a phone conversation to talk about the deal. rory challands has the latest

from moscow. >> reporter: it's been a very busy day of telephone diplomacy for vladimir putin. first of all he spoke to president bashar al-assad. remember a few days ago, assad said he wanted to carry on fighting in syria, to retake the whole country. russia essentially was forced to tell him to shut up, and it does seem like now bashar al-assad at least on paper is pledging commitments to the ceasefire plan. after that putin spoke to the saudi arabia king, he spoke to rouhani of iran, and the israeli prime minister, benjamin netenyahu. the message from all of this seems to be to the united nations and to the middle east region, that russia is a power broker, and a force to be reckoned with. you get a real sense of cautious optimism coming out of the kremlin right now. i think they believe they are on the cusp of achieving two of

their main goals. the first was to shore up president bashar al-assad and present him from some sort of chaotic collapse. but the second goal was to convince the united states that russia is essentially an equal partner and needs to be treated with due respect in the middle east. britain's foreign secretary says he has seen evidence that kurdish forces are acting in coordination with syrian government and russia. the ypg has been supported by the u.s. in the push against isil. paul brennan reports. >> reporter: syria's complex civil war has become even more complicated by the presence of isil, both in syria and iraq, leaving combatants and their international backers fighting on multiple fronts. the british foreign secretary

has been briefing the parliament. there was praise for the extraordinary resellence of kurdish peshmerga fighters in iraq, but syria is different. >> what we have seen is very disturbing evidence of coordination between syrian kurdish forces, the syrian regime, and the russian air force, which are making us distintly uneasy about the kurds role in all of this. >> reporter: for syrian kurds, read the ypg, the military wing of the pkk, which turkey and britain regard as a terrorist group. the united states military support for the ypg is therefore deeply problematic. but a former kurdish leader says the syrian's kurdess loyalty to the west is consistent. >> they are for years fights not just isil but also against al-nusra, because they besieged

several kurdish places. >> reporter: one analyst says cooperation between assad's forces and the ypg occurs only where both sides happen to be fighting a common enemy, which is isil. though the relationship emphasizes the complex proxy war being fought in syria. >> you have multiple actors, external actors trying to coordinate with actors on the ground who can act proxy forces, but you also have multiple external actors with very different objectives of what they are trying to achieve in syria. >> reporter: the cessation of hostilities expected this week could scarcely be more fragile. paul brennan al jazeera. the syrian observatory for human rights says more than a quarter of a million people have been killed in syria since the war began. and with some of the worst

fighting going on in and around aleppo. we have a report about the volunteers who are saving lives there. bernard smith has the story. >> reporter: for many syrians this is the only emergency service they have. where is it they shout? these are the white helmets. they are volunteer rescue workers. there isn't much of this city still standing. >> translator: there were two families in this house. we pulled out four people. one woman died. the rocket passed through two buildings and exploded here. and here, look, the syrian kids life continues. in spite of all of the damage, they are still here. >> reporter: in aleppo most of

the injuries are a result of syrian or russian bombings. this mans says an aircraft drops some bombs while we worked in a internet cafe, some of his leg was blown off. the russians says it rockets are aimed only at what it calls terrorists. >> translator: there are only civilians here. no one else. show me one fighter. show me the militants they talk about. everyone here is a civilian. >> translator: is it russian? yes, it's russian. any white helmets say they are committed to helping everyone. they say they have risked sniper fire to retrieve the bodies of government soldiers. this time they are responding to another attack by the russian air force. before the war, these volunteers

were students, engineers, carpenters, but here normal lives are no longer possible. today, what is normal is crawling through rubble, hoping to find survivors of another bombing. bernard smith, al jazeera. and you can see the full film at 2230 gmt on wednesday here on al jazeera. kuwait is the latest country to ban its citizens from lebanon. it's all part of an escalating row between saudi arabia and lebanon. last week saudi arabia decided to withdrawal about $4 billion worth of military aid to lebanon. it has also expressed concern that lebanon has not supported it enough against iran. travel warning comes despite

attempts by the lebanese prime minister to reinstate his support for riyadh. let's go to mohammed jamjoom in beirut for us. so why is all of this happening? >> reporter: lauren we should add also first that qatar has become the latest gcc country to add its name to that list of countries urging its citizens not to travel to lebanon, and if they are here urging them to leave lebanon nflt it's happening for several reasons. the first of which is really what happened in january when the saudi embassy in iran was stormed. that was a reaction to a -- to a shiite cleric who has been excluded. iranians has protested that decision, and because of the anger about that execution, the saudi embassy was stormed. there has been a lot of condemnation by gcc countries towards iran. saudi arabia cut ties with the

iranian government. other gcc countries downgraded their relationship with iran in the wake of that happening. lebanon is at the forefront of the proxy war that has been going on sometime for regional dominance. lebanon is a country with deep sectarian divisions. one is sunni come nated, one is dominated by hezbollah which is supported by iran. so you have the government falling along sectarian lines. saudi arabia voiced its displeasure very publicly with the fact that lebanon had not really condemned what happened to the saudi embassy. and in the last few days, saudi arabia also decided to not continue funding the lebanese military in an arms deal. again, as i said, lebanon, one of the main battlefields in the proxy war that goes on for

dominance here in the region, and this is just the latest sign of all that has happened before and what is happening now as well. >> you mentioned the complicated political picture there, what have the politicians been saying? and what about the average citizens? >> reporter: well, again, it really breaks down along partisan -- along sectarian lines. you have sunni politicians that have publicly urged saudi arabia to reconsider its decision and not just recalling citizens or urging them not to travel here, but also in trying to get saudi arabia to reconsider its decision to no longer fund the military. then you have politicians allied with hezbollah which have continued to support iran and hezbollah, and have been critical of what the saudis are doing here in the last few days. the average lebanese citizen,

you know, what you hear is a lot of frustration. this is something i have heard many times in the past. a lot of citizens feel like they are really caught. they say the government has come to a complete stand still. this country has gone without a president for two years, because of the political gridlock, and a lot of that is because the political process is really tied. and a lot of the citizens say, look, these are decisions having these gcc countries pulling their citizens or urging them not to go, will have a bad effect on the economy. and another reason they are concerned because the syrian civil war continues to spill over into lebanon. so they are worried that this will have a much more bad effect in the months to come, and they are hoping something can be

resolved and they can get a more secure country. lauren? >> mohammed jamjoom thank you. much more ahead on the al jazeera, news hour. including shrinking growth and high unemployment shapes south africa's national budget. and u.s. health officials investigate the possible sexual transmission of the zika virus. and manchester city gets ready to face their opponent in the champions league. a final day of camp -- campaigning in iran. on friday there are two elections, one for parliament and one for the assembly of excellence. on the other side, the grand coalition of conservatives is

lead by this man, a former parliament speaker who's daughter is married to one of the supreme leader's sons. the assembly of experts is seen be many as more important as they will choose the next supreme leader in the event of the death of the current leader. let's get from andrew simmons. the assembly of experts seems to be the main focus. tell us a bit more about that. >> reporter: the assembly of experts is in fact almost like a college of cardinals that would elect the pope in the vatican. it comprises 88 seats, and there were 800 potential candidates applying for places in this election, but the guardian council, which is a body, really, very hard liner, vets every single candidate, and the

number was reduced to 168 for 88 seats. and they will consider any proposal for the successor to the ayatollah, the supreme leader. of course he is 76 years old now. this body sits for eight years, it is very possible that it could elect the new leader. will that be another conservative ayatollah, or a reformist? a moderate? these are the questions that are being asked, and this is a very relevant aspect to both of these elections on friday. >> and what about the parliamentary election. do we have any sense of how it might go? >> it's hard to gauge. it's a big uphill battle for the moderates and the reformists who have formed an alliance. there is an array of candidates, in fact there was something like 12,000 applicants, again the guardian council vetted and

halved that number. but you have one thousand candidates in tehran here alone, fighting for 30 seats. and what we're going to see is a litmus test on how the president has fared, his popularity has fared after this nuclear deal, which has lifted sanctions. but the real effects of those sanctions being lifted hasn't been felt yet. although there is some gains it could seem, that would be seen that the popularity of rouhani supporters has risen a great deal, but whether that is enough to topple the hard liner's majority in the parliament remains to be seen. but there could be an upset, and everyone is watching how this one turns out, lauren. >> you have been there reporting for a few days. what is a mood like in tehran?

>> reporter: it's a very free sort of atmosphere. if you go to the coffee shop culture, where you have so many young people, a very large number of young people, some of them voting for the first time. some are rather confused, but many want to see change. there isn't a mood of descent amongst the young, but there is a mood of actively wanting change. not necessarily a repeat of the friday prayers messages which are given by the old guard. however, in the areas where lower-paid workers, people who have really struggled, people who have had to really rely on the subsidies of bread and milk, for example there is a different sort of atmosphere, one that is fairly depressive in terms of what the future might hold. and a lot of candidates have had problems with this.

because there is only one week of campaigning that is doing to an end quite soon, in fact, and that one week of campaigning is in a more low-profile style than you would expect in the west, so getting recognized has been very hard for some of these candidates. it's not really a multi-party system. these are all really factions of one system. and of course it isn't as organized as so many other political parties you see in the world, and this is an unusual structure, this government, this system whereby the supreme leader has absolute power. so even if there was an upset and the moderates and reformists were to win control of parliament, the absolute power will still be in the hands of the supreme leader in terms of the army, the justice system, and in terms of any really big decisions at stake.

lauren? in >> andrew simmons thank you very much indeed. politicians in [ inaudible ] are yet to vote on the unity government. the vote has been postponed to next monday. libya has two rival governments, both supported by different armed fighters. al jazeera has seen documents showing that an arm of the german telecoms giant sold surveillance equipment to a secret branch of the egyptian government. cairo paid million for the equipment, that could be used to spy on the public. lawrence lee reports. >> reporter: these documents obtained by privacy international cast a new light on the length the sisi government and the mubarak one before have gone to, in order to

protect themselves. they demonstrate the existence of a secret arm of state. equipment has been sold to the branch, a monitoring center, equipmented to monitor the land lines and mobile phones of the public at large. >> they are the ones with the biggest budget for surveillance technology. and they are the ones always looking for the next new technology to conduct surveillance. so of course from the perspective of western companies that are trying to sell new products, this is the obvious -- the obvious customer. >> reporter: for sales for surveillance they enable date back to before 2011 when mubarak was ousted as president, suggesting they weren't only facilitated to help camp down on

desce descent. this audio clip lifted from a mobile phone call is between the son of the jailed former president mohammed morsi, and close friend, in which they discuss what to do after hundreds of protesters were killed by egypt's security services in 2013. the clip was played on egyptian television. he and his father were arrested and jailed. his bother is convinced the technology helped the state to portray them and thousands of others as traitors. >> they tried to get into their phones, to take personal information from there. now it becomes -- someone like -- for many activists now who are in egypt and trying to work in the fields of human rights, for example, or work in the fields of trying to -- any civil society actions, they -- they have to take extreme security precautions because they know the security

services want to have surveillance on them. >> you have to hack your target. >> reporter: this revelation comes after an italian surveillance company called hacking team was itself hacked and thousands of documents put in the public domain. hacking team had been selling the egyptian government malware to allow security teams to control people's electronic devices. no european companies can export this sort of surveillance equipment to egypt without the permission of their governments. a group of european politicians will now call on germany and italy to explain why they think that's sales were appropriate. >> those companies accept that they are responsible for the united nations guiding principals on business and human rights, and i have to say in this instance, it's very clear to me, that those guidelines are being breached, and these exports are wrong. hacking team pointed out that the sales are legal and

western governments also sell war planes and missiles to egypt. it also claimed the surveillance equipment could help in the fight against terrorism. lawrence lee, al jazeera. south africans are braced for tax rises, as the government tries to revive the economy. tania page has the latest from cape town. >> reporter: some sobering numbers coming out of the parliament. economic growth expected to slow to 0.9%. public debt rising to 51%. the government says that things that south africa exports are simply not in demand. the government said it is going to raise taxes on things like alcohol, cigarettes, the fuel

levy, and introduce a new sugar tax. the finance minister said there was far too much corruption, that the public sector was bloated and there is going to be a freeze on hiring on the public sector. there is an extra billion dollars allocated to cover a shortfall after the president promised that he would freeze fees. whether the finance minister has done enough to avoid a ratings downgrade which would make it extremely difficult for south africa to borrow mon re -- money remains to be seen. tech giants meet in spain to look at the material that is to reshape the next generation of phones. and later in sport, we'll

hear from former chelsea manager on his future in football. ♪

>> 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. ♪

reminder of the top stories. u.n. aid has finally been delivered to the besieged syrian town of deir al-zour. it is the final day of campaigning ahead of elections in iran on friday. the country will vote for its parliament and assembly of experts. south africans are bracing for tax rises as the government tries to revive the economy. human rights organizations are accusing the european union of blocking refugees access to asylum. they say nato patrols in the aegean sea are send people back to turkey. john psaropoulos reports. >> reporter: these are the

refugee facilities on this island, a military outpost in the east aegean. for the new arrivals there is the stability of rock, but that is all. humanitarian groups like journalists are not allowed there. a syrian refugee shot this video. this man spent an hour on the island before being ferried to a nearby island. >> there is maybe four or five military, and a lot of people, refugees. they didn't give us anything. just they told us wait to the boat. there is no place to -- to sleep or anything. >> reporter: here it is a different game all together. migrants play afternoon soccer with the volunteers who care for them. organizations like this network, run shelters in buildings loaned by the municipality. it's an entirely volunteer-based effort. but here too, the military is acquiring a role. as europe becomes increasingly

wary of new arrivals, its response is increasingly military. this is the new reception center. the government has been trying to get it built for five months. now the military has taken over and done it in just three weeks. the importance of this camp is not just that it can house a thousand people, which could be vitally important in the months to come, it's that here fingerprinting will happen quickly, so will deportation of economic migrants as opposed to refugees. more troublingly to human rights groups nato patrols in the aegean aim to prevent as many arrivals as possible. the nato ships patrolling the aegean and monitoring every movement will take it very difficult for boats to embark from turkish shores or reach greek runs. returning people to supposedly

safe third-world countries abolishes refugees ability to apply for asylum in europe, and be evaluated there. >> reporter: here at the frontier, humanity and the law are preparously balanced. health officials in america are investigating more than a dozen possible zika infections which may have been sexually transmitted. zika virus is mainly spread by mosquito bites, and sexually transmitted cases are rare. let's go more on this from a biologist. thank you for being with us. we say there are rarely sexually transmitted cases, but how much is this a possibility? >> well, it is of course a concern, and we don't want anyone to -- to be infected at

all, and this is a root by which the virus can be transmitted. but as you say it is a relatively rare event in the context of a wide outbreak of the sort we're seeing in brazil with huge numbers of people infected. the number that acquire infection through sexual transmission is very, very small. we see these more easily when people have traveled back home, and there is not a large outbreak. but it is preventable, there are straightforward precautions that be taken. the virus will only be present in the body of the infected individuals for a relatively short period. so it is preventable with reasonable precautions. >> do you expect this to change the response there has been so

far to dealing with this outbreak? >> no. we have known this was a risk. seven or eight years ago the first case was identified. so it is a known risk, albeit a small one. and the advice is very clear that if someone has fallen ill or feels ill or traveled back from an area where the virus is very prevalent, then they should take some precautions and be a little careful about this potential risk. it does happen, as we have clearly seen, but as i said, it is relatively easy to prevent it, and reduce the risk to partners, and obviously that's what we want to see. >> reporter: and clearly people have been trying to investigate zika and the link with birth defects. so we have any clearer idea if there is a link? >> the links are getting

stronger. there are still unanswered questions as you might expect, but the virus has been isolated from some of the fetuses where the -- the -- the micro receively has appeared. so we have at least evidence now that the virus is present in some of these children at a very early stage in their development, and that would be consistent with the virus playing some kind of role. it would suggest that there's some potential link, and the link is much stronger now. so there will be more attention and focus on looking for a direct cause between the virus infection and this disorder. expecting the virus infection to occur in early stages of this development, which makes it quite difficult to study. >> andrew thank you for taking

the time to talk with us. thousands of pro-government demonstrators took to the streets of the capitol in india. >> reporter: there is no mercy. they shout, kick them, shoot them, kill the traitors, brandishing the indian flag and sticks they march in their numbers. these are members of the abbbp. it is the student wing of the party. their anger is directed at the students of the state-funded university who have been accused of chanting anti-national slogans at a campus event. >> translator: these people get an education because of the tax paid by us. how dare they speak against the country. >> translator: we want them hanged, whoever they might be,

if they are living in my country and if they make anti-indian statements they are traitors. >> reporter: three students are now in detention, facing charges of sedition. the arrest of the leader nearly two weeks ago ignited numerous demonstrations across the country like this one, demanding his release and accusing the government of intolerance. >> and this is a free speech issue, it's something we have to deal with. because if you can't speak freely, then what is left in this country? and what they are trying to do is to say that anything which we define as nationalism should not be challenged. >> reporter: but for those marchers there is little room for debate. the demonstrators are ferment, you can feel their agitation. students have been holding

marches like this across the country. and as members of indian's biggest student union, they say they are representing oppins linked to the government. >> nationalism to us means thinking about the nation first. we are all individuals, but we cannot be thinking about us as a priority. our priority should be the nation. >> reporter: but the events of the past few weeks have divided the nation. they have exposed a widening gap between those who uphold the ruling party's version of nationalism, and those who value their freedom of expression. the bolivian president has lost his attempt to seek a fourth term by changing the constitution. the voters went to the polls on sunday, but more than 51% of them rejected the proposed

changes. his current term ends in 2020. >> reporter: the publication of the official results have confirmed what bolivians have believed since the referendum on sunday that the no vote would win. now they have got that by the over 51% of the vote. the uncertainty in the last few days has come over whether the president would accept the no vote. he said he would, but then there has been some delay. people have been criticizing the electoral commission. it has been a long, show process, and something like 250,000 votes coming in from bolivians living abroad. >> translator: the government must continue but it has to accept that it lost. >> translator: now we will see new political leaders emerging, and that's good for the country. >> translator: i believe the country is now divided. the difference was very small.

i hope the government accepts what has happened. >> reporter: it seems with the no vote accepted the bolivians will now be hoping for stability in their politics. he will be president until the next election in 2019. this result means he won't be able to stand in elections in that year, and stay in power until 2025. it is the first time he has lost a major election since he came to power in 2006, he is now going to have to rethink his policies, and establish what he says still needs to be done in its remaining years in office, but it is a huge boost to the opposition, and they will certainly now try to organize around this no vote, planning for elections in 2019. south korea's president prepares to mark the third anniversary of her inauguration on thursday, critics have held a

protest in downtown seoul, but they had to be there without really being there. harry fawcett explains. >> reporter: in front of one of south korea's most famous landmarks, a ghostly gathering. this holographic protest, or cultural event, was filmed against a green screen and transposed to this busy intersection. >> translator: the rights of assembly and protest have continuously retreated in south korea. the situation is getting worse. people can't even chant a slogan on the street, so through this hologram protest, we wanted to call for the guarantee of freedom of peaceful assembly, and protest. >> reporter: amnesty is one of many groups that says freedom of expression has suffered in the three years since the conservative president came to office. the reason amnesty has chosen this location is because cent large-scale protests involving

real live people have been held hundreds of meters back. this location en route to the presidential house has been well and truly off elements. the bus blockades were tested last november. unions protesting against labor reforms, faced off against barricades and chemically laced water cannons. but critics also complain about more vague acts. the police say they are pointing to much lower injury rates since they introduce bus barricades and water cannon. the government says strict security laws are needed for a country still technically at war

with north korea. but opposition lawmakers continued a marathon filibuster effort to talk out the government's anti-terror bill, which they say would give too much power to the intelligence service. these critics and plenty more real ones plan to haunt the president for the remainder of her administration. the look of mobile phones has changed dramatically in recent years with devices relying on new materials and technologies. raw material more than any other is poised to reshape the next generation of phones. tarek bazley reports. >> reporter: 200 times stronger than steal but almost invisible to the eye, it's a wafer thin sheet of carbon atoms with remarkable properties. it conducts electricity and it is a flexible and cheap alternative to silicon and

metal-based electronics. >> it is very thin and flexible and extremely good electrical conductor. that combination is difficult to find in any other material. and it is often a building block for any of the applications. >> reporter: the european union spending $1.2 billion into research into the material. it was heralded as a wonder material when it was discovered. however, it has proved difficult to mass produce at quality, which is one of the reasons why mobile phone makers have been slow to adopt it in their devices, that, though, may be about to change. whether used as sin -- sensors in gloves or other apps the

material is being demonstrated. but the man who won a nobel prize for finding graphine says there are a most of other materials. >> collectively they hold much more power than only -- only graphine, because when it cannot do something, there are other materials which can instead. and i think that the future is really in the collective usage of those materials in combination. >> reporter: the next generation of electronics may be the focus here, but in the years ahead, this material could see scientists completely re-engineer our material world. still to come this news

hour, in sport we have all of the build up to the champions league. >> i'm phil lavelle in los angeles where we are now days away from the oscars, but who is it who and what are not nominated this year, which is what a lot of people are talking about. find out why shortly. v

♪ now for all of the sport. >> thank you very much, lauren. in the last hour, former fifa president, sepp blatter, and michel

michel platini have had their bans from football you would held but reduced. blatter had paid platini for work done a decade earlier. lee what does this mean for blatter and platini? >> reporter: well, platini and blatter were kept waiting by the appeals committee longer than expected for this news, when the news came, it was not what they wanted to hear. yes, a small reduction in their ban, but that will be of little consolation for them. because it is a real career ender for blatter. he wants to be some kind of hon honorary president and clear his

name. as for platini, his fifa presidential am beneficiaries look over, but could he go back to uefa and be the president again? he needs the court of arbitration for sport to clear his name, so does sepp blatter. this is where the presidential election will take place on friday, always twists and turns with that. the latest being that prince ali one of the five candidates has his bid to suspend the election turned down. he was unhappy there wasn't transparent voting booths. >> lee thank you very much for that. it's a busy week in zurich, and lee has been looking at fifa's past at their new museum. >> reporter: fifa headquarters

has become moan for corruption and scandal, but they are trying to give a reminder to football fans that they have a glorious past, 112 years of it. fifa has spent $30 million dollars over these past turbulent 18 months building a museum. a further $114 million will be the cost to lease it for 40 more years, but the public can see it starting on sunday. the team jerseys are the centerpiece of one of the three floors of the museum. overall there is 3,000 square meters of heritage here. >> it is a journey down memory lane. and it will bring back memories. we have come in and really looked through the archives, because fifa doesn't have that much of its own stuff. >> reporter: the second of the three floors is devoted to the history of the world cup. first played in 1930 in uruguay,

next due to be played in russia and then qatar. in a museum that captures all of fifa's history, there is just one small acknowledgment of the man who ruled fifa for 17 years from 1998. and we're about to find out, finally, of course, who will replace him permanently. les we forget that football is a game, the final is all about its influence on culture and fun. remember when football was fun? if fifa is allowed to push through its reforms and convince the u.s. and swiss authorities it can be transparent, finally it can be comfortable about making an exhibition of itself. lee wellings, al jazeera, zurich. the last 16 of the champions league continues in the next hour, manchesters city will be playing in one of three

competitions city are still in. they are in the english league final. they face a side that haven't played a competitive game since the 9th due to the winter break. >> the importance [ inaudible ] to try to [ inaudible ] we know it's a game for 180 minutes. it is just the first leg, so [ inaudible ]. >> in the other tie, athletico madrid take on their dutch opponent. they go into this game having only won twice in their last five la liga games. that's it for me. now back to lauren. >> thank you very much. there are only a few days to go until the oscars, but this

year's ceremony is likely to be overshadowed by a lack of ethnic minorities being included in the nominees. >> tonight a door has been opened. >> reporter: it was for halle berry in 2004, the first, and only african american best actress at the oscars, but that door not even ajar at this year's awards, the best actor nominees, all white, same for best actress, there are no other races here. oscars so white is the hashtag everyone here is talking about. >> we will continue fighting until we see more representative films coming out of hollywood. >> reporter: and it is overshadowing the film industry's biggest night. you have films like creed about a black boxer, but it's the white guy who is up for the academy award. similarly straight out of compton, it is the white screen

writers who are up for awards. researchers reveal in a year only 28% of big roles went to non-white actors, and if you think that that doesn't sound like many at all, it was even worse behind the scenes. only 12% of directors from other ethnic groups got the job. so are we talking about oscars so white or the industry in general being too white. ben is an industry veteran, and says he knows what the route cause of this problem is. >> race is a factor in this country. and it -- it permeates this country. look around. >> reporter: is the academy racist? >> no, i think they think there is a problem because will smith and spike lee saying there is problem. >> reporter: academy member steven has been making films for

decades. he is white and older like 94% of the other members at last count. >> they don't higher. you honor people. you do good work, you get nominated. if you don't do good work, you don't get nominated. but they don't hire or make those movies. >> reporter: the academy says it is going to double the number of female and ethnic minority members by 2020. the promise from the boss, we're going to lead, we're not going to wait for the industry to catch up. question is how long will that really take? and you can always catch up with all of the stories we're covering by checking out our website, the address is aljazeera.com. you can also watch us live by clicking on the watch-now icon. that's it for me. barbara sarah will be here in a moment with more of the day's

news. thanks for watching. see you soon. bye. >> the only live national news show at 11:00 eastern. >> we start with breaking news. >> let's take a closer look.

>> people take money. wicked people. >> you are creating a society that can be rotten to the core. >> anas risked his life to report the truth. >> to save his people. >> doesn't matter who you are, i come with my cameras. >> only on al jazeera america. >> coming up tonight, we'll have the latest... >> does the government give you refugee status? >> they've marched to the border. >> thousands have taken to the streets here in protest. >> this is where gangs bury their members. >> they're tracking climate change.

>> making its first air drop in we seniored syrian towns. you're watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up on the program, iran prepares to go to the polls for its first elections since agreeing a nuclear treaty. kuwait becomes the latest country to ban its citizens from traveling to lebanon. and calling ahead of the future the material which could revolutionize.