be a focus of close study to researchers charting the next years of humankind and frontiers in space. thanks for watching. the news continues next. >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello and welcome to the news hour. i'm martine dennis. this is al jazeera live from doha. coming up in the next 60 minutes. voting gets underway in one of the most important days in the u.s. election. 130,000 in just two months. refugees keep arriving in europe, and the continent is divided on what to do with them. ♪ spy tapes and corruption

allegations, the push to revive a controversial case against south african's president. i'm adrian brown in china, where legislation that has been 20 years in the making is finally about to outlaw domestic violence. critics say, though, it doesn't go far enough. ♪ we start with the u.s. presidential election and a day called super-tuesday. it's the most important single day in the long process to determine the republican and the democratic presidential candidates ahead of the polls in november. some say this election is proving to be the nastiest and the most contentious in history. here is felicity barr on the significance of super-tuesday. super-tuesday, the day when multiple u.s. states decide who they want as their candidate. for the democrats it is a straight battle between hillary

clinton, and the senator from vermont, bernie sanders, after her land slide win in south carolina, clinton has a strong lead over sanders. she needs 2,383 to win the nomination. it's a more crowded race in the republican camp. property tycoon and reality tv star, donald trump, texas senator, ted cruz, florida senator, marco rubio, retired neurosurgeon ben carson, and governor john kasich. donald trump remains in the lead, there are 595 at steak tonight. and these are the races we're looking at on this super-tuesday. 12 states are involved. >> well, we have extensive coverage for you. we have andy gallagher, coverage

in vermont, and alan fisher is in stafford, texas, stafford, being the big prize for candidate. let's start with you alan. it is a big state, a big prize, but this is ted cruz's home state as well? >> reporter: ted cruz has spent the entire campaign predicting that super-tuesday would be pivotal in the presidential election race, and he has spent a lot of time and energy gal van nicing support. what he didn't bank on was the surge of donald trump. instead of looking very good in many of these competitions across the south, ted cruz is now struggling even to hold on to his home state here in texas. the latest poll gives him a lead

of 10 points, that's down significantly from just a few weeks ago. and it's important because not only this the biggest state it also awards delegates on the basis of proportional eventation, and you have to get over 20% to win any of the delegates. so ted krauz may win, but in donald trump comes close, donald will leave here with a significant amount of delegates as well. marco rubio faces a real prospect in 11 of the contests, not winning a single state, and he hasn't done that anywhere in the primaries yet, and so he has got to try to convince people to stick with him at least until march 14th where it's the florida primary, where he believes he with win his home state. we have seen donald trump and talk about the kkk.

and important issues haven't been forgotten here by the voters in the republican camp and also by those who will vote against him when it comes to the election in november. in a school hall in texas learning how to become an american, many here are undocumented migrants. ramona has lived under the radar in the u.s. for 50 years. she now wants to become a citizen, and wants to vote in the election, worried about the language used by republicans on the issue of immigration. >> separating families, parents go to work, and they are scared that they don't come back to home again. so, i'm sorry, but my emotion is because i'm mexican, but not just mexican only.

>> reporter: donald trump wants to build a wall and kick out in his words all illegal immigrants, that's 11 million people. other republican candidates are taking a similar hard line. after the last campaign, the republicans said they needed to do more to attract latino votes, but the language in this campaign has left many latinos alienated and frightened, and now they are registering to vote to stop the republicans. >> immigration is like a litmus test. we know if you are not welcoming us as people, then you are not even going to be getting our ear to listen to our proposals. >> reporter: in a border state like texas the issue of immigration is never far from the surface. many congress, cleaning, serving jobs are filled by people who cross the border, and not many have the right to be here. that keeps labor costs low, but immigrant numbers are going down, and the issue hasn't gone away. >> our lieutenant governor ran a

campaign and ousted a main stream republican on a campaign that we need to stop the illegal invasion into texas. so there has been a shift in the past 20 years in the republican party on that issue in texas. >> reporter: there are a lot of delegates at stake in texas, to appealing to the base plays well, and in november it will be an issue in the presidential election, but latinos have long memories and now louder voices. we're told that the turnout in texas is already very high, and we're expecting ted cruz to cast his vote very shortly. he will be holding his election night party here at the redneck country club in stafford. he is hoping that it will be a celebration in texas, but what are we looking for? first of all we expect ted cruz to win here. if he does not win in texas, if somehow donald trump can defy the polls and win here, ted

cruz's election campaign is all but over. donald trump is predicted to win 10 of the 11 states where they are voting. if that is the case, he will take a big step towards securing the nomination. he will make sure it's difficult for others to stop him. and he is aware of the history, that the candidate who wins the most states on super-tuesday tends to win the nomination. and we have to see how well marco rubio does elsewhere, there is just so often when you are the anti-trump candidate that you can paint second place as being a victory. he is focusing his attentions on florida and will be there on wednesday morning. and ben carson and john kasich have alreadily spent any time in the south. they believe their victories will come elsewhere. for ben carson there is a question why he continues to stay in the race. john kasich believes the

midwest, particularly his home state of ohio will be where his campaign sparks into life. but for now it's going to be about the southern states and donald trump and just how well he does on super-tuesday. >> alan fisher there in texas. thank you. now we're going to go further north to burlington in the state of vermont. shihab how is bernie sanders planning to keep his hometown? >> reporter: that is not going to be an issue. he has been out polling hillary clinton by wide margins, 80% in some polls as far as vermont is concerned. but his strategy is four other states. then beyond those five states that he hopes to get, the key is not be completely wiped out in the south. if his margin of loss in the south isn't too bad, he can still pick up loads of delegates under the scheme the democrats

have. either way as bernie sanders said as he cast his vote this morning, he's in for the long haul. there are plenty of other states where he is expected to do well, and he is out raising money and outraising funds than any other candidate. and as he said, look at how far they have come. >> we started this campaign at 3% in the polls. 3% in the polls, where the entire punditry decided we were a fringe campaign. and we have since made history by bringing in more campaign contributions from individuals than any campaign in the history of this country. we have had huge turnouts. and we are doing very, very well. the fact that when we began we were 70 points behind, and today we are in the lead in a number of states and have closed that gap nationally. the fact we have shown that

millions of people and young people want to transform this country and make it what it can become. >> reporter: now he is doing well with young people across the country, but he has had problem with name recognition, particularly amongst elder african american voters in the south which will be important on super-tuesday despite his long record of fighting for civil rights that predates hillary clinton. hillary clinton used to campaign for segregationists in her youth. having said that, though, there has been some questions about sanders approach to racism even in his home state. protesters gather in vermont to assert the black lives do matter here, but racism is widespread in the state. african americans make up 1% of the population here, yet 10% of its prison population. they are disproportionately

suspended and expelled from school. bernie sanders's home state has a problem with race, yet he has been accused of a reluctance to tackle the issue. tensions became clear last year. shortly afterwards sanders produced a set of objections to tackle racism. a former political associate, say there is no proven record of fighting for civil rights and his lack of specificity on race once he gained power. >> bernie sees the world in terms of classes. he also understands there is such a thing as institutional racism, but believes that will be solved when these larger international economic problems and the problem of concentrated wealth will be solved?

>> clearly he has some background in racial justice. some of it, one would want to believe that it was genuine. that he really just needed to learn some things along the way. will he learn more? i'm certain of it. but as far as whether that is going to take us where we need to go, time will tell. >> reporter: this coffee site was established on the site of a former ge plant. soon after sanders became mayor, the peace activists with whom he once organized decided enough was enough. the factory's operations had to be disrupted. as major, sanders warned his former comrades he opposed the action, his reason, once again, class. he accused the protesters of targeting ge workers and not those truly at fault.

>> he wanted to make sure it was done correctly. that the law was enforced but that the protesters were treated in the correct way. he was not happy about this, but he felt as mayor he was obligated to do it. >> reporter: then as now, he was both insider and outsider, fighting to change the system, while deeply embedded within. >> all right. from the northeast of the country now we're going back down to the heart of the south, some would say, and alabama. andy gallagher is there. andy, this is what, 25% african americans, so the black vote matters. >> reporter: it is indeed. in fact why i'm here in camdon. here is the issue, two years ago this state changed its voter id laws. now if you want to vote, you have produce government issued

photo id. it seems like a reasonable question, but in rural poor communities like the one we're in here, many people don't have issue to public transportation, and they simply can't afford the license fees to get a license. compounding all of that is the closure of more than 30 offices that give out driver's licenses, many of them in predominantly african american counties. civil rights campaigners say that law has done one thing, deliberating excluding black voters. >> how are y'all doing? can i give you a flier before you get out? >> reporter: in alabama rural areas, campaigning in supermarket car parks is sometimes the only way to meet voters. this is a sparsely populated part of the state. >> i ain't voting for either one of them. >> reporter: but in a town where more than half of the town is african american, there is angry in the change to the voting laws. without government issued photo

id, ballots can no longer be cast. it's a move some see as targeting poor voters. >> some of them just don't have one. can't get one. we're still going through the same thing. i feel bad about it. >> reporter: and also the partial closure of 30 diverse licenses offices. without them getting photo id just got a lot harder. in many ways alabama is the cradle of the civil rights movement. they say forcing poor black voters to get photo ids, places yet another obstacle between them and the ballot box, and whilst many don't question the motive behind the change in law, others say the consequences are all too real. for 30 years ralph has worked tirelessly for voting rights.

it's a struggle he says is far from over. >> i think we'll be fighting for the rest of our lives. there are people out there who would never let it go. >> reporter: you mean never stop trying to suppress the black vote. >> never stop trying to suppress the black vote. never stop trying to send us back to africa. i'm not going. >> reporter: accusations that part of legislation are now being undone are flatly denied by the state's governor. >> we will go to people's houses to have their picture made if they don't have a photo id in the state of alabama. we're not ever going to do anything to keep people in the state of alabama from voting. that is politics at its worse. >> reporter: a recent challenge to the law was rejected by a judge, but civil rights activists say they will continue to ka pain for change. there are still other legal

challenges to that voter id, lauren. hillary clinton calls it a blast from the jim crow cast, and she is a very popular candidate amongst african american voters here. the state itself says any accusations they are trying to undo is simply ridiculous. they say they will provide people with the opportunity to get involvement issued id. but civil rights workers say there are potentially a quarter of a million african american voters who do not have the correct government-issued photo id. >> andy gallagher there? camdon, alabama. do stay with us, we're going to give you special coverage of the super-tuesday election. i'm felicity barr in washington, d.c., join me from 23 gmt, live for super-tuesday the day when multiple states

decide who they want as their candidate. still to come, happy scenes from rome. it's a sad story, and it wasn't of much interest to me. >> a senior vatican official dismisses allegations that he covered up child abuse in australia. plus in sport we'll hear from the new fifa president about his plans for the 2026 world cup. ♪ now the u.n. refugees agency is warning that europe is on the cusp of allowing induced humanitarian crisis. 130,000 refugees and migrants have crossed the mediterranean sea so far this year, trying to get into europe, and that number exceeds the total arrivals for the first half of 2015. many of these are heading for

this worsening bottleneck forming on greece's border with macedonia. the u.n. says police chiefs from greece and several bakken states have met to discuss that growing crisis. on monday macedonia forces fired tear gas to try to disperse large groups of people trying to break through the fence near the border. and in northern france, where some people have been evicted from their makeshift camp, police dismantled part of the camp in calais, which is known as the jungle. we'll have also a report from rome on the arrival of almost a hundred syrian refugees there. the group is part of a humanitarian project encouraging refugees to reach europe safely. but let's now get the very latest from that rather tense situation on the border between greece and macedonia. hoda abdel hamid our

correspondent is there live. and we saw some fairly horrifying scenes yesterday where tear gas was used to disperse these people. what are conditions like now, hoda? >> reporter: well, certainly there's not anymore of that tension that we saw yesterday, which was really when every day tensions boiled over because of the uncertainty. that uncertainty still exists here today, and i would say it's even a bit more increased, simply because people are wondering if after what happened yesterday, things will get tougher at the border. the crossing has been closed for the past 48 hours. only 30 people had been let through just before the riots broke out. the big challenge is to figure out how many people have made it to this makeshift camp. there's an estimate that about 9 to 10,000 people, but at the

moment as we speak there is a long queue in front of a police van. police trying to help people to register, giving them numbers, so if and when these borders open there is some sort of order. >> and with that vast number of people in a makeshift area, there must be very, very sparse amenities. >> reporter: yes, that's exactly the case. just to my right there is an extremely long queue. people have been waiting for hours to just get a sandwich. ngo's are doing their best to deal really with this amount of people that keep on pouring into this area, simply because they are so afraid that the borders will close to anyone who wants to come here. there are reception centers where the living conditions are much better, but they don't want

to stay there. the tents stretch as far as you can see, the facilities are very few, and very few people also get hot meals, they are trying to increase the amount of hot meals distributed at the moment daily between 3 and 4,000, but that's not even half of the people who are here. so huge logistical challenge for the greek authorities, and for the people operating here on the ground. >> thank you for that. hoda abdel hamid there. tensions aren't confined to just that border. paul brennan is in northern france where the authorities are dismantling a makeshift refugee camp close to the port of calais. >> reporter: day two, and no evidence yet this morning of the kind of stone-throwing and tear gas from riot police that has been seen in monday afternoon's episode. the clearance is on going. you can see the bulldozers and

diggers behind me, which are demolishing shacks, which are vacant. although the authorities pledged that only vacated shacks would be demolished, we saw evidence of resistance from at least one couple who got on the roof and had to be pulled down by police. the options facing the migrants and refugees are threefold. they can either move to the new heated container-type accommodation to the north side of this jungle camp or into tents alongside. they can either be moved to other reception centers as well, and effectively claim asylum. those are the options facing them. there are still a number of people here who are dead set on trying to reach britain, which is their ultimate ambition. >> one of the roots refugees

take is landing in italy. this has proven particularly perilous. thousands of people have lost their lives. but a new pilot project hopes to make that journey safer. >> reporter: tears of joy and relief. these refugees from syria have made it to europe arriving by plane rather than by the treacherous sea crossing. they are part of a pilot project that will air lift the most vulnerable refugees to italy. >> we don't need to have walls, have new fences, and unilateral decisions. we need several actions, and one of these actions is humanitarian assistance. >> reporter: among them is this

woman. she felt aleppo with her family more than a year ago. the war there so scary, her son hasn't spoken since. they have been living in beirut, waiting for a safe way out. >> i'm happy to get here, it was a safe way to get to europe. [ inaudible ] and go by the sea, but some of us need to go out to have a new life without war. >> reporter: the refugees will now be relocated to different parts of italy. some are yet to realize where they are. >> this is italy. >> ah. >> in italia. >> ah. >> reporter: they will now receive a warm welcoming, housing, healthcare, and education. all paid for by two religious

organizations. >> translator: we couldn't stand and watch all of those people dying at sea, especially children. now we hope that other countries and organizations will follow our example. >> reporter: about a thousand refugees will be flown to italy in the next couple of years, offering them a safe and legal passage to europe, and potentially saving hundreds of lives. still to come on this al jazeera news hour. we'll meet the syrian children traumatized and orphaned by war, and we hear their hopes for the future of their country. plus, back to challenge the old. the former vice president of zimbabwe launches a new political party. and in sport the big coverup that will change the way tennis fans view the u.s. open. ♪

>> celebrity chef, marcus samuelsson. >> i've had the fortune to live out my passion. >> his journey from orphan to entrepreneur. >> sometimes in life, the worst that can ever happen to you can also be your savior. >> and serving change through his restaurants. >> we hired 200 people here in harlem... these jobs can't be outsourced. >> i lived that character. >> we will be able to see change. hello again, let's have a look at the top stories. the polls have opened on

super-tuesday in the united states, voters in 12 states are choosing who they want to run for president in november. donald trump is the front runner for the republicans, hillary clinton is leading for the democratic party. the u.n. says more than 130,000 refugees and migrants have crossed the mediterranean sea this year. meanwhile police chiefs from the balkans have been meeting to discuss the growing tensions on their boards. many of those refugees are obviously fleeing the war in syria, and diplomatic efforts are continuing to try to get a solution. the u.n. special envoy to syria, stephane demistura, says a political solution is dependent on progress on the ground. >> the final decision of whether there would be a mandate or likely later will be taken in a few days, depending on also what is happening on the ground, because we don't want a -- a -- a discussions in

geneva to become a discussion about infringements on [ inaudible ] we want them to actually address the core of everything. remember, all of this is meant to stop the fighting, in order to have more humanitarian aid, but the solution is a political solution. these are facilitating the political solution, but they are crucial. so we're be analyzing how far t the ceasefire and the humanitarian aid has come. also speaking today has been the russian foreign minister. he says that syria's border with turkey should be closed. he said it would cut off outside supplies to what he calls terrorists inside syria. he has also accused turkey of

threatening the syrian truce. in syria itself russia continues to carry out its air strikes, despite the cessation of hostilities agreement in force since saturday. this was reportedly taken place in the city of hama. these are pictures from the syrian military, and they reported by show soldiers fighting isil in the northwest. isil isn't covered by the cessation of hostilities agreement, but opposition groups who are, say the army is targeting them too. now five years into this war, and an entire generation of children is in grave danger. witnessing one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time. many are traumatized and at risk of becoming ill, abused and exploited. according to unicef, 8.3 million children both inside syria and sheltering in neighboring countrying are in dire need of basic assistance.

2.2 million syrian children live as refugees in turkey, lebanon, jordan, iraq, and egypt. one of the basic rights is education, but 2.8 million syrian children are out of school. one of the key reasons is that more than 5,000 schools in syria can no longer be used. since the conflict started, thousands of children have become orphans. jamal met some of them living in southern turkey. >> reporter: this house not far from the syrian boarder is the safe haven that tens of thousands of other syrian children wish they had. a place to learn and play away from the air strikes and bombs. this is an orphan that houses 60 children who's parents have been killed by bashar al-assad regime and its military allies. it is run by a syrian ngo which tries to alleviate the suffering

of the most vulnerable victims. despite the laughter, behind each face is a harrowing tail. this boy is from homs. his father was killed by assad soldiers. the teachers tell me he wets his bed regularly, and rarely manages to sleep through a night without waking up screaming. >> translator: when i grow up i want to be an architect to rebuild my country. i tell the leaders, you don't love us like you claim. if you did, you would have liberated us. >> reporter: this girl is five. losing her parents has left her so distraught, she now finds it difficult to speak. this is another child forced to grow up way too quickly. it's tough to get the sounds of

explosions out of her head. >> translator: after the revolution things became horrible. assad and his soldiers destroyed everything with their weapons. >> reporter: just listening to some of these orphan stories enough to make anybody with a sense of humanity want to bring an end to this war immediately. but not only has this bloody war robbed these children of their parents, the longer it goes on, the more and more it kills their future. the orphanage puts a great deal of emphasis on education. they are sent to the local school and given extra tuition when they return. all of this is now under threat, funding has stopped. these orphans may find themselves without a home. >> translator: we're looking for funding. we have sent messages, but no one has responded. >> reporter: on some days the children are taken on trips. today they visit the border with syria. this is the closest they can get to their homes without fear of

barrel bombs or russian air strikes. as they close their eyes, they picture a syria free from all of the killing, where innocences is cherished not.commed from the sky, a wish they hope will one day come true. a new aid plan for yemen has been presented to the u.n. it includes a request for $1.8 billion to help with the most critical needs like food, water, and medicine. u.n. humanitarian coordinator explains how they plan to get aid to those who need it most. working with the national actors, working with the ngo's and the u.n. family, and we coordinate some of the food assistance, health assistance, water and sanitation, and protect the protection needs throughout the whole of yemen. at the same time, i think it's important that we gather the

resources that are needed and set about our task of addressing those vulnerable populations. the peace process is not making the progress we would like to see, so the vulnerabilities will still be there. we don't want to come back in a year's time looking for more money, for an increased population. so we can reduce the vulnerabilities and reduce the people who will need in the future. lawyers from the main opposition party in south africa have been in court trying to get corruption charges against the president reinstated. he was charged with corruption over a $4 billion arms deal 11 years ago, but those charges were dropped. tania page is at the court in pretoria. >> reporter: jubilant supports greeted jacob zuma when the charges were dropped -- in 2008.

zuma had been charged with 783 counts of corruption in relation to tax evasion, fraud, and a multi-billion dollars arms deal, after decades under apartheid sanctions. why the charges were dropped is controversial. it comes down to what are known as the spy tapes. secr secretly taped phone calls talking about the timing of the charges and how to maximize the damage from them. the acting national director of public prosecutions at the time dropped the corruption charges because he said the spy tapes showed political interference. but he did say there had been a valid case against zuma. that's why the opposition democratic alliance pursued the case so riggously.

it wants the charged reinstated. >> he was about to become president of south africa. this was a politically inconvenient prosecution, and they latched on the one aspect that could marginally justify the dropping of charges. >> reporter: zuma is already losing support both within his party and the public. >> it could strongly damage his chances of being able to, shall we say, influence who his likely successor is. >> reporter: in a statement on the eve of the court case, president zuma's office said the decision to drop corruption charges will withstand any scrutiny, and that the democratic asigh lance is abusing its power and trying to win votes. zuma's lawyers are paying close attention, while the allegations

that have dogged him in court, a vote of no confidence is being debated in parliament. there is no doubt he is expecting a tough week. tania page, al jazeera, pretoria. we can speak to an analyst at an institute for public reflection. thank you for joining us. all we seem to hear about president zuma are allegations of corruption. how embattled is the president of south africa? >> well, i think it's important to note that the allegations of corruption actually have been there since day one when he became the president of the country. he has been able to live through the first term of his presidency with speculations rife that he will be dismissed or charged.

we are now seeing that going into the second term. and this only points to one thing, but despite all of the allegations that are quite serious about corruption, he seems to have mastered internal politics of his governing party, the anc, very well, to a point where there seems not to be resource that the party has against him. so there is still allegations coming forth, but he still continues to survive as political leader. >> is there a case to be argued that all of these negative allegations swirling around the president is actually tarnishing the reputation of the anc. there are important local elections taking place this year. that will be a critical test, won't it, of the popularity of the main party of south africa? >> indeed, the allegations are

tarnishing the reputation of the anc. the party is being seen as a [ inaudible ] for corruption, for patronage, but one thing the anc seems to do very well, is that they can -- they are able to play a victim in these, as the party that is under siege by interest groups, the party being pressured by the democratic alliance, [ inaudible ] the general public. we have seen actually the anc being able to retain a steady electoral support, despite some of these allegations, and as we are going into local government elections, opposition parties are going to try to frame these issues of corruption into local government elections. they have not been successful before doing that, but i expect them to try to push for that. >> and our correspondent suggested that he would win quite easily this vote of no confidence in parliament this week. do you agree?

will he win? >> no doubt about that. but majority of the anc members of parliament are not willing to actually vote against him, are not willing to be seen supporting the opposition party's motion, but i think the importance of this notion of no confidence is not about the voting. it's about the anc's defending president zuma despite all of the numerous allegations, including also the issues relating to the finance minister. i think that the enthusiasm within anc, among anc's mp's about this is actually dwindling, but that does not effect the vote against him. >> thank you for talking to us live from johannesberg. let's go further north to zimbabwe where a new political

party has been launched in the battle to succeed the 92-year-old president. he sacked his vice president in 2014 over an alleged assassination plot. she has always denied these allegationings, and now she has started a new party called zimbabwe people first. she will campaign against him in the elections in two year's time. >> that system today, that unjustice system, [ inaudible ] and the zimbabwean [ inaudible ] remains a noose around our necks, as that system has stolen any hope for the people of zimbabwe. zimbabwe people first is a dynamic party that embraces the future. a party that offers transformation and hope to the

young and old people of zimbabwe. a high ranking vatican official has declared that the crimes of a pedophile priest were a sad story, but not of much interest to him when they happened decades ago. he has been testifying before an australian inquiry, which is examining cases dating back to the 1970s and '80s. >> reporter: on the second day of testimony, the highest ranking catholic in australia denies knowledge of sexual abuse by priests. >> i couldn't say that everyone knew. i knew a number of people did. i was -- i didn't know whether it was common knowledge or whether it wasn't. it's a sad story, and it wasn't of much interest to me. >> reporter: the cardinal was speaking via video link from rome to a commission in sydney. it focuses on a notorious priest

who was convicted of abusing children in the '70s and '80s. >> he would say the culpable is an ignorant buffoon. we have to wait for the commission to do its job. but it's unbelievable that a man of that intelligence was so unaware of what was going on around him. >> reporter: he was a priest in the diocese where the abuses happened. he said he was deceived as to why the priest was moved from parish to parish. but many are not convinced. >> we're calling on the pope to intervene in this action that -- that he ask the cardinal to be more honest about what went on. >> reporter: since sex abuse

scandals in the catholic church surfaced in 2001, the vatican has been accused of covering up thousands of cases worldwide. pope francis has promised publicly that those responsible for crimes would be held accountable. it's hoped the current inquiry in australia will bring justice to some. gerald tan, al jazeera. assaulting your partner has finally become a crime in china. women have been waiting 20 years for the law to come to their aid. as adrian brown reports from shanghai. >> reporter: shia link spends a lot of time alone, but at least she is safe now. safe from a husband who thought it acceptable to regularly beat her. >> translator: he hit my face. his mother was there and did nothing.

people from his province think it is very normal for husband to beat up his wife. >> reporter: he was fairful not to mark her face. focusing his kicks and punches on her arms, legs and back. she went to hospital twice and gave up on the police. >> translator: i went to the police and reported this incident. but the police told me, this is family issue. so they did not take any action. >> reporter: there is still a stigma attached to domestic violence in china, which makes her a brave woman. until now she has not spoken publicly about her abusive marriage. a marriage which had begun so happily, but after filing for divorce, her husband and mother-in-law came and took her son away. >> translator: he and his mother took my son from me by force. they beat me up in my neighborhood, and grabbed him from me. my son was only two. i haven't seen him for two

years. >> reporter: most surveys show that one in four married women in china suffer violence at the hands of their partner, but the real figure is probably much higher, because reporting abuse is still rare, especially in the countryside. from today, victims of domestic abuse in china will be able to go to court to seek a restraining order that could force the abuser to move out of the home. courts will have just 72 hours to make a ruling. but critics say the legislation doesn't go far enough, since it fails to outlaw marital rape and doesn't place enough emphasis on help. this lawyer says the new lawyer will help, but worries there is too much onus on the police to respond. >> translator: this new law will play an important law in reducing the number of domestic

violence cases, but how will this law be enforced? we need to see results soon. >> reporter: the new law came too late for this woman and others like her, forced by tradition to suffer in silence. adrian brown, al jazeera, shanghai. coming up in the sports news, how russian athletics is hoping to overturn its countries ban in time for the rio olympics. ♪

♪ time for the sports news

now. here is andy. >> thank you so much martine. the new fifa president says he expects the bidding process for the 2026 world cup to start in the next two months. the procedure was delayed last year, due to the various corruption scandals. he is hoping to have bids in place before the next fifa meeting in mexico in may. before that he needs to find a secretary general to run day-to-day operations and start implementing a long, long list of reforms. >> transparency, and all of these elements have to be fully implemented in whatever fifa does as of today. so this will be the first [ inaudible ] and if we do that and achieve that quickly, we have focus on football development all over the world. >> sepp blatter is banned from all football activity.

but blatter insists he and fifa have been unfairly targeted by the media. >> it is now very easy also if there is the will and the wish of the media to help now the new leadership of fifa to go into a new era, young, young people coming in. you can change that immediately, because from -- from devil you can become -- i wouldn't say directly an angel, but you can be normal in the appreciation of the name of fifa. >> we have got five games coming up in the english premier league this tuesday. top of the table are lester city defieing all football logic. their manager still doing his best to remove any pressure from his players, saying tottenham and arsenal remain the favorite.

>> our job is done. we want to be safe. now there is something new. but something new you can achieve. something new if you think match by match. now you are thinking what happen if? no. now we are focused on the -- on the [ inaudible ]. we know we can win, we can lose, we can draw. >> here are the pictures. only one team is has worst record than [ inaudible ] and that is norwich. chelsea are unbeaten in the league since the return of their player. seoul has claimed a big victory against hiroshima. seoul's brazilian striker scoring a hat trick in this 4-1 win against the japanese league champions. it's the second straight loss

after their early defeat against chinese side. russian athletics bosses are still hopeful of sending a team to this year's rio olympics. since november the country has been banned from all competitions after evidence of a state-sponsored doping program. russia is looking to convince the iaaf that change has happened. they will present a progress report later on this month. >> the situation, unfortunately not lucky for us. it's difficult and tough time for all of us in athletics as well. but in any case we are optimistic. we hope that all cleanup will complete in olympic games. u.s. open organizers have given tennis fans and players a first look at their rapidly

changing venue. fol -- flushing meadows finally getting a retractable roof. it should make weather delays a thing of the past. >> we want this to be an outdoor tournament. so we'll only close the roof when we absolutely have to, but when we do there will be occasions when we need to introduce only air conditioning at some level. and we certainly don't want the conditions to be worse when the roof closes than when it might be open. so we'll use it for that purpose, but this is not meant to be an air conditioned space. >> okay. that is how your sport is looking for now. i'll hand you back to martine. >> thank you very much indeed. and thank you for being with us. stay with us here on al jazeera. we have another full bulletin of news coming up in this just a little while. lauren taylor will keep you right across all of the day's

important developing stories. but stay with us here at al jazeera. ♪

>> that harmony, that politeness and that equilibrium that japanese people call "wa." at the other side of history, fukushima's heroes were not enough. people have lost their trust, especially in the authorities. the myth of nuclear energy, of it being economic, safe and clean has been swept away. >> 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.

the race to be president of the united states reaches a crucial stage. it's super-tuesday, which could make or break the path to the white house. i'm alan fisher in stafford in texas, the loan star state. the biggest prize on super-tuesday. super-tuesday one of the biggest dates in the american political calendar. ♪ i'm lauren taylor this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up, the victims of a war they don't understand. syrian orphans plead for annen