this is al jazeera. hello. welcome to the news hour with news from around the world today. frustrations grow amongst stranded refugees in greece as the government scrambles for ways to help them. two women hurled grenades and opened fire at the police in turkey. hours after being hit with new sanctions, north korea is accused of launching projectiles. also today could this be another

small clue in involving one of the biggest aviation mysteries of our time. >> reporter: i will have all your sport including a night of surprises in the english premier league, but the biggest shock is in mun issuing where the mighty-- munich where the mighty team lose at home there is frustration and anger amongst refugees who are stuck at the greek border with macedonia. it is blocking their path towards western europe. only a handful of refugees are able to pass each day. >> i feel miserable. i feel miserable. i am absolutely depress e depre face such a hash situation in a

place like europe. we didn't have such an idea to be treated like this in a place which is called europe. i am very sad for that. i am sorry to face such circumstances. we arrive to find another kind of death. the situation here is - we are dying, but slowly greece for its part says it's making long-term preparations to help at least 100,000 refugees stranded around the country. >> translation: we have to consider it will be closed and 100,000 refugees will remain at least joining us live is our correspondent. these plans that are going to be put in place by greece, how long do they kick in, do we think? >> reporter: it will take a while. there are a few reception

centers that have been set up by the military over the past week or so here in northern greece, but i think the main issue is that, first of all, the refugees will have to understand that they might have to stay here for much longer than they had predicted, that their plans might change because so far the greek authorities have not been able to convince them to stay in those reception centers where living conditions are much better than here. this is a makeshift camp and no-one was ready for this amount of people that are now here. as you said, at least 10 thousand. the transit camp to have the capacity of only a thousand five hundred people. to give you an idea about the problem here and this humanitarian crisis unfolding for aid organizations is certainly a logistical nightmare, especially the tensions are increasing among the refugees. we had a little walk around here. we saw people fighting because simply they are exhausted.

the queues to get food are extremely long and then there's another queue to get their registration papers. many told us that when they have reached the crossing that only allows 500 people per day and they were turned back because the macedonian authorities are not accepting the greek registration paper there was a point in this process, six to eight weeks ago, we saw e.u. specialists being deployed to the greek islands and the eastern borders of the european union and the system was posed to be speeding up the process. that seems to have failed and failed completely. >> reporter: i think it is a big fail completely. it actually came as a surprise. it all started on february 18 when the balkan state plus slovenia and austria had a meeting and after that meeting imposed the first restriction.

that was for the afghans. they were here and they found out surprisingly that afghans actually are not any more allowed among this western bchl alkan root - balkan route. when the border opened that not anyone be allowed in not as easy as it was in 2015 and that they had to have a whole new set of paperwork that many don't have. the other issue is that there is a lack of information among the refugees here. they're really asking anyone to come up to us if we know what kind of paper will make them continue their journey. then there's the fact that only 500 are allowed in. so 500 per day, it will take a huge amount of time for all the people here to be able to cross if, indeed, they can cross. certainly for the refugees a very difficult situation. every day with these living conditions, anxiety,

uncertainty, tension increases and certainly there is a difference of atmosphere between yesterday and today in this camp thanks very much. the refugee crisis is expected to top the agenda in a summit in the u.k. and france. specifically they will discuss the situation in the northern french city of calais. they have been dismantling the camp. they want to reach the u.k. to claim asylum. paul brenan is live for us. we understand that the people who are leaving the jungle, so-called, are moving to other areas. where is there for them to go? >> reporter: the combination of options that face the refugees who are being cleared from the southern edge of the jungle camp here in calais, they are being offered better the authorities would say accommodation in a northern area of the same camp here, with containers which are effectively dormitory-style

accommodation. i have to say that many of those say those containers do not offer the privacy and security that they would like. the other option being offered to the refugees is to claim asylum in france rather than continuing to hold out hope of reaching britain to claim asylum in the u.k. some are agreeing to be bussed to other centers, in excess of 100 centers scattered around france shall, where they will be required to apply for asylum in france. the mood is fairly bleak. there was some resistance to the dismantling and demolishing of the huts and shelters on monday. that has given away. there is a heavy riot police presence here. resistance has dwindled away to nothing. the feeling of the refugees that we've been peg to is one of rather bewilderment and

disbelief when they have the discussions today in the french city, are they going to move, is either side prepared to move on their settled position about what to do with the migrants and refugees and even, perhaps, what to do to make their lives as good as can be given they're stuck in limbo? >> reporter: there's a certain amount of saber rattling going on in advance of the meetings which will take place at lunchtime on thursday. for example, the french economy minister, the finance minister, has been quoted in the english financial times newspaper today saying that, for example, if the referendum in the u.k. which decides whether the u.k. will stay in the european union or leave, if it goes for brexit, if the u.k. decides to leave, then the stationing of police officers on the french side of

the english channel would probably cease in his opinion in the finance minister's opinion. so there is a lot of saber rattling going on. i think the french are also sending out indications that they would like more money from the u.k. as well. there's indications that the u.k. will give more money, but the announcement this afternoon will involve extra funding for refugee centers, for anti terrorism plans and also for cooperation for migration routes. but there are differences between them about how the crisis is to be handled that must be no more than posterering on the part of the french because if they lessoned the police presence, you would have mass scenes of refugees and migrants actually managing to get on board those trucks trying to get to the u.k. that idea will never fly.

>> reporter: no. that doesn't stop the politicians putting it forward. there's a lot of posturing that goes on in advance of these types of things. there are major differences, but they're not that far apart in the pigger scheme of things. they need to have some kind of resolution. i think the french realise that the thought of, just the mere thought of refugees being allowed by the french to go straight through, then it's a case of the british public would put huge pressure on cameron. i think the french know that they have a cudgel to beat mr cameron female attackers have opened fire on a police station, a police office, in the suburb of istanbul. officers returned fire injuring

one of the women. they're thought to be trapped in a neighboring building. just get us right up-to-date with the information you have. >> reporter: peter, video has emerged of this attack. it shows two female attackers who first opened fire at a police vehicle. it was a bus carrying officers, as it was entering the police station, and then one of those attackers who appeared to be through-- through what appeared to be a hand grenade. one of those attackers has been injured, but we're not sure of the extent of that injury. we we know they're holidayed up in the neighboring building. the area itself and that part of the suburb of istanbul is known to have a large kurdish presence there in terms of the community who live there. obviously, we know that over the past few weeks and months there has been an increased number of

attacks that have been connected to kurdish armed groups with connections to the p.k.k., the separatists kurdish militia that the government has used thanks very much. iran says the gulf cooperation council has made a mistake in labelling hezbollah a terrorist group adding that it will undermine regional peace efforts. the block of gulf countries made that decision a day after a speech by the leader of the shia armed group. he accused saudi arabia of directing car bomb tacks inside lebanon. amnesty international is accusing the russian and syrian governments of deliberately targeting hospitals over the past three months. it reports that the kremlin carried out air strikes on medical facilities to make way for syrian forces to advance on aleppo. it add that as the fragile truce deal was being negotiated, the

syrian government and its allies intensified their attacks. the ucht n security council says it's working on a new draft resolution bringing an end to several attacks on war zones. more news to come to you coming up, in thailand a prevention on elephants being slaughtered for their valuable tusks. a one-way ticket bought by refugees after giving up making a new life in europe. in the sports news, the world of cricket pays trikt to a true great of the game as martin crowe loses his fight from cancer. we look at a remarkable career north korea has been accused of firing what have been described as short range proceed jebbing tills just hours after being slapped with tough new

sanctions. the south korean defense ministry gave details in a news conference. it says the projectiles were launched from wansan to the east sea. >> reporter: in that news conference the ministry of defense in south korea saying a number of projectiles had been fired into the sea off the eastern coast. the local media in south korea are reporting for mully. they get briefings from unmaimed nil tree officials. they're talking about a range of 100 to 150 kilometers. it seems whether they were short range missiles or perhaps from a multi rocket launch system asuch as was unveiled in a major parade in october in pyongyang last year. it is understood analysis is underway on that point. the ministry of defense is saying that its military remains

in a heightened stayed of readiness watching out for any further actions by its counterparts in north korea. we are coming into a peered of annually heightened tensions between north and south because there are military exercises due to get underway in the next few days between u.s. and south korean forces. this year it is expected they're going to be a lot bigger than usual. there are reports that they might include rehearsals for a pre-emptive strike. north korea has come out against those reports saying it reserves the right to attack south korean seats of government. so we do expect a round of heightened tensions. this is the first north korean reaction to the u.n. security council passage. the resolution passage. it may well be there's more to follow in the days and weeks to come the sanctions composed on north korea by the u.n. security council are the toughest in 20 years. they include mandatory inspections of cargo leaving and

entering the country by land, sea or air, as well as a ban on all sales and transfers of small weapons to pyongyang. our correspondent looks at how the new sanctions will impact a chinese community on the border with north korea. >> reporter: it is the main gateway to north korea here for china. there should be more north korea's using their one-day passes to buy items here. this woman and her husband were laid off by a chinese state-run business five years ago. they opened this restaurant in the heart of the city and had been doing very well until recently. >> translation: our business has been affected a lot since people talked about sanctions against north korea. there is a big decrease in the number of customers.

yesterday there were only two tables of customers from north korea. normally there would be fewer or five tables >> reporter: there will be a bigger impact here than the decline of tourism. one of the sanctions came after weeks of closed door negotiations between the u.s. and china. they agreed that all cargo that goes into or comes out of north korea will be inspected. that means any cargo carrying vehicle will be inspected that crosses these bridges. the responsibility of that rests on the chinese government. china says it agreed to cover sanctions as they see them as a way to pressure north korea back to negotiations at the six party talks. they stalled eight years ago. china sees the talks as the best way to end the diplomatic confrontation between most of the world and north korea. an emblem of the high hopes of the scene on north korean trade relationship, china spent 350 million dollars on this bridge

that was due to open two years ago. but on the north korea side of the river reportedly scant little work has been done. only a dirt ramp. with these new sanctions in place this might remain a bridge to nowhere for years to come a piece of aircraft discovered on the southern african coast will be analysed to see if it is from the missing malaysian plane flight. it could help to solve what happened to the plane two years ago >> reporter: this piece of debris that washed up could hold clues to one of the biggest aviation mysteries in history, mistake flight mh370. >> we would like to get hold of the debris as soon as possible. that's why we were working with australia in a fast manner.

>> reporter: the aircraft was one like seen here. it went off radar on march 8 two years ago while flying from kuala lumpur to beijing. australia has led a huge and costly investigation to scour the ocean where it is believed to be. >> around 90,000 scare kilometers has been seized so far, 120,000 square in total. we hope to find the aircraft to give comfort to those families and friends of the passengers. >> reporter: this is the only confirmed evidence of the plane's fate. families of some passengers have started legal action over the plane's disappearance. they're pleading for the government to keep the search going and to find answers that will help them with closure

the high court in south africa has reserved judgment on a case whether to reinstate charges of corruption against the president. the judge didn't indicate when a ruling would be delivered. he was charged in 2005. in 2009 the national prosecuting authorize developed the case. the main opposition party says the decision to drop the charges was irrational and wants mr zuma to stand trial. cardinal george pell has admitted that he failed to act when told about a pedophile priest decades ago. he told an australian inquiry that he "should have done more". the commission is investigating how the catholic church handled cases of child abuse in australia in 1970s and 1980s >> with the experience 40 years later, certainly i agree that i should have done more.

people had a different attitude then. there was no specifics about the activity, how series it was and the boy wasn't asking me to do anything about it, but just mentioning it looking at these pictures, heavy snow in moscow. even heavy by the standards of moscow. >> reporter: yes. that's right moscow and snow go hand-in-hand you think, but by those standards it was huge. the most in 50 years. huge amounts coming down. 20 centimeters of snow. it is never easy getting around in these conditions. over a hundred flights cancelled because of this very significant snow fall. i think we will see more in the next couple of days, but it will start to ease as we go on through the next few days or so.

there we go with our line of snow there across the eastern side. a little window of dryer weather there. then this murky weather across the balance cans-- balkans. wet weather coming in here. snow around the alps towards austria. snow not too far from moscow as we go on through thursday. the remainder of thursday and we see more of that just pushing up as we head towards the weekend. still quite a few showers into the balkans, some wet weather into greece, turkey, athens. more snow making its way in across a good part of france and germany. cold air in behind back home. we will see trefr temperatures in london today is world wildlife day, an event established by the u.n. to celebrate and protect

wildlife diversity. this year the focus is on african and asia elephants. it is a lucrative business involving ivory. the population is now below 500,000. at the turn of the 20th century the population was well over two million. between 2010 and 2012 about one thousand elephants were killed for their tusks. around 8% of the population is poached annually. asia, especially china, is the main market for ivory. between 2010 and 14 the price of ivory there tripled. >> reporter: it is regarded as the national animal yet this country is one of the key transit routes in the illegal trade. a lot is trafficked into thailand from africa and then on

to countries like laos, vietnam and china. there is a demand for ivory products and it is thought that thailand has one of the largest ivory carving businesses. dealing in ivory from wild animals is illegal, but from domestic animals it is legal. that makes it difficult for authorities to tell where the ivory is coming from. it is thought most for sale in thailand come from african elephants. a law was passed stating that owners of domestic elephantss must register their animals. clearly the demand is still outstripping the legal supply of ivory live to bangkok. part of the arrest program. are we talking potentially about elephant extinction in a few

years time? >> with 450,000 left in africa and 50,000 being killed a year, but put the math together. i think distinction is already facing the elephant. we have to move quickly why are the relevant authorities not able to do something about this? >> they are doing more about it. the law was to strengthen-- it was strength end here in thailand. it is illegal to sell african ivory. people have to ramp up against organized crime. we see a lot of seizures. we have not seen any seizures of wildlife traffickers, big ones, and dismantling the networks. why is that not happening? partly a lack of capacity, but largely because people know that the folks behind this trade are powerful, they've got money,

they're linked to some politicians and so it is difficult for front line law enforcement officers to go after influential folks unless they have political will to go after organized crime and corruption which particular set up are we talking about here as potentially very negative? are we saying there are corrupt politicians who financially benefit from this? >> first of all, there is very good officers and there's a lot of good politicians. we're seeing political will improve and important people caring about this issue here. that's the good news. the fact of the matter is that there's organized crime groups that straddle borders who have been in place in decades moving in wildlife. this isn't a new problem. they have been moving different species for years and years. to uproot that is not easy.

with some many faces the officials here, drug crime, et cetera, it's hard. we are trying to say that these sand indicates are-- syndicates are often inter mingled in that chain of supply and demand, where is the best pinch point for the authorities to target their efforts? >> it is around - well, basically, that's a good question and the vulnerable points are the senior logistics part of the chain. the people that are moving the ivory through corrupt channels, sea ports, airports and across borders. if you want to be more specific, we're talking about the vietnamese border and northern vietnam that up into china.

that's where these companies have established connections and infrastructure over the last few decades thank you. still ahead here on the news hour. >> reporter: i'm in alabama where a controversial law to prosecute mothers who take abortion drugs is coming under scrutiny we are talking about languages at risk. the american cup's champion have a moment to forget as they try to defend their title. defend their title.

hey how's it going, hotcakes? hotcakes. this place has hotcakes. so why aren't they selling like hotcakes? with comcast business internet and wifi pro, they could be. just add a customized message to your wifi pro splash page and you'll reach your customers where their eyes are already - on their devices. order up. it's more than just wifi, it can help grow your business. you don't see that every day. introducing wifi pro, wifi that helps grow your business. comcast business. built for business.

welcome back. you're watching the news hour from al jazeera in doha. on the very latest on that story that broke 90 minutes or so ago. two women who opened fire on a police station in a suburb of istanbul are now dead we understand. we were being told that at least one of the attack dwrers had been wounded in some sort of exchange of fire between the police authorities and the two women who apparently according to the initial reports had been lobbying hand ingredient aids did-- ingredient aids or the station-- grenades. north korea has fired short

range projectiles. just after sanctions were voted to be imposed. tensions are flairing on the border as refugees are stranded and prevented passing through. greece says it will make long-term plans to help 100,000 stranded refugees on its soil. a new life in europe was the dream for many refugees. many of them ended up feeling isolated and discriminated against. there are almost 378,000 iraqi refugees. last year some 3,318 iraqis voluntarily returned home. they chose to abandon their new lives by leaving 14 different european countries. our correspondent has more >> reporter: it is a busy day here, packed with iraqis for whom life hasn't worked out the way they had hoped. their visit to europe they say

was at best a disappointment, at worst it was a dangerous place to stay. some experienced racism and others were frustrated in the resettlement process. most didn't female welcome. they have come back to iraq and the violence and unrest but to the place they call home. >> translation: i have returned to iraq because there are so many refugees in europe and the resettlement process is slow. the authorities have given us help to enable us to return quickly. they want as many to come back to iraq. >> reporter: the government sources estimate that around 117,000 people left iraq for germany last year. up to 40% have already returned. some blame the squalid conditions in refugee camps, others say it became clear they would only be allowed to stay in europe temporarily. this is one of a growing number of iraqis who returned home.

he lived in germany and finland last year before settling in swee done. he waited for eight months for papers to be processed without success. vee gave up tribing. -- he gave up trying. >> translation: they're not doing enough to help refugees. many have had to return home. i decided to come back to iraq when i heard the swedish prime minister saying that sweden could only give refugees temporary access and when there was peace in our countries we had to go back. i expected something different. people in europe are concerned about the humanitarian situation but there's also a lot of racism. >> reporter: airport staff are preparing for more busy days in the weeks and months ahead. the iraqi government is issuing refugees with temporary passports to enable them to come home quickly. it expects that up to a thousand

will return home from europe this year. similar technology used to detect ebola is being used in the zika epidemic. >> reporter: this man and his team are in high demand. they got calls from scientists in brazil asking for help in tackling the zika outbreak. they carried to the worst affected region by carrying this case. it is a solar powder laboratory. with just a tiny blood sample they can detect whether a person or mosquito is infected with the virus. these machines inside the bag allow us to find out the gen et you can make up of the virus no matter where it is located or whether found in the blood,

urine or any other bodily fluid. it takes five days to detect the virus after patients develop stooms. this can tell whether the virus is present in just 15 minutes. >> translation: detecting early means we can tackle the violence soon and alooech yat suffering for the infected patients-- alleviate suffering for the infected patients. >> reporter: thousands in south america has been infected with the virus. researcherss believe zika can be the cause of microcephaly. >> we haven't found a link. we don't know the nature of the relationship. >> reporter: the scientists believe early detention is key in that this relatively simple equipment can make a difference. the kit was previously used during the ee bowl i can't--

ebola outbreak in africa. given the zika virus, scientists want to bring out these suit dayss to affected areas as soon as possible. the challenge in tackling the virus is the lack of scientific knowledge. something researchers have have plenty of. zika has been in west africa for more than 40 years. the strain of zika in africa is different, though. it has not been so far a major health hazard here. they're using models on this one. they're packing their bags once again to head back to south america to help out hard drugs have taken a toll on many communities in the u.s. state of alabama. in 2006 politicians passed a law to drug test pregnant women hoping to protect unborn babies, but the law is drawing

controversy after the arrest of hundreds of mothers. >> reporter: from an early age this woman always wanted to be a mother and now she has two boys. when she gave birth to one year old james last year, things went wrong. during her pregnancy she took hassle a valium and when that showed up in a post natal blood test she fell foul of the chemical endangerment laws. the hospital where she gave birth to a healthy son passed the results on to the authorities and two months later she was arrested at work and taken away in handcuffs >> i had this overwhelming sense of doom and failure, like there was no way that this was - i was going to recover from this. i knew in my heart that i had done nothing wrong, but i also know the ways the law works >> reporter: the law was originally written to tackle a methamphetamine epidemic wherein

fants were exposed to home-made laboratories and dangerous chemicals. according to an investigation by pro public close to 500 women have been prosecuted under the laws. according to one doctor at this hospital who treats infants for drug withdrawal symptoms says it isn't the right approach. he says dependence on things like pain-killers and a rise in marijuana use is worse than meth addiction >> we're going to have a lot of babies growing up without their mothers. of course, we all know how important a mother's love is. at the same time criminalising these women, making them feel inferior and as bad mothers in that sense is going to leave a mark on them forever >> reporter: at the public defender's office lawyers are concerned about the rights of women and say blood tests

carried out without a mother's consent could have dire consequences >> we have to foster a situation where people are encouraged to be honest with their caregivers. if we can't do that, then what um have is people not getting care and you will have people having really bad outcomes because they're afraid of the punishment that would come to them if they were honest. >> reporter: the charges against this lady were eventually dropped, but she says she will continue to fight for those who can't speak for themselves the speaker of brazil's lower house of can degrees has been indicted on corruption charges. it is in connection with the scandal at the state oil company. the majority of these supreme court voted to accept the charges against him. it puts the speaker on trial for allegedly accepting bribes in exchange for contracts. the ruling must be officially confirmed at the end of the court session. a senior facebook executive has been released from a brazilian

prison. he was arrested for refusing to hand over information to the police. facebook's latin american vice president spent 24 hours in a jail for defying a court order. it demanded data to use as evidence in a drugs trial. there are warnings that by the end of the century half of the world's 6,000 languages could become extinct. one reason is when people are forced to give up their native language for a more dominant language. the regions include these three areas and the u.n. says that when a language is lost, so too is the cultural, historical and spiritual knowledge attached to the language. there are ten indigenous languages in bangladesh that are in danger. in the first of our five-party

series of languages at risk, our correspondent reports. >> reporter: this is one of the most visited sites in bangladesh. the memorial honors students killed by pakistani forces. that was more than 60 years ago. visitors remember those who fought for the language. >> translation: it is because of their sacrifice that we can speak this language today. if it wasn't for them, our mother language may have been lost forever. >> reporter: the movement was an eight year struggle to ensure that students would bl able to learn in their mother tongue. while these children are benefitting from the success of that campaign, the same is not true for the country's ethnic and linguistic minorities. the language of instruction in present day bangladesh is almost in banglar or english.

that means the 38 minority languages of the country are at a disadvantage. falling behind in school, unable to keep up with their bnglar speaking peers. this is trying to prepare people of the minority for this experience. it teaches them in the language they speak at home which is known as shadree but introduces them to other vocabulary along the way >> translation: when they go to a regular school they won't be lost. they will say our teachers already taught us these words. those who are not prepared often drop out and end up working in the fields. >> reporter: this lady brings her child to the preschool regularly. she spets little herself and doesn't want her child to struggle like she has. >> translation: i feel bad my client can't use his language. you need to speak both.

>> reporter: despite the efforts of schools, there seems to be little space for the language spoken by three million indigenous people. with 80% speaking it as their first language, they might have good reason to say whether she will be able to communicate with her future grandchildren more on that story for you. from london is the director of the endangered language documentation program at the school of oriental and african studies. how many languages are in real threat of disappearing here? >> well, we believe that of the six or 7,000 languages today that by the end of this century half of them will have fallen silent. that gets us to three and a half thousand >> reporter: how much of this is done to just be a natural progression and how much is being explicitly forced by cultural changes, by people

moving around a lot more than they used to? >> well, language changes all the time. it is a living medium. we adapt the language we speak to our normal environment. however, and also people always have shifted to other languages, but what we are experiencing now is dramatic speed at which this is happening. we believe that the scale is like at the fifth mass extinction when the dinosaurs went. we're losing our cultural and linguistic diversity at a fast speed which we have never seen before how much is down to new technology? >> a lot is due to new technology, also globalisation, urbanization and climate change. people give up their traditional ways of life because they can't make it in this way. they move to cities. some are displaced and when they move to cities, they ensure that

their children will speak the language that will give them economic and social mobility to have access to education, for example. on the other hand, our technology, our internet and what not, the majority of languages are at present, most things are in english. even if you want to use it, you don't have access to information if you don't have the majority language that the internet represents at your hands you mentioned language is dying. one remembers two thousand years ago a lot of the world was told to or chose to because they had to speak latin. nobody laments the passage of latin in every day language. nobody is concerned about that, nobody is mourning the loss of that particular language. why is this not acceptable just as progress, if you will? >> well, i mean of course a lot of people are mourning the loss of latin. if you think about how many people we have that studies the latin that uses latin, that use

latin for their studies. we don't have this kind of progression, but what we are observing now is that many of these languages that we are talking about that will fall silent are languages that have never been recorded that are not written, where we are losing the record of these languages and the knowledge that is encoded in them. for the people that speak these languages, as you heard before, when children don't learn these languages any more, they're not able to communicate with their elders. they loss the link into their roots and they lose the link into where they come from and often it is that generation that at some points wants to go back and understand where they came from and learn the language of heritage thank you very much still to come here on the news hour for you, the sports.

we will tell you about the russian cyclist who despite falling went on to win. ent on to win.

in new zealand people have begun voting in the final stage of a referendum on whether to change the national flag. it has been a controversial subject. >> reporter: brothers in arms but divided by a flag. these current and previous new

zealand soldiers are used to working together on the battle field. >> that was horrible >> reporter: but are miles apart off it when it comes to deciding if the country is ready for a new flag. >> i think that the new flag represents the new multicultural new zealand. there has links to the pasts, it celebrates our present and also very bravely look to the future >> i don't believe it's worth making the change now for a decision that we may regret. >> we're still a kon city tyingsal monarchy. we still should fly the union jack on our flag >> reporter: more than three million voting papers set out this yeek in the second and final referendum costing 27 million new zealand dollars. in the first vote in november last year voters were asked to choose between five designs to go up against the current 114-year old flag. they chose this one, the silver fern flag.

historian says despite the long and democratic process, it hasn't come at the right time. >> governments that change flags tend to do so because of a really major event. now becoming a republic. the flag changing after nelson mandela is released from prison. we haven't had a big events which i think is why people are thinking why bother. >> reporter: the current new zealand flag is one of a handful left in the world with the union flag on it. it is too often confused with the australian one. the australians are also considering a change. proponents there are urging new zealand to be the first placing this ad in the national newspaper. for those who fought under the flag it is not such an easy decision. >> it has born witness to major events in this country. so it has a lot of history behind it. it's not something that you can discard. i'm not a complete dinosaur.

if the country decides to change i will go with it >> the silver fern flag, i love it. >> reporter: a nation's flag is meant to unite a country. this has shown how emotional and divisive a flag change can be. one way or the other, they will find out which flag will take them forward in two weeks time time for sports news. >> reporter: thank you very much. a few weeks ago head coach looked almost certain to leave with a title in his pocket. that might prove difficult after being beaten at home. they lead the german league table by five points ahead of their next opponents. in england tottenham have missed the chance to go top of the premier league. they went down one nil to west

ham united. the results leaves the men three points behind current leaders leicester city. >> i've seen two different. first half we were poor and second we tried to play normally. but the different reason, different situation that was difficult to play. >> reporter: not much better news for arsenal. they lost two one. ashleigh williams scoring the winner. >> i think it is very unlucky defeat because we were unlucky in our finishing. we were two shots on target, two goals in the whole game. it is a very disappointing result. the players are very down, but we have to respond to that.

>> reporter: leicester's point again west brom is looking more valuable. three points ahead of tottenham. also lost ground manchester city went down to a three nil defeat against liverpool. >> we didn't expect to lose here. i don't think that was the difference. in the first half, maybe in the second they played better. we beat two nil down, but from the beginning i saw that our team was not refreshed from last week, after the travel, and the game on sunday. from the beginning i saw that liverpool had more energy. we didn't have any chances to score. >> reporter: the international olympic committee has announced that there will be a team of

referees. the i.o.c. say the team could end up being five to ten people. the athletes will be supported with funds to train. they will live in the village at the games and will compete under the olympic flag >> we welcome to these refugee athletes to the games with the olympic flag and with the olympic anthem, they will have a home together with all the other 11,000 athletes from 206 national olympic communities in the olympic village. >> reporter: tributes have been pouring in for martin crowe who has died at the age of 53. he had been battling cancer since 2012. he played 77 test matches and 143 one day initials from 1982 to 1995. in that time he scored 21

hundreds and 299 was the highest score ever. he was recognised as a great and stylish battle man but highly respected for assaults on the game. he pioneered a game back in the 90s which have evolved to 20/20. he was made captain of his country and in 1991 he shared in a world record partnership of 467 with andrew jones against sri lanka. he led new zealand to the semifinals of the world cup. not only was he the player of the tournament. at the world cup for new zealand reached the final. he was inducted into the icc hall of fame. >> it's a really sad time. obviously, i feel for his family

and friends. the cricket community not only in new zealand but throughout the world have lost a great player and great advocate for the game. yeah, really sad times. >> reporter: china missed out on attaining the title. they faced russia in the final in dlon. this one took a tumble after a false start. when the race went ahead, she beat her opponent but they performed an illegal change over so they were relative debated to siller and russia got gold. you could see the frustration of the coach who has a suspected broken finger for his efforts. it's not funny at all. the raptors have had 11 straight

wins. 31 was added for the opponents but went on to win 104 to 90. the reigning american's cup didn't go to plan. it capsized. fortunately no injuries to the six sailors on board but some damage to electronics. it starts in may. that's all your sport for now thank you very much. more news on the website. aljazeera.com. we will see you then. before we do that, we will give you one more story. joaquin guzman says he wants his extradition to the u.s. to be sped up because he doesn't like the jail where he is. he has been suggested to negotiate with the u.s. on

conditions. science. >> we are on the tipping point. >> we can save species. >> it's the biggest question out there. >> it's a revolutionary approach. >> we are pushing the boundaries. >> techknow is going to blow your mind. >> our experts go inside the innovations, impacting you. >> this is the first time anybody's done this. >> i really feel my life changing. >> techknow, where technology meets humanity. only on al jazeera america.

frustrations grow amongst stranded refugees in greece as the government scrambles for ways to help them welcome. this is al jazeera live from our headquarters here in doha. also two women are killed in istanbul after tloelg grenades-- throwing ingredient aids and firing at turkish police. north korea is accused of launching projectiles. also could this be