programs to help him after his release. thanks for joining us. keep it here. this is al jazeera. hello everyone. i'm felicity barr. welcome to this news hour live from london. coming up in the next 60 minutes, as anger boils over in brazil a court steps in to block the appointment of a former president to a new government post. south africa's president is shouted down in parliament. jacob zuma was defending his links with the powerful family accused of undue influence on the government. nowhere to go.

refugees wait on the greek and macedonian border as eu leaders face a deal to return them to turk turkey. seaworld announced it would stop breeding killer whales. hello. brazil is facing a political crisis after a judge blocked the appointment of former president lula da silva as chief of successor to his successor dilma rousseff. the federal judge issued an injunction on the grounds his appointment could derail legal proceedings. they charged the former president with money laundering and fraud as part of an investigation into corruption at petro brass. they say she brought him into the government to protect but to secure his support in blocking

impeachment procedure against rousseff herself for alleged financial mismanagement. let's start with lula da silva. has he been stopped from joining the government? >> reporter: he ha z at least temporarily. a pearl judge in braisilia, which is the capital. however the federal government is now appeals that decision. bottom line here, public opinion is very divided on the entire matter. we see the appointment to protect him and for dilma rousseff to shore up support for her while she under goes the impeachment proceedings. there are those that feel that really all of this is a way by

which lula is looking like he's not guilty of the allegations of corruption against him. all in all people are growing very frustrated, very angry. they feel that this is no longer a matter of one political party against another but that the entire system itself here is indemmink in its corruption. >> we've seen protests. they're going to keep coming out in the streets until the weekend until they see president rou rousseff step down. more than those opposed, we saw supporters of lula coming out to say they stand with him. in many areas where this is happening, where you have the anti-government protesters meeting up with the lula supporters, there have been sporadic clashes breaking out. it can get very heated as opinions really and the sentiment are rather inflamed at the moment. >> what is happening with those

impeachment proceedings that are due to get underway against president dilma rousseff? >> as it is, many members of her political coalition, the ruling coalition here are already breaking away. they say they want nothing more to do with her and that it is time that she step down. they are trying to get support to move impeachment proceedings faster through the lower house. they want to see her out, they say, within the next few weeks. again, nobody is sure what can happen here because it seems almost every hour a new political development takes place to shift things around. >> margot is live in rio for us. thanks very much indeed. south africa's president has been shouted down by opposition mps as he tried to dismiss suggestions that anybody other than himself appoints cabinet ministers.

jacob zuma was responding to questions in parliament about his relationship with the wealthy family accused of influencing key state institutions. on wednesday the country's deputy finance minister admitted that he was offered a promotion to become finance minister by a member of the gupta family. >> i am in charge of the government. i'm in charge -- i appoint. in terms of the constitution, there is no minister who is here who has ever been appointed by the guptas or anybody else. many of those here were appointed by me. >> who are the guptas, the family at the center of this scandal in south africa? well, attel gupta came to south africa from india from 1963 after apartheid was ending. his brothers joined him a few years later.

the computer business employs some 10,000 people. they have interests in mining, aviation and newspapers and, of course, growing influence. a dispute over the political links erupted after a family wedding in 2013 when a passenger plane was allowed to land at a airbase normally foia visiting heads of state. just how much pressure is jacob zuma under, particularly from his own party? >> reporter: visibly, a lot that pressure is coming from opposition parties. we did stee them putting questions to the president earlier today in parliament demanding answers around his relationship with this influential family here in south africa. now, within the a and c, jacob zuma has been supported through a number of scandals. at this point the official line from the party is their concern

is around the capture of the state and what appears and at least he reports around the gupta family's influence on not only the president but the party. at this point they're not necessarily pointing a finger at the president. they say they'll give him an opportunity to respond to some questions over the weekend when the national executive committee meets. this is a scheduled meeting. however, they say the issues around the gupta family and the reports that emerged last week including that of the deputy finance minister saying the gupta family approached him offering him the position of finance minister possibly in -- possibly for him to then give them preferential treatment, these issues come under the spotlight in this meeting over the weekend. jacob zuma has a lot to answer for in the coming day. >> explain why this gupta family has so much power, so much influence in south africa.

>> reporter: i think that's one of the questions that is especially perplexing, considering that they're a foreign family that came to south africa, even though they've been here for 20 years. president zuma's son has dealings and is a business partner with the family. based on reports and speculation, it is that possibly president jacob zuma and other members are benefitting from business dealings with this influential family. the concern is how far their influence goes because it does -- if you go back to the report in 2013 or the incident in 2013, this private family landed a private jet at the water cliff military air force base without permissions reserved for heads of state and foreign dignitaries. the fact a family gets away with such behavior as the secretary-general of the anc says points to the arrogance and

this appears to be continuing. >> live with the latest on the scandal in johannesburg. thank you. you are watching the news hour on al jazeera. still to come, in syria it carved out controls of part of the idlib province. why there's growing op togs to the group. life expectancy ten years lower than the rest of the population. a closer look at efforts to improve the health of indigenous australians. the defending nba champions hit a half-century. details of that milestone win later in the program. gram. first, the u.n. special envoy to syria says the situation on the ground to the country has been, quote, surprisingly calm in recent days. we have been meeting the main syrian opposition group in

geneva. he just breeched the media and outlined the progress made so far. >> it was very substantive. papers on the political transition were actually distributed, and they went very deeply into how they see the political transition being potentially implemented soon. we are going to study them very carefully when we have a need to question in order to there to share them with the other side. >> as the talks continue in geneva, the secretary of state kerry accused isil of genocide. he said they're committing war crimes in iraq and syria, and he said highlighting the acts is an important step towards stopping them. >> they're responsible to genocide against groups in areas under its control including the

ya sgleeddyes, christians and muslims. they're genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology and actions in what it says, what it believed, and what it does. it's also against sunni muslims, kurds and other minorities. i say this even though the ongoing conflict and lack of access to key areas has made it impossible to develop a fully detailed and comprehensive picture of all that daesh is doing. we go live to geneva where the syrian opposition group is currently speaking. >> the position and what they had handed in terms of documents. on our side we are comfortable with written documents, and that

is what we did today. we are hoping that he can press the other side to do the same. to provide such documents. we also had a discussion about the time frame, a brief discussion really, because we are keen to move quickly. we are very keen to avoid a process that does not deliver. he reasserted that it was a six-month time frame. hopefully less, but certainly not more. that, to us, is a reassurance. the question of detainees, which we raised last time, was also an issue, an important point in the discussion. it was about detainees but also about the disappeared. the numbers are considerable.

from the side of all the syrian families who have been affected because some of their family members have been kidnapped or have disappeared, have nots been reported as prisoners in a variety of cases. this is a considerable issue for the syrian population as you may know. we are happy that he's making it a priority. he has been fairly specific about pressing the task force, pressing the countries who participate in the task force and particularly pressing the two co-chairs of the task force on humanitarian issues to come up with a mechanism that was one big gap since the formation of the task forces. there was no mechanism. we now hope that the mechanism can be put in place and that the co-chairs, the united states and russia, are directly responsible for making it move forward.

we as you may remember have and continue to have the concern about that and it was on our agenda today again. he also gave us a precise information on how his representative in damascus was hoping to get into the area very soon. we are watching this and are patient to see movement on it. we're still in the same stalemate. we're learning today also that the city of besri is being pressed. we see that there are every day new attempts at perhaps less visible sometimes but new attempts at pressing the

population locally here and there. so we continue to watch very carefully the situation. we're happy to see from this working session we had a commitment that he was going to press the other side and that this process could move quickly. so we do hope that we will not lose time because every day lost, as you know, is lost for syria and for the syrians. >> reporter: yesterday mr mr. jafari said he wouldn't negotiate directly with the agency. >> you're seeing the press conference held by the opposition group in syria. they're talking about the talks taking place in geneva. she pointed out they're keen to not do a lengthy process that

doesn't deliver. she was talking about six months or less. she was also spelling out her pleasure, if you like, that the u.n. envoy to syria has made the issue of detainees a priority and she's happy to see the commitment made by. there have been protests against the supporters of al nusra front. it's one of the the syrian groups that attracts criticism from members of the public. laurence lee reports from turkey on the changes face of the syrian revolution and the growing divisions between the armed groups. >> something is happened in northwestern syria which could alter the balance of power in the war. nusra get out chant the women in the town.

protests like serve to undermine the view that nusra has an unshakeable grip over the areas inside idlib province. it seems to grow by the week. here protesters make the equation between the tyranny of the set and armed religious groups chanting the syrian people are warned. >> translator: we starred this demonstration for those attacked by the gangs of nusra. we're here to support them. >> reporter: their confidence is growing. this crowd turns on nusra supporters who have tried to get inside a demonstration in support of the free syrian army. the protesters were clearly more interesting in the flag of revolution than that of nusra. what's so streiking is the ideas had been shouted down by those groups like nusra and isil across parts of northern and eastern syria. yet now this group which is considered moderate in the west and which calls for all syrians

to come together against the regime in damascus is increasingly back in favorite. things like this trashing of a nusra office seem to reflect a growing concern that nusra has the same deeply conservative religious values that isil does. many people in idlib aren't interested. many are affected by asham fighting with nusra, but now appears to change their position to reflect the popular demand that all focus on their real enemy. >> translator: the talks about setting up a sooifl state in syria are to be addressed later. this is delayed because we're now focusing on toppling the regime. this is the same objective that we share with the rest of the opposition forces on ground and their revolutionary forces. the priority is to bring down the tyrant regime. >> reporter: with the nusra

front and growing pressure to release men from the fsa it's holding, it seems popular opinion is telling the group to stop fighting other syrians and what they stand for. it was unthinkable months ago. lauren lee, al jazeera, southern turkey. syria's main kurdish group declared a federal region in areas it controls in the north of the current. it was made an a kurdish conference in syria's northeast. about 200 delegates approved what they call the federal democratic system. it has been rejected by the government and opposition who warn against the partition of the country. leaders from the eu and turkey are meeting to finalize a deal. the most controversial solution

is to send them back to turkey. in return, turkey has asked the eu to double the amount of aid for refugees in the country to $6.7 billion. turkey wants visa-free travel for its citizens in the eu to be brought in sooner than currently planned, and it also wanting negotiations for it's own membership of eu to be restarted. the european parliament president criticized countries in the balkans on the route taken by refugees for making the problem worse by closing their borders. >> what we are facing is 22 -- 20 to 22 member states are refusing to stick to what they agreed, the relocation scheme. 160,000. imagine we would distribute now 160,000 refugees. we have no problem in it.

i find it relatively hypocrite that some of the member states are criticized the commission for the negotiation with turkey. >> live to brussels where the talks with taking place. neve barker. how difficult is it going to be to get all the eu countries to agree on some sort of deal >> reporter: the level of difficulty was summed by the european council president when he arrived earlier on. he was more cautious than optimism that anything would happen here over the course of this two-day high-level leader summit. the turks arrive here on friday, and the negotiations will take a very new direction then as they intensify in trying to bring about a solution to this ongoing refugee crisis. it has very much driven a wedge between eu member states between those that feel it's time now

for europe's doors to remain closed and those that feel the eu has a moral obligation to look after and resettle those that arrive on europe's shores looking for help. of course, this is round two of talks. the first time that the eu and turkey met was back on march 7th. no agreement was made then, but an all-important outline draft agreement was drawn up for consideration. over the last ten days or so, an awful lot of diplomatic activity is going on behind of scenes. they're trying to ally fears and get all 28 eu states on his side. largely, the backbone of this draft agreement remains the safe. turkey is requesting that 6$6.7 billion trench of money from the eu in return for taking the refugees newly arrived in greece back to turkey. also talk of that all-important

resettlement program as well whereby in return for turkey taking refugees from the eu and resellingsing them in turkey, the eu has in turn promised to resettle here in the european union refugees, syrian refugees who are currently living in turkish camps. it's very difficult to understand the logistics of all of this. we imagine if an agreement takes place, there's a tremendous amount of wrangling to take many more weeks and months as we establish exactly how the movement of refugees and asylum seekers and migrants will really take place between turkey and the eu. >> thank you. plenty of wrangling taking place in cypress itself and they're tlening any veto with turkey until it recognizes the scorch knit. this is an associate professor

in history and science at the universitied good to have you with uses on program. you could start by reminding them. >> cypress wants turkey to recognize the republic of cypress by opening ports and aircrafts to vessels and planes, something turkey is obliged to do. that's in 2005 but has refused to implement so far. >> that has been a long, ongoing skraubl squabble between the two countries. do you think cypress were do so by other european union countries. >> cypress is under huge pressure to compromise because germany and greece need desperately a deal with turkey. it has signaled after refusing to open chapter it might be willing to compromise.

tm expect concessions in the ongoing talks about the reunificati reunification about cypress and maybe allowing an open of the chapters in the for seeable future. what might happen is the chapters will be opened in a couple of months now, at least the pledge is made hoping that cypress can reach a deal by then. >> in reality, though, that any deal moving forward towards turkey perhaps joining the european union in the future, that has always been reliant upon the fact that the turks would, indeed, have to recognize cypress's sovereignty and wasn't laid down by the european union anyway. >> in 2005 it was required that turkey extending the customs union to the republic of see cypress thereby recognizing it. ever since they joaned in 2004,

a solution of the problem and turkey's succession to the european union are linked. now they get merged with the migration issue which makes it more complicated. turkey's prime minister called for all mps facing criminal investigation to be stripped of their immunity from prosecution. it follows accusations that pro-kurdish mps support pkk. on thursday they visited the sight of a suicide car bomb attack in ankara, which a kurdish group says it carried out in revenge for military operations against kurdish rebels. we have the report. >> reporter: the aftermath of sunday's bomb blast in ankara continues to be felt at least politically. on thursday turkey's prime minister vowed to not only punish the masterminds of the attack or go after members of pa lament who he accuses of supporting terrorism. >> the issue is that openly

supporting terrorism. the issue is not that somebody talking in the parliament. they talk about everything in the parliament. that's not the problem. the problem is if you actively support and collaborate with terrorists and using the immunity, this is not democracy. >> reporter: the kurds' separatist group tak killed 37 peoples. it's an offshot of the pkk that has been at war with turkey for decades. most groups are considered terrorist organizations by turkey. although the government has been in peace negotiations with the pkk in recent years, those talks broke down last july after pkk fighters killed two policemen. since then the army has attacked pkk locations inside the country as well as across the border in iraq. they have attacks across turkey

including in istanbul and the capital of ankara. on february 17th, a suicide car bomb targeted a bus carrying army personnel. that killed dozens of people. the bomber of that attack as well as the most recent one have been accused of receiving training inside syria by the ypg. that's the kurdish group that ankara says is also linked to the pkk. it's why turkey says countries like the united states shouldn't be supporting the ypg, even though it's part of the fight against isil in syria. security is becoming more of a concern inside turkey. germany announced on thursday it was closing its embassy, consulate and one of the schools in istanbul as a precaution. the government has been prayed for stopping violence through the peace process with the pkk. now many scrutinize how it will be over with the increasing number of attacks that continue to rock turkey's cities. still to come on the

program, the deepen route between the united states and morocco after the comments made by the u.n. secretary-general. the rare west africian giraffe under threat from poaching, drauth and now conflict. we have the latest in the sports. ts.

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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. welcome back. a reminder of the top stories on al jazeera. a brazilian judge issued an injunction to present the president's appointment for lula da silva as her chief of staff. there's protests against the current president, dilma rousseff. i-jacob zuma denied claims that a wealthy family close to him had influence over political appointments. syria's main opposition group presented a detailed memo to the u.n. essential envoy to syria on what's described as the group's vision of the transitional period of and formation of a transitional

body. in response, they say the time frame is six months. syria's war has been raging for five years, and in that time has killed more than a quarter of a million people. it has also created a refugee crisis the u.n. has called the biggest of our time. stephanie dekker looks at the top the war has taken. a warning some viewers may find images in her report disturbing. >> reporter: there is anonymity in grief and despair, when you're one among hundreds of thousands. >> this is not a tourist. we are humans. where is the humanity in the world? >> reporter: then occasionally there are moments when the world does want to know your name. this mass forced migration is the result of the five-year war in syria. a war with many different allegiances and groups.

on the ground and beyond syria's borders. three and a half years ago the man who first tried to resolve the conflict resigned and had this to say. >> at the time when we need, when the syrian people desperately need action, there continues to be finger-pointing and name-calling in the security council. >> reporter: that hasn't changed. no one seems to be able to find common ground on how to end this war. everyone has their own interests. so-called red lines were crossed. >> firsthand accounts from humanitarian organizations on the ground. these all strongly indicate that everything these images are already screaming at us is real. that chemical weapons were used in syria. >> reporter: syria's civilization is described as one of the most ancient in the world, full of archaeological treasures, some that survived for almost 2,000 years. parts of it are now completely destroyed.

entire communities forced to leave not just their homes but their country. nobody wants to be a refugee, and there is little international appetite to find a home for the constant flow of syrians fleeing from this war. their future is vulnerable and uncertainly. they all say they long to go home, but no one knows when that day will come and what syria will look like when it finally does. stephanie dekker, al jazeera. morocco has decided not to withdraw its troops from u.n. peacekeeping missions. it has threatened to pull out after it was angered by comments from the bank ki-moon when he said morocco was occupying the contested region of western saha sahara. morocco has asked 84 u.n. international staff there to leave within three days. this was the reaction of bank ki-moon's spokesman. >> this is a unilateral action, which i think is in clear contradiction of morocco's obligations, international

obligations, specifically under the status of mission agreement. but it is also a challenge for the security council. the mandate was not created by the secretary-general. the mandate was given to it by the security council. the security council is the one that creates peacekeeping missions. what we're seeing is unprecedented. to the war in yemen now. there's heavy fighting east of the city of tyese. it shows the fighting between the forces and government troops. 23 fighters were killed. the saudi-led military operation in yemen may soon wind down. a spokesman for the koelgs say they turn their focus to stabilization and reconstruction. speaking to a french news agency, the general didn't specify when the bombing mission would finish. they've been targeted the houthi rebels. the u.n. estimate that is since the operation began almost 6,000

people have been killed by the air strikes and fighting on the ground. sri lanka's opposition party held a joint anti-government rally in the capital of co-lom bow. thousands joined the protests. ramirez was playing with it. thousands of people turning out for this rally organized by the joint opposition, being labeled the people's fight. it has very much relied on the legend that is the former president is right behind me in the far send is a stage that brings together a number of leaders of parties that form the joint opposition very much a challenge of the current government. that's based on the number of factors they have pointed out. these include essentially the hunting down of the soldiers that fought the war, especially

the oppression of the people, a planned economic agreement with india, the cuts down of welfare and subsidies to the farming community. now for the people here very much behind the former president who says this government must go. >> translator: they're not capable. if you can, hand it over to me. i'll show you how it's done. >> reporter: the thousands of people that turned up today laughing up the messages spoken about on the stage behind me, they pointed out a number of shortcommings of the new government it has asked for. >> it has to take along with in the absence of that it's very easy for the opposition to scream and shout because a lot

of what they inherited is the result of a populist feeling of the previous regime. >> reporter: today is very much the start of the people's fight, a fight to send the new government home. frefrn students have clashed with riot police in central paris in a protest against labor reforms. police used tear gas for studen students as they three shovels. it put all aspects of labor rules up for negotiation. thursday they had similar protests. workers in southeastern ukraine have brought down the largest remaining vladimir lenin monument. several attempts have been made to tear down the statue. nearly 1,000 statues have been removed since they tore down the

kiev monument in 2013. hundreds of people are forced from homes along the texas-louisiana border in the u.s. becaused flooding. floodwaters indated entire neighborhoods and washed out roads. the texan governor issued a disaster declaration for 17 eastern and southeastern counties. australians on average have a longer life span than almost anyone else in the world, but that's not the case for indigenous people who live at least ten years less than other australians. the national cam taken to address the gap started a decade ago. andrew thomas assesses its impact. >> reporter: across australia close the gap events like this are intended to draw attention to lagging health and education standards for indigenous australians. they're also about keeping pressure on the governments to meet targets to address them. >> thinks in some places are

getting worse than better. so we need to be vigilant and we need to be not to be complacent around the huge job that still has to be done. >> reporter: initiatives like this one, mid-wives specifically trained for cultures have helped to keep one target on track. a decade ago aboriginal infants were twice as likely to die as other young children. the infant mortality gap is on track to have halved by 2018. >> they can relate to you in every since. you know the mid-wives and then you right in the beginning and they also say there's a whole lot of history. >> sometimes the hoept setting can be a little bit offputting for a woman that haven'ts been in the system before. so we have clinics in the community, and we do home visits. we also offer transport if women can't get there. i pick women up.

>> reporter: the simple project has made a difference. of seven closing the gap targets, only two are on track to be achieved. on average aboriginal people die ten years earlier than ever. they're as likely as efrl to be unemployed and school attendance levels lack significantly. there are calls for extra targets, too. aboriginal leaders need another set of targets around incarceration, the differing prison rates between aboriginal australians and everybody else. an 18-year-old aboriginal man is more likely to go to prison than university. aboriginal women make up just 3% of australia's female population and 33% are locked up. alongside health and education, justice disparity should be a focus, too. their aim is the parity with non-indigit yus australians to be across the board. the theme park operator seaworld has announced it will

stop briding orca whales after years of pressure from animal rights activists. seaworld will stop the practice and the orcas at the parks will be last. seaworld faced criticism about the treatment of the animals. there was an end of shows involving orcas and killer whales as they're know. seaworld was under pressure off the orca program when "black fish" was released. >> it was a really exciting thing to do until everybody wanted to do it. >> what were they telling you you were going to do? >> capture orcas. >> they've had aircraft. they had spotters. they had speed boats. they had bombs they were throwing in the water. they were lighting their bombs with torches in their boats and

throwing them as fast as they could to herd the whales into coves. the orcas had been caught before, and they knew what was going on and they knew their young ones would be taken from them. >> seaworld's business was badly hit by the publicity after the film. visitor numbers fell by 100,000 the next year. profits for the second quarter of 2014 went down 84% compared to the previous year. seaworld's share priced more than half, falling from $39 in 2013 to around $17 now. live to washington, d.c. where we're joined by naomi rose, a marine mammal scientists and worked as an adviser to the director of the "black fish" film. is this surprising and more about money than welfare? >> it is extremely surprising.

seaworld is a corporation. it's a business. it, of course, is about money, but it will have a very strong impact on welfare. >> that doesn't actually mean the end of wholes at seaworld for quite some time, though, does it? >> no. i mean, these are very long-lived animals, so if they stop the breeding today, which they intend to do, they're still going to have some young animals that live 20, 30 years. this gives them a very long time to segue out of this business model, and we've been telling them that for years. it's just so gratifying for them finally to accept it and move forward. >> why has there been so much opposition to having killer whales in seaworld? after all, there are various zoos around the world who have captive animals, have wild animals held captive, and they are praised for their conservation efforts. what's the difference at seaworld? >> well, i think one of the big differences is that seaworld is a commercial operation. a lot of zoos are, of course,

nonprofit and do a lot of conservation work. seaworld has done rehab rescue, released back in the wild for years as well, but primarily they're a commercial operation. for them to accept that this is no longer a viable business model and to re-emphasize their rescue and rehabilitation work is really a step forward for them, and we fully support it. i do think that eventually they have to look at other species and other whales and dolphins still in the park. we are going to hopefully start a dialogue with them to address all of those issues as well. >> it is a difficult balance, isn't it, between the rights of wild animals and conservation efforts and also just the interest that is generated in sea life by having centers like seaworld. children see these incredible creatures and come away with a newfound respect for them, don't they? >> well, i don't think they do whether when they go to

seaworld. they're subjected to a theatrical type of show, which seaworld has made a commitment to move away from. it's really about entertainment than education. i feel strongly and have for years that children who go to seaworld are miseducated about the real nature of these mighty ocean predators. they're basically just happy sea pandas at seaworld, and i want to see more accurate education and a stronger conservation message. apparently they have made a dmiment to that. i'm really looking forward to it. >> thank you so much for joining us. still to come on the program, raphael nadal avoids a huge upset.

on the plains of west africa giraffes were a common sight before drought and poaching decimated their numbers. 20 years ago conservationists in niger launched a campaign to save them, but growing conflict in the region is posing a new threat as we have the report. on the lookout for west africa's last giraffes, this is the last natural reserves in the capital. the african savannah stretched out as as far as the eye could see, but soon a herd showing up in the distance grazing on their favorite trees. there was a time when there were

many, but the drought and hunting reduced them to a small group found in niger. authorities here try to protect what remains of the endangered subspecies. this is part of the result. >> translator: in 1996 we had just 50 giraffes. now as we speak we have 452 giraffes. >> reporter: we tried to get a closer look, but as we approach we're told not to disturb them. the giraffe that you can see behind me is not the biggest one in this park. the biggest one is called cido. it's very famous and spend a an entire year looking for him. this is a very large park, actually more than the size of lebanon. about 11,000 square kilometers. nature here is quiet and beautiful, and the giraffes seem to share both qualities. >> translator: the giraffe is a peaceful an ma'am. if you don't make a noise, you can come less than 15 meters away from it. it's also very curious.

sometimes it would stare at you as long as you stare at it. i love them like their my own pets. we have names for them. there was one that carried my name, but unfortunately, he died. >> reporter: some people living in the area hardly share this affection. >> translator: we don't see any use to them. they just destroy our crops and eat the trees. we lived here for a long time before the giraffes, and now they're a problem for us. there's nothing we can do about it. >> reporter: another problem affecting both people and giraffes consisted of two years of drought with meager crops and drier vegetation. tourism is also on the decline. >> translator: the beginning we made some income but nouz there's a crisis bought of insecurity. we used to receive large numbers of visitors, nine groups a day but now it's five or six per week. >> reporter: tour guides don't

have much to do. they're concerns the violence and drought could hurt the success they've made in prese e preserving a natural wonder. thank you very much. sepp blatter is feels his six-year ban from football. the former fifa boss filed the papers with the cause of arbitration for sport. he was found guilty of misconduct by fifa's ethic committee following a disloyal payment made to the former head of football. they both lost their appeals with fifa last month but had bans reduced from eight to six years where earlier fifa published blatter's salary for the first time ever. he ran the world governing body for 17 years was paid $3.67 million last year. team fa had a loss of $122 million in 2015 following the

corruption scandal. south africa's sports minister denied that the country paid the bribe to help secure the 2010 world cup says that fifa should retract his statement. his comments are a day after football's world governing body announced it was seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages as part of the united states corruption investigation. in it's claim fifa highlighted a $10 million payment from the south africa football association. the money was routed to the bank account of disgraced fifa vice president jack warner. they maintain that money was intended for football development programs in the caribbe caribbean. >> we gave this money and supported safa for the displacement of the resources on the basis that this money was for development. and the fact that at the later stage it came to our attention

that it was not used for its intended purposes and, in fact, was embezzled and misused. >> two clubs hoping to win a place in the champions league next season will face-off in the europea league later. liverpool has a 2-0 advantage in the second leg against manchester united, even though liverpool did have the uper hand, they lost on the last two visits. >> now we're turning a leaf, and that's only one thing. we have to forget this and to play again. so in the end it's a football game, and a really good one between two really good sides, yeah. i'm really excited about the opportunity to play here. >> i think the talent is to beat liverpool, and it's a challenge that we are two goals down.

it's a big challenge. we have to believe in it. it starts with the players, of course, and it starts also with the fence. >> eight teams in total battle for a spot in the quarterfinals of the europe ya league. they're approaching halftime. valencia is up against at let toe.a league. they're approaching halftime. valencia is up against at let toe. munich is back in day a day after reaching final eight. they're prepares to face cologne in the next match on saturday. as they aim for records for consecutive wins as well as the german cup by a netted 6-4 aggregate win on wednesday to go through to the quarterfinals of the champions league. sri lanka's crickets start

the defense of the title over afghanistan. afghanistan is first in this super ten match. they made 153 for 7 in the 20 overs. sri lanka was off to a flying start in reply. there was 83 out of 56 balls set up his sight as they reached the victory with six wickets to pair. the women's 2020 tournament taking place at the same time. england won against bangladesh. they posted 153-7 in their wings and had a 36 run victory. in the nba the warriors won. they had their 52nd home victory. there were 19 points for the game, but it was reigning mvp steph curry that dominated for the warriors with 34 points and

6 rebounds leading the defending champions to 121-85 win. tennis and raphael nadal and the world masters as he bids for fourth title in california. the number four seed rallied from a step down to beat german teenager alexander. the spaniard fought off a match point in the third set to take the match 6-7, 6-0, 7-5. world number one novak djokovic is always in the final. the serb needed 66 minutes to beat spain's lopez in straight sets. he's seeking an unprecedented fifth title at indian wells. that's all the sport from me. >> thanks so much for that. thanks to you for watching the news hour. that's it for me. please don't go far away from your television sets. david foster is here in five

minutes' time. we'll see you then. u then. >> we're here to fully get into the nuances of everything that's going on, not just in this country, but around the world. getting the news from the people who are affected. >> people need to demand reform... >> ali velshi on target.

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more protests and the court injunction. very good tovr you along. i'm david foster here with you on al jazeera. also coming up in the next 30 minutes, the parliament and south africa's president denies that a wealthy family influenced his political appointments. daesh is genocidal by idlf-proclamation and by