plan we want to on a serious and qualify ok while syrian fans in malaysia getting ready to chair back home feelings are a lot more divided in opposition held areas some say they just can't get behind a team that's aligned with the government of bashar al assad to mollify all reports . the syrian national teams will draw in iran last month sparked celebrations in the capital. football has the power to bring people together but not in a government controlled damascus were only supporters of bashar assad are now together in public. not far away you won't find any scenes of celebration just more death and destruction in opposition controlled a sign that syria remains a war torn country the young men here whose dreams were to play football find themselves instead dodging bullets and bombs now that is the president of the

opposition syrian football association he was a member of the general sports union before defecting in two thousand and twelve in protest at the regime of bashar assad he says the current national football team doesn't represent syrians from that in the world is now interested in the national team in a spot gotten about the massacres in my country the national team players and the management say football shouldn't be mixed with politics yet they have publicly thank those murdering out children they've expressed their support for russia iran and the syrian regime. a common for saying is also from italy he's been playing football for twenty years he believes the regime is using the play off with australia to increase its popularity. they're politicizing the game and the people have nothing to do with that this national team completely supports the regime and its crimes my message to the world whether excepts the steel supports the crimes of the regime against civilians. while the focus is on the success. of

syria's national football team dozens of civilians are killed every day the united nations says at least four hundred thousand syrians have lost their lives in six years of war. if syria does qualify for the world cup political opponents fear the war crimes committed by the assad regime and the struggle of syrians calling for freedom will be forgotten amidst the euphoria of the celebrations. florence levy is live for us in malacca where serious game with us training kicks off in around ninety minutes time from and why is this match actually being played in malaysia. well you'd be forgiven for thinking that this was a stranger's home measure because technically injure graphically malaysia is much closer to a stranger but this is actually a much a whole match for syria who have not been able to play in their home country since two thousand and ten because of the civil war that they had initially told on lebanon but that was moved for security reasons and then they thought they would

play in macau but somehow that deal fell through and syria was very nearly thrown out of playing in the world cup qualifiers all together until malaysia stepped in and this has proven to be a very favorable temporary home for syria so far on the syrian side have not lost a match when they played at home here in malaysia. and syria's chances what they actually for them of qualifying for the wild. well some have built as a david versus goliath match have made it to the world cup four times the last three times consecutively since two thousand and twelve syria syria have never made it to the world cup but it would be foolish to dismiss them outright. they seem to be going on a pretty good run lately. rankings that moved up from one hundred fifty one three years ago to seventy five that's really not that far down from fifty. so some

people are saying that it does have a pretty good chance now and the two sides missed out on automatic progression so this is the second chance to advance from a playoff route now this is only the first leg there is still a second leg to be played in sydney next tuesday and the winning team will go on to play they win the fourth placed when the fourth place team from the north and central americans and caribbean region for a spot at the world cup in russia next year. thank you very much for that florence louis live in malacca in malaysia. while world cup qualifying is taking place right across the globe over the next five days as countries look to book their tickets had russia twenty eighteen we know eight of the thirty two teams so far in east asia you have japan and south korea who both that confirmed their spots last month if you shift to the middle east iran and saudi arabia where the other two teams to

automatically qualify for asia russia of course will be competing as the host nation but so far just one of thirteen other european teams have confirmed their qualification and that's a belgium who are ranked number nine in the world england germany serbia and spain could join them very soon mexico were the only team from the north and central america and caribbean region to confirm their spot in russia and the qualified team that's brazil who have just lost one of their eighteen qualifying games so far. with three more automatic qualifiers from south america need to be decided from the final two rounds of matches argentina in fifa currently out of those automatic spots though they have a crucial game against a fourth place providing later on you're a guy and colombia are also ahead of them meanwhile fief is president janney in frontino has been in argentina as the country confirmed it will stage a joint bid with paraguayan the year we're going to host the twenty thirty feet for

world cup argentinian football has been besieged by problems involving financial mismanagement corruption and disorganization. and n.f.l. players being criticized for mocking a female reporter during a press conference have a look at this exchange involving carolina panthers cam newton and reporter jordan rodrigo from the charlotte observer. you know you take a lot of pride in seeing your seniors playing well seven bunches to see really embrace the physicality is grounds and make it in the next three yards as i give you a little bit of an enjoyment to see even more intensely with people it's funny to hear female talk about routes. while the reporter involved in that responded on twitter saying i don't think it's funny to be a female and talk about rouse i think it's my job she also said she sought out newton off the words but while he refused to apologize his own

a diamondbacks have advanced in major league baseball's playoffs they beat the colorado rockies eleven a to eight in the national league wild card game the highlight of the game was a two run triple from release our chief bradley in the seventh inning arizonan moves on to a best of five division series against nationally west champions the l.a. dodgers. the national hockey league is on the way of for a new season but the stanley cup champions did not get off to a winning start the pittsburgh penguins are bidding to become the very fast and i felt team in thirty five years to win three straight championships but they were beaten by the same louis blues who ended up clinching the game five four in overtime. the philadelphia flyers were also as well as a bad game against the san jose sharks and that's thanks to a hatrick from hawaii and then in its course this entity that goal to make it three in the final minute five three was the final story. of the sport for now more later

elizabeth thank you very much tatyana and that does it for this hour which is their news out there shall carry is here with another old news bulletin just a couple of minutes. it.

was. for decades puerto rico schools of being crumbling beneath the weight of massive debt now one hundred seventy nine due to close for good the largest closure of schools in the history of this u.s. territory is a frightening development this elementary school will remain open but will take in one hundred fifty of the twenty seven thousand students due to be relocated that's double its current student body over the last decade enrollment in puerto rico schools has dropped by more than forty percent as families continue to leave those left behind often don't have the means to follow suit but ultimately it's now puerto rico's poor communities that are paying the price for this island's staggering debt. for the congolese the journey to work at all of our means unimaginable hardship i prefer to lie down because they knew i got into

chancing life and live in a dangerous journey through the jungle. i fell on to the rails and nearly died. our children go to school and live because of the trade. risking it all the democratic republic of congo at this time on al jazeera. iraqi forces say they've captured the center of ourselves last on clay and the north. and we shall carry this is al jazeera life and also coming up making history saudi arabia's king solomon is in moscow the first visit by a saudi monarch to russia. they french president offers to help mediate between

iraq's government and kurds wanting to break away plus. the meticulously planned on the worst domestic affairs in united states history police say the las vegas gun. and was disturbed and dangerous and spent two years building up a stockpile of weapons. iraqi government forces have recaptured the northern town of hawaii just from eisel it was one of just two remaining pockets of territory held by eisel and iraq the army campaign to regain control was announced two weeks ago iraqi prime minister made the victory announcement in paris where he's discussing kurdish secession efforts with the french president. is offering to help mediate its tension increases between the iraqi government leaders in baghdad and kurdish representatives iraqi kurds voted overwhelmingly in favor of secession from iraq last week despite warnings from baghdad as well as neighboring iran and turkey

charles strafford has more from nearby into this. this is a peshmerga defensive position we understand according to the peshmerga fighters that we've spoken to that we is around twenty kilometers in that direction according to the iraqi military going offensive continues we understand that they are in control certainly of the center of the city but they are pushing are still in this direction between here and who we are there are a number of villages that are still occupied by are still earlier today we saw a number of families coming through this border crossing they were checked by the patient and they described pretty horrific scenes in those villages they these people are very afraid of the shia militia groups that are working alongside the iraqi military the peshmerga here tell us that it was just yesterday there around about a thousand people came across this border they checked before then being taken to

some of the many i.d.p. camps here according to the u.n. serving on tuesday the u.n. were estimating the around seventy eight thousand people still trapped in hawaii and this sort of area of no man's land you can see here but. according to the iraqi military things are going to plan the fighting continues and when how we should does eventually fall that will be the end of i saw he will be the last i saw position that has been recaptured by iraqi forces in northern iraq. now to natasha butler and paris for that meeting between the iraqi prime minister and the french president going in to this meeting this this issue surrounding the kurdish referendum was contentious why. he had was last week the elisei said that the purpose of this meeting and the irish prime minister's visit was very much to discuss that the iraqi prime minister's

visit i should say was very much to discuss the kurdish referendum but what we. from the iraqi prime minister's office walls that wasn't the case at all from that point if you. was here to talk much more about strategic cooperation are the two men of course discussed that but they did talk about the. president said he even offered to mediate. tensions those were his words. that it was very important that iraq stayed united but that it respected the rights of the kurdish people he said that the real focus for iraq really must be stability in the future and reconciliation now as for the iraqi prime minister he said that. was it was illegal that he stood by that but he wasn't looking for any confrontation with kurdish forces well let's take a listen to the two men. the full on iraq we have particularly interested in the

stability of iraq in the upcoming weeks and months we hope very much that there will be dialogue that is respectful of the integrity of iraq and we would also like to advocate that in the framework of the constitution a recognition of the kurds should take place there is a long path to go towards political inclusion but it must also make sure that the constitution is respected. and. our concern is to preserve iraq's sovereignty within the iraqi constitution which is adopted by a massive majority of iraqis in two thousand and five this constitution brings together all iraqis our fellow citizens who are kurds also voted for this constitution separatism does not figure in this constitution and is not acceptable . also discussed. and they pledged of course to work much more closely together in what they called

the fight against terrorism in the region and a model that was very important to look to the. rebuilding iraq and that is why. five hundred million dollars to try and rebuild and help the iraqi people stabilize their country. for us in paris thank you a prominent aid organizations fighting in syria is the worst since last year's battle for aleppo the red cross says up to ten hospitals have been damaged at least one hundred thirty people have been killed in multiple airstrikes interest or province in just the past two days amateur video is said to show dozens of bombs targeting several areas throughout the province sources on the ground accuse russia being responsible for the strikes the u.s. and russian backed forces are separately trying to retake the region from fighters . an investigation by the international chemical weapons watchdog says traces of sarin were found after an attack on

a town in northern syria at the end of march and says there is evidence the banned chemical was used on an opposition held town just days before the attack and also reported in june that sarin was used on the town of consequence which killed dozens of people that attack prompted the united states to launch missiles on a syrian air bases saudi arabia's king solomon is in moscow for five days the first visit by a saudi monarch to russia just got these pictures of him and president vladimir putin's the war in syria will top the agenda along with bilateral investments in stabilizing oil markets or challenges life for us in moscow so for something like that it's at the first it's a storage so why now give us a little background on this story. well this visit as you say it's the first time that a saudi king has visited moscow is actually the culmination of quite

a long few months of increasingly regular contact to the foreign minister level and we've been hearing for some time now how there has been an invitation for the saudi king to come and visit putin in moscow well here we are it's happening now and i think it's happening now because of the various different stars aligning russia and saudi arabia have been actually working quite closely with each other over the past year or so on limiting oil outputs to try and get the oil price higher after it's sunk to historic lows and i think that's built quite a bit of trust between these two countries where previously there wasn't very much and then also added i'm adding on top of that we have the changing political landscape of the middle east we've got russia's involvement in syria and we've got what many people of observed as a kind of weakening of u.s.

power in the region and i think saudi arabia is joining a reasonable long list of other countries like egypt and israel and turkey and jordan to have their leaders come to moscow essentially hedging their bets with diminishing u.s. power raising the rising russian power i think these countries realize they should be talking to moscow more regular in the they previously were so what else can we read into what they will probably talk about considering all those issues it is laid out there is there syria there is oil there is gas what else can what can we really expect to come of it. well i think putin and king solomon are going to be doing that the high politics stuff so king solomon will be coming to moscow with moscow with it with a few concerns trying to get russia to change its position on a few things perhaps iran i think is going to be top of that list. moscow has good

relations with iran whereas saudi arabia ease it as a sort of an arch photo in the region then of course there's the g.c.c. crisis and perhaps king solomon is going to be putting his perspective on what's going on there russia has actually been fairly even handed so far and not really choosing sides between. saudi arabia and its allies on the one hand and cats are on the other and you mentioned syria too that's going to be high on the agenda talking about. the implementation of these the confliction zones with the escalation zones but let's not forget this is also a big delegation is not just the king there are there are business leaders who are coming as well and perhaps the russian media is getting more excited more more than about the politics with actually the idea or the prospects of saudi arabian cash being invested in russia or in infrastructure like the toll road system that

sort of thing russia obviously needs cash in the moments in the lab you take it from the saudi arabians ok for a challenge in moscow roy thank you to the u.s. now where people are still trying to make sense of the deadliest mass shooting in modern american history play satisfy the las vegas gunman as a disturbed dangerous man who spent decades acquiring firearms but investigators still don't know why stephen paddick killed fifty eight people and injured hundreds more at a concert on sunday heidi jocasta reports. police say if anyone had knowledge of the gunman's motive the woman he lived with would but after returning from the philippines tuesday mary lou danley had little to say to explain her partner's behavior she released a statement through her attorney. i knew stephen. as.