rory challands joining us from moscow. to just comment, as well, rory on what are the main points that you've heard and the main message that we can take away from this press conference being held by the foreign ministers? >> what lavrov really was talking about or setting out was a general platform and then some more specifics. you touch on one of the specifics there involved in the vienna process and the vienna process was agreed a couple of weeks ago, there was a press conference afterwards between lavrov and john kerry. they spoke together saying there were various things that needed to happen over the coming months in syria to work towards some sort of durable lasting peace. primarily, these were new elections, a new constitution and intrasyrian dialogue and only the syrians, they both said, could finally decide their own future. the first point, the first thing that needs to happen in this process is the dialogue between the government and the opposition. now, they have until the end of the year to make the condition

. >> rory challands is live in moscow.nteresting the words being used there, rory, a stab in the back, the kind of language that you use for a friend who has betrayed you. how close is or was the relationship between rush and turkey recently? >> reporter: over the last few years it has been a pretty decent relationship. and apparently the two leaders have a fairly close affinity with each other, like each other quite a lot. but that relationship, obviously has been going sour over the last few months. it was soured particularly by the russian decision that it was going to start a bombing campaign in syria. the reason why this displeased turkey was because some of the groups that russia has been targeting in syria are groups that are supported by the governments in anchora, particularly the turkmen operating in northern syria. so that started to displease the turkish first. after that there was a number of incidents just over a month ago, where russian planes started straying into turkish air space. the russians admitted to

being trucked into turkey and then sold on as differently labeled oil on to the global market. >> roryuld mention that the president of turkey has disputed those claims that it is benefiting from the isil oil trade, but russia is now talking about potential sanctions, right? how soon will they go into effect and what do they include >> reporter: we know that one of them is going to be faking effect on the first of january 2016. that was just announced by sergei lv and that is the abolition of the vie-free tourist program. beyond that, we also know there are various economic sanctions on the way. we know that, because essentially they are being tested already. we know that there are various consignments and shipments of turkish produce, imports coming from turkey that are now being stopped on russian borders. now that is a strong suggestion that there are going to be embargoes and things like that just around the corner. the russian government has given its ministries a couple of days to draw up a list of things they think need to be banned. >> rory challands reporting from moscow. russ

turkish air space at all, monitoring developments out of a turkish city near the syrian border and roryenge is standing by for us in moscow and niev is in brussels and just take us through what happened. >> reporter: peter, at about 9:20 local time here turkish officials say that a russian jet violated the air space and ten warnings within five minutes to the pilot and when the warnings were ignored their airforce shot down the fighter jet in the area which is on in latakia on the border in turkey. now activists on the ground say the pilot ejected from the plane and as we speak russian helicopters are hovering over the area in a search and rescue operation, that particular area was the scene of some intense fighting over the last few days before the syrian opposition and the government backed by syrian fighter jets. we know that some of those areas are under the control of factions affiliated with the turkmen minority which lives in that particular border area and know from our sources that some of the factions are now deployed trying to look for the two pilo pilots. >> scene intensifie

what is happening, rory?porter: well, the work i day is still fairly young, we haven't had a huge amount of official response yet. but we have heard very recently from the russian prime minister who has been speaking about what happened on tuesday. and saying that not even the defense of state borders is a good enough seclusion for the dangerous escalation in russia, nato tensions is how he put it. this is a disastrous move he thinks for relations between russia and turkey and also by implication between russia and nato. beyond that, what we are seeing really is the kind of percolation of the message that was put out from the kremlin on tuesday. that is being taken up by the russian media and broadcast. and that message is this, what happens on tuesday, what the turkish did was a gross betrayal. it was as vladimir putin said a stab in the back. and turkey is now being equated in russia with being a supporter of isil. >> so relations will be strained, of course. does it go i don't understand that, rory? does g

the two pilots was killed and we are monitoring developments from a turkish city near the border and roryanding by in moscow and lee barker is at headquarters in brussels and this is a moving story where you are, what is the very latest? >> basically the turkish army has just released a radar map with it says it shows the course of the russian s 24 as it got into the turkish air space and with a red line that it said was a violation of the turkish or the russian fighter jet and we've also heard from different sources that one of the pilots was killed and that the russian helicopt helicopters had been hovering in the area in latakia with a search and rescue mission. that mountainous area under control of the rebels so different factions are now operating on the ground trying to seize both pilots. there is an area further east which is still under the control of the syrian government so of the pilots that were ejected from the plane landed in the areas under the control of the rebels and it's going to be extremely difficult for the rescue mission that has been launched by the russians to so

rory? know whether you can hear me. >> yes, i missed your question. >> i was saying how president putin earlier had expressed his anger over this incident. >> reporter: yes, he has. and he used very, very powerful language. language picked up by the russian media. now they are leading their bulletins with the phrase stabbed in the back. it's the language that putin was using was the language of someone who feels deeply betrayed by a person or a friend. and is struggling to work out what happened. so vladimir putin is now saying that this -- this attack, really, on -- on -- on a russian military asset, a plane, was done by turkey. turkey is now being called an accomplice of terrorism. it is saying turkey's first response was to run to nato, rather than talking to russia. run to nato, as if it wanted to get nato as well to start supporting isil. because from the russian perspective, it has been taking on isil for months now. and any act that is aggressive act against russia, must be supportin

more the latest reaction from moscow let's speak to rory challands. it didn't take long for them to come back with a response in these accusations. remind us of what he said. >> yes, well, he said that well, essentially from the press here, the calls for russia to be banned from athletics not objective because the organizations management was changed in the spring after the cases were detailed in this report. while there have been cases of doping in russia athletics, he said he doesn't think this is systemic in nature. but he wasn't the first person to react to this from a russian federal organization. actually, the first body that came out to speak about this was not to do the sport at all. it's an agency called the federal medical biological agency, and they were very--they had come out with damning reports with recommendations to disqualify russians from the athletics is politically motivated. someone who we not heard from yet is the sports minister. he was mentioned in the report and mentioned in the press conference by dick pound. he did speak ye

. >> let's get more of this now with rory challands, who joins us live in moscow. rory, what has been the general reaction to the release of this image, and whether or not this was the device that brought this russian plane down? >> if this is the device that brought the russian plane down i'm not sure that there is that much information that can be gleamed from this photo that the russians don't already know. that's perhaps why the kremlin has not said too much about it. it has acknowledged it has seen the photo but it has not gone beyond much beyond that. if you look at this picture it's a farely rough and ready looking device. but then they were saying on tuesday that they already knew that this was the homemade device. it looks quite small in this picture, but then again, they were saying that they didn't thing that this device was much more than one kilogram of tnt or it's equivalent. there might perhaps be extra information that a bomb expert could glean from looking at the can, maybe, or from the elects trical components. but i think the big question remains

rory challands has more from moscow. >> reporter: strategic partners was how this man described syria in russia and the country's foreign ministers were certainly speaking with one voice on friday. >> translator: isis militants receive free weapons and passage. we are talking about militants from several countries.

. >> let's bring in rory challands joining us from moscow. rory, both foreign ministers, both strong allies on the same page when it kim to everything that they were discussing from the downed russian jet to the political process for syria going forward. not surprising, really. >> yes, strategic partners is what he calls russia and syria. they were, i think singing from the same hymn sheet here. we heard a lot of criticism of turkey. we heard that from the syrian foreign minister, who was left to deliver the fiercest criticisms of its northern neighbor. it basically said that turkey has been carrying out aggressive acts towards syria for the last five years. it said it had sympathy with russia for having been hit in similar way over the last few days. of course, referring to the downing of the russian jet, but this is something that syria believes it has been undergoing for at least since the war in syria started. he said that turkey was supporting various terrorist groups inside syria and that particularly, the illegal trade in isil's oil is

let's go to rory challands in moscow.y, after years of innuendo and rumors it is all moving quickly, isn't it? >> reporter: it does seem to be gathering pace. there was one head that rolled earlier in the week. he ran the laboratory in moscow that is at the heart of the allegations contained in the wider report. he resigned. now it looks like we're going to have another resignation. a bit of background on him. he was basically the head of the russian athletics federation for more than two decades from 1991 until february of this year. he was the president of the athletics federation here. he resigned after the german documentary, made by ard was aired, which criticized him very heavily. he decided in the wake of that, that he was going to step down. he did keep a position on the executive committee of russia's olympic committee. it's this position that he is essentially being instructed or recommended to resign from. he also interestingly has a position as the treasurer for the iaaf, the national association of athletics

challenge to the bureau in moscow and what do the syrians want to hear from the russians, rory in. >, he has been here for the last few days or so and has been talking to parliament and other political figures in russia and today he has the business end of his trip, a meeting with the russian minister sergei fedorov, what the two are going to be talking about is the what they call the antiterrorist campaign in syria and also how to try to progress the political settlement, the political settlement for syria that was agreed in vienna a week or two ago. on the issue the first part working out how to progress for the settlements for syria is get the government and the opposition talking with each other. now that part of this process, this condition for it need to be established by the end of the year. damascus says that it has done as much as it can on that so far and has a list of representatives that it will put forward for these discussions with the opposition, it's now up to the opposition they say to come up with a list of representatives and a political platform which considering

[laughter] the big games struggle at wgc champion in shanghai and golf major of asia and rory mcilroyggling but the tee shot on the 12th highlight in the second round and going on to make a birdie of 72 and nine off the league and nine back and trail american kevin and his second round of 66 and two clear of the field and 14 under par over all. pacific island of fiji will host rugby a few weeks after they competed at the world cup, organizers of the southern hemisphere suber rub bee commendation says they will be able to see them play in july and they are joining them in the super rugby next year and singapore will host a game. new zeeland continuing their national celebration tour after visited the all blacks in the capitol and prince charles amongst those to greek the triumphant players and england is officially leaving the sports and blamed by some for the exit in the group stages will return to rugby and south sidney and just left the australian club just a year ago. >> he wanted to follow a dream and wanted to try to be a jewel international to get in rugby league and union to ge

. >> live in moscow, al jazeera's rory challands is there. how you are the comments going down in the kremlin, rory. >> well, the russian government insisted from day one of its air campaign in syria, which started back in september, that it was doing this precisely to take on i.s.i.l. that is why it is in syria, and you can argue that it is doing that. i mean primarily strikes have been taken, carried out against i.s.i.l. and they have been increasing in severity over the last few days. the big question is not whether it is attacking i.s.i.l., but how much of it is attacking i.s.i.l. is it the main focus of the campaign, or is president obama the main focus of the campaign propping up bashar al-assad, and hitting the more moderate groups that have been fighting against the bashar al-assad regime since 2011. well, that's open to interpretation, and depend on who you believe, and which side you are on. certainly the big gulf with i.s.i.l., everyone believes they are bad, the americans, the russians, the saudis. all the actors involved in syria

. >> rory challands is in moscow for us. through this extraordinary route, rory. >> reporter: it is interesting, isn't it. it's a story that we have been having a look at for the last couple of weeks or so and there are a number of intriguing elements to t. first. all it's the method of transport bicycles these men and women are hopping to little rickety bikes and pedaling a is who the border because there is a check air at this of this particular border crossing which means that no foot traffic is allowed. second of all, you've got the remoteness of the whole thing. these people are going round the back way in to the backdoor of europe. we have seen all these pictures of hundreds of thousands of refugees trying to get in europe's front door these guys are going all the way up to the arctic circle. and trying to get in that way. in t may seem extreme, but there is a logic to it. the lodge i think is that it is first of all cheaper and second of all much safer than going through the balkans are trying to cross the mediterrane

from moscow, rory challands reports. >> reporter: this was a carefully prepared television event.orded the day before its broadcast on russian tv. vladimir putin was briefed by security service chief, russia's foreign and defense ministers listened attentively. >> translator: according to analysis, a homemade bomb detonated during the flight, clausing the plane to break up in midair. we can unequivocally say it was a terrorist act. >> reporter: then the men rose for a moment of silence before putin delivered a prepared address. >> translator: we should not apply any time limits. we will find them in any spot on the planet and punish them. >> reporter: isil's early claim that it killed the 224 people inside this plane was initially scorned. a technical fault was considered more likely, but more and more countries started to doubt the malfunction theory. the u.k. suspended flights to sigh any. the u.s. said it was pretty much certain that the plane was brought down by a bomb, but although russia too suspended flights to egypt giving every impression that it was working to the same a

rory challands, al jazeera, moscow. >> coming up. ban the box, leveling the playing field for ex-cons looking for work, but moderates says it puts an unfair burden on them. >> today, marks the unofficial kick jofer tkickoff to the holig season. online sales continue to tick up. analysts say web-buying is up 25% since last thanksgiving and the numbers are big. consumers spend $1.7 billion online. >>> unemployment it's lowest at 5.7%. but finding a job is still difficult. there is a growing movement to try to level the playing field called banning the box. lisa stark reports. >> reporter: getting a job is often cause for celebration. but especially here, at a meeting of a baltimore group called turn around tuesday. those who traditionally have trouble finding work. >> something was on my criminal record that prevented me from getting a job. >> michael marshall's rap sheet tells the story. 31 years in and out of prison for drug dealing, robbery and assault. he's been out and clean for six years with one goal. >> it's frustrating, it's a

as al jazeera am rory challands reports, syria is the main topic of discussion. >> a jam packed to tehran for vladimir putin. speaking at the gas exporters summit meeting with the supreme leader from iran, ali khamenei and also president rouhani. we have been told by the russian kremlin spokesperson, dimitri peskov, this was a long conversation, went on 1.5 hours, longer than they planned for. trade, bilateral negotiations and of course syria. we know had a these two men broadly agreed on the inadmissibility they called it of imposing a political settlement on syria from outside. this is a revenues to what the iranians and the russians think the west is trying to do. they both agree that no one can tell the syrians which form of government and which leader they must choose. this is what they agreed on. what this doesn't say is what they disagreed on. this is what western governments will be looking for, any sign that this cozy relationship between moscow and tehran has any friction in it. mainly they want to see any sign of friction over their commitment to the faith of assad. >> that is

rory challands reports. >> speaking with one voice in moscow on friday. >> translator: i.s.i.s. militants receive weapons and free passage. they don't have to use parachutes. we are talking about militants from several questions. turkey made the step to shoot down the russian jet because it supports and encourages those terrorists. >> reporter: they were meeting to discuss practical steps for pushing forward vienna process, the mechanism they hope will find a political settlement for syria. >> we have agreed that a list of terrorist groups that will be secluded from any political negotiations needs to be drafted. then vienna needs to go through the u.n. security council. it is absolutely clear that without it political peace talks between moderate opposition and the syrian government cannot take place. >> reporter: in southern russe were military funerals. alexander was the pilot shot dead parachuting to the ground are viewed as heroes in russia. not in turkey, these protesters are calling russia's military murderers. putin is depicted as a vampire. recep tayyip erdogan has accu

at the highline ballroom, "the nightly show" contributor rory albanese.use) you can see her perform at the new york comedy festival this thursday at 7:30 p.m., comedienne and cabaret performer bridget everett. (cheers and applause) and he's the c.e.o. of the planetary society, and his new book "unstoppable: harnessing science to change the world" is out today. bill nye the science guy! (cheers and applause) and for everyone at home, join our conversation right now on twitter @nightlyshow using the hashtag "tonightly." now, bill, your book on climate change just came out, and you -- congratulations. >> thank you. >> larry: you're welcome. i know you have your own take on things, but other researchers have predicted there will be no fish in the ocean by 2048. sea levels will rise 38 feet and put cities like new york underwater, and climate change will leave over half a billion people homeless. do environmental scare tactics go too far? >> no. >> larry: i believe that fish thing, i'm just saying. >> the word "no fish in the ocean," humans take a lot of fish

rory challengrory challands, moscow. >> there were light bombs and shots that might be signals to thepilot. the areas around all front engagement points of the position are being bombarded also been the regime forces. the place of the second pilot whose fate is not known at the moment. more than 5,000 people have fled eight villages in the mountains to the border in recent days. those who refuse to leave their homes decided to leave today after the aircraft explosion in order not to be targeted by the russian planes. >> u.s. president has spoken about the downing of the jet. he said that turkey has a right to defend its territory and air space. >> i do think that this points to an ongoing problem with the russian operations. in the sense that they are operating very close to a turkish border and they are going after moderate opposition that are supported by not only turkey but a wide range of countries. and if russia is directing its energies towards daesh and isil, some of those conflicts or potentials for mistakes or escalation are less likely to occur. i also think that this unders

let's go to rory challands live for us now in moscow.irst, perhaps of many heads to roll, and we're expecting an official statement from russian authorities pretty soon, i understand. >> reporter: well, actually this will be i think the second head to roll, if it does go, and it's probably very likely that it will. a bit of background on this man. he was essentially the man who built up the russian athletics federation. he was the president of the organization from 1991, so a long time ago, up until february of this year. he resigned in the wake of the doping scandal that erupted after the germans made this documentary, the ard channel made a documentary, which was -- the thing that basically caused or triggered the wider doping report. so he stepped down from the russian athletics federation position of chairman, but he kept a position on the executive committee of the russian olympic committee. now that is what he is supposed to be resigning under their recommendations right now. he is also interestingly on the treasury -- he is the tr

even the russian security operators were involved in this process. >> rory challands. thank you. >> meeting at the white house, and the focus will be on combating isil as well as israel's security. the talks come as violence has escalated in israel and the occupied palestinian territories during the past five weeks. >> i want to be very clear that we condemn in the strongest terms palestinian violence against innocent israeli citizens. the strong believe that israel has not just the right but the obligation to protect itself. i also will discuss with prime minister his thoughts on how we can lower the temperature in the--between israeli and palestinians, and how we can get back on a path towards peace. >> i remain committed to a vision of peace, two states for two peoples. a demilitarized palestinian state that recognizes a jewish state. i don't think that anybody should doubt israel's determination to defend itself against terror and destruction, but neither should anybody doubt israel's willingness to make peace with any of its neighbors who genuinely want to achieve

let's go to rory challands in moscow. russian president making these comments sitting alongside his military big guns, quite litterly. >> reporter: what he announced on tuesday at least the kremlin has spoken and said on tuesday, they had a phone conversation. now of course they talked about the two attacks that they both have been victim to over the last few weeks or at least their people have been victim to. and they pledge to work closer together militarily in syria. now the briefing that putin was given on all of the attacks that have been taking place in syria over the last few hours, he specifically instructed his naval commanders operating in the eastern mediterranean, he said the french fleet is coming, treat them as your allies. this is, i think an indication of how the sands are shifting and how russia and the west which had been so far apart in syria and over ukraine, and now after these attacks on the -- on the french capitol paris, and on this russian plane, now they are starting to be drawn closer together.

. >> golfs former number one rory mcelroy looks to end his season on a high. >> hello, again, you're watching the al jazeera news hour. here's a reminder of our top stories. russia stepped up its bombing campaign in syria in what activists are calling the heaviest strike since 2011. they are targeting the easternern region and the capitol held by isil. >> people are voting in senior jen tina's presidential runoff between the rulings party and the opposition let's change coalition. both candidates voted in buenos aires in the past few hours. >> in belgium, whether the state of emergency will be extended. the streets are in lockdown over warnings of an eminent attack. >> children have been orphaned by the fight against isil. the number of other fans could be in the thousands. we are a report from erbil. >> their father was killed by isil fighters last year when the armed group took control of the sip jar mount in in northern iraq. she saw the fighters kill her husband and that one gunshot, her whole life changed. >> after they killed my husband, the children and women were put in aband

. >> let's go live now to al jazeera's rory challands. tell us what the russian federal security chief has been saying, calling for the suspension of flights to egypt. >> this is a significant development in the on going investigation into the crash of the metro jet plain in sinai. early on today, there was an emergency security meeting held in moscow. it was chaired by the president vladimir putin and out of that meeting, there was this new line, a new advisory if you will, from the head of the federal security era, the f.s.b. in terms of russian security matters, there aren't many people higher than this man. what he called for was for flights to egypt to be suspended. he considered it expedient to suspend flights until the true cause of the sinai air crash can be established. he said that there was the utmost importance in being completely objective and looking at all the data. now remember that this is something that the u.k. has already done, and following this decision of the united kingdom to suspend flights to the sinai, the russi

. >>> rory challands has more now on the meeting between the russian and syrian foreign ministers. >>ter: syria's foreign minister called russia and syria strategic partners, and they certainly were singing from the same hymn sheet here. they were talking about how they were going to try to move the peace process, the political resolution for syria forward. it's called the vienna process, and involves a certain number of different stages. the first of these, really, is trying to get the environment right for what they call an intra-syrian dialogue. now that basically means the government and the opposition talking together. now this has to happen by the end of this year, so not very far away. damascus says it already has a list of its representatives that will be engaged in these talks. the onus is on the opposition to come up with a political platform, and second of all, its own list of representatives to engage in these talks. that's not going to be an easy thing because of the different factions involved in the disparate opposition movement. one of the other things they are talking

rory challands was talking about nato. what was of the incident there in brussels. >> we are still waiting to hear an official response from the nato alliance, where they have been very quick to call an extraordinary meeting of the north atlantic council. all 28 permanent members of nato who are based here in headquarters will take part in that meeting. we believe also that senior nato members of staff will be brought in via video link, possibly including the chief of nato alliances. it's a very rare event, only a handful of extraordinary nato alliances meetings being called in nato's 66 year history. for the last over the summer on want 28 of july was also called by turkey. back then, turkey urged nato to join it in considering a security response to the threat posed by isil. now once again, at turkey's request, it is asking nato to consider its findings as to where exactly the russian jet, where it was brought down in northern syria. it would be up to nato to formulate a considered response. >> the official went on to st

as rory challands reports from moscow, the russians are coming out fighting. >> reporter: rain fell on olympic complex on tuesday, fitting weather for the current mood. this show piece venue is a legacy from soviet days when doping scandals were common. those days seem to be back, and russia could soon find itself cast out of world athletics. >> translator: of course it would be an enormous blow. we hope for common sense from the council members who first of all must work in the interests of our sport. >> reporter: the russian athletics federation has until thursday to respond to the allegations of state-endorsed doping, an iaaf council decision on whether to ban russia is expected over the weekend. it's a move some top athletes would support. >> i think it needs to be strong action now, and you never want to have to penalize even one innocent athlete, which might happen in this case, but i think it's a step that has to be taken. >> reporter: this moscow the allegations have invoked a kind of siege mentality. this building is the official address of the moscow, anti-doping laboratory,

al jazeera's rory challenge has more from moscow. >> there was 20 minutes from when we heard the firstouncement from alexander one of the most important men in russia's security firms and is the head of the fsb, the federal security service. he was recommending that all flights be suspended until the cause of the crash could be determined. 20 minutes later that plan was being put into action already. we heard from vladimir putin and the kremlin at least through its spokesperson that this was going to be the case. this is going to happen. what has changed, is the big question because it was just a matter of days ago on thursday that the russian government was severely criticizing the british, the uk government which had decided to stop flying to sinai only sinai until the cause of the crash could be determined. now, russia is suspending flights to all of egypt. what has changed, we don't know because we don't really -- that is not how the russian government operates but consider this at the moment there are fragments and samples being analyzed in russia taken from the crash site. we kno

. >> rory is in moscow and give us the information for the evidence of this. >> well, the evidence asstands that which is presented to vladimir putin by the head of the fsb security services and what he told putin is they had been analyzing the wreckage of the plane and doing chemical tests on it and what they found was that a homemade explosive had brought the metro jet plane out of the sky so there was at least a kilogram maybe 1.5 kilogram of some sort of tnt-like explosive which had done the deeds. they have not named any names yet of people they hold responsible but as we heard there from vladimir putin the language of the russian leadership at the moment is using words like retribution and punishment and destruction. >> and in practice what kind of measures could the government bring in, how is it likely to respond? >> well, its range is really from the geo political right down to the domestic and on the geo political level we are now hearing from francois hollande talking of a grand coalition to fight i.s.i.l., that is something that the russians have been asking for for quite

rory challands reports. >> reporter: strategic partners was how he described syria and russia. country's foreign ministers were certainly speaking with one voice in moscow on friday. >> translator: isis militants receive weapons and free passage, they don't have to use parachutes, we are talking about militants from several countries. they have receive medical help and weapons from turkey. turkey made the step to shoot down the russian jet because it supports and encourages those terrorists. >> reporter: they were meet to go discuss practical steps to pushing forth the vienna process we hope they find a political solution to syria. >> we have agreed that a list of terrorist groups that will be excluded from my political negotiations needs to be drafted. it will then need to go through the u.n. security council. it is absolutely clear that without it, political peace talks between moderate opposition and the syrian government cannot take place. >> reporter: in southern russia there were military honors and a funeral. alexander was the marine killed trying to rescue a russian air

rory mcilroy hitting a 58. here is the highlight chipping in at the 18th. he missed much of the season through injury, six others have a chance to overhaul him at the top of the rankings. tes on four under. the tournament lead is shared by four players by six under. including ian poulter. taking the sole lead. >> it's a nice way to finish. it was a bit scrappy. it's the 10th hole and you have it back with a couple of birdies, in between the birdies, at the last. and there was ugly golf in there. it's nice to get around. i felt like it was a little struggle at times, producing something like that. the way i finished makes it feel better. >> i played well to come in with 6-under par. it was a long way to go. it was a golf course i liked. i had low rounds on the course. i had pretty good experience around here. i like the way it's set up. >> roger federer made it three wins out of three. the six-time champion beating kei nishikori to top the group. roger federer qualified for the semifinals. taking the first set here 7-5. kei nishikori fighting back to win the

let's cross over to rory challands joining us from moscow and there is some comments, rory that haveeen made by the surviving pilot according to russian media reports. what has he been saying? >> yes, you are right, this was the pilot who's fate was unknown for so many hours, but the same pilot who vladimir putin put on tv today announcing he was safe and well. there was a 12-hour rescue mission to pull him out, a rescue mission undertaken by russian and syria special units. this pilot has basically supported the russian narrative of this event. he says that the -- he, the navigator and the pilot of the plane knew this area like the back of their hands, and therefore they -- they couldn't have gone into turkish air space. he says this justing didn't happen. he says the missile hit them in the tail of the plane and they had no chance to do anything about it. essentially what we're hearing is pretty much the same information we have heard from the russian government as well, that is that this plane did not go into turkish air space. there were no received warnings from the turkish mili

rory challands al jazeera, moscow. >>> joining me now live from washington, d.c.fellow at the washington institution focusing on russia's policy towards the middle east. madam thank you so much for joining us. we were just listening to that report by rory challands so the suspension of visa-free travel strong words between the two leaders, and apparent refusal, really to meet at the paris summit neck week but i guess considering what could have happened does it look to you like all of this is going to go towards a deescalation. >> neither side wants a direct military confrontation. i think we'll see a lot of strong language in the coming days and weeks. their personalities are very similar and neither is going to want to back down. so i think we'll see more of these tennings but neither side really wans a direct confrontation. >> no direct confrontation, though you say we're going to see more tensions. are these tensions going to have an impact on the rest of the coalition on the fight against isil which obviously all of these countries are there for. >> a couple

they continue as far as he knows to operate in that area with no restrictions. >> and this rory is notn awkward line for the kremlin to maintain and have been seeing pictures of francois hollande fresh in paris after meeting at the kremlin yesterday and this idea that vladimir putin is on board of sharing resources with everyone else and what he believes should come out of the campaign is different than what others want out of the campaign. >> the russian's perspective and from putin is it's open for consideration and open for a grand coalition, the u.s. led coalition that is not ready yet to cooperate with the russians. vladimir putin said that it is up to the syrian people to decide on the fate of assad. russia considers assad to be its primary ally in syria because in the fight against i.s.i.l. the syrian army is the only effective ground force and therefore it has to be treated as an ally, if you are going to be serious about taking on i.s.i.l. then you need a ground force and that ground force belongs to the syrian government so we have to work with it, that is the perspective so

backs in the fight against bashar al-assad's government and rory challenge is live in moscow this morning give us an update of what putin's stance is in the fight and what has changed. >> if you listen to what he said on thursday you can say his stance has stayed pretty much consistent and he is still loyal to president bashar al-assad and said it was up to the syrian people to decide whether assad was the man forcier -- for syria and should be an ally of anyone who is interested in combatting terrorism inside syria and said to combat i.s.i.l. properly you have to have ground forces and the only ground forces that are legitimate inside syria according to vladimir putin are the ground forces of the syrian president namely the syrian army. if there is some shift in vladimir putin's stance that is as he put it we have reached an agreement with france to avoid any strikes on those territories and those armed units that are ready to fight terrorism and that has been interpreted as putin saying he is not going to attack any groups other than i.s.i.l. but i think that is a very vague statement a

for in this seemingly quite cozy relationship. >> when we talk about it being a cozy relationship roryre those relations? >> well, at the moment it does seem very close indeed but let's just look at who these countries are, they are both extra -- extrovert in a crowded middle east and decided at the moment at least their interests are aligned so they are primarily working with each other in syria. the russians are also selling the iranian's very sophisticated missile defense systems and the russians are also building nuclear reactors for iran but there are potential problems, for one these are both energy-producing countries and iranian oil is soon to come on the world market and that is going to have an impact on the general price of oil and the general price of oil is something that russia is concerned about and doesn't want the oil price to fall any further and might not have as closely aligned interest in syria long-term as they do at the moment, this is the kind of stuff the west will be watching for, rory thanks very much. pieces of iraq history are locked away this secret vaults

suk-ju applied more than ten years ago to the korean rory mcilroy for a reunion and has been waitingver since. suk-ju was born in the northwestern region of the korean peninsula in 1917. he was wed at 24 and supported his mother, wife and three children by working as a carpenter. the korean war broke out when suk-ju was 32. he was drafted into the north korean army and served in various locations. early in the conflict the north korean army controlled nearly the entire korean peninsula. but after u.n. forces fought back the war became a quagmire. four months into the war suk-ju decided to desert the north korean family and flee to south korea. before fleeing to south korea he visited his family who had sought refuge from the war by hiding in the mountains. that day was suk-ju's birthday. his mother cooked him a feast of chicken. after fleeing to south korea, suk-ju managed to make a living by using his carpentry skills. he says he constantly regretted leaving his family behind and fleeing alone. he had no way to contact his family. as time passed, suk-ju came to believe that his fami

double standards saying investigations are not commissioned in other countries and let's speak to roryenge live in moscow and rory tell us more about what the russian sports ministry is saying because there is some confusion if it's agreeing there is a problem here. >> well, it does take a little bit of analysis to unpick the different comments that have come out of the sports ministry in the last few hours since the wider report was published but what i have detected is three main strands to his argument, the first is invasion really saying that the sports ministry, the russian government needs more time and has not been proper to devil into the populations and it will do so in time and then it will be able to give a proper response to them. but then there is also compliance and saying that whatever russia decides and whatever russia sort of responds to the report with it will comply with whatever the international athletics association federation says the iaaf if that says that russia has to make certain improvements or decides to exclude athletes from future competitions then russia

and if he knew about it, then he was complicit in it. >> rory challands reporting from moscow. a shift in tone from russia. prime minister dimitri me medve, said that a missile could have brought down the metro jet over sinai last month. there is strong evidence that the bomb blew the jet out of the sky. the fbi is offering its assistance to egyptian and russian investigators. russian president vladimir putin held a meeting with his defense officials today. he touted russia's success in the syrian air campaign. at the same time russia confirmed it is sending advanced air missiles to iran, the deal arrived after the nuclear deal. >>> syrian activists are accusing the assad regime with targeting with barrel bombs. video of one of the attacks is posted today, purports to show a barrel bomb hitting the rebel city of doraya. >>> the white house today strongly condemned the killing of two americans at a u.s. training facility in amman jordan. by a jordanian police officer. president obama says the u.s. takes this act very seriously and says officials will work closely with the jordan

schedule, and obviously the framework for trying to sort this problem out is already in place. >> rory live in moscow with that update. thank you. coming up later in this news hour, germany announces plans to test other diesel cards after volkswagen's emission cheating scandal. >>> eight south africa police officers are jailed after murdering a taxi driver. >>> in sport, the stars of the west indies against sri lanka. >> the e.u. mass set up a $1.9 billion fund to help african nations to deal with some of the causes of migration namely, of course, poverty and conflict. and if europe tries to stop people from making the tri journey from south africa as more people die at sea while trying to leave the turkish coast. let's go to malta. laurence lee live in the capital for us. lawrence what is europe trying to get out of this meeting there? >> well, i think, felicity. what they're trying to do with this historic summit is to try to turn a crisis into an opportunity. a crisis is partly humanitarian, so many people dying in the sea. but for europe it's a crisis for itself. the european union

rory challands, moscow. >> a palestinian driver rammed his car into israelis, later in the day police released surveillance video showing a palestinian woman stabbing an israeli security guard at the entrance to a west bank settlement. he was wounded before shooting and injuring the woman. israeli-palestinian tensions are expected to be on the agenda while israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu meets with president obama. we'll discuss that in our week ahead segment next. >>> one day after the historically quested elections first in 25 years, final polling numbers will take weeks. the turnout was estimated at 80% of eligible voters. many were up before dawn to wait for polls to open but still uncertainty about how quickly the system can change to a full democracy. more on the story now from al jazeera's scott heidler in yangon, myanmar. >> reporter: a new day in myanmar and a new chapter in this nation's history. the election on sunday for the most part went through without any major hitches. it's been described as a remarkable day. now it's not like this nation woke up monday morn

. >> we'll go to rory challand. should we be surprised by the recommendations being put forward? >> well, we did think that this was going to be a big announcement. but i don't think anyone in this press conference is still going on in the hotel to the right of me now really expected it to be so big. the doctor has--the document given out is a big document, it's been handed to interpol for them 20 decide what to do with it. confirmed from what they saw from the german channel in december that sparked in inquiry, confirmed widespread cheatin cheating from cheatin cheating from entourage, athletes, we see giving doping substances to cleats discussing how not to be caught. some of the statements were russian athletes who were fearing for their safety after appearing in the document. fiber analysis, and extensive doping, there is coercion of russian athletes told they won't have access to top coaches if they don't join in this program of doping, and it comes to around 4 million people not employed not in a great economic state. young athletes are under great pressure to perform and p

field world governing body to decide whether or not to suspend russia, and meanwhile, aljazeera's rory chalmers has more. >> reporter: what's interesting about vladimir putin's address, and it's a brief one, he didn't criticize the reports into russian athletic doping at all. that has been done by russian politicians in the past few days. but putin sees himself as an threat, and he does martial arts, and goes skiing, and he was proud that russia hosted a successful olympics in 2014, and he be obviously doesn't want russian athletes to be banned from the olympics in 2016. so he probably is taking this doping scandal very seriously. but he calls for an open and transparent internal investigation into russian doping, to be undertaken in cooperation with international bodies. but russia doesn't have a good reputation for openness and transparency. transparency international, which monitors corruption around the world ranking russia 36 out of 36 countries. so if they're intense in doping, particularly in russia, and not just happy to settle for some sort of political fudge, then they'll rea

rory mcilroy has finished as europe's number of one walker.y sullivan, the one shot mcilroy by the 15th hole. by the 17th, the other two-shot lead. disaster stuck with that tee shot. a brilliant putt allowing him to stay a shot clear into their final hole. he negotiated that without any alarm to finish a final round of 66 at 21 under overall. tops the european money list for the third time in two years, pocketing 2 and a half million dollar for the honor [applause.] >> this long distance athletes of all time, the last competitive race, salasi bowed out after a neil three-decade long career. he did so. he founded the great either open an drum, around 40,000 runners turned up for the 15th edition of the 'til 10 kilometer race. he has two olympic titles under his belt. the 42-year-old is an 8th time world champion. he runs barefoot with his family waiting at the finish line there. nice way to bow out. >> that's your sport. thank you for watching, inspector david in london. >> my pleasure, robin. thank you very much indeed for doing it. you watch

rory challands, al jazeera, moscow. >> james bays has more now from new york. the. >> angry words of a different version of events from ankara and moscow, but they are very keen to de-escalate the situation because it remains a dangerous situation. they're keen, too, that this should be a dispute between turkey and russia. a bilateral dispute. not a dispute that widens between one between russia and all of nato. i'm told by diplomats here that they think it's interesting and worth noting that this has not been referred to the u.n. security council. any member of the council can request a meeting. turkey could ask one of its allies on the security council to call a meeting. both have decided not to do th that. >> joining us, thanks for joining us, we've been listening to james bays in new york explaining how both sides seem to be taking a step back here. but diplomatically these have been pretty dangerous moments, haven't they, not just between turkey and russia, but nato and russia? >> yes, indeed, and i think what this almost straits is th--what this demonstra