health organization" predicts that the virus could be degetted by world's end. >> and in sport, the final golf major of the year. right now rory mcilroy and jordan spieth are on course and dustin johnson are leading the field on six under par. >> our top story fighters from the islamic state in iraq and the levant say they are behind a huge blast in baghdad. the explosion tore through a crowded market killing at least 55 people. 200 more are injured. we have reports now from the iraqi capital. >> in the blink of an eye the scene turned from mundane to murderous. as sum search for survive--as some search for survivors others find the dead. many iraqis knew this would be the work of isil. it was the third attack by the group in as many days. underscoring just how tenuous the security situation here is. dozens were killed, and dozens more injured. deepening sectarian lines at a time when their government is asking iraqis to work together. a call that has asked leaders for reform. >> it is unclear how the attack may affect the turn out especially here in bac baghdad, that has another reminder of the security crisis here. >> the blast is one of the first since president hyder al abadi has taken presidency in 2014. on monday at least 58 people were killed, and more than 100 injured in two blasts. a market attack in july killed around 86 people. many of those killed were women and children gathered to mark the end of ramadan. according to the u.n. about 15,000 civilians have been killed in iraq since the start of 2014. well, joining me now from new york is the chair of the middle east studies. thank you for joining us. this demonstrates even as isil comes under pressure they still have the ability to strike at the capital. >> in a massive way. as you listed the blast in the last few weeks it has been able to attack not only one particular theater but all over iraq including the heart of the iraqi capital. the target is the same, the shia. we know, mariam, we know that if is to aggravate shia tensions and bring about a sunni-shia war. the fight is not going well for the iraqi government and even in the words of the top american general, who said basically that the united states might have to send ground troops in order to save the day. the war is basically a stalemate more than a year after the establishment of the u.s.-led coalition against daesh or isil. >> you mentioned recent comments, and certainly the government of hyder al abadi were not impressed by what he said about the possible partition of iraq. would you say that it has gained traction with congress and the obama administration? >> you're absolutely correct. the debate has been raging within the obama administration for almost two years now. what the american general said today is that it tells you about the mindset of the american officials in the obama administration, that the consensus within the administration is that iraq is coming apart, the obama administration does not really no longer believe in an unified iraq they made is clear that even though the priority is isil, isil must be defeated first, but at the end of the day iraq will not be rescued. this tells you about the thinking of the administration, basically the pendulum is shifting, and there are those that believe that the sunni-shia division could be filled any time soon. >> is iraq not effectively fractured already? you have the kurds dominating in the north of the country. you have daesh or isil in anbar province in the west. large parts of the country drifting further away from central government control. >> yes, iraq is facing challenge. iraq is undergoing all-out war. isil is a result, a product of the fracturing of iraq. but i do not believe by the chatter of american' least. the iraqis can save their country even though iraq faces social ideology and sectarian deep riffs, but it's up to the people and society to rescue their own country and to rise up to the challenge. at the end of the day it's not what the americans the fate of iraq will be. it's what we comment. at the end of the day agency lies with iraqis, and we hope that the iraqis will stand up and rise up and save their country, even though it is a very difficult and complex challenge, indeed. >> life for us in new york. thank you. >> now seven people have been sentenced to death in pakistan over a series of attacks. including an assault on a school that killed more than 150 people, most of them children. and an eighth person will now spend life in prison. >> the attack on the public school was not the first time that a place of learning had been targeted, but the scale of the assault which killed 151 people most of them students, shocked pakistan and the world. it led to protests in many cities, and the government reacted by announcing new measures that they said were aimed at combating terrorism. these are the seven men that carried out the attack. they all died in the assault. now they've confirmed the death penalty linked to the attack. they were tried behind closed doors after pakistan's parliament amended the constitution to allow such courts to try terrorism suspects. the men sentenced on thursday were found guilty of tasks such as collecting funds and transporting or harboring suicide-bombers for the attack. following the assault pakistan's government also lifted a six-year moratorium on executions and has since hanged 180 people. al jazeera. >> our correspondent kamal hyder has this for us. >> the perpetrators of the attack on the public school in 2014, and also one of the people in the attack in karachi, one of the attackers, while all this is happening, if the pakistani supreme court rules that this was committed by the perpetrators, the court now has the jurisdiction to try these people. however, the military said that they will still have the right to appeal. people across pakistan are in favor of the death penalty. they want the military to be able to have speedy trials because that was the demand of the people there is a support on the ground. however, civil rights organizations would be criticizing the movement saying that the death penalty should be abolished. >> the death toll from the explosion in china city tianjin have risen to 50. these pictures shows the aftermath of the blast. 700 are injured and 37 firemen are still missing. makeshift towns have been set up for those forced out of their homes. we have more from the site of the explosion. >> the heart of one of china's important economic hubs torn apart by blasts. fires burnhroughout the night. there were further explosions on thursday afternoon. as a pool of toxic smoke billowed across the city. with local people concerned, not for the first time, about the air that they're now breathing. >> we're very worried, very worried about what chemicals are in the air. we're worried it might be toxic and harmful in the future. >> close to the epicenter of the explosion the scale of the destruction is difficult to comprehend what happened and why. >> i thought it was a gas explosion. my bedroom wall was hit by a shockwave. >> other survivors thought it was an earthquake or nuclear explosion. windows were shattered. forcing the evacuation of hundreds of families. da brie sliced through hundreds of vehicles. >> this is a workers' dormitory, and you can see it has been completely shredded. it shows that the people here were lucky to get out alive. the number of dead is continuing to rise. many of them were firefighters. government officials say that hundreds of people were treated in hospital, mostly for cuts caused by flying glass and concrete. >> my first reaction was to run. i then heard another plasmati. i escaped and was running wild. i had blood all over my body. >> authorities say that the blasts were caused by chemicals stored in a warehouse close to where thousands of people lived. an investigation into how that was possible has now begun. adrian brown, al jazeera, tianjin. >> the city of aleppo has access again to water after being cut off for weeks. they have restored supplies to the city. they were cut off in july after al-qaeda's al nusra front closed the station. residents were forced to drink untreated water from wells. half a million people are still struggling to receive enough water to survive. meanwhile, the u.s. has begun using a turkish air base to carry out airstrikes against the islamic state in iraq and the levant in syria. turkey has allowed the americans to use the bases in the south to strike against the group. >> august, 2013, death is a regular occurrence. it's been months since the ele elected president has been toppled. survivors struggle to identify the bodies killed by security forces. most of those killed are identified as morsi supporters. but some are just passersby, arrested by mistake, jammed into the overcrowded space. the van is sealed. the prisoners suc suffocate and die. >> my brother was transferred to the prison. it was attacked and we don't know what happened to him. we're told that the prisoners were killed. we were told that many were killed, so we came here to the morgue to check for him. >> three officers are suspended. it's the first time since the ousting of president morsi that security force members face the trial over the deaths of demonstrators. outside of the court violence breaks out. three months later in june captain farouk's sentence is quashed on appeal. this latest verdict is from egypt's highest court. if is final and cannot be appealed. rob matheson, al jazeera. >> well, there is much more still ahead for you on the al jazeera news hour. we'll bring you the video that put five soldiers behind bars and shocked a central american nation. squabbles holding up reforms in an india parliament, and in sport, how comments are causing more off-spor-court problems for a controversial player. >> now more than 12 houthi rebels have been reportedly been killed during a figh fighting in taiz. yemeni officials say that six civilians were killed by houthi shellings. the motor rounds from fired as reinforcements arrived to maintain hold on the city. now the leader of myanmar's leading party was ousted. soldiers also surrounded the party headquarters. but as erica wood explains the leadership has been wracked by infighting for months. >> limited access in and out of the headquarters of the rolling union solidarity and development party. it's been surrounded by security forces blocking men mps inside. for months it's been an internal struggle between top military officers who want to run for president in the upcoming election. they also included an announcement why htay maung is listed on the party. >> the army and to some extent the ministers believe that he has been a traitor, and he has not actually been playing ball with the executive, and he's been trying to manipulate the parliament to change the institution when, in fact, the army and the president are not ready for it. >> it's also been seen as a blow for myanmar's past to democracy just three months before the general election. it's supposed to be the least restricted since they handed over power four years ago. but infighting and public protests have already caused election unrest. the party of opposition leader are expected to make major gains in the election. she's not allowed to run for president and have barred candidates with children with foreign passports. the election has been seen by the international community as a test whether the commanders really are ready to loosen their grip on power. erica wood, al jazeera. >> for more we're joined from new york by christian lewis, a political risk analyst who has trained and advised political parties in campaigns in myanmar. >> thank you to be having me. i think the first conflict has been long building with the military. they are concerned that he will make an overture to include reduction of parliamentary and veto power. the second part of the conflict. he has been an ambitious politician, and he feels that he was passed over for presidency in 2007. >> what does this tell us about their role just three months before election? >> this has been the clearest red line we've seen from the military how far they're willing to go. i think it's in amending the constitution the military has a deaffect toa defacto veto, so when the amendment is proposed, if they vote as a block together, they're always going to be able to reject that if they want to. the concern here was a breakaway politician from the ruling partying who teamed up with the opposition would be able to amend the constitution, and the military put a hard stop to that. >> what happens now to shwe mann, his whereabouts are unknown. the party headquarters are surrounded by the military and movements are very restricted. where do we go from here? >> so, i think the most important thing that we've seen in the last 24 hours, and i should emphasize that the situation is still fairly fluid, and as you identified we don't know exactly where he is. that said, the fact that the military has taken pains to say that he will keep his speakership, and he'll continue to run for the usdp in his home constituency suggests that they're aware of the bad pr effectively. this is not a wholesale coup in the country by any means. this is a specific action taken against a very specific politician because of his role in the coming election. >> well, christian lewis, thank you very much for sharing your analysis with us. we appreciate it. now, as cuba's relationship with the u.s. thaws tourism and expects it to flourish on the island nation, the touch of old world charm is waiting for people to come back to havana. >> it stands above on top of what was once a spanish fortress with canons used during the spanish war. it is not just a hotel. it's a monument to cuban history, the hotel historians takes us on a tour of the nationalna nationale. built 85 years ago by american architects. the king and queen represented by the two towers. >> it's all original. >> the front desk is made of mahogany. incredibly the mailbox looks exactly as it did 85 years ago. the i mailman comes with the original key to open the original lock every day. >> but it's the nationale's history that most fascinate's visitors. hollywood's most glamorous stars were regulars like frank sinatra and ava gardner who spent their honeymoon in this room. the top mov mafia bosses rented out the entire floor. >> this was named after winston churchill. he would come here and smoke his favorite cuban cigars. >> the hotel's cabaret still puts on a nightly show. a venue that has been immortalized in films like "godfather ii" and documents about the night that again changed cuban history. >> it was in 1969 and all of cuban high society was here celebrating the new year when news that bautista fled the country, and fidel castro had just triumphed. the hotel closed down. the ma mafia was thrown out. and it became a fortress. >> we are underneath the gardens now. the only thing that is new are the lights. >> the tunnels were opened to the public a decade ago to commemorate the crisis that brought the world to the brink of a nuclear war. >> that militia uniform that you see there was mine. yes, i was here when i was 18 years old. not working for the hotel, but as part of the university militia. >> half a century later the hotel is still a major tourist attraction. >> the hotel has managed to create something not common in hotels. that is to appeal to people's interest in history. >> a history that in some ways has come full circle with the arrival of new hollywood stars. new world leaders, and again the americans to the hotel nationa nationale. lucia newman. al jazeera, havana. >> the new cooking fuel in africa. plus. >> i'm bernardmi on top of of a roof. that with one earthrer this roof will come crashing down. >> and a game at the west bank 15 years in the making. >> the death toll from the northeast city of tianjin has risen to 150. >> it infected almost 30,000 people and killed more than 11,000. >> if the current intensity is sustained, the virus can be defeated by the end of this year. that means going to zero and staying at zero. fears that the virus could become permanently established in human beings in this part of africa have receded, and this is also regood news. >> well, the "world health organization" spoke earlier saying that the predictions are not premature. all groups on the ground need to be vigilant. >> it is very important that we do not get complacent together with the population together with the with all those who have been involved so far. we have seen that one unsafe burial to lead to a number of transmission chains. we have to be vigilant. it seems that the vaccine is safe, efficient, and we need more research to be absolutely sure that the vaccine will help us to get down to a small number of infections. the work on the new vaccine is a very promising sign and very encouraging tool in the future. >> al-qaeda leader has pledged the group's allegiance to the new head of the afghan taliban. the audio statements in support of mansour was posted online. he's thought to be hiding in the afghanistan-pakistan border area. now, five guatemalan soldiers are behind bars accused of bashing two young men. it was recorded on cell phone. >> an abuse of power captured on video. guatemalan soldiers viciously beat two young men west of guatemalan city. it was rumored that the young men were delinquents and the soldiers warned them this is how they were trained. the video went viral with shock for the bar bearty and disregard for the law. guatemalan authorities launched an investigation. >> on thursday the soldiers in the video were arrested and brought here to the public prosecutor's office. they'll face a judge on allegations of abuse of authority and maltreatment of a minor. for more than 15 years guatemala military has helped with policing. but police have been unable to cush violent crime, and guatemala's president himself a general, ordered more soldiers on to the streets. analysts say that that puts guatemalans at risk. they state that combined patrols must be under police command. >> it's worrying that in the video we don't see police officers in the patrol. despite its institutional failing the police are trained to serve the community and guarantee the safety of citizens. soldiers in these combined patrols don't have specialized training to carry out this kind of work. >> military officials are quick to highlight guatemala's role in peacekeeping missions abroad and the support they receive at home. in the town where the video was recorded, they asked that the army continue their patrols. >> i think this was an isolated incident. i don't think it will have serious repercussions in the way we've seen like violators of human rights. we're here to help insure the safety of its citizens. >> some are calling the guatemalan soldiers heroes and say that they should be released. a court will decide if these men went too far. >> labor unions in indigenous communities and civil society groups in ecuador taking part in a day-long strike. among others thingthey're marching, among other things, for the president's resignation. what is happening there now? >> as you can see thousands of people behind me already marching towards the center of the capital. many of them indigenous people who have been marching and traveling for more than ten days to reach the capital. now they've been drawing by workers unions. we see groups of teachers, retirees, doctors, students, people who are not happy any more with the policies implemented by the president. now we're hearing that earlier on today there were clashes in the southern part of the country in the area, protesters clashing with police. there were five police wounded there, and in the area also an area of indigenous people who also clash with the civilian who were wounded there. as these people march towards the center of the presidential palace at the area there are hundreds of supporters. they've been allowed to get to the city. there are about 2,000 police here in the city to not allow these people to reach the center of the presidential palace. >> why are former supporters turning against him? >> well, there is a lot of different demands of grievances. some people want tax reduction. others want to be able to manage their land water. others want better education. there is social policies are weakening. people are saying there are less subsidies now. there is less structures being built. one of the reasons is that the crisis is from loss of oil revenues. all of the people we've spoken to tell us they do not want the president to run for a fourth term. there is a plan to amend the constitution, and all these people are marching against that plan. thank you very much. >> now a new type of cooking oil is being touted as being better for health. caroline malone reports. >> at home in lagos, a new kind of cooking fuel that helps her to breathe more easily. she suffers from asthma, and she's very glad to find a fuel gel that comes from a sustainable source. >> my kitchen, my environment, is better. >> the gel releases carbon dioxide but is less toxic than fumes produced from you coal and wood. it comes from weeds one the world's fastest growing plants. when it grows it releases oxygen. that makes it better than fossil fuels. >> there is so much that we could create. >> some other biofuels to make green fuels more accessible they need to be produced from resources less in demand like weeds. >> the amounts needed for a sustainable solution are very significant. therefore it's important to start now looking at much more advance fuel. >> it requires a special stove that costs the equivalent of $14. the fuel costs $0.05, and it's selling to thousand households so far. it has a promising future. >> proposals for child labor laws are one of the many legislation stalled in indian parliament. there are few signs that things will improve any time soon. >> they failed to find an agreement, and the issues still remain. one of them look at the country's child labor laws. on the eastern edge of the capital, the children work along side their parents. this emprovidely takes an entire day to make. it sells for $3. >> my husband works but he makes very little. if the kids different work it would be hard to feed and raise the family. >> child rights activists see the bill as a loophole to child labor. >> it is not legal. imagine what would happen. how companies might like to push manufacturing into homes if we had such a law in place. >> because the bill is postponed none of these issues have been addressed, let alone debated. besides creating a headache for the government, the bills have not passed a session including one on juvenile crime and even the bills do make it, they'll have to compete for time and attention for other potential legislation. >> simply pushing the bill to the next session not only potentially waters down the bills, but also the legislative process. >> the effectiveness in the legislative process would be abused. and the government would be under more pressure to get legislation through because they already lost four months because of this. >> that means for now people behind the issue the bills are meant to address will remain in limbo. al jazeera, new delhi. >> the greek government is asking its government to approve a bail out. politicians are debating the matter ahead of a vote, which is expected in the early hours of friday. turkey's main opposition party said that talks with ruling aks party has failed. meetings between the employment and leader of the chp party lasted under just two hours. president erdogan now has about one week to decide on whether to go ahead with the coalition or possibly call in an early election. meanwhile, the grand bazaar is nearly six centuries old, many walk through it every day. it's roof is is at risk of coming down if it is not preserved. >> going through istanbul's grand bazaar every day, supports are all that is stopping this ancient roof from crashing down. it has left brick work crumbl crumbling. istanbul's chamber of architects are shocked by the danger the roof poses. >> right now safety is at stake. istanbul is in an earthquake zone. we're expecting a serious quake but with the building in this condition we don't need to wait for a quake. it is barely standing right now and reinforcement measures that have been taken obviously are not enough. >> a few days after our interview a torrential rainstorm exposed just how vulnerable the roof is. the roof of the grand bazaar was once covered with lead. but 30 years ago in a botched restoration the lead was stripped and replaced with tiles and cement. they admitted a wonder that the bazaar has not gone up in flames. >> we had our own small firefighting team, but these days fires can spread rapidly. they can ignite quickly even at night. we don't have any pipes to circulate air so we need new chimneys and smoke detecters. >> the renovation work should begin by the end of this year. two years behind schedule. it's been slowed down by bureaucracy and the fact that almost 4,000 businesses here have a say in the project. when the renovation work eventually starts it's going to take five years because they're only going to workalit work at night so they do not have to close the bazaar during the day. it is the cultural rich heritage that will pay a heavy price. >> on friday in the west bank city of ramalah. >> now still to come on this news hour stargazers have a spectacular display as dark skies make a perfect stage for dramatic meteor shower. we'll find out if tiger woods could make golf's final major tournament of the year. >> welcome back. the annual meteor shower has always been a special occasion for stargazers, but this year unusually dark skies made it even more spectacular. >> when you pitch upon a falling star it makes no difference where you are, but where the moon is a big factor in able to see the meteor shower. this year the viewing has been especially good in the northern hemisphere because of the moon or rather the lack thereof. >> ione of the special things about this year is that it's new moon. so there is no moonlight there, is no interference from the moon this year. >> debris from a comet or asteroid creates spectacular fireballs. scientists want to know more of what the debris is made of. >> the earth is literally colliding with the debris that has come off something of a comet. as it does that, all these pieces of sand and pebble-like things burn up in the earth's atmosphere making it look like a streak of light. we call them shooting stars. >> as long as the sky is clear more shooting stars should be visible this evening. al jazeera, new york. >> well, time now for all your sports with andy. >> thank you so much, miram. the world's top for golfers, rory mcilroy and jordan spieth, spieth has won two majors while mcilroy is back from injury to defend himself in this title. dustin johnson is the early leader on six under par to despite consistently being in contention. tiger woods is trying to avoid missing >> caught on camera making a lewd remark has apologized. he went on to retire from the match in injury. he posted a number of messages on twitter. it was not only unacceptable but also beyond belief. this is what kyrgios had to say right after that match. >> i thought he was getting a bit lippy with me, so i don't know, it was just the moment of the stuff. i really don't know. i just said it. >> world number one djokovic is back. on the court djokovic has taken less than an hour to move in montreal. he said that kyrgios needs to learn to control his temper. >> i'm not one to judge another's reactions but for me that was unnecessary to comment on something like that. i think he was fined, and he deserved it. he'll learn a lesson the hard way, and hopefully this won't happen to him any more. >> the president of the football federation has not decided if he'll attend matches. brazilian authorities have spoken of widespread corruption. >> i'm analyzing it. there is no ban on my travels. i can go anywhere in the world. there is nothing that can demand that i travel. i'll evaluate and decide at the right time. >> manchester united's degea will not be considered for the game. >> we have to improve the away matches because at home we ar we were one of the best, certainly in the league. i want to create old trafford. but we have to improve a lot. >> gaza's football team is preparing to play a match for the first time in 15 years. they'll face the second leg of thof the match and were given permission to cross the west bank. >> this is the first time in 15 years the authorities separated the clubs in gaza. but now the palestinian sport is united. i hope that the palestinian politicians will come together and unite. therefore this is an historic day. >> in cricket, home fans need to stay patient. >> it will take time. at least one or two years. we had so many great players that are now retired. the young players are now playing. we're struggling, and it's the advantage for india at the moment. >> only the second japanese player to throw a no-hitter in major league baseball. >> struck out seven and walked three. that is it for now. >> thank you very much. there is more on our website, sport and everything else, al jazeera.com. before we go here is a treat for you if you're an elvis fan. a look at a new postage stamp honoring the late king of rock-n-roll elvis presley. he died in 1977 and remains one 69 best selling artists of all time. we'll have more news in just a few minutes. . >> i.s.i.l. claims 55 more deaths in iraq as the group bombs a crowded city market hello, you're watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up - seven people sentenced to death for last year's attack on a peshawar school killing 171 people. ending ebola - it could be defeated by year's end. plus

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