>> don't try this at home. >> "techknow" where technology meets humanity. tonight, 5:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america.

>> it's deeply disturbing to see. >> what do you make of the reaction or lack thereof from the international community some say the international community hasn't been critical enough, of the egyptian government when it comes to these mass trials. what do you think should happen? >> we're deeply disappointed that the silence of the international community. they've been telling protestors that we have your back. that we believe after backing mubarak for so long. they are conspicuous by silence today, cozying up to al sisi's

administration. this is gross hypocrisy. >> the defendant's case, they were initially fined to 15 years in prison at this retrial now it's down to five years, i believe. was there any new evidence perhaps that could justify this reduced sentence and what do you think this says about egypt's justice system. >> this was a politically motivated case from start to finish. there was the absence of the defendants trying to get into the courtroom while the judge was sentencing them. this is egypt's system spiraling out of control sentencing protestors to prison and letting policeman who shot protestors go free. >> meanwhile the retrial of two al jazeera journalists egypt has been adjourned.

the court adjourned the case because there weren't enough witnesses. a new court date is set for march eight. we report. hopefully he'll have that report. the retrial is called a farce. >> one of today's defendants, mr. fahmy is in an identical position to peter greste, the australian who was let at liberty, deport add couple of weeks ago. now, in the interim mr. fahmy

should have been deported, because he's in the identical situation as a canadian. he wasn't. today, there were no prosecution witnesses. any judge or team of judges worth their salt would have thrown the prosecution case out. an appeals court has already ruled they have no case. the case should have been thrown out. instead, they have a wait another fort night admittedly, they're on bail, but it's still a breach of liberty to hold mr. fahmy, when he wants to go back to canada, so that they can -- the prosecution can see if it even has any evidence. as i say there was a court of balls ruling last month that

said there was no case against them for terrorism or indeed anything else, and so it is just yet another example of the in com pens of the egyptian system, but also with a sense that the court is being manipulated by the government and the cat and mouse game is convenient for it to continue, because it kills journalism coverage of any opposition parties egypt. >> >> it was a familiar scenario inside an egyptian courtroom for mohamed fahmy and baher mohammed. the judge postponed their retrial until march. >> i again the same inefficiencies, witnesses don't show up, the evidence -- that's the responsibility of the court so i don't get it.

>> fahmy and mohamed were freed on bail early they are month but still bear the weight of criminal charges and a retrial. the men are accused of aiding the muslim brotherhood. it was declared a terrorist organization just four days before they were arrested on december 29, 2013. fahmy mohamed and peter greste spent more than a year behind bars. greste was deported to his native australia a few weeks ago. fahmy reling wished his egyptian citizenship in the hopes deportation would follow. instead, he remains egypt. he and mohamed are required to check in with police each day. >> i wait and see but i'm happy that i was returned back. i will not stay in prison. i'm happy that i'm going back to my family. >> mohamed only recently met the youngest of his three chirp for the first time. his son was born during his imprisonment. the waiting and uncertainty continues. for fahmy the toll is becoming unbearable. >> it's become really costly for

me and on every level emotionally, financially, my whole family is stressed. >> legal experts ever called the case against the men a farce. six other al jazeera journalists have been sentenced in absentia to a decade each behind bars. throughout their plight, journalists across the globe have come to their defense with protest. it's a campaign that will continue until all the journalists are exonerated. >> the u.n. special envoy to syria is head to go damascus for talks aimed at securing a freeze in fighting i have not aleppo. he has admitted to al jazeera that the chances of a deal are slim but says the u.n. will never give up. the fight for the city started in 2012 and every fighting group including isil has a stake in the conflict. the latest word that is government forces are losing ground. rebels have killed 300 soldiers

in the past week. there is an initial commitment from penalty assad to stop artillery attacks for six weeks. when he leave to say damascus, he'll talk to syrian opposition leaders to encourage them to pull back, as well. a small team from the u.n. is supposed to travel to aleppo before march. the idea is for a halt in aerial bombardment and attacks using heavy weapons across the city have aleppo. >> last week, 48 civilians have been killed in the province of aleppo, according to the syrian observatory for human rights. we take a closer look now at the situation on the ground. >> fighting and strategically important aleppo provinces fierce and complicated. here the free syrian army blew up anti tank rockets. rebel groups are fighting soldiers from the regime. there are many other sides involved in this war.

last week, forces fight forego syrian president bashar al assad, iran and hezbollah said they'd taken part in the northern suburbs of aleppo. rebels have since made ground for taking areas they lost to assad, killing his men and take interesting prisoners they say. >> right now, we are here in the village and managed to free the whole town from asses gangs and the iranians. >> the rebels also lost many men in this fight. some belong to al-nusra front an al-qaeda-affiliated group. isil is also fighting for control of aleppo. it recently with drew from some suburbs, but remains a threat. it has supply results for government and rebel forces. winning would be psychologically important for any side involved in the fight. >> it's a big city. the biggest in syria. it's the commercial heart of the country. it has incredibly strategic

links to turkey in the north to the heart land in the center and towards lebanon, towards the isil controlled areas the kurdish areas in the east, so it's a very, very important symbolic issue that the government and rebels are both willing to fight to maintain their control or at least the areas that they control, because the city's divided. >> meanwhile cultural heritage is being wiped out. these images taken from a drone camera show what little is left in the old city, one of the country's unesco world heritage sites. it's becoming more difficult to live without electricity or access to food. many hospitals are not functioning well, if at all. that makes a ceasefire all the more important but no more likely as this kind of intense fighting continues. al jazeera. >> there is much more ahead on

the al jazeera news hour, the afghan army launch as major offense against the taliban and this time, there's no help from foreign forces. plus. >> the oscar goes to "bird man!" >> we'll tell you who else took home a golden statuteette. >> find out if england has managed to drag themselves off the bottom, a little later in sports. >> nigeria's president good luck jonathan said he has underestimated the strength of boko haram. boko haram carried out multiple attacks in the country's northeast and now controls an area as big as belgium. we have this update. >> during this interview, given to a local newspaper president

jonathan touched on the key political issues affecting the country. of course, the key thing the fight against boko haram in the northeast area. during the interview, he basically said that within the next three to four weeks, boko haram would be significantly diminished by the nigeria military, their power seriously reduced. he also admitted that the authorities had made mistakes in its fight against boko haram that they underestimated the capacity of the group but now that soldiers were far better equipped to deal with the crisis. what's the likely reaction from the public to this interview? divided. hate to be said, there are those who will welcome this interview and be happy that president jonathan is speaking directly now about what the government is doing to try and deal with the country's problems, but there are those in the opposition and opposition supporters who will say that this is too little, too

late. elections coming up on march 28, and this is just an attempt by president jonathan to try and bolster public support for him and his government when confidence in what he's doing to fight boko haram and other issues like corruption is at an all-time low. >> we want to take you to kenya where the high court is making much anticipated decisions on the country's controversial security laws. we are outside the court in nairobi. tell us about the two rulings made so far. >> it did not go well for the state. height court

judges said kenya has nearly 500,000 refugees. the judges said you can't deport them it's unconstitutional -- >> we've lost our line there to nairobi, who was giving you go the latest today on the decisions made by the kenyan high court today, three measures struck down by the court. let's get more on this from the head of the african center for peace and security training. thank you so much for being with us. very contentious and controversial security laws in kenya, and high court today striking down three of the measures. how big of a blow is this for the government? >> it's welcomed.

it is a useful law to make for the country, there is no doubt about that, because we know has what about happening in kenya for the last few years especially in 2013, an attack. it was expected the government was going to respond. the government wants to address terrorism in this country without compromising on people's liberty. eight clauses were suspended of the law. the step today is welcomed by the court. >> what does it say the fact that the high court is striking down these laws that were pushed by the government?

>> well, yes i mean it is not necessarily an arm of the government. i was of the opinion that a court will abbit more sympathetic to the government. i watched earlier part of the ruling before i came to the studio and saw the court comment very strong on the fact that the section 6a of that particular law, which right of privacy of kenyans should be balanced with the kenyan constitution. the court seemed to be saying that as far as they were concerned, the government struck a very good balance in making sure that the application of the law will not impinge on citizens' rights and freedoms as guaranteed by the constitution. so i mean, that was one reason. but the point is we do know from experience that a lot of

controversy in africa -- the problem is that is where the courts rule as a custodian of law is very strong. the court wasn't convinced that the government would have enough supervise eye ability to be able to implement those aspects of the security law without compromising on people's safety and people's right of privacy as guaranteed by the constitution. if you look around, the fear of kenyans is that they do not want to sleep walk into a situation in which their own government will lead them to the same way that burundi has gone -- >> the public opinion in kenya were also for the government to act tough to be more tough on

these attacks onal is that bob in kenya. the government was heavily criticized after the west gate attacks two years ago for not doing enough against al shabab in the country and come up with these new laws and they're struck down. you would think that the government was responding accordingly to theawayings of kenyans for engagement of the government in terms of protecting lives.

the question is however can the government go. i think that is where the kenyans are saying now you've got to take a deep breath here. we don't want this law that is going to suck life out of our own privacy because you are talking about massive invasion of people's privacy in terms of communications, in terms of -- we are talking about kenya here. >> ok, very good to you thanks for your time. >> in france, the interior minister has barred six people from leaving the country to join armed groups in iraq and syria. let's get more on this from

paris. peter, who are these people? >> these are six french citizens. we don't know anymore details than that. they're accused really of alleging to be plan to go leave the country to fight in syria and iraq. they've had their passports confiscated. they'll be held six months and the ban can be removed after that. at the same time another 40 people are having their passports into some extent banned from also leaving the country. now, this legislation was brought in as a part of huge anti terrorist measures brought in in november at a time when there was increasing concern about the numbers of people in france. france is home to the largest muslim community in europe. there was real concern about the numbers of people leaving the country to fight in syria and iraq. the prime minister said he estimated last month that over 1400 people were either already

fighting in iraq and syria or had plans to do so. this is the reason why that these measures had been brought. >> thank you, very much, peter for that update, live from paris. >> australia's prime minister announced new measures to fight terrorism. the new laws will combat what tony abbot called homegrown terrorism. some feel unfairly targeted. >> walking back from the doctor, she found a man blocking their path. >> we moved to the side, but he kept on coming towards us and he what could me with his shoulder and called me a bloody terrorist. >> she says she's increasingly concerned about how muslims are perceived. >> when people look at me, they think that because she's wearing a scarf she must abterrorist. >> on monday, as he announced

new measures to counter the terrorist threat, australia's prime minister suggested muslims could do more to help. >> i've often heard western leaders describe islam as a religion of peace. i wish more muslim leaders would say that more off 10 and mean it. >> tony abbott said threats were rising. a december siege in a sydney cafe showed how an individual can cause havoc. >> authorities have 400 high priority counter terrorism investigations running double the number of a year ago. he also said 110 australians have traveled to iraq and syria to fight and could prove dangerous if they returned home. >> too often abbott said the system was giving people the benefit of the doubt. >> if there's a choice between latitude for suspects for more powers to police and security agencies, more often, we should choose to support our agencies. >> new proposals include a

counter terrorism coordinator. >> how you withdraw citizenship under what circumstances and what sort of court test there's going to be on that. this issue of your with us or against us, very george bush like is very unhelpful. it's going to impact on australia's short term security interest and long term security interest. >> the danger, say some, is that measures to tackle threats could alienate the very people australia's government most needs help from. >> human rights watch is accusing houthis in yemen of abuses against protestors. there have been near daily

protests against the houthi takeover in a number of areas. human rights watch said it's concerned houthi fighters have regularly beaten and detained protestors. >> the u.s. secretary of state john kerry and iran's foreign minister have met for a second day of nuclear talks in geneva. kerry said significant gaps still remain ahead of a march deadline for a deal. the parties have already miss add november tarts date. >> let's get an update on the world weather now with richard. blowing dust is causing problems across southeast asia. >> normally a problem we don't get until march through may but there seems to be an issue at the moment. you have a look on the satellite, there's one big frontal system, an area of low pressure spiraling on through so that's pulling in the air from the west. on the face of it, it's quite

high pressure here, but we have had winds strong enough to cause problems across inner mongolia. this is what we get in qatar sometimes when we get a good dust storm going so unpleasant here. that has may go graded further toward the east. these shots come from pyongyang in north korea looking pretty grim here. it's also south korea having problem with the dust. someone has taken a selfie with a pretty hazy background. there are warnings for particularly low air quality and the threat of further dust. looking at the forecast, you can see the general flow from the west nothing to suggest there would be more dust around. generally across the region, we have the low pressure giving heavy snow across the northeast of china and eastern russia. that is continue to go push away just one or two snow showers left for the northern parts of japan at the moment.

as we move on through towards wednesday, you can see that largely clears away. i think we'll see an end to the blowing sand at the moment. >> thank you very much indeed. stay with us on the al jazeera news hour. we're in pakistan where people are scrambling to register their prepaid phones before they're blocked. >> why there won't be any foreign runners allowed at this year's pyongyang marathon. we'll have the sports. just stay with us.

>> welcome back. you're watching the news our on al jazeera. a reminder of our top stories now. a leading figure in egypt's uprising has been sentenced to five years in jail. he was charged with violating egypt's anti protest law. other defendants face charges relate to go one protest in 2013. the retrial of two al jazeera journalists egypt is adjourned until march eight. two appeared in court monday to hear the case has been postponed because of an absence of witnesses. they're accused of helping the outlawed muslim brotherhood charges they deny, of course. >> nigeria president goodluck jonathan said he has underrated the threat of boko haram. he made the comments in an

interview to media. boko haram carried out attacks and now controls an air as big as belgium. >> it's the moment europe has waited for greece's government must submit a list of reforms to international lenders by the end of monday, if it wants to receive more money to pay its debts. without the finance, greek faces bankruptcy and that could mean trouble for the euro zone. we have more from athens. what do we know about this list of reforms? >> the only official here in athens whose gone on record since the agreement friday is the minister of state. he's been saying that the list will include both measures to fight tax evasion and corruption and measure to say make the civil service here in greece more efficient. i don't think those will come as

a surprise to many people, but in the last few hours there are unconfirmed press reports that this list will include a minimum wage, something that the government said it wants to move to bring in gradually. that's one of the so-called red lines for many people in the ruling party. that's not going to be popular with the euro group the ministers offering the four amongst extension off the bailout on the condition that they approve this list, so it's far from clear at the moment what concrete measures will be in the list. this has to be talked about by teleconference on tuesday. >> it is the highest liability in europe. the greek economy has shrunk by

25% since 2008. one in four people in greece are jobless and the future looks bleak for young people with youth unemployment at 50%. the economy is looking pretty bad. how's the greek government been selling all this? >> well, they have been insisting that this is a victory so far. the prime minister alexis tsipras reacted that to deal in brussels, calling it a battle one, warning that there's going to be a longer struggle and that every single point is going to have to be fought over, so admit that go there are going to be hard negotiations in the next few weeks and months, of course, what most people who voted for him want to see is a move away from the and you austerity measures. many are very aware pragmatic.

they know there will be hard bargaining and that in fact, the government if it doesn't live up to its promise to say change things may well not go the distance, as well. >> our government is going to say a lot of reactions because it's bit over what they have promised before the elections. >> they give the impression that they are caring about the people. >> they're trying to get an extension for four months. after, let's see what happens. >> the deadline for submitting the list, the end of monday, the government promises that will be met. we're waiting for 100% confirmation that is in brussels, but that's just the first stage, protests of many steps, including approval by european union parliaments.

>> thank you very much indeed, live from athens. >> al jazeera has obtained hundred was secret intelligence documents from agencies around the world. in the coming days, we'll reveal the spy cables in collaboration with a.j. plus and the guardian newspaper. here is a round up of what's in store. >> the spy cables, hundreds was intelligence documents leaked to al jazeera's investigative unit, ranging from confidential to top secret, they come from the world's major agencies. israel's mousad, britained mi6 and south africa, facing its largest and possibly most damaging leak. >> the state security agency,

edward snowden, they are in shock of the democratic controls on the security apparatus. >> over the coming days, al jazeera will reveal a wide range of stories contained within the spy cables. documents will be redacted to protect identities. the stories expose dozens was operational secrets from all over the globe dating from 2006, right up to december last year. they include the israeli mousad's true assessment of ires nuclear program an assassination plot targeting an african union leader and an mi6 operation to recruit a spy. >> governments presidents, ministers use the intelligence services for their own political purposes, but you can also have it played the other way, whether the agencies manipulate the politicians for their own

agendas. >> the papers show abuse of power and cover ups by the word's intelligence agencies, they expose secret front companies and embarrassing security failures. overall, the spy careless offer an unprecedented insight into the highly politicized and secret world of intelligence. >> our coverage of the spy cables begins here on al jazeera at 18:00g.m.t. we have coverage on our website was, aljazeera.com. people are queuing up to register their mobile as i am cards in pakistan. there are over 1 million prepaid phones in use and they all have to be accounted for. the government launch add scheme after a taliban on a school killed 45 people in december. countries like afghanistan and china are considering the same

cities. some countries, like canada, new zealand and u.k. have rejected the measure. mobile operators say there's nothing to show it helps security. the logistics behind the new rules are huge. >> under the government's new action plan, the minister of interior has made it mandatory that all phone providers within pakistan will have to reverify the sims that are registered to its customers. people with numbers will have to go show their identity papers. you can see people cueing across pakistan at the telephone company offices in order to ensure that their phones are not blocked. after the deadline, any unverified sims will be blocked. people will have to bring their national identity card and go

through a buy metric process. the government said it is doing this in order to make sure these sims are not used in crimes and acts of terror. many of the bomb blasts that have taken place in pakistan have taken place through mobile telephones. the government now wants to ensure that there are no loopholes left there but importantly, it has to deal with 103 million sims, a herculean task by any stretch of the imagination. >> in afghanistan the army has launched a series of large-scale operations against the taliban and for the first time is without the help of nato forces. the taliban is planning counter attacks. we have the details. >> afghan soldiers are on their way to an offensive in six districts in southern hellman province considered a major stronghold. the offensive is the first

without international troops. they are confident it can take on taliban fighters. >> our forces proved that they are capable of defending the country, and as you are aware we have planned many independent operations. right now, we have very good operations going on in hellman so we are ready. >> afghan military and police have been training for years to fight the taliban but funds are drying up, so their numbers are dropping. the afghan government has allowed international troops to remain, but most of left to train, advice and assess soldiers. the u.s. is considering a complete pullout by 2016. >> president obama is considers a number of option to say reinforce our support for president ghani's security strategy including possible changes to the time line for our draw down of u.s. troops. that could mean taking another look at the timing and

sequencing of base closures. >> as the afghan army launches its offensive these fighters prepare a counterattack. al jazeera was given rare access to the fighters. they say they are fighting against a foreign invasion and those who support it. >> i trained the fighters to please the almighty. >> so far there has been no break through in strong negotiations between the taliban and afghan government, so no plans for peace only war. >> the former president of the maldives is accused of violating the constitution, charged under antiterrorism laws for trying to detain a senior judge in 2012. protestors face off after the

former president was arrested on sunday. >> thailand has sentenced two student activist to say two and a half years in jail for insulting the monarchy in a play. dozens of activists set up outside a courthouse. the play is about a fictional king and his advisor. >> abu dhabi is holding the largest arms expo in the middle east, a net working opportunity for the top military brass featuring the latest technology on land, air and sea. >> these are uncertain times in the middle east, even though this is make believe part of the opening ceremony, there are very real things here. >> libya being in civil war

syria in civil war the houthi takeover in yemen, these things have really happened since the last gathering, so arguably, people will be looking at much more military capabilities. >> the threaded of islamic state of iraq and the levant is also a large concern for the delegation here, not just in iraq and syria, but the danger of their cross-border reach. top military men from all over the world secretaries of defense, chiefs of staff and generals rub shoulders. this is also a chance to network. the deals signed here have been worked on for a long time and this is an opportunity to look for the future. >> defense is a multi-billion dollars industry, we are talking about weapons of war which is why countries so secretive. we have been chasing military accusations here and no one will speak to us. >> the middle east is on the fun with turkey and the united arab emirates making the top 15 global spenders.

despite oil prices, no one is concerned that defense budgets would be cut. weapons are hugely controversial, fueling war and often falling into the wrong hands. some suppliers were keen to stress that they know who they are selling this to have. >> it is the most rigid in the world, as a company, we probably have a disadvantage in the international competition due to german allow but on the other hand, no one wants to look at a german soldier looking into german armaments throughout the world. old tradition to say welcome the world's military might with newer ways to control and more effective ways to kill. it's all in the name of national security but some would argue these weapons cause the exact

opposite. al jazeera, abu dhabi. >> stay with us. still ahead a 750-year-old practice as graceful as it is spiritual. trying to keep a ceremony from spinning into a spectacle. >> let's go racing, boys. >> nascar season gets underway at daytona 500.

>> hollywood's biggest night is over. the oscars have been happened out and academy award watchers say it was predictable with "bird man" taking the top award for best picture. we have a roundup of who went home with the golden statueette. >> the oscar goes to bird man! >> it was inevitable it would be this or boy hood who took the big one. it didn't yield best actor that went to the theory of everything. the accept answer speech slightly clumsy, but humble. this is a man just getting the hang of the business. >> this oscar -- this oscar --

this belongs to all of those people around the world bottling. >> the oscar goes to julianne moore. >> she is storming through awards season, taking everything she comes across. patricia arquette, the best supporting actress, 12 years in the making, this film and she had a very big political point to make. >> it's our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for the women of the united states of america! >> i'm not going to go anywhere. i'm going to stay with you. >> crisis hot line took best

documentary short a snapshot of the volunteers to man the phones talking to war veterans with post traumatic stress disorder out of taking their own lives. >> in the end if you publish the source material, i will be immediately located. >> the story of edward snowden's leaks about the n.s.a.'s mass surveillance program filmed by the journalists who helped him from the start. the big night is over. was it an evening of surprises? no, the picks were pretty much spot on. there have been controversies but the academy picked the films it likes and there are 12 very happy winners. >> time to catch up on sports. >> we'll start with cricket and england recorded their first win of the world cup beating

scotland. the victory will take some of the pressure off the struggling sides who aren't giving their fans much to cheer about. we have a report. >> after being beaten by australia, then humiliated by new zealand in their last match there was much more than pride on the line. he did what his side so badly needed. hammering shots all over the ground to score 128 runs of 107 balls. >> putting england in a commanding position, they reached 303. scotland lacked spark and struggled from the get-go. bowled out by their rivals with england's captain unprepared for a victory speech. >> a win puts things a little more at ease and gives the guys

confidence, even the guys that didn't perform today that are up against rubbing off -- that sounded terrible, talking about guys that had a little success today will be good for them. >> the victory removing england from the bottom of their group. >> foreign runners are prohibited from participating in a marathon, authorities said to be concerned about the spread of the ebola virus. bored either have remained closed to foreign tourists because of fears it might spread. north korean authorities have canceled the annual math games this year. >> this morning at 9:30, we were

rung up by our north korean counterpart and they range up and said because of ebola, we are not taking any foreign runners into the country so we had 500 runners already, they are very, very careful if you like there are other words to use, but particularly careful with the threat of a virus getting into the country and that makes perfect sense. the medical system there couldn't cope, simply, so we have no other reason than to think that it is the ebola crisis. i think they've taken it to an extreme and it's a pity they are stopping on event like this and tourism stopped because as we're aware in the west, the situation is under control. >> the spanish tennis player was in the final of the rio open. he had knocked out the defending champion in the semis but

couldn't continue his run of form after winning in straight sets. the 23rd single title of his career. >> in the greek super league, it was an ill tempered affair. the players are running for cover after flares and missiles were hurled from the crowd. this is known as the battle of eternal enemies. thankfully, there were no injuries. they went on to win and closed the gap with nine games left to play. >> further medical tests so doctors can receive whether to release a driver to hospital.

he was airlifted after hitting a wall at more than 240 kilometers per hour. the 33-year-old is said to have suffered concussion. >> after a week plagued by crashes, the injury of a star driver and also a domestic violence case, nascar finally got back to racing. >> the daytona 500 focused fans back to the track for the season opener sunday. surging ahead of the pack on a two lap sprint finish after a wreck behind him. >> middle town connecticut's joey lagato wins the daytona 500. >> it was his first daytona

title. >> there is all of that sport and more on our website. for all the latest, check out aljazeera.com/sport. we've got blogs and videos from our correspondent around the world. that's all the sport for now. >> the whirlwind dervishes are a favorite site for some visiting turkey, but some worry the religious ceremony is no longer being honored. >> it's a practice that's 750 years old. legend has it that walking through the market and hearing the hammering of gold smiths, he went into ecstasy and whirled his body until he reached

oneness with the divine. he was a desouth muslim. his followers, the record say this deeply spiritual ceremony is being turned into entertainment, something else for tourists to kick off their istanbul must-list. a campaign has been launched to reclaim his ancestor's practices. >> today we have whirling dervishes at wedding receptions, only for making money. our order has really been diminished. >> he has met government officials to discuss his worries. despite official promises to protect the ceremony, there are performances today that he probably wouldn't recognize. >> there is a regulation that bans these ceremonies from being

performed at entertainment venues. it's not enforced. >> the dervish no drink, three minutes, we show. 25 minutes, they are talking about dervish. >> this is an acceptable way to show snit. >> yes yes. >> this group says its ceremony is faithful and respectful, but they perform without the oversight of the descendants and without that control the family fears the unique skills needed will be lost. >> bernard smith, al jazeera istanbul. >> stay with us on al jazeera. another full bulletin of news is straight ahead.

>> tomorrow on "the stream". >> selling cocaine was my purpose. >> they had been trafficking on behalf of the united states government. >> renowned filmmaker marc levin discusses his new movie "freeway: crack in the system". "the stream". tomorrow, 12:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america.

>> the new al jazeera america primetime. get the real news you've been looking for. at 7:00, a thorough wrapup of the day's events. then at 8:00, john seigenthaler digs deeper into the stories of the day. and at 9:00, get a global

perspective on the news. weeknights, on al jazeera america . >> the u.n. envoy to syria heads to damascus for talks on a deal for allepo, but said the odds are against him. >> the