syrian rebel groups join forces to turn the tide against government soldiers in the crucial aleppo province. ♪ this is al jazeera live from london and also coming up, pope francis calls africa the continent of hope after he gets a welcome from young uganda. national security agency prepares to stop mass surveillance so what now? experts say 90% sure they found a hidden chamber in egypt's valley of the kings which could

be the tomb of nefertiti. ♪ hello rebel fighters in syria say they recaptured a town and several villages in the aleppo countryside from government soldiers backed by shia malitia and iranian forces and government gains are reversed from two weeks ago and rebel groups joined forces including the al-qaeda affiliated al-nusra front with painful losses on troops in the area and managing to hold back finances despite getting help from russian air strikes and aleppo province has significant strategic value on the border with turkey and made it a key battleground for the past three years and from the border we report. >> reporter: syrian rebels on the offensive, marred by divisions and short of weapons

they are advancing on the city of aleppo. many armed factions have established a joint command center. this video appears to show them attacking government military posts in southern aleppo. the armed group al-nusra front is taking part in the offensive, its fighters played a significant role in the push to capture the village and syrian rebels say government forces are backed by thousands of fighters from iran, iraq and hezbollah. >> strategic of syrian army is to cut the highways and not to take over aleppo, aleppo as a city i think has been divided and they have to go to the eastern side. >> reporter: behind these mountains is another major front line, government troops have been shelling these peaks which were recently captured by turkmen fighters. these mountains overlook the city of latakia.

one of president bashar al-assad's strongholds, his troops backed by russian planes are trying to secure the area. and as the fighting continues near the border with turkey there are growing fears of regional conflict. the russians and iran are staunch allies of president assad while the turks western and gulf nations insist the syrian president must go. they believe the russians years against i.s.i.l. is cover to increase assad's chances of staying in power and that i.s.i.l. can only be defeated if president assad steps aside, al jazeera on turkey border with syria. iranian media reporting a member of the elite revenue guards died and tahir elci died fighting by the northern city of

aleppo and commanders of the revolutionary guard are supporting president assad's forces. russian jets reportedly attacked a town in northern syria close to the border with turkey and air strikes targeted an area where several buses were parked and witnesses said the vehicles have been used to get food and aid to supplies to people in need and syria's army says turkey has creasely increased supply of weapons and equipment to what it describes as terrorist disguised as humanitarian aid. i.s.i.l. is a serious threat to syria there are other players who are equally dangerous and we have more from istanbul. >> reporter: turkey's erdogan was trying to under line several messages in his latest address, with regards to the international campaign to combat i.s.i.s., what erdogan is trying to say is that, yes, i.s.i.s. is a threat however the root cause to the problem is much greater

that that organization. he says that actually the reason behind the blood shed, the reason behind the turmoil is the regime of president bashar al-assad. >> translator: there are no differences between the lpg, assad and i.s.i.l. terrorist organizations, what they do is commit crimes against humanity, let no one deceive anyone. we went to syria because they invited us. if someone kills 380,000 people, if someone kills his own people, are you obliged to accept their invitation? >> goes to show the kind of fragmentation in international coalition of countries combatting i.s.i.s. because for example washington believes it has a partner in the kurdish fighters whereas russia which claims to be attacking i.s.i.s. is actually a strong supporter of the assad regime which itself has come under accusations through the u.s. treasury in the past few days of actually having indirect links by buying oil from i.s.i.s. the other important message from

erdogan was his reiteration he was going to try and meet with russia's vladimir putin in paris when the two arrive for this air climate change summit. until now kremlin has not responded positively or negatively to erdogan's request for a meeting but it's a sign that erdogan is trying to deescalate or publically show that he is reaching out to his russian counterparts and russia says nothing short of apology will do and he says he didn't do anything wrong but defending the air space. turkey and russia show no sign of improving after the downing of a plan and economic sanctions on turkey to effect some turkish products and operations of turkish companies and they warned the citizens against nonessential travel to russia and in a speech earlier president erdogan said he wished the incident hadn't happened. >> translator: the incident truly saddens us.

we would never have wanted this to happen. however, it is not possible for us to treat such violations as visits from guests because guests only go to a place when they are invited which we truly hope it's not repeated and never on the side of pain and suffering in the region and the world we seek is peace, security and prosperity. >> reporter: pro-kurdish lawyer and advocate has been shot dead in the southeast city and tahir elci had been speaking to media in the predominately kurdish city when he was fatally wounded, a police officer was also killed. and he had previously been detained for saying publically the group pkk should not be regarded as a terrorist organization. thousands of kurdish protesters rallied in istanbul against the death and broken up by police who fired water canon and tear

gas at the crowd and has launched an investigation. ♪ saudi-led coalition carried out air strikes on boats they say were smugging supplies to houthi rebels in yemen and weapons were being unloaded from two fishing vessels in the province when they were hit killing three smugglers and they imposed a blockade on yemen to stop weapons reaching houthis and troops loyal to the ousted president saleh and we sent this update from the yemen city of marib. >> translator: saudi-led coalition jets carried out eight raids targeting boats carrying arm, ammunition and fuel for the houthi rebels and smugglers are alleged to be indian and asian sailors and operation carried out in the port part of the long

coastal strip stretching more than 200 kilometers and yemen army not maintaining security there because it doesn't have sufficient marine capabilities and the area is quite vast and coalition gave previous warnings to the boats and also 12 kilometers away are where the majority of yemen production is exported from, an area that the houthi rebels along fighters with the ousted president saleh have been trying to control since the start of the conflict and african are fighting with houthi rebels along the border of saudi arabia and they arrested 850 african fightest last week. four policemen shot dead in egypt and masked attackers on motor bike opened fire in giza and no group claimed responsibility for the attack. egyptian military helicopter

crashed due to sudden technical failure in the province northeast of cairo and military officials said it was on a mission and that crew members were injured but did not specify the number of those hurt or the severity of the crash. leader of egypt's coptic church to the first in decades and went there despite the predecessor who is against this and he was there attending a funeral for a coptic official and many are accusing him of betrayal. hundreds of thousands of people turned out to see pope francis on the second day of his visit to uganda. the head of the catholic church has been attending a youth rally and gave blessing to 150,000 people and called africa the continent of hope and a shrine dedicated to christian

missionaries killed in uganda in the late 19th century and we have this update. >> reporter: mass to tens of thousands of people at the shrine in campala a site where 130 years ago some of uganda first christians were killed because of their faith. and since made into saints by the catholic church and it's an important site for the catholic community here in uganda. pope francis talked about people becoming missionaries in their communities and talked about turning hate into love. when he came here to campala city center the crowds were estateic and people trying to get as close as that can and try to get a glimpse of him as he drove past in the pope mobile and hoping for blessings and better life to the small children they were holding on their shoulders and trying to get as close as they could but not as strong of a message in kenya where he came out critically speaking against

corruption and inequality. two people killed on a rocket attack on a u.n. base in mali, another 20 were injured in the predawn attack and a u.n. spokesman says mortar shells used to strike the compound and called the attackers terrorists and fired shots and fled and comes eight days after a deadly siege at a western hotel in the capitol which 20 people were killed in bomaco and coming up, violence in macedonia as the country begins building a metal fence along its border with greece. and a rugby legend and memorial service is held. ♪

♪ hello and reminder of the top stories from al jazeera syrian forces gained ground against the government in aleppo and al-qaeda al-nusra front has helped in the fighting. turkish president erdogan expressed remorse of the shooting down of a russian war plane with syria and says the country must defend its border. pro-kurdish lawyer tahir elci shot dead and a policeman was also killed when a gunman opened fire on a media conference. police in macedonia have fired tear gas and stun grenades at refugees demanding passage through the country to western europe. scuffles broke out on saturday and police were pelted with rocks.

comes as macedonia authorities begin building a metal fence along the border with greece and macedonia is letting refugees from syria, afghanistan and iraq through and stopping other groups saying they are economic migrant migrants. >> when we stop here without eating we will die. we are the same. we will die there or here. it's the same. nothing changed. >> reporter: leading opposition leader arrested along with 86 members of his party following anti-government protests in the capitol. in cosovo used independent day celebration to protest against the government and leader is wanted by the police for throwing tear gas into parliament, he was taken into custody after appearing in public to speak to the crowds. and we are there and filed this update. >> reporter: thousands of cosovo are here for flag day for

independent state and the gathering organized by parties was peaceful unlike the frequent disruptions in the department and the process is the d disapproval with municipalities in cosovo and see this as a backdoor return of serbia and cosovo now an independent state. one of the opposition leaders appeared at the protest and delivered a speech. police have searched for him for sometime now and with a warrant for his arrest for throwing tear gas to the parliament on several occasions but chose not to arrest him at the gathering but did so after the self determined parties and altogether 87 members of the party were arrested in different locations. it remains to be seen whether this will break the resolve of the opposition who was

determined to obstruct the work of the parliament until the government unnulled the agreement with serbia. u.s. president president obama leading to climate talks with aim of reducing carbon emissions in the u.s. by 26% over the next 15 years and back home his plan is facing legal challenges for more than half of the states. kristen explains. >> this is our fabrication shop. >> reporter: machines that make and refurbish coal mining, economy at phillips services is quiet, the company down to a four-day working week and coowner tom curbman laid off more than two thirds of his workforce in the past three years. >> we used to do as many as maybe of 30 of these in a year and as you can see we are not very busy right now. >> reporter: he blames competition from natural gas and president obama's clean power plan, federal regulations meant to drastically reduce carbon

emissions. >> when you take an ax to a problem rather than a small pairing knife you tend to hurt whole segments of the society. >> reporter: beckley, west virginia is coal country, mining, deep roots on display at a museum replicating a coal camp where retired minors like roger lead tours through a mine from the 1800s. >> i want kids to understand what the americans build with hard work. >> reporter: he says coal companies are not only making and hiring less but paying less in taxes and that means less money for local schools. >> if we got a leader and people thinks is trying to take their bread and butter off the table wouldn't you fight back? >> reporter: west virginia gets 95% of its power from coal. so perhaps it's not surprising the state is leading the fight against president obama's clean power plan. but west virginia is not alone in its opposition, some 27

states in total have filed legal actions to stop the plan from moving forward. but experts say the united states can't reach its goal of reducing emissions by at least 26% without tougher standards for the coal industry. >> clean power plan is the single most important piece of climate change regulation that epa has promulgated to date and that is because it takes to tackle greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector which is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the united states. >> reporter: democrats and coal states have asked the president to do more to promote carbon capture technology which they say would allow for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and still using coal to preserve their way of life as well as the planet for future generations. kristen with al jazeera, beckley, west virginia. indonesia has become one of the world east largest gas e mitters and made worse by forest

fires that destroyed millions of hectors of line with 1.7 billion tons of carbon in the atmosphere and hopes world leaders at paris talks will help reduce emissions and we talked to him exclusively. >> reporter: fires in large part of ind dindonesia and for climate and millions of people who have to breathe toxic air for months after international criticism over the fire the president has decided to travel to paris to ask for help. >> translator: it was very difficult for us because this year we face el nino and made everything very dry and hot and if this fire grows into land forest they can burn four meters deep and 29 planes and helicopters trying to douse the fires but didn't have any

effect. >> what we found and al jazeera found on the ground is that a lot of people or fires were actually caused by companies, by oil companies and by paper and pulp companies so what are you going to do about these companies? are you going to restrict law enforcement? are you going to punish them? >> translator: 11 companies being investigated and declared suspect and 286 people are being investigated and 60 are prosp t prospects and law is important with retiring the land also. >> if you go to the provinces it still sorry to say it's quite a mess, there is a lot of corruption and miss management in the forest. what are you going to do about that? >> translator: what we will do is have one policy. if we give a license to a company in the forest it will be clear who is re-ponceable. it should be clear, there should not be any left.

>> how are you going to prevent local leaders for example to be corrupt and actually give licenses to companies they are not allowed to give? >> we review all the owl licenses, if companies were given license in conservation forest we will take away the license. >> reporter: this year's fires have cost indonesia more than $30 billion u.s. dollars and he hopes to convince countries to contribute to indonesia's climate change fund. >> translator: we all have to have the same commitment especially the large industrialized countries who have a huge firemen and also the country has to be given money to improve their environment. if nobody cares about this we cannot succeed. >> reporter: did not make clear how much indonesia needs but

with another el nino year predicted in 2016 many are skeptical the country will be ready to prevent another disaster, al jazeera. in the u.s. national security agency shutting down mass phone surveillance and replacing the program with more targeted methods and end the daily monitoring of millions of americans phone records by sunday. the move comes 2 1/2 years after the controversial program was exposed by former contractor edward snowden and al jazeera is in washington d.c. >> reporter: the u.s. government no longer has the legal authority to hover up the metadata of american's telephone calls in the united states. the call duration, who they are calling, where they are calling from and so on. instead the telephone companies themselves will hold that data and under the usa freedom act the government will now request information on a case by case basis, supposedly there are now

safeguards and may take another whistleblower to tell us if they are working but plenty of ways with which the government can hoover up and executive order 12333 with secrecy and freedom act expands ability of nsa to get information from cellular telephone and internet telephone and so on and of course the other revelations from edward snowden how the u.s. has the ability to investigate everything on the internet and hovers 200 million text messages a day around the world and that is not being reformed. in addition it has to be stressed for everyone not in the united states none of this makes any difference, nsa feels you are fair game and it's up to your government to protect you as far as it is concerned it can look at whatever you are doing, any communications you make but as edward snowden did show governments are protecting citizen information and helping the u.s. government spy. they will head to the polls on sunday in a closely watched

election that could mark beginning of the new chapter in the country's political history and delayed after a failed coup in september and comes a year after a popular uprising toppled the country's longstanding president and we talked to the candidates looking to make history. >> a last-minute hunt for voters and political campaigns in bokino-faso draw to a close of 17 million under the age of 30 years, the youth hold to prove the size of the elections. music and megaphones are the weapons of choice for the candidates who are pushing for a high turnout. and he served as prime minister under the former president blaze is a frontrunner. he left government just a year ago after opposing plans to extend his rule. a business man and former finance minister is the other formidable candidate.

for some people the frontrunner ties to the former regime and is a disappointment. >> translator: it's a session to suggest we don't report change, we served under the president with honesty and in the interests of our people. we have nothing to be ashamed of. >> reporter: bakino-faso is one of the poorest countries on earth and ailing economy was effected by the crisis of the e -- blaze. it wants to bring to the enthe cry end what involved their country for 20 years. former ruling party are not allowed to stand for presidency and yet officials of the congress for democracy party have been involving traditional others for support and majority in parliament will give them the right to choose the crucial posts of prime minister and speaker. >> translator: we are not happy

at all. it's very unfair because we would have won if we would have been permitted to run for president and our strategy now is to take over parliament. >> reporter: election signs at the bay where experience in democracy we have this kind of uncertainty about the result of election and this is a sign and indication we are moving to a more democracy. if the elections are successful they will mark the first democratic power in the history of bakino-faso and the name means the land of honest people. mohamed with al jazeera. archeologists say they are 90% sure the tomb of egypt's boy king tutankhamun has passages to a hidden chamber and could be the final resting place of the queen nefertiti and died in 14th century bc and thought to be tutankhamun's step most and one

was laid to rest 400 kilometers north of luxor and could be the greatest find of the century. >> close examination of the scans highlighted the presence of closed doorways, on the west wall potentially leading to a potential tutankhamun store room labeled x in the cut away, bottom left here. and that on the north a corridor continuation of the two labeled y. the proposal i put forward is the burial of tut tutankhamun's tutankhamun's was a tomb in a tomb. he died at the age of 40. his coffin was greated by the traditional rugby hacker as it entered in the home city and 10s of thousands will be at the

rugby ground eden park on monday and suffered serious kidney problems most of his adult life. and quick reminder you can catch up with news and sport on our website and the address is al jazeera.com and you can watch us live by clicking on the watch now icon, al jazeera.com. renowned architect david adjaye. he's designing the smithsonian's national museum of african american history and culture on the mall in washington, d.c. >> i think that what the world will see is that the african american story is not a footnote, but probably the lens to really understand america, to this day. >> from a cancer treatment center in rwanda to an affordable housing project in new york, plus dozens of projects in development around the world, adjaye says he is