>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello welcome to the news hour. i i'm live from our headquarters in doha. >> it's not going to be easy, too much blood has been shed. >> reporter: president obama says it is time to end the war in syria, and he has plan. lebanon welcomes home 16 soldiers freed in a swap deal with syrian rebels. also beijing and new delhi live under a thick layer public

defender's office smog. and a new president is elected in burkina faso. ♪ u.s. president barack obama has said it's time to bring the war in syria to an end. he has warned that it could take months and russia needed to ally itself with the fight against isil. >> it is possible over the next several months that we both see a shift in calculation in the russians and a recognition that it's time to bring the civil war in syria to a close. it's not going to be easy. too much blood has been shed. too much infrastructure has been destroyed. too many people have been displaced for us to anticipate that it will be a smooth transition. and isil is going to continue to

be a deadly organization, because of its social media, the resources it has, and the -- the networks of experienced fighters that it possesses. it is going to continue to be a serious threat for some time to come. >> your senior political analyst has joined us here on the set. we heard a very significant speech from barack obama in paris there. it's the first time, really, that he has laid out some sort of strategy as far as ending the war in syria is concerned. >> not a strategy, some sort of a road map. we agree about that. the no-strategy president of four years ago is now laying out some sort of a road map whereby he is hoping president putin will fail in his adventures in syria. he is saying, look, we have all of the ingredients now to move

forward in a political solution for syria, why we are tackling isil. but we need to move forward without bashar al-assad. which president putin insists on. clearly what president obama is hoping for is before it's too late, the russian president understanding that his bet on bashar al-assad is not going to work out, and that his attempt to bombard his way into a solution is not going to work out. as soon as president putin makes a turn around, which president obama expects it will take more than a few weeks then perhaps a political solution is possible in the country. >> there is a meeting next week of the syrian rebel groups in vienna. will reck sha -- russia recognize these rebel groups? >> interestingly it's the iranians who we have been hearing from in the last 48

hours, saying that the consensus that is building up in saudi arabia amongst the opposition groups that are going there to meet neck -- next week is not acceptable. that's because the opposition groups are saying we're going to agree on a united negotiation strategy, but this will involve that bashar al-assad does not have a future in syria. meaning the opposition is already making clear that they are going to vienna, but they will not accept any transition that involves bashar al-assad. the iranians are saying this does not go according to vienna, but what vienna said is that there needs to be a transitional political process in the country. they did not specify bashar al-assad. but clearly tehran and moscow remains adamant if you will that they want to support bashar al-assad. >> so for the time being as far as moscow is concerned. bashar al-assad stays, this is the thorn any issue.

>> right. >> what about when it comes to isil. we have seen air strikes against isil from the russians. the brits are also wanting to join this so-called anti-isil coalition, france and germany. but has this weekended isil in any way? >> it is sort of paradoxal, with the americans starting the cam bane more than a year ago, and then they are joined in by the russias, french, and probably now the british. clearly everyone has a stake, and clearly now the syrian sky is owned by those foreign powers, but the syrian territory is still up for grabs, and it's not clear to me, foley, that whatever they are doing, meaning bombarding from the sky is having an effect on the ground yet. because the opposition groups remain powerful.

and if anything we seed isil getting more recruits and expanding in various parts outside of syria, certainly in iraq and other places like libya. the question, of course, for them is how much can you make the -- the -- the -- the -- the air strategy effective in a way that effects them on the ground. i think once again like we heard from president obama, things need to move in parallel now, they need to move political in order to move politically they have to be less disingenious about the political process. >> we have seen the russian rhetoric escalate, the russians want an apology from turkey for shooting down that russian plane last week. the turks saying no apology. where are we heading for that. nato is meeting today -- i think we have pictures of a press conference underway right now in

brussels. they are due to address the russian, turkey tensions, of course, because this has overshadowed everything that is happening in brussel. where are we headed with that? who is going to blink first? the russians or the turks? >> clearly there's a number of levels. level number 1, what comes out of nato later on today is key, because if they have any vocal support for turkey in the downing of the plane, that's very important signal. if they just support turkey's right to defend itself, that means they are not taking a clear position on the downing of the plane. in the meanwhile what we're seeing more and more of is this [ inaudible ] versus [ inaudible ], this kind of 4 or 500 years of conflict of power vying for influence in the region. it's not clear that the war of words is letting anywhere -- is letting go, but seriously, there

is no real measures, and for me some of them are two. for example, if russia says no more to the turkish gas line going to turkey. it's a $12 billion project for the russians. two it's the nuclear plant that the russians are building for the turks. that's a $20 billion project. if the russians start talking big money like that, and boycotting the turks this way, then we are escalating towards something worse. but for the time being putting visa restrictions and saying nasty thicks to one another, this does not add up to a real escalation. >> we will bring you nato's reactions as that press conference continues in brussels. thank you very much for the moment. let's move on to other news in the meantime, and lebanon has welcomed home 16 soldiers held

captive by syrian-based rebels in the al-nusra front. rob matherson has more. >> reporter: back in the arms of their families, 16 lebanese soldiers freed by al-nusra front, the result of a delicate prisoner exchange which took a year to negotiate. they were captured after fierce fighting broke out between the group and the lebanese army in august last year. >> translator: we thank all of those who helped our release, and we call on our government to negotiate the same steps by our comrades being held by isil. >> reporter: 16 soldiers have been released. it's not only al-nusra who had taken hostages. four were executed. one subsequently died of injuries. nine others remain in captivity.

but they are being held by isil a group at war with al-nusra. the lebanese government says it is doing all it can to secure the release of the hostages. >> translator: we have a target, a big target, that is a really challenge. i mean the military personnel being captive by isil, and we need to free them and liberate them for the sake of lebanon, for the sake of our nation. among those released was the former wife of isil leader. she insists, though, she had nothing to do with him. >> translator: they said i am the wife of him. i have been divorced for seven years. he was not that man at that time. i wanted to go to turkey. i will go once i get my passport issued. i will be in beirut then i will

go. >> reporter: meanwhile the families of those released, some of them who had been camped in central beirut for months, spoke about their release. >> translator: i can't [ inaudible ] my happiness. thanks to god for their safe return. and we hope we will see them soon. >> translator: they return with a dream for us, and thank god it happened. we thank everyone who worked to secure their release. >> reporter: tuesday's release will ease pressure on the lebanese government which has come under increased criticism since the soldiers of policemen were captured. it may also boost the standing of al-nusra front, presenting them as a group that countries and governments could potentially strike deals with. rob matherson, al jazeera. still ahead on the aljazz news hour. beijing and new delhi choke under a thick blanket of smog as the pope warns of an

environmental emergency. plus japanese ships leave sport to resume whales in the antarctic ocean. >> i'm my own target now. >> reporter: and we'll hear from lewis hamilton on what the future holds after his third world title. ♪ voters in burkina faso have elected a new president and the first civilian leader in more than 50 years. al jazeera's mohammed abdul has more from the capitol. >> reporter: celebrations rocked the capitol, the moment results of the elections were released. former prime minister was proclaimed the winner. he will become the country's first civilian leader in almost five decades. in his victory speech he

promised to follow through on his campaign promises. >> translator: we owe to those who sacrificed their lives for our country, the restoration of our constitutional order, peaceful governance that strengthens democracy and national reconciliation. >> reporter: citizens are celebrating the end of political turmoil in their country. it's the hope of many year that the election of a new president will usher in a new era of fiscal democracy. he was also the president of the national assembly, and the president blaise compapaorcompa. not everyone is happy with his victory. >> translator: he was not my candidate and never will be. i don't see any difference between him and compaore. he worked for compaore for five

of the seven years he was in power. >> reporter: the elections bring to an end of an administration, when blaise compaore was overthrown last year. he was toppled by [ inaudible ] when he tried to change the constitution to extend his rule even further. >> no politician, no political party will now come and impose an idea or a practice of government. this is a very good thing, and this is the biggest achievement since the resurrection of october 2014. >> reporter: comfortable in the knowledge that months of turmoil are now behind them, the people of burkina faso continue to celebrate their country's new status. pope francis is calling for urgent action from leaders at the u.n. climate conference in

paris. he says it's the last chance to avoid a global environmental disaster. >> translator: i am not sure, but i can say to you now or never. from the first one, which i believe was held in tokyo to now, little has been done. every year the problems are getting more serious. we are at the limit, if i may use a strong word, i would say we're at the elements of suicide. i'm certain that almost all of those who are in paris are conscious of this, and want to do something. people in china's capitol beijing have been told to stay in doors for the first time in almost two years. the second heist orange alert has been issued over air quality. >> reporter: in paris they are talking about how to save any planet. in beijing, they are just trying to breathe. smog thick enough to see, acrid enough to taste.

government leaders call these conditions unfavorable. many others call it crazy bad, and it's been this bad since saturday. yet some appear oblivious. >> translator: you can't wear the masks all the time. even if you are in the room, the smog can still get in. it's impossible to wear a mask for 24 hours. >> translator: i think the pollution is so bad, so it doesn't make a big difference whether you wear the mask or not. how much can it really help you? >> reporter: schools are open, but many parents are keeping their children at home. >> translator: today the school is still open, but my son does not feel well, and has a sore throat. the pollution has been really bad for the past few days, so i don't want him getting worse by going outside. >> reporter: even here, though, it's not entirely safe, the red light on her air purifier, indicating a high level of pollutants in the room.

beside her home, a reminder of one of the reasons why a child can't venture outside. the coal-fired power station that provides heat to her apartment block. the worsening air quality has spurred an increase in gadgets that measure air quality. in one part of beijing, the government monitoring station recorded a reading of nearly a thousand on monday night. anything over a hundred is considered unhealthy to at-risk groups such as the elderly, asthmatics, and children. china is the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases, but the government says it hopes those emissions will peak by 2030, but that still means we could have many more days like this, or perhaps even worse. adrian brown, al jazeera, beijing. and thick smog is hanging over new delhi too. our correspondent is in the indian capitol. >> reporter: this area in the

east of new delhi is officially, according to delhi's pollution control committee, the most air-polluted part of the city. levels today and on tuesday have been recorded at eight times the permissible limits. anything that is three times the permissible limit is noted as hazardous by this committee, which means there could be serious health side effects, anything more than that suggests there are many millions of lives at risk. but despite these high warnings of the kind that beijing is seeing, and there is alert there at the moment, despite these high readings and many warnings from agencies like the world health organization, no formal process exists to alert residents of these kinds of impending dangers of being outdoors. now while this might look like just a gray winter's day in this part of the world, what you are

actually seeing out here is air pollution, and that's any reality that many residents across new delhi are now noticing more than ever before, and becoming more concerned about as the conditions continue to worsen. >> our senior meteorologist is here with us to tell us first about china. pretty bad in china, but it's worse during the winter months why? >> well, the main reason foley is the production of all of the pollutants. beijing actually does quite well. but it is surrounded by these mountains up to about 2.5 thousand meters, and you get pollution coming from the northwest, where the coal-burning factories are. and all of this very polluted air, beijing has very high environmental standards, but suffers from this input of all of the pollutants from

elsewhere. all of the pollutants are trapped by the mountains, and if you get an area of high-pressure it is like a lid. and it gets worse and worse with time. >> right. we also saw some terrible pictures out of new delhi. is that because of the same conditions as in beijing? >> again, there's a lot of industrial pollution, but right at the moment the pollution is 450 in beijing. in new delhi it is something like 650. so it is really bad. but with india you have the added problem of stubble burning where the farmers would burn the stubble off of the fields. the only way to get rid of it is to burn it. and that just adds to the general fog, you tend to get this time of year. >> now smog, of course, richard used to be a huge problem for

european capitols, london for instance, but they were able to get rid of it, and not beijing, not new delhi right now. why is that? what did they do right? >> well, their introduced the clean air act and in london when that came in overnight the pollution went, because it affected the people in paris, i think that's why the laws were passed. other cities didn't matter so much, but it brought london to a virtual stand-still. hugely impressive people walking in front of buss to try to light the way. so effective legislation, that's the answer. >> thank you very much, richard. now climate change is predicted to impact people all over the world, some countries are already reeling from the effects of global warming. nick clark has been to the pacific nation which lies no more than 3 meters above sea level. >> reporter: from above it's

evident how narrow the main island is. yet this is where 50,000 people live. and it is growing fast. wherever you look, it seems, there are children. and you can only wonder what the future holds for them. from the water you can really see how low-lying the island is. it's just this lagoon this side, and narrow strip of land where everybody lives, and more water on the other side. there's no way to go up. there's no way to go sideways. there's no way to go at all. we put to shore at the village, where the sea wall has been destroyed by ever more powerful and persistent storms. where there were once homes, there is now open water. people are being forced to relocate to already crowded areas. there are some shoes in here. >> still some stuff here. they will come back for their

stuff. >> reporter: the village elder showed me a house vacated just a couple of monthst ago. >> they move away. they don't come back. >> reporter: so they finally had had enough. >> they had finally had enough. too much to try. we are losing communities in this place because of it. >> reporter: while we were here, this president hosted a conference on this troublesome issue of climate-induced transition. >> i don't think any other leader in the world, knowing the history of human kind has ever faced this same situation we are facing in low-lying nations. >> reporter: the president has long campaigned for urgent global action. he invited me to join him at home, where he enjoys time with

his grandchildren, a generation who he says future depends on us now. >> it's the greatest moral challenge for humanity. because if these people knew that this is happening to us, why do they continue to do it? i cannot understand it? how can you pretend to be a moral person if you know what you are doing is hurting people on the other side of the world? >> reporter: there is no doubt that rising sea levels threaten the very existence of these accumulate tees. perhaps the islands can be built up to defend themselves. but time is running out. this disused ship lost its morgues in a recent storm and smashed into a sea wall. the ship's name translates as good luck. something i'm afraid, these children desperately need. nick clark, al jazeera. japanese ships have left port to resume whaling in the

antarctic ocean. international outrage forced japan to stop hunting whales. they say they are for commercial hunts and not for research as climbed by the japanese government. >> reporter: two vessels left the southwestern town earlier on tuesday. they will meet up with two other vessels including the mother ship and a fishery agency patrol boat as they head towards the antarctic ocean. the whales will resume from the end of december and carry on through the end of march. the mayor said there was nothing happier than this day, because it remarked the resumption of japan's whaling season. the international court of justice ruled that japan's scientific whaling had no scientific basis whatsoever.

there was no reason to kill the whales. however, japan has always said it wants to resume fully fledged commercial whaling, that's why this scientific research as it calls it, is necessary. and it will take a third of the whales now. the australian go says it does not agree with the concept of killing whales for research and has been examining its legal options and as well as that the pressure group sea shepherd said it will be sailing towards the antarctic ocean to resume the confrontational tactics that it has used in the past. coming up on al jazeera, we look at how conflict in iraq means thousands of children are denied an education. on world aids day, we'll look at why south africa has one of the highest rates of hiv in the world, but less people know about the disease than ever

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welcome back, you are watching the al jazeera news hour. barack obama says it is time to bring the war in syria to an end, but that it could take months. the u.s. president is also saying that russia needs to align itself with the fight against isil. lebanon's prime minister has welcomed home 16 soldiers held prisoner by the al-nusra front in syria. lebanon has always freed prisoners including the former wife of the isil leader. and russia's president says oil produced by isil is being shipped in to turkey on an industrial scale. turkey's prime minister says the accusations are baseless.

nato and foreign ministers have been meeting for a two-day summit in brussels. they just finished a news conference at the headquarters. it's turkey's downing of a russian jet that has dominated the agenda there. let's go live to bernard smith who is in istanbul for us. we have rory challands as well in moscow. but first to nadim baba who is in brussels. well us what the secretary general has been saying at the press conference. >> reporter: well, foley, the secretary general has been outlining the continued importance of supporting the afghan national security forces in the years to come. but what everybody is looking for is the meeting involves nato's foreign minister and turkey's foreign minister on what they can calling challenges from the south, in particular fighting isil in syria.

now of course this ongoing war of words between turkey and russia is very concerning to nato members here. just 24 hours ago, in the building behind me, the turkish foreign minister did say that he didn't want to see an escalation of the row. but at the same time he made it clear that there would be no apology. a lot of people would like something like that to be forthcoming, but we expect some nato members to outline how they are going to further support turkey in this defending its territorial integrity. >> thank you very much. the tension between turkey and russian dominating the agenda there. let's bring in now bernard smith. the turks are keen to de-escalate the tensions with

russia, but they are not going to apologize, they say. >> reporter: no, and while russia might ben't have ratcheting up the rhetoric, it is turkey that has been trying to extend some olive branches. the prime minister said he hoped -- turkey would never experience with russia such an incident again. he said he wants to re'em fie size reopening military communications to thwart any similar incidents and he said let's get diplomatic negotiations reopened. but russia is still planning to go ahead with economic sanctions with turkey. the turkish president and the prime minister also saying that turkey is not going to apologize for defending its borders. foley. >> thank you very much.

let's speak to rory challands who is in the russian capitol for us. rory what do they make in moscow of what is happening at the nato summit? and why are the russians soed a dant that turkey must apologize? >> reporter: well, the shutters have come down on turkey, really, and there's no sign in moscow that they will be lifted up again, at least until that apology comes from ankara, and that's why the russians are maintaining their resolution on this. in terms of the asere shun from turkey on the claim that turkey has been supporting isil's oil transportation. and the kremlin said it has been

using that in this fight with isil. so what the russians are going to be doing is targeting more of these oil convoys inside isil territory. now of course all of this -- the whole -- the -- the blow up of the relationship with turkey makes it very difficult for this concept of a grand coalition to come about, and even though putin and obama had a chat on the sidelines of the -- of the climate conference in paris yesterday, the russians have said today that that doesn't mean that this grand coalition idea is any closer to reality, for the mean reason that their partners -- and partners a short wand for the west -- for the main reason that it's partners are not yet in the right space, the right mental framework to have this grand coalition. so russia is saying it is open to this cooperation, but it has

not yet seen that commitment from the west. >> thank you rory. fighting in iraq and syria means millions of children are not going to school. unicef says the situation is only going to get worse. imran khan reports from the northern city of erbil. >> reporter: this boy is from kobani in syria, but fled from the violence a year ago, and lives in a camp in northern iraq. he should be in school, polishing his reading skills. instead he polishes metal. he is one of 2 million children, syrian and iraqi in this country who haven't completed a school year because of the war against isil. put simply, there aren't any schools to go to. >> translator: i loved learning. i want to go back to school and see my friends. working is hard. >> reporter: unicef says it needs $75 million to provide basic schooling next year. money it says it doesn't have.

private charities and individuals are trying to fight back. this is a school in erbil. it staffed by teachers and attended entirely by students who fled the violence elsewhere. here they have 1800 students and the education is provided for free. this person came to erbil after isil took over her neighborhood in fallujah two years ago. she teaches english and is still in touch with her family in her home city and says the situation is dire. >> of course [ inaudible ] is my area, and i have many [ inaudible ] that are still there, because they don't have money to go out of fallujah, and they are [ inaudible ]. so you can imagine two years unrule, third year would a school. >> reporter: charities say the lack of education will have long-term consequences. >> lack of schools, lack of

education -- education at schools effected by the -- with the with the goirls and the boy, and they are looking and start thinking another way, like using the [ inaudible ] to be a criminal or -- et cetera. >> reporter: those children not in school either work in places like this, or they beg in the streets. the aid agencies say they need millions of dollars to provide basic services. the iraqi security forces, militias and isil have taken over schools and are using them as military bases. imran khan, al jazeera, erbil. returning now to one of our top stories, the prisoner exchange between lebanon and syrian rebels. qatar helped broker the deal. >> translator: the state of qatar has taught this human

initiative to release the leb bonn ease soldiers, and we have managed to do that accordance to the directions of the leader of qatar. we are ready under the directions of his hi hien -- heiness. >> that was this qatarry ambassador to lebanon speaking africa tar brokered the release of 16 lebanese soldiers who were being held by syrian rebels. there will be more on that story in our next news bullton. pilot error and faulty computer are being blamed for an airline crashed last year. from jakarta, our correspondent

reports. >> reporter: investigators have rebuilt the final minutes of the flight when the alarms kept going off for a small technical failure, the pilots took the decision to turn off the automatic protection system. this forced the pilots to fly manually without any computer protection, which is where it all went wrong. the air ambassador started rolling sharply left and right. the co-pilot who was flying the plane, and the pilot failed to take control. >> the issue of recommendation to the airbus first for all pilot to be trained with the [ inaudible ], and the second recommendation to airbus to provide some [ inaudible ], basically to prevent the pilot improvise something out of the [ inaudible ]. >> reporter: that's what he did?

>> yes, that's what happened. >> reporter: a very serious message from investigators of the national transport commission, pilots need more training to fly their planes manual. traditionally the commission never points fingers at who is to blame, but the message to this pilot is clear. it took rescuers more than two months to recover only 106 of the 162 bodies from the remains of the jet at the bottom of the sea. this woman lost her 24-year-old son who worked as an airasia flight attendant. his body was recovered five days after the crash. to her, the outcome of the investigation doesn't make any difference. >> translator: i cannot blame anyone. no human being would deliberately make this kind of mistake. i'm sure nobody wants to fail in his work. he must have done his best.

>> reporter: airbus has included upset recovery training for pilots in their manuals, also the technical failure that caused the alarms to go off has been solved. police in kenya have opened an investigation into a security drill at a university in nairobi that left one person dead and more than 30 injured. the spokesman said the university did not inform relative authorities about the terror drill. >> reporter:est -- this woman died on tuesday afternoon. martin who is recuperating also thought students were under attack. he jumped from the first floor window and fractured his legs.

>> in front of me at the stairs i see four men advancing, wearing white, had something red -- that's what i saw, something red, and they had the guns, about four of them advancing to the stairs. this is not the first floor. now at this point, you know, fear kicked in, now it was just panic. >> reporter: but the university was not under attack. it was a security drill gone wrong. this student's legs and hands are broken. she jumped off the second-floor balcony, and is still too traumatized to talk to us. two other people, one with a spinal injury, are in intensive care. many of the students were at the student center when the security drill started. they say they were not informed. they panicked and some of them jumps off of the window ledges. the police spokesmen said they

did not inform the relative security forces. >> in the incident, there are possibilities of even the military spending specialized units, and that would find that in a very awkward position, where you find security forces fighting on their own, and yet it is a drill, and that's why we are saying the highest level of protocol must be followed. kenya is on a high alert after an attack by al-shabab. since the attack, several universities across the country have been carrying out random drills to prepare everyone for potential attacks. >> when you are doing a drill, you have to inform people. not the details of the timing, but what is actually bound to happen. i saw students hanging on roof tops and they were ak wlly scared it was a real situation. so it ended up looking like a real terrorist attack, actually.

>> reporter: martin says he is lucky to be alive, but he is angry that they were not warned and that someone died and another might not be able to walk again. >> reporter: china's president has arrived in zimbabwe. he is the most prominent chinese leader to visit zimbabwe for years. the chinese leader is expected to pledge extra funding and investment to the cash-strapped country. now to south africa where understanding about the diseases hiv and aids has declined by almost 20%. the country has one of the highest rates of aids in the world. the government is now reviewing its health education policy. >> reporter: a group of teenagers meet in the east neighborhood to talk about issues often taboo in their homes. >> so what do you do if you don't have condoms?

>> reporter: on average young people in south africa are becoming sexually active at the age of 15. >> many people in this age, they don't like, really, understand, in fact what is hiv? because nowadays people go do not [ inaudible ]. >> in my opinion like our parents don't talk to us about such things. they are afraid that we will go do them in the wrong way. >> reporter: this counselor meets youngsters just like these twice a week. he says it's important to share information in an often conservative society. >> we will explain to say why do you feel so comfortable to disclose to us. they say if we talk to teacher, sometimes they judge us. sometimes they say, you have shouldn't be asking, one, two, three, because it's a possibility, you should focus on your studies and efrl.

>> reporter: he is one of several educators who walk the streets to spread the word about hiv and aids. according to government research, over all understanding of hiv and aids in south africa declined. and during that time hiv prevalence rose by 2%. it has been 15 years since south aft africa reviewed his policy. >> we made a lot of progress and at some point we were sort of slowed down as a nation, public and private sectors, in fact. and yet the infections are still there. >> reporter: the department of basic education is looking at bringing treatment and testing centers in school, and reviewing the process of classes aimed at giving guidance. >> the lack of knowledge and understanding of hiv aids has

dragged down the level of condom use in our country. >> reporter: the debate should no be an emotion one, but simply about education, adapting to the times. the future of the [ inaudible ] revolution in venezuela is looking shaky two years after the former president died of cancer. opinion polls suggest the socialist government will lose its majority for the first time in 16 years after sunday's election. virginia lopez reports from caracas. >> reporter: a free musical education for her granddaughter is just one of the achievements of venezuela's revolution that karla enjoys. she says that the social and political transformations achieved during the late hugo chavez's government run deep. and the spiralling inflation,

crime problems, and others are not enough to sway the vote. >> venezuelans have to queue for hours outside of shops for what we need. >> reporter: her views are echoed by neighbors in this community in caracas known for its revolutionary fervor. such as the level of revolutionary fervor that hugo chavez, two local leaders, marx, lending, mao, considered long side jesus christ in a predominantly catholic country and raise no eyebrows. but even in strong holds like these, polls have shown that support has faded, and that for the first time in 16 years the opposition could control the 167-seat congress. for robert, leader of his group,

a government defeat is unthinkable. >> translator: the movements will defend the social gains of the revolution on the streets. if the opposition says they lost, then [ inaudible ] we will remain in the streets to defend the revolution. >> reporter: he prefers to refer to his party as a social movement that recovers public spaces with murals that awaken political consciousness. but they also patrol the streets and local police are not allowed here. this video allegedly show armed members alongside security forces. with stakes so high many fear renewed episodes of violence could fair up once more. sunday's election could prove to be as much a test of venezuela's democracy as the future of the

ruling party. all right. still ahead in sport, the golden state warriors refuse to lose. find out how long their unbeaten record now stretches. ♪

♪ all right. time for sports here is jo. >> foley, thank you. the golden state warriors have extended their record unbeaten start to the new nba season to 19 games. their mvp had to be on top form against the utah jazz. the warriors overall winning streak though is even longer.

>> reporter: every team in the league would like to be the one that finally ends the golden state warrior's unbeaten start. the utah jazz were their first opponent for a 7-game road trip, but the warriors looked on again. >> there it is again. >> reporter: they lead 53-48 at the end of the first time. thompson stretched that out to 11 points early in the third quarter, he had 20 points for the night. but the jazz saved their best for the final period. prompting league steph curry to lift his game. >> curry 3, good! [ cheers and applause ] >> and we're tied. >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: back and forth, and the game was level again with 51 seconds left on the clock. it was curry who clenched it, finishing with a tally of 26

points. >> curry, 3, good! and he unties it! >> reporter: the result takes the warriors overall unbeaten record to 23 games dating back to last season. that's the third longest streak in nba history. they will need four more wins to equal the miami heat from the 2012, 2013 seasons while the 1971, '72 lakers hold the overall record with 32 street wins. next up for golden state, the charlotte hornets on wednesday, where a 24-strength streak goes on the line. family and friends of rugby great have gathered to say good-bye in new zealand. the formal all black died last month at the age of 40. it followed an almost 20-year

battle with didny disease. leanel messi may have been name as the 3-man short list, but in spain he has already been crowned the top player in la liga. he beat stiff competition and was also maked striker of the year. the two other players short listed by fifa were also in contention. >> translator: the truth is, i'm very happy and grateful about this award, for this recognition, i think after the year we had, winning everything, we deserve these awards and maybe more. but we're happy and grateful for the recognition we received today. lewis hamilton says he doesn't know what the future will hold for him. he sealed the 2015 crown at the

united states grand prix in october to equal the record set by his idol, but as far as the next goal of matching michael schumakers title, that's still far from his mind. >> i don't care to beat them actually. i think michael deserved those championships and he's a super, super legend in formula 1. but i got into formula 1 [ inaudible ] there was no other driver, i wasn't worried about any other drivers just [ inaudible ]. now -- now it's just focused on -- on -- i don't have to look at other drivers as targets. i'm my own target now, you know? engineer lank's cricket captain says his team is in this -- the best condition they

can be. it was still a memorable match. pakistan could only grab a single, so the scores were tied. that meant the match had to be decided by a super over when both teams bowl an extra six balls each. the team with the highest score wins. england restricted pakistan to 3 runs. great britain winning davis cup team have met with the prime minister following their victory in belgium. the team won the country's first davis cup title since 1936. they showed off the trophy outside number 10 downing street. murray teamed up with brother jamie in the doubles. and that is all of the sport for you. >> thank you very much. and that's it for this news hour from doha. for me and the home team. thank you very much for watching. my colleague david father is

live from our london news center next. do stay with us. ♪

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condition fronting isil, the u.s. to expand its use of special forces on the ground in iraq and potentially syria. ♪ good to have your company. i'm david foster. you are watching al jazeera live from london. also in this program. back home 16 lebanese soldiers freed in a prisoner swap. burkina faso elects his