>> volunteers have mobile "id" in aleppo as government forces take control of high ground overlooking the city. good to have you along. you're watching al jazeera in london. with me, david foster. egypt's president said that he's handing power back to parliame parliament, and democracy has been restored. and the country dominated by catholics has done something that none of his predecessors have managed to do. plus... >> a month ago in the florida

every grades are the great burmese python hunt is underway. we'll show why they're keen to get rid of yet another invasive species. >> inside and outside of syria doubts are growing. russian president said that the deal is more likely to fail than to succeed. on the ground government forces supported by air raids are getting closer to inserting opposition forces in aleppo. we have more on the turkey-syria border. >> this high ground gives the syrian army and it's allies an advantage. the main rebel supply line is now within their range of

pfeiffer. it is not far from the only entrance from the enclave in the divided city of aleppo. opposition fighters are reagan to keep the roads open to prevent a siege of eastern aleppo where tens of thousands of people live inside the city rebel commanders say that a proposed pause in the fighting only will only benefit the government. >> the battle for aleppo was carried out by the international community who calls themselves friends of syria, but who told them that they will not stop a until all fighting stops. >> doctors, activists, lawyers, journalists created what they call an united revolutionary front. and a call to arms has been called for men for training for what could be a major battle.

>> these men will join their brothers in the free syrian army. we will teach our enemy lessons they won't forget. >> for those in the opposition the government's military campaigns have lost a country and recent battlefield gains will not force them to lay down their arms. there is opposition to the u.s. russian plan agreed in munich to pause the fighting within a week. rebel commanders say it is unrealistic because russian airstrikes can continue to target isil and al qaeda-linked al nusra front. they believe that moscow will continue to exploit those groups to continue targeting the rebels. for the first time in years the opposition risks losing it's heartland in the north and it's lifeline the turkish border. the rebel commander say that the

fall of aleppo won't be the end of the war. instead of direct confronttation they plan to resort to irregular warfare to listen the government's grip on the ground. >> all right, now there is a security conference in bavaria in munich, that's where we find dominic kane many there are diplomats, hence the diplomatic lang, but then are on option sides of the conflict, and they have made it pretty clear about what they think the others are doing. >> well, that's right. we've seen a succession of speakers speaking about the importance in the regional middle east and the powers, as it were, who from president el-sisi brought to deliberate over this agreement at this security conference. one thing that is increasingly

clear is that there is a divergence of opinion on syria. only a short while after it was agreed in this city, they were back in munich for a security conference. although some politicians have hailed the deliberations as a step forward, others have expressed extreme skepticism. in his address to the conference, john kerry adressed that skepticism by stressing how kill it is by making hostilities work. >> this conflict will still require a political solution at some point in time in order to make peace no matter what happens. this is the moment. this is a hinge point. decisions made in the coming days and weeks and few months could end the war in syria, or it could define a very difficult

set of choices for the future. >> quite how difficult is clear from the remarks senior russian ministers have been making in munich. moscow is fundamental to syria, but the prime minister said that his country is feeling increasingly isolated. >> one could go as far as to say that we've slid back to a new cold war. almost on an every day basis we've called one of the most terrible threats even to nato as a whole or to europe or to the united states. the russians stress they have national interests in syria, and that they have no secret agenda. they have repeatedly denied that they are bombing civilians there. the humanitarian tragedy syria has suffered for the past five years has been highlightedly aid agencies and human rights groups alike. hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, and millions more displaced both inside and outside of syria. >> i think that the underlying

crisis we're dealing with is a leadership crisis. we have to remember that the only moment that this became a global refugee crisis was when the refugees started going to europe. suddenly it has been global. it's been going on for five years in different parts of the world. what needs to happen is we need to give international protections for these people who are fleeing from war and persecution deserve and are entitled to. >> while there may be international support for a peaceful way out of the syrian crisis, at the same time there are signs that regional players like turkey and saudi arabia are readying their forces for ground operations. >> the point to make on the divergence of opinion. on one side you have lavrov saying that it is likely that

this will fail and on the other hand we had the sawy foreign ministers saying that bashar al-assad had to go, he's responsible for the deaths of so many hundreds of thousands of his own countrymen. that demonstrates how far abatter so many in this conflict are staying. >> thank you. there are four civilians said to have been killed near the city of fallujah to the west of baghdad. ten more were hurt. among them four children and two women. the mill said that it was targeting isil control areas west of fallujah. egypt's president al el-sisi announced he's handing authority back to parliament.

>> president el-sisi delivers his first-ever speech to parliament. the elected lower house was dissolved in 2012. since then all power has been in the hands of the president, but in his speech sisi announced he was handing that power back. the great people of egypt, i announce the transfer of the authority to the elected parliament. this is after once what was held by authority as an extraordinary measure forced upon us by circumstances. >> in theory this seemed like a significant shift of power away from the president, but some question what it will mean in practice. >> for me its just keeping formality.

the impact is that we'll stay with one dominant power. nothing is going to be changed. >> sisi says he wants to transform egypt into a modern democratic state. but for many life seems to be getting worse not better. on friday thousands of doctors in cairo protested against police brutality after two of their colleagues were reportedly beaten up by police. sisi did praise egypt's security forces. >> the army and police are sacrificing their souls to protect the nation.

>> violence has surged in the sinai peninsula where 800 people were killed in 2014. the world bank said that egypt's economy is not growing quickly enough to absorb the rapidly growing population and workforce. during the speech el-sisi was optimistic about egypt's future, but many are not. >> egyptian authorities have opened the town border with gaza for the first tim this year. there are more than 3500 people who are in need the medical assistance. the border has been closed since 2014 after the attack in north sinai. al-shabab said that it was behind an explosion that punched a hole in an airliner last week which killed one person. the attack was retribution for what it describes crimes by the

west against somalia. the suicide-bomber was sucked out of the plane. aid was delivered to taiz. the red cross said it gave out medical supplies to four hospitals in the city. the first time the red cross has been able to enter taiz since how long august. >> coming up here on al jazeera. protesters in haiti as the country struggles to name even a temporary president. and working into their 60s and 70s, thai pensioners try to earn a living.

>> let's go through the top stories at this hour. syrian government forces have made more gains as part of an offensive in and around aleppo grab areas from opposition fighters. there are doubts that any pause in fighting in syria will go ahead on a cessation o of hostil hostilities reached in germany earlier. presidential el-sisi said he's handing legislative powers back to parliament. we have heard suggests that there is the targeting of forces in aleppo. let's go to the turkish city

near the border. i know you've been tapping your contacts trying to get information from different sides. what can you tell us, dana? >> well, they targeted positions in air base that is in the province of aleppo. two possessions which the kurds recently captured from the syrian opposition just a few days ago. a short while ago quoted officials are saying artillery targeted, it didn't provide any more details. we do not know if there was a provocation, whether this is a form of retaliation, but clearly a dangerous development. in the past turkey has fired shells across it's border, but usually in reit willation after a shell lands on turkish soil or

if fighting is getting close to its borders. they fire shells as a deterrent, really. just a few hours go just before this incident happened, we heard the turkish prime minister make it clear that turkey will not hesitate to attack the ypg inside syria the way turkey has been attacking in the mountains in iraq. clear reference to the airstrikes, the turkish airstrikes that have been targeting pkk positions in northern iraq because turkey considers the ypg an off shoot of the pkk. both for turkey terrorist organizations. the timing is interesting. over the past few days the ypg and their allies, they have been in one way or another taken advantage of the ongoing offensive of aleppo territory. we can only speculate was this a warning from the turkish authorities who do not want to see the nwg expand control. they already control east of the

country and the syrian areas along turkish border. half of turkey's border with syria. is this a mention at the time we can't speculate the artillery shelling inside syria. >> afghan refugees crossing through europe have told al jazeera that they're having to seek asylum in italy because it is too hard to do so in germany. berlin so far has accepted the most refugees, but it is tightening it's border controls. that's forcing many to take a new route into northern italy from slovenia. we have reports on the italy-slovenia border. >> northern italy has been entirely by passed by the refugee who is were heading south to north, or right to left on this picture past the mountains in slovenia.

>> they have limited treatments while they wait to see what the authorities make of them. not perfect but some here have already got to the supposed promise land of germany and found it impossible to penetrate so they turned around and came back to italy. >> when i went to germany i could see 300 people, they were giving us food and all that stuff. it was very busy. >> syrians, iraqis, and afghans are the ones to get priority in the asylum queue, but many say it does not work like that in practice. they have told us that they try to go to germany to seek asylum only to find the authorities there offering preferential

treatment of syrians, and a growing number are deciding to turning left to slovenia rather than going straight on and seeking asylum in italy instead. in some villages they complain there are as many afghans as there are italians. the aid groups are lobbing authorities to spread them out and not to alarm the locals. >> gradually groups like doctors without borders are ramping up their preference. the refugees talk on facebook with their friends further back advising them of their options. asylum can be processed in four months. not even the germans are so efficient. >> they would be invited by the police to go for a medical screening. after that to be invited to the place where they've been

formalized. >> with spring coming they could find themselves on the route to the south and to the north. even more pressure. even more people. laurence lee, al jazeera. >> let's take a look at ha this shot from mexico. you see pope francis while the president addressing the audience. the president you see enrique peña nieto and take a look at the crowds outside. thousands were aligning the streets of mexico city. none of the pope's predecessors were invited to the palace. even the heads of state are greeted there.

the pope will highlight the country's difficulties we'll keep an ear and eye on what the pope is saying inside the palace. as we bring in our correspondent adam raney, who is standing under the blue mexican skies. the pope will bring up migrant and drug problems as well, but it's more than just the speaking to the country with the second highest number of roman catholics in the world. >> indeed. focusing on the way that francis--he's sitting there politely and listening to president enrique peña nieto

speaking, but he'll be mentioning all these problems, corruptions, thousands of people disappear in this prime minister. president enrique peña nieto is a savvy politician to embrace pope francis. he's an extremely popular pope, the first pope from the southern hemisphere. this is regardless of the fact that pope francis is going to bring up uncomfortable issues. >> what is his itinerary. what is he up to next? >> well, he's going to travel on sunday to a sprawling, gritty violence superb on the periphery of mexico city, and for many it's a microcosm of mexico and it's problems. it has extortion, kidnappings and corrupt police gangs who target innocent citizens to shake them down and kidnap them. but it shows mexico is full of

hundreds of thousands working class mexicans, many who commute into the city. they'll highlight the problems and then he'll reach out to the communities and celebrating a mass and indigenous langs. for years the people held people at arm's length and now they're trying to embrace these people. he'll wrap up the trip to a violent stayed held by drug cartels, and he'll pray at the border where hundreds of thousands of people sense the mass, and he'll say a prayer for migrants who lost their lives. that is a bit of a challenge to the united states. he has been critical of their policy as well. >> good to see you, thank you very much, indeed. >> now haiti's parliament is due to convene right about now to shoes a kemp rather president. there has been protest in port-au-prince after president

michel martelly left on sunday with no successor. some demonstrators are worried that martelly is trying to influence the process. we go to port-au-prince, to say this has been a mess of gargantuan is an understatement. >> this session should have started about a half hour ago. but there is still no deputies or senators to be seen. the other challenge will be that the voting happens i'm told that it is between two men.

they'll have local support, and another one has the support of former president michel martelly. many are hoping that today is going to be an interim president. >> so we're waiting to see if there is going to be any kind of vote of all. but the suggestions are if the man favored by the former president michel martelly, also known as sweet mickey, loft people on the streets are going to, well, they're going to hate it so much that there could be trouble. >> well, that's correct. many know that the opposition is divided. many are saying they want one man to be presidential president. but what joins almost every here is they don't want anyone who has the support of michel martelly, and that is joining

love the opposition if that happens on this day we could see further protests in the situation to deteriorate even further. >> we'll be back with you. thank you very much. >> it's called the grain of thailand and more and more people living for longer and means that the workforce is shrinking and that means less national output and less money for the government. what do you do about it? here is scott haidler in bangk bangkok. >> it's not uncommon for a thai grandmother to be cooking all day long. but for this 73-year-old, she's cooking to earn money, not to serve her grandchildren their favorite meal. >> i don't want to rely on my children. i'm not a disabled person. we can work. i have to earn money myself to make a living.

>> the situation is becoming more common in thailand. the stagnating economy and the rising cost of living means that people need to be working long for put food on the table. 40% of the thais over the retirement age of 60 are still working. but it's not just the aging population in thailand that is putting a train on the economic future. the drastic production in fertility rate is playing a major league roll. there is an average of 1.5 children in each household. that's less than the average back in 1970. as a result thailand's workforce will be 11% smaller, the fastest contraction amongst it's developed neighbors. to the older person.

>> adding difficulty for those looking to retire, the thai pension system is extremely fragmented. analysts say that to help reduce the costs of care in the future, the pension system needs to be reworked. but for 65-year-old its too late. they continue selling clothing as long as his body will allow. >> i have to continue going until my eyes fail me. >> many thai will have to spend their golden years working. >> government in colombia has confirmed 5,000 pregnant women have been infected by the zika virus. efforts to stop the virus has been stepped up in brazil. in brazil the armies have begun a public awareness campaign. more than 200,000 troops have been deployed.

they're handing out leaflets, and advising people about irradicating breeding grounds where the mosquitoes can transmit the disease. more in about 30 minutes. you can keep up-to-date with www.aljazeera.com. that's www.aljazeera.com. ♪ ♪ >> i'm russel russell in the pacific northwest. >> it's exactly the habitat that has been missing for 100 years