♪ a diplomatic disagreement. kurdish fighters in turkey. >> hello. you are watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up, the pope urges mexico's clerics to tackle the country's drug problems. >> u.s. presidential hopefuls gear up for the final south carolina debate before the south carolina primary. >> in the florida everglades

where the great burmese python hunt is underway. ♪ hello. attempts to stop the fighting in syria even temporarily appear to be going nowhere as the fighting continues. a global security conference in munich, the u.s. secretary of state is talking about a turning point in the search for a political solution. russia's prime minister warned of a new cold war. inside syria, government forces have made progress toward encircling forces in aleppo. russia is continuing it's bombing campaign. to complicate matters further, kurdish targets inside syria. more on the glom diplo59ic front. this report on the turkish

border with syria. >> reporter: this high ground gives the syrian army and its alleys an advantage. the main rebel supply lies on the northern countryside of aleppo is within the rake kind ofl of fire. the only entrance to the opposition controlled enclave in a divided city of aleppo. opposition fighters, rebel commanders say a proposed end of the fighting will only benefit the government. >> translator: the battle for aleppo was carried out by the international community who called themselves friends of syria. we will not stop fighting until all siege is lifted. >> reporter: the people of aleppo have come together to prepare for the possibility of a siege. doctors, activists, lawyers,

journalists created what they call a united revolutionary front and at that call to arms has been answered by civilians. men of fighting age are now receiving training before what could be a major battle. >> these men will join their brothers in the free syrian army. they will hold positions and join. we will teach our enemy lessons they won't forget. >> for those defendant opinionzition, the military cam pangs across country and the recently battlefield gains will not force them to lay down their arms. >> this is opposition to a 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. they believe moscow will exploit the presence of those groups to continue targeting the reblingdz. the russian-backed government

offensef has weakinned moderates, strongest around aleppo in the northern country side of homs. for the first time in years, the opposition is losing the heartland in the north and its lifeline, the turkish border. the rebel commanders say the fall of aleppo won't be the end of the war, instead of direct confrontation, they plan to resort to irregular warfare to loosen the government's grip on the ground. zeina hodr, southern turkey. >> the u.s. has urged turkey after the prime minister demanded turkish fighters withdraw from around the border. turkey confirmed it carried out shelling in the north of the country. it said it was striking in retaliation under the army's rules of engagement and we have this update. >> turkish military confirming

they are targeting positions inside the torn in earn aleppo province, a clear message to the ypg that the government considers a terrorist organization. this kurdish armed group have been taking ground from turkey backed syrian groups taking advantage of the government offensive in the northern aleppo country side. as we speak, we know that the ypg has been trying to advance towards two main strongholds, so clearly a warning, telling them not to advance any further or maybe supporting the opposition groups on the ground who are y trying to repel their ad vance. earlier today, turkey will not hesitate to take any action against the action that it has been taking in the mountains in northern iraq where air straikz have been target -- strikes have been targeting pkk. turkey conditions them an

offshoot of the pkk. a complicated web of alliances, at the ends of the day, the ypg is an ally of the united states andtie made it clear to the administration it is not happy with this alliance that the u.s. saying its position will not change. >> there has been plenty of talk about ending the conflict in syria at the security conference attended by world leaders, russia has been among the most skeptical voices over whether a pause in the fighting can actually happen. dominic cane is in munich. >> only al short while after the agreement on syria was reached in this city, the u.s. secretary of state was back in munich for a security conference. although some politicians had hailed the librations as a step forward, others have expressed extreme skepticism. in his address to the conference, john kerry addressed that skepticism by stressing how critical it is to make the cessation of hostilities work. >> this kong 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. >> it is becoming clear this weekend in munich. the french prime minister has accused the russians of bombing civilians in syria, an allegation endorsed by the u.s. government. the russian prime minister has said comments like these are making his country feel increasingly isolated. >> one could go as far as to say that we have slid back to a new cold war, almost on an every-day

basis, basis. 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 highlighted by aid agencies and human rights groups alike. hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions more displaced both inside and outside syria. >> i think the underlying crisis we are dealing with is a leadership crisis. we have to remember that the only moment of crisis was when the refugesis started going to europe. suddenly it's global. it's been going on for five years in different parts of the world. so what needs to happen, we need to give the protection, international protection which these people who are fleeing from war and persecution deserve and are entitled to. >> reporter: while there may

well be international support for a peaceful way out of the syria crisis, at the same time, there are signs that regional players like turkey and saudi arabia are readying their forces for ground operations. dominic kane, al jazeera, munich. >> saudi arabia has confirmed to al jazeera it has sent military personnel and jets to the turkish air base used by the us coalition in the fight against isil. it's not known how many planes or shareholdeoldiers have been >> the late dmroichlts gal size sawed doctor deployme-- the lat deployments say saudi arabia is matching words with action. we are reinforcing our air campaign and will wait for military details on the land operation. teams have arrived at the air

base. they should be operational and ready soon. ♪ now republican presidential hopefuls in the united states are preparing to go head to head in the final televised debate in the south carolina prime minister. we will take you to al jazeera's area greenville in south carolina. what are you going to expect from tonight? >> well, these real running at a very fast pace. we will see three battles, the battle between ted cruz and donald trump to decide who will be the outsider candidate, the person who is going to challenge the establishment. we will see ted cruz say a few mean things about donald trump and donald trump say a few mean things over the l few hours mark yoep rubio and john kasich

did so well t jeb bush wants to do well in south carolina to keep his campaign on track. the three are looking for the establishment vote. there is the battle between the establishment and the outsiders. so when expecting donald trump to come under attack likes he hasn't done any time in this series, remember when jeb bush started to attack on stage in one of the previous debates, he accused other of going in to the witness protection program because they refused to speak out against donald trump. it's going to be interesting indeed who attacks whom, how long it lasts and how nasty it gets because we have seen these debates and we can it can cause problems for candidates. >> we have seen plenty of debates so far. what kind of impact do they have on the race for the white house? >> reporter: just ask marco rubio. he had come off third place in iowa against expectations seemed to be doing well as the

establishment candidate in new hampshire and he had a terrible debate, just awful in new hampshire. it was only 90 seconds. >> he was dismantled by chris christie, the new jersey governor who said he could only answer questions in the way his advisors told him. marco rubio repeated a line twice more in response to that attack. so, he just reinforced all of the perceptions that chris christie was building about him. he came to new hampshire and dropped down fourth. he saw what was going on twitter and other social media sides and realized it had been bad. ben carson was high in the polls, debates exposed his weaknesses on foreign policy and economic policy. carly fiorinia, they also said perception and as we saw with marco rubio, one market can target a campaign.

he will look to do better. he told supporters in new hampshire, i was bad and that won't happen again. he will be prepared for all of the attacks. these debates, there seem to be a lot of them, they are important. they are shaping this campaign. >> all right. that sounds good. anna fisher live from greenville in south carolina. >> the breaking news out of the area, we are hearing the longest serving member of the u.s. supreme court anthony scalia was found dead. eight just iingsz on the supreme court nominated by the president and confirmed by the senate. >> on the program, war on zika, a threat posed by thevir u.s. egypt said he is handing power back to parliament. he said democracy has been

rebuilt. ♪ >> technology giving scientists an edge. ((úz@úxóxkxñ($9

again, a reminder the top stories. attempts to stop fighting in syria appear to be going nowhere. world leaders meeting germany. it now looks in doubt. >> the u.s. urged turkey to stop fighting on kurdib forces t turkey until northern aleppo province between syria and

turkey. republican presidential hopefuls in the u.s. are gearing up to go head to head later in the final televised debate before the south carolina prime minister. a reminder of the breaking news in the last few minutes. it's been con firms the longests serving member of the u.s. supreme court has been found dead in texas. there are eight justices on the supreme court. they are nominated by the president and confirmed by the senate. scalia was 234078nated back in 1986 by president ronald reagan. >> now, in his first official visit to mexico, pope francis has urged politicians and clerics to challenge the threat by the drug trade asking them to help mexicans evening ape a life of violence. thousands are lining the streets to greet the pope. a catholic church to enter the palace area.

that's where he met the president of mexico, a meeting highly symbolic as none of his predecessors are there. they are usually greeted at the palace. experience teaches us each time we seek the path of a privilege for a few to the detriment of a few, it becomes a fertile soil for the drug trade, exclusion of cult tours and, violence and death. all leaders have a particular duty to offer all citizenship ton worthyy contributors to their own future. of course, ald a.m. rainey is in mexico. he says did did ald a.m. p

interestingly when he spoke to the bishops, he used language that you don't often hear priests or high-ranking politicians use. he told them to fight on, to fight for the average mexican and to fight like men. when i heard that, i thought that was a unique and strange way of speaking the we are in a count country where those words are a bit of a prove occasion. a macho skull tour. everyone knows that who works here in the media and in the social circle in which these politicians and leaders operate. so, he was kind of taking the gloves off and getting almost personal with these bishops. perhaps they didn't like it is much because not too many got up to give an ovation before he spoke. >> brazil has declared war on the mosquito. leaflets explaining how to destroy mosquitos breeding

grounds, the president urged all brazilians to work together to achieve what she called zero zika. brauingsing news out of texas. anthony scali amount of the u.s. supreme court. the san antonio news express says the associate justice was reportedly founding dead of apparent natural causes in west texas. the 79-year-old supreme court justice was nominated to the court in 1986 by president ronald reagan. he was one of the most consistent conservative voices on the court. joining me now on the phone is senior white house correspondent mike viqueira. you know, your reaction here? >> reporter: it's a thunder bolt. no one saw this coming. it's given everyone pause here twitter, people are in shock.

people already talking about the implications for the supreme court. with these reports now, still sketchy even though the governor of texas has lauded the life of anthony scalia. the san antonio "news express" describing a resort where he attended a private party on friday. he did not appear for breakfast and according to the san antonio news express news, a person associated with the ranch went to a room and found the body. the initially reports, it does appear now that the 79-year-old antonin scalia, a conservative, saying the constitution should be strictlied interpreted who had been a defendant thorn in the side of liberals for every moment that he has been on the bench, who has treated some

opinions, and when he was in the majority those who oppose him with utter disdain, he has apparently passed. this creates something a dilemma for the obama administration and the senate who must confirm a new justice. it appears he has passed at the age of 79. >> mike, what do we know about his health? >> reporter: we didn't know much about his health leading up to this. there had been some reports of some heart issues in the past. many of the justices obviously are gietting older. his good friend, ruth bader ginsburg, the two of them known to be as thick as thieves, she a liberal justice but she is much older than scalia. to our knowledge, we haven't really known of anything that would be, i guess, for lack of a

better phrase, life-threatening when it comes to scalia, that's probably why it's coming as such a shock. >> you had mentioned the texas governor, greg abbot weighed in already and this is what he had to say: let's go ahead and bring in

lisa stark who covers the supreme court for us. what are the implications for the court? >> reporter: these are enormous as you know, the court is divided by 5-4 often with justice kennedy being smack in the middle going between the liberal and conservative side depending upon the decision. now, we have essentially a 4-4 court in some ways and as mike indicated, it's going to be very difficult for president obama to fill this vacancy. no doubt, he will want to. he will want to try to do so, but given the political reality in the midst of a presidential election, i think it would be very hard to anticipate that he could come up with someone that the senate would confirm. justice scalia was the longest serving justice. he was appointed, as you said, back in 1986 by president reagan and he was a brilliant legal mind whether you agree with him or not, but he was a decided

conservative on the court, probably in a sense, the leader of that flank of the court, writing many an opinion and, also, very outspoken. i mean i was sitting in the courtroom this year when they discussed the case about affirmative action at the university of texas, and he raised quite a stir by arguing, perhaps, that african-americans, minorities, perhaps, are ill-served by going to schools where they are not prepared and that created quite a stir on twitter and everywhere else as you can imagine. some people actually called for his i mpeachment to be removed from the court because of that statement. so, he was a very c controje controversial figure, outspoken justice, probably the most outspoken justice and i think whether you agree with him or not, his intellect will be missed on the court. i think that was the connection that he had with ginsburg. as mike said, they were good friends. you wouldn't think it because she was one of the most liberal

justices. he is one of the most conservative, but they were very good friends and often gave speeches and talked together to the public. so he will be missed on the court clearly by conservatives and wie'll have to see what happens with some of the very big decisions that the court is facing this year: decisions where we would have known where antonin scalia came down. now, we do not know what the cord will end up doing. >> let's talk about some of those decisions the high court will be facing. >> one of them is this texas case involving affirmative action. there is also a case involving immigration, the immigration executive action that the president took, the court decided it will here whether the president, in a sense, over aski overstepped his bounds allowing 5 million undocumented immigrants to stay in the country. there is an abortion case that the court will hear. a lot of hot-button issues that now will be before a court that

is missing perhaps its most conservative leader. >> and lisa, you know, you talk about this being a tough task probably for the obama administration to push through one of their own 234078 nations for his predecessor. does that mean that this could carry in to 2017 with a new president? >> reporter: absolutely. it means that the court could stay the way it is for now. in fact, there were some discussion about that happening potentially if something did happen to a justice or a justice decided to retire prior to the end of the obama administration, that it would just be so politically unlikely to get anyone in to that position. you know, the whole idea of the supreme court and the justices have been an issue on campaign trail. hillary clinton, bill clinton on her behalf, had raised the issue of, you know, the next president is probably going to appoint a couple of supreme court

justices, so please, you know, make sure that you think about that when you skroet vote and on the other side,vote vote and on the other side, some of the other candidates indicated they would have strict litmus test for supreme court justices on issues like abortion and gun rights. the court, obviously, very polarized, as the senate is. you will have trouble coming up with a candidate that the senate would agree with. >> lisa, what happens to cases that are currently being argued? >> reporter: they will continue to be argued. >> in some indications, justices recuse themselves anyway if they have a conflict. if the court split 4-4 is that the lower court ruling would stand. so there would be no precedent set, and whatever the lower court decides would be at least the law for that jurisdiction, not the law of the land because only the supreme court can decide that. but that is exactly what would happen in some of these cases if the court does not get a

majority on these hot-button issues. >> let's bring in darren epps, a professor of law at the university of baltimore. thank you so much, derrick, for joining us. your reaction. this is some pretty stunning news. >> it is. it is the end of a really huge career, probably, i think you would have to say of the last third of the twventth century -- 20th century, the most influential,f, he has not just changed the result of many cases but changed the entire way that the constitutional and statutory issues are argued and his influence will persist regardless of who takes his place. >> derrick, when you look back at, you know, his role and his decision, what kind of sticks

out to you as one of his most influential decisions? >> corporate versus washington in which he expanded the role of a jury in criminal cases. there is really -- it is really quite important because it cuts against the image of a judicial conservative who would be pro-prosecution, pro-law and order. his deal was the constitution requires proof of all of the elements of a criminal offense and sentence, beyond a reasonable doubt, tends to let judges decide they are unconstitutional. it changed criminal procedure around the country. you have to remember that he voted that there is a person who has the right to burn the american flag. it's very uncongenial to