he's al-jazeera investigates the world of performance enhancing drugs. sports during the n.b.a. history at this time. you are making very pointed remarks where on line the main u.s. response to drug use and the drug trade over the last fifty years has been to criminalize or if you join us on sex no evil person just wakes up over the morning and say i want to cover the world in darkness and this is a dialogue and that could be what leading to some of the confusion the line about people saying they don't actually know what's going on join the colobus conversation at this time on al-jazeera. pope francis uses his christmas eve mass to highlights the plight of refugees is.

a welcome i'm peter w. watching all to see are live from our headquarters here in doha also coming up a bleak christmas in parts of the philippines as the country struggles with the aftermath of two tropical storms in quick succession. in peru a presidential pardon sparks charges of a corrupt political deal. a leading opponent of the russian president wants to run against him in next year's presidential elections will find out why his name may never get onto the ballot. our top story the head of the roman catholic church has used his christmas eve message to highlight the plight of refugees and migrants around the world speaking during midnight mass at st peter's basilica in rome pope francis compared refugees

to mary and joseph recounting the bible story of how they had to travel from nazareth to bethlehem but done no place to stay the pope stressed that faith demanded that foreigners be welcomed everywhere. would you say pay my dear she has a phone so many other footsteps are hidden in the footsteps of joseph and mary we see the tracks of entire families forced to set out in our own day we see the tracks of millions of people who did not choose to go away but driven from their land and leaving behind their dear ones who must see. the same fate impels us to make space for a new social imagination and not to be afraid of experiencing new forms of relationship in which none have to feel that there is no room for them on this earth christmas is a time for turning the power of fear into the power of charity that. the u.n. refugee agency says the. the world is now witnessing the highest level of displacement of people ever recorded more than sixty five million people have been

forced to leave. a little over twenty two million of them are refugees there are also ten million stateless people who've been denied a nationality and access to basic rights like education health care employment and freedom of movement the u.n.h.c.r. estimates twenty people are forcibly displaced every minute as a result of conflict or persecution libya has been a major transit point for refugees trying to get to europe hundreds have died trying to cross the mediterranean let's talk now to head who joins us live from tripoli just give us a quick sense of where we are with the number of people trying to cross the mediterranean from that part of the world. exactly as you know libya is the biggest transit road for migrants coming from africa and asia and even asian countries as you know that these

migrants they suffer a lot during their tough journey. through the desert at the get. smuggled people smugglers via the libyan southern borders mostly and their journey we hear about. stories about extortion violence sometimes rape and also at the hands of the people smugglers in the libyan coast guard says that they have to arrest these migrants as they sail off libyan shores and they have to arrest them in libyan tutorial waters and bring them back to detention centers in libya now in detention centers authorities deny any violence against the migrants but the opinion in civil human rights organizations in the united nations organizations also have been involved in trying

to alleviate the suffering of these migrants by either monitoring their detention centers or providing food and medical aid to the migrants as well as transferring like what happened last friday italy transferred over one hundred sixty migrants from detention centers in libya but so the comparison here that the migrants they the take a tough journey sometimes the outcast they have not been accepted in certain communities and the flea war poverty and unemployment in their own countries brought many people here especially authorities they also put part to. the blame on the my growth that they pay people smugglers and they get into libya as they say as authorities here say illegally but in in all cases the these migrants these suffer a lot and a lot of violence

a lot of violations during that tough journey through the desert as you know we recently we have been recently hearing about our human trafficking in the south of libya but thanks very much. twenty seventeen comes to a close we're looking back now at some of the biggest stories of the year through the eyes of five families in part three we're going to speak to a syrian family just like millions of other syrians they have been internally displaced by the war and conflict there they're also among four hundred thousand people who live in the government besieged rebel enclave of eastern guta al-jazeera as a hoarder as their story. makes a living selling what ever he can find he was once a farmer and owned his own land. now he's a syrians this place by the war and they're able to survive without assistance.

i'm not ashamed to say this there are days when i'm able to provide food for my family and there are other days when i'm not able to do that the other day i had to take two of my children to the hospital because they didn't have enough food to. mohamed lives in. an opposition controlled area that has been besieged by government forces for years the siege has been tightened even more recently food supplies are scarce and shortages have sent prices soaring at least four hundred thousand people live in east on the outskirts of the capital the united nations has been demanding unhindered access and warns that many of syrians there are facing problems in getting enough to eat. the aid that reaches us is not enough is specially for someone like me i have to take care of seven children and my wife.

only under siege it remains a war zone even though a russian guarantee deescalation deal was supposed to silence the guns and allow aid in. the building. and then we. had fears for her children she is also afraid that her family could face further displacement the government has been using what is known as the surrender or starve strategy and it is applying it. and. if given the choice to leave or stay and live under the regime's rule i will choose to leave i don't trust them they will eventually kill us. they starved us they killed our children. rebels and refused to surrender but government pressure

is growing already hundreds of thousands of syrians have been bussed out of their towns and villages and taken to the rebel controlled province of idlib in the north the syrian government calls them reconciliation agreements for the opposition those deals are forced settlements and. i don't think those who are forced to go to will ever return to their homes this is sports displacement who knows who they will give our country to it's been almost eighty years since government forces began to crush popular dissent from a position of strength the assad leadership is imposing its own peace but it is a peace that is unacceptable to many syrians who now fear not having a place in their own country. to be able to. now after leaving a trail of devastation across the southern philippines we at nama is bracing for tropical storm ten been thousands of flood low lying areas where the capital city has closed schools tembin made landfall in the philippines late on friday causing

flash floods and landslides and killed more than two hundred people is m.t.s. time. the scale of the destruction caused by tropical storm tembin is becoming clear as rescue workers reach remote communities heavy rains and winds of up to one hundred forty five kilometers an hour triggered landslides and flash flooding devastating to higher towns and villages on the island of mindanao the country's second largest tens of thousands of people have been displaced under spending christmas in emergency shelters. are you going to say you know. we have hundreds. here but. at the moment. i'm sure that both. the philippines is battered by around twenty major. arms a year and tendon is one of the worst of two thousand and seventeen disaster

officials say people ignored warnings to get out of coastal regions and move away from riverbanks among the areas battered by the storm was not always a lakeside city that was for five months earlier this year under siege by groups sympathetic to eisele more than one thousand people died and twenty thousand were displaced. the philippines is still recovering from typhoon haiyan that killed nearly eight thousand people and left two hundred thousand families homeless in central philippines in two thousand and thirteen a tropical storm is now making its way across the south china sea towards vietnam thousands of flights southern areas and schools have been closed in the capital city all part of efforts to prevent the sort of devastation tempting caused to the philippines india style al-jazeera. m.p.'s in afghanistan some in senior security officials after at least nine people were killed in a suicide bomb attack in the afghan capital kabul happened near an intelligence

agency building in kabul shushed neighborhood says it was responsible. peru's former president alberto fujimori has been pardoned because his health is failing his supporters celebrated the news outside the clinic where he's been since saturday after a big drop in his blood pressure he was serving a twenty five year sentence for corruption and human rights crimes committed during his ten year presidency from lima marianna sanchez now reports. he spent years in prison campaigning for his release. he never acknowledged most of the crimes for which he was sentenced to twenty five years. the former president always claimed his innocence for the murders and disappearances by a government sanctioned death squad critics say that government was the most corrupt improve in history. his supporters credit the seventy nine year old former leader with the defeat of shining path rebels in the 1980's movie ends where at the

cusp of unarmed conflict that killed thousands of people supporters say for him money helped save the economy from collapse for years his children campaigned for his release saying he was ill and frail but didn't have a terminal illness a condition for a humanitarian pardon. deny him the freedom he craved. my greatest pain is to acknowledge that for part of the population virtual for him or he was able to victimize himself looking for a depressing image resenting self as a hostage of the judiciary. an opinion poll in may said fifty nine percent approve favored living can go supporters say it's time for him to have a quiet life. to stay at home live serenely enjoys granddaughters enjoy the people who love him and be free to decide to do whatever he wants. many peruvians

who for years opposed the presidential pardon were open to release if he asked for forgiveness for the crimes he committed but for the families of the victims that gesture was never enough. families of the victims say they feel betrayed preceded by the. promised he wouldn't pardon for he wanted to win votes. to win justice for more than two decades in that. they don't care about our stuff about our desolation and the pain we still endure and we will never find peace. he's old well i'm old too and i haven't found justice yet he must complete a sentence despite his release from facing another trial a case is pending for the deaths of six people if convicted for the money faces another twenty five years in prison. families of the victims say they won't stop demanding justice and hope to see him behind bars again but yes i just.

spoke to journalists i must. say we have been with my father just now he's obviously very happy however he will have to stay in the intensive care for a few more days. you have to stay in hospital until the doctors say he's fully recovered so still to come here on al-jazeera our special coverage of the holy land continues we'll introduce you to the muslim families who got sacred christian spaces. hello typhoon tembin just about lost its typhoon strength has been spinning to the south china sea causing for a lot of minor damage to the small island spratly islands but it's still going to

potentially in the rain you can drop in sudden viet nam winds be about gale force by this time it's over southern vietnam and it will spread itself through the gulf of thailand toward southern town the next day or so there are plenty of shots to come afterwards and the coast of vietnam itself all the way up to the chinese border quite possibly we'll see an increase in the amount of showers and still potentially wet here and there in the philippines but tickly i think is north but not so much in mindanao that is a good rushes for the south through malays you know in an easier concentration seems to be still west and south of java and possibly sulawesi less on the island of borneo we have the got some heavy rain falling on still potentially there just offshore from darwin it's not planted to fall as a tropical depression but it looks like it otherwise it's hot summer but the heat has been tempered as the wind direction it's changed and brisbane's down to twenty eight but sydney rather more beautiful twenty's here say beautiful because it's

being reported as was very wet the state will go to the web and i'm for the next two or three days. witnesses documentaries that open your eyes at this time on al-jazeera.

welcome back you're with al-jazeera my name's peter davi top story so far the head of the roman catholic church has used his christmas eve message to highlight the plight of refugees and migrants worldwide speaking during the midnight mass pope francis stressed that faith demanded the foreigners be welcomed everywhere. thousands in the philippines are spending christmas in emergency shelters after tropical storm tembin left a trail of destruction more than two hundred people are dead after landslides and flash floods in the southern philippines. and peruse former president alberto fujimori has been pardoned on health grounds the seventy nine year old was take the hospital on saturday after a big drop in his blood pressure has been serving a twenty five year sentence for corruption kidnapping and human rights violations. a chess competition should chill to begin in saudi arabia on tuesday a swapping international controversy israel had planned to send

a delegation to the world speed chess championships in riyadh but visas for the group have not been issued and is now unclear whether they will be an israeli chess official says the saudis have still not responded to visa applications despite repeated attempts now meanwhile cattle has been allowed to compete in the tournament so the organizers have also said the team will be able to display its national flag the cattery players are eligible for visas on arrival in saudi arabia akiva eldar is a senior columnist with mana so he joins us now from tel aviv akiva good to talk to you again is this really really just about speed chess. know that all as you know good chessplayers. thinking at least two or three steps ahead and i think that what the saudis have in mind that this particular time what the iranians for instance which for them it's worse than the devil what

they're going to do with images coming out from riyadh of israelis sitting there playing chess with these rarely flag or if god forbid they will gather the gold medal these rarely enter them will. be on the loudspeaker is in in riyadh and. i think that the timing for israel to play chess in riyadh in any our country these days even in egypt or jordan where we still have embassies would be problematic for their hosts because of the timing because palestinians are getting killed these days demonstrating against the americans and the israeli steps in in jerusalem and while the palestinians are now deciding to take

a step back from the peace negotiations ok if we view it through that kaleidoscope of peace negotiations i mean there is no peace process obviously but what does this tell us about how different countries within three way relationship that you've just gone through view their friendship or their lack of a friendship with other new friends that they apparently have made within the region. yeah you know peter i just got a printout for you from the website of the israeli foreign ministry and the list of israeli missions in our countries and after. cairo and alexandria and amman we have morocco amman qatar and tunisia and out of those four last countries for missions there's nothing left so this was the

beginning of two thousand and beginning of two thousand was when the peace process as you mentioned with prime minister. barak before going to camp david was its peak we had a honeymoon at that time with the arab countries and we had different mattick missions there. and now you know there was a tournament of judo in abu dhabi in october and there was a problem getting the israelis in and the compromise was that if the israelis will win the gold the anthem will not be sang and this was the deal actually one of the israeli jew doctors one demand a medal and they had to give up listening to the anthem i was in qatar exactly seven years ago for

a conference of the u.n. . and the. qataris had issued visas for a group of israelis and the is where you were even invited to speak in public in the conference so these days i'm not sure if this could happen again because there is lots of how so there is you know israel is becoming kind of the midst. of the arab countries we know that things are going on between israel and the saudis there are some secret negotiations but you know it's don't ask don't tell. as you know under the carpet ok one last point i don't like. to give me for interrupting you because it's when it gets this last point and we are running out of satellite time guatemala saying we will move our embassy to jerusalem as well is that the simplest guatemala has

a price tag it's eighty million dollars of aid per year or is it more significant than that. actually i think that this is emphasizing the half empty glass which is more than half it's eighty or ninety percent so tell me who your friends are and i'll tell you who are not your friends so there is no european country even our best friends the czechs of reconsidering their statement about moving the embassy and of course the rest of the e.u. made it very clear to prime minister netanyahu when he was in brussels forget about you demand that we will move our embassies to jerusalem so you know this is a joy for the poor. are always great to get your thoughts on these complex issues in this region and happy christmas to you good to torture. the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov is calling on the u.s. and north korea to start negotiations aimed at deescalating tensions on the korean

peninsula he says moscow is ready to facilitate the talks last month pyongyang test fired a ballistic missile it says is capable of reaching the u.s. mainland. the russian opposition leader alexina valmy has submitted the documentation required to run against vladimir putin in next year's presidential election but there are serious doubts about whether his name will be on the ballot paper challenge now from moscow. in twenty cities across russia from blood of all stock to moscow alexina valleys supporters turned out to endorse him independent hopefuls must gather at least five hundred people in such meetings as a criteria for full candidate status of the easily got that in moscow alone where he had this message for the man he wants to run against. the leading lives in europe who didn't but it's you who turned a country into a source of personal enrichment for yourself your family and your friends but why

should not be president any more you are a bad president you don't have opposed the program only. then it was off to the election commission to hand in his application but it's no valmy is unlikely to make its own to the ballots for the elections in march he's always said his two thousand and fourteen fraud conviction was politically motivated but the kremlin is using it to bar him from the race the goal has always been to demonstrate that putin is a leader with no alternative uncontested and what they say can take advantage over anybody else and it is very important to keep this super majority this super advantage to demonstrate that putin has so much more power than anybody else another opposition leader was trying to test the system on sunday video yashin an ally of the valleys was unexpectedly elected head of a moscow only a simple district in september but his efforts to use the modest power of the roll

to approve street events was struck down by moscow city court a few hundred people showed up anyway the election is just three months away now and as per usual the or thorazine so making it very clear that even a very small demonstration like this is completely unwelcome they want to allow to put up a stage show or have any bad as here in the police loud speakers are telling everyone that this is an unauthorized rally relates to go over the kremlin is confidence novell me yashin and company don't have the mass supports needed to challenge putin but is not taking any chances glory chalons al-jazeera mosque or. a symbol of religious coexistence in the holy land includes a centuries old tradition the muslim families play the role of the guardian of the many churches in the occupied territories it dates back to the time of the

liberation of jerusalem from the crusaders. yes me i did you did mean that my name is judeo husseini i'm the keyholder of the church of the holy sepak are in jerusalem and the holder of the stamp of the holy toon and them ahead of us alive you will be the story of my family began in eleven eighty seven when saddam hussein are you being liberated the city of jerusalem from the crusaders i mean for the king is that the i me that you dana the six agreed and from eleven eighty seven until today we have been holding the keys of the church of the holy sepulcher all the fish of a year away from it if we have preserved it with our blood and soul it is our second home my job is not just an honorable job and it is not just the heritage of my family as a muslim family it is the heritage to all muslims across the world that a muslim family has held and preserved the church for eight hundred fifty years we moved back in is that. what the. after me it is

a feeling that cannot be described and i envy myself for being the key holder of the church of the holy several curry i have been opening the door of the holy several could charge since i was eight years old and today i'm fifty three. going to what i feel whole. for more than forty years i've had this responsibility my father gave me the seal of the grave when i was twelve years old and i sealed the tomb. of this now i have three children and i've started teaching them that sometimes i open sometimes they open but. i can use of them the keys of the holy simple kurt church are in the custody of the our husseini family and hopefully this will last forever my family received two keys from salaheddine are you be because there were two doors every door had two locks two doors for locks one key opened for locks the key broke five hundred years ago so we use the second one. we don't

want to leave the holy sepulture church it is captive just like a mosque and it's the same thing and he said look at me i see it all one image of them i see we are peace callers we hope and pray for peace to come to our region from here from the church of the holy sepulcher the lights of islamic christian coexistence emerged in an awful minute before lee. the home we lived with them and we have known them since childhood we are in the same trenches we have the same pain and suffering if we have the same feeling these churches are also arab churches not just palestinian we are not just brothers in ethnicity but also in blood we would. welcome of just joining us you're watching al-jazeera live from doha your headlines the head of the roman catholic church the pope has used his christmas eve message to highlight the plight of refugees and migrants around the world speaking during

midnight mass pope francis stress that face demanded that foreigners be welcomed everywhere. would you say paid my dear she has gone so many other footsteps are hidden in the footsteps of joseph and mary we see the tracks of entire families forced to set out in our own day we see the tracks of millions of people who did not choose to go away but driven from their land and leaving behind their dear ones who must see. the same fate impels us to make space for a new social imagination and not to be afraid of experiencing new forms of relationship in which none have to feel that there is no room for them on this earth christmas is a time for turning the power of fear into the power of charity that. thousands in the philippines are spending christmas in emergency shelters after tropical storm tembin left a trail of destruction more than two hundred people at that awful landslides and flash floods in the southern philippines

a state of emergency has been declared in several areas as rescue efforts continue . m.p.'s in afghanistan have summoned senior security officials after at least nine people were killed in a suicide bomb attack in the afghan capital kabul the attack happened near an intelligence agency building says it's was responsible. peru's former president alberto fujimori has been pardoned on health grounds seventy nine year old was taken to hospital on saturday after a severe drop in his blood pressure he's been serving a twenty five year jail sentence for corruption kidnap and human rights violations . the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov is calling on the u.s. and north korea to start negotiations aimed at deescalating tensions on the korean peninsula he says moscow is ready to facilitate the talks last month pyongyang test fired a ballistic missile it says is capable of reaching the u.s. mainland now this comes as pyongyang described the latest round of u.n. sanctions against the country as an act of war and tantamount to

a complete economic blockade against it. in is years banned emirates flights in and out of the country the decision comes two days after a number of chin is in women say they were barred from boarding their flight for dubai at the airport as this happened because of security reasons those are the headlines so far today the news continues after witness adrian's here with the news hour top of the hour aussies are in a country where parents often pick who you will marry falling in love can have serious consequences one of the nice meets the men risking their lives to protect india's young lover one of many is that this time now does era.