the listening post on al-jazeera. thousands continue to flee aerial bombardment in syria's rebel held province but turkey warns about another refugee crisis as its border with syria remains closed. below a very welcome to the program i'm mariama in london you're watching his era also coming up as the conflict in libya deepens the turkish president makes a surprise visit to the tunisian capital nominated as the next prime minister of iraq but will protest is except assad out late danny is the next leader. and tiny

miracles the mexican tradition of x. photo by paintings off that is thanks to present onset. turkey's president is saying that his country can also accommodate another influx of refugees from the war in syria or egypt says $80000.00 syrians are heading towards the turkish border to escape aerial bombardment in rebel held province the area is on the daily attack by russian backed syrian government forces and as that offensive moves deeper into the province tens of thousands of civilians of moving north for now syrian government forces are focused on capturing the town of marked on your money which lies on the strategic m 5 highway. has more now from antakya on turkey's border with syria. this no letup in the most exodus of

civilians from serious loss to the rebel held strong. tens of thousands of russian tulips the turkish border scrambling to escape the area will also look for a brush on city and forces will. the asterix shelling and but obama talks on it lip appears designed to do just thought push people out and then i'll quote it with nowhere else to go. you know all of salt. my god take revenge on all those who caused this what have we done to deserve this what have we done i plead to god for mercy be god to punish them for displacing us because in all of those humiliating us for god's sake we are being burned alive. long queues of cars and trucks loaded with people's belongings i had the most of the techies border crossing of bubble how with off a shell comes for the displaced off food forcing the new displaced to set up camp

in the open here they bomb shops and tweaks to stay warm in the biting winter weather techies aid workers say they're doing all they come to help a to bake it even by the charity i object it's tough walk around the clock to bake bread for the ever increasing number of displaced citizens to share some of the winter conditions our diet we have provided them down with top meals bread accommodation and heating materials but the families have so many means. syrian government forces advancing towards the strategic city of my godson and as they push deeper into the west and the problems but out to no money is on the m 5 highway assad's forces at the time and took up to date you know about 3 open that route linking the couplet of damascus with the city of aleppo syria's largest just like that rest of it live problem is not out to none none have been out of food for city infamies who fled other areas damascus out of the captured during that 8 and

a half year civil war it's now almost deserted and i'm almost sorry we have government i fled from a sorry 2 years ago after the destruction of our homes since then i have been. forced to flee with my family 3 more stories and here we are again the new fighting comes despite an agreement in august by the leaders of turkey russia and iran to commit to this collision efforts in the turkish president read the paper due on how to put that to say don't cut or come out huntelaar new refugio floor on its own a spokesman for the turkish president now says there was russia for us ceasefire to avoid the must suck off civilians in towns and villages with tekken by syrian government forces but russia's deploy involved in the operation in italy keen to help its recover the last bit of territory under the control of rebels it's not clear if the turkish plea will be heard mohamed on the wall jazeera and taka

well in our other headlines techies present russia type one has been made an unannounced trip to tunisia to look at the deepening conflicts in libya ankara has already offered military support internationally recognized government which is based in tripoli on the battle won head reports. to kiss president trichet tell you how to do when landed in tunis to discuss troubles grown in next during libya and encourage it to nice his new president a society to help secure a ceasefire will do and says the internationally recognized a government in tripoli has yet to request that turkish troops intervene in the conflict. muz. you know we are not guests without an invitation and if it comes we shall look into it we are in constant communication with them however we should raise an issue the forces president libya more than $5000.00 troops from sudan what are they doing there we should ask why are these

forces present in libya a request was made to turkey and that's why turkey answered the call based on the agreement related to our economic zone we have signed agreements to rely on and our moves are based on legality and lawful forms however the other foreign troops have no legality to be present on libyan soil in addition is not a legitimate representative of the libyan people. forces loyal to the world police the have did are bringing the fighting closer to the capital still concerns it's the troops and with russia backing to have to his forces the next few weeks could prove crucial for libya they are now the 2 key dynamics that will determine whether in mediation takes place because have to believe that international apathy towards what he's doing in libya backing from france paralyze the e.u. the u.a.e. giving him the weapons egypt giving him not just 6 he believes that the world is telling him we're willing to accept a military victory provided you can clean up tripoli quickly and this is why i have

that is attacking tripoli but if he finds that this war with this battle which is already taking 8 months is becoming protracted and now turkey sending troops and now there's all this fuss in the mediterranean it may well be that the international unity comes in and says look after you had 8 months to take tripoli will say look i turned a blind eye to it i called you an ally in terrorism you couldn't take tripoli we're very sorry about this but it's not time now to go to mediation it's about how long the d.n.a. can ask beyond turkey and russia all the conflict has a growing number of international backers playing a rule both in fighting and efforts towards mediation his recent military cooperation with libya as you and that the government has been criticized by some regional and international coalition but president of the vans has turkey deals with libya's legitimate government why the other countries back in her 3rd are dealing with illegitimate institutions that are there were his elders here are putting.

i want to bring up to date with developments in the west african country of about a dozen soldiers have been killed in an attack which took place in the country's north this according to the associated quoting from the a.f.p. news agency a security cells told the agency that a military patrol was ambushed in the volatile soon province well earlier 35 people were also killed in an attack there on choose day which saw an army base in the town of are penned targeted a warning that some viewers may find the following images in ahmed addresses report disturbing. officials in brooklyn a fossil say these are the bodies of some of the men who attacked the positions of civilians in the north the military says it killed at least 80 of the attackers it's one of the worst attacks by armed groups since 2014. this attack on

a restaurant to a degree 2017 killed dozens of people. the government of booking a fossil has declared 2 days of national mourning for victims of tuesday's attack will see some of the. we have to think about solidarity and national cohesion people women for the most part were getting water and got murdered in cold blood by the terrorists while they were retreating we must show compassion with the populations that is why all flags will fly at half mast for 2 days and all christmas celebrations are cancelled. although there are thousands of international forces in west africa sail region the violence has increased in the past form and there are fears of more attacks the same guy country's leader major role in the glow of terror clearly in hosted military bases joint bases facilities for example i've cause it's not going to be hosting an act of terror training camp so the. new

global war on terror out and as a result i was given the backlash for contribution in november the army launched a new offensive against local and foreign armed groups operating in the country. many believe the recent attack in more than brooklyn a fossil was a response to this new offensive brooke you know fossil has seen many attacks in the past 5 years they've killed more than 700 people with hover 1000000 forced from their homes the crisis in northern mali has worsened security problems with charges accumulated with al qaeda and i still regularly cross the border to launch attacks . kill a fossil is due to hold its presidential elections in 20 committee and president marc ones to restore peace before the vote what is still clear if his army is up to the task a public increase al-jazeera a picture. or now to developments in iraq protesters there have rejected the

nomination of assad l.a. danny as the country's next prime minister a lay down he has been the governor of iraq's richest bus or a province for the past 2 years but despite its oil wealth buster has poor infrastructure and i lay down has been accused of not doing enough to improve life the people there are fears his nomination was influenced by iran because his name was put forward by one of the biggest iran backed groups in iraq e politics with a nomination follows 3 months of violent nationwide protests that eventually saw the resignation of the former prime minister. in late november so manifold 10 is in baghdad and explains why it's taken so long to nominate a candidate. well dani has now officially been nominated by the iranian backed corelation which was the cleared the largest bloc in parliament we've seen many names floated throughout the past 3 weeks but this was the 1st time that representatives of the coalition actually met with president saleh to officially hand over the nomination now much of the delay that we've seen throughout the past

weeks has been because it was not exactly clear who is the largest bloc in parliament president barham salih and requests for clarification to the iraqi speaker of parliament who don't confirm that it is indeed now in terms of the options going forward for the president he cannot challenge the speaker of the parliament on which is supposed to be nominating but what he can do is actually reject the candid that has put forward on the grounds that this may not be a candid that is acceptable and this may not be acceptable to the other political parties because let's remember that the prime minister has to be a candidate that is accepted by all of the parties and as of now we're still waiting to hear their reaction especially from your own which is the bloc that is led by shiite cleric. here with al jazeera live from london more still ahead one of india's best known writers explains why national protests against

a controversial law filled with hope and a deadly typhoon forces filipino families to spend christmas waiting to get high. hello again or welcome back we're here cross a stronger we are seeing some much needed rain across parts of new south wales as well as into queensland mostly along the coastal areas though and that will continue here as we go towards thursday making its way towards the north so for brisbane do expect to see some showers here on thursday and by the time we do get to friday it is going to be heading up towards townsville as well sydney a better day for you with a temperature of 27 but as we go into the weekend those temperatures are on the rise for adelaide friday 39 expect to see into the low forty's by the time we get to it saturday well some good news for christchurch over the next few days you have

been very cool and chilly and we're going to be seeing a change finally coming as we enter into the weekend a lot of mixed weather though across much of the north in the south island so a cry start 70 degrees here on thursday $23.00 degrees by the time we get towards friday you will be seeing so rain coming into the forecast and then very quickly as we make our way here towards parts of north asia we are going to be seeing some cold air pushing into parts of northeastern china that of awestruck also minus 8 degrees there but by the time we do get towards friday plenty of sun in the forecast but we do expect to see minus 12 as your expected high for tokyo it is going to be a little bit warmer but we are going to be seeing heavy rain in the forecast with a temperature of 14. legally prescribe for the pain relief of the sick but taken in life threatening doses by millions in search of a fix. huge illegal shipments of the opioid tramadol are flooding west africa.

people an hour goes to nigeria to investigate the devastating addiction epidemic that is even fueling the bulk of our own and search. west africa's opioid crisis on a just 0. welcome back you with al jazeera live from london a look at the headlines this hour turkey's president says his country cannot handle another flood of refugees from the war in syria. says $80000.00 syrians are heading towards the border with turkey to escape the province which is on that day the attack. type one has made an unannounced trip to tunisia to discuss the deepening

conflict in libya with his counterpart there are as previously offered military support to the internationally recognized government which is based in tripoli though troops not been requested. and then in iraq the governor of basser province aside done the has been nominated as the next prime minister but protesters have rejected the nomination because of his ties to iran. well india's government has announced new guidelines and approved funds for an updated national population righteous of the critics fear could be used to further discriminate against muslims the survey was introduced in 2010 but for the 1st time people will be asked to share information about the date and place of birth of their parents they'll also be asked to give details of identity documents like voter cards driving licenses and paul sports government has approved more than $500000000.00 in funding for that

exercise meanwhile several artists including the acclaimed writer arundhati roy join the protests in new delhi against the controversial citizenship law the legislation grant citizenship to religious minorities but excludes muslims since it was passed at least 25 people have been killed in protests against it with opponents saying it's a violation of india's secular constitution elizabeth pran was at that demonstration in new delhi and says that plans for the national population register of inspired protest is to continue that fight. already in the capital in new delhi where people are continuing to protest the protests have been hit on by the government approving funding for this national population register the government says that is just part of the project and the national population may just over form the basis of the national register or. even a cross in the country protesting against. that

amendment act now some of india's most prominent intellectuals and caution here at this rally. now that there are protests against the citizenship act and the national register of citizens the government is using a back door in the form of the national population register we know the economy is ravaged by destroyed the economy with the monetized the hiding of it and a lying about it to the piece. but that he made. no protest all over the country are asking why the government is spending $500000000.00 on a population by just when the economy is adding worst state in 60 years 2 states have already full swerve on the register 10 states have said they won't implement citizenship you won't carry out the national register office for the government is

getting some pushback from around the country and. grievance the protestors now disapprove funding for the national water station by just a protest a set to continue until the supreme court hears petition against the citizenship law next month demonstrators in sudan a marking a year since the start of a protest movement movement that which ended up bringing down former president tomorrow to share. morgan isn't hard to forswear protest to say that revolution is far from. once again we see thousands of the denise taking to the streets this time to commemorate the 1st anniversary of the calls by the sudanese professionals as their station a coalition of sudanese professionals to go to the presidential palace and demand then president all met and bashir stepped down along with his entire cabinet now the calls for those protests came just a few days after demonstrations the erupted in the northeastern city of baqubah over the rising costs of health bread and basic some oddities but since then the

people of sudan have taken to the streets by the hundreds of thousands despite the crackdown by security forces people have placed lab in the nation here gas and mass arrests to deploy their demands for change in the military depots the former president. and it all just a new transitional government was sworn in but despite all of that and despite the fact that over the past few months there has been significant changes in that country people here are saying that is not enough they're. saying that the fact that the family party has been dismantled and it happens will be seized that is not and now they're saying that justice and accountability is yet to be delivered and they say that that has been one of the key demands of their protest and until justice is delivered has battling for a joint 3rd attack on a pointless and in front of army headquarters where he's one of the people have been killed then there are volution is far from home and things like this would be to regular and will become an ours and now to south lebanon where people fear and

all the war between israel and hezbollah could happen in the last conflict in 2006 more than a 1000 lebanese civilians died as tiny but the reports the discovery of oil and gas reserves in waters disputed by lebanon and israel has raised the stakes. this should be productive farming learn but south lebanon has been a war zone for 40 years and areas lie idle for the last 20 years it's been a battleground between israel and hizbollah enemies separated only by a thin blue line of un peacekeepers. the armed group has amassed a huge stockpile of rockets and missiles that can reach as far as television but as well as its military capability israel is concerned about has was growing power in the current lebanese political crisis. i don't think has the financial. tranter of conflict with the israelis so i think they're not really in

a position to enter a conflict at this stage but on the israeli side maybe israel will see an opportunity and launching a war at this moment that's a constant fear in september there were heavy artillery and rocket exchanges between the 2 sides after an israeli drone attack it lasted only a day but underlined how fragile the peace is along the so-called blue line. the blue line stretches 120 kilometers about 20 kilometers of it is concrete war but most of it is open and easily cross a ball now in 2006 this was a battleground in the war between hezbollah and israel but the u.n. then was powerless to stop it long since then israel and lebanon have disagreed exactly where the land and maritime border runs in some stretches this includes the zone called block 9 in a color rich oil and gas reserves have been discovered which are worth tens of millions of dollars and desperately important to lebanon's depleted economy. all

israel. claimed that it has some part of it and we claim that it is fall under the authority of the of lebanon according to the law of these it's a part of the economy so in this case if israel objected and me and acted an operation military operation against. the. the companies which are drinking in this block i think that there will be a war. whatever the reason for a war the outcome is the same for the people of south lebanon they pay the human price the village of kfar killer is right on the blueline it is under hezbollah control and has suffered many civilian casualties in the exchanges with israel especially in the last war 13. years ago. akhmed fact he is 84 years old and he remembers even as a boy hiding in olive groves to avoid israeli shells the prospect of war is

a fact of life he says. either you live with the situation or you leave because some people are scared but the fears are not only from this border it's a general rule when you see the world on fire around you like syria and iraq the conventional wisdom suggests that the won't be an immediate war but wisdom is something that has been in short supply in this volatile and unpredictable region for now most can only watch wait and hope tony berkeley out to 0 in a cooler southern lebanon now to chile where 150 homes have been destroyed by far east fires there authorities believe the fires were deliberately lit in hill surrounding the port city of valparaiso many residents were forced to flee but some remained to defend their properties have been no reports of any casualties but strong winds and high temperatures are getting in the way of efforts by firefighting teams the city's mayor has declared

a state of emergency for millions around the world are celebrating christmas but in hong kong the festive period has been marked by more violence between anti-government protesters and the police demonstrators occupied a mall and a rally in the streets around a busy shopping district in cow loon it's the most unrest the territory is seen in weeks. and several people a fit dead and missing off to a typhoon tore through central philippines destroying about $100.00 homes and cutting palla typhoon upon foreign made landfall in the eastern province of somalia and choose day with gusts of up to 150 kilometers per hour more than $4000.00 people were evacuated thousands remain stranded off the flights were grounded and ferry services came to a halt typhoon is predicted to leave the country on thursday on a pillow is in manila and says travelers are likely to remain stranded for several days we are outside the main port the off manila where traditionally over the

holiday season thousands of passengers wait to board their respective passenger ferries going back to their provinces in different islands in the philippines now christmas is a very important occasion for this a predominantly catholic country and as you can see families are waiting here they've got their baggage is here but they've had to spend their christmas eve here because this is here this type of point or local you know enough of personal or maybe a landfall in the central region of the philippines christmas eve one and that has grounded all pipes of travel in the country and so here they are this is where they spent their christmas eve they've only had food that's been given to them by the philippine coast guard and you have children here who have basically nowhere to sleep and they have nowhere to bathe and they're saying this is has been

a very difficult christmas for them i don't look at me at night i'm very sad and i've been crying for days i told my child that i can't do anything they did not let us board the ferry because there's a typhoon and we understand that. my you wife wants us to be together here and. there's nothing that we can do now the situation here isn't unique across the country in different ports thousands more are stranded and it is likely that they will remain stranded until the typhoon leaves the philippines the passengers here tell us that they have not been assured that they can leave immediately as soon as the typhoon leaves the philippines they've also been told that it is likely that it will be one more week before they can actually get on their fareast go back to their provinces so it is likely that they will be spending new year's here as well. it's a mexican tradition painting the story of what someone believes was

a divine intervention for hundreds of years artists have captured the moment they felt their present onset or today the sometimes serial popular as pieces of art from mexico city there is alan fish airports. there from the devote the pious and the grateful a thank you mark in recovery good fortune or success in mexico they are called exit the 2 paintings delivered to the church a devotion or gift after prayers were answered in this good here is the story of production of those who wanted their story to be known ordered these little paintings they were made by artists that worked near the churches people told them their story and they would interpret it and wrote a few lines about it at the bottom of the painting the idea of giving gifts and things has been around for thousands of years and even as the survey see the mexico is becoming less religious there are still those commissioning paintings to mark what they see as divine intervention. one of the artists most in demand is alfredo

from a small studio in a working class syria in the west of mexico city he's been painting for more than 30 years he started after losing his job as a builder the looks of it looking go i started doing what i thought i could do drawing in small pieces of paper. bored in sort of lives in sardine cans anywhere and at some point i want to sell them on the street and that was it it's difficult to start as an artist the people give thanks for many things recovery from illness a man being released from prison after a co he was accused of stealing turned up a prostitute who wanted more customers praying for someone's return after the 911 attacks in new york. to the full as an expert a painter i hear many stories my favorites are love stories given thanks for having found the love of their life because his partner came back when she thought it was over those are nice because the feelings are nice there are always 2nd chances or

mother being gotten off roaders work is always in demand he said exhibitions in canada germany and even at the world famous lived in paris. but its creators joy creating for those who live nearby for those who want a permanent reminder of the day when their prayers were answered alan fischer al jazeera mexico city. a quick recap of the top stories this hour now turkey's president saying that his country cannot handle another flood of refugees from the war in syria. i do want to saying $80000.00 syrians are heading towards the border with turkey in order to escape syria's last rebel held province which is on the day of the attack by russian backed syrian government forces as the violence in libya continues to escalate present i do and has also begun i outstrip to tunisia he met with president. turkey has offered military support to libya's u.n.

recognized government which is based in tripoli and been under a months long offensive by the forces of 24 half. elsewhere about a dozen bikini soldiers have been killed in an attack in the country's north this according to the press agency it reports that a military patrol was ambushed in the volatile soon province has already declared it 2 days of mourning for an early attack on choose day that left at least 35 people dead in iraq the governor of bus or province aside of a donny has been nominated as the next prime minister but protests have rejected the nomination because of his ties to iran and i done his name was put forward by ben are one of the largest iran backed blocs in iraq e politics several well known indian figures including author are in a joint protest in new delhi against the controversial citizenship laws the government has now announced new guidelines for an updated national population register which critics say could discriminate against muslims roy says the process

is giving hope so they only have this as the one answer to every problem economic social. whatever it is the idea is to drag their ideas to ratchet up the heat treated you know and suddenly young people are just sitting with already but we're not buying this you know and that's why. and several people a feared dead or missing after a typhoon tore through the central philippines destroying 100 homes typhoon palm phone made landfall in the eastern province of some on tuesday with gusts of up to 150 kilometers per hour more than $4000.00 people have been evacuated people in power is the program coming up next with an investigation into the opioid crisis threatening to envelop west africa. talked to al jazeera we were told to get to it without betraying all the pressure has this been addressed by tookie we listen to what he's the proposal of

a spain for a couple and yet we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter on the no 20. west africa is battling an opioid abuse trust medicine such as tramadol legally prescribed by doctors for pain relief but taken into life threatening to texas by millions in search of fakes already stripped off a tree and a lot of. people in power has been to nigeria to investigate one of the drug smuggling trade and abused widespread corruption to follow socialist traffic and the appalling health consequences for those in its grip.