sri lankan puppetry dates back 300 years. this is a traditional puppet of sri lanka. you have to train at least five years to learn to move it freely. but the tradition is fading. a sad legacy of the country's long civil war. during the conflict, large outdoor events weren't possible because of the risk of bomb attacks. ♪ this woman is the stage director and a puppeteer. while studying overseas, she became enchanted by puppets and their rich expressions. she found herself being lured into their world. >> they allow people to talk honestly to each other. and when you talk honestly, you start listening more. so that is why i feel that puppetry is a huge medium of communication in modern-day sri lanka. >> reporter: she recently had the honor of directing a performance with a puppet master. when he performs, behind the curtain, he moves in step with his puppets. believed showing his passionate footwork to the audience would help them connect to the performance. the show opened in early november at a theater in colombo. the puppet dances elegantly to the music. a screen

this is a traditional puppet of sri lanka, and you have to train at least five years to learn to move it freely. >> but the tradition is fading, a sad legacy of the country's long civil war. during the conflict. large outdoor events weren't possible because of the risk of bomb attacks. >> up and down and up -- >> reporter: this woman is a stage director and puppeteer. while studying overseas, she became enchanted by puppets and their rich expressions. she found herself being lured into their world. >> they allow people to talk honestly to each other and when you talk honestly, you start listening more some of that is why i feel puppetry is a huge medium of communication in modern-day sri lanka. >> she had the honor of directing a performance with a puppet master. when the master performs, behind the curtain, he moves in step with his puppets. is he showing his passionate work to the audience would help them connect with the performance. the show opened early in november at a show in colombo. the puppet dances to the music. a screen be side the stage shows the master's foot work as he

across a good part of sri lanka now struggling with widespread flooding. over 300,000 affected. north, largely dry. winter weather along afghanistan and northern pakistan and the far north of india, in the process of petering out. we have rain petering out across the arabian peninsula. in doha, lively downpours into the overnight period into friday.the fall, saturday 8:30 eastern. >> welcome back. our top stories on al jazeera. thousands of people are in the streets of iraq to protest against the government. most are from the minority sunni muslim community, accusing shia prime minister of discrimination. more howling reports from syrians recently escaped to lebanon. on the diplomatic front, russia and by this. 's main opposition group to moscow for more talks on ending the crisis. china approved new rules for bloggers to use their real names. critics say it is an attempt to curtail freedom of speech and could prevent people from exposing corrupt officials. in south asia a young woman, but it -- committed suicide after being gang raped. she left a note bla

sri lanka is bracing for more heavy rain. it comes after flooding and landslides left at least 42 people dead. more than 17,000 taking shelter in relief camps. flooding in the united kingdom disrupted transportation across the country ahead of the christmas holidays. northeast scotland, southwest england and wales are the

northwest sri lanka. three days of severe wet weather had caused floods and landslides. it has left 20 people dead. thousands of houses are damaged. the floods also destroyed several,0 several thousand acres of rice patties. unfortunately, rain is not going anywhere. we anticipate rain to continue into the weekend and actually it will continue into january. that could raise the risks of flooding in a landslide even further. up towards the north precipitation was not too bad. in terms of temperatures it's been quite serious. we have a strong high pressure system centered over siberia. this one is packing extremely cold air. you can see purple. this means much lower than freezing temperatures. into the weekend the area of purple will shift toward the east lowering temperatures even further across parts of mongolia and northern china. your high on sunday in and seoul could drop down to minus 7 degrees. the isobars are close to each other. so of it is reaching the sea of japan. the we will see an additional 3

more now from miguel fernandez. >> the worst destruction seen in the center province of sri lanka. behind me, this was washed down by a wall of mud a few days ago. five of the six houses that were supposed to be where the border now lies where completely obliterated. no signs of the family which lives inside them. over here, the workshop of the local mechanic. as you can see, heavy equipment and machinery used by him who is covered in mud and sludge. the family lives right next door in this house. as you can see, another story of destruction. corrugated roofing torn down. hall of these metal girders. the day luge of water that came crashing down at 4:00 in the morning, it did not give many people much of a chance to get elkhorn. -- to get out. there is a strong smell coming out of this house, stagnating water and mud. how hot it is possible the family might still be stuck inside hot -- it is possible that the family might still be stuck in the mud inside. this was picked up on a hot -- and left on a tree that was also uprooted and knocked down. residents are saying they have not se

in sri lanka, three days of deadly rains have caused landslides. at least 25 people have been killed, but the worst may not be over. >> he is lucky to be alive. his family escaped the dilution of mud that rolled down the mountain. >> of about 4:00 in the morning we heard of a huge roar like a plane. then there was a stench. we headed to higher ground, but we could see in rushing past. >> others are not so lucky. it crossed a number of houses. survivors were not taking any chances, carrying away a whatever they could to safety. even four-legged friends. they had good reason to leave. authorities are warning of more mudslides. >> there is a major danger of further mudslides. several cracks have appeared in several areas. >> he says regulations have been tightened for construction in high-risk areas, but existing buildings are a concern. >> the talk of finding those missing seems futile given the scale of destruction. as the hours pass hopes are fading of finding them alive. >> rapidly rising water levels have caught many by surprise. receiving,ter's

chinese companies are helping to construct old facilities in pakistan and sri lanka. the chinese government has also extended economic aid to bangladesh and myanmar. the combined efforts are known as china's strain strategy. india is concerned that china's growing military presence may spread beyond the straits of malacca into the indian ocean. this situation has prompted a rapprochement between india and the united states. the two nations share the view that any threat to the freedom of navigation runs counter to their national interests. india is also likely to develop cooperation with asean and japan as part of a strategy against china. abhishek duel ya, nhk, new delhi. >>> thailand's auto industry was one of the hardest hit by last year's devastating floods. automakers are a pilar of the thai economy, but with factories ruined, production was halted for months. this year, though, has seen a drugmaker turnaround with record high production as nhk world reports. >> reporter: the thailand international expo is taking place here in bangkok. 38 automobile companies are

the group worked in sri lanka during its civil war and now also serves in south sedan and breakaway regions in georgia. monitors are paid about $1500 u.s. a month plus living expenses. in total, the group claims, their costs are about half those of a typical armed u.n. blue helmeted soldier. their challenges have been daunting. when this island became part of a newly independent philippines in 1946, muslims, were a majority here, and they resisted, demanding a separate state. over time, christian settlers moved in. they now outnumber muslims 3 to 1. ed it the leading insurgent group no longer seeks independence but more autonomy from manila. rasheed is the secretary of the morrow islamic liberation front. do you consider yourself philippine peepo? >> no, no. by nationality, no? i am a morrow in nationality. >> journalist glenda gloria wrote a book about the conflict and said it is as much about economic inequality as religion. she traces much today's problems back to ferdinand marcos. >> the government insiitute a lot of government policies that suppressed the muslim population. and after t

. ♪ >> people in sri lanka celebrated the dawn of christmas during a midnight mass. >> merry christmas! give me a hug! >> and in new york a man dressed up as santa claus is bringing a little christmas cheer to neighborhoods damaged by superstorm sandy. he is even handing gifts to children who lost toys and homes in that storm. >>> pope benedict xvi has delivered his annual christmas message, listen. >> translator: in this world there is a good soil that god has prepared. >> in his eighth message as pope, he spoke before 50,000 followers in st. peter's squares. he called for an end to the bloodshed in syria. he condemned conflicts in mali, a nigeria and china. in bethlehem christians celebrated with a midnight mass. it was held at the church of the holy nativity on the west bank. mahmoud abbas was among those in the crowd at the 1700-year-old church. >> this is the time of year when we remember that god sent his only son to serve, not to be served. it is my prayer this christmas day -- >> in great britain the queen he's christmas message was quite different this year. for the first time

sri lanka. floodwaters killing at least 42 people after more than a week of heavy rains. officials say half the country's main reservoirs are overflowing. more than 17,000 people now in relief camps and first alert forecasters calling for another week of rain. boss knee a rescue divers in santa hats putting up their christmas tree at the bottom of an icy lake in a nature preserve. they want to bring attention to the need for conservation funding. the divers say they will remove the tree after the new year so they won't hurt the environment. germany. >> more than 22,000 fans singing christmas carols at a soccer stadium in berlin. officials turned off the lights and the people all held candles for 90 minutes, the length of a soccer match. the mass caroling began 9 years ago as a small season ending event. now it's grown into an annual holiday celebration. that's a wrap on this fox trip around the world in 80 seconds. are you hoping santa will bring you a new cell phone to replace your clunker? i have got one of those. you might be just better off fixing the one you got. do

lanka, in colombia, and everybody talked about how difficult it was to fight and talk at the same time. yet everybody came to the same conclusion if you stick with this, if you believe in this, you can find someone on the other side to talk to you and you're successful and less people die. so the ambiguities of it, the challenges of it kind of all pale against the possibilities that if you're successful less people die. so i think that's important in getting ready for is that if only reason we have these conversations with the taliban was to open the door for afghans to talk to other afghans about the future of afghanistan. >> warner: let me ask you this, because the u.s. was snookered once thinking it was meeting with a representative of the taliban and the guy was an imposter. how did you determine that this fellow was a genuine representative of the upper echelon to the taliban? >> that's a very fair question. we got a personal sense of him and i think we both did the same thing to each other. i asked him for certain things, he asked me for certain things and those things got delive

. >>> por debajo de sri lanka, etiopía y otros. >>> el poder de convocatoria del papa en twitter causa conmoción, captó más de 200 mil en menos de 6 horas. >>> la comida chatarra hace mal desde el primer bocado. >>> desde la primera vez que uno come algo de comida rápida, las arterias se reprimen. >>> este estudio no le arruinará la fiesta a uno de los reyes como la haburgues awhopper que deleita y engorda a miles de estadounidense. >>> el whopper hoy se venderá a 55 centavos por la compra de otro combo. >>> >>> lños adictos al chocolate pronto podremos cuardar un pedacito en nuestro bolsillo sin preocuparse. >>> la empresa cadbury desarrolló un chocolate que no se derrite a temperatura corporal humana! >>> llegó el momento de lá'grimas, besos, cuernos y cachetadas! >>> quién fuera usted poleen! >>> estás celosa? >>> amigas noveleras, llegó el momento de hablar de las novelas de univisión. >>> comenzamos con amor bravío y alonso, dionisio e isabela llegó! >>> aquí va el resumen. >>> francisca, dale play! >>> lle'gó la policía. >>> tienes miedo verdad? >>> no tieens c

lanka, does india regard this as a legitimate protection by china of its sea lanes for commerce with significant -- does it see it as an encirclement of indiana and a strategic threat to india as opposed to a legitimate protection of commercial sealanes. >> let me go to lisa here. >> with all of the talk about jekyll and hyde imus surprise none of the mentioned the question of how china treats its own people and human rights. i wonder, earlier this year, winning human-rights escaped to the u.s. embassy, awkward for secretary clinton at the time but ultimately led her to save human rights are at the heart of diplomacy with china. i would like to hear how each of you use the question of how china treats its own people, labor rights, human rights, environmental, in terms of long-term relationships between democracy and china. >> a lot of questions i will give the panel and work to this gentleman around the other half. >> thank you, steve. my question is for mr. miller. america's strategy comes down to borrowing from china, save the world from china. it is not a sustainable strategy. ame

but this story is being replicated in places like colombia, peru, bangladesh, sri lanka. this is a about a desperate or insatiable demand for services. i will say that we know that china is slowing, but i don't think it is a hard landing. of course, to the extent china is the biggest buyer of these commodities, it will impact. >> let's focus on china. you have very different views on et. i sense a somewhat determinism in your view. is there not any capacity for this new leadership? we can implement the kinds of economic reforms that are needed. do think that they just cannot do it? >> i think the latter that you cannot do it. you need to have an open and intellectual debate going on with society to get the feedback he needed to get the correct economic reforms. we have been able to get away with it for a long time. it is running out now, and this cannot go on without having an honest and critical feedback about what is wrong with the current system. you only get that with freedom of speech and freedom of thought. >> you have some feedback. you do have the capacity for som