Im come out santa maria welcome to the news grid calls for National Spanish unity in barcelona yes catalonia voted for independence and the threat to break away as soon as this week is still there but this sunday we see a reminder there are still plenty of people in the province who say that madrids will also on the grid of the Free Syrian Army advances on it les abend turkey waits and support the rebels are promising a fierce battle against anyone entering their territory but the rebels have also lost a lot of ground this year we can show you just how much and what chance they have of holding on and the end of an era approaches in liberia africas first female leader Ellen Johnson sirleaf has been president for twelve years now and so twenty candidates are campaigning to replace her in tuesdays election hell be looking at just what matters to those liberian versus. A giant fireball bills that live in for five dollars capital. After an explosion africa station and its not the first time such an action has happened do you think the government is doing enough to increase safety we got to hear from you connect. You with the news on air and streaming online through you tube Facebook Live and al jazeera dot com a week now since catalonia voted to split from spain in that controversial referendum and its been a week dominated by not only the political crisis but also around these from the millions in favor of Catalonian Independence but in the streets of boston on sunday there were those who say that they are the silent majority and they filled the streets some three hundred fifty thousand of them are the ones who oppose Catalan Independence and they came from all over spain to call for National Unity lets go live to barcelona jonah how following developments for us from that jonah. Thank you its been quite a remarkable day really here in barcelona in catalonia historian a little earlier on in the day told us that likely not since the late Nineteenth Century is there been such an openly show of support on the streets for the unity of space since then of course calls for independence of grown steadily slowly read to get crescendo last weekend but does all of catalonia really want to secede from the rest of spain do its leaders even speak for a decisive majority of them when they talk of unilaterally declaring independence possibly in the week to come while on the evidence of the march of the rally that weve seen here on sunday the answer to that question is no. Barcelona has seen plenty of huge demonstrations but not like this one see red and yellow the conference and you know flying alongside the Spanish National flag. Ripped off calls for independence this is a highly unusual show of National Unity. Some have come from other parts of spain but most from catalonia itself tony roll down is a compliment politician opposed to independence and we have made about the best video of the prosperity of these. Last forty years in new jersey boys when it was over and we have monies the been the framework that works for everyone i think and the future belongs but you know i just think that we need to be in better Times National language to govern ourselves in the world the globalization doesnt make sense to well but they call themselves the silent majority of those who dont know represented in the banks but we still have not been heard well silent no mo and so on in this day oh. Oh oh yeah hes behind one woman described an atmosphere of hope. Still a teaching loads of those who disagree with the push for Independence Day i was in my spanish im glad. That it was. Right to buy. My. Rights. And given the opportunity to speak out many embraced it really tired of being in my diary d. And the people to say that were not were going to because the union has a force and come on hes common sense independent schools in this region with its distinct culture and language a centuries old mistakes of never been higher in the dritte Prime Minister money on a run wholly warns he may use special powers to revoke catalonia tanami the Regional Government meanwhile is considering a unilateral declaration of independence in the weeks to come but who will hold them these people seem to have found their voices. Well theyll likely be arguments in the ostomy of this march about the precise size some people say the Police Say Three hundred fifty thousand the organizers say nine hundred fifty thousand you can probably put the accurate figure somewhere in the middle of the arguments about how many people came in from outside of catalonia and certainly a lot of people did come here from places like the capital madrid but everyone we spoke to was catalan and it did feel as if it was a genuine outpouring of feeling here by people who have long felt unable to speak their minds on able to be heard ill leave you with the words of the nobel literature prize winner mario vargas your son from peru who addressed the crowd at the end of the march he said nationalism has filled our history with wars were here to stop it. Great stuff from john holl and the team in barcelona thank you jonah. Now if you want to get in touch with us on that topic or any of the other ones that are coming up were already seeing some comments on ghana wed be talking about that a little later hash tag great whichever way you choose to correspond with us and maybe on twitter you can have a look at the call thats an i. J. English and rich respond to the threads there at facebook dot com slash a. J. News grid the live stream up and running as always produces back in the news your monitoring your comments there and the whats that line is plus an uncivil find the one triple one four nine maybe you are in spain you know someone they can send us in some pictures from the middle of those rallies today or your thoughts. So lets move on now syria of course closely monitoring developments in this new military operation there to retake the province of idlib from an alliance led by former Al Qaeda Linked fighters hiatt. Is the group thats promising a fierce battle against those who are into the territory the Free Syrian Army or the f. S. A. Crossed into the area from turkey on saturday they are being backed by turkish soldiers which have been massing at the border turkeys president reject type advances its all part of a deal with russia and iran to establish a deescalation zone there and he says so far the mission is having no problems at all. Before we get into a latest Development Though i do want to pause for a moment and refocus outthinking on syria because its really easy to say well this is a war thats just gone on for six and a half years and nothing has changed a lot has changed actually so were going to start with this map which is one of our who controls what maps you know these ones but this is from april and look at how fractured syria is youve got a lot of iceland marked in black right across the country youve got these red and black stripey areas contested areas disputed areas even close down to the capital damascus and then the green areas they are strong in the south and there are an up and it lives as well those are the rebels contrast all of that to this this is the more recent map and syria is now largely under government control you cannot dispute that eisel melting away towards the east they havent got much of a foothold anymore. The kurds in yellow up they are holding on to their positions and the rebel areas those green ones of their eyes gone from down there its just the border areas and Everything Else has been squeezed up into a itll be even now when you look at them side by side lets take it full frame and have a look this is the full picture remember this is a pro on the left and now on the right and the story is in those red areas the ones under government control there is a huge increase in government control this is increasingly becoming a syria once again after six years of war so thats just a little bit of background to keep in mind as we speak to hash borrow whos in gaziantep near turkeys border with syria and with all that in mind this battle for italy becomes so important because its pretty much all the rebels have got lift. Indeed its important for all the parties turkish president of player as well and so this is quite crucial for turkey because he wants to ensure that the northern part of syria is free of groups like. I said earlier of the taxpayer to have a their share of the y p g a which is one of the most powerful kurdish factions operating within the the the Syrian Democratic forces but there are many issues at stake there now in this military operation which is most likely going to be the most important cross border operation for the Turkish Military they want to take on here at the Hague I Shant in italy for them to be able to do so they have to break their defense lines and will be deeper into the province of idlib to monitor the escalation zone now we dont know what the hay at the heavier shell will ultimately pull out from that area as it is side to put up fighting against Turkish Military were expecting some heavy fighting over the next coming days session is there any update on the actual operation itself because i note that were pretty much saying what we said twenty four hours ago that the f. S. A. Is backed by turkey but the turkey is still hanging back at that the border its not necessarily going in yet. The buildup continues there is definitely something happening in a buffer zone in an area under the control of the Free Syrian Army early in the day was in as it turkish artillery shelling here to have sham positions inside syria that are called voice which have crossed into syria apparently it seems that the turkish government is providing logistics and preparing the ground for the Free Syrian Army to start its offensive the problem is that the Free Syrian Army cannot on its own defeat hate at the head of their sound therefore they will have to rely heavily on my sisters from the turkish government and from right. Asked rice the only problem with this is if you have civilian casualties the sentiment of the. International coalition and to russian sentiment could be on the rise in the. Tank so we wont start we have to. Thank you i guess tanker explosion in ghana has killed at least seven people and injured thirty five others in the capital a crime were not just talking about an explosion look at it its an absolute fireball which then triggered a second explosion. And has our report. Too much in the film nobody would know the blast was overpowering witnesses look at the towering flames and disbelief and more forward. Than Us Government says a tanker caught fire at a gas really see. The flames spread across the street to another gas station triggering a second explosion. A lot of fear at the fusion people ran to safety oh. Look at my hands this witness was injured as he made his escape for the bank was like a sound overflight like but man oh yeah like this isnt the first time ghana has gone through a similar situation in two thousand and fifteen a blast at a gas station killed at least ninety people al jazeera is corresponded amma boateng covers the region she says these type of explosions are not uncommon this deadly blasts could lead to changes. What. I feel kind of. Made to go to look its a question thats been asked before but this tragedy could make the issue a priority got him up as well the young aljazeera. First chat with sorrow on todays great and you have been speaking to people in ghana about this they must be well. Furious i have spoken to quite a few actually come on and its been one of sadness of course but also of outrage now people are mostly posting messages of support and prayers for ghana and the main hashtag us trending for this is atomic explosion which refers the name of the junction where it happened not because it looks like an atomic explosion but it happened in madeira in coaches the capital now the president of ghana has been tweeting about it and apart from of course his condolences he says the government is resolved now more than ever to ensure that an incident does not occur again but it seems to fall in on a few death is because on social media many gone and all fed up and say theyve heard it all before in fact this using here says never will it happen again they said but of course the reality is actually fall from that and thats because this isnt the first time that explosion like this have happened in gone or of course at a petrol station in fact this info graphic just behind me is showing its being shot several times and its showing you eight different gas stations of happened since twenty fourteen now many going ains all blaming the government for not doing enough to prevent such explosions especially of course off the one that happened in twenty fifteen where i think are almost one hundred people were killed now for coffee says anybody who uses the atomic junction it seems my i pod has slightly disconnected but that see if that works again. Knows that it was a time bomb waiting to happen now the petrol station is in a busy area and close to university of course a lot of people tweeting about this say there are no Adequate Health and safety checks by being carried out at these pester stations and many people have blamed poor been planning for building these petrol stations in highly congested areas and im going to try and connect again to my. I pod that is it what yet ok ive been told that it works and i need to get back on track there but anyway. One of many people who has been tweeting the thing. That people are concerned about is this saying that they dont even know what emergency number to call and president say using their billboards to congratulate themselves of course for all the successful buildings and infrastructure thats happening in the capital but i did speak to quite a few people in ghana one of thems called desmond i call in touch with him through twitter which of course many of you at home can do as well and he actually works near the scene of explosion and he sent me a video from that. I dont see people i really got to express their frustrations with government foresight in a. By strong region and i still dont follow. This is that its time to stop even four years ago the people of how to love and do so will just have to be the concern of the god made people are really good people in the crowd this morning and. I was not being discreet so this is all trying to. Salvage what about because. My connection might fail me here but not everyone agrees with the fact that the government many people saying is entirely to blame and one of them is chris he posted on facebook saying that on a ng to threaten the government when it strengthens its institutions to deal with certain things and i think hes referring to corruption which many people are saying is an issue that some guy named he says also quick to complain and blame them when something bad happens and jeff is another person whos been talking about this on line he says we never politicize the explosion we never move on without fixing it maybe we can be proactive as people and some of the gas stations were not in residential areas some years back is too congested and doesnt who we heard from want to say that maybe we should change its location and thats something that many people have been resonating with now one last thing i want to show you is a petition that people have already put together theyre aware that some of the you know it says they are aware that some of you know make his own some of these filling stations all just go to that park off their make a little bit bigger for you and have some shame and decency and set up rules and regulations to say for filling stations away from businesses schools and residential areas which was the situation of course with this one i havent spoken to a number of connie is today many of them resonate with of course as always we want to hear from you at home whos watching us to desmond send news video through social media and so you can use to get in touch with me or come out and. You wanted it seen on twitter or facebook yes things are in fact sent a message on Facebook Live already saying the gun a government is lazy and their only response to blasts like this is to talk about it to send in your views as cyrus is now so were going to go back to spain now the secession vote in catalonia protests going on today demonstrations on both sides im going to talk to alfred bosch now hes joining us from. He is with the republican lefts posse supporting independence and its lovely to have you with us so how did you feel today seeing all those pro madrid flags out in the streets of barcelona today well its fine. I mean they have my deepest respect obviously and even my lovers as citizen fellow citizens of this country so and i love freedom of expression so thats thats thats it although i think that rather than count people in the street its better to count people in the ballot boxes and thats what we did last sunday despite all the disruption and the Police Violence right so then you would you would disagree then with their claim that they are actually the silent majority. Well they were not all that silent anyway no i mean its its all right the people express themselves what im saying is that if you know it we want to know whos the majority the best thing you can do is vote because thats the way of counting people out of the muck recy thats why we had a vote everybody was free to vote and please please bear in mind that everybody was free to vote yes and no in fact eight percent of the voters voted no which is quite a lot of people but the other ninety percent of voters voted yes so now we have to proceed with a yes and thats something we promised we stipulated very clearly before the referendum was held so youve used the word there we have to proceed how do you think things will proceed this week because there is this i wont say threats but there is this possibility of declaring independence this week which would oversee cause all sorts of problems with madrid how is the best way to proceed how do you think things will proceed this we