♪ thousands of russians march in moscow to honor a critic of the kremlin who was murdered on friday night. ♪. >> hello. i am darrin jordan on doha. on the program, tehran in yemen. >> a historic mission. israel's prime minister is heading to the united states heading to congress. the graffiti artist who made his

mark on the walls that divide gaza from the rest of the world. it's a rare site on the streets of moscow. thousands marching together. these are pictures from the russian capitol earlier. the march was in memory of boris them mentsov. he was shot dead on friday night night. >> reporter: non not since the anti-kremlin protest from 2011 and 2012 have we seen quite so many people coming out on to the streets in opposition to the government's policies. thousands and thousands came out and marched down the embankment. behind me up and around at a time cathedral over the bridge past the place where boris nemtsov was shot dead on friday night. as you would expect for a memorial march this was a

failure quiet affair some chanting but, on the whole, generally respectful and dignified as the crowds marched past. the only thing that really happened to indicate that this had any sort of hitch was the arrest of a ukrainian mp, a bizarre event. he wrote on his facebook page saying he had been detained on the march here they put him in a bus. they took his passport. they hit him a little bit. now, they have taken him away for police detension. this has been confirmed by interfax, the russian news agency. they are saying that the police are holding him potentially because he is wanted in connection with an event in ukraine on may the 2nd, 2014 when a labor union building was burned to the ground and many many people were dead. >> that's the only hitch so far that we know about. on the whole, this has been a large but peaceful affair. >> iran's influence in yemen appears to be growing.

for the first time in years, a plane flew direct from iran into sanaa now controlled by houthi rebels. they captured sanaa and forced the government out. they will fly 14 direct flights a week. some yemeni politicians fear the flights could be used to transport iranian weapons and fighters to yemen. >> a report from aden. >> reporter: the decision to operate regular flights between yemen and saudi arabia came two days after the houthis gave a speech in which he attacked saudi arabia and described the relationship between yemen and saudi arabia as one of sub judgegation. he said they should look for better partners. today in the official announcement of the decision to open this line the official news agency now under houthi control described this as an implementation of the recommendation of houthi,

himself. the thuthis have opened this line and sent a high-rakenking delegation for the first time and announced it in the past. they sent people to iran but they did not announce it. now, it is officially described as a government delegation. actually, it is headed by the head of the polit bureau going today ran to discussion bilateral economic regulations between the two countries according to the

statement. at a time gale kimberly halkett reports. a divide on capitol hill over israel just as the country's

powerful washington lobby kicks off it's conference. >> every year thousands of jewish advocates did he haveescend on washington. the goal of the american israel public affairs committee conference is to promote the u.s./israel relationship, one that's increasingly strained, most recently because this man, john boehner, the top republican in the house of representatives invited israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu to address the u.s. congress without knowledge of the white house. >> the american people and both parties in congress have always stood with israel. the threats he and hard line lawmakers say the threat is a deal being negotiated by six world powers with iran over the nuclear program. hawkish members of congress support netanyahu's claim. iran is working toward a nuclear weapons program threatening israel's security. that's why it's expected netanyahu's speech will urge congress to impose tough new sanctions. more than 30 members of congress

say they will boycott the speech. many believe it undermines white house efforts to negotiate a framework deal with iran by the end of the month. still, others resent any attempt to dictate american foreign policy towards iran while at the same time ignoring hard questions about israeli policies towards the palestinians. those in congress who take issue with israeli settlement expansion in violation of international law and last summer's assault on gaza have until now remained mostly quiet now a rift over support of israeli policies is being exposed in congress and among the more than 6 million jews who live in the united states. >> what i am seeing is that the block who says support for israel, whoever the government is strained. i think we are at the beginning point of a transition. and i think what netanyahu is

going to do is rub salt in the wounds. >> j street has taken out a full page ad arguing that wading into partisan politics will harm the u.s./israel relationship. >> tough decisions are going to have to be made. >> it's damage that may already be surfacing. the u.s. president won't address apac this year. less senior members will attend. traditionally, it's the vice president who provides over special joint sessions on capitol hill. on tuesday, joe biden will be conspicuously absent. kimberly halkett, washington. >> mali's government signed an agreement with some rebel groups to end fighting in the north. the rebel alliance has asked for further consultations. the rebels say their agreement does not address their demands for later political control. the united nations and the european government have broken the talks. >> egypt's highest court ruled an article in the law regulating

elections is unconstitutional. the court's decision could mean a delay in the long-awaited parlor paveralary poll. he script has been without a parliament since june 2012, and a court dissolved the main chamber. a group of syrian opposition forces has rejected atemp truce plan for the city of aleppo. it was proposed by the united nations envoy. zena hodr sent this report. >> reporter: the opposition has rejected ms. dura's proposal after two days of talks in the turkish border town. they did release a statement. politicians from the syrian national coalition as well as representatives of some armed groups took part in that meeting. what they are saying is that ms. dura's initiative is not comprehensive enough. for them ms. dura needs a comprehensive solution that would involve, quote, the depart pure of assad from power and the prosecution of what they are calling war criminal ings.

the opposition has expressed a lot of reservations ever since ms. dura presented this proposal last october. they said that they don't trust the government. they have been asking for mechanisms on the ground to monitor this ceasefire. but more importantly, the opposition is asking why the initiative has changed. in october, when ms. dura represented the proposal. it involved the cessation and now the cessation of heavy bomb bombardment bombardment. ms. dura's proposal he receiptedly said he is facing a daunting challenge. these are warring sides who don't trust each other. each one of them sees the other as illegitimate. what he was trying to do was reduce violence to ease the suffering of the people and allow humanitarian aid in. the envoy was hoping if the deal is put in place, some sort of political process can begin from the bottom up. but now that the opposition has rejected this initiative

outright his proposal is ineffect, dead. there is no other political process underway in syria. syrians said the war is going to enter its 5th year and statistics released by the syrian observatory for human rights says in the month of february 4,000, more than 4,000 people were killed. among them 800 civilians. at the end of the day, this initiative did not involve solving the syrian crisis but the u.n. was hoping to start somewhere and now we are really back to zero. >> the un 50i9d nations says more than a thousand people died in iraq last month. 6 on 011 civil uncalis were among the dead with baghdad being the most violent city. pesh peshmerga and other pro-government malitias died but the u.n. said the actual death toll is probably much higher because the fighters exclude the casualties in anbar province

held by fighters from isil. the iraqi prime minister says there will be a renewed push against isil. >> i think we are now discussing the whole operation, taking dash out of iraq. the time tables, we are working within this year's to -- with the people of these places people of anbar and other areas. they will be with us. and i think there is mows -- seeing the operation did he have have. it has to safeguard the people and look after the wellbeing of the people after liberation. >> more to come here on al jazeera, including: why some people in china don't want a second baby even though the one

child policy has been relaxed. plus... >> on the high plains of texas where we will be showing you how the falling price of cotton is threatening an entire way of life. rica to see how one rainforest is fighting back. >> wow! some of these are amazing. >> "techknow's" team of experts show you how the miracles of science... >> this is my selfie, what can you tell me about my future? >> can affect and surprise us. >> don't try this at home. >> "techknow" where technology meets humanity. tomorrow, 5:30 eastern.

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♪ welcome back. our top stories here on al jazeera. thousands of protesters in russia's capital marched in honor of boris nemtsov. a direct flight from iran has landed in yemen's capitol,

sanaa. an agreement was signed between did he have houthi rebels. benjamin netanyahu is going to the u.s. to deliver a controversial program. he plans to speak out against a deal with iran being negotiated with the u.s. and other world powers. there are concerns for the entire industry. in the last part of our global series on the price of cotton andy gallacher reports from texas where many farmers face an uncertain future. >> on the high plains of the texas panhandle, only the remnants of the cotton harvest remain. it's a crop that occupies those who live here all year 'round. cotton has been planted in these

fields since the 18th century. many farmers have a deep connection with the land. >> this 640 acres is where my grandparents come out here in 1904. they come out here in a covered wagon. >> bruce horn says cotton farmers are in serious trouble. the price of a bale of cotton is the lowest it has been in years. demand is down and uncertainty about the future has bruce questioning his family legacy. >> i don't know all of my grandchildren really even want to be on the farm because of the uncertainty. i don't know if i will be able to stay. and that's going to be a hard pill to swallow, that i am the last one that was on the land. >> for the vaughn family there is the possibility that after generations, they will no longer farm this land for cotton. if that pattern repeats itself across this entire region the effects could be catastrophic. >> monthly bill would be -- i can run anywhere from 30 to $50,000. >> dan jackson rungs a

cooperative cotton gin that indicators to local growers. many are thinking hard about the future. >> guys are making decisions about, you know, what they are going to do. like i said a while ago, it's going to be tough. they are trying to figure out what's going to be the best option for them financially and get the sxhiksz right and then everything has to fall in place. >> the u.s. exports more cotton than any other nation. the demand from the biggest buyer, china is at a 12-year low. experts predict the prices will stay down for at least the rest of the year and while many farmers are looking at growing other crops, this part of texas, known as cotton country, remains vulnerable. >> this economy and the lubbock area and texas as a whole depends greatly upon tag culture and cotton. so, if this hangs on two or three years, it could have some pretty significant effects. >> bruce vaughn will begin planting cotton here in the spring. if prices stay low, he might not be able to work this land much longer. andy gallacher alexander,

o'donnell, texas. argentina's president is delivering her annual address to the congress. it's a difficult time for kirshner. it will follows the mysterious death of alberto misslan. it's an election year even though she is not allowed to run. a report from buenos aires. >> thousands have gathered to display support for the president as she makes her state of the nation address of her presidency. this is clearly a response by kirshner activists to the march held on february the 18th by those calling for justice for the prosit cuter nisman. people there were very very critical of the government. all of this just eight months before an election campaign in which the president cannot run but her political party can, and so can her political program, which the people here are defending.

if this is the president's last major speech a way of defending her legacy she will undercore, of course, the achievements of her government in the area of human rights and social spending. but in the past she is unlikely to make any reference to the country's soaring inflation rate rising crime and allegations of corruption against herself and members of her government. >> in afghanistan, one of the country's most notorious criminals has been executed. he was charged with a string of armed robberies, kidnappings and killings. afghanistan's new president says taking on the criminal gangs is a top priority. among the president's focus is harat in the west of the country. >>reporter: it's a quiet trip around the block. hajiba with his boys and an armed bodyguard. this is how well-off families in herat get around. three years ago, ifan was kid

23457d. he was six years old. his father now carries a gun and can't stop worrying about his family's safety. the boys have been on a school bus when three men shot the tires and dragged him out of his brother's arms and off the bus. they demanded $300,000. the family didn't have that much. so the kidnappers dropped the ransom to $50,000. he was free after 86 days. >> before he was kidnapped, he was naughty, fast and bright. after, he became withdrawn. if the body guard isn't with him all the time he gets frightened. he tells me they will take us again. >> herat is a prosperous city. the taliban is active in the countryside but now the town. here the problem is organized criminal gangs. >> one of the main reasons herat has become a target for criminal gangs is because it's full of

businessmen. it's a major trading hub with neighboring iran. this road leads to the iranian border and herat is the first big city you reach after the crossing. >> more than 100 people were killed in herat last year. in so-called targeted assassinations. kidnappings are common but out of fear most people don't report it. this year the president fired the herat chief of police and all 15 district chiefs in a mass sacking. he said they had failed to establish security. the new police chief says they need to build up trust with the community to get more information about criminal gangs. the terrorist groups kidnappers and so-called taliban, they are not as strong as afghan security forces. they are small groups operating in a guerilla way. but if the community operates

the criminals are nothing. >> efin told united states he didn't think he would ever see his family again. he said they beat me showed me guns to scare me. they tied me up and moved me three times. the family still receives threatening phone calls from men they believe are the kid nappers. efan is home but he is still far from being safe. nicole johnston al jazeera, herat. >> australia, indonesia and malaysia are testing a new method for tracking planes over remote oceanic areas a new system locates flights every 13 to 15 minutes. the measure comes nearly a year after malaysian flight mh-3 september disappeared with 239 people on board. >> i appreciate it would be very difficult, one would imagine without knowing what precisely

occurred in the case of mh-370 to have intervened from the outside but at least it would have tracked the outside to within 15 minutes of -- and done so simultaneously. the big difference was, it wouldn't have taken us weeks to interpret the data and to find then where the engines finally stopped. >> it's been a year since the chinese government relaxed it's controversial one-child policy. the change in the rules >> this is her old job, and seems not to care that the easing of china's one-child policy makes her ankle eligible for a second baby.

>> translator: many young people don't want a second child. they don't even want the first child. they even think marriage is too much of a hassle. >> on the face of it, she and her husband would seem to have it all. they are part of china's growing middle class. gao ji chi has a well paid job with an investment firm and they recently moved in to a 3-bedroom apartment. they are both only children which is why they qualify for a second baby but gao is now resigned to his son being raised without a brother or sister. >> one child is too lonely. i grew up as the only child at home. my father had many brothers and sisters. they get along very well. but our one-child general ray can't enjoy being with brothers and sisters. >> the government has been enforcing the one-child policy for more than three decades, but a social experiment to control population growth has also created a gender imbalance

because of the traditional chinese preference for boys. it's had another worrying consequence as well: a shrinking labor force. the health ministry says only 5% of women entitled to have a second child in this city have applied to do so. now, this same ministry which polices the one-child policy, which has led to millions of abortions and sterlizations is appealing to the women of shanghai to have more babies. >> yuhong has a son and wants a sibling. the garage owner has a problem: because he and his wife have brothers and sisters, their child can't have the same. . >> to have a second child, you need to have more money, which we do yet people like us are not allowed to have a second child. when my son leaves, my wife and i will be lonely. >> one couple that can afford a second child aren't allowed one

while another that could seem unlikely to. adrienne brown, al jazeera, shanghai. >> in hong kong, three people have been arrested at an anti-mainland demonstration. police used pepper spray to disperse crowds protesting against shoppers from mainland china. they say local residents are encouraging mainland's business to come and shop there. residents of the suburban district claim chinese buyers are distorting the local economy. for the third time in just over a week astronauts at the international space station carried out a space walk to en stall new docking ports. the tricky job involves more than 200 meters of cable and other equipment. the docking port is being flown up to the or bitting space lab later this year. now, affirmative can be comical, political andsells for thousands of dollars, the anonymous

british artist known as banksy uses sentence ills and a can of spray paint. he turned attention to the streets and walls of gaza. a report. or or. >> the war left parts of gaza in ruins. much of it still needs rebuilding. both of these themes are explored by graffiti artists, banksy in his latest work in gaza. >> a young foreign man came here and painted this picture. when we asked him what the picture means, he said an animal has the right to live. what about a human? there is a huge destruction here we are here to support the palestinian people and send a message message to the world that palestinians are being destroyed and the occupation destroys everything be it humor animal. >> banksy has documented his trip in a short film. it starts off like an advertisement for a dream holiday, but it follows the

artist into underground tunnels and on to rubble-strewn streets. it describes gaza as an exclusive setting and well away from the tourist track. children swinging from an israeli surveillance tower and a greek goddess with her head in her hands, just some of banksies's works that have appeared among the rubbish and abandoned buildings. banksy, always in a hoody, is known for the social and political messages in his art work but some gazans are too busy to bother about art. >> this has been here for more than a month. it was drawn in the night because we saw it suddenly in the morning. we didn't care about it. gaza streets are full of posters, graphit i and drawings. >> banksy has been a strong supporter of the palestinian cause. his previous work included a painting of a girl pulled upward by balloons on israel's west

bank separation wall. this is not an artist who uses the walls of galleries to get his message across. paul travergion al jazeera. a reminder, you can keep up-to-date with the news on our website. there it is on your screen. aljazeera.com. >> that's aljazeera.com. >> ...i come around that corner... >> you don't want this? >> no, i think we should do it how we would normally... no exceptions >> should i also be in the picture? >> yeah [laughs] are you alright with that? >> no, i'm alright with that... >> ok, we're just gonna have to