♪ >> hello there, i'm felicity barr, and this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up. >> today i'm nominating chief judge merrick brian garland to join the supreme court. >> a showdown with republicans as he names his choice for the county's most powerful court. >> marco rubio drops out while

clinton is in poll position for the democratic position. the new five-year plan grounded in economic reform and it could spell more redundancy. hello, when syria's war began five years ago the country's opportunity to fight and establish their own autonomous region. now the kurdish political party pyd are poised to do that. the group wants a federal region under kurdish control the syri syria's northern border with turkey. they're said to hold that area 100 kilometers long. it has angered syrian opposition as well as turkey, which has been at war can kurdish rebels on and off for years. they say they support an united

syria and unilateral moves are not valid. this comes as talks begin in geneva in which the kurds were excluded. president assad said he wants to keep syria together, not break it apart. >> the syrian courts are an important component of the syrian people. we're proud of them. they're proud of us. we have established our state together for centuries. so betting on creating any kind of divisions among the syrians will end will be will be a total failure. but one of three autonomous regions set up in syria two years ago said that federallalism could work right across the country.

>> now the component of north of syria, they are the creation of federallalism. the umbrella of the administration, and under federalism more will join, and there be more autonomous regions and not just north syria or regions, it must be federalism and democracy is zoned to be guaranteed. >> clark lee has more on turkey's reaction from the border town. >> well, it's only day three in geneva, and there is still no shortage of shock announcements. let me move out of the way so you can see where we are. that's kobane, the kurds managed to expel isil in some very heavy

fighting and the yellow flag of the ypg the kurdish militia now flies over the town. the kurdish proposal, if you take it at face value would put together places like kobane and join them all up in the federal grouping, which would stretch hundreds of kilometers all the way to the iraqi border and join us geographically with the kurdish enclave in northern iraq as well. what do the other parties make of it? certainly the turks in ankara are extremely concerned about that. they've accused the ypg in acting i coordination with others. this will make them feel extre

extremely concerned about their security as well. >> u.s. president barack obama has announced his choice to fill the seat on the supreme court. he was nominated at the white house. there is a vacancy an antonin scalia died in february. president obama's choice must now be approved by the u.s. senate. the republicans promised to veto anyone bomb would nominate, but

garland could be seen as a neutral nominee. >> my parents taught me in words and deed life in public service is as much a gift to the person who serves a it is to those who are serving. to me there could be no higher service than serving in the united states supreme court. >> roslind jordan joins us live from washington, d.c. what are the wide implications of this nomination by obama? >> well, one thing, felicity, is that the president is exercising what he says is his constitutional prerogative and his obligation as the constitution is written to nominate someone to fill the vacancy that was left when justice anonin scalia die in late february. this is a situation where congressional republicans said wait a minute, we're in the middle of a presidential campaign, so we need to wait until we find out who the next president is going to be.

well, the obama administration's argues is that the president is president for four years, and that this is very early in the last year of his term in office, and that he has the right to nominate someone to fill the vacancy, especially given what he considers number a critical cases that are coming before the high court. so it's turning into not just an election year battle between the president and congress, but it's also becoming a presidential campaign issue. the presumed democratic frontrunner hillary clinton has put out a statement calling on senate republicans to hold a confirmation hearing for merrick garland, and we heard from mitch mcconnell who said that there is every reason and every justification for waiting until 2017 after a new president is sworn in to deal with the vacancy on the high court. one thing that we should note, however, is that the president is trying to address some

criticisms that the high court is made up of too many people who are from the educational elite. everyone who is on the court has either gone to harvard or yale law school, has worked at the very highest levels of the u.s. government, and this is what he has had to said about merrick garland. >> he walked away from a comfortable and lucrative law practice to return to public service. merrick accepted a low-level job as federal prosecutor in president george h. w. bush's administration, took a 50% pay cut. traded in his elegant office to a windowless closet that smelled of stale cigarette smoke. this was when problems reached epidemic proportions and he came to help. >> us why does he think that measure, garland might have a chance to get into the supreme

court when the senate said it would block anyone that obama nominates? >> well, merrick garland went to the federal appeals court here in the district of columbia back in 1997. that was during the presidency of another democratic president, bill clinton. and he was confirmed by a 3-1 margin. he also is said to be good friends with the current chief justice john roberts, who was, of course, nominated by george w. a republican president. and he's considered especially on law and order issues, pretty tough. so they think this might be the thing that gets him on to the high court. of course, we'll have to see just what senate republicans have up their sleeve. >> indeed. roslind jordan live in washington, d.c. thanks so much. well, squabbling over the new supreme court justice is happening at a crucial time in u.s. politics. the race for the republican presidential nomination is now down to three candidates after

marco rubio pulled out. nomination votes in five more states which saw donald trump and hillary clinton both pull away in their respective parties. marco rubio pulled out of his campaign. trump won in florida, north carolina, and has the lead in missouri. john kasich won in his state. on the democratic side. they have double the tally of delegates and is firm favorite to clinch the nomination. john hedron reports. >> in florida favorite sons go down fast. >> while it is not god's plan

that i be president in 2016 or maybe ever, and today while my campaign is suspended, the fact that i've even come this far is evidence of how special america truly is. >> republican donald trump entered a crushing defeat to florida's own marco rubio, forcing a bitter end to the campaign on optimism. >> the fact is we have to bring our party together. we have to bring it together. >> then there were three narrowing the republican race with trump, texas senator ted cruz and ohio governor john kasich, who won in his home state defeating trump and breathing new life into a winless campaign and breathing chances that trump will not lock up the nominations before the republican convention in july. >> i have to thank the people of great state of ohio. i love you. [ cheering ] >> we're going to go all the way to cleveland and secure the republican nomination.

[ cheering ] >> kasich's victory to lead to a messy party fight all played out in public that has not happened in decades. >> if we do have a contestant convention on the republican side it would go back to the old ways the party did things when there were no primary elections and parties did get together and make the decision on their own as to who the nominee would be. >> in the democratic race hillary clinton swept big prizes new york, ohio, north carolina and illinois. for clinton's democratic rival bernie sanders the electoral math just got math. the latest round of primary votes makes it more likely the democratic frontrunner will seize the nomination and perhaps a less likely the republican. rival are. bernie sanders, clinton pivoted to the general election and her presumed rival trump. >> our commander in chief has to be able to defend our country, not embarrass it. [ cheering ]

engage our allies not alienate them. defeat our adversaries, not embolden them. >> the preview of the race to come. john hedron, al jazeera, washington. >> and al jazeera's alan fisher joins us live from miami in florida. we know that the republican establishment is really unhappy with the idea that donald trump would be their nomination. what can they now do to stop it? >> there is very little. john kasich said he's going to go to the convention in cleveland later in the summer. but he can't win enough delegate to do that. that then becomes the messy fight, the brokered or contested convention. what might help is if john kasich drops out of the race, and there is no sign that he's going to do that, and make it a straight fight between donald trump and ted cruz. and then the possibility that ted cruz could overall the

number of trump's delegate particularly as the next few delegates are closed contest. very few can vote. but the establishment said they will not support donald trump. they're very clear about that. this could- could rip the republican party apart. this could an big problem for a large number of peep who until now were happy to call themselves a republican. >> we've seen recently that donald trump was going to rein back on the rhetoric that he has been spouting over the last year the closer he got to the nomination. the idea that he could then appeal to the more moderate republicans. are we going to see more of that, do you think? >> well, in his victory speech he didn't mention john kasich's win. he didn't mention ted cruz. he only mentioned marco rubio fleetingly to say that he has run a good campaign. wednesday he said he would unite

the party. but just a few minutes ago he tweeted, great night, six victories, lying ted won none. it's almost as if he can't help himself. on one hand he said unite the party, i'll take on hillary clinton. then he throws out something likelying ted almost as if he's speaking to two audiences and there is no crossover there. if donald trump were to unite the party, it would be an incredible piece of political gymnastics because people, particularly the republican party, have long memories and they're very upset with some of the things that donald trump has said and some of the things that donald trump has done in this presidential campaign. >> alan fisher in miami, thank you. two suspect are on the run after a raid by police on an apartment in brussels. officials say that the dead man had been armed with assault rival and was found with an isil flag. two people who were detained

after that raid have since been released. french police have arrested four people on suspicion of planning an i am meant attack in central paris. local media said they were arrested at dawn in the northern suburb. let's go to our correspondent jacky rowland. what more do you know about this? >> well, we know that the arrest took place before dawn, and that there are two separate locations. one, as you mentioned, an area just to the north of paris over a large immigrant population, also, as you will remember, the place where police in november tracked down two suspects and killed them in a shootout, suspects linked to the novembe november 13th attacks. the other operation in the 18th district of paris. that's the north of paris, and again linked to november 13th because one of the cars used in those attacks was abandoned in that area on the

night of the 13th into the 14th. now the most important suspect who has been taken into custody on wednesday we're told is a 20-year-old frenchman of moroccan origin, someone who is already under house arrest, who had been held on house arrest for more than two weeks. we're told previously he was in prison after trying to travel to syria, allegedly to fight there. he was only released from prison in october of last year. the other people who were arrested were told they were members of his entourage with his girlfriend, and also two brothers frenchmen, of turkish origin. now, the police from the special intelligence services seized mostly computer equipment from their homes we have heard from some french media reporting and saying that in fact, no i am meant attack was to be feared. and, in fact, the french interior minister appeared a moment ago saying we need to be

cautious, and the reason they were taken into custody was because of the general heightened state of alert in france as a whole. so it's unclear whether to what extent they have a concrete plan, or whether it's just an abstract idea that they wanted to carry out an attack in paris, nevertheless in the current climate particularly in those arrests in belgium on tuesday clearly police thought it was much better to be safe than to be sorry. >> thank you. still to come on the program, the all female peacekeeping force on patrol in south sudan capital. and how a palestinian boy orphaned in an arson attack is able to meet his sporting hero.

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>> hello again, and a reminder of the top stories on al jazeera. the powerful syrian kurdish group the pyg want a piece of syria against the syrian government. problem nominates a judge for the supreme court. a race for the nomination of the next u.s. president. arrested in january, a man

was trying to steal a propaganda poverty from his hotel. nothing yang. last month the 21-year-old told the press conference that he made the worst mistake of his life. the argentinian navy has sunk a chinese boat it said it was fishing illegally in its waters. the boat was intercepted more than 1400 kilometers south of buenos aires and instead of responding to warnings it ran the naval festival. shots were fired into its hull. it's four members were skewed and then arrested. the chinese ministry has lodged a complaint and called for an investigation. >> the national congress has approved a five-year plan which aims for .5% float each year by 2020. despite growth in 2015 falling to the lowest level for 25 years.

adrian brown reports. >> it's not a place for surprises or displays of dissent. as always this was a tightly controlled political gathering where delegates rubber stamp decisions made in private by the leaders. >> we are full of confidence in the long-term good prospects of the economy. as long as we sit to reform and open up, china's economy would not see a hard landing. >> the prime minister holds one media conference a year. selected journalist gets to ask questions vetted in response. reform, i said, would be having to shut down more inefficient state-owned industries, a sensitive subject.

>> we will press ahead to shut down inefficiency. >> her hesitating how hard to wield the axe. it said that the mining sectors could lead to unrest as happened in the northeast of the country this week. the china labor bulletin monitors industrial unrest in china and said that laid off workers are becoming more emboldened. >> many of them have been working for 10 years, 20 years, and they're entitled to quite substantial severance pay. if they don't get that, then there is a danger that there will be more protests across the whole country. >> the prime minister said that he set aside $20 billion to help workers who have been made redundant, promising more money if it's needed. the national people's congress won't convene for another year, a year that china's premiere

said will be a difficult one, especially for miners and steelworkers. adrian brown, al jazeera, beijing. >> two female suicide-bombers have killed 22 people in north nigeria. another 18 were wounded in the attacks in maidugari. the first bomber targeted the mosque and the second bomber blew herself up close by just moments later. the attack took place during morning prayers. 15 people have been killed in pakistani city of peshawar. a group linked to the pakistanical tan claimed responsibility. juba there are camps for displaced people. from juba we have this report.

>> meet mary. she's the leader of team of female peace keepers protecting families in south sudan. she wants to give a message of peace to her community. >> we don't want women fighting each other. >> she and her colleagues are trying to reduce the violence that happens often in these cramped conditions. people around here came for safety when the war began two years ago, and most people are afraid to leave. most of the people here are mostly from the tribe associated with the opposition. people say it is not safe to venture out. the women peace keepers come from the community. it's easy for them to hear what is going on. they stop people in the street. catch up on the news and look out for any potential problems. after years of living on minimal food and water, crowds can turn

angry very quickly. >> food is being distributed and tensions are running high, the women's peacekeeping force is be a soothing presence. they come unarmed in contrast to the u.n. peace keepers and they're not threatening to the crowd. >> the severity of the cases varies. on this day it was a boy being bullied by his friends. but on others it could be domestic violence or reuniting lost children with their families. at the end of her patrol, mary reflects on the benefit that she and her colleagues have brought to the camp. >> my job is positive. why? because since we started no woman has fought with another woman. the women wearing these pink shirts, if we find people fighting we stop them. >> the people in the camp say they want people to stop fighting so they can return to their homes. until they can do so, mary and her team are doing their part to make sure they're safe where they are. al jazeera, juba, south sudan.

>> a five-year-old palestinian boy who was orphaned in an arson attack is making a dream trip to spain to meet his sporting hero. his parents and brother were killed in an attack by israeli settlers in july. now he'll meet one of the most famous footballers. >> like many five-year-olds, he's just getting into football, and his favorite player is striker cristiano ronaldo. in every day life the person he's closest to is his grandfather because his home in the up ad west bank was fire bombed by israeli settlers last year. his 18-month-old brother was killed straight away. his father died in hospital and his his or her would also succumb to her injuries. >> ahmed asks me every day about his parents. he asks me where is heaven, how far is it from our house. the other day i found him looking at his mother's photo. he was asking her where she was.

i believe ahmed will need more psychological help. >> ahmed suffered serious purpose and has had several operations. his treatment at the israeli hospital is far from finished. but he's surrounded by staff and volunteers who make sure that he feels loved. and now thanks to lots of planning by well wishers he's getting a special trip to spain to visit real madrid and meet cristiano ronaldo. >> he is wearing the shirt of ronaldo. we pictured him and put it on facebook. some guys from the soccer association saw him on facebook and said if you likel look like ronaldo we can connect with him. >> his journey is rehabilitation, but here at the hospital they're trying to give him as much of a normal childhood as they can. that means lots of love as well as an once in a lifetime trip to

the spanish capital to meet his footballing hero. al jazeera, tel aviv. >> great story and you can find much more about many of the stories we're covering over on our website. the address to click on to is www.aljazeera.com. www.aljazeera.com. >> today i'm nominating chief grudge merrick garland to join the supreme court. >> the president makes his choice for supreme court but the republicans are still refusing to consider anyone. >> going forward and we're going to win. more importantly we're going to win for the country. we're going to win, win, win, and we're not stopping. >> donald trump wins big in the presidential race. and marco rubio bows out, and