luck and let's. let. the. mother. i'm going to political rivals. back into coalition. headquarters. also ahead. an election that many fear.

and far right party. further into. trucks loaded with. more. german chancellor angela merkel has welcomed a vote by members of her main political viable to revive coalition clears the way for a new government and europe's largest economy more than five months. conclusive election dominic kang reports. for much of the past six months since the federal election failed to find a clear winner the social democrats have appeared. stuck between the ideological

desire to oppose angle america's and the pragmatic need for germany to have a stable government on sunday the party's grass roots had to say. two hundred thirty nine thousand six hundred four. one hundred twenty three thousand three hundred twenty nine. this represents a two thirds vote and one third will no. this was a decision of the head not the heart many members agonized over their choice some feared how the electorate will perceive another grand coalition in the weeks leading up to the vote the party youth movement was vociferously opposed saying election losers should lick their wounds and not work with angle america but the politician who is likely to be the next finance minister welcome to sunday's result . we now have clarity s.p.d. will join the next government our party did not make this decision lightly this

will now give us the strength we need to move forward as a party in government and to put our country on the right path. but some analysts believe it's questionable whether that path will benefit the social democrats long term brand is social justice but it has to be more in order to actually be over twenty over thirty percent because what they're claiming for they still want to be a fox pattaya and what does that label mean it actually means or how is it defined thirty percent and more of the vote and they're far away from that in the end the parties members have decided to put the interests of the country above the interests of their party but the point to make here as they contemplate another coalition with anglo-american christian democrats is it's now many many years since their party has been in a position to win an election and to provide the chancellor as a social democrats dominant al-jazeera. while germany and the rest of europe are

also watching italy many fear parliamentary elections there will deliver gains for populist and far right parties let's look at the big players the democratic party or pay day led by former prime minister matteo renzi as pro europe and pro immigration but it's failed to engage younger voters we should admire as the prime ministerial pick of the five star movement that's an anti establishment anti-corruption party which is set for a strong showing there. there's the party led by mateo salvini it's you are a skeptic an anti immigration and former prime minister silvio berlusconi returns with a center right for a tally a party he can't hold public office because of a tax for conviction but could home significance weigh in a future coalition government if his party does well lawrence live reports from abroad. as the time arrives for voters to make their minds up there was every sign there were as many people who simply couldn't decide as those with any sort of

conviction the policy making much of the running is the and c. politician policy its thirty one year old leader held several parts on jobs before even entering politics five stars inside a proposal is to create a citizens' block in opposition to the corrupt excesses of the political clubs but five star vowed not to do a coalition deal with anyone else and in a country which you can't do government without a coalition it leads many to wonder if they would prefer not to be in government it's all they want. probably be carrying defer to political parties to transform it into influencing the transformation in the reconfiguration of the need to go since them we doubt government responsibility. the political bloc with the best chance is this group led by the it's home of the youthful silvio berlusconi the eighty one year old appears to hold a magnetic attraction for his far right allies which have campaigned entirely

around identity politics blaming the european union for what they see as an invasion of black people and muslims from over the mediterranean. the dream scenario for the anti establishment right wing is this man is prime minister matteo salvini wants mass deportations it's really first he says the entitlement cannot simply go to anyone who arrives here illegally must be sent back if we keep welcoming them and look after them the state will collapse it doesn't work economically or socially. but if the polls are accurate the far right might not get enough votes for stable governments many italians are revolted at the idea of berlusconi choosing the next prime minister so what then it's hardly unusual for italian politicians to promise one thing and then change their minds and even though silvio berlusconi insists his right wing coalition is the only one and all for many suspect that in the events of political stacey's he in the sense

a left might do a deal for a sort of grand coalition supposedly for the good of italy but even that would only be a temporary measure with a view to even more elections politico he could well hold the key to unlocking the confusion the fact that the european union might look to him as their best guarantor of stability says much about the state of politics lawrence li al jazeera wrote. the syrian government says it sees more territory in rebel held east and going after another night of airstrikes and shelling more than six hundred forty people a said to have been killed in the besieged on klav just in the past two weeks the u.n. a sounding an alarm saying the collective punishment of civilians a simply unacceptable they don't have the reports from beirut and neighboring lebanon. pro-government forces are advancing inside eastern since friday they've seized at least ten percent of the one hundred ten square kilometer

enclave they are moving in from the eastern side forcing people to pack whatever they can and move to other areas away from the front lines people are seeking shelter in towns closer to the center displacement is adding to their suffering the ground offensive began just over a week ago the territory taken is not heavily populated it's mainly farmlands which are hard to defend pro-government forces want to control the do mushy phony out road which would cut rebel supply lines cut off the main town of duma and split the opposition held pocket in half. the assault is not just from the ground airstrikes and shelling are targeting towns throughout the besieged rebel stronghold the bombing may have lessened since the five hour daily pause in the fighting ordered by the russian government came into effect on tuesday but civilians continue to be killed. it's one of the deadliest offensives in the almost

eight year conflict the death toll is now more than six hundred fifty rebels have been retaliated by firing mortars into the syrian capital killing almost thirty people in the past two weeks the ability of the opposition to threaten damascus is one of the reasons why the pro-government alliance wants to recapture eastern huta it is the last major opposition controlled area close to the government seat of power if pro-government forces take it then there will be only one small pocket of territory south of the capital out of the government's control and the pro-government alliance is making it clear not only in its words but in its actions that it is not ready to compromise and it is pushing for a military victory. despite pleas from humanitarian organizations aid hasn't reached the almost four hundred thousand people believed to be. the united nations was hoping to deliver food and medical supplies on sunday now it says that won't

happen this isn't the first time restricting humanitarian access to a besieged population has been used as a weapon of war. beirut. to the u.s. now and the investigation into russian interference in the election of donald trump has reportedly been widened to include the united arab emirates the new york times says george mother was in n.y.c. to the prince and was a regular visitor to the white house in two thousand and seventeen has been questioned special counsel reportedly pressed him for information about a possible financial support campaign team in return for political influence come into office the u.s. president has forged a closer relationship with the u.a.e. and saudi arabia last june he contradicted years of american policy but initially backing the u.s. and saudi led blockade against where the u.s. has a major military base let's get more on this now our correspondent john hendren is

joining us live from washington a very detailed report in the new york times jon what more does it say about george neither and what he might have been trying to do here. that's right elizabeth the article describes nodders role from the one nine hundred ninety s. when he was a lebanese american businessman who was also used as a back channel to negotiate with syria by syria by the clinton administration and then he kind of disappeared from the diplomatic world in the early to thousands when he was apparently in iraq drumming up business for blackwater blackwater is run by erik prince who is the brother of betsy to voss the education secretary so there is another time there he has been a frequent visitor to the white house over the past year he's talked to jerrod cushion or and he has talked to steve bannon that is significant because cushion has been seen by u.s. intelligence officials as particularly vulnerable to influence by israel the united

arab emirates mexico and china so this suggests a couple of things about the miller investigation one that has broadened beyond ties to russia and to that they are now looking into whether money was steered from the u.s. into the campaign into whether undue influence is was has been exercised since the president became president and has there been a reaction to this why did they of mothers investigation and the u.s. john well i think we're going to see that play out in the coming days because now it's not just people who have ties to the russian in the investigation but it's just it's anybody who might have had an influence on the administration either through money going in or sort of private meetings through connections like natters had so this just suggests that we're going to see a much broader investigation that might mean the whole miller probe takes more time all right john thank you very much for that is that john hendren joining us live

from washington d.c. thank you. we have a weather check next and then. china's leaders defend their push to scrap term limits which could see president xi jinping stay in power and definitely and we'll find out more about an al qaeda linked group that's claimed responsibility for friday's attacks ability to fast so that killed eight people. hello there we're seeing a great change in the weather across the eastern parts of china we're seeing some fairly warm weather at the moment look at that nineteen degrees in shanghai that nineteen degrees there is accompanied by some heavy rain as well but that systems are moving through it's moving its way eastwards and behind it the winds are going to change direction going to work down from the north and that's going to bring in some far cooler air we're looking at

a maximum just of ten degrees there and choose day at least that ten degrees should be accompanied by some dry weather the next system though is already beginning to build out towards the west and on the northern edge of that we're seeing that turn to snow as we head out towards india we're seeing somewhat weather here you can see it will work its way through parts of pakistan as well and just across the northern parts of india that could give us a very heavy downpours lots of thunder and lightning too it's going to be have a pulse and a poor as well on monday giving some snow as you might expect further south largely fine and dry for most of us across southern india is just across sri lanka where there's still the chance of seeing just one or two showers as we head through the next few days for the arabian peninsula well here there's a little bit of cloud just to the north of doha it looks like doha should stay fine though the temperatures are rising once more we get to around twenty nine or thirty over the next few days.

winning the will of the people hinges on the mass media. machine go into overdrive . influencing. we just don't know yet where the lines will be drawn between what can be said and what comes after. some journalists decided to sacrifice their integrity for outside . the listening post base time on al-jazeera. to have you with us on al-jazeera these are our top stories months of political uncertainty in germany a coming to an end off the social democratic party voted to join

a coalition government led by chancellor angela merkel. italians are voting in a parliamentary election that's expected to result in a hung parliament where many feel anti-establishment and fall will gain ground. on the syrian government has reportedly see just more rebel territory in the east and good after another national strikes and shelling more than six hundred and forty people have been killed in the past two weeks. at least three people have been entered during a car in the northern israeli city of aka israeli police are describing it as a terror attack they say an israeli palestinian attempted to run out of a border policeman and uniformed offices. at the funerals being held for a palestinian farmer who was shot and killed by israeli troops near the gaza border the body of muhammad ali was carried through the streets of gaza before hundreds of people the palestinian. health ministry says the fifty nine year old was shot in

the bag working on his land near the israeli border the israeli military says soldiers fired warning shots when he approached a restricted area and when he failed to stop he was shot. saudi arabia's crown prince is due to land in cairo for a three day visit to meet gyptian president at the fact that al sisi it's mom of the first foreign trip since becoming crowned prince last year then fly on to meet with leaders in the u.s. and the u.k. saudi arabia and egypt among the countries that imposed a blockade on last june well earlier i spoke to juan cole a professor of history at the university of michigan and he says egypt is a very close ally to saudi arabia despite some differences. after the twenty thirteen who the saudis the united arab emirates and kuwait have put in on the order of thirty billion dollars in investments and gifts and loans to the egyptian

regime so that is a lot of investment and egypt just yesterday we had the announcement by the top court in egypt giving away these two islands in the red sea strategically important islands to nod and said nothing to egypt what else is egypt getting out of all of this investment in saudi getting out of this investment in egypt. the saudis did get those islands that they have a claim on them going back but they've been egyptian territory for as long as anybody can think. they also have gotten egypt security help egypt however has been a little bit difficult for the saudis in some areas it hasn't been enthusiastic about the war in yemen which is one of the major projects of the saudis it also has tilted towards the bashar al assad regime in syria because it is

a secular regime fighting the rebels and so on those issues there may be some tension can we expect any movement or progress on those issues on the wars and soviet or yemen you know i think egypt is just going to refuse to get involved they may talk a good game but the gyptian elite for some time now has drawn back from active in best moment in those kinds of projects. mountain climbers have recovered the black boxes of an iranian plane that crashed two weeks ago killing all sixty six people on board the flight recorders have now been handed over to investigators experts will analyze them after the legal procedures are finished the twin engine asked money airlines plane which was on its way from head on to our search question to these are gorgeous mountains and foggy weather. now flashes link to al qaeda and based in mali said they were responsible for the attacks and bettina faso on friday

is the nicholas heart support sixteen people were killed including eight gunman at the french embassy and the army headquarters in the capital along to do good. when a taxi packed with explosives drove past him i was fetching water raman was sorting out his stall and quander was clearing his shop none of them noticed the attackers nor did members of rick enough so armed forces who let the taxi in the attackers enter their headquarters the subsequent explosion sent them and the country into panic at the same time another attack was underway targeting the french embassy and its cultural center french special forces were deployed after hours of fighting all the attackers were shot dead to montanus about islam and muslim e has claimed responsibility for the attack they say it's in retaliation for the bombing by french forces that killed one of the group's leaders in february. sorry sitting in this video on the right was killed in that attack them broken afonso is

home to french military base and has increasingly been targeted by fighters in the south of the market people are returning to work with mixed feelings there's no servant in there i'm not scared i'm not going to let the attacker put me in a state of fear and these are some but it feels uneasy because the reality is brooke you know fastow is in the middle of a security crisis government officials visit the army headquarters the intensity of the explosion shattered the windows of neighboring buildings every flew hundreds of meters into the air bullet holes pockmark the building. this is supposed to be one of the safest and most secure place in this country and yet it's inside this building that most people lost their lives on the prime minister is talking to the troops outside police have cordoned off this area and there are hundreds of people standing there in shock and they have one question how could this attack take place in such secured and safe areas visiting the scene the prime minister described what

he called scenes inside but he tried to reassure the public something i must tell you that we have to stay united against this war that is being imposed on us i am convinced we will win we weren't allowed in the hospital where the injured mostly soldiers are being treated their friends and relatives are worried we're hearing they will survive. there is a sense of despair that bricky has become another front line to an expanding conflict affecting millions of people across the sahara nicholas hawk al-jazeera. to china now where the country's leaders are defending their plans to scrap term limits on the presidency which would allow. definitely the move is overshadowing this year's gathering of parliament which. according to the constitution of the chinese communist party there's no such provision as to nor more than two

successive terms for the general secretary and the chairman of the central military commission of the party. there's no such cause of no more that two terms for the chairman of the central military commission for the country and the constitution of china so if we post the similar clause in the constitution for the terms of the presidency it's can juicer to upholding the authority of the central committee of the party with comrade xi jinping at the core and also to unify leadership also will help strengthen and improve the country's governance. china correspondent adrian brown reports from beijing. in the ceremonial heart of beijing china's political season is about to start but it will be different this year delegates to the national people's congress are being asked to do something they've never had to before approve a change to the constitution that restricts presidents to two terms dissenting

voices are rare in today's china yet in the run up to this n.p.c. there's been token criticism over the proposed amendment. most of the modern countries in the world adopt this two term presidency that's why people find it unbelievable that if she is going to stay in power more than two terms president she is likely to get his way the n.p.c. is viewed as a largely rubber stamp body controlled by the ruling communist party and has never voted down a proposal from party leaders. the change will further consolidate she's power as he is also party chief and head of the military and in october his name was in shrines in the constitution elevating him to the status of chairman mao like president xi jinping wants to make his country great again and he often talks about the rejuvenation of the chinese nation he now believes he's the only leader that can make that happen there are no opinion polls in china so it's not possible to

gauge what the public thinks about all of this a few people in beijing though were willing to share their views and surprisingly they weren't all positive. when they were out of miami or janice. this has happened in china or other countries before if you change the constitution itis that it's back to the old days when i living back when. he should be president for more than two terms even he serves seeks i would support him. china today is a one party state dominated now by one man adrian brown al-jazeera beijing journalists from their balls largest newspaper have been charged with contempt of court after publishing critical stories about the chief justice the case against the county for daily is being seen by government question as an attack on press freedom sabina stressed or has more from the capital. riot police were

deployed outside the supreme court as representatives of nepal's largest newspaper the county daily arrived for the hearing security was tight and court authorities strict about who else would be allowed in so the sharma's the newspapers editor would remember. and this is not only a case of conduct but of the larger case of press freedom in nepal this will set a precedent on how widely ordinarily the constitutional guarantee of free speech will be understood. become people who daily published a series of reports alleging that the ponce chief justice but actually used fake documents and falsified his date of birth the mandatory age retirement is sixty five the chief justice says that these stories are a tad on the judiciary system with imaginary facts and objectionable language the supreme court however already has an ongoing investigation against the chief justice on the less charges all fake documents. chief justice but i have issued

an order for the newspaper to appear on charges of contempt of court he also ordered the press council a press watchdog body with government appointed members to presents a news against him constitutional experts say this sets a dangerous trend. is very important to know. even if. it isn't a christian maybe some sort of. meeting role of. the respect of those views of those come in with regard to the pronounced man with regard to this. although previously but i actually sat on his own case despite being implicated in it to other judges presided on sunday the hearing was adjourned until monday it's been

a stretched out his era that men do. now the first man to run a mile in under four minutes roger bannister has died and brush an aged eighty eight promise to trees amazing among those paying tribute describing battles to a sporting icon and his helmet looks back at his life. roger bannister the british record holder lined up for the final run as for the rights which ended by making history. it's rare for a sportsman to re define what the human body can achieve when roger bannister became the first man. and to run a mile in and of two minutes impossible became a myth going to have to ask our twenty five year old bannister took the lead with an amazing best of speed he went on to achieve a bad record of a mile in under five minutes so i'd have to have me travel faster yet the three minute fifty nine point four second performance on a rainy day in oxford thrust him onto the global stage in one thousand nine hundred fifty four it also became a symbol of britain's emergence from the podium in three united who was second to

find somebody else in the old x. seven time the lead it found that. he was right then the record lasted just forty six days a strongly and john landy batted it by a second and the pay would be long time rivals in august of nineteen fifty four they thank stones at the british empire and commonwealth games in vancouver in a rice that became known as the miracle mile that is two wins by far your was bannister later returned to his medical studies to become a new role in just the decades he saw those four minutes as nothing more than an interlude the delight he successful quickly but he remained a respected identity in running and would often reflect on his achievements there was this magic about. one minute each and it was just something which caught the public imagination bannister was

diagnosed with parkinson's disease in twenty eleven and ultimately was complications brought on by the neurological disorder the brought he's history making life to an end a legacy that already carried for more than six decades will continue even longer homan just zero just a reminder now that you can always keep up to date with all the news on our website that said al jazeera dot com. and again on the problem and the headlines on al-jazeera models of political uncertainty in germany a coming to an end after members of the center left social democratic party voted to join a coalition government led by chancellor angela merkel it leaves the far wider anti immigration alternative for germany party as the main opposition force. italians

are voting in parliamentary elections no single party appears on track to gain the required forty percent to form a government but populist and far right parties are likely to make gains. the syrian government says it seized more rebel territory and eastern damascus after another night of airstrikes and shelling more than six hundred forty people are said to have been killed over the past two weeks. police say three attackers tried to storm over the three checkpoints near the presidential palace early on sunday one was shot dead while the others are still on the run and on friday the french embassy and army headquarters were targeted in the capital ouagadougou a mali based al qaida affiliate claimed responsibility for those attacks that killed sixteen people. the investigation into russian interference and the election of donald trump has reportedly been widened to include the united arab emirates the new york times as an advisor to the crown prince has been questioned special

counsel robert muller wants to know whether george another was a regular visitor to the white house attempted to buy political influence the us president contradicted years of policy when he initially backed the u.a.e. and saudi led blockade against. saudi arabia's crown prince is due to land in cairo later for a three day visit to meeting gyptian president of the. it's mohamed the first official foreign trip since becoming crown prince last year. to meet with leaders in the u.s. and the u.k. . at least three people have been injured during a car ramming incident in the northern israeli city of arca israeli police are describing it as a terror attack they say an israeli palestinian attempted to run over a border policeman and uniformed officers. those are the headlines on al-jazeera do stay with us the listening post is coming up next thank you very much for watching. on counting the cost the italian

job what the next government has to do when it comes to the economy the first drop break the treaty gets a frosty reception in the u.k. plus we'll explain what five g.'s all about and if it even matters counting the cost at this time and i just. want to know what you're trying to. play. for the. china. hello i'm richard roth the listening post here are some of the stories we're following this week the rise of xi jinping and the part of the chinese news media have played.