a ceasefire seems to be holding in gaza following a day of attacks between palestinian groups and israel. launching zero zero life from a headquarters and. also heads north korea's former spy chief heads to new york ahead of a planned summit between kim jong il and donald trump. a bid to end italy's political deadlock the prime minister and president are expected to hold talks and a trucker's strike that's brought brazil to a standstill now threatens to spill into the oil sector.

helo after a day of strikes between israel and palestinian armed factions there appears to be relative calm. on tuesday is really warplanes carried out several airstrikes targeting what they call military sites across the besieged on klav islamic jihad and other factions had launched rocket and mortar attacks on israel after their fighters were killed earlier. in a separate development israel has released some palestinian protesters detained on a boat that was headed to cyprus they attempted to breach israel's naval blockade of gaza for the first time from inside the besieged enclave we'll talk about that with bernard smith and just a moment he is joining us from gaza but first what are you hearing about this cease fire and does it appear to be sticking for now. durian does appear to be sticking for now it started at four o'clock this morning local time it's now ten o'clock

local time and it's been quiet as far as i've been able to tell between since four am there was an earlier attempt to start a ceasefire at midnight that didn't hold at all and there's a lot of exchange of fire through the night between israelis reilley side and the palestinian factions on the garza side but by four am all was quiet now the background to this is far as we understand is that essentially this for a cease fire came again about because via egypt security officials a message conveyed through from israel via gyptian security officials was that if the palestinian factions in gaza do not stop israel will retaliate much much stronger in a much harder way they will start targeting the leadership of the different palestinian factions in gaza that seems to have worked now the way the groups in gaza a painting it is that they've agreed a cease fire and they've agreed that they will stop firing in the cease fire has

been agreed with israel israel is not going to admit that it reached a cease fire with any palestinian groups in gaza but whatever the way it's been worked out is and it probably is the severe israeli threat of a much tougher retaliation it has kept things quiet for the time being and just twenty four hours ago bernard you were telling us about that vessel leaving gaza trying to effectively breach that naval blockade and send a message to the world what are you hearing about the protesters on the boats. well yeah they succeeded in getting across that message that gaza is blockaded by the sea is severely in a strictly as it is blockaded by the land those people on that boat some people needing medical treatment made it as far or just about as far as the nine or tickle mile limit where israel's blockade starts about sixteen kilometers out to sea they were towed to ashdod port which is just to the north of gaza in israel most of them

. in the last sort of twenty four hours or so a bit less than that have been released i think the captain and another person is still being held by the israelis we're not sure when or if or how they'll be released but most of those people who were on that boat have been returned to gaza they did not make it to cyprus which was the destination how they managed to breach that blockade during all right burnitz move giving us the update from gaza thank you well the former u.s. national security official hellery mann leverett and leverett excuse me says the latest as clear as collation and violence may be used against them the palestinians that is by israel's close ally the u.s. . i think the palestinians have been much more effective in terms of their their case here in washington and i think particularly in european capitals when they are engaged in what seen. seem generally as nonviolent resistance but when

it goes anything further than that where there could be some sort of an attack on israeli civilians even though it still may be justified as a way to defend oneself against an illegal occupation it's the political discourse does change and i think that you see in particular on the u.s. side someone like the u.s. ambassador to the united nations nikki haley who is very politically ambitious here she is seizing on that to now have a u.n. security council meeting that will. what her hope is is to really condemn the palestinians even though just a few weeks ago they had broad sympathy i think at the united nations even here in washington and certainly in european capitals the north korean leader kim jong un's right hand man is right now on his way to the united states from beijing. chill was seen boarding a flight to new york just a few hours ago he's the vice chairman of north korea's ruling party and he is

expected to hold talks with the u.s. secretary of state mike pompei later they're expected to pave the way for a direct meeting between donald trump and kim jong il next month the u.s. state department has suggested that summit in singapore is back on. the united states continues to actively prepare for president trump's expected summit with leader kim in singapore president trump will meet with prime minister shinzo ave of japan on june the seventh at the white house and his secretary pompei a look forward to being a part of those meetings north korean vice chairman of the central committee kim yong chal is arriving in new york and will meet with secretary palm pale later this week we also have a u.s. delegation meeting with the north korean delegation in the d.m.z. thomas has more from seoul. the talks that again on sunday and continue on wednesday inside the demilitarized zone between a u.s. delegation and a north korean delegation shrouded in secrecy as you can imagine we're not getting anything from either side directly involved but an official of the president's

palace here in seoul in south korea said on wednesday that those talks all proceeding well so i thought that's the only clue we've had that so you official also said that he expects a fruitful outcome from the meeting between kim yong chill essentially kim jong un's right hand man and much pomp a.o. meeting will happen in new york later this week now separately to the u.s. north korean talks and into korean summit will be held on friday that will be between high level officials from north and south korea and essentially they'll be talking about a longer term aims and ambitions among other officials there of people from the respective transport on the railroad ministries long term they would like to reestablish rail links between the two koreas but the summits need to take place first between donald trump and kim jong il and talk of a renewed rail link will that's a long way down the track the u.s. says it will impose a twenty five percent tariff on fifty billion dollars worth of imports from china

it will also restrict investment by chinese companies in the u.s. and limit exports of high tech goods to china earlier this month the two countries agreed to look at measures to cut china's trade surplus in a move that appeared to reduce the risk of a trade war florence slowly has more from the eastern jencks to province. china says it surprised at the latest announcement coming out from the trump administration and called on the u.s. to implement a period of their most recent joint statement on china's come as ministry is of course referring to a preliminary deal reached between the two sides not too long ago in which the u.s. had agreed to delay imposition of tariffs on chinese goods in exchange for china agreeing to significantly increase purchases of u.s. farm goods and energy products. but this latest announcement from the u.s.

government is of course a reversal of that deal and it comes just days before u.s. representatives are due to arrive in beijing to continue trade talks and some analysts have said that this latest announcement by the u.s. government is intended perhaps to strengthen u.s. hands in those negotiations and to signal that gloves are coming off in those traits and other analysts have said that this perhaps is a move to appease u.s. politicians you see just last week the trump administration had made another reversal it lifted a seven year ban but it imposed just earlier in may on chinese telecoms giant corp for buying u.s. components now it lifted the ban after china complained that the band would put the company out of business this is a company that has already been fined by the u.s. for selling high tech components to north korea and iran in violation of u.s. sanctions china's reaction you can say has been quite mild if not reiterated

threats to impose retaliate carrots but they seem to have taken a sly take at trumpet ministration and its propensity to flip flop on decisions saying they're surprised by the same time the decision is somewhat expected. supporters of italy's populist five star movement have been protesting after the president vetoed its attempt to form a government with the far rights league on monday president sergio motorola appointed former i.m.f. official carlo quarterly as caretaker prime minister repeat elections may now be held as early as july that's totally fails to form a government john a whole reports. with financial markets on tenterhooks and the government to be elected technocrats being assembled supporters of the anti establishment. and. they're not prepared to stand by after their party has been formed a coalition with the far right leader was denied power on the weekend when

president. rejected one of their proposed ministers. but so far there's been no breakthrough in efforts to form a government led by matter ellis picker's prime minister designate former international monetary fund official. after meeting the president on tuesday afternoon a spokesman said. i'm simply here to inform you that prime minister designate. has updated the president on the situation will meet again tomorrow morning i'm not authorized to say. even if a technocratic government is formed it's likely a majority of m.p.'s will vote it down in parliament that would lead the country to early elections in the autumn. it is an extremely delicate situation without doubt in political terms a transformation is occurring in italian politics whatever happened sportswear

tally it will not give its confidence votes to cut. we will abstain because it's a neutral technical government itself to elections as soon as possible. analysts suggest the political mayhem blamed by figures from the league five star alliance on the e.u. power centers of brussels and berlin may well strengthen right wing anti establishment support the next election they say could be an unofficial referendum on italy's membership of the eurozone and that is a development financial markets already wary of italy's massive debt burden will not welcome jonah hill al-jazeera. still ahead on al-jazeera as greece's financial aid program nears its end workers from its energy sector are angry over more reforms and the highly rated u.s. t.v. show roseanne is cancelled after the stars a rapist

a racist twitter irate. hello and welcome to international weather forecast there remains pretty sharri across parts of central western europe i'm about i mean some really big thunderstorms so the risk is there really all the way from germany austria all the way towards the west towards the u.k. and into the iberian peninsula so a major storm is where you don't get the storms with the exception of the u.k. temperatures actually looking pretty good sunshine thirty degrees for berlin for much of the time people across more eastern areas that wind coming in flu north is going to have an impact on moscow's temperatures at least the time we get through to thursday a drop of nearly ten degrees celsius pretty woman across southern parts of europe but again the result risk of some showers particular across parts of turkey into north africa the wind coming from the north means temperatures in cairo in egypt

struck a little bit just thirty four degrees even by thursday for central parts of africa we've got some have to showers showing up across parts of south sudan and towards congo and cameroon one to two showers across parts of west africa but a good deal of dry weather likely for bamako mali there with highs of thirty four degrees for southern parts portions of the constant weather conditions generate a few fine we lose in the showers across parts of eastern south africa otherwise fine conditions expected in zambia highs of twenty six in lusaka.

hello again the top stories on al-jazeera after a day of strikes between israel and palestinian factions there appears to be relative calm in gaza on tuesday israeli warplanes carried out several air strikes targeting what they call military sites across the besieged on plates islamic jihad and hamas had launched rocket and mortar attacks on israel after their fighters were killed earlier. the north korean leader kim jong un's right hand man is on his

way to the united states from beijing kim young child was seen boarding a flight to new york his plan talks with the u.s. secretary of state are likely to pave the way for a summit between donald trump and kim jong il. supporters of italy's populist parties have been protesting after the president rejected their bid to form a government the caretaker prime minister carlo clitheroe is expected to meet the president later today to try to form a government. after a multimillion dollar four year long operation the current search for the missing passenger plane m h three seventy officially has been called off a private u.s. firm was there late last seem to look for the malaysian airlines plane but its mission wrapped up on tuesday the aircraft disappeared and twenty fourteen with two hundred thirty nine people on board the malaysian prime minister says the search could resume if new evidence is found. we had then

a very big. search for them all over the world. and we have not found any evidence yet so we had to come to a stage where we can keep on the city put something that we really cannot find. even when he has any information. really to consider the review. but at the moment. we have we have to put a stop to that. live to the big apology joining us from kuala lumpur so is this really the end of year for no. that is a good question daryn mainly because the search between australia china and malaysian investigators had been called off again in a similar fashion a year ago and the malaysian government was pressured by the families of those on board to restart the search again twelve months later and this time then gauged us

exploration company was using some of the most high tech equipment and methods there was to scar one hundred twenty thousand kilometers now the malaysian government has said that they are still waiting for the details of the findings and as promised to reveal everything to the public whatever it is given in the reports but the government this government is a brand new government they've just come in to play a few weeks ago and they've come in to a situation where the country is an enormous amount of debt and so they have been calling or speaking about budgetary constraints and they've been trying to tighten the budget and spending of the countries so this is part of the reason why they would seriously consider ending the search altogether even in the future but it is worth noting that they deal with that exploration company was a no find new field deal which meant the malaysian government wouldn't have to pay up and this point it would have been seventy million dollars unless the company

found the black box or the plane it's also worth noting that so far in so many years of search only three confirmed pieces of the plane have been found and most of them off the western coast of the indian ocean. if you're thank you for that update union leaders in greece fear hundreds of jobs could be lost when the country's biggest public electricity companies sell some of its power stations m.p.'s have already approved the sale which is a condition of greece receiving its third bailout from international lenders in august john psaropoulos reports in the city of mega luckily. make a locally introduced electricity to southern greece in one nine hundred seventy the public power corporation p.p.c. invested hundreds of millions of dollars in a power plant based on exclusive access to cheap lignite coal but that is about to change greece's eurozone partners and creditors have ordered the corporation to share access to this abundant fuel in the name of competition the p.p.c.

is being forced to sell three power stations and the lignite mines that feed them union leaders fear that will put eleven hundred jobs at risk in this town alone the little guy got them available so they're getting the whole idea this power station called to be did great a to create his energy security for half a century now we're expected to sell it to a private here in the blink of an eye they're coming in to buy ready built plants and mines that's not development development is building new plants hiring people creating jobs this is a sellout there's enough coal here to run the past ation for another fifteen years that would see most of the present workforce safely into retirement but under privatisation their jobs are guaranteed for only six years so they're looking at the prospect of unemployment in middle age but they are partly the victims of their own success the p.p.c. union has fought liberalization for two decades the public power corporation built the electricity market and its infrastructure from nothing over the past century

making money wasn't the point investment in the economy it was the goal but under europe's free market rules it must now divest itself of its titanic monopoly it has sold its transmission network is privatizing three profitable power stations and by the end of next year must lose half its client base high carbon dioxide emissions risk putting lignite coal out of action altogether last year this plant paid thirteen and a half million dollars in emissions fines and their costs have since nearly tripled energy experts say the real value of the sale is not in the existing operation but the thousands of. factors of land and the operating license that come with it so we may well see in a situation where no one or you all know or come seen operate that ignite power plant a few years and then decides to dismantle the lignite. parts of the operation and substituted with a gas power plant or

a fourth hole take one that's not a transition workers here support renewable energy requires little labor and if this land is given over to a different use it likely won't require the skills jumps at all plus al-jazeera make a locally a prominent russian journalist has been shot and killed at his apartment in the ukrainian capital. chiang co was a well known critic of president vladimir putin policing kev say the forty one year old could have been targeted because of his job were a challenge was more from moscow. ukrainian police say that our caddie bob janko was found bleeding in his apartment by his wife he received several gunshot wounds and died on his way to the hospital ukrainian politicians says the gunman had been waiting in the stairwell of the building and shot but janko as he came back from a trip to the grocery store now this man was a journalist rights an activist he was self exiled

from his home country russia he'd served in the chechen wars in the ninety's and early two thousand and that experience had made him both very anti war and also anti putin in the protest movement of two thousand and eleven two thousand and twelve he had tried to organize forceful resistance against the putin government but it was an online post in two thousand and sixteen that triggered his flight from russia he had basically said the. military plane crash in syria in which a russian. military choir die and various russian journalists as well he said that left him in difference because he disagreed with the military campaign that russia was involved in in syria that was the start of a of

a russian media campaign against him and he felt that his life was in danger that's why he fled first to prague and then to kiev but it seems that that wasn't enough to keep him safe that the russian government has warnings of year already regarding this the foreign ministry is saying that it expects that kiev conducts a quick and transparent investigation that it wants international organization to take over that investigation as well the presidential human. rights council here in russia says that this is a very provocative killing and the state duma the lower house of parliament announced that this merger proves that ukraine is the most dangerous country for journalists the opera house says that kiev will likely use bob jenkins death for its own political game so russia being fast in guessing its messaging out there i think it knows that the spotlight is going to be pointing at moscow as

a possible source of this hit as truck drivers enter the second week of a nationwide strike over soaring fuel prices in brazil or oil workers are now threatening to join them president michel to marry said he was preparing a lawsuit to stop the planned strikes by workers and unions that has paralyzed latin america's largest economy in the reports from sao paulo. fuel supplies are now reaching the gas stations for the return to the normality most people crave is still some way off public transport services were reduced schools closed and domestic flights cancelled. even though there is a custom to three rubbish collections a week. but she still waiting for. the other lima like thousands of others spent five hours in line only for the pump to run dry just as he reached it he hasn't worked since last friday but supports the truck drivers

since he believes high fuel prices hurt everyone so what are the possible but if i leave now and look for another gas station i will end up running dry in the middle of the street i have enough to get home but i would rather wait here to see if another truck arrives with fuel. this wholesale market in sao paolo on monday we see just ten percent of its normal deliveries that is my employees went on vacations it's just my son and i coming here now to wait for the end of the strike there's nothing else we can do. the truck drivers road blocks last week stopped twenty nine million tonnes of fruit and vegetables from reaching markets. the truce is both temporary and fragile the negotiations are continuing however nobody wants to see this kind of an activity they say the commodity is returning over it'll be some days before these warehouses are again filled up and this street is teeming

with trucks unloading fruit and vegetables. many brazilians are taking action to avoid what they see is inevitable future petrol shortages by switching their vehicles to compressed natural gas cleaner cheaper of most importantly available the soldiers will feel the despair with full until the end of june were full capacity here we needed to extend our working hours to convert around twenty cars daily. while the government has reduced the price of diesel to sixty days tens of thousands of trucks remain by the roadside the drivers say the offer is not enough and while many agree with them because it is bracing itself for more difficulties ahead. a television show applauded for its portrayal of middle america was abruptly canceled just hours after its star posted offensive tweets actress roseanne barr is

a supporter of president donald trump but expressing her regret for racist comments wasn't enough to save her job kristen salumi has more. it was hailed as a show for the times roseanne portrayed a working class white american family the kind that tended to vote for donald trump in the last election and touched on some of the tough political and social issues that currently divide americans what's up deplorable. i. but the a.b.c. network owned by the media giant disney pulled the plug on it just hours after its controversial star roseanne barr tweeted about a former official who served under president obama. she described valerie jarrett who is african-american as if the muslim brotherhood and planet of the apes had a baby with the woman targeted by bars said it was for americans yet another lesson about racism in the united states i think we have to turn it into

a teaching moment i'm fine i'm worried about all the people out there who don't have a circle of friends and followers who come right to their defense bar who had also compared us un ambassador susan rice to an ape in two thousand and thirteen apologized saying i am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks i should have known better forgive me my joke was in bad taste well that is startling news costar and producer sarah gilbert said her comments do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show but it was the president of a.b.c. channing dungey herself an african-american who had the final word on the fate of the show roseanne's twitter statement is a borat repugnant and inconsistent with our values she said and we have decided to cancel her show it shows people stand prince different opinions on how they resolve that bar has described herself as a trump supporter and the president had called to congratulate her after the

premiere of the show did use she rose in ratings or should walk out bigger than they were unbelievable over eighteen million people and it was about us on this latest controversy however he has so far remained silent kristen salumi al jazeera . well again the headlines on al-jazeera after a day of strikes between israel and palestinian armed factions there appears to be relative calm in gaza on shoes they israeli warplanes carried out several airstrikes targeting what they call military sites across the receipts enclave. islamic jihad and hamas had launched rocket and mortar attacks on israel after their fighters were killed earlier meanwhile the palestinian president mahmoud from cues in israel escalating tensions and is calling for peace and.

difficult days have on the west bank drucilla and especially on the gaza strip these really a cube ational launched today a fierce aggression on the gaza strip with rockets and aircraft this indicates that does not want peace however we want peace and we demand peace. the north korean leader kim jong. un is on his way to the united states from beijing was seen boarding a flight to new york his plan talks with the u.s. secretary of state are likely to pave the way for a summit between donald trump and. its lease caretaker prime minister carlo. is meeting with the president. to try and form a government supporters of italy's populist parties have been protesting. rejected their previous bid to form a government after a multimillion dollar four year long operation the search for the missing passenger

plane m h three seventy has officially been called off the malaysian government is not extending the search but the prime minister says it could resume only if new evidence is found a private u.s. forum was the team to look for the malaysian airlines plane but its mission wrapped up on tuesday the aircraft disappeared without a trace in twenty fourteen with two hundred thirty nine people on board a prominent russian journalist has been shot and killed at his apartment in the ukrainian capital. was a well known critic of president vladimir putin police in kiev say the forty one year old could have been targeted because of his job those are the headlines on al-jazeera inside story is coming up next. getting to the heart of the matter if mostafa can gee the turkish cypriot leader calls you today and says let's have talks would you accept facing realities what do you think reunification of look like there are two people think the peaceful unification is the only option for

prosperity of south korea hear their story on talk to al-jazeera. libya's rival leaders agree to hold elections in december the decision came at a conference in paris organized by the french president so will libya's years long crisis and what does france have to offer this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program. it was a meeting held in paris in the hopes of a breakthrough for the political crisis in libya and late on tuesday french president emmanuelle back for announced that rival libyan leaders had agreed to hold elections in december libya has seen years of violence and instability.