promoting and fueling violence and discrimination but perhaps the most significant thing is that he said that he would now consider taking action to make and zionism part of anti semitism legislation we don't know exactly what form or shape that will take or when it will take place but of course the zionist movement was the political movement that established israel israel as the homeland for jews in palestine now this is a very controversial measure it's been proposed by some of the m.p.'s in his own party before but he turned his back on it so this is a significant development to include anti zionism in the legislation against anti semitism the two main challengers to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu have joined forces for april's election the centrist candidates benny gantz lapid will run together and the new alliance expected to shake up the ruling party's

campaign but a smith has more from western lucilla. israel's general election in april looked like being a foregone conclusion with another victory for benjamin netanyahu good party but all that changed on thursday morning when two centrist parties one of them led by any gansa former israeli military chief of staff these two parties joined forces to present a bloc against netanyahu is party and this bloc according to the latest polls or get around thirty four seats at most in the hundred twenty seat knesset netanyahu as party will get most thirty seats so in response to this too far right wing parties have merged and i've said they will serve in a netanyahu government after the elections and they will be given as a reward the education and housing ministries and two seats in the cabinet and this matters because what is already widely seen as a one of the most right wing governments israel has ever had could become even more

right wing one of these parties that has merged of the inheritors of robert a mere kahana he was bound thirty years ago from standing for election because of his anti arab racism and these two parties are also a strong settler bloc several prominent opposition members have been arrested in sudan as protests against the government gather steam workers the northern port in a telecommunications company have now joined the demonstrations there angry over the continuing detention of some eight hundred people despite an announcement of their release have been calls for president bashir to step down the protests started after the government cut bread and fuel subsidies last december. now it's the battle for the young vote in nigeria two men in their seventy's are contesting the presidential election on saturday in which half the registration the registered voters are below the age of thirty five. nigeria's young new voters say they are the change their country needs they want to see more young

nigerians in politics but admit that it's not easy in a country why running for office is expensive. but they know what they want from those they would be voting for the want of. representing the people and that it is trustworthy that the one that will help in the nope in the education think tribal conflict time and not mind it. being able to vote for the first time in their lives is proving popular this time around a little and very excited i was very amused when i just do and really suffered. younger jurors make up the biggest voter bloc this election. in key battleground states that politicians are concentrating on in the final days of campaigning with almost five and a half million registered voters most of whom are under the age of thirty five years around australia is second only to lagos in the number of nigerians eligible

to cast their ballots wherever winston's two states would probably be in a better position to take the presidency that's why the leading candidates are focusing their energies and resources here. since the last elections in twenty fifteen appeal has been introduced lowered the age restriction on candidates wanting to run for public office from thirty to twenty five. sally satel barak is taking up the opportunity but admits it's tough fighting established parties and candidates those the end voters court the old order it's very difficult for a young person like me to contest what is very important for the ship because i know how about i believe god is the right time for me to lend is very flexible adda . comprehension for to put people like sally some of the politics say the number of young people standing in this election is disappointing when it comes to their initial quests we have dropped in them on the battle of the first ledge of

a huge and i said you had to capture the kind of force the financial expenses of our contestant so. we have. i can say there's never been known but you know it's exactly what we expect. the majority of young nigerians are social media enthusiastic and many are well aware how the politicians target them with messages on various platforms so you. probably know since reagan was. asked. how big that influence this may become clearer after saturday's vote. on the decrease i'll just come to nigeria our time for a check on the weather now everton's here with news of a wintry blast across the u.s. yes right there and despite what punxsutawney phil told us on groundhog day there's still no sign that early spring take

a look at the cloud on the satellite picture there's loads of it and that says a lot of snow has been making its way from west to waste much of north america has seen good covering a snow recently even today say you can see we had plenty of snow around here that northeastern quarter in particular up towards the midwest was particularly badly affected and we had over two thousand four hundred flights canceled as a result of this latest snow fall even i was also western side of the country this is the biggest city snowing here there you go we saw a good deal of snow here as well last little covering about you wouldn't bet on that happening we have got more snow coming in over the next couple of days this is the remainder of thursday down towards that southeast and cold of the desert southwest of course and that's going to make its way further east where it's slowly but surely it doesn't push too quickly but it makes its way across arizona easing up towards colorado more snow across the northern plains then we got this area a very wet weather down towards the southeast and cold mississippi seen some flooding rains recently and that wet weather pushes up towards kentucky towards

tennis say more heavy downpours here as we go on through the next couple of days and she can see down this mostly spilling out of the rockies into the plains. a ton of money but up close more still to come here on al-jazeera including twenty five years and some shooting in the west bank we report on how the consequences are still unfolding. poking fun of politicians but will voters in some a goal when they elect a new leader. for the west indies cricket who's just themselves into the record books are in that stay with us. at the time it was the worst environmental disaster in brazil's history but it was also a tragic for taste of what was to follow. people in power investigates claims of warnings ignored. and the disturbing toys between lawmakers and the mining industry

that led to catastrophe on trial for dozens and dozens of corruption charges brazil river of mud on a. examining the headlines setting the discussions a warning from air bus over the risks of a no deal breaker sharing class and all stories with a global audience you have your own intelligence network on the ground to tell you where to go and we'll go explore an abundance of well class programming designed to inform monckton fate and inspire presuming people are truly afraid the world is watching on al-jazeera.

welcome back a quick reminder the top stories here on al-jazeera there are of course there will be no further evacuation of civilians from. syria on thursday several truckloads of people have left the village of backrooms in the east over the past two days the battle to wipe out the group is taking place in the area. at least seventy people have been killed in a large fire that ripped through several buildings in the bangladeshi capital dhaka the blaze broke out in a residential complex which also house the chemical where. and the head of the roman catholic church says the religious body needs to heal the wounds left by decades of sexual abuse by priests pope francis spoke at a meeting of bishops to address the scandal and call for concrete effective measures. army commanders in afghanistan say they're confident a spring offensive will help in taking back large areas of territory from the

taliban twenty one districts have fallen to the armed group in recent months fighting has resulted in the army's highest ever losses while its strength has fallen to its lowest level in years tell me about the reports now from kabul. this remote afghan army outpost is one of thousands nationwide often isolated and in inhospitable areas they are the first line of defense against taliban and i saw fighters as well as the most vulnerable. the grays of fallen soldiers since the u.s. pulled out its ground forces three years ago the afghan has borne the brunt of the fighting with the taliban and the casualties inflicting ever greater casualties and forces the number of casualties or dozens every day people have lost. the meaning of body counting we have become indifferent officially the government says forty five thousand members of the security services have been killed since two thousand and fifteen and officially afghan analysts say that number could

easily be doubled the overall army strength has dropped to its lowest level in years as the military confronts his biggest ever crisis but army chiefs maintain that morale remains good. we have a volunteer army it's their own choice to serve is no doubt that we suffer lots. of disabled but our morale is high because the goal is freedom and to serve the people of afghanistan and. in the past few months the military has lost control of more than twenty areas to taliban fighters who seem able to strike anywhere. in total we have lost twenty one districts in all over afghanistan it is because of the change in tactics on the ground so we are planning a spring offensive where it will take two to three months to retake all these districts from the taliban but real reimposed the rule of law. eight thousand recruits every year pass out of this training center in the capital kabul most of

them are trained by afghan instructors taught by western military experts who despite the high casualty rate young men are still volunteering to fight this partly out of a sense of past duty but it's also because of the dire economic situation here they face the stark choice either stay at home and enjoy your poverty or face the taliban and risk death or injury and that from the e.s.m. it's my duty to fight for my country to win our freedom i'm not afraid of the taliban for the magazine other stuff i hadn't gone to the army i had nothing else planned professional soldiers say ideally training should last a minimum of a year in afghanistan it's three months that. we would like more time but we make the most of what time we do have and when. leave here they are able to fight the taliban. but the question is how able are they to fight effectively army pay is low the conditions poor and since the american ground forces left backup is limited

recruits are taught to shoot but equally importantly they are taught emergency battlefront first aid increasingly important because of the shortage of medivac helicopters. was a bomb disposal experts for seven years until an explosion blew off both his legs he's one of a growing number of disabled war veterans discharged from the military and wanted to move. i have no regret i'm proud that i have contributed to the fans of michael and my second five was in pursuit of peace my people and my country but there is little help for heroes in afghanistan the father of four receives a meager disability pension of two hundred seventy dollars a year but he hasn't received any money for eight months and he can't afford further medical treatment the afghan military has come a long way in the last eighteen years but is it far enough and if and when the u.s.

forces finally withdraw completely will the afghans be able to stand alone tony berkeley al jazeera kabul now the taliban negotiation team will hold its next round of talks on monday it will meet with washington's peace envoy zalmay khalilzad here in qatar feels that a former ambassador to afghanistan hours already had extensive talks with the taliban in cattle's capital doha last month the group has an office here of the taliban are still refusing to meet with representatives of the afghan government will have be more doc is a security analyst he says of his draw of u.s. troops from afghanistan could bring into question the very survival of the afghan government. president lani over the past few months has been claiming that he has a plan and he has a strategy for the african peace process and the whole plan is making sure that there is some sort of perspective believed to be for the african government and for the african people in it and the plan also and the gains that we have had over the

past eighteen years are not lost but we heard again two to three weeks ago that he has called for a ground council a consultative council we call it the ground. where he is going to call and the people of understand the elders of these callers woman and consult him about the peace process which contradicts his previous stand they have agreed in principle that the taliban would sort of would draw support to al qaeda and the likes of al-qaeda and the us would withdraw. this has frustrated the afghan government because end of the day when when you eliminate the international military support to the african army it face all sorts of problems and therefore decided by will of the afghan government will come under question no matter how much the afghan government claims and brags that the keeper but there's a lot of flaws in the afghan government is facing all sort of challenges so to be very difficult for the afghan government in the survival we have elections within

the next four months what happens to the elections when we have more than fifty percent of the districts out of the control of taliban or i did sort of contested so it's not a very very uncomfortable position for the afghan government altogether palestinians are preparing to mark the twenty fifth anniversary of a massacre in hebron with demonstrations on friday twenty nine palestinians were killed when an american israeli settler opened fire inside a mosque on the twenty fifth of february one thousand nine hundred four on a sorry force that reports from the occupied west bank the consequences of that mushy thing still being felt. even from a hillside overlooking her bronze old city it's clear that this is an ancient place rich in human heritage but also visible fault lines of human conflict according to the traditions of the abrahamic faiths judaism christianity and islam abraham himself along with his wife his sons and their wives are buried in the caves above which the bahraini mosque now stands since israel occupied the west bank in one

thousand nine hundred sixty seven jews and muslims have prayed here separately divided over the past twenty five years the division has deepened and the muslim side the call to prayer requires an israeli soldier to unlock a door israeli army cameras survey the interior the mosques in mom says more than half of what he describes as an exclusively muslim site has been cut off. totally reject the division which isn't meant for protection the real protection comes from the fact that this is an old islamic mosque and the settlers to live. on the twenty fifth of february one thousand nine hundred four an american israeli far right settler baruch goldstein into the mosque during prayers and started shooting he killed twenty nine worshipers and wounded nearly two hundred he himself was chased down and beaten to death the violence the stain on least here may have been over in a matter of minutes but its consequences still deeply felt this was a seismic event in the history of this town and from the epicenter here the

fissures of that politically psychologically physically have spread out throughout hebron the immediate military lockdown forcing the palestinian market to close amid other restrictions was followed by the hebron agreement of one thousand nine hundred seventy eighty percent of the city is known as h one mostly the urban sprawl of the west bank's main economic center and of the palestinian authority the remaining twenty percent home to several hundred israeli settlers and forty thousand palestinians became h two under israeli military control the illegal settlements have swollen attracting some of the most right wing settlers in the occupied west bank some eight hundred and are registered as living here the crisscross intimate nature of the division heightens the friction had run is often a flashpoint of violence jews here remember an early a massacre in one thousand twenty nine when sixty seven people were killed the small jewish community forced from the city. kamin what's happening now is a religious and historical homecoming under the protection of the israeli army

they're just doing their job to try to keep the tension. down because without them it would probably be much more tense so there we see that we see them of the positive presence a few meters away a very different perspective run the gate has seen her home and her freedoms at a more constricted for the last two years by reinforced fence and a gate that soldiers can look at any time we used to come and go now they have as a sort of consulting lingus we say prisoners are in prison but we did a larger one twenty five years on from one of the deadliest days.