between india and pakistan tension remains high between the two countries were fighting resuming just hours after pakistan released an indian pilot in a gesture of peace the pilot was captured on wednesday when his jet was shot down he has now returned home to jubilation so help raman reports from new delhi. with the beers missing military pilot is back home and people are celebrating on the streets. the man's fighter jet crashed in pakistan administered kashmir on wednesday after being shot at by pakistan's force pakistan's prime minister it brunt card ordered his release as a goodwill gesture which was welcomed by new delhi it's the only story and turn around yet the government's message is clear pakistan is not off the hook. in the past twenty four hours there's been ongoing shelagh in the kashmir region indian administers kashmir officials claim three members of one family were reported to be killed in the area. at six in the evening pakistan started firing and shelling the

shelling was going on for about three hours one of the shell fired by pakistan hit a house in which three members of a family were killed including two innocent children. fifty kilometers away and three civilians were due to temporary accommodation after coming out to heavy shelling from pakistan's forces the suicide bombing that killed more than forty paramilitaries last month prompted the latest escalation of violence in the disputed kashmir territory it's one of the worst attacks a decades and group operating from inside pakistan claimed responsibility india's foreign minister speaking at the organization of islamic conference in abu dhabi as its guest of honor was clear about her country's approach to terror groups they have to go. because this newspaper editors says the government is keen to play a bigger role of the international stage they want to be of the process of decision making in the muslim world because if you are there on the idea well then

you go and influence things and also there. will be. somehow sidelined by. somehow as you are going to a leading role in the muslim world india is heading towards a general election in twenty fourteen the issue of relations with pakistan was not high on the election campaign agenda with weeks to go just before that date is announced politicians are trying to work out how to internationally isolate pakistan while domestically build consensus that will help them with the election so whole raman al jazeera delhi. and as we talk about that election prime minister modi is calling for indians to unite and he's challenging those who question his leadership amid the current crisis. these are those people who listen to statements from pakistani generals pakistan radio and saying there is evidence

against india they are against me against modi and now they are damaging the country india and tuning against the country i want to ask the people who do you believe us or not or do you believe those people who are sending to arrest and to country. here's what's coming up for you on this news hour a united front is afghan women demand their rights are protected this while the u.s. and the taliban meet here in qatar what's stopping thousands of people from returning home in northern iraq years after the defeat of ice. and the national basketball association the n.b.a. season scoring three decades has those details in sport. algeria's president is sacked an unpopular campaign chief and named

a replacement but he's not going to pressure. to not stand for a fifth term abilities but the flick his reelection bid has triggered the largest protests in algeria in decades a rare show of dissent which is engulfed thirty cities difficult came to power in one thousand nine hundred nine following a decade long civil war but as rarely been seen in public since he suffered a stroke and twenty thirteen even so the eighty two your president still commands the backing of several political parties the trade unions business groups and importantly the military but the protests signal a wider impatience with the status quo in the oil rich country many of the protesters are young motivated to change what they see as deep rooted corruption among the ruling elite on our shores the founding director of the security studies program at the doha institute for graduate studies and a specialist on algeria he told us the president is supported by three main figures . with a has been in the same condition since april twenty third since the first stroke

so and after april you saw some of the major major changes in algerian politics while he was having the stroke you had the head of the intelligence head of the d.r.s. general mohammad midian who basically ruled over the past for twenty five years or through six presidents and twelve prime ministers he was sacked during beautifully kustok and then many of his generals were also removed from their positions so there was an undermining at the structuring of the security services to a certain degree now the beautifully and in his you know weakest weakest stages supported by many three figures the chief of the chief of staff meeting to the head of the army deputy defense minister head of the intelligence which he appointed over three intelligence agencies and the and his brother basically was the businessman was the money so these figures are his are his main. then

those let's call them but also there are many generals who since twenty to solve them for all the words who have left the service and who will try to capitalize on what's happening now in an attempt to fill the vacuum so far the democratic opposition the lot i don't see a strategy for them there's no centralization there's no clear leadership all what they're doing is me more or less demanding demanding the army to stand by them demanding the head of the army to to stand by that but no clear strategy on how to capitalize on this and here is what is the main weakness of this of this movement of the movement high level talks between the u.s. and the taliban are continuing here and the u.s. envoy. said an earlier round ended with unprecedented progress to end the seventeen you or the taliban the refusing to directly negotiate with the afghan government

and wants foreign forces to withdraw its delegation is led by the co-founder of the group. therefore has wrapped up here in doha without any specific agreement being reached between the taliban and the u.s. but the taliban spokesperson is optimistic that they're on the right path he said that they have made progress but they haven't finalized any kind of agreements and of course at stake here is the future of over thirty five million people in afghanistan something the taliban wants to make sure that they are involved in their future and their governments that is now the issue here is the idea of u.s. withdrawals there is a u.s. troop withdrawal that is there's over fourteen thousand u.s. troops in afghanistan and the taliban wants them to leave their country the other main issue is the taliban does not recognize the current government in office ashraf ghani as legitimate they are not negotiating with him they're not being

represented here and that is something the americans hope. they can work on to bring the two sides together to have a dialogue that will discuss the future of their country with all parties involved . thousands of women have met in provinces across afghanistan meanwhile to ensure a fair rights are protected during these negotiations and they have voiced their demands at a conference in kabul. afghan woman a refusing to be left behind in political negotiations they say they want to present a unified front as the taliban in the united states hold talks to end seventeen years of who today there are four women behind them a fifteen thousand other they spoke after the largest ever national women's jirga council as the taliban met with the u.s. and or ha this was a parallel meeting except men were replaced by woman home i did everyone came to

say their perspective it was a proud moment for me among these women we cannot travel to other provinces because of security but this allowed us to be united the national women's jirga was the result of a grassroots movement that began in kabul in august and spirit to all of afghanistan's thirty four provinces influential women from each province late the meetings the format included a question and answer session where they discussed women's legal and constitutional rights their role in islam and afghan culture then each province wrote a statement of their demands for peace these declarations blind what they want and will fight for should the u.s. and taliban agree to a deal a scene a sufi is the acting minister of information and culture the government backs the woman's jirga but she denied they were all president danny supporters they were not all government to they were all women who believed in who have analyzed their involvement from different social economic

political and nonpolitical government non-government civil society addresses where they would. see that we have federal there is concern the taliban could roll back hard for women's rights but many women say it's conservative afghan values that they're rallying against and need protection from the provincial meetings will hold . in secret to protect women from any backlash the woman's jurga highly guarded be set us on that most people are not among the taliban but they are like taliban just suited ties we can understand from their words that we are in danger they have the old conservative mentality that it's a threat for us and we feel they may try to kill us president danny is organizing a lawyer jirga in mid march with four thousand people men and women it's a national council to discuss their priorities in future negotiations these women will be there to determine that their voices are not forgotten shiela ballasts.

there are human rights activist for afghan women who is concerned the taliban will seek to reverse the progress made to women's rights in afghanistan. first of all the guess that we have had for the past years are very fragile that we still need a very long way to go and secondly the taliban have continued to attack woman issues for the past fifteen years when they were at po-r. but also and that must tell meeting we saw their statement that they were the statement itself short that they are they will be limiting that i it's of limited once again they have their own definition of what woman can do look based that i understand and of slotnick values and not make rights of law men so this is that it concerning and it's it's also very concerning because they're not talking to women

about the rights they're talking to men to add their men we're not a part of these discussions we're not a part of these think of negotiations so. it's all that escape advice and during that time of the moment i'm not able to get an education or not women are not even able to leave their homes without me company all of these things have changed tremendously for women women are more active in politics they're more present in the social life they have more access to education that the situation is not a deity's that have a long way to go but we are in a place where we can hope for better begin to continue working for bet and if the taliban are an integrated and they come back we are worried that there's this opportunity that is given to us to build on it will also be taken that way and we will go back to see it on any platform any opportunity that is available for moment to laze their voices and to make themselves heard to be included in this peace

process is a good thing it can it can create a positive impact that can raise our voices it's a it can make our voices heard. hundreds of people are believed to be stranded by flash flooding in southern afghanistan but heavy rain hit kandahar city and six districts on friday at least twenty people have died as the u.n. says two thousand homes were engulfed in water some families been taken to secure areas but up to five hundred people are thought to be stranded. now the syrian democratic forces say they're closing in on the last remaining eisel fighters in the village of backhoes and while the group may soon suffer a territorial to fade analysts say it's still premature to declare victory and chapelle ripples. exhausted hungry and sick thousands of women and children have fled there is a war in southeastern syria in the last week ahead of a u.s. backed assault on the last piece of ice will so-called caliphate the town of.

the mainly kurdish fighters of the syrian democratic forces the s.d.f. say only those they call terrorists remain there now as fifteen thousand troops advance on the town and incendiary munitions rained down from the sky. we do not know what the clashes will lead to but the military operation will continue to eliminate terrorists inside if we notice any civilians we will try to avoid them and evacuate them during the ongoing military operation as the s.d.f. advance on five fronts they face more than a thousand hardened fighters difficult terrain suicide bombers mines and a large tunnel network but even once bugaboos falls and i still suffer is what some are calling a final territorial defeat the group and its members will remain a serious threat this is not that and all of this at all and we have seen how. this kind of similar terrorist group autumn now thriving in africa

and i won't be surprised if these same groups when taught to get. video they would have managed to operate. inside you would order the united states of america because all the grudges and. political crisis that open that led to the emergence of this group. there are. all the battle for is expected to end soon and commanders will declare the group defeated no one really knows for sure what happens after that and you should tell al-jazeera. well grab a break when we come back an insert jock looking at how far the french government's going to get its message across. manchester city's algerian star gives them an edge in the premier league title race the details coming up in sports.

and i know that the weather is all very mobile across parts of north america at the moment see the cloud there working its way into the western parts and we have seen some flooding recently here so we don't really need any more rain but that rain is coming anyway and it's working its way eastwards and as it does so it's going to ping up as we head through sunday so we'll see it pushing its way down towards the southern states bringing heavy rain here and a fair amount of snow on its back edge as well and then that system will sweeps its way eastwards as we head into monday and it will turn a good deal cooler behind it atlanta or at best getting to ten degrees on monday and fourth in dallas will only be getting to three really quite cold for many of us here as we head through the next couple of days a bit further towards the south and there's generally a lot of fine fettle the weather to be found across many of us in the central

americas currently a few showers perhaps dotted about one or two perhaps there in the film in parts of cuba but i think most of us will get away with a draw a day a bit further towards the south there and there are plenty more showers here for many of us across brazil is looking incredibly wet currently and that system stretches all the way down towards rio rio is looking pretty soggy and as we head through monday that system doesn't really move anywhere in a great hurry it'll stay rather sherry here asuncion will be hot will be up at thirty eight degrees. it does look more and more like bangladesh is becoming a one party state give me one good reason why the opposition should have been voted to power isn't the problem the human rights watch describes how opposition members have been arrested or killed and even disappear maybe have some goes head to head with a gal here is free to fuck you too you want to do it develope they don't is disputing

the economic revolution well i don't recall saying this is a battle development is not the same as democracy head to head on al-jazeera. and hundred forty twelve on the. us and british companies have announced the biggest discovery of natural gas in west africa but what to do with these untapped natural resources is already a source of heated debate nothing much has changed they still spend most of their days looking forward to for the dry riverbed tonight case one five years on the syrians still feel battered or even those who managed to escape their country have been truly unable to escape the war.

this is the news from al-jazeera top stories donald trump has been speaking to the very people who got him elected the largest annual gathering of conservatives in the united states the president attacked democrats over their plan to tackle climate change to use profanity to their attempts to look into his personal finances. have been funerals for victims of the. kashmir region at least seven people were killed in cross border shelling between india pakistan. and algeria's president. has sacked popular campaign chief and named a replacement but no sign of him standing down despite tens of thousands of protesters calling for him to resign or at least not run in the next election the defeat of iceland the northern iraqi town of twenty fifteen left a power vacuum areas rife with competing groups vying for control that is preventing thousands of people from the minority community who fled from returning

home charles stratford has our report now from iraq. there's a piece of fears eisel either killed his wife or like many young women sold into slavery she disappeared in two thousand and fourteen when along with tens of thousands of other families from iraq's minority easy community they try to flee the eisel offensive on sin jobs i saw was defeated in sin jar in nov twenty fifth dean now mirrors his children and sick father are among a few years e.d.'s who have returned. with some of their eyes and i saw ruled over everything they sabotaged the lads and killed our relatives and neighbors what i saw was kicked out they left nothing behind we still don't have much left to eat or to drink. it's estimated around seventy percent of sin job was destroyed in the battle against isis but it's not just the delay in reconstruction that's preventing

people from returning to their homes. there are various military forces and armed groups in the area but according to commanders little cooperation between. what remains of the town of singe are is in that direction behind the tile and you have a p.k. k. forces in control of that area to my left over those mountains there is the iraqi army and pro iran all groups known as hotshot a shabby i'm standing on a peshmerga position one of the main reasons why thousands of people cannot go back to singe are to try and restart their lives because of the lack of coordination between the various armed forces operating in this area. the u.s. either you in turkey consider the kurdish p k k to be a terrorist organization it's been fighting for an independent kurdish state for more than thirty years. and there's been tension between the iraqi federal

government and the semi autonomous kurdish regional government of northern iraq over disputed territories for decades. the various forces in and outside zinjibar aren't reaching consensus to better administer the town's political and security situation people are not returning to their homes because there's no long term solution being implemented by the authorities around two hundred thousand years edis have little choice but to live in poli equipped camps in the kurdish regional iraq who obama want this situation singe out is critical the political bickering and security tension among the various forces is overshadowing on the town's future the only solution to move forward is to pull all these forces out and let the people of the town decide their fate these e.d.'s often called iraq's forgotten people after suffering some of the worst atrocities

on the eisel political violence and distrust means they are now also struggling to rebuild their lives. must more northern iraq more than fifty people are missing after an oil pipeline exploded in southern nigeria the blast caused a stampede and resulted in a huge spillage near member on the niger delta it's not clear if the pipeline which carries crude oil to the nearest export terminal has actually been shut down ecuador is the latest stop for venezuela's opposition leader as he tries to gather support to topple nicolas maduro won got those talks with president lenny moreno follow similar visits to colombia brazil and argentina. plans to return home in a few days despite threats of being arrested for violating a court order which ordered him not to leave the european union has urged venezuela's government not to do so saying it would only risk escalating the crisis

yellow vest protesters are keeping up their demands for the french president emmanuel mccrone to quit that much for a sixteenth weekend in a row the protests began over a proposal to increase fuel taxes which is since been scrapped but the movement's grown into anti government rallies all support for the rallies has tailed off as the president tries to engage people in a national conversation called the great debate the goal is to gather ideas for a more inclusive government as david schaper reports now from the city of he is gaining support from one of the toughest crowds. when the gate closes behind you at number twenty three boulevard robert spear in rants you might lose your freedom but you don't lose your vote the champagne city's only prison is the latest venue for president macaroons attempt to outflank d.l. a vest rebellion and listen to the voice of the people we can't identify the

inmates but we can bring you their opinions simonis things we love as demonstrations were beneficial as a guise of not a political party but to people the french regarded as the differences it was a good movement as it actually triggered his debate a debate that was needed a new national. a thirty one year old m.p. from the president's party was the heart of the debate with the prisoners she passionately rejected their cynicism about politicians and they want to be i think we are living an excellent democratic exercise as of today we have received more than a million contributions to this debate and that is a success it was time to give back the word to the french people that you do see the big debate is meant to reach every now and every level of society even here behind bars and it is beginning to work present emmanuel mackerels ratings are beginning to climb once again. the same can't be said for the conditions in french

prisons say have one of europe's highest rates of overcrowding. on the new france is say to be the homeland of human rights but the penitentiary system is not given the means to guarantee that inmates human rights european regulations require we are to in a cell have a shower and a land line but sometimes we have four people in main square meters to. us the debates go straight to the key point it allows the detained population to be fully recognized to citizens as french citizens but radicalization is flourishing in french prisons the debate. how to tackle that has barely begun yet and scores of eisel fighters may soon be repatriated from syria david chaytor al-jazeera runs. and found out from france has been another apparent act of. vandalism this time at the site of strasburg's cynical police are investigating after

a memorial stone was not from its plinth it marks the location of the synagogue which was destroyed by the nazis in world war two eleven days ago a nearby jewish cemetery was also desecrated up to two hundred thousand people have marched through the italian city of milan against government policies they say promote racism and discrimination it was a festive mood as the crowd snaked towards the cathedral one of the signs in the crowd said we bleed in the same color italy is seen in crease in racially motivated attacks since the far right government came to power last year north korea's leader is on his way home onboard an arm and train after four days in vietnam kim jong un stayed on in hanoi for an official visit after the denuclearization talks with the u.s. president on a truck broke down vietnam's relationship with the us was supposed to be an example for pyongyang it too was once considered the enemy of washington diplomatic editor

james bays with more now from hanoi. well he stayed on here in vietnam for an extra two days because he has to take advantage of the fact he is here he runs an isolated country there are the most comprehensive sanctions on north korea of any country ever in the world so being here in the port and asian country one that's an economic powerhouse has seen growth well in the double figures for more than twenty years he needs to make relationships in places like this he has having gone to the to move the cochairmen to the more severe and paid his respects to a man who was a contemporary of his own grandfather headed back to china and back on that train a very long journey all the way across china i think time for a real reflection from the north korean leader did he overplay his hand by asking for so many sanctions to be lifted something that the americans thought was a step too far under step the early this likely diplomatic process has been

going now for a year since the winter olympics in that time there's always been a next step right now because of the collapse of these talks there really isn't a next step but i think it now falls to the south koreans and president moon he's talked about another summit with kim and they've talked about having that summit in seoul to build on their own. relationship between the two countries that summit if it takes place i think is now going to have to try and rescue the process. the new york times is reporting that a deal u.s. physician has been tortured by saudi authorities the newspaper alleges while aid fatah he was beaten and electrocuted during his imprisonment at a hotel than riyadh he was one of the hundreds of people arrested in twenty seventeen in what the saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman said was a crackdown on corruption but he is still believed to be in detention saudi

officials though denying any mistreatment of detainees. well saudi arabia's public prosecutor says it will put several female activists on trial despite an international outcry and they face charges of firing for women's rights to dr mohamad reports. it was last june that women in saudi arabia were given the legal right to drive a car up until then it was the only country in the world that banned women from getting behind the wheel but about the same time security forces were also cracking down on the women activists who had been calling for these reforms mothers grandmothers were tied professes they were all accused of undermining the kingdom security civility and national unity demonized on state media and branded as traitors. a number of them were arrested and saudi prosecutors are putting four women and five men on trial there's been an international outcry and

a campaign for their release rights groups say some of the women have been tortured in secret prisons some were allegedly caned or electrocuted others sexually assaulted though jane and her flaws family accuse southall qahtani the former adviser to the crown prince of supervising her torture the saudi government rejects the allegations and says the detainees enjoy all rights preserved by the laws of the kingdom but the spotlight is again being focused on saudi arabia's human rights record i could impress on on the saudi government and frankly royal court it is simply not worth it to keep these women in prison and they certainly do not deserve to be there those women are innocent and they've done nothing but try to highlight an anon an unnecessary and frankly medieval interpretation of the law dozens of other human rights defenders academics and religious clerics remain in saudi prisons where the saudi kingdom continues to promote what it sees as its reform

agenda its attempts to modernize saudi arabia but him home it al-jazeera. brazil's former president who is in australian of the silver reserve released from prison temporarily to attend his grandson's funeral and he was transported by helicopter. after leaving his cell for the first time since being in prison nearly a year ago seven year old grandson died of meningitis on friday the silver serving a twelve year sentence for corruption and money laundering. spacex has launched its astronaut capsule into space for the first time a man to testify but it's a big step forward for the company owned by the billionaire in long musk mohamed el but d.c. has more. it's said that. nasa describes it as a historic moment that could pave the way for a new era of space exploration vehicle getting down here at kennedy space center in

florida billionaire elon musk's company space x. successfully launched an unmanned test flight bound for the international space station. what to what today really represents is a new era in space flight and an era where we are looking forward to being one customer as an agency and as a country we're looking forward to being one customer of many customers in our in a robust commercial marketplace in lower thora bit so that we can drive down costs and increase access in ways that historically have not been possible. the crew dragon capsule atop the falcon nine rocket is the first space shuttle intended for commercial use the only passenger on this demo one mission is a dummy named ripley carrying with him four hundred pounds of supplies for the space station it's expected to arrive on sunday and if all goes well the next mission could put two astronauts in space as early as this july nasa wardy contracts to space.