night of very extensive israeli return interest retaliatory strikes at least in number around the gaza strip no injuries no deaths however reported and it seems those strikes were kept out of the center of gaza city and all of this coming as a result of what took place on thursday evening two rockets fired from gaza territory towards tel aviv the first time that it happened since two thousand and fourteen what is interesting about the israeli military response as well as the actual physical military response which we saw and as well as that there were nine projectiles fired out from gaza and territory two of them falling in open ground here on the israeli side one falling within gaza the other six being intercepted we're told by the iron dome anti-missile system what's interesting about what the israeli military is saying on top of that is that they're indicating that this could have been a mistake and launched this original double launch of rockets targeting the area

around television could have been by mistake could have been carried out by a lower level unit perhaps without the knowledge of the senior leadership of hamas so whether that's the case or not that is a message being sent by the israelis i think showing that there are efforts underway to at least give both sides a way out without a really major major escalation here excuse me. indeed harry and editors and just saying it seems like both sides are playing it down somewhat can you explain if there is any political undertones behind this. well yes i mean on the on the israeli side we're in the middle of a very hard fought election campaign the prime minister benjamin netanyahu has been trying to faceoff and in recent days has to be c. said according to the polls with some success a stronger than expected opposition arrangements

a coalition of two parties one of the major leaders being the former chief of the israeli army really a marriage of convenience with the express aim of getting rid of benjamin netanyahu has been mired in corruption allegations along with many other issues that they are pointing to so it's important for him politically both to respond strongly enough if there is a way of calibrating that in terms of the current israeli political opinion to show strength and to show his security credentials while not doing so much as to invite a bigger response from hamas which could lead to a further escalation on the hamas side they have said that they were not responsible for this launch the interior ministry in gaza is saying it will seek out those who were and did this against the national interest and as well as that very interesting really for the first time since the end of march last year when they began they had decided to cancel one of the friday border protests for the

first time so that in itself is something of a concession to israel and also to the egyptians who are trying to mediate a calming of the situation and it does show that they are sending their own signal a deescalation of the moment as well sorry thought said on the israeli side of the gaza border fence good to see as always thank you. all right plenty more still ahead on al-jazeera. a crowded field becomes even tighter as social media savvy democrat jumps into the u.s. presidential race we'll have the details. and i bet it was quite quiet over the northern parts of asia at the moment we're just seeing a few bits and pieces of cloud drift away across us one making its way across the korean peninsula at the moment another one making its way towards japan and then

looks like it's going to be japan where we see some of the most disturbed weather as we had three saturday a fair amount of cloud here and a few showers as well some of the showers will be turning wintery particularly in the northern parts of the country over the high ground and all of that is pulling away as we head into sunday behind it a few more areas of town will bring just a few areas of rain forest during the day on sunday but for the west it should be dry and fine pyongyang getting to around ten degrees and beijing up at nineteen now a little bit further towards the south and there's plenty of dry weather to be found across parts of southeastern china and sandwiches in hong kong getting to around twenty three degrees at the moment to the north of us though there's a little bit more in the way of cloud and that's going to be sickening up as we head through into sunday so particularly around the hunan province looks like some of us are going to see some fairly heavy rain i mean further towards the south still and for many of us here there's plenty of showers particularly across a pot of java the showers are likely to be fairly lively and they will say stretching across parts of southern borneo as well further north want to see

showers perhaps force in the philippines and that's good news because here it's been very drawing recently. trying to do one and a half after the initial shock of boyfriends now our. diverse lineups of the children of south africa or the differences between what bannock up the same school and took it and saw that could see it as an old journey through a complex history of dramatic social and political change that seven-up south africa on now does iraq.

well again you're watching our desire and here's a reminder of our top stories gunmen have attacked two mosques in new zealand killing at least forty nine people one man's been charged with murder and christchurch police are questioning three other people. prime minister just in the hour journey it's one of the darkest days in new zealand's history she's added her cunny she's added her country has been targeted by a terrorist attack because it's a diverse nation. and weekly protests along the gaza israel fans have been postponed hours after israeli airstrike hit the besieged strip earlier rockets launched from gaza near tel aviv. now thousands of protesters are gathering in the algerian capital and this is despite the new prime minister promising to form a new government open to all they're doing but do we address the nation on thursday

saying that he was responding to the demands of protesters by creating a government involving young people and he said it would be in place by next week there have been weeks of rallies calling for president a beautifully cut to step down and a senior member of the ruling f.l.n. party says with a family history now. well. he. offended a professor of politics and the dean of the school of social sciences and humanities at the institute for graduate studies and he joins us now here thank you very much so as we've been saying there we heard the prime minister talk about how they're trying to form a new government trying to listen to the young people's concerns want to involve the younger generation and they're trying to make the changes that they've been called upon to do so why are people still protesting on the. it's and such large numbers well there has been

a remarkable change of term by the government because in the first couple of weeks they were saying that this is threat to security and the military actually threaten the people. they have complete enough change tone suits which there came back from geneva three it seems that there is at least an appearance of victory for their beliefs i think pollution has won in the sense that the government is now speaking the language of the revolution and that evolution has called this day decisive day already almost foster it's a dream that they won't find of a sort reserve you should look for a problem which is. especially the handover because i feel that which. is going around the issue of the fist. by extending his force. and there is no ground the moment for the equals for this is

a worry also that the prime minister has been the. really a minister he for them he was responsible for a lot of repression in the past so there is a kind of wariness about the choice of of one of my minister but it's understandable that there is mistrust. it is now the onus on the government and on the government to convince the people that they are on the right track ok so as we've been saying a senior member of the ruling f.l. and now says that it's history how significant is this and is this just or is this just lip service to try and calm the protesters will feel has been history for a while now in the sense that he was not the person who was running the show. the question is are the people who are running the show behind him still history's brother some of the security guys army the military some of his close aides i think

. one point one. one step forward would be to reveal now who is. one of the persons who have been removed from his into realized i mean this is brother still running the show. are the security people still running the show or the new prime minister really a person who has authority so this is a this is an important question from the outset and this is what a lot of the protesters and opposition have been saying this new government looks very much like the old one so kind of know what you're dealing at as far as the opposition goes though what are we dealing with is there any organized form that can really pose a challenge to the government. to know your visible position i think on this probably was part of the straits the people at the moment themselves setting the

tone to the opposition would send a message and say we're going to have today demonstrations after friday prayers and we call it so and so and the people very spawn. i think at the moment they know that the ship. at the moment it may be good but i think in the next few days they have to get someone in front and this is different from sudan where when you get people in the front they get arrested if they go and it is not obvious to anybody so i don't think there's a problem for them to at least for a juicy kind of lives thank you very much professor of the law. and the thank you from the graduate studies graduate studies good to get your analysis thank you. china's economic slowdown and the trade war with the u.s. top the agenda of chinese legislators gathered in beijing they endorsed a foreign investment law aimed at appeasing the concerns of trading partners in

washington and elsewhere it in brown has those details from the chinese capital. as ever when china's parliament meets everything was perfectly organized. inside the great hall of the people the mood was celebrated as the almost three thousand delegates gathered for the final day of the national people's congress they knew what was expected of them their job of the rule is not to block legislation or place checks on leaders of the communist party so the outcome of the vote to amend the foreign investment law was never in doubt as was its true aim to help end the trade war with the united states which is why the legislation was approved in record time. the measure will affect some of the biggest corporations doing business in china in theory it will mean among other things that foreign firms will no longer need

a chinese partner to operate here or be forced to hand over their technology to get right on what happens to the new foreign investment laws china's concession to the united states which is a compromise china is making in the trade war so it's very likely that in the future there will be policies that actually favor for investors and so we probably won't see any significant changes in that regard this year. at premier league chung's annual news conference where journalists questions are submitted and vetted in advance he sought to one small reassure foreign investors she's. teaching china will continue to cut taxes and fees streamline illustration forced a new drivers of growth market access and the level the playing field for all marquee players the premier's warned that economic growth could drop to six percent this year the lowest it's been in almost thirty years china's economic growth would be the envy of many other countries but it's still slowing complicated by

a number of other factors the trade war with the united states among them but china's leaders can't blame previous governments for their problems because for almost seventy years there's been only one party that has ruled this country adrian brown al-jazeera beijing. north korea's considering suspending talks with the u.s. and restarting missile and nuclear tests vice foreign minister charles san jose says they have no intention of yielding to u.s. denuclearization the months is blaming the u.s. secretary of state and national security adviser for the breakdown of last month's summit in hanoi between donald trump and leader kim jong un. that former congressman or texas congressman beto or rourke has announced that he is running for u.s. president the forty six year old joins twelve other people competing for the democratic nomination alan fischer has this report from washington d.c. . he's the latest to join the race for president but he won't be the last. or happy

to share with you that i'm running to serve you as the next president of the united states of america. b. two on rort became a darling of the democratic party last year when he came close to beating republican senator ted cruz for his texas seat he ran a populist and popular campaign that he almost won against the republican in texas was considered remarkable but he joins a crowded field the democrats that have declared can almost be split into two groups those you might have had both like new jersey senator cory booker california senator campbell hottest massachusetts senator elizabeth warren and bernie sanders who came second to hillary clinton last time around then there are those you probably have never heard of like former governor john hickenlooper congresswoman tulsi gabbard and spiritual councilor money and williamson thirteen declared so far all thinking they can be the next president of the united states i think many of

them seeing the polling numbers they see that president trump looks very weakened right now and also you're seeing just a groundswell of energy particularly among the democratic base to run against president because they want someone who can desperately win against this president . the whole democratic race could be appended if this man enters former vice president joe biden i appreciate the energy you showed when i got up here. save a little longer i may need a few weeks that's been the clearest hint yet he has name recognition access to big money donors important planks in any presidential campaign i think joe biden's entry into the race will be the the cherry on top because what you're saying is you're saying a field that democrats are very energized and energetic about right now so again i think we're saying a feel and we're seeing a landscape that look that will mirror what we saw in two thousand and eight with

such a large and growing field it could take the democrats until the summer of next year to decide who will face donald trump that hands of a big advantage in fundraising and campaigning and even though the polls don't look good for him at the moment that didn't stop donald trump last time alan fischer al-jazeera washington. schoolchildren worldwide are skipping class to take part in the climate change protests among the first words trailing pupils in sydney organizers say more than eight thousand strikes are planned and ninety eight countries the movement started as a solo protest by sixteen year old phone berg she sat outside government buildings to accuse politicians of failing to stick to the un's powers agreement on climate change four years ago. we can now see what's happening in india and face jail is added demonstration and new delhi. the students have gathered here in central new delhi for the strike for climate action joining students in other indian cities and

across the world india now is felt the effects of climate change for several years rising temperatures flooding in some parts of the country and drought in others now in the decades before the students are even born the dominant economic policy of governments and policymakers has been economic development sometimes at the expense of the environment something the students say they want changed climatic problem because the government needs to assess they can live in a state of denial whether denying the basic facts and they did language truth is not likely to be won not sure. which actually taken the cauldron dioxide and give us all just didn't get the name of developmental they're actually cutting down the students or at least a few years shy from being able to vote in the upcoming national elections we still want to make sure their voices are heard hoping to remind and influence those who are voting and those being voted for the climate change is something that affects everyone.

watching al-jazeera these are top stories at least forty nine people have been killed and another forty and a hospital in zealand up to two last were targeted one man has been charged with murder in christchurch are questioning three others of the mayor of christchurch as urging the city to pull together. i think it's really important that people remain absolutely calm and feel free to talk to friends and family about the feelings that you have it's natural i've never could believe that something like bus would ever happen in the city of christchurch but actually i would never believe that this would even in new zealand and it looks as if something the worst his happened and we need to pull together and get through the

situation the carbon is just and our journey says it's one of the darkest days in history of new zealand and it's going to become a target of terrorist attack because it's a diverse nation that welcomes migrants. we're going to protests along the gaza israel fans have been postponed hours after israeli airstrikes hit the besieged strip israel launched airstrikes on gaza hours after two rockets. from the head of the late one learns that each of the what happened is a new israeli aggression against gaza out a tweet a series of its crimes including the main one the continuation of the siege of the gaza strip our people will continue their struggle to break the siege despite this aggression the resistance is ready to defend its people and is committed to calm as long as the occupation is. thousands of protesters are gathering in the algerian capital despite the new prime minister promising to form a government open to all now are they in bed do we address the nation on thursday

saying he was creating a government involving young people. inside starting. from peaceful protests to civil war syria's president is still in power despite eight years of conflict what does the future hold and what hope saw there for peace this is inside story. hello again i'm james eight years ago this week fifteen syrian teenagers were

detained and tortured for spraying anti-government graffiti on a school wall that was the beginning of an uprising that led to a civil war which continues to this day hundreds of thousands of people are being killed and it's created a huge refugee crisis. the u.n. and european union are holding a donor conference in brussels they say they need nine billion dollars this year to help people trapped in syria and support neighboring countries hosting syrian refugees the e.u.'s foreign policy chief hopes the meeting will help restart un backed talks to end the conflict or bring in our guests in a moment but first this report from priyanka gupta. mass protests against president bashar al assad began in their eyes twenty eleven eight years later syrians are back on its streets still demanding a sop to step down and a statue of his father he broke down. started as a peaceful uprising turn into

a civil war. rebels who took up arms to face a violent government crackdown and topple assad are now largely confined to an enclave in italy province near the turkish border the syrian army backed by russian warplanes has been bombarding an area that was supposed to be protected by a cease fire deal with turkey dozens of people have been killed. we had to get our children and families out of here because of the heavy bombardments and since there are no hospitals we are obliged to flee to the border areas who we just say are. for the war is far more complicated than a battle between those who support or oppose assad's allies and forces the syrian government got involved backing different groups twenty fifteen was a turning point when russia intervened to back the syrian army and tip the balance in assad's favor with the help of iranian backed fighters he's now in control of

almost two thirds of the country but key areas remain outside his grip this includes the part of syria that's most important to the economy oil rich areas to the north east mainly held by u.s. backed kurdish led syrian democratic forces. the s.t.a. of says it is nearing the end of an offensive this started in september to push isis out of its last remaining pocket in the town of babus. the war seems to be winding down president assad has reversed most of the gains of the armed opposition and several countries within the arab league now appear to be ready to welcome syria back into the fold. but the country is in drawings hundreds of thousands of people have been killed millions more are displaced. it will cost billions of dollars to rebuild the country nations have ended assad staff are hoping to play a role in post-war syria priyanka gupta al-jazeera no one is

keeping an official count of the number of deaths in syria the estimate from the u.k. based syrian observatory for human rights is at least five hundred sixty thousand people have been killed the u.n. says nearly twelve million people need a while six point two million people are internally displaced and five point six million syrians have left the country most of them are living as refugees mainly in lebanon jordan turkey iraq and egypt so let's start things off by getting a view from damascus and i'm joined by talib abraham who is an analyst there in damascus knows the thinking of the government there on this found a verse story of the start of the war let me start with a really simple yes or no question do those around us sad now think he's won the war it is very difficult to answer in one word but yes the

military part of the war is that that's the military part but what about the other part which is very much important this is another story we cannot talk about it. he has certainly survived he's still in power and yet he only controls seventy percent of the country much of the country is ruined could you not argue he's won the war but destroyed syria not because they're said to destroy syria it is a matter of big game. syria this is an international or better syria or one of the whole middle east that there's not a matter of for democracy or freedom but if a sad hurdle stood down and if there had been then talks in geneva as the un has been proposing there might have been a way forward now you have a situation where you still have assad in power

a man that most international lawyers and international human rights experts believe is a war criminal a man who's committed crimes against humanity the majority of syrian people as you know looking at that man as a hero but what isis will fight and that's enough and you are looking if assad will step down what does that mean to who should be cheese should be replaced by and that's not run by isis by other terrorist groups if you look back to twenty fifteen assad was losing badly wasn't he despite using his chemical weapons despite using barrel bombs on the people of syria and it was russian intervention that really changed things that was the turning point the summer of twenty fifteen if we say that anyone had a victory in syria would you agree it was vladimir putin is the team to syria and not the paper as said the paper has on it that it does get a good idea there that it's an intervention but whatever of the saudi at that ranch

in syria libyan billions of dollars weapons of our. serious intervention research and direction american television israeli daily intervention all of them are intervening in syria oddly russia and europe prevented them from in any role in syria and others a lot this is not logical and this is not that's not at all about yes there is a very big game and we are praying to god who made the wars but is regional and in the best joke but it is that their hands from syria and we are as a syrians we are this is your support all of a lot of problems abraham in damascus thank you. let's discuss this further with our panel of guests who are joining us and in istanbul we have afridi he's spokesman for the syrian high negotiations commission which is in opposition to assad's government in washington d.c. we're joined by y.l.

. former senior syria adviser to the former u.s. ambassador to the u.n. samantha power and in new york richard gowan a senior fellow at the united nations university yeah if i can go to you first you heard our interview from damascus i asked our analyst in damascus a simple question had a sad one what's your view. i think if. he is said to be to have won it is a matter of shame because who who was your. counterpart or who did you when you're one of our people you're one of our country which is given to you as a trust to protect and to keep as a land and as a people actually two things are. facts about

syria no going back to two thousand and eleven or before and assad did not win. and another thing no life for this country. syria with the continuation of this regime. the basic thing that we are talking about here is the base of the original slogan that started in syria with this war against the people in the rose and said no against the regime. actually it is. either a rule it or ruin it he ruined it but he doesn't rule it ok let me bring in iraq in washington d.c. as we stand here is on with no one really knows the true figure but possibly half a million people dead is this

a textbook case of the international community completely failing the syrian people . short answer is absolutely the international community has watched this slow moving train wreck with all the predictable consequences of displacement death destruction and not only the empowerment of the current dictator bashar assad but his regional backer iran the reemergence of russia as a at least a relative superpower and obviously these crews of terrorism multiplying in the form of isis and who knows who will come after them richard in new york we mentioned russia there we mentioned when talking to our guest in damascus that twenty fifteen in the summer may have been a turning point in terms of russian intervention how important has russia been not

just militarily but where you are the united nations using its blocking powers. russia has undeniably won a very significant diplomatic victory over syria at the u.n. and it's used its veto power and it's used its military forces really a to humiliate and contain the west and members of the security council in repeated debates over syria but russia still has a problem it has broken syria and now it has to work out how to pay for the reconstruction and it's pretty clear that moscow would like to find some sort of formula through the u.n. to fund the rebuilding of syria. because it just cannot do that on its own you know you are in istanbul all we've talked about where we think things like overall a sad seems to control about seventy percent of the territory but the sad thing is

that look like there probably are some battles to come so let's examine the military situation across the country and if i can start by asking you how worried you are about the situation in it liberate now well through it in a deliberate has its political touch more than its military touch although it is devastating for the people and for the for the region in general but it has it is being there for pulling certain political instincts exercising some sort of pressure and iran is behind all that we believe because it feels that it is being neutralized it is exercising pressure on the shuttle assad and this waging or this recent war on live in the north would go nowhere for them at the political level and jirga figure we understand that the northeast is under the control or as the and the americans and.