as organization. we're able to do it properly. that is our strength. in an unprecedented move the u.s. formally enables yvonne's revolutionary guard a terrorist organization. and welcome to al jazeera live from my headquarters in doha with them also ahead as rain voters go to the polls and an hour i'll decide whether to give benjamin netanyahu a fifth term. pick challenger ben coutts. the u.n. secretary general calls on libya as one partings to stop the true operations and a verdict in the trial of three natives of hong kong's pro-democracy movement we

will be live from hong kong. and the president and move donald trump has designated iran's revolutionary guard a foreign terrorist organization as the first time that washington has taken such a step with an arm of another country's in the tree also in jordan has more from washington d.c. . iran's islamic revolutionary guard corps i r g c one hundred twenty five thousand troops strong is joining sixty seven others on the u.s. is a foreign terrorist organization list the secretary of state says the i.r.g.c. is a fundamental threat to u.s. national security the urgency masquerade as a legitimate military organization but not of us should be formed. it regularly violates the laws of armed conflict it plans organize and executes terror campaigns

all around the world the i.r.g.c. is already a specially designated global terrorist organization but this is the first time the us has put a government agency on its foreign terrorist organization list the top administration says the i.r.g.c. actively destabilizes other middle eastern countries from supporting the syrian government in its civil war to helping hezbollah undermine lebanon's government to sending advisors guns and money to who the fighters in yemen the question for the trumpet ministration why do this now we're taking an entirely new approach to this of significant sort of sustained maximum economic pressure to deny the i.r.g.c. and the iranian regime of the revenue that it needs to conduct its foreign policy the trumpet ministration says there are other reasons to put the i.r.g.c. on the list it plots attacks on opponents and other countries and uses money from both state run and private businesses to fund its operations and give safe haven to

al qaeda operatives a former u.s. official says targeting the i.r.g.c. is understandable but could backfire on the trumpet ministration iran is is not doing well. and there is significant unrest within the country you know but the ayatollah and his government can make a credible claim that that this hardship is the fault of the united states and the early reaction from town it's now declaring the u.s. military in the middle east a terrorist organization and the iranian foreign minister says donald trump is trying to throw tuesday's parliamentary elections in israel quote another misguided election eve gift to netanyahu another dangerous u.s. misadventure in the region u.s. officials say it's important to hold onto. it's human rights abuses at home and it's disruptive behavior abroad but it's not clear that other countries are going

to join in with the u.s. as it steps up its efforts to isolate iran. jordan al-jazeera the state department now lawrence korb is a former assistant secretary of defense and senior fellow at the center for american progress and he says that many will see the ministration as unnecessary. most of our military leaders were opposed to this basically because the i.r.g.c. has some very bad actors and you should sanction them but you can be drafted into the i.r.g.c. everybody all a male us have to do two years of service so you're going to put a lot of good people in there we're also working with the i r g c in iraq to fight isis this is going to make it harder and i think the real goal of the trumpet ministration is to make sure we can never have another nuclear deal because they the i.r.g.c.

had opposed that they said you can't trust the united states and he got out so of the next administration comes in and wants to you know get that deal correct it's going to be very hard be because it be hard to negotiate with a terrorist group you do have the military rules of engagement and you're right they're helping the government and in syria we've got troops in there and you want to respect the laws of war but if you're dealing with a group that you call terrorists why should they respect the laws of war for example if they should happen to capture an american or french or one of our british british allies so no it really creates a problem that you didn't need to solve because of the fact that we've been dealing with this group you know since one thousand nine hundred seventy nine sometimes cooperating sometimes not being engaged in you know conflicts with the.

israelis will begin voting en an hour from now to decide if benjamin netanyahu wins another term as prime minister as a main challenger benny gantz is just ahead in the polls harry false reports from west jerusalem. on the last day of campaigning benjamin netanyahu turned to a familiar closing argument the mortal danger facing his likud party's right wing government. will be ours very late at the moment we are behind a few seats ganser leading the only way to close the gap and ensure with certainty about the could will form the next government that have a big we could bring all the people. who says israel needs him but only he could have won victories such as last month's u.s. endorsement that israeli sovereignty over the occupied golan heights. he's also made a last minute promise to impose sovereignty over in other words an exterior israel to every illegal settlement in the occupied west bank all but killing off any still

lingering hopes of a two state solution. he's gone back on similar pre-election pledges before so this time does he mean it seems like this is a lection ploy but. we're in uncharted territory in this election with the indictments likely to come soon after the election it's possible that in the coalition negotiations afterwards he may be held to those calls by saw the right wing party the attorney general's decision to indict the prime minister pending hearings on three corruption cases has had little impact on opinion polls but ultra right nationalists could seek a high price for supporting a prime minister who wants to stay in office while fighting a criminal case a price such as settlement annexation his main opponent wants to make such questions academic by beating netanyahu at the ballot box benny gantz made his own final appeal for votes on monday. we're going to serve them the voters from the right and the left and all the citizens of israel we are going to win this. the

former army chief has been attacking netanyahu on security policy criticizing his attempts to pacify the crisis in gaza by making deals with hamas. guns supports the drug decision on the occupied golan heights but he has denounced netanyahu settlement annexation plan as irresponsible in the midst of an election campaign his own blue and white party advocates a continued israeli military presence in the occupied west bank itself a red line for palestinian leaders along with preserving large illegal settlements at the same time the party argues for a regionally and globally supported peace agreement without specifically endorsing a two state solution but there is more to this election than its main players netanyahu and dance there are thirty nine parties taking part with several just above or just below the three point two five percent share of the vote required for a place in the israeli parliament the knesset that means a relatively small number of votes could radically reshape the policies and the

makeup of israel's next government israeli soldiers have been among the first a vote but their ballots will be among the last to be counted the not jus in until thursday this election is so finely poised that everyone might have to wait until then for a clear cut final result are a force at al-jazeera westerners. the un secretary general has condemned an attack on libya's main airport protests called for an immediate halt to all military operations forces loyal to. the carried out the strike and japanese instant suburbs the attacks damaged my to the airport which is run by the un backed government all flights have been suspended a spokesman for half that says they were targeting military aircraft with that had reports from tripoli. his tracks on libya's main airport play to get in the east of the city attacked by warplanes on the orders of the warlords only for have to international passengers are being evacuated.

libya's old fort on the southern edge of the capital tripoli is also under attack forces allied to the you and the government have to repeal have to reset vance. we can't accept military rule in libya that's why we've come to tripoli to defend the city. here and the city is disused the airport forces loyal to the backed government say that they are in full control and have to his forces have pulled back but as the clashes are still ongoing the fear is rising that civil other neighborhoods will be affected. the u.n. is repeating calls for a truce it says thousands of civilians have fled the area i think the first message we need to pass united states is the full implementation of the my italian troops to allow the civilians and the wounded to be evacuated from. the city and to

avoid any further military action and if either military escalation and the return to the political negotiations and the political track. strikes were launched by both the us and backed government and have to those forces at the weekend the u.s. has joined demands from other g seven countries for hastert to hold his office. but analysts doubt the u.s. demand this statement from the secretary of state where we are. trying to see the capital we call a hot drink and. action behind this statement if you will drew all of us forces all relocation of us also from tripoli to go elsewhere this does not look like an administration that is committed to the protection of searches government. libya has been divided between two competing governments for the past five years the administration in tripoli is backed by the united nations the other in the

eastern city of tobruk by have to in them in my. one of the libyan army's task is to protect the libyan constitution which guarantees and protects the nation's institutions and citizens living is moving towards tripoli with one goal which is to free it from the militias. have to his forces say they are fighting terrorists to groups in the capital but there is also about money and the whole controls libya's central bank and its oil companies based in the capital. tripoli. saddam's defense minister want to break down security as outside the president's compound enters a fourth day. of the shape and form a transitional government only a soldier was killed a security forces try to break out the session in the capital at least twelve people have died saturday in the largest demonstrations protests began in december

. still ahead a major defeat for colombia's president and his push to alter a twenty sixth peace treaty with fuck rebels and just days away from the world's largest election we look at the main issues for. hello hail the size of golf balls even cricket balls felonies and texas yesterday it's an overnight period now where the other southern states could see something similar as this system slowly declines on its way eastward take you through to choose day morning and that's the set up potentially still sundry over georgia and also florida everything else is quiet and cold. and snow here and still on the

higher ground. towards what i mean i know how you get some more snow and that's a fact we've not seen the end of significant precipitation over wintry nature snow finger stretches across south dakota even touching nebraska even down towards chicago about how we get to wednesday it's too warm to stick but it will be briefly a reminder that winter is not far behind us active weather from florida a vote is seen goes across western cuba that was mexico billie's possibile salvador and guatemala this particular on tuesday a little bit less so on one side system is moving eastwards through honduras and significant showers seem quite likely in cuba and the bahamas and if you're lucky late in the day even jamaica mostly further east in the caribbean it's too quiet calm. capturing a moment in time. snapshots of other lives. other

stories. provided attempts into someone else's work. inspiring documentaries from impassioned filmmakers i'm at the front lines i feel it i know it i have the data to prove. witness on al-jazeera. it's good to have you with us on al-jazeera these are our top stories the u.s. has added iran's revolutionary guard to its so-called terror list it is the first

time that washington has attached such unable to another country's armed forces iran's responded by giving the u.s. military the same designation. papal will begin voting in less than an hour and israel's parliamentary elections prime minister benjamin netanyahu is aiming to win a fifth term in office he faces a strong challenge from former military chief benny gantz and the main airport in the libyan capital tripoli has shot down to airstrikes by war that's. the un's on board from libya says the attack volley its international law and is calling on have thought to pull back from civil war. the u.s. state department is blocking sixteen solve these citizens from entering the country of the murder of saw the journalist. they. thought he was accused of masterminding kushal g.'s killing on the orders of crown prince mohammed bin sandman. now relations with saudi are also on the. spotlight and brush and where betty anne's a dollar's worth of weapons sales will come on

a discussion on tuesday now as for human rights groups will argue that the sales violate the u.k.'s export policies that are reports from london was the war in yemen has unquestionably punished the civilian population beyond belief now a group of campaigning organizations is trying on appeal to prevent the british government from supplying weapons to a key player in the conflict i. since the war started four years ago the u.k.'s licensed around six point five billion dollars worth of arms sales to saudi arabia . as well as precision guided bombs and munitions it sold typhoon and tornado fighter jets made in supplied by british firm systems but most importantly it supplies personnel to maintain and train saudi personnel to operate them and just last week the dispatches program interviewed form and being personnel he said that if if they weren't there in saudi arabia the air force would stop flying british

planes within seven to fourteen days at the most in two thousand and seventeen the u.k. high court ruled the government could keep licensing arms sales to riyadh but last year after saudi journalist was murdered by saudi agents in the country's culture in istanbul germany suspended arms sales to saudi arabia it recently extended that ban and now campaigners say it's time for britain to take similar steps at the heart of the case is the arms trade treaty which says the government cannot license arms sales if there's a clear risk the items involved might be used for a serious violation of international humanitarian law now the u.k. government has told our jazeera we operate one of the most robust export control regimes in the world and keep our defense exports to saudi arabia under careful and continual review all export license applications are assessed on a case by case basis against the console as a. you a national arms export licensing criteria taking account of all relevant factors at

the time of the application we will not grant a license if to do so would be inconsistent with these criteria for the main group bringing the appeal the u.k. is simply ignoring the facts on the ground time and again we've heard from the safety regime that it's supposedly taking every precaution to ensure it's not killing civilians and yet the bombings of funerals continue the bombings of weddings continue the bombing of school buses continue we have seen sites which should have been days of celebration turns into massacres we've seen family homes destroyed trouble and yet all the while the arm sales of continues as the deadly airstrikes continue in yemen with millions facing desperate poverty largely because of the ongoing fighting and when for the campaigners could create an important precedent. for a london. now breaking news coming into us from hong kong where nine democracy campaigners have been found guilty for their part in the mass protests of twenty

fourteen they were facing a colonial era charges of conspiring causing and instigating public nuisance the umbrella movement for hong kong to a standstill of thousands of people calling for free elections for the city's leader let's get more on this our correspondent sara clark is joining us live from hong kong talk us through the verdicts there. ok as you mentioned there are a number of charges are associated with the nine people who are before the court today here in hong kong the most high profile of the three founders of the uk why hong kong that. three have been found guilty on one charge which is conspiracy to commit a public nuisance and two of those families have been getting found guilty of incitement to commit public nuisance and all three have been found not guilty on the third charge the other six have been found guilty of the last two charges but yet to hear the sentence at the court there was you. two pm to hear that the judge has also not given any reason as yet behind his judgment of the prosecution has argued

throughout this twenty day trial that the that the group had to die inside of protests is to pools and create public nuisance in the city's nine day a demonstration of sorts so let's all be proper sense of hong kong shut down for these demonstrations sara these high profile figures and hong kong and the pro-democracy movement what does this verdict mean for the movement. well it's not good news for the pro-democracy movement here in hong kong we've already had jolly time served by other student leaders rather pro-democracy activists including joshua won't it was a very high profile as a student leader. and though i should say it's a little michael and alex chow we've had a various pro-democracy legislators disqualified from parliament and we've had one politician banned from speaking openly or publicly about his push for home homes

independence would seem tougher penalties imposed on activists of the last four five years since the protests finished back in twenty fifth day and so this one i doubt triggered more accusations that beijing is certainly encroaching on hong kong's a semi autonomous state and that restricting its rights and the hong kong civil liberties and stuff and as i mentioned should be able to hear more about the sentence of the nine people who here a full court today connected to the by democracy artists back in twenty four saying sara thank you very much for that and now the clock with the latest from hong kong thank you. now qatar has fog lawsuits against banks in luxembourg saudi arabia and the united arab emirates accusing them of currency manipulation kutha says the three banks cause but eons of dollars of damage to its economy by weakening its currency the cases filed in london and new york accuse the banks of devising the plan following a boycott against and june twenty seventeen saudi arabia the u.a.e.

behind it and egypt imposed an economic blockade on gaza when giorgio coffee is chief executive of gulf state adolescents that say they see based political risk consultants and firm and he says the has suffered significant financial damage due to the blockade right now in these courts in london and new york because the reasons are seeking billions of dollars there is a certain amount of damage that they've calculated was a result of the actions taken by these three being did this quote unquote financial warfare result in qatar capitulating in the blockading states like riyadh and i would be wanted no obviously i'm not this alleged campaign if it took place this financial warfare did not achieve its objective but it did hurt the qatari economy and there's no doubt that costs are paid

a big price we're talking billions of dollars as a consequence of the siege that was implemented almost two years ago to colombia now with the president's attend to also part of a twenty six thousand peace treaty has been rejected by congress the move by the protests in a number of cities if you want to change us to a special tribunal of trying to form a fog rebels for war crimes. he has more from. this was a major defeat for president. and his quality probably the biggest since the beginning is government now president. ran on changing the peace deal that was signed on with three years ago. the government the previous president juan manuel santos and fire rebels about to the jury. the parties in congress decided against. supporting the

veto even sent three parties that were voting with the government coalition decided in this case to turn their back on the president saying that the colombia needs to move forward and not reopen the debate that have been already settled in the past that they think this is the best deal for colombian it's necessary to implement peace the whole and move forward the opposition parties also insisted that for damn president's veto it was unconstitutional since the deal had already been approved by congress and then graphics fied by the country's constitutional court now the president. will most likely sign the law governing the peace tribunal that he was trying to veto but police stations close to him are saying that while they might have lost the battle they will continue fighting for changes

to a deal that they don't believe is the best option for colombia now the head of the u.s. secret service is leaving his job randolph and of his departure is one of several leadership changes at the department of homeland security the secret service provides protection for the president and other top u.s. officials. says departure follows the resignation of homeland security secretary castor nelson. to india now where the ruling party has announced its political manifesto just days before the start of the world's largest election the b j p is promising improve national security and social programs while doing more to fight corruption it is also targeting women voters with promises of what it called female empowerment or prime minister that in the morning is seeking reelection but faces opposition from the of the congress party and so her raman reports from new delhi. for decades india had only no coalition governments. but in twenty fourteen the

populous leader of the party or the b j p swept to victory with an absolute majority his government promised to ease poverty improve the economy and rid india of corruption. but he's been seen by many as favoring the hindu majority population and that's led to political tensions and violence although india is the second largest exporter of b. for the world council venerated by hindus vigilantly attacks against people in the beef have left many dead another source of conflict is are you it's a religious site played by both hindus and muslims it has been fought over for decades india supreme court has intervened at the un human rights chief is war you delhi its actions are being monitored in a saab the b j p is demanding that minorities many muslims prove the indian or face deportation to bangladesh the government has. one of course was

a government development but other was communism no major conflict right but. that's what they have been doing for years. fear in their manner community of the economy the government was criticized after it took high value five hundred thousand repeat banknotes out of circulation in twenty sixty it had a devastating effect to brew areas which rely on cash not plastic even in towns and cities there were long queues at banks problem that has created is very clear that it has. informal sector and it is also a rural business in a big way and. in the cities they had to go back they lost their jobs. there's a lot of risk there in the economy. begin to get national congress party and its

allies that form the united progressive alliance are trying to claw back power it's led by forty eight year old rival gandee whose promising to bring india the prosperity and development it wants regional allies and smaller state based parties can make or break a government the banditry is the leader of the old india trinamool congress in west bengal and mayawati leads johnson march party in her pradesh there standing on independent platforms but may well become kingmakers in any coalition government there is a possibility that smaller parties. water and or border sides. as the common sense board at the moment that none of them were good. so they would need for making the government in that case you may have made it is not a party that's going make us. in recent weeks national security has been at the forefront of the political debates in february and i tackled paramilitary forces and paul walker it didn't administered kashmir killed forty it did troops the

pakistan based rebel group claimed responsibility it be as military attacked its bases in pakistan administered. a response that brought the to do clear our neighbors close to another all out conflict all added to political divisions in the run up to india's seventeenth general election so he'll rob al jazeera new delhi. hello again as a prominent with the headlines on elegy are we begin with breaking news from hong kong where nine democracy campaigners have been found guilty for their part in mass protests and twenty fourteen they were facing a colonial era charges of conspiring causing and instigator public nuisance in twenty four. or hong kong to a standstill for thousands of people calling for free elections for the city's leader sarah clarke has more from hong kong. there are

a number of charges are associated with the nine people who before the court today here in hong kong the most high profile of the three founders of the on my blog. three have been found guilty on one charge which is conspiracy to commit public nuisance and two of those founders have been guilty of incitement to commit public nuisance and all three have been found not guilty on the third charge the other six have been found guilty of the last two charges you are yet to hear the sentence. the u.s. has added iran's revolutionary guard to its so-called terra list it is the first time that washington has attached such a label to another country's armed forces iran's responded by giving the u.s. military the same designation israelis will begin voting in less than half an hour and parliamentary elections promising benjamin netanyahu is hoping to win a fifth term in office faces a strong challenge from former military chief any guns. the main airport in the libyan capital tripoli has shot down after airstrikes by warlord forces the un's

envoy from libya says the attack violates international law and scorning one have to pull back from civil war. the u.s. state department is blocking sixteen cell these citizens from entering the country over the murder of saw the germans. they include south was accused of masterminding killing on the orders of crown prince mohammed bin sandman. the colombian president's attempt to alter part of the twenty sixteen peace treaty has been rejected by congress the move by led to protests in a number of cities he wanted changes to a special tribunal toss with try and form a far cry for war crimes well those are the headlines on al-jazeera witness is coming up next thank you for watching. the biggest democracy in the world is going to the polls in an election process that will last for over a month and with over nine hundred million eligible to vote india is about to choose its new government how will the controversies of the citizenship bill

announcing tensions with pakistan influence the vote. join us as we assess all phases of the election as india decides its path. india votes twenty nine t. on al-jazeera. finish what i'm allowed. get can only with only that of one in the list but if there are more than. i do point to the point florida law. what are they going month in the meantime.