after a campaign dominated by the rise of the far right and the issue of catalonia independence we're going to talk more about those in a moment after this report from sanya in madrid. a final cool to mobilize the party faithful spain socialist prime minister pedro sanchez surrounded by a sea of supporters urges them to go to the ballot box the country deserves to turn the page on the last seven years and look to the future with hope and excitement which is precisely what we are offering our citizens to the young what we are asking is that you vote for your future and therefore vote for the socialist party . voters have a wide choice decades of dominance by two political parties has given way to a multi-party system the largest players are still the socialist party and the people's party but their influence is gradually ebbing away. in the socialist maybe the head of the polls in the lead up to the election but the reality is that even

if either side does win the most votes he will still have to go to coalition with the far left regional parties if you fail to do that. to the people's marty and they will have to do a deal with the far right either way it is a big compromise for both parties. the main spoiler in this unpredictable election vox capitalizing on the populist wave spreading through europe the anti immigration policies have resonated amongst voters angered at the status quo the constitutional crisis caused by catalonia as attempt to secede has also dominated this campaign it's the first time a far right party has entered mainstream politics since the dictatorship of general franco so what is your own sovereignty won't be broken in catalonia it won't be surrendered in brussels we're not going to kneel down in front of those who don't respect the anti austerity together we can and. center right citizens parties have

a chance of being part of a national government. previous coalitions have struggled in spain disagreeing factions have failed to pos national budgets the makeup of the next government is far from clear polling ahead of sunday's vote suggested forty percent of voters were struggling to make up their minds there are some people as he did in between p.p.o. serranos there are some people whose if they've been between p.p.i. involves and then some of them between. so we can see that these not be your buds are all for you no one party people are set up elect a very highly on this site whatever the results forming a coalition is likely to take time and in a reflection of what's happening across europe the only certainty is that in politics and spain it has become more fractured more polarized a sign of the times when increasing competition political stage. al-jazeera madrid . ok so here's the team covering events for us today jonah hall in barcelona we

will be with you shortly starting with stephanie in madrid stephanie what have the voters been telling you there. well we're in an area of the capitol that is traditionally right wing the people here are divided in the sense that some of them are tired of those two main parties the governor spade for decades as you heard and saw news reports others say that they will stick to what they know because those are the parties that are going to protect their values i think the wildcard of course is this far right wing party a lot of the people we've been speaking to here are saying that a lot of their friends will be voting for that party a key issue in these elections is the issue of independents my colleague jonah could tell you much more about that in a moment but it is defining somewhat what direction this is going at the same time showing people are mostly concerned sixty one percent of spanish say that it's the economy it's unemployment it's the high cost of living so everything up for grabs

is the first in its democratic history that spaniards of voting for five parties it is fractious it is divided and even whether it goes left or whether it goes right one of the main spanish papers today saying that it looks like it will be the most fractious government coalition that this country has had in the history of its forty or so years of democracy fascinating stuff thank you stephanie deca in madrid there as she said jonah can give us more from her on the continent i think it's a national vote obviously but that idea of independence still so important. here in catalonia and it has come to dominate the national debate. than fifty percent of the people here in catalonia catalan supporters of independents according to the most recent polls just forty eight percent so the vote here in catalonia is multifaceted as it is that there is i think

a real sense of unease here about the rise of the far right party influencing dragging the parties. the right further to the right explicit policies to reduce the revoke regional autonomy enjoyed by company and other regions promises to reimpose direct rule to stamp out separatism old together see turnout is likely to be high if people doing what they can to try and counteract that shift to the right in terms of what they hope for will be independent parties i think will help to send as many m.p.'s as they can back to the central government in madrid twenty three or twenty four seats perhaps on offer to them in order to be able to influence or perhaps explicitly support a government led by the socialists again because there is here a quiet recognition that unilateral action has worked but the way forward is a more pragmatic more sensible slow paced patient approach involving dialogue and the only government office any sort of engagement with the dependent supporters

that would be a government of the left thank you jonah how polls closing around eight hundred g.m.t. continuing coverage on al-jazeera throughout the day and still ahead on this news hour why are places of learning becoming much needed to shelters for sudanese in libya. i'm not what i think in many and i'll be reporting on an election with no opposition and what that means for this country. and in sport around pull off one of the biggest upsets of the season to win the french top the details with sun are at about ten to the. united states where a gunman has killed an elderly woman at a synagogue three other people including a rabbi were wounded and a nineteen year old man with suspected far right views is under arrest in california more from rob reynolds. almost one hundred people had gathered at the

home community center in synagogue in poll a north of san diego to celebrate the last day of passover in the jewish holiday a white one thousand year old male identified by police as jonathan ernest entered the synagogue and began firing a semiautomatic rifle bullets struck four people killing an elderly woman and wounding a young girl a man and the rabbi presiding over the service obviously look right now based on my last. conversations looks like a hate crime i do believe as the gunman fled an armed off duty border patrol agent employed to provide security at the synagogue chased him shooting at his vehicle shortly afterward the gunman contacted police and was taken into custody without incident police believe his weapon jammed soon after he began shooting there was a border patrol officer off duty. at the at the synagogue and as the.

church was leaving the facility he obtained a weapon and engaged in gunfire and shot at ernest did not hit him but there was a piers that did make. it but some bullet holes in the car that arch was driving law enforcement officers say the alleged gunman was under investigation for attempting to set fire to a mosque in a nearby community hate crimes against jews and other minorities in the u.s. have increased in recent years the california attack happened six months to the day after eleven people were killed in a synagogue in pittsburgh one of the worst instances of anti semitic violence in modern u.s. history in the past few weeks three churches where african-americans worship were set alight in louisiana president trump has faced criticism that his record. has encouraged white supremacists he denies the accusations on friday the president

drew criticism for once again saying there were quote fine people among those taking part in the unite the right rally in charlottesville virginia in twenty seventeen which was billed as a racist anti-semitic gathering president trump says there were some there milledge to defend the statue of the confederate pro-slavery general i was talking about feel this way because they felt very strongly about the monument to robert e. lee a great general like you. would want to raise the alleged gunman apparently posted a hate filled anti-semitic screen online on a website popular with the far right just a few moments before the shooting began that document will now be scrutinized by investigators who are also looking for other elements to his motive and the shooting is likely to add to

a growing political debate in the weeks ahead rob reynolds al-jazeera poway california to a special al-jazeera series of reports this week now and thousands off to beslan refugees call india's capital home despite not having access to basic social services many are recent arrivals who fled chinese oppression in tibet this is the second part of the life displaced series so while rahman meeting some of those tibetans in new delhi who have had to adapt to life away from. tibet and culture and dance thrives here every day every hundred meant every step every smile has a meaning generations of tibetans young and old continue to embrace and maintain their cultural heritage it's a reminder of who they are aware that. this is a suburb of the indian capital new delhi tibet disappeared refugees here since one thousand nine hundred sixty one and at that time this was open ground there was nothing here there were no street lights not even at all when we came here we lived

in tents and odd understanding and that was that but then one or two years we can go back to their bidding. indians helped the with food and clothes and as the photographs show the homes were flimsy protecting them from harsh winters and blistering summers were simple brick and wood structures or tents. the community of a few hundred has turned into a few thousand this maze of alleyways is a part of a much larger community on the banks of the river a year but not. the display of symbols flags and bunting defined it has to better the area also attracts tourists to see tibetans at work and understand their issues . have been defined as migraines are not refugees because india hasn't signed up to the one nine hundred fifty one un convention on refugees so tibetans here have been able to access the indian welfare system so they become self-sufficient setting up their own businesses and looking for work independently but for some it's not

enough. under the watchful eye of tibet's spiritual leader the dalai lama students such as tens of beauty are grateful for the educational opportunities offered the young tibetans like me those are the aspiration to go back to your own country and so there is they don't want to settle in someone's day. to settle here. it's an aspiration many of the tibetan community have that is going away as the years pass by or tibetan around the world wherever they are they feel that they are staying somewhere but their real sense of home is their culture and identity and and most importantly driven by our hope that one will go back to tibet which is my home. for the moment new delhi is a hobo away from home for successive generations of tibetans it will continue to be so until they feel they can safely return to tibet so robin al-jazeera you delhi.

and in the next part of this series a life displaced are looking at the thousands of bengali and refugees living in pakistan that is monday on al-jazeera. the roman catholic worshippers in sri lanka have taken the unprecedented step of celebrating sunday mass by watching a televised service normal services in churches have been suspended indefinitely following last sunday's easter bomb attack so the archbishop of colombo led the t.v. service from his official residence with both sri lanka's president and prime minister in attendance disagreed tragedy that happened. do you manage. that human beings and. in the name of god. as he was a privilege in the hills near st anthony's church as well in colombo candles lit to remember the victims security still extremely high following last week's church and

hotel suicide attacks that killed around two hundred sixty people more than one hundred arrests have been made in army and police raids and the government has banned two muslim groups suspected of carrying out the attacks the latest now with mel fernandez has been covering this event for a week now mel how does today compared to last week. camel it's up and down really but the level of security the kind of heightened state of awareness among the police the three armed forces is very much still there this kind of awareness that there might be further attacks we're also hearing that the ongoing cordon search operations are taking place in different cities and towns around sri lanka a lot of activity from the east according to reports we've been getting there are

reports again coming out from that incident the raid on that sort of bomb making house in culminate in the east that. might have been the monster mine that two of his brothers and his father may have died in that raid of course waiting for full confirmation and for the details from the police as well as other parts of the country where hearing that there are these raids and searches as far north in just not down to the south of the country the security forces are bringing in with the police the full gamut of of basically ammunition they've been provided under the emergency regulations come out because they have wider powers to arrest to stop to detain to intervene in terms of the suspects they're dealing with a number of suspects make hearing have been found have been brought in for questioning people that have even been listed and named by police in recent days

the have been found and this is continuing obviously as the investigations progress as further details emerge from those suspects already in custody so very much the security forces and police it's all hands on deck trying to bring in the full force of the law to try and get a handle on the situation for the up the fernandez in colombo. mozambique's government people to seek higher ground as the threat of flooding increases two days after a major cycle and this is the second cycle in six weeks to lash the south african coast the powerful rain has already flooded some areas meanwhile aid workers are trying to bring in supplies they say the damage caused by the cyclon is extensive and at least five people have been killed. these villages have been entirely wiped out they look like they've been run over by a bull days and the people are asking for a special time then they need water purification and they need food so we're going

to work closely with the government we are here in support of i n g c who are coordinating this response to mobilize the supplies needed to get these people assistance as quickly as possible the weather is still bad it is still raining but thankfully the winds have died down so we will be doing everything we can in the next twenty four hours to get people the supplies that they need and to continue to move out to assess areas and make sure that we know the full situation on the ground as to kevin corriveau is here he's going to have a weather update in a moment here on al jazeera and then when we come back one moscow is using soft power to get a foothold in afghanistan. and the m.s.c. makes history for barcelona as they clinched the spanish league title sama has that story a little later. it

has been about three days since we saw landfall with cycling care that we're still seeing a lot of activity in terms of rain across the coastal areas the art of circulation or the remnants of the storm is just inland it as you can see we're still seeing those thunderstorms develop across the region unfortunately are going to be seeing some more rain across the area over the next few days as the storm still the remnants of the storm still dies down but this area does not need any more rain for the recovery in the relief efforts that are going on across the region as we go towards tuesday you can see more rain particularly along the coast all the way down so that is something we will be watching for the potential of localized flooding in the area as well we're also watching what is happening in the biblical because we do have new cycloid that has formed this is site cologne fanny. and it is making its way towards the north now right now it is equivalent to a tropical storm with winds of ninety three kilometers gusting up to about one

hundred twenty make its way to the northwest sri lanka is seeing some of the outer bands of the storm with a few rain showers and clouds across the region now the next few days things are not that severe across much of this region we will be seeing some probably riptides for that eastern section of sri lanka and as the storm makes its way towards the north we're going to be watching the track of the storm because by the end of the week it could make its way towards northern india. sponsored by i can't count.

how many of you change since you were seven. charting the lives of the children of a part of the twenty one years story reflecting at history of dramatic social and political change twenty eight. zero. here on the. top stories a breakthrough in sudan after weeks of deadlock between protesters and military

leaders opposition groups on the army have agreed to form a joint council to discuss a transition to civilian rule. in spain. election there in four years socialists are seeking another term but no party is predicted to win any right. i'm special mass for the victims of the attacks has been held in sri lanka's capital colombo it is estimated now that two hundred sixty people died in those bombings so let's go back to that breakthrough agreement in sudan with us here in the studio pretty mobile who is an assistant professor at the community college of qatar here in doha nice of you to join us. the same thing i asked our correspondent how much of a breakthrough do you see this as given that the two sides they didn't have a lot in common even a week ago i would say. actually the. main concern is that relationship

between the military and civilian and you know that that is for the men in this situation if it is military because of themselves separatists the u.s. . then and then. the. freedom and tint this is and as that ability and also the. sudanese professional association is actually the. men. so the challenge is how. relationship between this is this together and you know the. political. alliance they have the bodies and the military. didn't that you know. because that is the relationship between the game the previous excellent game and the military council is the

current military because so the idea now they start to negotiate these negotiating and the men challenge also is how many numbers. from the civilian numbers and they want that majority of one i mean. it's just when that is fourteen and it's plus one in there already so fortunately and fairly is a seven foot on the military city of atoms and civilian this is video. pause it's seven to it. so the protest movement is saying they want a transition over a period of four years the military saying we can do it in to the protesters the one who actually want longer now that interested me early because i thought well surely they would want to have civilian rule and a new government a new elections quicker but it seems they want to wait longer and make sure that they really get rid of the old remnants do you think that's

a wise move to spend longer on making sure that. when you forty years is too long. as i think it is enough to define or because you know the game destroyed so in this is actually believes that this two years is just like an action plan for that for the for the for so that then it comes back to that trust issue doesn't it because they're not going to trust the military the not going to trust these old elements of the regime to to to fully clear out and in two years. because actually there is mistrust mistrust between civilian and military and we have already said they're caught up. in sudan you know that sudan has a city to city militaries g.m.b. . for me it's very sad to report for us so. i don't think this is the thrust will come. this should be for example some.

point of agreement they have to agree they have to right everything. there is no trust will be between the military and civilian and this is you know this is got bt in. civilian it is it always yeah but in sudan the station is unique. and going to be down to every last detail of every michael thank you so don't try to thank us. now voting has begun in a parliamentary election despite the absence of any opposition politicians actually on the ballots people are choosing from two political parties both loyal to the president's reporting now from katona. this keep it group meets regularly. and when they're finished they like to exercise their minds and this election has given them plenty to think about rove is retired he says he'll be making time on

sunday to vote despite the fact that the choice is limited only candidates from two parties both linked to the president. to. believe what they explained to us on t.v. is that one hundred fifty smaller parties came together to make up two parties and we have seen that to be the case i'm not a politician but what we want to speak is whether it's oppositional pro-government parties i don't care i only want peace. jack is about is a traitor and is unlikely to give up his time to visit a polling station he's disappointed with the current situation. we're already in the election period yet in the city it doesn't feel like there's a real campaign going on there's no competition because two parties are fighting for the same cause so ultimately there's no election because there is no competition. and new electoral code was agreed in the national assembly aimed at reducing the number of political parties five years ago twenty parties

field of candidates but eighty three positions this time only two newly formed parties met all the requirements that both worlds a president. who came to power in twenty sixteen as an independent there are around five million registered voters in any it's never going to know how many will play now because. the political. private overshadowed any faith around real issues making this election more about symbolism and substance. despite protests from opposition parties many been in these just want to get on with their lives julian carney has been selling fabrics in the market for forty years underwood a government can help you. and the government. to. have never seen the situation before but we must accept it. as proud of its democratic tradition since the transition to multi-party politics in one thousand

nine hundred ninety but this election appears to be challenging that with the opposition arguing sunday's vote is not taking place on a level playing field. with that reporters now live in a tunnel at a polling station that's just opened. thank you kamau well voting is going under way for some hours and there's just no escaping the fact that this is a very bizarre very unique situation that the country is facing for the first time now to help me understand is this a bit further a very experienced journalist who's called leon stanley and. i want to hear from you first of all what do you think about how the process is going so far thanks. i think is the unique process in our it's a unique experience you know when it articulated. when we decided to adopt multi-party democracy the first time that we are for an election without the

opposition but. and you out and about you've been talking to your contacts not just in courts only but across the country what's happening in terms of voting among the polling stations and we need your things i would say one major thing is that every waste quiet and i can put in to why it means what it means that people are showing up people are not going to fold at least in cotton wool inside. the actual ability to go in and also in some other part of the country but as far as the northern part of the country is concerned you have when you saw the southern part they were not showing up to the second thing is that this is not the most recent in the pollution is not taking part in addition people who are here in. protest of the message about the most recent so far what do you make of the fact that we've been allowed in that mean people have been have got to this situation through this political process where people are actually taking part in an election that you know they have not

seen before in what can we understand from this. what we can understand is that we are like. right. right in a new chapter of our political history because people are used to go to food and have many choices today talk to the election people just. one choice to running. for president one in power so people have just one choice and we are right you know when you check of our political history in one thousand nine hundred when we were decidedly to move. to democracy we went through during like i was seeing on the big piece of. news that will make it impossible that this. will be her and. it is changing and very briefly what do you think the consequences of that will be. how they will be living in three possible outcomes for the first one is it kind of the population of people if you reduce the interest of

population as far as the political life and the. business of the countries concerned that's one of the second the second is that it's really in the interest people looking we don't trust those they represent a national have a closer look on was what's going on what's happening in a part of the country supports in the current one is that. ok let's with upcoming elections we have a little coalition twenty twenty in the british or less in twenty one people with less with for those initial express our. own thank you very much so very interesting analysis there from the consequence of this. the people actually saying let's now take more interest in politics or possibly just waiting until the next opportunity to make their voice heard at the ballot box. on the elections there

iraq's foreign minister is demanding a formal apology from behind controversial statements made about an influential iraqi shia cleric but it is actually just the latest in a war of words between the two countries has more now from baghdad. on saturday influential shia cleric kim acct other souther who controls the largest shia bloc in iraq's parliament code for a reconciliation between iran and saudi arabia and called for a change of government in bahrain syria and yemen now it's in response to those statements that we saw the bahraini foreign minister described the the influential shia cleric kamal to other assad as behaving like something that was a half man half dog as you can imagine deeply offensive here in the muslim world and as a result of that we saw protests overnight outside the bar in a consulate in najaf in the bahraini embassy here in baghdad it's very important to

put this kind of diplomatic spat in some sort of geopolitical calm context here of course in recent months we've seen an increase in an effort by the u.s. to galvanize pull in its anti iran coalition a coalition that is very much supported by saudi arabia and by bahrain and let's not forget that iraq is a majority shia country that neighbors iran and sees itself very much as being in the center of this wider geo political context other souther up until now has always been so far at least as being quite moderate in his language very keen to point out that iraq is a sovereign nation and that era.