but party of liberation has dolled in 2016 the a.n.c. got to wake up call when for the 1st time since the advent of democracy we received 53 percent in local government elections we had to urgently respond and there is the downward slide as it became crystal clear that there was a disco and didn't with the people the a.n.c. views this returned to office as a 2nd chance and says the confidence of voters is returning but at 66 percent this election had the low was to vote to turn out in south africa's democratic history the number of voters has steadily for the no over the last 3 elections observers say growing apathy and disillusionment with politics may be to blame the a.n.c. has relied on loyal supporters to remain in power and enough of them have given the a.n.c. a 2nd to mandate the main opposition party the democratic alliance or decline in support to only the far left it cannot make freedom fighters with

a 6 percent showing in local elections rose to 10 percent in the general election while a.n.c. members may be breathing a sigh of relief leaders know they have to do more to retain their position as the ruling party for me to milan al-jazeera pretoria south africa. still to come this news. in sudan the poverty that drove people to protest against iran bashir continues with fuel bread and cash running out. empty shelves in havana but who's to blame the united states venezuela. and the man to catch the test clinches polo sponge bob great eater but he tells us. in his word as opposition leader says he wants to open contact with the united states military in an attempt to put more pressure on the country. president

nicolas maduro to step aside when gordo made the announcement at another protest in caracas it was a smaller turnout for gordo in a week that has seen opposition leaders arrested and forced to seek refuge is deputy editor brando has been sent to a military prison one of several to have been stripped of parliamentary immunity isabeau was at that protest in caracas and since update. people have gathered in this last hour to respond to one why those calls for people to demonstrate against the government offer me a little but also to demand the release of the vice president of the opposition controlled national assembly if he got a somewhat i know someone i know was detained last wednesday he had left his office that all his party's headquarters and he was surrounded by intelligence officers he was inside the car and he was taken with the tow truck he is currently being held in a military prison at 3 other congressmen had to seek refuge in foreign embassies here in caracas and another one was forced to leave the country a government of nicolae mother would always saying that the opposition was involved

in a cool a last april the 30 years when we saw one why they are surrounded with members of the military in them in a military base not far away from here. says he won't leave office and has denounced a coup orchestrated by the united states. but people here say they have had enough of the turnout has been small compared to previous demonstrations people here are disenchanted with the lack of results they're struggling with their daily lives with shortages of medicines of food also there are fears among opposition members that more people could lose their lives if the protests end up in violence. then the consensus is that you can do everything that's possible to build a transition to democracy in venezuela with the armed forces with the people in the streets and the international community these are the 3 as we spoke on january the 5th in his speech here why there has said that he's in touch with the united states southern command and that he's discussing any type of cooperation between both

countries he also said that he will continue to push. and protesting on the streets . many in venezuela believe nicole of motherhood is an illegitimate president because he was elected in fraudulent elections last year venezuelans are struggling with hyperinflation and an enormous economic crisis that has forced millions of people of the country and many believe that he. has lost their chances in solving the enormous problems people here face this days. to sudan now a talks between opposition groups in the country's military rulers have become deadlocked it's been a month since president bashir was ousted in a military coup following months of street protests he was replaced by a transitional military council which is resisting demands of the protesters to cede power to civilians one hour from him a morgan who's in the capital khartoum sami mahmoud looks at photos from home and

is reminded of when the word arrived on his doorstep his from the nuba mountains in southern sudan where he saw sudanese where planes dropped bombs on his village some fellow farmers were killed and others were forced to escape. the government forces dropped bombs from m to nobs and other kinds of planes and didn't distinguish fighters from civilians they dropped bombs indiscriminately it was a massacre a genocide against the unarmed people of new bam mountains. the farmer says knowing what the military can do to civilians is what brought him to join the macit in at army headquarters and on the 5 week long sit in followed months of anti-government protests demanding president already bashir and his 30 year alone. he was ousted in april 11th by military commanders a transitional military council has been in control ever since despite demands for civilian rule opposition parties and the 00s at the city are demanding the council transfers power to the nuba mountains area and software defined is just one of

several regions that were in sudan others in the southern region of the nile and the western region for many people have fled those areas due to military operations some led by commanders in the military council sudanese refugees in the capital and who have been able to join the sitting here in front of the army headquarters they want to leave until power is handed to the government. but it's a stalemate in talks between the 2 sides with the military council threatening to hold early elections if no deal is reached within 6 months the opposition coalition says it wants to end the deadlock but won't back down in its demand for civilian government. the legitimacy the military council is leading on comes from the people who forced the military to overthrow the shia so the talk shouldn't be about power sharing or delegating and the military should not want to chair the sovereign council and have authority to appoint members of the transitional government it should hand over power to the people to form

a civilian government. so dan has been under military rule for much of its existence since independence from britain in 1956 protesters here say when they forced the military to overthrow bashir a month ago they discovered how much power they have and know it can also be used for the military to hand over power to the people he will morgan al-jazeera how tom . meanwhile the wait for even the most basic commodities in sudan is reaching crisis point bread and cash are just some of the items in short supply now having to report. more produce queue up for fuel and how to talk seems like these are now a common sight in most parts of the city multis say sometimes they spend the entire day waiting to fill up their vehicles. the fuel crisis shortages of bread and electricity outages are posing a major challenge for the country's transitional military council moderate men on

the run and everything is as before there is no difference between the old regime and the military council we still have shortages and queues for bread and fuel go. back used to for money at banks and the few tele motions that still hold koch under the c.n.n. hit dozens of people wait patiently in line to get money out of the most out of interest of and it may take us up to a month sometimes to withdraw full salaries st government imposed limits it's ramadan and people are fasting it's unfair to wait for this long to collect our own money our own right according to bungle fishbowls it's been taking an average of 6 hours for the few a.t.m.'s that are talked to be emptied. the financial ecosystem they say house quite simply seized up. yet since that immobile over a mile bush in from office the sudanese palm pedley strengthened against the dollar on the black market sulfides it again almost

a 3rd of its value but that is yet to fully convert into law prices for basic commodities. wildlife $100.00 article in prices had begun coming down but have once again risen due to the mess of demand for commodities during ramadan we can only pray that things get better for us the. decision to cut food and fuel subsidies i last year increased discontent with the government and 3 that mass protest in december that ultimately led to hear more from office the protests are still going on the people of the dollar used to making do with a little very hard core stoutly venting redeveloping and coming together to find new ways to make ends meet but effects of years of political and economic isolation they say is threatening to break that determination and push them over the edge of the world does it or how to answer done. so far hasn't been much interaction

between c. dons civilian opposition and the country's armed rebels but according to historian douglas johnson that could change if the stalemate continues so the military says that they must stay in control for the security of the country but the military of the areas where there is insecurity where there has been are fighting in the blue no in the nuba mountains and are sure these conflicts were initiated by the military so the armed opposition unfortunately hasn't been able to coalesce to present a united front but if there is some real violence against demonstrators in the major cities of sudan this might bring the armed opposition and the civilian protestors much closer together and you could see an escalation of violence in other parts of the country. and not necessarily just the terms and not necessarily

in the areas that are currently in conflict with the government. fighting in northwestern syria is intensifying as the government tries to consolidate gains made during an offensive earlier this week the syrian arab army is pushing further into the last major chunk of territory in the country controlled by the opposition but rebel fighters have force them back in other areas along the border of adlib and how are provinces according to monitors the fighting and aerial bombardments of displaced roughly 150000 people who are under from the world food program says syrians and now facing a new enemy poverty. after 8 years of crisis in syria. needs are striking staggeringly high specifically in it live because of the latest escalation we know that there is from 150-002-1800 extension 00 people who have been displaced from north hamma and. the southern parts of it live to the northern

camps where we've been receiving them and providing food assistance and humanitarian aid however more needs to be done since the $2014.00 world food program and the entire u.n. body has been able to reach the north west of syria through our cross border operations via turkey. alone is able to reach just a bit over half a 1000000 people on a routinely and regular basis however we have had to stop some of our assistance to parts in southern italy due to the fighting we've spoken through our partners to some of these families they happened to be the families who were unable to provide transportation for themselves it's a long road from the southern parts of it lip to the northern camps and so they've ended up being stranded we're doing our best to reach them and in fact our partners tell us that as of last evening we've managed to reach all of them with food assistance and shelter it's also important to recognize that after 8 years of

crisis all lot of people are tired it's not just the folks in it live who are now under fire but also the 75 percent of syrians who are living in areas that have been settled but they are facing a new enemy that of poverty. the world health organization says 454 people have now been killed in the ongoing battle for libya's capital tripoli united nations security council has once again called for a ceasefire more than 5 weeks after warlord holly for have to start his campaign to capture the city the red cross says that residential areas on the road to tripoli a turning into battlefields with almost 60000 people displaced aid agencies are warning hospitals are struggling with power cuts and chronic medical shortages. the u.s. and china have agreed to continue trade talks even after president donald trump threatened to impose tariffs on chinese imports the latest round of negotiations

ended in washington with no breakthrough but china's top trade negotiator says the meeting was constructive adrian brown has more from beijing. well the question now of course is the proportionality of china's response china has warned of counter measures without specifying exactly what those measures would be but lou her who has been leading the chinese negotiating team has said the talks are going to continue he said there's been a twist but the talks are not over and they will resume in beijing in a few days time it seems but lou her there's also conceded that there were disagreements during the discussions china wants the united states to lift those tariffs if a deal is done he also admits that one of the other sticking points has been how much china has agreed to purchase from the united states but generally his language so far has been very measured by overdrawn we have come here with sincerity on

behalf of the chinese government are 2 sides of conducted candid and constructive talks we both agree that the 2 sides need to maintain the good momentum of the consultations despite some temporary friction and obstruction we also agreed to meet again in beijing and to continue their consultations in the future. president xi jinping is aware that in the united states president trump has the support of the democrats on this issue and of course this tariff war comes at a time when china's economy is continuing to slow and this is a key year in china as well the communist party is 100 years old and in october it will be 70 years since the founding of the people's republic a year that the chinese leader cannot afford to appear weak particularly during trade disputes with the united states but on the issue of trade this is perhaps the one area where the u.s. and china can do

a deal because china is much more concerned right now over taiwan and the support that the trumpet ministration is giving to the independence leaning leader of the island republic. still to come this news hour al-jazeera speaks to the families of those responsible for the easter sunday attacks in sri lanka. and how education reform became a rallying cry for india's birches. process for the riders take to the rage at the age of 30 talia peter as the action and they have been stage. hello again and welcome back to international weather forecast all across europe we're looking at a very wet scenario that is coming into play particularly down here across the southern part of europe deserve low pressure there watching coming out of western

europe is making its way towards the south and by tomorrow we're looking at some very heavy rain across much of italy across parts of the adriatic now that leads to flooding as we go towards midweek because this area of low pressure is not going to be moving fast any time soon once it gets down across this region we're talking anywhere between $100.00 to possibly $150.00 millimeters of rain across much of this area in conjunction we are going to see some very windy conditions for much of the region so for rome you can be rain but at the temps it's going to be about 20 degrees there up towards the north though winds coming out of the north from berlin about 12 degrees there as you make our way down here across the northwestern part of africa we are going to be seeing some windy conditions no rain with this system you can see here mostly dry across much of the north but because that system is just to the north the you in the central med we're going to be seeing some windy conditions for tunis as well as tripoli here on sunday and as we go towards monday really not looking at much for a change in their magazine you could see some clouds in your forecast at $26.00 degrees and over here towards cairo it is going to be a warm day for you with

a temperature of $27.00 degrees. subzero temperatures stream altitudes. this is where the hard part because of the extraordinary journey from polish to tajikistan braved quite ordinary joining us on what we do high up the there's no oxygen. just to experience life simple pleasures. risking it all in kurdistan on al-jazeera. al-jazeera is there when a story breaks but it's also a day to see what happens next which can be a mushroom on. fire by the barriers for a model barricaded all 7th street that leads to here the middle east now it is all about change people have gone all the fear barrier the mission of the national army

is to fix the entire point complex and i'm just your stories about telling it from the people's perspective what they think is happening in their culture. and again they're minor the top stories here. in yemen who rebels have begun putting fighters away from 3 key ports on the east coast it's part of a united nations backed peace deal but the yemeni government has dismissed it as a toy. separatist forces in pakistan have attacked a hotel in the port city of what are killing and god liberation on his claims responsibility in a city that's a major hub for chinese investment in the country. several run poses african

national congress has secured victory in the south african elections but with the parties of a parliamentary majority to make it more difficult for the relatively new leader to fulfill his promise reforms. cuba has announced widespread rationing of food and other basic goods the commerce minister is blaming the shortages on expanded sanctions from the united states but some economists say a drop in aid coming in from crisis hit venezuela is to blame the torah behalf for . the queue for fresh chicken stretches outside the supermarket in havana poultry and many other items are often in short supply and shoppers have just heard there's been a delivery. they'll have to wait several hours to be served not only that there is now a limit on how much they can buy. for you when they sell items such as chicken sometimes does not much available so we've been told to limit the amount customers can buy.

cuber imports up to 70 percent of its food and is struggling to pay the bills because the government is receiving less aid from venezuela which has its own crisis to deal with cuba's communist leaders are starting rationing meat eggs rice beans and other essential such as so. i thought i wanted to say that i feel dat i think rationing is the only way to stop people hoarding food people need to buy less so that everyone can get and it'll bit like the government says the main reason for the future is because of u.s. sanctions donald trump has reversed the thaw in relations when barack obama was president is. that we depend on imports that come from the united states and that has meant that we've had to look for alternatives to be able to secure the products in the market however our mission is to fracture all the measures the euro as government imposes. and. keep has been under u.s.

economic and for almost 60 years but with the economic and political crisis in socialist venezuela cubans are preparing for more tough times ahead victoria gates and be al jazeera. u.s. president donald trump says he doesn't consider north korea's latest missile tests to be a breach of trust pyongyang conducted 2 sets of missile launches in the space of 5 days last week trump told the american website politico he thinks the missiles are in his words short range and very standard stuff. iran has dismissed the deployment of a u.s. assault ship to the persian gulf as an attempt to intimidate them the u.s.s. arlington is on its way to the middle east to join an aircraft carrier group already making for waters off iran the u.s.s. abraham lincoln passed through the suez canal on thursday the white house says the deployment is to counter the heightened risk of iranian attacks on u.s.

forces and allies or to shanahan is research for though it lowy institute for international policy and a former australian army officer he says the white house his rhetoric is potentially more dangerous than the deployment. i think we have to separate the actual deployments in 10 years of the carry better program they've used to probe planned and perhaps the patriot missile batteries something that is new york separate those from the language so it's emanating from washington so the narrative in washington is a hardening of the approach to iran and choosing nays normally sequenced military deployments to back that up so i think we should be overly concerned at the moment the possibility of a poll or decision makers making the wrong decision based on that is heightened so i think the language surrounding these 2 sees probably more dangers in the

deployments and so in the u.s. it is certainly said and did talk about ramping up the pressure and it's not only. to do to pressure from announcing these deployments is going something more than they probably are but the thing that has been ramped up has brain the economic purchase we've seen not very coming out of the j.c. but also more recently. the waving or the citation of the way these 4 iranian oil exports are now sensation in the in tar the iranian revolutionary guard corps and very recently would say no sanctions against the iranians still now remain image issues so. i think people probably paid too much tension to this military aspect and not attention to the economic aspect which is probably where the where the hood has been kill my stain me 3 of the 4 hostages rescued by french soldiers in the west african nation of booking a fast so arrived in problems the hostages from province and south korea were met

by french president in one year in a call at a military air base on the outskirts of paris. thousands of protesters in albania have been out on the streets once again demanding prime minister eddie rather step down and he threw fire bombs at the socialist party headquarters in the capital tirana a center right opposition accuses a government of corruption and links to organized crime denies the allegations and or so far resisted efforts to remove him. akon court has given permission for a d.n.a. test to be carried out on the remains of one of the suicide bombers in the easter sunday attacks there tempting to confirm if a suspected ringleader mohammed's are on was one of the bombers or if he's still alive the attacks which killed more than 250 people have led to shop divisions in some communities now fernando's has been talking to some of the relatives of the people involved in planning and carrying out the bombings. moment with said his

mother mother the struggle to explain what happened. on easter sunday hoarders the emotions actually i don't have words because. the building is gone. and the thing is gone she is pregnant and she has to keep. his sister who's in custody was married to ahmed lib a bomb but. police killed me as well he was defending people involved in the attacks in this safe house 5 days after the easter sunday bombings twin creators formed by some of the explosions to rip through this house inside the mouth of the in cullman in there were 15 people including 6 children who were killed here authorities say that if the safe house hadn't been found there's no telling as to the damage the people here could have caused yes his family paints a different picture of the man. here is really kind of everybody.

everybody knows in carpentry is a very kind of a glowing. piece of mine and he has a very good connection with his family and. i don't know what was his mind i think actually he has. brainwashed. some people doesn't think. a number of those involved in the attacks were related and lived in this street to cut down pretty all within a few 100 meters of each other we also met the mother in law of one of the easter sunday bombers in a twist of fate her daughter was killed in the sign the battle to read a sister in law of another bomber also spoke to us they both said they did not know the plot. mohammad zahir and seen here just before he detonated his bomb at the

shangri-la hotel was the leader of a local group linked to i still police told al-jazeera that his wife who survived the signed amount of the raid is being questioned by investigators with advice from doctors who are treating her. she has admitted to being among this group of 3 women buying clothing at this department store a few weeks before the attack members of the muslim community here say the killers have no place among them i would. dare not muslims those involved are not muslims we have proved that we didn't accept their bodies is no connection between islam and suicide and i would. the relatives of the killers say they did not nor their intentions not everyone here believes them but lankans will now have to find a way to move forward without creating further division in their fernandez al-jazeera east in sri lanka. in hong kong politicians have come to blows over the

government's bid to allow extradition to mainland china. the anger over the controversial plans boiled over in the city's parliament pretty much as if politicians tried to seize the microphone and stop their pro-choice counterparts from controlling the meeting changing the law would allow suspected criminals to face nonspecific national security charges in china. the south. india's ongoing general election is the largest democratic vote in history with 900000000 people eligible to vote it's also one of the longest lasting some 5 and a half weeks it's the capital territory delis turn to vote on sunday and so how raman reports the local ruling party is going to repeat its success on a parliamentary level by campaigning for education reform. like many homes across

india a man out on a card is helping his children with their reading writing and arithmetic mahomedan are sent to horror wants taught in a private school that parents believe that state schools were not up to the job until now their father is a local politician for the aam aadmi party which has promised to improve state education in india's capital region but many stung me when i ask my children about the change they say government school teachers are teaching us better than the private schools private school teachers are very qualified they are paid less our teachers are more qualified and i get to know this from the children many. many government run schools in other states look like this badly in need of repair very little furniture and no support materials it's not easy to get a good education in conditions like these. one a few parents in delhi would send their children to state schools for the same reason but a major investment in schools has seen the modern classrooms emerge with new

equipment and sporting facilities that have attracted more parents back to the state system in order to develop it with our situation was pathetic we never wanted to step in sight now the building is amazing the infrastructure is great the number of teachers in the school is also increasing that's why we are getting our children admitted to the government schools here set up the system but lacking then diet can be a dishy marlena is credited with turning delhi schools around she was brought in as a senior advisor to the state's ruling party she's now contesting a parliamentary seat in delhi and hopes the party's education policy will get her votes and people are now beginning to talk about the fact that in just 40 years of such a transformation can happen then why did it not happen in 20 years before that and this is the 1st time this question is that i think in their mind yes government schools can be involved yes government hospitals can be improved and therefore we need the parties who believe in the this is not. i have fallen from last 5

years but the project foundation which is a non-governmental agency says the focus needs to be on those who educate the children who are they having. an indian friend but they. all need to call you do often. in the quality of education is more important as compared to other aspects educational reforms in delhi being debated across the country but the need for reform and change is because change is here a big associated with a smaller regional party more responsive to change many voters are asking what how the stop list parties started in their state so al-jazeera delhi. so ahead on the news hour an exhibition in south korea displays an electric future of the car industry. and sport a place in the final of the madrid open is up for grabs details.

once welcomed now fear. dividing a nation. al-jazeera explores germany's long term economic strategy of pursuing immigrants from the arab world i feel more gentle and syrian the future how much money does a richer get those people and put the. one german and american the new germans on al-jazeera. russia has jeopardized the united states' security interests we know what you are doing and you will not succeed perceptions from the outside looking. into the picture from the inside. i think russia's foreign policy is too soft to keep russian girls he'll be a treat not.