the u.s. is always of interest to people around the world people pay attention to what going here now does it is very good to bring the news to the world from. all. this is al jazeera. welcome to this al-jazeera news hour and how he'd see an endo home coming up. a toy soldier shoots and kills several people before taking more hostages in a shopping mall. a number of deaths from china's coronavirus on track to surpass the sars outbreak it spread to 25 countries. inside a ghost town in northern syria while an uneasy standoff remains between turkish and

syrian forces. also irish prime minister leo varadkar fights for reelection but poll suggests walters a target him and the 2 dominant forcings. and in sports arena williams makes a winning return to bad cop action after a 5 year absence the american secures her 14th straight win if that. in. no ties soldier has shot at least 12 people dance and has now taken hostages inside a shopping mall northeast of bangkok. video posted on social media shows people running from the mall in the city correlates witnesses say the shooter has an assault rifle police and military units

have long known the surrounding area let's get the latest now from wayne hay he joins us live from bangkok when just bring us up to speed on the latest developments what more can you tell us about this attack. either way to the south end doha average just seeing if you could bring us up to date it's on the latest is that situation still ongoing. where periods of lost our correspondent when he will come back to the stories soon as we can. actually we may we may have been back again when we're just looking to get the latest on that situation is it still an active situation at this stage what more can you tell us about the attack. yes it certainly is

still evolving this is all happening as you mentioned the city of course or not as it's also known fairly large city one of the largest in thailand about 250 kilometers to the northeast of the capital bangkok from what we understand this 1st started around 6 or 7 hours ago so mid afternoon local time on an army base about 20 kilometers outside the center of that city and that is where the 1st shooting took place and again according to reports this serving member of the thai army believed to have shot and killed a superior officer at least 2 others also on the army base before he stole an army vehicle several more weapons as well many rounds of ammunition and then left the army base driving towards the city center towards that shopping mall where we see the situation still unfolding as he was going along the road appears as if he has

shot people as he went that current death toll as you mentioned at least 12 and then late in the afternoon early evening he went inside the shopping mall there is quite a lot of video footage being circulated on social media of what appears to be the scene outside that mall many rounds of gunfire appearing to come from within the shopping mall itself and he is still in there according to police the police confirming there are hostages being kept by the gunman inside the mall and there are other people also trapped in there who seemingly can't get out the police and the military have the entire area around the shopping mall now under lockdown they are urging people who live in the area to stay indoors certainly stay well clear of the shopping mall itself again when this unfolded late in the afternoon early in the evening on saturday it would have been very very busy inside that shopping mall very much the center the heart of the city again this. situation still unfolding we

haven't heard much from the police or the government as yet we did hear from the prime minister a statement issued issuing condolences to the families of those killed certainly not going into details about the incident just yet and the thai health minister has also issued a statement urging people in that city to go to the local hospital to donate blood so clearly a sign there that there are many people wounded as well and the possibility that the death toll could rise there is indeed to see is very serious and must be incredibly distressing for those courts are in this just give us a sense of having usual with type of situation is in thailand. would certainly shootings on this scale again at least 12 people killed at the moment the possibility that could go higher is very unusual a mass shootings don't happen very often in thailand certainly gun crime is very common here access to guns is fairly easy although the laws are in place that make

it it is very strict in terms of having the appropriate licenses and permissions to have a weapon and if you are found to be in position of one without having those licenses then there are very lengthy jail terms of found guilty but they are available on the black market many people have guns in thailand in effect the homicide rate as a result of gun violence is comparable to the united states we do see a lot of mass shootings killings in the 3 southern provinces of thailand in fact that's in recent years the only place where they have occurred on this scale and that is for a completely different reason that is where we have a separatist movement led by armed islamic groups who have been fighting for years for independence or greater autonomy from thailand which of course is predominately buddhist so many met shootings in the streets of most provinces but in general in other places in thailand this i have to say is fairly unusual ok. the latest on

that attack in thailand went thanks for joining us there live from bangkok. now after a brief response in china the rates of new corona virus infections is once again on the rise the number of people killed is on track to surpass the summer's total some 17 years ago at least 723 chinese have died from the new virus in addition an american woman and a man from japan but with passed away in one where the outbreak started it's now hong kong has begun a 2 week mandatory quarantine for all arrivals from mainland china while in japan thousands of cruise ship passengers remain in quarantine doctors in the port of yokohama have confirmed 64 cases on board katrina you reports from beijing. the owners of this luxury cruise ship describe it as

a home away from home and for those on board there's now no choice about 3700 people on the diamond princess are being quarantined for at least 2 weeks after japan's yokohama put that's after more than 60 tested positive for corona virus we are all instructed to stay in our own cabin. you know that people from the insurer. and allowed up there on yak and they may have had a chance to interact although they've been instructed they have meter or from each other so it's hard to read. the mood of the other passengers without a contact with them i see you know some people are very worried on the internet and social media. japan is already dealing with cases of the virus and has imposed new border controls to stop it spreading it turned away another cruise ship that had sailed from china. the world health organization says there's no need for alarm there's over 3700 people in crew and this is after extensive searching for cases

and testing and testing of many many people so if i don't get my math wrong that's that's less than 2 percent of people so. it's still a bad it's not a great number it does show the virus has spread in the ship but again let's be careful here not to overreact the outbreak that began in china has spread to at least 25 countries in kazakhstan there were reports of violence between cars and the ethnic quake meeting over fears of coronavirus chinese restaurants and businesses have reportedly been burned down to the pool has increased its alert level after new cases of corona virus not linked to previous infections or travel to china ported. people are rushing to supermarkets to stock up on food and essential goods and around the world more people are buying masks and what's called personal protective equipment or people pushing up prices and creating shortages the world is facing severe disruption in the market for personal for president and

protective equipment the mondays have $200.00 times higher than normal and prizes that up to 20 times higher. the un agency says more than 80 percent of corona virus cases globally reported can be considered mild and is calling for nations to work together to fight the outbreak in ruhani a 2nd emergency hospital with beds for 1600 coronavirus patients has been opened china's president xi jinping has declared what he calls a people's war on the virus saying no effort is being spared in fighting the epidemic but there is growing criticism of the chinese government's handling of the crisis social media is flooded with complaints and attempts by police and other government officials to nischelle cover up the outbreak then silencing the doctors who 1st sounded the alarm for china's leaders this is increasingly a battle on 2 fronts against the virus itself and the discontent it sparked katrina

you al-jazeera dating russian and turkish delegates are missing to discuss fighting in syria syrian activists say turkey setting up new i posts in the last rebel held area of if it comes the syrian government forces continue to advance on the province parts of the reports from inside syria turkey is determined to stop that advance syrian government forces in the suburbs of surat camp hours before distributed town well after fierce fighting with the syrian rebel defenders . saraki upsets at the junction of 2 major highways and was seen as a major obstacle in regaining control of the province one 3rd of which is now under syrian government control. turkey has warned program ask us forces to back off

no arkie unfortunately the syrian regime does not believe in political process and thinks peace can only be possible by a military solution and i have to say they are wrong about this they have stepped up their aggression. turkey has 12 military observation posts positioned around the globe the escalation zone agreed with russia and iran in 2017 but 9 of them have been surrounded by advancing syrian government forces to protect and stop the advance troop yes stablished for more post which ended up in direct clashes between the turkish and syrian army's solve little mission with our focus on the missed you know cultural cringe to get tax responded to within the scope of such offense from now on any kind of attack will be responded to appropriately and observation post will continue their duties the syrian government has intensified its attacks since last november and backed by russia has targeted civilians this triggered

a new way of a migration with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the violence in the 9 year long civil war in syria that was where the displaced could find refuge but it live said the center is now under threat as the syrian government forces captured so rocket and just 7 kilometers away seen up a solo al-jazeera bubble howa northwestern syria well how is life for us in istanbul wouldn't cross. a crucial meeting at a very precarious time for russia and turkey. indeed had another meeting it has been under way form or almost 2 hours top diplomats from russia and turkey along with military officers have been discussing ways to deescalate the mounting tension in the province of live now turkey has been frustrated over the last few days over the way described as lack of cooperation from russia and he says

that russia has not been doing what it should be according to terms of the deal signed in 2018 to rein in. president bashar al assad's forces not to move into demilitarized zone where the turkey is doing at the same time which looks like an attempt to put more pressure on russia this sending more reinforcements establishing a new outpost in the southern askers of the city of particularly in the last storm and also around tough tenez which looks like they are trying to prevent the syrian government for moving from all the way to words to words the city of and has repeatedly said over the last few days that if the syrian army does not put out from the area by the end of february of it decides to continue the push it will be met by force. and hash and hash that turkey sending reinforcements is it

not but this seems to be allowing syrian troops to take over or at least be at its observation posts where there's a great deal of disagreement about the whole idea of the observation post now in italy because the established in 2018 with the game too. prevent any exit of civilians into turkey things have changed on the ground now but said has gained control over a bar that's our man not a man and he says he's determined to take over the city we're talking about almost $4000000.00 civilians trapped in those areas but this time those civilians have absolutely nowhere to go they won't be able to cross into turkey because turkey blocked the border seal the borders and this is something which is going to create a massive humanitarian situation and this explains why the u.n.

is also concerned it says that this could be the only opportunity presented for the russians and for the turks to set aside their differences and negotiate the terms of a new deal iran is now saying that he is willing to mediate between the rock which when turkey and syria but if that does not work if the delegations from both parties fail to agree in the potential for a full blown with a confrontation is going to further increase. ok lifers in istanbul thank you very much in seeds what's more still to come on the al-jazeera news our including a report from a refugee camp in lebanon where bitterly cold winter weather is adding to the misery of syrians living there. exacting revenge donald trump fires chain witnesses who testified against him during the impeachment inquiry. and in sports

a new start for the league trying to win over american football fans. here in chief antonio caetera says they're doing everything possible to secure a lasting cease fire in libya and he's again called on outside powers to stop interfering in the conflict could terrace has been speaking ahead of a meeting of african union leaders in ethiopia. example with regards to libya it's evident the crisis has been seriously aggravated by the presence of forces and equipment from many other countries in clear violation of the mandate of the security council i think we have to reestablish the sovereignty of international law and the conditions in which the decisions of the security council could be implemented and that countries should understand that their engagement to promote certain conflicts only increases the potential for action by terrorist

groups. as there is mohammad reports now on how the fighting in libya is affecting other countries across the region. libya is in a high strategic location it boasts the largest oil reserves in africa it commands desert and sea roads which african migrants use in their tens of thousands each year to reach western europe and since war broke out there several years ago armed groups have taken hold some of whom are linked directly or indirectly to al-qaeda isom all ingredients that make it a challenging issue to discuss when african union leaders meet in the ethiopian capital addis ababa libya is an african country but the war that's been ripping it apart for years is neither entirely libyan nor african factions such as the self declared libyan national army led by the warlord holly to have tarred and other groups and support from foreign countries. have to with the help of the united arab emirates russia egypt and even file some want others is fighting to remove the u.s.

and recognize the government in tripoli he launched his latest campaign from eastern libya early last year and has already captured large areas including the city of sirte in the north but his attempts to take the capital tripoli have so far failed it's in this climate that african leaders must find a road for themselves a you has no troops in libya to enforce peace and as far as negotiations are concerned it's countries like germany that are leading the talks a you high committee on libya under the leadership of congress president denny suskind we're so was among the last to be invited to the violin summit on libya in january and talks both in berlin and in moscow hardly of the little results that female this year is a u.s. summit in addis ababa is silencing the guns and to do that in libya african leaders will need to bring new ideas to the table as well i've not seen mohamad fall here

is an added savable where the african union summit is being held more it's not just libya they're also discussing sudan. that's right he antonio guterres the secretary general of the united nations also mentioned sudan and he at the beginning he big he began with south sudan praising the efforts to bring about some resolution about conservation there and then he talked about the republic of sudan saying that it's high time to remove it from the list of sanctions of the list of 6 states possible sponsors of terrorism listen to his words on that respect. yeah i reaffirm that it is time for sudan to be removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism and i call on the international community to help sit down in its efforts to meet its current challenges. this also talked about cooperation and

solidarity with africa he said he's coming here. in the he's bringing a central message of solidarity and support to the african union he's aware of the complaints here within africa with regards to what's been perceived marginalization of the united nations or the international community in terms of what's going on in libya the african union believing that they should be given a greater role in that respect he mentioned the will of the united nations to exactly do that and he said that from now on the african union will be invited to have a permanent representation with the united nations their presentation in libya he also asked the african union to join efforts with the united nations in terms of peacekeeping in terms of combating terrorism and he called for greater support from the international by the international community to peace efforts and the war on terrorism in africa he also mentioned climate change and he said that the african

continent is bearing the brunt of climate change of the bad consequences of climate change even though africa contributes the least to polluting the planet and he says in that respect international community should allocate huge funds to africans to help them raise up the level of their it is ileus in terms of combating climate change and this is only one of many issues you mentioned with regard to the cooperation that's going to develop between africa in terms of represented by the african union and the united nations in the weeks and months and years to come ok mohamed fadel thank you very much indeed for bringing us up to date that avatars. now irish voters frustrated with economic austerity and a housing shortage or choosing their next prime minister poll suggests a shift away from the over at kurz governing finish and the opposition uniform which have dominated politics since independence all support

a surge for the center left ssion fame long shown by the mainstream parties because of its links to the ira let's get more now from the barker who joins us live from dublin and the if by all accounts this is shaping up to be a very close election. yes absolutely if the polls are to be believed there could be a major upset in this year's election largely because for as long as many people can remember one of 2 parties either feel again off enough or has dominated irish politics but this year things could be very different indeed shouldn't fane as you mentioned there is a party on the political left of the spectrum has been making significant gains largely because finagle has been accused of failing to live up to expectations when it comes to solving importantly critical issues here the housing crisis homelessness and also the soaring costs of child care to name

a few the reality is that nobody can really call their selection at this stage delta plea coalitions will be need to be formed but the question is who will partner up with who well for more on this i'm joined by a daughter. who's written extensively about irish politics he's director of research at dublin city university school of law thank you very much for joining us so it looks very much as if the country could be heading towards something of a political shake up what would it mean for ireland for shit in fame to potentially have a foothold in government it will be transformational really because since the beginning . of the state really for the last century irish politics has been a 2 horse race between funa fall and female so there's never been any combination of parties other than those 2 leading a government and they've never coalesced even though there are share of the vote has dwindled from 80 percent collectively in the 1980 s. to about 40 percent likely today so should faine are the big winners in this

election because they've come from being a minor party to now a party that is now potentially i think cost of getting perhaps even the largest share of the vote and i think that's reflected in the weather here to tape very blustery where i think we're feeling the winds of change here in our times and given given shouldn't fane somewhat 40 history in relation to the troubles in northern ireland the regarded very much as being the political wing of the ira that the republican paramilitary group all people put paid to overlook that now what's going on well the polls would suggest you know after all the good friday agreement was signed over 20 years ago i huge part of the electorate now cannot remember when the troubles were in existence so even though i should think support has risen during this campaign fall if you know gale have tried to bring up issues that are more you might say from the past in sion feigns pass they haven't really gained traction from the electorate and what's happening is the chin fans voters if opinion polls are to believe has doubled during this campaign it's so robert the

increase that even should fain have underestimated it so they haven't got enough candidates running in this election actually to fully capitalize on us what specifically has the female government done wrong they've been in power for the past 9 years leo veronica's been out a very public. been a very public stage internationally that is particular when it comes to bricks and negotiations but he seems to have missed the mark here at home was going wrong for him well a few things one is that they went to the electorate with the notion that briggs and the economy would there it would be their jewel kind of pitch and it didn't resonate simply breaks it isn't a divisive issue here as it is in the united kingdom they had an all party consensus behind their negotiating strategy so they weren't going to monopolize the divisions from doing well on brags that. in terms of the economy it's only evenly distributed and people don't feel the effects of the recovery many people housing health care in crisis so ultimately feel again lost the last election in 2016 they went from 76 to 51 seats in 2060 they were artificially kept in power by simply

being the largest party but after 9 years in power people are feeling it's time for change ok got to go thank you very much the winds of change are definitely playing well believe it or not there isn't just the election taking place here in iowa there is also a major rugby match taking place very nearby here with ireland playing against wales whether it be on the pitch or at the ballot box whatever happens here today will no doubt resonates across the whole country ok. thank you very much. self living is a heads. and tell article is so than it's ever been what does that mean for rising sea levels plus. the stories of beit lahia we are told by the most delicious in the world i'm stephanie decker in the gaza strip and we'll have this story coming up. and in sports why that was a hit and miss starts a new football. hello

again or welcome back to in a national weather forecast well some good news here across the eastern part of the mediterranean the big storm system is finally making its way out now we saw a lot of problems in terms of snow across turkey we will still see some residual snow pushing into the caspian as well down across much of the west to middle east we're talking about temperatures still quite low for this area so damascus only a high here on sunday of 5 jerusalem of 6 and by the time we get to monday slowly creeping back up in terms of those temperatures but still quite cloudy across much of the region here in doha though expect to see a warm day as we go towards sunday we do expect to see $27.00 degrees clouds in the forecast by the evening timeframe it is going to be windy we could be seeing some blowing dust as well by the time we get towards monday the winds still are in the

forecast temperature dropping to 20 but monday and into tuesday it is going to be 19 as the forecast high there well across parts of libya as well as into egypt of course the winds have died down that's the good news there we're still seeing some clouds across much of the area so for cairo expect to see a cloudy day at 16 dropping to 15 by the time we go towards monday and then here across parts of south africa it is going to be the heavy showers if a cape town expect to see a temperature of $28.00 degrees. from fossil fuels to modern day renewables as societies develop the energy demands increase requiring innovative solutions to meet such demands as a global power development of investment company nebraska power is uniquely positioned to deliver against these demands we provide business growth promote social economic benefits and provide innovative safe and environmentally sound

energy solutions for future generations not brushed past pioneering future energy frank assessments the one good thing about these bushfires is that it's really wiping out the politics of climate change informed opinions economy i think is actually what's keeping donald trump afloat right now critical debate sequel on posters going to even know what the law is all 'd about this argument is astonishingly patronize a in-depth analysis of the day's headlines this is the beginning of the new iraq of a new conscious and aware youth about stood up against an ethnic sectarian kota inside story on al-jazeera. order.

this is al jazeera a quick reminder of the headlines this hour a soldier is holding people hostage in a shopping mall in thailand after shooting dead at least 20 people the victims in the north the city of caracas include the soldiers commanding officer. the number of deaths from china's coronavirus is on track to surpass the sars outbreak at least $722.00 chinese have died after a brief rest in china the rate of new infections is again increase in. russia and turkish delegates are meeting to discuss the fighting in syria on friday turkish armored vehicles and tanks entered the last rebel held area syrian activists say turkey is setting up and syrian government forces continue to advance on the province. where winter weather has worsens conditions for syrians living in a refugee camp in lebanon's bekaa valley it comes as the ongoing economic crisis in

lebanon is having a severe impact on humanitarian programs a shortage of funds and means fewer families are receiving supports this year on says it is sad hideouts has more from the syrian refugee camp in the back of ali. they're all about probably 300 people living in this refugee camp it's one of many and back of ali. a few of them they said that the conditions are so harshly would prefer to die now these are people who have left the war in syria some of them and of been here for years and the conditions are getting harder and harder each year funding has been cut for you and it's the are. an economic crisis is made life so much harder and they've also received a lot of hostility from the lebanese government as well as some local nice people who feel that they have put an extra strain on the economic crisis where lebanese themselves are suffering from so there's about a quite close to a 1000000 syrian refugees here which is

a large number and 3 quarters of those syrian refugees live under below the poverty line the shortage of dollars as well has affected some of the money that they've received through cash aid from you know you see also the conditions have been very tough here and the lebanese government just a couple of days ago in their policy statement have made it clear that a lot of them have to return back home they believe safe for them now here is president donald trump is defending his decision to fire 2 key witnesses in his impeachment inquiry the ambassador to the european union gordon sunburns was recalled just hours after lieutenant commander lieutenant colonel alexander ven was a scorching from the white house both men were critical of president trump's handling of military aid to ukraine wife to mike hanna in washington shortly but 1st as the reports. gordon sunland was considered

a close ally of president trump's the 61 year old businessman gave trump's inauguration committee a $1000000.00 became ambassador to the european union and is said to have had the president's number on speed dial all that changed after someone's explosive testimony to the president's handling of military aid to ukraine was there a quid pro quo as i testified previously with regard to the requested white house call and the white house meeting the answer is yes another pivotal witness in the impeachment korean to president trump was lieutenant colonel alexander that man was a highly decorated soldier an expert on ukraine been man's testimony was said to have been breached the president is improper for the president of the united states to demand a foreign government investigate a u.s. citizen and a political opponent it was also clear that if you create pursued an investigation into the 2016 elections the bidens and it would be interpreted as a parson play. on friday lieutenant colonel veteran and his twin brother

a lawyer at the national security council risk order from the white house by officials both have been reassigned just hours after the president commented on the lieutenant colonel well i'm not happy with this because supposedly happy with the fact that it is midnight in washington senior figures in the democratic party reacted angrily to the firings adam schiff who took a lead role in the president's impeachment tweeted lieutenant colonel that man did his job as a soldier in iraq he received a purple heart then he displayed another rare form of bravery moral courage he complied with a subpoena and told the truth he upheld his oath when others did not. one of the president's senior adviser said the firing sent a clear message that not backing the commander in chief will not be tolerated following the impeachment inquiry in his acquittal it seems that president trump is bent on retribution that means lawyer released a statement saying the most powerful man in the world boyd by the silent pliable

and complicit as decided to exact his revenge it came as no surprise to many that 2 key witnesses in what president trump called a hoax and now gone the question is who's next and a gallacher al jazeera washington let's get more now from mike hanna who joins us live from washington d.c. mike this is a pretty furious reaction to the dismissal of sunburnt and then president tom has been tweeting i just talk a serious reaction. well very interesting is that president trump in the course of the morning was tweeting about the democratic debates that happened last night it's only within the last hour that his subject has changed and he is defense did himself ferociously against the massive criticism of his decision to fire both. men as well as donald sutherland as we heard in andy gallagher's report in the last hour he's tweeted along the following lines fake news at c.n.n. and m s n b c he means keep talking about in inverted commas liftin and colonel than as

though i should think only about how wonderful he was actually i don't know him never spoke to him or met him i don't believe but he was very insubordinate reported contents of my perfectly correctly and he continues was given a horrendous report by his superior the man he reported to who publicly stated that been had problems of judgment during to the chain of command and leaking information in other words out that last part of the tweet they're quoting some person allegedly in command of the men and no record of any criticism of the record in fact he was given a clean bill of health as were the norm numerous citations in his military career and indeed in his work on the national security council but this tweet is referring to alexander been there again his twin brother was also walked out on debility escort from the white house and a secret service escort so certainly there is no denial from the president that

this was a revenge move and this has certain problems with it any ordinary citizen would be guilty of a crime should they carry out retaliation for somebody who is reported in their view misdemeanors this is an issue with the president who would no doubt claim executive privilege on this as on so many other things ok mike hanna live from washington d.c. thank you very much indeed. now democratic party candidates in the united states are hoping to secure the presidential nomination have held their latest t.v. faceoff in new hampshire before next week's primary there from spain to british judge and bernie sanders faced criticism from rivals in the a.b.c. news debates or a burden munley as more 4 days from now the voters here in new hampshire will weigh in 7 democratic hopefuls head to head in the hope to convince new hampshire to vote for them and she's this primary the debate started with messages of unity and the

matter who wins this day i'm playing we're all going to stand together. but it didn't take long for the presidential hopefuls to start trading barbs 38 year old pete judge was singled out for his perceived lack of experience he was ready for the criticism if you're looking for the person with the most years of washington establishment experience under their belt you've got your candidate and of of course it's not me the perspective i'm bringing is that of somebody whose life has been shaped. by the decisions that are made in those big white buildings in washington d.c. and when sun does address social welfare issues you raise the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour was not going to give tax breaks to billionaires foma vice president joe biden questioned whether the money would come from it will cost more than the entire the entire federal budget we spend now when questioned on the impeachment proceedings biden prompted a standing ovation mcconnell alexandre didn't mention

a key witness to the trial and fired by trump stand up and clap for veterans can't you guys. you know you i know a lot of these candidates the answer is do or die well but your doesn't break in the top 4 here she's out of this race if war finishes a distant 3rd again she's in very bad shape and if biden isn't very close to the top he's really really her own foreign policy and but he just was asked if you would make the same decision as trump in killing me again in general cause some sort of money in iraq that if we learned nothing else from the war in iraq it's that taking out a bad guy is not a good idea if you do not know what you are doing you cannot go around saying you're a bad guy we're going to assassinate you. and then you're going to have if that happens you're opening the door to international. to say it's primary could

very well decide on who stays in the race. this was an opportunity for the hopefuls to make their case with saunders a british g.-h. seen as the one to beat. manly out to 0. forcing house finished for a regional election in the indian state of delhi the elections being seen as a test for the national government after weeks of often violent protests against a new citizenship law so if the largest process were in new delhi where elizabeth purana reports. determines to have their say millions in india's capital region headed to polling stations after a bitterly fought campaign. from the very old to 1st time voters they told al jazeera what matters to them i think we really need to shift. from religion from coming. from china. for that matter and board for

a body that was. talking about welfare and not about. saying it was entity. to be prime minister not in the modi and has bought at the party of b j p have campaigned to end weeks of widespread protests against the citizenship law including in the shooting bad neighborhood to be j.p. politicians were banned from campaigning after comparing protesters to rapists and murderers saying the demonstrators were determined to make india a muslim country. another politician said protestors should be shot they were 2 shooting incidents against protesters in one week after those comments were made a b j p election candidate said protestors a disrupting everyday life here every year. there is an risk you know we want peace we want harmony because development can only be done if there is entirely peace in your city in your country. the 2 time chief minister of delhi ivan kejriwal from

the common man party focused its campaign on development education and health care which. i'm hopeful that the delhi public will vote on the work that we've done and that the common man party can form the government here for the 3rd time analysts say the alternative could lead to more protests but the fear is that if the b.b. comes to power in delhi the protest and for the other protests in different parts of the country would be uprooted and so what we are stating at this some more while is some more tension in the coming days so let's see how it plays out. the election result is due to be announced on tuesday the b j p hasn't been in power in delhi for 22 years the result will indicate whether its nationalist campaign has paid off or if voters are giving the activist arvind kejriwal the search term an office elizabeth for on al-jazeera. now antartica has just had its hottest se ever recorded temperature rules to $18.00

degrees celsius at an archon time research base now it's on the antarctic peninsula just saying not towards south america and it's warmed much faster than the global average over the past 50 years because in the glaciers are to shrink by 87 percent scientists fear global warming will eventually the since a great the ice sheet across the entire south pole amounts will cause fear levels worldwide to rise by at least 3 meters. it's among the fastest warming regions of the planet we hear a lot about the arctic but you know this particular part of the antarctic an influence is warming very quickly over the past 50 years it's warmed almost 3 degrees celsius the amount of ice lost annually from the antarctic ice sheet increased at least 6 fold between 10792073 more

forewarning sobre placed bushfire alerts in south eastern australia rain in new south wales in some of the heaviest in almost 20 years that are imports helping to extinguish some brush fires which have been burning there for months. now at strawberry harvest time for farmers in gaza with most of the berries heading to consumers in the occupied west bank but israel's blockade means getting them there is a challenge stephanie decker reports from beit lahiya in the northern gaza strip. it's warmer in here than alcide on this crisp february morning. the sweet smell of ripe stew a breeze fills the greenhouse abu sami's family has been farming this land for generations this is because they're here. and 82 years old abu sami doesn't only have a lifetime of farming knowledge but is also witness the constant change of this political

landscape going on well so when. we used to sell our product in israel when we were under israeli occupation but says 20061 how much took over and israeli imposed the blockade we can't sell in the israeli market so farmers income has decreased a lot now the main market for gaza store breeze is the occupied west bank around an hour's drive from here before the philippine filmy oh issue in filmy year israeli product compete with us even in the west bank because my product takes days to get there as it has to follow certain look to procedures while israeli produce takes just a few hours to reach the market the client prefers freshly picked rather than mine and it's loses 20 percent of quality along the store. this umbrella. certain fertilizes a ban by israel citing security reasons and that too we're told is affecting the quality of the strawberries but despite that things are moving forward now this is

a relatively new way of growing stories they started having them around 3 years ago and farmers are telling us that they get around 3 times more strawberries using this technique rather than just keeping them in the ground and there's less griscom of disease because they're protected by the greenhouse and also for from the ground this hanging method also maximizes the use of space and it's also pretty while we're filming a group of visitors arrive but i have not heard that silvio are those who are with you are i think sufism vigilance and i will upload them to social media i did not know that we have these problems they're fantastic and i don't think many people know about it i think we should publicize this and increase awareness of the good things we have. but the restrictions of the blockade are felt in every layer of this farming process and there is the never ending cycle of escalation between israel and the various armed groups here. the darkest period in our lives after 2006 the siege is really tough and it's meant all our movements

it affects every part of our lives and our fortunately things are getting worse you simply cannot predict today what will happen tomorrow. perhaps a small response is the reliable cycle of nature the changing seasons and the harvest they bring and if you manage to drown out the constant buzzing of the israeli drone in the sky you could just about imagine a very different reality stephanie decker al-jazeera and distribute fields of beit lahia northern gaza. coming up on al-jazeera. can this record setting masterpiece help promote peace in one of the world's most violent countries . and in sports roger federer and rafael nadal so help set another and his records doris here with bats and the rest of her face for.

capturing a moment in time. snapshots of other lives. of the stories. provided tips into someone else's work out like the one do they all. inspiring documentaries from impassioned filmmakers. like witness on al-jazeera one of the really special things about working for others here is that even as a camera woman i get to have so much empathy and contribution to a story i feel we cover this region better than anyone else would get what it is you know it's that it challenges the ability but the good because you have a lot of people that are divided on political issues we are we the people we live to tell the real stories are just mended used to deliver in-depth journalism we don't feel inferior to the audience across the globe.

rule. now it's known as assault just ruggedness made outs in the street with pretty much any materials the artist can get their hands on and the one that's been created in mexico's capital thoughts be the biggest ever seen manuel republic went to take a look. at. corn husks dyed salts and pine needles are just some of the materials being used in this distinctly mexican piece of art. and the canvas for this potential masterpiece is mexico city's central plaza and socolow right in the

middle of the city's iconic historic district. it's taking more than $300.00 volunteers to design and execute this one of a kind that bit a monument done or monumental mat this style of art has its origins in europe over the centuries however it's become an iconic part of mexican culture only saying you know it's everything we're doing revolves around the design which requires may different forms and textures everything is based on harmony love solidarity and peace we want people to come out and join us and learn more about this culture. the clock is ticking to finish the work before the weekend when tourists normally flood this part of town only put out move to cities luckily there are volunteers like antonius about them who have offered to lend a hand and don't use been creating that it is like these for 25 years and says he's committed to having this one finished on time and bond caesium am iowan i took time off work to join this project this interests me and i like it i think everyone here really likes this and makes us feel proud to be able to share this tradition we

have in mexico. the final design will feature. a hairless dog with strong ties to mysticism and mexican folklore. but getting all the textures and colors to look just right requires a surprising amount of attention to detail. the choice of materials is one of the most important aspects of designing a traditional debit in this instance we're using dyed corn with all of the materials or organic biodegradable and reusable. a few last minute touches and the final product is complete. a little fanfare to get the crowd excited and it's time for the n.b.a. . measuring some 3200 square meters organizers say this step at the moment could be the largest of its kind in the world. about. mexico city. if i'm there for the sport here is far thanks so much an american

a football league that is set to rival the n.f.l. will kick off in just a few hours time in the united states the access file relaunch is 2 decades on from its initial failure. let me look at league features 8 teams that is being back here wrestling promoter this make net worth has been tweaked to encourage faster higher scoring games a ritual excess fell folded after just one season back in 2001. success for us will not be measured in the 1st game the 1st weekend or even the 1st season we're taking a long term view and we understand we're going to have to earn our stripes with fans so there are no hard and fast metrics for the 1st season and we're simply looking forward to getting going by introducing our form of football to the world if you love football you're going to love the x f l it will be familiar football in 100 yard field moving the ball down the field for down to the time that people are

accustomed to but we have some real innovations that we think make the game faster uptempo and safer for our players us warts broadcaster michael carlson believes the league faces a huge commercial and sporting challenge. my gut feeling right now is that it's probably going to be a miss in the long term and the question will be how long how deep the pockets are in able to in order to sustain the league the problem the excess fell faces is a lack of stars to attract an audience it's going to be perceived as as a as a lower level of the game and what they're trying to do is to make up for that by making it a more attractive game that could work and it could have an influence on the n.f.l. to sort of look at their rule changes and and maybe and maybe take them on board but the n.f.l. right now is is such a. big and dominant business with the 1st call on players that unless they want to

start spending money to attract star players i think it's probably going to be something like a minor league and there is a big appetite for actual football in america the question is whether that appetite will be a swathed by by a spring time league with players who are not quite up to n.f.l. standards. serena williams has made a winning return to fed cup action in her 1st singles match in 5 years williams put the u.s. team 2 up in their tie with lot via the 23 grand time grand slam champion beat former french open champion elena off on the go in straight sets in washington state it was williams's 14th street win in the top that for women's tennis the winners of the specified tie will qualify for april's new books but. earlier the u.s. made a flying start in everett thanks to a syfy icon and fresh off her debut grand slam win of the australian open the 21

year old he added status of the story out into sat the thai will conclude that beleaguered is. a star power of roger federer and rafa nadal helped set a new attendance record for a tennis match the charity event took place in south africa almost $52000.00 people came out to watch to the games all time greats of the cape town stadium built for the 2010 football world cup at the moment no top tier tennis tournaments are held them for cup. this is so much more than just tennis. i really hope we can do it again oh prophet could do it again one day come back to this beautiful country i'm so proud to have roots starting here. and thank you very much for coming everybody really is so so special. a world cup but ski event in france saw several of the pre race favorites crash out of those involved alexy general he was for fastest after the 1st leg but failed to finish the final run.

the final growth of the race for fastest in his 1st run crashed out in the 2nd a total of 9 skiers floundered during the race a good chance for clement you know well to finish talk french in his 3rd world cup slalom of the year the 6 of his career. hands new football season got off to a hit and miss start the jay league super cup went to a penalty shoot out after the still open to green screen with yokohama now reno's the team's the bye to miss 9 consecutive spot kick setting in and wanted to lead a record to sell kobe eventually located the nets when the season opening tight. ok and that is all your sport for now how back to you thank you very much indeed sir well that is it for this new surf and i bid to keep it here on al-jazeera we're

back after this very short break with more belief. examining the impact of today's headlines you use the misinformation i've used the term by setting the agenda for tomorrow's discussions how unique is this in terms of modern american history when it comes to racism you have the makings of a neo fascist mode international filmmakers and world class journalists bringing programs to inspire you. on al-jazeera. in

india identity politics on the rise what we're seeing is the construction of partitions in the hearts and loads of millions of people across the country and there's a dark side in detroit is we do see the grit from his office the majesty of the him fix into something more like the team i didn't see of the british one day i meet with victims of violence and discover what life is like for minorities in the country join me on my journey in search of india's soul on al-jazeera if you were looking at this from the outside you would really wonder what was going on but what is this gross is a religion that they have an in-depth exploration of global capitalism and our obsession with economic growth this is still the center of capitalism there is no limits i view myself as a capital artist we are trying to make the world smaller and smaller we don't want to be set realistic in the world we would rather have a fantasy growing pain on al-jazeera understand the differences and similarities of

cultures across the world center matter weighing in. with the news and current affairs that matter to you. a soldier opened fire inside a mall in northern thailand killing at least 20 people hostage situation is under way. and how my hitting and this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. and piers to be no ending to the spirits of the coronavirus as the death toll passes $700.00 killed in china. by for syrian refugees gets even worse as harsh winter weather

moves through a camp and lebanon's bekaa valley. the war in libya is expected to.