a lot of the time for the love we are grappling, we are from are we are the media, don't go, we go there. are we give them a chance to tell their story? iran val's severe revenge after a prominent nuclear scientist is killed in an ambush. and says it suspects israeli, involved them. i missed on c.j. . this is al jazeera live from daraa. also coming up ethiopia's prime minister meets with african leaders. but rejects international offers to mediate the conflict in the region between government and regional forces. it was a confrontation in iraq between supporters of top clerics mocked on the southern

anti-government protesters ahead of parliamentary elections and changing the rules of the u.s. justice department revises how death sentences can be carried out as it tries to rush through more execution. it's a prominent scientist at the center of iran's nuclear program has been assassinated, gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying muslim, fuck, fuck rezaei. and his bodyguards, top military commanders, have vowed to retaliate against that attack. they say israel is behind it. as a bag reports from tehran. the aftermath of the killing holds a call on blood on the floor injured in the attack must in fact result, it was taken to hospital, but later he had been one of iran's most senior nuclear scientists and had already

survived a previous assassination attempt based on the report made by the gods 1st, they opened fire to his car, and after 10 to 15 seconds, a truck carrying explosive materials exploded in a car. fire continued after the explosion. officials admit his death is a blow to the country's defense program. foreign minister javad zarif was quick to lay the blame. he said in a tweet, the killing had serious indication of israeli involvement, but presented no evidence. this really prime minister had named fact result in 2018 as the director of iran's nuclear weapons program. a key part of the plan was to form new organizations to continue the work. this is how dr. morse, in fact, is the head of project about put it, remember the name for his or her. so here's his director right here. and he says, the general aim is to announce the closure project,

but then he adds special activities. you know what that is? a special activity will be carried out under the title of scientific know how developments previous assassinations of 4 ringing scientists between 201-2012 have also been blamed on israel with u.s. officials briefing the press about his rating involvement. so based on the background briefings to the press, there is very strong reason to, to suspect both israeli and possibly even u.s. involvement. given the very public pronouncements of u.s. officials that they will use this time between the end of the trying to ministration in the beginning. about a ministration to do whatever they can to punish iran and. 'd iran's progress in the nuclear field and other factors are they had been under a u.n. security council list of sanctioned individuals. iran had never allowed him to be interviewed by the international atomic agency. his whereabouts were also kept

secret. the killing will also raise questions about the country's internal security . iranian officials are already vying to respond while saying the nuclear program will continue. but the timing of this assassination comes when iran is waiting for president elect joe biden, to return the u.s. to the 2015 nuclear deal. a treaty intended to keep iran's nuclear program peaceful . most in fact, is the most senior and crucial scientists killed to date. this threatens to complicate any future talks and further increased tensions in the region. assad big al jazeera, the iran. well ali reza, you have ari is an international humanitarian, you know, expresso, the investor of tehran. he says, iran's reaction to the attack will depend on who is responsible. some countries in the region may try to push iran towards a military confrontation with at bursaries and fair to risk a late detentions, so that iran and the united states cannot find a common ground. but however,

iran has proved to act cleverly in these kind of situations and it's with the dependents, you know, do respond in spite of iran would be dependent on who has carried out the assassination. if it has been carried out by some terrorist organizations in neighboring countries like him or center is that there is a possibility that we see some strong military actions by iran against those terrorist organizations. as we experienced adding 2 and 17 against the ice use in day restore. and, but if it turns out to be an act of foreign intelligence services, then the situation would become to cait it further complicated as you just mentioned. and we may see it would not be a likely to me. death's door might be a proportional military response, as we saw that against angle asset. and we cannot speculate on anything. however, there is a possibility off, some proportional, military spouses about. but it depends on who has carried out. these cessation that

ethiopia has denied reports that the prime minister is rejecting talks with to granny to be had met, met with african union envoys, and told them he'd only speak to representatives operation legally in the region. his forces have been fighting troops now for almost 3 weeks. met insisted his government must enforce the rule of law in team play. well risk a culture of impunity that could threaten the country's very survival. on thursday, he ordered the army to carry out the final phase of its offensive and move in capital. on the ethiopian prime minister's spokesperson bill and say you spoke to al jazeera and described the government's position. i think why do you understood the concept with regard to the strong words with rejection, particularly because the president has no clue just to talk to anybody from that's a great region impact. the provision administration that has been fed from a constitutionally, by the help a federation is an amalgamation or a composition of various to grow political parties that are active in the

progressive region. at this point, one of the key measure is the conversation is because according to the laws of the land in the competition, the criminal code of the federal democratic republic of people attacking your own national defense forces across is a criminal act in this considered a treasonous act well you had a few of them are him, is a horn of africa analyst and he says the prime minister has military solution to the crisis in a just strategic mistake. well, tongues have surrounded the city of that's what we're hearing. and the 72 hours all the matter was given by prime minister that idea has passed and gone and mediators have come from places to try to talk to him. and they were not allowed man standing,

they were not allowed to go past. and so looking a very ominous kind of situation where you know, i mean the entire people who sit around this is a struggle for survival right now, you know, out of the doing anything they can. and it's also really not so much just that i think the entire people into the guy out of ceiling under siege by this. and there's a, there is this discourse that separates that he p.l.f. from the people of today. and this is, there is no separation. it is people's wardak or grit. it was a kind of thing that they are transitioning to. and what's going to be happening in l.a. is really going to show us what the future of course she's going to be. i

think when i responded to gamble on a military solution, what it is issue is just the biggest mistake mistake you make. suicide blast in the somali capital has killed at least 7 people. the bomber blew himself up in an ice cream parlor and mogadishu. a police official said the death toll could rise. no group has yet claimed responsibility. and tens of thousands of people have rallied in iraq's capital to show support from october ahead of parliamentary elections. next training they gathered in tahrir square, which was once the focus of anti-government protests, some on a fault in reports from baghdad. the on friday followers of powerful shia clerics took over budget outs to square the in the in mom's words, the goal of this friday prayer was to defend their religion and homeland in the

face of immorality and nonbelievers, a criticism of the secular leaning anti-establishment protesters who until recently occupied the square in the lottery. baba yaga, the october protests had positive and negative sides. as for the negative sides of these protests at the hands of the american occupiers spread the obscenity into a square. the prayers also aims to shore up political support. yes, yes, to our leader, they proclaimed their support for sutter after he announced his aim to secure a majority in the forthcoming parliamentary elections, which would allow him to nominate the prime minister. say look to the total solders, a patriotic leader for all iraqis, the sunnis, the shia and the kurds. he's considered a shepherd for all iraqis. he will not run for himself, but for these people, his constituents, he represents all iraqis, but many disagree. the prayer took place in the same square where just weeks ago,

security forces cleared remnants of iraq's beleaguered protest movement, which had aims to topple the ruling class, including the sudras who won the last elections. activists say the protests gradually lost steam due to violence. and because political parties including the sudras to hijack their cause, they infiltrate the demonstrators, the demonstrations squares. and, but it does every city, whatever they can. and they tried to manipulate the process and try to get to soften up. sutter has long tried to brand himself a reformist, and initially supported the protests. but india and he is seen as having chosen to protect the system. they have lost a lot of grounds, political grounds, social grounds, people who have doubted them as being really a pharmacist. but they found out they are not, they are just part of the political regime which runs the country since 2003. so

down now trying to gain back some of the ground and indeed thousands turned out to show their loyalty for sutter. friday's prayer was a display of power on the part of the sudras movement ahead with all of the june elections. but anti-government protesters had struggled to organize politically. to put up a serious challenge to incumbent party is like the sadrist border aiding their prospects for al gore. all success some wonderful to al jazeera, but that meanwhile elsewhere in southern iraq, 3 people were killed in violence between satirists and anti-government protesters. at least one passenger planes, around 50 others were injured. all still ahead here on al-jazeera. when you talk about like in paris, where a shocking video is fueling debate about police violence plus they ravage crops and

cause widespread devastation. but could there be a new way to stop swarming? locusts? hello the feel of winter is in the air and all those warmed up in tokyo, the cold wind blowing again across the sea. so that means rain showers on the coast of honshu snow showers in the mountains, snow proper, more likely in the hawkeye to supporters. max and for subzero that have also can happen, and this is cold winter, but it's sunny by day frosty, sunny about it, that's true for most of china. central southern china not quite is rather more cloud around. and in taiwan, this persistent northeast monsoon means it's your wet time of year taipei's because the rains the next 3 days, at least, and rain showers are developing again. this is cooler. air comes over the still

warm south china sea, which means showers hit the coast and come inland in vietnam heavy rain and potentially it is heavy rain because as this far south as heard she mina's well even a few showers in the sudden central parts of thailand, which is interesting because if you look at sumatra, you're largely free of significant shows there in java 12 places in borneo. but it's not particular at the moment the remains of nevada, which is the on the longer visible, the rain is still there, but it's pretty widespread not particularly heavy anywhere from hard about science was and still some rain in sri lanka. the half past travels the road to mexico, raising ecological nowhere and creative solution of the country's most dramatic demonstrating in the struggle for

a better speech. half past of the you find the latin american scene on al-jazeera the earth, the world that you're watching al-jazeera. let's remind you of our top stories this hour. a prominent scientist at the center of iran's nuclear program has been assassinated near the capital tehran, the vehicle carrying most and factories that it was ambushed by gunmen in the city of, of saddam iran, says it suspects israel of involvement. ethiopia's government is denying the prime

minister has rejected talks with to grain leaders. 3 african union special envoys met. i'd be up there in the baba. he told them he'd only speak to representatives operation legally and reach a mass rally has been held in iraq's capital baghdad, in a show of support following shake her son, his bid to run in parliamentary elections. next june. thousands of people gathered in tahrir square, which was once the focus of anti-government protests. well with fewer than 60 days until president elect joe biden takes office. the u.s. justice department has settled a number of federal executions and is trying to expand the methods that can be used biden is against the death penalty and says he will work to end it. mike hanna has the latest for us from washington d.c. . the news of the new protocols only came out because it was printed in the federal register as it has to be by law. the impact of this, though, is to give the federal government a far wider range of methods of execution to use. normally,

it has been by lethal injection, but the justice department is now saying that it has got to keep the option of using a form of execution used in each particular state. now states decide what form of execution they use most have used lethal injection. however, some have moved away from that because of the shortage of the drugs needed. so the justice department is attempting to say that it needs to do this to fall into line with protocols exercised by the states in which a federal execution will be carried out. now this is significant because the finite executions have been shared between now and the 20th of january when joe biden comes into office 3 of the months and 3 to next month. so this now the justice department is able to exercise what form of a death sentence is pickable to a particular state where it's carried out. it must be noticed as well. is that the

death sentence, federal death sentence was on a hiatus from 2003 before justice department, reinstated federal death penalties earlier this year. and since then, there have been more people executed by the justice department. then there were in the last 50 years, while los angeles county has now banned all public and private social gatherings of people from different households. a new kind of a 9000 restriction goes into effect on monday and will last at least 3 weeks. the number of infections in the us continues to rise. it's the past 13000000 on friday, 4 french police officers have been detained after a video emerged, showing them beating up a black music producer and paris' president has called the incident unacceptable and shameful. the assault has sparked outrage towards a police force already under scrutiny for heavy handed tactics, and a warning. if you is may find some of the images in this report from attack in

paris, disturbing from the very beginning. a shocking video police officers brutally beating a man in a music studio in paris. images captured on c.c.t.v. record producer michelle secular, says police force their way into his studio physically and racially abused him without telling him why. and then arrested him. if there was a policeman pointing a gun at me hiding, why did they think i was armed? were they going to shoot if they could find the angle? of course i was afraid. i'm a person. i was scared. the people who are supposed to protect me were pointing their guns at me. french news organization, lupe sider, published the footage alongside pictures of michelle's injuries. the video sparked anger from some politicians and french world cup stars, who denounced racism, prosecutors throughout the case against the producer, and opened an investigation into 4 police officers. under pressure to react, france's interior minister condemned the violence as measures like in the pictures

are unspeakable. extremely shocking, and as soon as i found out about them about what happened, i asked for the police officers to be suspended. all 4 police officers have since been arrested. the video of michelle has been highly publicized in france. this is the front page of one of the country's main newspapers. it also comes there just a few days after some people say the police used excessive force. while clearing a migrant camp from the square, a police inquiry was ordered after police officers were filmed, beating migrants, and journalists, as a true way, is one of france's best known campaigners against police brutality. she accuses police of causing her brother adama's death in 2016, while he was in custody. we see these images now, but can you imagine all the people that have suffered police violence that have died because of police brutality, in cases where there were no videos?

that's why families like continue to shout, so everyone knows that police violence and racism exist. the focus on police violence in france comes as pressure mounts on the government to scrap part of a controversial new law that would crack down on people's freedom to film and publish images of police on duty. the government says it's necessary to protect officers, but opponents say it's an erosion of rights and the without images like these police officers won't be able to be held accountable for their actions. natasha bottler al-jazeera paris. now anti-government protesters in thailand and not backing down from their call for the prime minister to resign. thousands gathered in bangkok, they also are demanding constitutional reform and telling them that the king's palace, demonstrators have broken a long standing to be by criticizing the monarchy. as you can see, they also held in place for ducks as shields against water cannon. 3 days of

national mourning in argentina have ended following the death of football star diego maradona. this has been a time of reflection for many fans on both his magic on the pitch and the control the scenes, he sometimes forced off. it reports from the neighborhood on the outskirts of when his aires battle began. the residents of v. a few would be insulted if you called their neighborhood a slum for they're proud of what they have proud that one of their own lived and played here before leaving to become the greatest footballer the world has ever seen. diego maradona's death on wednesday. hit them hard. so not on the other morning when you feel it's in the neighborhood its side, many people are crying. the whole place is practically in silence. usually it's happy music, but now there's a terrible silence. of course, everyone of a certain age has a memory of the cheeky little boy who could do incredible things with the football

. played regularly with him when they were 1213 years old. he wasn't surprised to see diego school, his wonder goal against england in the 1986 world cup was was me. it was a great goal, but it was normal for us to see it here. as a keeper, i'd give him the ball and he'd go past 123. all of us and score, he says the eagle gave them joy, a real commodity in a place like this. if you live on in our hearts and minds, not just for arjun times and here in fiorito, but in the hearts and minds of the whole world, the people here say they're proud that maradona never forgot the never forgot where he came from. it was on pitches like this one in the fiorito covered in dust and stones. that diego maradona, the boy formulated his footballing skills to one day, display his magic in the best stadiums in the wild maraton. his precocious talent

was spotted early and he made his professional debut aged just 15 in the heart of the neighborhood where his memory continues to inspire. 1 i was given this space to fill it with what i felt. so i did the world cup. it has to be here from where he played from when he became so big. he outraged many with his behavior, both on and off the pitch accused of being arrogant, aggressive a cheat. but he enchanted many more with his artistry with the football and continues to inspire after his death. and beyond that well, let's speak to gabriel, pretty cheli. he is a political analyst and also vice president of the public policy laboratory that's an independent think tank out of what is area he joins us now. from there. we've seen this huge outpouring of grief over the last few days. don, it was really so many things to so many people. i'd like to look

a little at what he represented in terms of politics and democracy for argentina. what did he mean for you in that regard? well obviously specially for people of my generation, people who like me were 20 years old when argentina won the world cup in 1986. it meant the world to us because it reflected on the optimism that argentina was living at the moment. soon after their return to to the marker 6 in a way, argent, it was not the 1st time argentina won the workshop, but the 2nd stances in which it had won the world cup. in 1978, in argentina, under the dictatorship, robbed us of the possibility of fully enjoying in freedom, the happiness of winning a world cup. so they were my own. where before there were,

i remember as not only the man who brought us the world cup, but will be forward associated with that the freedom with which we were able to express our happiness at that time. well maybe also back in 1952 goals, including that goal of the century against england. that wasn't that many years after the falklands war. how symbolic was that for the country watching? when in fact there it has to be said. the war for the falkland islands was a hugely popular war. it was a for real military regime. and so there was not really a sense so vindication in that much. there was a great sense of pride because we were beating the inventor so of the game. but i would put aside any showing istic element in the happiness that we all fail at defeating england in that location. in my eyes, we said are asked who are the competition with our neighbors.

brazil, england is one of the teams that is more symbolic of the game. so of course, the, the joy sent throughout the country this most the associated with that. and i wouldn't necessarily have to say there's little anything having to do with the war decided by the military. and just watching daniel's reporting than mad on his background, where he grew up, how he lived, that will clearly influenced his politics. very much siding with the left. what kind of legacy has that left in argentina? well and he rode with him when he left argentina. so not only he remained loyal to his roots seem to just really don't know which has been so well. the big couple of minutes ago, but he also brought that spirit to made balls. you need only when he went on to

play for not only does silva really is the region of the country and here will bring them to 1st school. their 1st championship for the team also reflected on that of david against goliath, that i don't always was very much a man of the people from the public policy laboratory and one of the areas great to get your thoughts on out there. thanks for being with us. kevin, thanks for having me. now, locusts ravaging crops could now become a thing of the past. researches in the u.k. are looking into the genetic code of doesn't like us to either find a pesticide that kills them or stops them swarming, but doesn't harm crops. a small crowd of 40000000 locusts. it's the same amount of food in a day as $35000.00 people this year. the insect destroyed crops across africa and

central asia. tom matheson is an associate professor of neurobiology at the university of leicester. he was part of the team that carried out the study. he hopes it will lead to a pesticide that can control the insect population without completely eradication. what we've attempted to do, and what we've succeeded in doing now is to for the 1st time sequence, the entire genome of the desert locus, just the circuit. and it turns out the genomes are about 3 times bigger than the human genome. so it's quite been quite a massive undertaking and cause lots of problems that the saudis doing the coding. but we've been able to do this and now that information as it's deposited, where it's freely available to anyone who wants to go and dig into it and start looking for keys and all that information that we can use to target these animals much better than we can at the moment, once you've got a genome, you can do all sorts of different things with that. clearly controlling like this is one of the things that we would like to tackle. and what i say we have in this is anyone who wants to get involved in doing this, essentially. so this is not just our program, but we're trying to provide

a resource for people across the globe. because one of the big problems with controlling low, this is simply the infrastructure on the ground when we spray pesticides on an animal. so in the current pesticides certainly kill the locus, but they have a huge amount who consequences as well. they mostly toxic that the operators and started using them. so the idea that once you've got the genome, you can start trying to design his decide which target things which are specific to the genome of this particular organism. and don't have the terrible knock on effects for other insects, for example, in the environment kind of that was there and these are the headlines. a prominent scientist at the center of iran's nuclear program has been assassinated near the capital tehran, the vehicle carrying most in fact reside it was ambushed by gunmen in the city of absurd. iran says it suspects israel of involvement.