get greener this year. counting the cost on al jazeera african story from african perspective. mint condition, select wireless cuz you with. ready on the nifty sample, short documentaries from african filmmakers from booking of fossil and head. for me it's really important to teach as it comes in bill, something that i can be proud of. the painter and she hands bench africa direct on algebra. ah 2. ready oh, a suicide bombing inside a mall skin pasha, what kills at least 48 people?

pakistani taliban claims responsibility. ah, again, i'm adrian and again, this is al jazeera, alive from doha. also coming up. u. s. secretary of state entity blinking arrives until of eve, has tension between israelis and palestinians escalates. iran says a drone attack on a military facility was cowardly, and it will respond accordingly. plus i'm to see and human in the pool region of peru where the military has been deployed and where local communities say that they will not allow them to break up their national strike. ah, an explosion has destroyed a mosque and pakistan stole 1st and city of per show up. at least 48 people were killed at 157 injured in the suicide bombing. many of the wounded are in a critical condition,

treat it taliban pakistan. the pakistani taliban has claimed responsibility. same bus robbie reports ah, rescue was raised to search for survivors following an explosion during afternoon. prayers. a mosque into the shower. ah. the blast so powerful to leave police a hundreds of people were in the mosque at the time. ah, those able to hold themselves out from under the rubble. ah, i did. marianna agony, dicky brought out the injured and they were taken to hospital for the dead body that all inside the mosque was buried under the w. b. s. o magic in that a lot of italy, hospitals across the provincial capital or on high alert many of the casualties are members of pakistan,

security services gathered to table prayers. ah, the target of the attack, the neighbourhood, most of a housing complex, in one of the most tightly controlled parts of the city. home to members of security services including the police army and bomb disposal units. the incident is a major security breach. co job, i'm point you the my go to let the both of us when we reached the sites after the bloss, because chaos rescued 7 people and put them in ambulances from the 7 to died and 5 others were taken to hospital one. 0, we are going to interrupt that report at the cross at live now to west jerusalem, where israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu is giving a media briefing along with us secretary of state antony blinkin. let's this man breakable bond between israel and the united states. it's one of the great alliances of modern history. oh, we sure. common interests which are growing by the day we share common values to

strong democracies, which will remain, i assure you, to strong democracies. oh, this alliance is something that president biden is committed to. i've known him 40 years is a true friend of israel, a true champion of this alliance as are you. i'm not sure that all of israel know your own contribution in helping us with missile defense in times of pearl. you've actually helped us during one crisis and record time and it did so again. and you've also just to helped us push back on the attempts to deal jeremiah's israel and the united nations. and we're grateful for that and for your continual friendship or is it comes at an important time. it's a time where many and international community i would say, most of the international community have seen the true face of iran. they've seen the barbarism of this regime against its own people. they've seen how it exports

aggression beyond its border and beyond the middle east. and i think there is a common consensus that this regime must not acquire nuclear weapons. we've had very good discussions on forging a common policy on trying to work together to thwart the danger. ah, i can repeat again. something that you've heard me say many times our policy and my policy is to do everything with in israel's power to prevent iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. and the means to deliver them. and that will remain so. but obviously, the fact that we and the united states are working together is something that is important for this common goal as well. in addition to thwarting the danger, we also see an opportunity to seize opportunities, the opportunities of expanding the circle of peace. we intend to deepen, ah,

the piece that we've already made in the abraham. of course, we discussed some of the initiatives that we are considering doing together, but also to perhaps achieve ah dramatic breakthroughs that the, i think could be both historic and enormously significant in our a common efforts to bring prosperity, security, and peace to this part of the world and to and beyond. so with this in mind, i have to tell you that i also believe that expanding the circle of peas working to close. finally, the fall of the arab israeli conflict, i think would also help us achieve a workable solution with our palestinian neighbors. and for all these reasons, i welcome you once again to jerusalem. welcome. thank you. premise for thank you very much. it's very good to see you, bob, and i want to thank you for what has been as always, a very productive,

a very candid and i think important discussion that covered a lot of a lot of issues. and just as i did upon arrival in israel, i had a chance to express directly to the prime minister my condolences in that of the united states government for the 7 israelis who were killed in the reflect terrorist attack or this week outside their synagogue present biden. called the prime minister immediately after the attack to underscore the united states steadfast report for israel and his people. a message that i reaffirmed in the meeting we just had in the context of this attack and escalating violence. it's important that the government and people of israel know, america's commitment to their security remains iron clad. that commitment is backed up by nearly 75 years of united states support. merck's commitment has never wavered. it never will. and today the prime minister and i discuss ways that we

continue to strengthen our partnership and our shared security interests. we agree that ran must never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. and we discussed deepening cooperation to confront and counter a rance destabilizing activities in the region and beyond. just as around as long supported terrorists that attack israelis and others. other team is not providing drones that russia is using to kill innocent ukrainian civilians. in turn, russia is providing sophisticated weaponry to iran. it's, it's a 2 way street brushes, ongoing atrocities. only underscore the importance of providing support for all of ukraine's needs. humanitarian, economic and security. as it bravely defends its people. and it's very right to exist. a topic that we also discuss today. now, one of the most effective ways to make israel more secure is to continue to build bridges in the region and even well beyond the region. that's why we've worked

relentlessly to deepen and broaden the abraham accords and other normalization agreements between israel and arab states. earlier this month, a large delegation from across the united states government joined representatives from israel from bahrain from egypt, from morocco, from united arab emirates, in abu dhabi for the 1st meeting of the negative forum working groups. um, this was the largest gathering of israeli and our officials since the 1991, the drill conference, these groups are focusing on issues affecting the lives and livelihoods of all of our people, of food and water, security, clean energy, health care, education and co existence, tourism regional security is part of a comprehensive effort to enable collaboration, not only between our governments, but also our businesses, entrepreneurs, civil societies, young people, the prime minister, spoken about our ability to do big things together. well, israel's greater integration in the region is very much one of them. a few years ago, this kind of cooperation would have been unimaginable. today,

it is genuinely fostering new opportunities for people across the participating countries to connect to collaborate, to learn from teaming up on cancer research, to launching new startups in green energy and dropped resistant agriculture to competing and real sports and east sports. each of these interactions helps chip away at, in, during, by a season, distrust. and this never would have happened without the leadership of the prime minister. were determined to keep building on that progress on new issues with new countries. as we work to strengthen the circle of peace, these efforts are not a substitute for progress between israelis and palestinians. but as we advance israel's integration, we can do so in ways that improve the daily lives of palestinians in the west bank and gaza. and that's crucial to moving toward our enduring goal of palestinians and israelis enjoying equal measures of freedom, security, opportunity, justice and dignity present by remains fully committed that goal. we continue to

believe that the best way to achieve it is through preserving and then realizing the vision of 2 states, as i said, to the prime minister. anything that moves us away from that vision is in our judgment detrimental to his roles, long term security. and it's long term identity as a jewish and democratic state. that's why we're urging up all sides now to take urgent steps to restore. com to deescalate, ah, we want to make sure that there's an environment in which we can, i hope, at some point create the conditions where we can start to restore sense of security for israelis and palestinians alike, which of course is sorely lacking well to remain committed to supporting religious coexistence in diversity, including in jerusalem, we continued support upholding the store status quo at jerusalem's holy places, including the temple mount rommel sharif, or grateful, the prime minister for his repeated expressions to support for that position. one

of the things that makes the partnership between us so strong is that it goes well beyond any one american or israeli government. few people understand that better than president biden, who's more closely with every israeli prime minister since called amir and prime minister netanyahu, who was work closely with his share of american presence quite a few, throughout the relationship between our countries. ah, what we come back to time and again, is that it is rooted both in shared interests and in shared values. that includes our support for core democratic principles in institutions, including fixed respect for human rights, the equal administration of justice for all the equal rights of minority groups, the rule of law, free press, a robot civil society, and the vibrancy of israel's civil society has been on full display of late the commitment of people in both our countries to make their voices heard to defend their rights, is one of the unique strengths of our democracies. another is a recognition that building consensus for new proposals is the most effective way

to ensure their embraced and that they endure our follow democracies can also make a stronger. ah, that's what the united states in israel had done for each other over many decades by holding ourselves to the mutual standards we've established. and by speaking frankly, and respectfully as friends do when we agree. and when we do not the, the discussion that the prime minister and i had today was no exception. that conversation will continue, including with other members of israel's government, civil society, as part of a perpetual process to defend and bolster the pillars of our democracy, which we are both committed to. so mister prime minister again, thank you so much for your hospitality, for the very good conversation and for the enduring partnership between our countries. and i thought so is was prime minister benjamin netanyahu there with the u. s. secretary of state

hands, the blinkin who sat in west jerusalem prime minister netanyahu spoke of the unbreakable bond between the u. s. de israel. and he also said that he do everything in his power to prevent iran acquiring nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them for his part. the u. s. secretary of state said that that the discussions had been important, productive and candid. ah, he said that america's commitment to israel has never wavered and never will. yeah, yeah. we have correspondence to ramallah added wester, whistler. let's begin with the aunt diplomatic editor, james bass, who is in western whistler. what did you make of that, james? well the, the big question given the current tension given the recent violence was whether we were going to see any change to the biden administration's view of the situation and the via the ministrations approach to the situation. in the past. you've seen us administrations actively trying to promote diplomacy involved in peace

negotiations shuttle diplomacy appointing special ed boys in the like. but it's pretty clear from secretary blair kens comments that the u. s. administration is going to stay the course. it's going to stick with. it's called the current policy of not really getting to involved in this conflict and not certainly not trying to push both sides together for further talks to try and find some way forward to the current. really rather grim the situation. i have to say if you listen to those 2 comments and were not aware of the backdrop of recent days, then you might not really realize what had happened and the violence that we've seen and the level of tension right now because they were talking about other things certainly the israeli prime minister promised event and that yahoo as he so often does hardly talked about it didn't mention palestinians. and he only talked about the whole idea of peace in the context of the region. the so called abraham

and accords evolving. the u. e. bow, rain, morocco and sudan, and potentially expanding that, but no talk about from him about the idea of the actual negotiation or potential for negotiations with the palestinians. much talk about iran. it's much more talk about iran than it was about palestine from the israeli prime minister. and that also was reflected by secretary lincoln who mentioned what he said was the threats from iran. now 2nd, billing can, did talk about the 2 state solution. he said that is the way forward. what's interesting is you don't hear that from the israeli side and this most right wing of israeli months, that prime minister netanyahu leads most of his cabinet do not believe in a 2 state solution. so you got secretary blink in talking about the way forward being a 2 state solution and the government of israel, not even mentioning it, but we know that they don't even support that idea. it makes you wonder they're

sitting there agreeing, but really they don't agree at all. you know, given that james, i'm a how seriously will that? but the israeli government take an entity blinkers message when he says that they, they had productive and and candid discussions. yeah, i mean, i don't know what went on behind the scenes, but i don't think this is going to move anything forward. the us administration, president biden, has made a decision, a decision when he came into office right at the beginning of his term in on january the 20th. 2021. that really he was not going to get involved in getting i think they feel in washington bog down in israeli palestinian negotiations. they feel there are other things they need to do right now. the focus very much on the war in ukraine. and the question was whether, what we've seen in recent days and the level of tension, the level of violence would change that it's very clear now from sexy blinking

words. what we suspected all along know us policy is not going to change despite many of the members of the international community. most of the rest of probably all of the rest of the un security council would like to see more proactive u. s. involvement and more criticism when necessary, israel, the policy is not going to change. that is now clear. diplomatic editor james based, i live in western eastland. that's going to ramallah. then i'll just here is bernard smith is that just alice before blanket arrived. that in israel is ready for shocking. killed a 26 year old palestinian near a checkpoint in hebron and the occupied west bank. but it and the secretary of state himself to to visit the palestinian president. mark what about on tuesday? yen out from that press be breathing from unseen, blinking, and benjamin netanyahu. they'll be little surprise for the palestinian authority,

goes out such low expectations. have such low expectations of antony, blinkin visit and what it can do for them. the palestinian authority, the palestinians are pretty powerless and impotent when it comes to influencing israel. they rely totally on international pressure. and they rely principally on pressure from the u. s. administration on israel. the u. s. administration hasn't really been putting any pressure on israel. the palestinians would hope the behind closed doors blink and has asked them to dial down the some of the unilateral things they're doing in terms of destroying palestinian her homes or so, or ceiling them up after a relative homes of relatives who are people connected with alleged attacks on palestinians, they might hope that something would come of that. they would also hope that the americans might come for progress. some of things this administration promised to do, or when it came into power reverse some of donald trump's policies that was reopening

the u. s. consulate in east jerusalem that deals with palestinian affairs that's not happened on the, by the administration promise to do that. or they would hope that the biden administration would allow the p l. o to reopen is representative office in washington d. c. that's not happened yet. so that might be on the agenda for when blink and meets, or mac mood or bass on tuesday. but the palestinians also know politically it's much easier for the americans to criticize and put pressure on the palestinian authority publicly than it is for them to do the same with the israeli government out there as part of switzer live in ramallah. many thanks and did. but it u. s. media causing a government official is saying that israel is by the drone strike at an a radian military facility. officially, the state departments refuse to comment, as has israel. russia has condemned the attack. it comes during heightened tension in the region as omit call soon, sharif reports this footage,

add on iranians. take television purports to show damage to a military facility near the central city of is for han it all to broadcast the debris of what had called bomb carrying drums. the defense ministry says at least one was intercepted and shot down there and blames is well for the attack in the army. this cowardly attack was carried out against us. our security bodies are powerfully acting to ensure maximum national security and such moves can't impact on nuclear. scientists will add intentions to achieve peaceful nuclear energy. central incidents have been reported at iranian military facilities in recent years, including a fire and a blackout. although it provides few details there on blames as well and describes them as targeted attacks. iran was facing criticism on several fronts. at the moment. the west has condemned to supplying russia with weapons with war in ukraine

. uranium enrichment has resumed as talks to revive the nuclear deal have been stalled since september and have been months of anti government protest following the death of a young woman in his custody. it does, nevertheless, achieve centralized railey objectives. the 1st one being that his role is under increasing pressure to side with ukraine against russia. these really that for almost a year now, l dal are seeking to avoid taking sides because of their own vulnerability to russia. and this strike enables israel is to make the argument that just are not providing waters today, ukrainians, but instead they are targeting iran who has been supporting russia is vaughn is about 440 kilometers from their own. it houses a larger air base and several nuclear energy research and production sites, among them at tons, which is at the center of iran's nuclear development program. michelson,

sheriff al jazeera, the democratic republic of congo, as government has launched an operation to retake the strategic town of cassandra m . 23 rebels sees the eastern town on thursday of the days of fierce fighting earlier in november, regional leaders of broken agreement for m. 23 fighters to withdraw from seized positions in the east. by january 15th knock, a web reports from kinshasa residence of nearby towns and villages told us that it began with a heavy barrel of artillery, fired by the government forces towards the town of catania. we will say head reports, the m 23 has launched the counter offensive. this is all happening on the same week that the pope is due to visit the democratic republic of congo. the 1st time of pope's behaving nearly 40 years. and here in the capital can chatter a podium has been erected on wednesday, the pope's meant to give a mass here to thousands of people. congress, the biggest catholic country in africa. it is here that we joined with congress.

government spokesman patrick mia. the pope says he's coming here with a message of peace, but there isn't peace in the east at the moment. is that there isn't peace because a friend i decide to bring trouble. they've been doing that for the past 25 years. almost. we've been walking with them, we stop working with damage the prison too, so it could be in order to win together about that clarity, not the choice having to prison gammy. so the pop will come will be a picture receptacle because even if we have these bad situation, the eastern part of the year see by the book will bring a message to you to bring more competition. here, bring study directly to the people. it is people, and we all that the visit on the proposition will to people all over the world to see the situation. what is going on year and to walk, to make sure we bring peace. we will be together in the eastern part of the or c. y of the government forces failed to stop the advance of and 23 which took the tango

just last week. what is going on there? we are not fighting am 23. we are fighting on these military. that's must be said, that's mean must be know in the prison tag. i mean, you, of course you read the report off, you are an expert, it's clear that one, this army is working there. i won't go on details about or perish and but what i can tell is that the government, the democratic read because con quinlan is walking to defend his territory ear. we been committed in different peace process, especially luanda and narrow b and new. yes. strong believe we strong believe that the easiest sedition may be the longest tradition may come from diplomacy, but you need to be to if she, when i dis i as we keep saying india or c and clearly one that is not committed to peace. that's why they're continuing these bad adventure with m. 23. i india as some part of dear c. so what does rwanda once, what does run the one from them?

may i think the in unit 2 as the prison gaga me because since i, in the past day is been like doing bed campaign in lying about a genocide happening in nissen of dear c. you are a journalist and your media walks there. you can all to see more knew what is going on in the ground. there is no, it's speech in d r. c. ear prisons. tagami is to committed to make this tool. we fuss and to make peace with fundies. because if we have traveled india or seeds because we decide to wander in 1994 ukrainian troops, so they're ready to fight off a military advance of a 1000 to over 1000 kilometer, bought up with baylor, bruce, russian and bail russian forces are continuing major exercises just a few kilometers to the north. latasha butler has met soldiers on the front row frontier of gentlemen province who had digging in buzzer loaded in ideals. weaving through a pine and silver birch forest ukrainian forces on

a training exercise near the border with ben, a. rous ha, they practiced maneuvers to repel the enemy. ukrainian troops have been full to find their defences along the border for months. if moscow tries to launch a new offensive from the north, the soldiers say they prepared a doggy or proposals. 3 of them were york, were totally ready to meet them. that whoever brings the sold will fall by the sword. we're ready, mentally and physically. so we're way term of this paper, an underground bunker office, warmth and a place to rest. the border is just a few kilometers away over there in that direction. and on the other side of thousands of russian and belarus, your troops are carrying out joint military exercises. minsk says, the exercises are defensive, but keep nor taking any chances. it was nearly a year ago that russian troops invaded ukraine from paris and from russia. some

military expert say the drills could be a diversion. tac take to law ukrainian forces away from the front lines in the east and the south. and there with russia. we shall lavetia, we are not wasting time to think about what may or may not happen. we spend time preparing for everything for different scenarios. column attacks. so saboteur groups attacks from all sides and even from the sky. you people here expected this war and no one pretends to know what moscow is planning next, but they're watching closely and say they're ready. natasha butler, al jazeera, on the ukraine, better us border. germany's economy contracted in the 4th quarter of 2020 to europe's largest economy, declined by 0.2 percent. between october and december, germany is reduced its reliance on russia for energy following the ukraine war, pushing the cost of fuel and food higher. some economists say that a short recession is more likely,

wearing face boxed masks in most indoor places will no longer be mandatory in south korea. sol is lifting that requirement, which is the last remaining cove at 19 restriction out 0. rob mcbride is there doing this before now? not wearing a mask in a public space like this could have landed you with an $80.00 fine. and now a finally, from monday, the indoor mask mandate that's been in force for well over 2 years has been lifted . it comes with a mark decline, and the number of new cobit 19 cases are monday, little more than 7000. that the lowest, it's been for 7 months, compare it with around this time last year, when they were recording around half a 1000000 cases or more every single day. there are still some exceptions. you still have to wear masks on public transport and in medical facilities like hospitals and pharmacies. but in spite of the mandate, suddenly being lifted, there is little evidence that people are giving up their masks and that's almost to

be expected. they lifted the outdoor mask mandate last meg, and yet by and large people outdoors are still wearing their masks. there are a few different reasons for this. people are still nervous about the virus. also because people are unsure about when they can and can't wear their mask or dispense with their mask, exist easier to keep it on. and also this is a place where the very high degree of compliance people buy a large follow the rule. so, 3 years ago when they were told to wear masks, every one did, and have continued to wear them through the pandemic. it does seem 3 years on that there is a habit that is now very difficult to give up. ah, it's good to leave the salary for him. and again, here in doha, the headlines are 0. here are 6 rich state actually blinkers calling from rapid measures to ease the escalation in israeli palis.