where we can be told more. >> reporter: islamabad given importance because of the fact that relayings india and pakistan have dipped to an all-time low and it's connected to promoting connectivity as well as trade-in the states pakistan is going to be asking india to talk about the contentioncontent contentious issue such as the issue of water distribution. although nobody expected any substantive talks on those key obstacles between the two there was an expectation that they would perhaps promote the resumption of dialog with new deli and islamabad. pakistan has shown its concern at a time when they say it's operating on the taliban and pakistan and not wanting to see an escalation on the eastern frontier with ionia, importantly the wizard is also seen as perhaps a real vote for resuming their dialog but too many problems still remain between the two countries and for more we go to our correspondent in new deli. >> relations between india and pakistan appear to be warming up last year after modi was prime minister and invited pakistan prime minister here to new deli for the swearing

nicole johnston, al jazeera islamabad. >> mike lions says the fight in pakistan has big implications for the region. >> this is classic proxy war what we thought would develop second and third tier countries would be fighting each other. the fact that saudi arabia is so involved with their air strikes. >> yes yes. >> just shows you how much they feel the existential threat is. ground forces changes the equation right now. the way the situation is in the ground now the houthis still control it. the air strikes are doing classic missions from the air but again if you want to take and hold this ground you've got to put ground forces there. if saudi arabia does that it changes the calculus. we've got friends in the middle east that are concerned about what that deal is going to look like if iran is going to become even more powerful. so the stake is what do these countries think that the united states is actually going to support them. but you've got parties for both sides to agree on a situation here. probably restoring the president of yemen probably bringing back the parliament. but t

. >> nicole johnston reports that there is concern that islamabad's role to increase sectarian tension inside pakistan. >> on sunday night 500 pakistanis arrived home from yemen. they were flown from the red sea port during an two hour break in the fighting. at night there was a lot of bombing. it broke our windows. they were saying, why is tack stan backing the saudis. >> pakistan has announced that it will support saudi arabia, but it has not explained how. >> the prime minister of pakistan told saudi arabia's leaders that it's security is crucial for pakistan. that's why we're sending a delegation to saudi arabia. >> pakistan and saudi arabia have long military ties. they carry out joint exercises and there are 800 pakistani troops stationed in saudi arabia protects the border with iran. this is a strong economic relationship as well. last year saudi gave pakistan $1.5 billion in aid. and pakistan's prime minister lived in exile in riyadh for almost eight years. >> entering the conflict in yemen is a difficult balancing act for pakistan. while it has solid relationships with saudi a

but there is concern that islamabad's role will only increase secretary sectarian tension. >> 3,000 were flown out of the port during a two hon hour break in the fighting. at night there was a lot of bombing. it broke our windows. the houthies were the main threat to us because they were say requesting is pakistan backing the saudis. >> pakistan has announced it will support saudi arabia, but if has not explained how. >> the prime minister of pakistan told saudi arabia leaders that security is crucial in pakistan. that's why we're sending a delegation to saudi arabia. >> pakistan and saudi arabia have long military ties. they carry out joint exercises. there are 800 pakistani soldiers protecting the border with iraq. this is strong economic relationship as well. last year saudi gave pakistan $1.5 billion in aid. pakistan's prime minister liveed in exile in riyadh for eight years. the conflict in yemen is a difficult balancing act with tack stan. while it has a strong relationship with saudi arabia, it also has good ties with iran, which has backed yes houthi fighters. islamabad does not

. >> india's foreign secretary is in islamabad for two days of talks with his pakistani counterpart, the first meeting as i understand india called or talks last year aimed at easing tensions between the nuclear rivals. we will hear from new delhi but first to islamabad. >> the indian foreign secretary's trip is given importance because relations between the countries have dipped to an all time low. promoting connectivity, pakistan is going to ask india to talk about the contentious issues, such as the water distribution. although nobody expected any substantive talks on these key obstacles between the two, there was expectation that they would perhaps promote the resumption of dialogue between new delhi and islamabad. pakistan that shown its concern at a time when it said it is operating on its western border against the taliban pakistan does not want to see an escalation on the countries frontier with india. it is seen as a ray of hope for resume that go dialogue. too many problems remain between the two countries and for more, we go to our correspondent in new delhi. >> relations

nicole johnston, al jazeera, islamabad. >> the u.s.overnment is under pressure to speed up the way that new drugs are approved. there are terminally ill patients when say they'll be dead before potentially life-saving drugs are tested. kimberly halkett has this report. >> reporter: ten months ago jay smith was at the height of his career as ceo of a music technology company when he was diagnosed with als. it's a form of neuromotor disease suffered by similar to the decease effecting stephen hawking. >> the hands aren't working. the speech is going. >> the food and drug administration is the body that regulates pharmaceuticals in the u.s. they want them to pass the drug that they hope would save jay's life. they also want access to experimental drugs before they are approved. >> we're told that the status quo is not good enough. they need to do everything in their power to speed the search for a cure. >> the approval process could take more than a decade. the average als patient lives three years after a diagnosis. >> the right to try m

nicole johnston al jazeera islamabad. >> let's bring in mike lyons. good to have you with us. former ambassador to iraq, james jeffrey, said we are in a quote god damn free fall. we have got countries all the way to pakistan getting involved. how big a danger are we going to see this explode into a great regional conflagration? >> it's pent up frustration egyptian president sisi talk about this allied force in the arab league, 40,000 soldiers. it seems that these military are leading these results that will lead to catastrophic results. >> the iranians are shia as are the houthis in yemen. is that what we are seeing a sunni shia quite divide? >> first there is a civil war the houthis have people in their congress people within their government, they took -- they obviously took over the government in a manner that wasn't satisfactory to both saudi arabia and the united states. they ousted the president but they're there now. i think that saudi arabia has gone way too far. the air strikes that they're doing right now if this continues to ratchet up i just think it's going to be

nicole johnston, al jazeera islamabad. >> the u.s.ernment is under pressure to speed up the way new drugs are approved. there are terminally ill patients who say they will be dead before potentially lifesaving drugs will be test. kimberly halkett has our report. >> ten months ago jay was head of his career when he was diagnosed with als, it is a form of motor neuron disease like that suffered by physicist stephen hawking. >> in this year we started with minor fatigue and some slurred words. a year later we are in a wheelchair. the hands aren't working. the speech is going. >> reporter: so the smiths have joan dozens of others to lobby the u.s. fda. they want faster development of a experimental drug that will help jay's life and others. they want the situation performed, so patients can access developmental drugs before they are approved. >> we are telling the fda that the status quo is not good enough. they need to do everything in their power to speed the search for a crew. >> the fda approval process could take more than a decade.

al jazeera islamabad. >> more on the iranian nuclear talks now. one of the aims of leaders is to impose limits to prevent iran producing enough fuel for a nuclear bomb. in return, iran wants sanctions lifted. several rounds of sanctions in recent years targeted iran's energy and financial sectors crippling its economy. the so called p5 plus one group of nations say sanction relief should come in phases with restrictions on imports of nuclear related technology remaining for years. the u.s. and european allies want any suspended u.n. sanctions to be reinstated quickly if iran goes back on any deal. >> a researcher and professor of gulf studies at qatar university joins me now. we've been getting bits of information about the progress of those talks in lausanne anded kind of sticking points that remain. what do you get from all that have and do you think this will ultimately end in a deal that can work? >> i'm very optimistic about the deal. i think they are seriously engaged in negotiation. i don't see reason to be pessimistic on that. there are te

journalist michelle stockman is in islamabad to tell us more.to us about why these parents are not getting their children vaccinated against polio, and whether they understand the consequences if their children do contract polio. >> reporter: that's right. 513 parents were arrested. they have been released. signing an affidavit that they will vaccinate their children. there's a number of reasons that parents resist vaccinating their children. this is a small minority 5% of parent are refusers. some of the reasons include that they worry about the effect of the vaccine on their children. there's rumors that it causes sterilization. they also don't consider this particular vaccine to be of importance equal to other things such as for roads, lack of water lack of electricity. and they're resisting the vaccine as a way to protest again the government asking them to address these other problems. there are also wishes militancy. since 2012, the taliban has banned the vaccine in areas under its influence. not own that, they've gone after health care wo

al jazeera islamabad. >> isil fighters in northern iraq have again been targeted by war planes from a coalition leally the united states. more than 20 targets were attacked in tikrit early on tuesday. following the air attacks the iraqi army recaptured tikrit hospital from isil's control. the army has been on that a four day offensive to retake all of the city and isil booby traps and suicide attacks have slowed their advance. >> electricity supplies are slowly being restored in turkey after the worst power blackouts for 15 years. turkey's biggest city and the capitol were among the areas hit and public transportation systems shut down. earlier reports suggest the fault was a transmission line. >> a senior prosecutor in uganda has been shot dead in what police say could be a targeted assassination. shot dead late on monday, she was leading the prosecution against those accused of organizing two bombings there in 2010. 79 people were killed in the attack on screenings of the soccer world cup final. the trial has been postponed. >> the co pilot suspected of deliberately crashing 150 pas

let's get more from nicole johnson, joining us from islamabad. we know that pakistan has support for saudi arabia's military operation. in what way. well so far saudi arabia has requested support from pakistan. pakistan said that it will consider that request. it held a high delegation meeting on wednesday with the president, the army chief and the head of the i.s.i. the spy agency. at the end of the meeting they said any threat to the integrity of saudi arabia would revoke a strong response from pakistan. pakistan has not said exactly what type of response it will be. they are sending a delegation to saudi arabia on friday to dougs action they may take. it's being considered. the defense minister gave a long and detailed interview. he was stronger than the statement and said that pakistan would be the first country to react if the integrity of saudi arabia is threatened and he means houthi fighters crossing the border. >> we know there has been a lot of debate within pakistan as to whether the country should get involved. explain the concerns. >

. >> camille hyder sent this update from islamabad. >> the attack by the taliban, against the churchesn lahor is an ongoing strategy of starting not just the security forces but the minority is there pakistan. there have been deadly attacks against the shia community, and christian community. the two bombers were not able to get inside the churches where there would have been even heavier damage and more loss of life. they were stopped at the gate: the explosions were so powerful that the gates were ripped out of their foundations and thron several meters away. now, interestingly, after the attack there was considerable anger. the christian community coming out on the street. the government then negotiating with them to try to diffuse the situation. they showed they are trying to say it can strike soft targets across the country and target the minority community, then pakistan. >> still to come on the program, thousands protest on brazil's most famous beach calling for the country's president to be impeached. find out why it's the cost of living and not security which is dominate can t

she is in islamabad today.ust and suspicion surrounding vaccination campaigns is a real problem in many parts of pakistan. but why do police decide to arrest parents? this seems like a real dramatic step. >> reporter: it is a dramatic step. this is seen as a last-ditch effort to reach parents who have refused to let health care workers administer the polio vaccine to their children. first, what happens is that the workers go to the house if there's refusal, supervisors go. then if there's another refusal, respected members of the community will go to the house and try and convince the parents. these parents who have been arrested still refused after those continued efforts. really there's a lot of political pressure on nationally and internationally to address this issue to get the vaccine to the 2.7 million children in this province where these reaves were made that they receive it. >> and there's a real issue with how to get that done. there's rhetoric being spread that vaccines are a bigger evil than the con

pakistan is sending military officials to saudi arabia to discuss what if any support islamabad can provide. nicole johnson is in the capital. >> saudi arabia requested that the pakistani government help it against its war in the fight against yemen. pakistan released a statement saying anything that threatened the integrity from saudi arabia will evoke a response from pakistan. friday they are sending a delegation from the army and the government to saudi arabia to discuss what assistance if any, the pakistan could provide to saudi arabia. the two countries have a good and strong relationship, there are strong economic ties. saudi arabia is often the first country to help pakistan when it has economic problems energy crisis or a natural disaster. there are 800 troops deployed across various parts of saudi arabia. on the other hand pakistan enjoys a good relationship with iran, and they'll be concerned about becoming too deeply involved in regional conflict that looks like a proxy war inside yemen between saudi arabia and iran. the other big reason is because 20% of pakistan populations are

armed groups including taliban forced a million of them to leave tribal areas and we have more from islamabadorter: although the government of pakistan said it is determined to help with the almost 1.5 million tribers displaced by the ongoing conflict in the federally administered tribal area along the border it will face huge challenges, the initial step will be to allow the people to go back to south villages that were vacated back in 2009 when the military launched a major offensive but last year the military also launched offensive in the tribal area and north and led to the largest displacement and these people will now be allowed to go back in phases the government of course will have to provide them security and to help them rebuild their lives when they go back to their areas. however, they are going to be challenges and the country will certainly need foreign assistance to help overcome this challenge. >>> the czech republican has financial support to some refugees from eastern ukraine, 100 of czech decent granted permanent residency and the president greeted some ukrainians that arr

. >> we have this report from islamabad. >> the attack by the taliban focused on the churches in lahore is an ongoing strategy of targeting not just the security forces but also the minorities here. there have been deadly attacks against a feared community and also the christian community. the two bombers were not able to get inside the churches where there would have been even heavier damage and more loss of life. they were stopped at the gates. the explosions were so powerful that the gates were ripped out of their foundations and thrown several meters away. now, interestingly after the attack there was considerable anger. the christian community coming out on the street, the government then negotiating with them to try and diffuse the situation, but it shows that the taliban in pakistan is trying to say that it can strike soft targets across the country and also target the minority communities in pakistan. >> u.s. secretary of state john kerry says washington will eventually have to negotiate with bashar al assad to secure a political transition in syria. the united states has long p

. >>> today's asian voices comes to you from pakistan's capitol islamabad.the comic series that has enjoyed decades of popularity. what makes it so popular? should girls be allowed education? no. >> should boys be allowed education? >> yes. >> "gogi" is a popular cartoon in pakistan. using humor it raises questions about the country's

they will go to sub to see what support islamabad can provide and we are in the pakistan capitol. >>orter: saudi arabia requested the pakistan government help in the war against houthi fighters inside yemen. pakistan has released a statement, it says that anything that threatens the integrity of saudi arabia will evoke a strong response from pakistan. on friday pakistan is sending a delegation from the army and the government to saudi arabia to discuss what type of assistance if any, the pakistan could provide to saudi arabia. the two countries have a very good and strong relationship there are strong economic ties and saudi arabia is often the first country to help pakistan whenever it has economic problems and energy crisis or natural disaster and 800 troops deployed ayos various parts of saudi arabia. but on the other hand pakistan enjoys a good relationship with iran and pakistan will be concerned about becoming too deeply involved in any regional conflict that starts to look like a proxy war inside yemen between saudi arabia and iran, the other big reason for that is 20% of paki

islamabad is under cloud in pakistan. to the east of that is where the heaviest is going to be - rain or snow depending on your height. the rain tags down through india, there's more to come. it's hitting afghanistan too. just where you don't want it. the question really is how much will there be. luckily nothing like there was. not the 2 meters of last time. probably more like 10, 20 sent matters. there's relief. it's sill a bit of a worry. >> thank you, indeed for that. it's been a year since the chinese government relaxed a one-child policy. the change in the rules has not led to a soaring earth rate. in some places a handful of couples applied to have more children. one of the main reasons is money, as adrian brown reports. >> reporter: this person is testing the waters of motherhood. she gave birth to her son 10 months ago. she admits she was not prepared for motherhood. this is the old job and seems not to care that the easing. one-child policy makes her eligible for a second baby. >> translation: many young people

for the latest on this we are joined by michelle stockman who is in islamabad.re is such a climate of fear surrounding the polio vaccination. >> reporter: there are many parents who fear this vaccine. there are many rumors that have caught fire across the country about what this vaccine actually represents. some are worried that the vaccine would sterilize their children. some are worried about militancy. since 2012 the taliban has banned the vaccine in areas under their influence. and there are other daily worries that parents are more concerned about, lack of clean water, lack of roads, lack of other infrastructure like electricity that they think is more important, so they refuse the vaccine to pressure the government to address those issues. and so it's important to know that about 95% of pakistanis according to polls support this vaccine, but it's the stubborn 5 5% that are a problem for public health officials because they refuse that vaccine that is known to solve the issue and prevent polio from reaching kids. >> the taliban is targeting medical workers

. >> crossing over to islamabad and bringing in our correspondent to tell us what the government has been saying about this attack by the taliban on two churches and what they will be doing to protect the mines in pakistan. >> there's been strong condemnation because after the attack the christians were very angry, most of them coming out on the streets. there was protests on the streets in lahore and other cities, as well. after that, the government went into negotiations trying to tell the people that everybody was under attack, that it was not just the christian community that there will be adequate compensation. interest ling what we've seen is pakistan taliban is now picking on the minorities, something they've done in the past, but attacks an christians indicate they want interior conflict within pakistan. they were quick to take responsibility for the attack. the situation is now under control and the rioting which ensued after those attacks have also come to a halt. >> with them targeting these churches, what is the message the pakistani taliban is sending here. >> what the t

. >> for more on this, we're joined by a journalist in islamabad.y there is such a climate of fear in pakistan surrounding the polio vaccine. >> reporter: well, since 2011 when there was a cia backed vaccination campaign attempting to get access to the compound where osama bin laden was suspected to have been hiding out to extract dna from children living there, and in fact he was found there, there's been a huge amount of suspicion across pakistan about vaccination campaigns. we have seen that since 2012 as well, the taliban has banned vaccination campaigns in areas under their influence. in fact, in north waziristan, a taliban commander said polio was worse than drone strikes. so parents here in pakistan, if some areas, are worried that this is some kind of conspiracy against their families, that their children might be sterilized by taking the vaccine. also, there is a sense that other issues in their lives are more important than this polio vaccine, such as access to clean waters, roads or electricity. so they refuse the vaccine to protest again

. >> al jazeera's camille hyder sent us this date from islamabad. >> the attack against the churchesn lahore is an ongoing strategy of targeting not just the security forces but the minorities here in pakistan. there have been deadly attacks against the shia community and the christian community. two bombers were not able to get inside the churches where there would have been even heavier damage and more loss of life. they were stopped at the gate. the explosions were so powerful that the gates were ripped out of their foundation and thrown several meters away. there was considerable anger, the christian community coming out on the street. the government then negotiating with them to try and diffuse the situation, but it shows that the taliban, pakistan is trying to say that it can strike soft targets across the country and, also, target the minority communities in pakistan. >> during his traditional public sunday prayer at the vatican, pope francis, the head of the catholic church departed from script to respond to those attacks in pakistan. >> i learned about today's terror attacks

this is tuesday 28 degrees, but rain to islamabad to the north. snow, which is worst up in the mountains, of course. beyond that, it seems to get worse. the progress species at the moment are really not so good at all. nick. >> all right rob thanks very much. difficult times there in kashmir at the moment. >> a group of grand mothers in the philippines proving to be bright sparks, as we report they trained as engineers and provide their village with solar powered energy. >> deep in the mountains in the northern philippines live the oldest tribe in the country. they've farmed and hunted in these lands for thousands of years with little change. now the tribe has a new hero. she doesn't know how to read or write, but the once shy grandmother of 10 is now called the engineer. the bringer of light. >> it gets very dark here in the mountains, so it's good we have found something like this to help us help the others. >> diaz has just come back from india with a group of similar women from around the world invited by a special college to learn how to harn

area and it has mountains and if you look in the last 24 hours or so of satellite picture and above islamabadk at the bright topped cloud and never goes away and if it wants to it will be replaced with something else and has 500 meter meters of rain and that is enough to cause flooding and this is a picture of what you can expect day in day out. however, there are memories here because it floods quite badly, september last year january 2013 and it was taken 27 of march and this is the trees and part of the same river system of what it collects and runs downstream and this is a village away from there but same area and this river has risen an a rescue effort was necessary because of it and the picture is similar in pakistan 108 millimeters and same rainstorms if you like. will it go away? this is the forecast for the next and it tends to drive a bit and returns like i said and you replace one and the next one comes along. i think it will just repeat itself and we are not over and could see 75-100 millimeters of rain in the same area. >> thank you very much. still to come on al jazeera news hou

some are families arriving back home in islamabad.s suspended their operations for two hours on sunday around the red sea port to enable the safe passage of these people. india also saying it sent two ships to rescue its citizens caught up in the yemen conflict. and a chinese ship is also reportedly docked to evacuate chinese diplomats and other staff. arab coalition war planes have carried out its third successive night of air strikes. on sunday arab league countries agreed to create a joint military force in response to the crisis. well, let's bring now bbc arabic's television editor. bbc, of course has been covering this crisis in yemen extensively. you've been following this for months now. firstly, what is happening on the ground? have any gains been made by either side? >> well the situation is very chaotic. especially in the main cities. the saudis and the coalition are trying to bomb areas under the houthi control and the former president's supporters just to free an area for president hadi to come back and to use it as a plat

and turkey says it may provide low logistic support and sending people to saudi arabia to see what islamabad provide. airlines around the world introducing new world that create two crew members to be in the cockpit at all time, measures after french investigators revealed the copilot of germanwings plane locked himself in the cockpit before crashing in the french alps and we report. >> reporter: piece by piece investigators pick through thousands of bits of wreckage scattered across this mountain side. bits of twisted metal, mostly unidentifiable suddenly nothing that clearly resembles parts of a plane. some pieces are backed up by forensic experts and yellow markers placed on larger objects and human remains from the 150 passengers and crew are treated with the utmost care. this is a crime scene. families of some of those victims travels to the accident investigation base. they are here to try to see whether loved ones died and give dna samples to identify body parts. analysis of the black box recovered from the site started to reveal the plane's final moments and listening to voice record

in 2001, george tenet flew to islamabad and threatened president musharraf. the full force of the american people would be brought against anybody that would assist al qaeda in its efforts. i wonder what musharraf thought that meant, the full force of the american people? i wonder what tenet was believing when he issued that threat? one of the things the book delves into, what is does it mean, issue of credibility american credibility. now pundits and politicians often use the phrase, unprecedented to describe the uniform lar but the kind of scenario that the book focuses on would truly be something new under the sun. so there are limits to the lessons of history. so what i try to do to transcend the problem somewhat, begin each chap per of the book with a fictional nair i have. there is a scenario with the secretary of state speaking with their foreign counterparts. the secretary of defense con firing with military commanders. talking heads on tv news shows, intellectuals debating what could be done. the president speaking before the american people and conf

. >> joining us from walk former cia station chief in islamabad, robert grenier, the author of the bookays to kandahar a cia diary." so let's talk about this change are we draying the inevitable or is this something we just have to do? >> well i think both. i think that it's something we should do but in my humble opinion it should be sustained. i think you summed it up nicely. we are delaying the inevitable here. this is not a significant change. yes, it means, u.s. troops will be able remain in jalalabad and kandahar for a few months bhoern more than they otherwise would. they will be able to sustain so-called counterterrorism against field commanders again for a few you a ditional months tan would otherwise have been the case. but this doesn't change the overall time line with for the u.s. withdrawal. >> robert how much does the president's approval for this here domestically how big of a role does the fact that ghani seems to have more rhetoric as opposed to his predecessor? >> i think it doesn't make it a whole ought easier. i this i that president karzai in his latter days was act