six arrested during counter terrorism raids while french police say they foiled a planned attack in paris. the world news from al jazeera. also aheading pushing back i.s.i.l. form why radovan karadzic vows to appeal his conviction and prison sentence for genocide. place plus, the rolling stones arrive in cuba for a free concert where the music was once silenced.

belgium police tv arrested six people in brussels during raids in response to tuesday's attacks. the operations involving special units took place in and around inner city neigorhoods. two key suspects are still on the run after bombings at brussels airport and a metro station killed 31 people and injured hundreds more. >> reporter: there has been a rolling serious of police raids throughout the recent weeks, but, obviously, the brussels bomb attacks has intensified the pressure on the security services and the police here and on thursday night we've had a series of raids across a number of areas. i can bring you up-to-date with some of the statistics involved with this. there have been several armed operations conducted in brussels and others. three people have been arrested. we understand that they're at the federal prosecutor's office. we're not sure if they were

apprehended outside or whether they had been taken to the prosecutor's office and subsequently arrested. the three people have been arrested there. two people have been arrested in the area of yeta and a house search of brussels. these were armed searches, but no shots were fired. the identities of those people arrested are not yet known. remember, of course, we're looking still for potentially two suspects outstanding from brussels bomb attacks. one person is known to have fled from the airport when his suitcase bomb did not detonate. the belief is that there may have been a second accomplice, an accomplice to the person who blew them up at the metro station. two people being hunted for. the justice ministry says they will confirm the arrests, that is, decide whether or not there is sufficient evidence to take the detentions further later on friday. after that, there will be an

extra press communique later on friday as well. so it is unlikely there will be more details coming out over night a man has been arrested in france suspected of being involved in planning another major paris attack. the french national was taken into custody on thursday in one of paris's northern suburbs. the interior minister says preparations for the next attack were in the final stages. >> translation: this raid followed important information issued by the security general which allowed us to conduct an advances mission. this individual is a french national. he is suspected on of being an accomplice in this terrorist plan. at this stage we believe the arrest has no link to the previous attacks in paris and brussels. int interrogation is going to close in on this criminal organization and people who are its accomplices the leader of the catholic church says those who make and sell weapons are at least partly responsible for what happened in brussels. pope francis made the comments while performing a pre-easter

ritual in italy. he washed the feet of young asylum seekers to highlight the flight of refugees. >> translation: three days ago there was a gesture of war of destruction in a city of europe from people who don't want to live in peace. behind that gesture there were arms manufacturers, the arms traffickers who want blood, that's peace, who want war, not brotherhood much of the investigation into brussels and paris have centred on molenbeek. jacky role land went on there to see how young people in that area have been linked to the attacks >> reporter: this area has a certain reputation. the there are poverty, a young population, challenges. it was no means inevitable that salah abdeslam and some of his friends would be attempted by a message of mass violence. there are more than 20 mosques

and informal prayer rooms here. that's quite a concentration in one neighborhood, but it doesn't provide many clues as to why young people are being radicalized. >> translation: the recruiters have known for a long time that they're not welcome in the mosques. no-one is listening to them. if you say to someone"i want your son to go to syria for jihad", people say "go away". mosques don't want anything to do with this >> reporter: people are more likely to be approached away from the mosque, maybe in a football pitch or in a café. this woman runs a youth program at the town hall. she says young people are most vulnerable to i.s.i.l. messaging when they're in their early 20s and trying to find their way in life. >> translation: recruiters move under the radar. usually they're not from here but they come into the area where young people hang out. they spot the ones who look the

most angry and fragile and they approach them casually pretending to be friendly and then eventually they talk about syria and drawing them in >> reporter: the revelation that some of the bombers came here is hurting the whole community. the view that people have about here is part of the problem. imagine you're a young person, you've finished school, but then an employer says a the word "molembeek", on your krv and that's the end of your chances - cv. here is a man against that trend. he has opened an organic café with a difference offering halal meats to his muslim and non-muslim clientele. >> one of my priorities is to help people work their way out of poverty. that will help them get ahead and improve their lives. >> reporter: it is an alternative vision to the one pushed by i.s.i.l. recruiters.

the idea that you can be a full european citizen whilst still being proud of your own culture and heritage. jacky rowland syrian government forces have entered palmyra in their bid to take it from i.s.i.l. the city fell to i.s.i.l. last may. its recapture would be a significant victory. it is located along a desert highway in central syria and lies roughly between the government held capital of damascus and deir zs zour. >> reporter: the pictures broad kaflt on syrian state television is said to show a significant advance. syrian government troops fighting to retake historic palmyra from i.s.i.l. state media showed war planes and helicopters flying over head

as soldiers marched on the ground. the syrian council reported fighting continued outside the city on thursday after the syrian army moved to the city outskirts on wednesday. i.s.i.l. captured the city which cluess a u.n. ezco world heritage site last may and began a campaign of mass executions and destroyed ancient sites. swi switd-- it is an poer e important area. russia withdrew most of its forces from syria after six months of bombardment, the government of syrian bashar al-assad has made advances in rebel-held territory. the current offensive coin sides with talks in gen ooech abetween syria's government and the main opposition group as the u.n. attempts to negotiate a political solution to the civil war. while a ceasefire between governments forces and

opposition rebel factions has decreased violence. i.s.i.l. has taken over large areas of territory and finds itself under increasing attack on two front as both countries commit for troops to a fight each has vowed to win as developments unfold inside syria, u.s. and russia have been hailing better cooperation to end the war. u.s. secretary of state john kerry meet president vladimir putin and lavrov in moscow. they have discussed what a political transition could look like in syria. >> if russia is fully engaged in this effort and all of us are going to try to get the president to make the right decision in these next days to engage in a political process that results in a genuine transition and in peace for syria our correspondent has been

following the talks in moscow >> reporter: it it was a very long meeting between john kerry and president putin. it lasted about four hours. coming out of that john kerry said that they discussed ways to make sure that the ceasefire holds, to strengthen the ceasefire. he said that they had decided that a new constitution should be written by next august and he also said that the issue of detainees is one that is important and should be resolved as soon as possible. that is something that the open sippings has been asking for, for a while. there are more in the hands of the syrian government than those in the hands of the opposition. kerry also said that he found that president putin was committed to the political process and he wanted to know how president putin pull his weight on bashar al-assad to make him stick to his parliament

of the deal. probably we've got an answer for that from the words of lavrov. he said that now tackling the very difficult issue of the political transition, the transitional government, should be the immediate priority in the geneva talks. he also said that inter syrian dialogue is very important at this stage too. so far there hasn't been any direct talks between the government delegation and the opposition. now it seems that russia does agree that that has to happen the iraqi army says it has begun an offensive against i.s.i.l. in mosul. it is part of a wider plan to take the province of ninevah. they have been trying to cut i.s.i.l. supply lines. it is the first phase to retake mosul which fell to i.s.i.l. in june 2014. egypt has released images of personal items which belonged to a murdered italian student. a bag with his student id and

passport was found during a raid on a gang which had been posing as officers. his body was found with signs of torture after he disappeared in january. he had written articles critical of the egyptian government. time for a short break here. when we come back, we will look at what hope there is for lasting piece in afghanistan after 15 years of war with the taliban. also remembering rm argentina's dirty war, activists wants the u.s. do more about its former links with the former military rulers. stay with us. . stay with us.

welcome back. april quick recap of the top stories. six people have been arrested in the latest police raids in brussels following tuesday's bombings. two suspects are being sought for the attacks at the airport and a metro station that killed 31 people. a french national has been arrested during a raid in one of paris's northern suburbs. a man suspected in planning another major attack in the city. preparations were in the final stages. a syrian government says its forces have taken to the sites here. it is a considered a strategic prize linking the capital with the stronghold. radovan karadzic says he will appeal against his 40-year prison sentence. the international criminal tribunal found him guilty of committing genocide and other war crimes during the balkans conflict. >> reporter: radovan karadzic showed no emotion as he was

convicted of war crimes including one count of genocide. the judge described how he was criminally responsible for the siege of sar; jevo by civilians regularly shot at by snipers and how he was culpable for genocide. >> he had hone to know that crimes had been committed byise subordinates in the aftermath of the fall. he should have taken necessary and reasonable measures to punish the commission of genocide, murder, extermination. >> reporter: many of the victims' family had travelled to hear the verdict. the horrors of a war which ended more than 20 years ago still etched on the faces of those who

had survived it. >> translation: every time i see this picture it's not easy for me pause the picture remind me of the crime made by the people led by radovan karadzic who killed who they can at that moment. >> reporter: radovan karadzic president of the bosnian serbs was commander of the forces. after the war ended he disand. nato looked for him over bosnia but he was in a neighboring nearby. the high profile trialled last seven years. it was called a humiliation and the is said that he was selected to no justice. there is a sense of frustration here that he was only convicted of 10 of the 11 counts against him. there is also anger at the length of his sentence which

some people saying it's too short. >> reporter: outside the court his legal adviser was confronted by relatives of the victims. >> he was disappointed and he was astonished by the verdict and he has asked us to appeal. >> reporter: his conviction closes one chapter in the darkest period of the country's history. in a society still divided on ethnic lines, reconciliation is still a distant hope several thousands of serbian ultra nationalists gathered in belgrade to protest against his sentence. his supporters believes he has only been convicted because he is a serb. myanmar's new parliament has approved aung san suu kyi and 17 of her colleagues for cabinet posts in the new government. she is expected to take up to four posts, including that of foreign minister. the ministers will be sworn in on march 30 during a ceremony in

the capital. the republic of congo has partially lifted their communications blackout that was imposed during presidential elections. the government says it was done to prevent unrest, but the opposition is planning new protests. our correspondent reports from the capital. >> reporter: financial figures show that the incumbent won the election with more than 60% of votes cast. police are on stand by in case there is trouble, the leaders of opposition parties say protests are being organized for the coming days. they believe sunday's presidential election was rigged to giving him another term. i >> the feeling of the population is rejection of the current system. >> reporter: the government says the polls were free and fair. on thursday a communications blackout to stop opposition candidates from publishing their own results was partially lifted. after days of frustration for

phone users, some mobile networks are working again. opposition leaders have been able to speak about the rejection of the official results, both on local private radio stations and on stations based in france. some opposition leaders are using the radio to talk to their supporters. they're telling them to come out onto the streets and protest. the president has ruled for more than 30 years. in his latest declarations he reiterates that he will focus on infrastructure development and create jobs for the poor >> he has a vision for the country. he still has more work to do. he has big plans to benefit the people. he wants to build more roads, hospitals and schools across the country, especially in the poor rural areas. >> reporter: congo is the fourth largest oil producer in here.

groups have accused the president of corruption and stifing calls for greater democracy. he may have won this election, but it could be a difficult term for one of africa's longer serving rulers. the opposition say the people of congo want change. he will likely now have to give some attention to addressing this new energy on the streets after 15 years of war with the taliban, afghan's government hopes that talk with the armed group will begin within the next few weeks. the long conflict involves regional powers with competing interests. it the make it difficult to find lasting peace. >> reporter: this boy is 13 years old and loves cricket. his body was peppered with shrapnel in a suicide bomb attack on the indian consulate

in jalalabad. when the first explosion happened, i thought i'm dead. i couldn't see anything t i thought i'm dead. two to three minutes later my brain started functioning again e when i opened my ice it was like a dark night but city i couldn't see anything >> reporter: he was working in a family barber shop. his family's business was destroyed. military and fighters talk about collateral damage assist if it were acceptable in modern day warfare. the civilians are suffering the consequences of everyone else's war. in the jalalabad attack eight people were killed including the five attackers. it's the third assault on the mission this year. india has given billions of dollars in aid to afghanistan. >> attacks against us are designed to stop us from doing it, to scare us away, to drive a

rift between us, to force us to abandon afghanistan. we are not going to do that. >> reporter: india has suffered many attacks. the biggest was against this embassy in kabul in 2008 when 58 people were killed and 141 were injured. some analysts believe pakistan, india's oldest enemy is behind the campaign and the countries are fighting a different kind of war on foreign soil. >> back in the 1970s and 80s, they always use that they are looking for a turk place where they could easily take their war and say, we instead of bringing, killing our own people, fighting in their own countries, let's find on the place where we can figure out how we can basically diminish each other's influence in the region. >> reporter: the state visit of the prime minister under line

the strong relationship with afghanistan. pakistan faces india on the eastern front. some say it sees growing indian influence with kabul as a threat on its western front. most believe the attacks against indian missions here have been carried out by the network. it is a powerful faction within the taliban >> they're using taliban but they're trying to come up with other nafs just in case something-- others attempts just in case. they have a number of groups that could replace the it will ban in the future. >> reporter: other powers are fighting their own proxy wars here, but the india-pakistan is the most volatile and most likely to affect the peace process. for afghans going about their normal lives, they never know if they're going to be victims of afghanistan's proxy wars.

u.s. president obama has paid attribute to the victims of argentina's so-called dirty war. the period under military rule. activists are not satisfied. they want obama to release documents which will sea will approve america colluded with argentina's jaen rals. >> reporter: a picture of those who went missing is carried into the area here. it is part of the ritual to commemorate the 40th anniversary of 1976 coup. this woman's brother was one that disappeared. >> translation: my brother was part of the military and he denounced that the authorities were killing people, making them disappear. he was taken too. >> reporter: on march 241976 the military over threw the government and the second wife of argentinas's strong man. it led to a period where

thousands of people were systematically kidnapped, tortured and disappeared. many were killed in what were known as death flights where activists were thrown alive into the river t was known as the dirty war. a year after this a group of women wearing white head skavshs started coming to theory demanding the release of their women. what happens back then remembering it can only make sure that it doesn't happen again >> reporter: the anniversary this year coincides with the visit of obama. he has announced the white house will declassify thousands of intelligence and military documents with information about the role the u.s. played at the time. >> there has bon controversy of the policies of the u.s. early in those dark days. the u.s. when it reflects on what happened here has to examine its own policies as well in its own past.

democracies should acknowledge when we don't live up to the ideals that we stand for. we have been slow to speak out for human rights and that was the case here. >> reporter: human rights groups consider the visit offensive because they claim the military regime had the backing of the u.s. they also say that documents released are long over due. >> translation: obama will declassify documents now. it will take time. i will probably be dead when that happens. >> reporter: for 40 years people here have been waiting to find out what happened to their loved ones. in spite of the wait, there is hope that this announcement might bring them closer to the truth finally, the rolling stones have arrived in cuba to play a few concert in a concert like music like theirs was once banned. after the communist revolution in the 1950s, foreign bands were

considered to be subver sieve and people had to listen to their music in secret. >> reporter: until recently this was the closest that a legendry british rock star had ever come to cuba. now the countdown has started for what promises to be the most exciting rock concert in this country's history. the rolling stones are coming and no-one wants to miss them. >> translation: when i was young i dreamed of going to a concert like this but it was never within our reach. >> this is the first time we will see something like this and maybe the last. we want to travel abroad to see them. >> reporter: the famous british rock band has some 500 tons of equipment and will be playing before a crowd of hundreds of thousands. this will be the grand finale of the rolling stones latin america

tour but only here are they performing for free. the stones sent a message on youtube to the cuban people with seismic jagger speaking in good spanish saying that this was a historic concert and he hopes the cuban people will see it that way too. practically no-one has seen the video because internet access here is so limited. still, it will be an extraordinary event in so many ways. >> translation: cuba is not on the circuit of major music tours, so you can imagine. also the stones span three generations of fans. >> reporter: it's also worth remembering that for decades the beetles and rolling stones music was banned by the communist government which called it ideological deviation. president obama's visit here earlier this week was also historic. in concert is less institutional. cuba is being embraced by a rock

band that is a living ledge chend would seem to indicate that culturally cuba is coming full circle a quick reminder, you can keep up-to-date with all our news on the website. there it is on your screen. the address aljazeera.com on target tonight maximum mum focus on minimum wage, the fight for $15 an hour and why some call it a job killer here is one thing most americans support raising the federal minimum wage from its current level of $7.25 where it has been since 209. no wonder both democrats and republicans see the wisdom of boosting pay for the lowest paid workers. the current minimum wage is