the african national congress is expected to win this election that's what opinion polls suggest with a smaller margin than it's ever had before because the democratic alliance is not a steadily increasing vote for about the last. economic freedom fighters which was founded six years ago by former politicians who were pushed out of the a.n.c. they've risen quite rapidly at about six percent of the vote last time they used their seats in parliament to disrupt proceedings to criticize the a.n.c. for corruption and to service delivery and they really change the course of south african politics afghanistan's capital has been hit by several explosions one of the top and close to the attorney general's office in downtown kabul and there are also reports of gunfire and a faction of the pakistani taliban has claimed responsibility for a bomb blast at a popular shrine in the city of lahore at least eight people including five police officers have been killed in that explosion darbar that's one of the country's

oldest sufi shrines it was also targeted by suicide bombers and twenty time killing more than forty people at that time let's speak to she's a security and political analyst is joining us live from islamabad via skype what can you tell us about this faction of the pakistani taliban that's now claimed responsibility for that attack that faction being has been. it's thank you it's very unfortunate a shrine has you know that couldn't hold us night all the people affected and this is the this attack as it is ours and that you let us off that much enjoy it that's not the responsibility as you mentioned disclaimed by a fact you know that you get all the fun stuff it's fun and i first knew you think that there's been a confrontation with this section of the thought of on ever since the focus on on the defense and. i guess the odds of that there have been and i think some

elements of. the movement hit and focused on which is a and not the political party so that has been the sort of confrontation with the finest done in recent days we've also seen some serious skirmishes along the pockets on board. and as little thought of what she threw off our soldiers but also mark they're supposed. to go from the mouth and all of this attack has come again on the selfie shiny which is which happens to be one of the or discharged i need a member of the do you call that somebody in two thousand and fifteen it has been a similar attack in one of the shrine in sin which which again is one of the or disk shine in the country and it's very unfortunate that the faction or or some people with the sword in a religious belief saw it all get it that you want does this you tell you about in the ability of this faction of the pakistani taliban the strength of the group to be able to carry out such an attack on a sushi shrine near

a major city. i personally think it said it about islam but i also believe that this factional is not put it in full and good and focused on because then have been some devious attempts in the fall then which have been forwarded by the security agencies so that it also speaks that the national action plan because of the beat up on by all political parties the fun the fun of the unfortunate the ugly public school massacre it is being implemented it has to be implemented with a new will talkie with the new rules that it now and for tickle parties are to get the bomb on board regarding this particular national icon regarding this had been taken were it time for this is a failure then by security agencies because they were not able to for all the time there are so many attacks and that i think one or. many unfortunate that that did not even point those parts that have also been some thought in the facts which were

which before you buy a security agencies so i am going to guess of course it is a failure and it has happened then one of the major cities the fuck is done and back again called for a do and you have done since it was all on the national action plan without any bifurcations not without any discriminations across the board on all such when you order other religious fanaticism all right we thank you very much for speaking to us from islamabad. meanwhile the pakistani christian woman who spent eight years on death row in a blasphemy case has now left the country babies lawyer says she is headed for a canada six months after her quit obeid pakistan's supreme court the verdict led to protests in parts of the country baby was originally convicted in two thousand and ten after being accused of insulting the prophet muhammad's during a fight with her neighbors. still ahead on al-jazeera after the death of a journalist last month a new round of talks gets underway in northern ireland's. hallows

when we have again slowly in central basically eastern europe is still clouded i was some rain but the west is turning rather stormy doesn't the court right for early may you may think you're probably right as well the temperatures are held down to the teens it won't even feel good of course and all the greenies rain stretching down towards spain so madrid seeing a drop to nineteen degrees there are lots always going to move slowly east was overnight cold enough for some snow on the alpine tops otherwise not cool some in scandinavia too and we end up with this picture come thursday so in remain yours warmed up again the storms of all girls nineteen degrees aims to answer ukraine belarus and eastern pond at least further west well right you know i think is

a good description of the weather for most places except southern france and spain and something portugal actually greece is doing quite well in stockholm the mediterranean coast is to quite well if you want real heat go away from the coast to be honest that's always the case on shore breezes keep the temps is down around the nineteen twenty mark in benghazi that has warmed up to the west breeze out of the interior might be dusty for tunisia now gee but look at the increase in temperature in tunis we're going to focus twenty nine on a whole ten degrees rai's on yesterday's. sponsor. i really want to get down to the nitty gritty the reality whether online. male chauvinism that is planned with in our global federation it is really hard to get. or if you join us. this is a dialogue everyone has a voice to talk to us in our live you tube shot and you too can be in history join

the global conversation on now to zero. following on the top stories on al-jazeera this hour iran that stopping its sale of enriched uranium and could restart high level production if world powers don't follow the terms of the twenty fifty nuclear agreement voters in south africa begun casting their ballots in parliamentary elections the governing african national congress is likely to win but the party is expected to get fewer votes than past elections at least eight people have been killed in a blast outside a popular shrine in the pakistani city of lahore and police say the death toll

could rise as some of the injured are in critical condition. let's get more on our top story on the iran nuclear deal and bring in mohammad marandi he's a professor at the here on university is joining us from tehran thanks for being with us again on al-jazeera so president hassan rouhani did not win a nuclear agreement but does it now put it on life supports. yes i think that accurate statements the iranians have shown strategic patience for the last year in fact for the last two years but they've done that basically to show the international community that it is the united states that that's looking for trouble that's that's creating an escalation in the hope that the european union among others will start of fighting by their commitments but until now the europeans have done absolutely nothing they've they've said all the right things but they've done absolutely nothing to link iran to the. the banking global

banking system which is a part of their commitment they do not they're not importing iranian oil which is also a part of the commitment so as long as they use the europeans continue down this road the iranians feel that they cannot continue with this one sided agreement so iran is giving her a. minute and so in it is giving the europeans sixty days to effectively jenna's between following mr trump and the u.s. administration or then in his words saving the steel if the europeans do not do anything what happens then absolutely. then he will go on and take further steps the iranians will no longer commit itself to enriching uranium at the current levels and that iran will begin rebuilding the iraq plant and i think after that iran will take even further steps and in addition to this i expect gradually

iran will be putting more pressure on saudi arabia and the united arab emirates for their role in this economic warfare being carried out by the united states so i think the iranians are telling the europeans not only that they have to start dividing by their commitments but they should also put pressure on the saudis and their morality is not to go too far because they both are very vulnerable and it's not in their interest to continue with this economic warfare against order for iran then takes further steps as you're saying doesn't this then just play into the hands of the americans and the trumpet ministration and then this risks putting washington and tehran in a possibly bigger confrontation. well the iran has waited a very long time in order for the plan to be the deal to be implemented the iranians want peace they signed up to the nuclear agreement despite the fact that

many in iran were opposed to it from the beginning because iran gave many concessions iran was very flexible and iran shut down key parts of its nuclear program or slowed parts of its key new key parts of its nuclear program despite the fact that there's never been any real evidence to show that it is anything but peaceful so now ordinary iranians are saying that the americans are trying to strangle us they europeans are doing nothing they're trying to deprive us of our rights iran has to respond and so the government is shown the international community that we are the side that wants to keep peace and stability and it's the americans that are pushing towards confrontation but the calculation in iran is that the americans recognize that any military conflict with iran will be very destructive there will there will be no more oil export of from saudi arabia or the united arab emirates at this rate closing the strait of hormuz would be a sideshow the americans know this the iranians know this so the iranians don't

want war but they've been preparing themselves for the last twenty years for such a consequence it's sort of mutually assured destruction i would lead to a global economic meltdown and the americans know this so iran is counting on sensible people in washington to force the likes of trump in pompei o from pushing the us in the wrong direction ok mohammad marandi thank you very much for speaking to us from tehran. excuse me the international court of justice is hearing cats are its case against the united arab emirates for violating human rights has high as government says the u.a.e. targeted its citizens based on their national origin when it expelled all categories and stop them from entering the u.a.e. after the twenty seven thousand blockade cats are says rights to marriage medical care education. offer to ownership employment and employment have been restricted and a rights group is registered more than one thousand one hundred complaints over the last two years when you eat claims qatar's hampering its efforts to improve the

situation a charge qatar has denied stephanie decker at that hearing going on right now in the hague joining us live from there to tell us what's happening where you are stephanie. well just that last point of what you mentioned yesterday we heard from the united arab emirates exactly that how they qatar of hampering what the courts had suggested last year which is to allow the citizens back into the united arab emirates the reunification the reunification of families and also students saying that culture was hampering efforts to blocking a website that the emirates now need to cut to the citizens to apply a visa for and also other different measures so today we will be hearing a response from the companies they've got three hours to do that this morning and then tomorrow we have closing statements from both sides each have an hour and a half to do that then the court will go away and figure out whether the a morality is have a case. it was

a sidebar to the main case theory which is of course qatar taking the u.a.e. to court here saying that it is discriminating against its citizens the bigger picture is this this is a political dispute that is almost two years in the making a blockade of qatar by four countries closing land borders closing its airspace you have the national carrier qatar airways when it flies down having to circumvent saudi arabia the united arab emirates when it flies anywhere it's costing all these countries millions and millions of dollars but also it's become personal they've expelled citizens a company citizens from their country making it far more difficult now to access their studies or families in a region where there's a lot of intermarriage and a lot of family links so this is why we are here this is the biggest court in the world let's say when it comes to disputes between states both teams of hires. the best lawyers there are and they are now arguing really into semantics about pretty much he said she said who did what and who is preventing the other from doing what is right but i think the bigger picture certainly looking at the politics story is

that we do not expect the blockade to be lifted anytime soon all right stephanie decker with an update from the hague thank you. sudan's military council says it could hold elections in six months if an agreement can't be reached with the opposition differences remain over the length of the interim period and who will leave the country during that time have a morgan has more from the capital hard to nearly a month after ousting its president of three decades army bashir sudan's military council and the opposition coalition attempts to form a transitional government don't seem to be getting easier the opposition presented the ruling council with its vision for the transitional period in early may on tuesday the military council responded oh one of. the document doesn't mention the other political forces that are politicking in the transition that would elect a prime minister and sovereign council members as well as other ministers it doesn't even mention the transitional military council which alongside the alliance

for freedom and change and other forces we see as important in the election process for these important posts the opposition coalition is made up of political parties civil society groups and the sudanese professionals association they have been leading protests in sudan since december i am the demonstrations were initially over price hikes but then turned into anti-government protests leading to a sit in in front of the army headquarters in early april the coalition says their vision for the transitional period is based on the demands of the protesters it's includes a four year transitional period a presidential or sovereign council an executive council headed by a prime minister with a civilian majority representation as well as a legislative assembly made up of one hundred twenty to one hundred sixty members forty percent of which must be women.