Truce between the u. S. And the taliban comes into effect in afghanistan paving the way for a peace deal to be signed next week. Vote counting is underway in Irans Parliamentary election with conservatives expected to hold on to power after moderate a reformist candidates were excluded. Hello the theres been an increase in the number of new coronavirus cases outside of china italy has confirmed its 1st death from the virus and public spaces have been shut down in 10 towns in lombardy province after 15 new cases were found there south korea has the most cases outside of china and theyve had their largest spike in infections over half of the 346 patients there are members of a religious sect in the city of daegu meanwhile china. As reported a drop in new cases with 400 recorded on friday thats a fall of more than 50 percent from the previous day or as the number of deaths outside china continues to rise the World Health Organization chief has issued this warning about the corona Virus Outbreak although the window of opportunity is not only to contain the outbreak we still have a chance to contain it but while doing that we have to prepare at the same time for any eventuality because this outbreak could go any direction it could even be messy. But what im saying is its 100 snow if we do well within the not only window of opportunity we can reverse any or we can have very good any. Serious cases lets get an update from robert reich hes joining us from the south korean city of daigo itself which has seen a large spike in infections rob what more you hearing about the situation there. Thats right it was a they had been a big increase 142 new cases have this saturday have been reported that takes the total number of cases across south korea to 346 and bear in mind it was only last tuesday that south korea was recording and recorded just over 30 cases so there has been a big spike and these figures are updated twice a day so this was saturday mornings figures of 142 new cases so we can expect by the end of today saturday increase so again a lot of these new cases are based and linked to they said church where there has been this massive infection it seems all the congregations who attended services there and the priority now for Health Officials here is working through the members of this church going out and testing for the corona virus but also its worth noting that the 2 neighboring cities of daegu in chung go that have been now set up is this what they call a special care zone 91 of these cases were actually in a hospital in john doe and it seems as though the link between these 2 outbreaks 2 clusters is that a members of the congregation of the church in daegu had attended a funeral there so that seems to be the link as we go forward the pharisees here in daegu have set up factual Testing Centers and also are converting the rules of the different hospitals to treat specifically with the coronavirus and weve certainly been hearing out of chinese also already zamora sort of cautious tone in the past 24 hours or so what kind of tone are the south korean also already striking and and how confident are they that they can get ahead of this. Certainly in the area where we are in this part of southeast south korea there is real concern you talk to people on the streets people fearful they are very worried naturally but it doesnt seem to be any sense of panic here people do tend to be heeding this warning to stay off the streets weve been going around the city and all of the streets here eerily quiet people do seem to be staying at home we have also been visiting some of the big stores there doesnt seem to be any panic buying the shelves awful so people here are waiting to see really what happens next as far as the officials are concerned concerned nationally if you look more positively at the situation although there have now been individual cases right across south korea all of those cases do seem to be still linked back to this area so what we havent seen is people from this area going and starting new new clusters of cases which probably all for which you point of view is good news not much comfort for people stuck in these 2 cities ok rob thank you for that update from south korea meanwhile kuwait has barred all flights to and from iran amid concerns over the spread of the coronavirus to more people have died from the illness there are bringing the total number of deaths in the country to 4 iran is the 1st country in the middle east to report fatalities from the virus it has 13 other confirmed cases dr peter j. Dean of the National School of tropical medicine and Baylor University in texas he says the corona Virus Outbreak is moving towards a pandemic. The worrisome news is the softer new and that were now seeing clusters of cases d in iran clusters of cases in korea were not quite calling it a pandemic yet but were inching closer to it by definition a pandemic would be where we have multiple areas of transmission globally and were awfully close so im very concerned about where were heading right now remember this situation is a moving target so it started out saying it was only animals to humans and then there was under standing that there was limited human to human transmission and now the new numbers coming out of china suggest its got a very high what we called reproductive number what that means is of a single individual gets it we now up to a 4 on the others get it so its thats a pretty transmissible virus and we dont exactly know how we know its likely that its your respiratory droplets contact but theres concern that it may get access to the airborne route actually not many viruses do that we know measles does the chicken pox but given the significant level of transmissibility it would not surprise me if that turns out to be the case when the u. S. Democratic president ial hopeful Bernie Sanders has warned russia to stay out of the 2020 president ial election he was responding to reports that intelligence officials had warned him the kremlin was meddling in order to boost his campaign as well as that of President Donald Trump sarah hierarchs reports. Its deja vu all over again accusations of russian meddling in the us president ial election in 2016 have resurfaced this time for the upcoming 2020 election last week senior u. S. Intelligence officials briefed congress of the latest security threats to the Us Government and warns of russian interference to try to boost President Donald Trumps campaign theyve already won the state trump has always denied kremlin interference and continued to do so in fridays last pit stop probably in western u. S. You see i see these phoneys these the do nothing democrats they said today that cotton wants to be sure that trump gets elected here we go. Here we go again did you see it still are people born i was told that was happening as i was told a week ago they said you know theyre trying to start a rumor its just information thats the only thing theyre good at it was very sure of all. Parts it seems russia isnt only targeting trump on friday the Washington Post paper reported russian efforts to help but he saunders with his president ial campaign to the Democratic Front runner later confirmed through ports is that he had been briefed on this and denounced any efforts to sabotage american democracy it was like clear what role theyre going to play we were told it was should they be other countries are going to get involved in this campaign. And look heres the message to russia stay out of american elections and what they are doing by the way the ugly thing that they are doing. And ive seen some of the you know. If they try to divide us up one it remains unclear if and how russia is attempting to manipulate the us president ial race moscow has denied the allegations. These are more paranoid announcements which to our regret will multiply as we get closer to the election naturally they have nothing to do with the truth. These developments come just ahead of a crucial democratic votes in the u. S. States of nevada i think all elected officials regardless of party should be concerned about this because this is a threat to our democracy and who we are as americans intelligence officials warn russia could be wanting to throw the integrity of the 2020 lection in doubt and the strengths chances of winning a 2nd term. An agreement thats supposed to usher in peace in afghanistan has come into effect. The u. S. Have begun what theyre calling a weeklong reduction in violence with a 1000 afghans dying every month a pause offers hope but also raises some awkward questions as john hendren reports from washington. In kabul where bullets bombs and sirens often punctuate the soundtrack of daily life there is now an unaccustomed silence. It midnight on saturday the taliban the United States in the Afghan Government of on shroff ghani begin a pause in hostilities if it lasts 7 days the parties plan to sign a peace deal in doha on february 29th that aims to end americas longest war we have to give peace a chance that the the best if not only way forward in afghanistan is through a political agreement and that means taking some risks that means enabling our diplomats its not a ceasefire its a test of trust you know who i am next he would be for security and Defense Forces will remain in a defensive position during the week of reduction of violence is Us Afghan Forces will continue operations against ice and alqaeda which are not part of the agreement none of the parties involved in the talks has publicly defined what constitutes a violation in the pause in hostilities is it one attack or is it 10 so its possible that if anything happens each side has an opportunity to call it off i think that they the taliban leadership is genuinely committed to implementing this truce i think its very careful not to call it the call of the cease fire which is probably a good idea except by this will happen even eventual cease fire holds that would open the door to 3000000 afghan refugees in pakistan to return to their homeland but some refugees ask to where the if we leave here we have no way to go back to i was born here about 32 years ago if we go where will we live we have nowhere to go if a Peace Agreement follows with the taliban still refusing to recognize the Afghan Government many in the us doha and afghanistan are asking what next john hendren aljazeera washington. Still ahead on al jazeera stranded in syria we meet the families displaced by war and in desperate need of aid. Police are deployed to germanys mosques as the government warns they threaten the far right attacks remains high. Hello again a welcome back to you in a National Weather forecasts well here across the eastern part of the mediterranean we are watching one storm system bring a lot across clouds across much of the region that also means rain is in the forecast here on saturday for turkey syria as well as down here towards lebanon a lot of clouds and in the Higher Elevations of turkey we could be seeing some snow particular here towards the east well here across the gulf though not looking too bad temper so down and doha we do expect to see about 24. 00 degrees as we go towards sunday in dubai a little bit warmer for you with a temper there of 29 degrees well here across the southern part of africa particularly in south africa over the next day were going to see a developing cold front that means thunderstorms will be developing across much of the central part of the country really towards the afternoon as well as into the evening you could see here on a forecast map johannesburg you will be in that rain as well 24 degrees is the expected high as we go towards sunday you can see how it really develops all that rain pushing into parts of southern mozambique as well we could be seeing severe thunderstorms in this area madagascar a nice day for you but a rain in the afternoon but down here towards cape town we do expect to see the temperatures on the rise so here on saturday 24 on sunday 28 and on monday plenty of sun in the forecast with a temperature of 32. To aljazeera let me talk about 2 of the biggest problems facing and they all the endemic corruption and we listen so if you replace chinas enemy of the with and thats really that yours we meet with global news makers and tweek about the stories that matter just 0. Holding the powerful to account as we examine the u. S. Is run in the world on aljazeera. Now that weve got the top stories on our just europe italy has confirmed its 1st death from the coronavirus after the number of cases there quadrupled in one day south korea has also reported its large is the only spike in infections that has the most cases outside of china. Democratic president ial hopeful Bernie Sanders has warned russias president to stay out of the us elections it follows reports that american intelligence agencies born congress and the kremlin was meddling to boost both sanders and trumps campaigns. And agreements aimed at bringing peace to afghanistan has come into effect taliban and the u. S. Will begin what theyre calling a reduction of violence if the 7 day deal proves a success then both sides will sign an accord next week. Votes are being counted in Irans Parliament 3 elections the results is expected to change the face of the countrys legislature as thousands of moderates and reformist candidates were barred from running as a big reports from to her eye. He said its a religious jew to vote and iran supreme you didnt lead by example casting the 1st ballot and 7 to one rick conservatives have much of their support base they followed suit randolph i dont watch all of them. This is the 1st time im voting my reason to vote is to have a share in the future of my country and help it right. Voting doesnt solve any problems and conditions could deteriorate if we dont vote we should vote for the way it is so the new lawmakers can fix our problems. This 88 year old says he has been voting for 70 years has been adding value in trouble i have voted from the very 1st election in the Islamic Republic 81 parliamentarian toughing disqualified from standing for the reformist hopefuls also told they cannot stand as elections it means conservatives could benefit from a lower turnout and lack of opposition and this will have also referred cautions for you when a Foreign Policy and i think this will bring more support from the parliament side for ukraine and regional policies but more importantly it will decrease the chances for the life the hood of any direct negotiations between the rand and the United States there are those who have stayed away upset at a lack of change and an economy reeling under us sanctions are solomon right. I voted every year but i saw no effect to convince me to vote this time i finish my studies i have a bachelors and finished Ministry Service but theres no job for me for what i see no reason to want. Now to manage i know im not voting because previous lawmakers did nothing they had no effect on the country so reverts to all its not me alone many to vote. Results are expected later in the week at this polling station where we have permission to film its been relatively busy but there are others across the city that was quiet but we werent allowed to film a lower turnout will leave whoever wins this election. With the task of rebuilding confidence and trust in the system i said big al jazeera to her on. Yahoos front of our dime is a lecturer in milan modern middle eastern history at the university of st andrews in scotland she says there will be more uniformity now and Decision Making a thing that the reformists have been on. On the decline for for quite some time now they havent been able to put forward a coherent platform with regard to the natives on rest between a state of society weve seen a lot of people on the margins of cities workers in the pendant trade unions rise and reform its really havent been able to to provide. An answer to these challenges so they were seen in a way as being expendable by the Guardian Council i think that is also why the board or no prominent reformers boycotted the election we saw former president carter i mean going and voting on iraq the us went and voted despite lambaste in the way the Guardian Council excluded and can there will be uniformity now in the system making the Previous Parliament for example approve the f. A. P. F. Bills against Money Laundering but these were of course blocked by higher bodies i think we will see more uniformity between these bodies but parliaments in iran still are quite fickle despite the fact that this one is going to be conservative dominated by a large we are seeing a. Sort of alignment behind the Supreme Leader i see and all these conservative figures who now clearly have the opera and the un is warning the humanitarian crisis in syria will turn catastrophic unless the International Community steps in and delivers aid immediately but the military offensive by Government Forces to retake the remaining rebel held areas may flow efforts to reach hundreds of thousands stranded on the border with turkey has somehow got a report from hatay. Asim is the head of an extended family his origin only from the town in the south of italy when the town was have. Him and his family fled a few days ago they arrived here in a rebel held village in the countryside north of italy destitute hes planning to join the thousands of poor and displaced syrians living in olive orchards here in a live city. I need at least from my large family their dog me to buy them but its cost around 250. 00 in Pinellas Fatima malise from hellfire a town in the rural hama when Syrian Government troops advance