Response to strikes it blames on the Palestinian ArmedGroup Islamic jihad. Welcome to the news are iran is being isolated by its neighbors because of growing fears over the corona Virus Outbreak 4 new infections have been recorded in the capital tehran 7 in the holy city of qom to england province and one each in a market province and a tonic a bomb in a bid to stop the spread backers than has closed its border with iran on sunday as have armenia and turkey in the northwest ankara has also halted all incoming flights afghanistan has suspended all road and travel to its neighbor 3 afghans are currently being tested for the virus after entering from iran and iraq is scanning arrivals over fears that hundreds of thousands of iranians visiting holy sites could bring the virus across the border although also jabari is in turn round with more on how the ortho routines are responding. The number is of course significant because they are worried that the containment process is really something that they need to address as quickly as possible the outbreak started in the holy city of which is about 120 kilometers south of the capital tehran officials believe that a chinese worker construction worker was the source of the outbreak in that city you know they have since closed schools and universities not only home but in about 2 thirds of the cities across the country in the capital and all the major events have been canceled including the Government Foreign Ministry briefing that was to be held on monday and we also understand the terror on university dormitories have been evacuated as well the Health Minister has also said that the masks and this in fact and will no longer be sold in pharmacies because the government will be hanged handing them out in a public metro stations as well as buses across the cities. Several provinces in china have lowered their Emergency Response measures to the coronavirus but south korea is still on high alert Just Announced a 161 new cases bringing the total number of infected to 763 the number of from the virus in south korea stands at 7 to 2 more announced on monday cases. After a break in a religious community in the city of. Lets get the very latest by speaking to our correspondent katrina you who is in beijing and those are encouraging figures coming out of china of some provinces and infection figures. Thats right so weve had 4 provinces lower their alert level in china that the provinces you nonsense. Because theyve had 0 confirmed cases in recent days over a few confirmed cases which is good news generally in china there does seem to be encouraging figures overall we have total more than 51. 00 current confirmed cases but weve also had reportedly more than 23000. 00 people cured of the current virus were still waiting on the latest figures as to the new confirmed cases over the last 24 hours but in the previous day it was about 600. 00 so it is generally a downward trend which is good news but still she jinping the president of china has come out and said that this is still one of the biggest crisis that communist china has faced since its founding and many cities are still very much in lock down beijing included even though the numbers are still lower and a lot of economic measures are being taken to contain that impact and today were going to find out whether china is going to indeed perspire in its National Peoples congress which is the most important political event that usually takes place every march so were going to hear about that later today indeed of course one of chinas neighbors south korea obviously also a focal point for the coronavirus are not really seeing any reduction in its numbers the. No on the contrary were seeing spikes in recent days of the numbers for this is fast rising weve got more than 700 and i think 763 cases 161 over the past 24 hours and most of these cases seem to be confirmed to be concentrated in the city of digger which is a city of about 2 and a half 1000000 people who have been told all stay indoors president mungy it has raised the alert level in the country to the highest level and that will give him powers to allocate more money towards fighting this epidemic to also have access to more personal data medical data for example of some of its citizens and also potentially put cities into lockdown if thats something they decide to do so these cases mostly so far like i said concentrated in daegu in particular to be so it seemed to regenerate around this particular Church Called the. Church of jesus about half of these confirmed cases are people linked to this particular church and those branches of that church around the country have been closed down and its not just daegu whove had their lives affected the people of jager in seoul theyre also closing down some schools a Daycare Centers and public gatherings have also been banned there or katrina thanks for the update from beijing to you there our correspondent will staying on message austria has stopped all train traffic to and from italy over coronavirus fears earlier denied entry to a train from venice up to 2 travelers were suspected of having real this we were led to the Prime Minister has announced a quarantine on several northern terms affecting 50000 people over the last 2 days of the venice carnival of also being cancelled catherine stansell has more. More drastic measures in italy as doctors struggle to contain the spread of the corona virus the mayor of milan has ordered schools to close for at least a week sporting events in the guardian financial regions have been cancelled so have the final days of the world famous tennis carnival disappointment to thousands of revelers. Say well it is useless to stop a carnival because there are hospitals and bars and supermarkets and restaurants and trains and planes and ferries which are all open spaces and so how do you solve this problem stopping a carnival its all ridiculous panic is more contagious and a virus. At this point has been necessary many things and the lock down in northern italy has gone from urging everyone to stay indoors to a fully fledged quarantine Prime Minister decepticons has banned people from entering and leaving the regions where the virus is most prevalent and the army is being deployed to ensure the quarantine is observed. The list of we and the Health Authorities have not been able to locate patient 0 because we havent identified this is difficult to make any predictions about how the virus will spread so the only volley to be taken was to close off these territories this is going to support. The korean chain has led to a rush to buy supplies and with the sudden increase in new cases many italians are worried. Were all afraid but were crossing our fingers o. B. L. Right if someone doesnt feel well they should react early because people can be cured if they come to hospital in a desperate situation its much more difficult to cure them. With more than 130. 00 confirmed cases of the coronavirus italy is the worst hit country in europe every day life for many here looks like it will remain at a standstill until the outbreak can be contained catherine stansell aljazeera. Gloria is the direct royal factious diseases at the university of rome she says many people with current virus may never develop symptoms and therefore spread it unknowingly. But there are 2 possibilities for transmission by a person who is not overly infected or over 3 diseased the 1st one is that anyone can be infected without becoming immediately ill and during the intervention period usually we are able to transmit the rare infection we have been infected by therefore there are some persons who are not aware of be affected and will and will efficiently transmit exaction. Some of those persons will never develop and over disease and they will continue to transmit infection until the infection has been totally eradicated we dont know our many papers have been infected we dont really know how many passengers wear ear which is another biological condition the majority of persons usually in the majority of Infectious Diseases infectious virus diseases the recorder from the exaction endeavor up a protective antibodies and thats this simple biological condition applies also to the corona virus so there are many persons who. Are able to clear the areas and recorder control head home the aljazeera news hour including a capital under siege war to either have to sound on tripoli is bad for business and a scandal in paris while former french president ial candidate is facing trial. And a sport we need to try out your old girl who isnt letting a disability stop her from following her dream of becoming the fastest skier in the world. At least 9 people including 3 children have been killed in an earthquake in turkey the magnitude of 5. 7 quakes epicenter was just across the border in iran where more than 70 people were injured. More from heartache in turkey. The moment the 5. 7 magnitude earthquake rattled villages in the turkish province of one people in the area close to the border with iran rushed outside into the streets what followed was panic pandemonium and desperate cries for help counting on in the world do you happen to be in 2 seconds we ran away in a building collapsed my sheets encountered buried under the rubble if the f. A. A. Could happen at night we wouldnt have survived and. Rescue teams scramble to reach survivors under the rubble turkeys government assessing the damage. There are no more people under the rubble will be taking extra precautions for the upcoming hours a good chance being set up to house the homeless but its still winter here keeping of the cold is essential fearful of aftershocks many are planning to spend the night in the open crisscrossed by 4th lines turkey and iran are some of the most seismically active countries in the world last month more than 40 people were killed and hundreds injured when a 6. 8 magnitude earthquake struck the eastern turkish provinces. And. A 9 years ago one of the most devastating disasters in eastern turkey is recent history a 7 point one magnitude earthquake killed more than 500 people and ever since the turkish government has stepped up efforts alleviate the destructive impacts of the biggest natural threats in the region. Had tied. Israeli military has launched airstrikes into garza the army says its in response to palestinian Group Islamic jihad firing 21 rockets into southern israel 13 of them were intercepted. The Israeli Military is also carried out airstrikes against Islamic Jihad targets in damascus syrian state media is reporting that the countrys air defenses have been intercepted what they call hostile targets over the city Islamic Jihad denies its been hit the group says it carried out the rocket as her colleagues rael after the army opened fire on a group of palestinians killing one person 4 others were shot and injured while trying to recover the body before it was taken away by an israeli bulldozer sorry for citizen west jerusalem he says the israeli air strikes come as no surprise. Well certainly the strikes inside gaza are relatively standard for this kind of escalation the kind of which weve seen many times in the last couple of years certainly of rocket fire such as this is typically met with an israeli round of airstrikes inside gaza the Israeli Military saying dozens of targets belonging to palestinian Islamic Jihad have been hit also saying that they struck what they said was a rocket team in preparation potentially for a launch of the palace in Health Ministry inside gaza saying that a group of 4 people were injured by a drone strike and that among the injured were among the group were a man and his wife less typical though is the strikes that these women she is also rarely admitting to having carried out inside syria it did however in november at a time when it assassinated a a Rocket Team Commander inside gaza as well as trying to carry out a strike against a senior Islamic Jihad figure in damascus it said at that point there would be further strikes against Islamic Jihad leadership in in the syrian capital if rocket fire continued so the immediate thought for many was is this a sign that they were doing just that in response to this latest round of rocket fire so far the Israeli Military is just saying that it struck a site which its calling a hub for Islamic Jihad activity south of the syrian capital one used for Weapons Research moon rabbani is the coeditor of the judge an online magazine specializing in contemporary middle east news he joins me now from via skype from new york could have you with the set of the program should we be worried with this escalation of violence. I think we should always be worried by escalations of violence and i also think we should be at least as worried if not more so by the ongoing lock 8 of the gaza strip which is now almost a decade and a half old which of course is taking place within the context of more than half a century of Israeli Occupation of the west bank in the gaza strip i think the subtext here is that what israel is seeking to do is to divide and isolate the 2 main factions in the gaza strip hammers and Islamic Jihad from each other just as a sop to suck contracts the security of the occupation in the context of the oslo agreements to the Palestinian Authority its now seeking to subcontract the security of the gaza strip to hamas and to make how mouse responsible for suppressing slamming in the gaza strip and that explains i think please go ahead. Dr dobson to get to add to that then does that make the fact that israel is targeting locations beyond guards beyond the borders of israel a good strategy. Well i think what israel is seeking to do is to launch attacks pacifically against Islamic Jihad today in both the gaza strip and syria as your correspondent mentioned and to kind of demonstrate to the world 1st and foremost of the palestinians that hamas itself is not getting d involved as as as you know. Recently emerged in the Israeli Press that the leaders of the Israeli Military have been imploring that to continue its Financial Aid to the gaza strip because on the one hand its holding out this prospect of a. Ceasefire cease fire agreement with us and of keeping this dangling in front of the rulers of the gaza strip while at the same time using the prospect of such an agreement to keep hitting other palestinian factions in the gaza strip in a way that ensures that hamas itself does not join the fray and so in that context getting back to your original question i suspect that the prospects for further escalation at least at this stage is probably quite limited also because theres of course the approaching israeli elections and the israeli leadership itself will see little benefit in the sudden escalation of hostilities between israel and the gaza strip in at this particular time so just briefly then the policy then of retaining palestinian bodies as they were in this particular case when the body that were talking about was scooped up by a dump truck and taken back into you might say israeli territory it is being used potentially as a negotiating chip in the future its very much what palestinian factions have done themselves by holding onto israeli bodies as bargaining chips for prisoner exchanges do you think the israelis changing its tactics now. Well you could raise a general point except in this particularly macabre incident you had in the israeli bulldozer going into power steering interior its henri and effectively kidnapping the body of a Slain Palestinian and bringing him back into israeli territory and in the process wounding several palestinians who were seeking to recover were seeking to recover that body and so you know also the way it was done and it was broadcast live on t. V. Appalled even many israelis at that particularly macabre way of it of its execution and i think this is kind of par for the course where israel makes very public displays of its thorough contempt for palestinian life and palestinian deaths in this case and also does so with the intention of showing the palestinians that the world will sit idly by is it in gauges and such cant conduct over the moment thanks very much for your insight when rabbani there joining us from new york thank you iran has seen its lowest turnout in a parliamentary election in 40 years just under 43 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots on friday conservative candidates holes at 2 in the majority taking all 30 parliamentary seats in the capital tehran voters options were limited to have more than 7000. 00 potential candidates to squalor find but irans interior minister says that the circumstances were to blame for the low turnout in la that shadowy. We held these elections when there were several incidents in the country where you had bad weather there was this coronavirus disease there was the plane crash also the events of january and november in such a situation the turnout right seems perfectly acceptable for us. As the burghers in tehran he says the result has put reformist president Hassan Rouhani in a difficult situation. Well this is very embarrassing for the establishment voter turnout is around 42 percent in the last election it was 61 percent hare in teheran where i am 25 percent in the last election it was around 50 percent now this is one of the most conservative parliaments this country has ever seen but it takes place when the turnout is the lowest since this stablish ment of the Islamic Revolution now we need just to give you an idea of how low the turnout was in the last election here is the around there were 30 seats up for grabs all of them were won by reformists moderates candidates every single one got over 1000000 votes this time around all 30 seats were