we are ment to be your first choice for the news. >> from al jazeera's headquarters here in doha. you're watching the news hour. narendra modi's new employment. and pro russian separatists take over the airport.

doneskt. and where many are still unhappy about the bill. but first to egypt where people are voting in presidential election set to put a former military man in power again. 53 million people are eligible to vote. most are expected to cast their ballot for this man. he is the former army chief, general al sisi, and he's expected to have a landslide victory. his challenger is left of center and came in third in the election two yearsa years. this is the first election since

the military-led coup last year, and since he has led campaigns against the muslim brotherhood and many have been jailed. they're going to be looking at the turnout. do you think that's important welcome. >> i think its important for supporters of al sisi because they view this as a referendum that on the political path thatt has been taking since last vote. they will look at this vote as legitimate. >> if al sisi becomes president, and it looks like he is, what

are his policies. >> i think he is a shoe-in. he'll be running on the platform of restoring peace. he is a military man who can restore order, restore security and promote investment, etc. more broadly than that we don't know what he wants. he makes vague noise about reducing policy, but that's a wish. not a policy. >> he cites national security as a reason not to layout his platform and his policies. number one, people don't know his policies. two, he hasn't made any former campaigns.

>> i think part of the reason that al sisi has been cautious of public appearances or debates. remember he's relying on his popularity. he doesn't want to do that may make him look bad. he's riding high and he doesn't want to ruin that so he's ru running vague. >> let's talk about his oppone opponent. he appeals to whom? >> that small egyptian electorate that still yearns for the january 5, 2011, revolution. they want change, and the change nobe not the muslim brotherhood,

not the army. he's not running in this to win the presidency, but he's running to sow al sisi saying look, we're not inconsequential in this country. the more votes he gets, th he believes the more al sisi will have to offer concessions to that military camp. >> thank you. let's go to india. narendra modi has been taking his oath of office. modi said he will rule without fear, hatred and run in accordance to the constitution. in new delhi, they have been watching events. tell us more about the procedures. >> reporter: well, just on your

screen you saw a lady in a green sari, that was the former daughter-in-law goo gunned gand. she will look over the women and child development ministry. the ceremony started 25 minutes ago, and we saw narendra modi come to the podium and in front of the president and asyste asse his guests. he has taken his odometer and was sworn in to his oath to end. now what we're seeing in the presidential court yard are all of the ministers taking the oath. it will last about 90 minutes.

>> while these ministers take their oaths we find out which has which portfolio and which has which ministry. very unusually for mr. mr. sharo be there. >> reporter: these are archenemies. they've had three wars over kashmir and the law. the countries have been very cautious. mr. modi is seen by analysts here as certainly executing a master stroke.

sharif, karzai, also controversial the president of sri lanka, the tamil have bo boycotted over the way they believe they were treat during the civil war by sri lanka. >> thank you. armed men have taken over donest airport in ukraine. witnesses say they heard gunfire. let's see what happened, she joins me on the line in doneskt. what happened. >> reporter: we just moved away

from the airport because over the last hour or so there have been escalation in the fighting. as we said they have taken over the airport. over the past hour they would say 200 pro russian armed men, very heavily armed surrounding the airport, hiding in the woods, and we saw helicopters flying over head. we preassume most of the

fighting has been at the old airport. it has caused a lot of panic around us. we've seen people running away, people crying because since this fighting began this is the first time that the fight something so close to the city. >> and timed, i suppose, to come inside with the election? >> well, there have been over the last two days. the ukrainian government has announced it has stopped anti-terror operations, and then it started again this mornin morning--very dangerous escalation. now pro russian separatessis sen the urban areas like doneskt or

luhanskt. they said they do believe him as the president of ukraine, and they would not old talks with him even if he tried to come here because at the moment they consider themselves at war with what they call a neighboring country, and what they mean by that, ukraine. >> reporting from the airport in doensk, you vai ukraine. >> petro poroshenko is set to become ukraine's new president as events illustrate he faces a difficult challenge in the months to come. the man likely to be ukrai ukraine's new president petro poroshenko said that there will

be talks with russia in june to end the fighting between pro russian separatists and ukraine. russia can no longer claim that there is no legitimate person to talk to. >> they have so-called abandoned state, which keep the armed forces. this is not acceptable. by the way, these people are representing nobody. these people just want everybody to be afraid of them. >> reporter: poroshenko said his first trip will be straight to the troubled reason to show that he intends to represent all ukrainians as president. they will set parliament.

threaten is the maidan, the heart of the revolution. over 100 demonstrators were killed by government snipers, this is something like holy grouped to them. many have moved on, but others remain. they say they're here to make sure that the government keeps its promises. >> the people in those pictures sacrificed their lives. they swore to protect the country, and so we'll carry on here. it's not the end. maidan will stay permanently. >> clearing the square will be the job of the newly elected mayor, poroshenko's ally. both the former heavy weight boxer and poroshenko says they have to stop the violence that

keeps the country seeming to be on the brink of civil war. >> in thailand the king for its coup. plus a damming report into an australian run detention center shows the killing of an asylum seeker. relays get under way in the bahamas. details later. >> there has been a surprise shift in the political landscape. it could be a seismic shift. fringe parties from copenhagen to athens, we have reports from london.

>> reporter: the news across europe has been about political earthquakes. populist parties on the far right and left trouncing mainstream politics. but as the votes were tallied the new look european parliament facts look much like the old one anone. it was in national politics in country after country that anything seismic was happening. in france. >> our people demand a single policies, the policy of the french, for the french. >> reporter: in britain. >> i don't want just britain to lead the european union, i want europe to lead the european

union. >> reporter: the independence party to become the first minority party to win over the major ones in a nationwide vote in 100 years. there were scenes elsewhere as voters rebelled against low living standards and high unemployment. >> i think the real take away is what is it going to do for each member state. we can see early elections in greece, italy, and germany we could see business as usual. i think we're going to see some business as usual in brussels itself. >> reporter: as mainstream parties climb back by aligning themselves more closely. here in britain there will be a general election next year. the expectation is that david cameron's conservative party could toughen its staff on. migration in order to win back sort and win that election.

what he's promised next is a referendum on britain's contin continued membership, and if that happens david cameron could find himself under pressure to vote no. and if britain is anyone example to go by that may be the real consequence of the european election. changes in national politics that could wear away at the european project itself. al jazeera, london. >> greece was one of those countries where far left parties won the election. we're live in athens. john, we've seen the seismic shift across europe, mainly france to be honest. very little impact in germany. what happened in greece. 12,349 the political dialogue here in greece has been dominated over the past few years, more than that, really by anti-austerity parties. voters yesterday showed that they want to break free from the

restrictions in that dialogue. if you look at the whole political spectrum, the pro austerity parties have lost votes. the roughly 8% lost has, that's the message from greece. people are tired of austerity. now they've gotten both arms in the straight jacket of austerity and will look at whether they need austerity or not. >> i'm looking at figures, and the left wing of the party succeeded in capturing first

place, and the extreme right, golden dawn party was third with 9.4%. so two arms wide apart. >> reporter: that's right. golden dawn has done extremely well to improve its showing despite a criminal investigation by the supreme court. and they have done historically well to come out on top of all of the parties for the very first time a left wing party has done that in greek history. it was formed out of the coalition of the two greek communist parties in 1998. so that's a moment of pride. but they've done that without broadening their voter base. so isn't yet clear that they are marching to power. it has held the voters that it took two years ago. but the main trend is here that

the memorandum, the austerity parties, the government coalition, the socialists and conservatives are gradually lo losing power, and it's going to be interesting to see where that is going to go. >> italians that led the coup has received the honor. andrew simmons reports. >> reporter: the king isn't here at 86 he was too ill to attend. now officially running the country and said he didn't have a time frame for elections but they would be held as soon as possible. >> we will maintain firm control and deal with those who violate

the law as well as any protest that create a situation. >> reporter: it came after up of the most oppressive crackdowns with media republicannership and the ban on gatherings of more than five. >> i'm very concerned. in addition to the crackdown on media and satellite and video broadcast, in the last two days there has been a concerted target of free speech advocates. >> there is alarm over what could happen next. the so-called red shirt. movement establish in the 2006 coupe to rally support for shinawatra has largely been quiet. but some think that's ominous.

the schools may have opened again, but there is nothing normal about the situation in thailand right now. andrew simmons, al jazeera. >> syrian rebels say they have captured 21 strategic military check points. the fighters in the district say they managed to take control after three months of intense fighting. rebel fighters say this win will enable them to block government supply lives to other military barracks and bases. in afghanistan two people have been killed in a suicide attack. a bomber has targeted the capitol of kabul. he slammed his car into a bus that was carrying military personnel.

security "n" bengahzi security officials say tha thata critic of the fighters in the region have been attacked. in australia, a new report into the death of an asue almost seeker was found to be killed by staff. he died in february during riots in papa new guinea. we have reports from sydney. >> reporter: back in february oathen immigration minister was quick to say that he had been killed outside of the detention center. if he hadn't broken out he wouldn't have come to any harm. this report shows how wrong that was. not only was he beaten to death inside the center, it was staff working there who killed him. the report talks about rising

ditensions. riots anded reports say that staff dragged the man from his bedroom to be beaten. it was a staff member from the salvation army who led the attack. he was beaten with a rock dropped on his head. another staff member slashed the throat of another detainee. he was lucky to survive. >> let's look at world weather situations. i hear south america is seeing chilly temperatures in. >> meteorologist: it's over the central belt that they have the coldest of the weather. we can see top temperatures of 12 degrees. now that means 13 degrees below it's usual average temperature. that is a massive drop.

that is if here in doha we got to 26 degrees one day. wouldn't that be great. or perhaps in london only get to go 5. is really is a huge change. 12 degrees certainly very warm there at all. if we head through the next few days, the reason being the weather process is moving towards the east. there is a lot of gray behind it. that's actually the satellite picture misrepresenting the cold weather for clouds. the main area of wet weather that's clearing away. that means today we're going to see far more in the way of sunshine. 18 degrees is below average but it's back to decent weather. that will stay off the eastern coast as we head through the next few days. we'll see showers around rio. and towards the south, still chilly for us in buenos aires.

talking about chile, santiago, 23 degrees, lots of sunshine there for a the moment, but it's wednesday that the winds will pick up. you see the clouds, that's a hurricane, a very intense storm. that's the equivalent of a category 4 hurricane at the moment. it will track towards the north over the next few days. now it's staying away. why should we worry about it. because it's intensifying all the showers across many parts of southern mexico. here it's going to stay very wet, stephen, over the next few days. thank you. >> the hurricane, indeed. the area of croatia, bosnia have been overwhelmed by flooding. they've also faced the result of

landslides. >> reporter: i'm in bosnia, and on the other side of the river is croatia. when the river rose towns on both sides fro were effected. these floods were the worst the region had seen in is hundred years and cost billions of dollars worth of damage. now that the immediate threat of the into flood is over new issues rise like the risk the red of ski, likofdisease, landm. this area is still divided

across ethnic and religious lines but they have been united in facing the crisis together. >> coming up, the politics of peace. presidential runoff, the winner could determine talks with the farc rebels. >> and in rio da rio rio de jane count down the days until the world cup kicks off. >> thunder's biggest star makes a surprise return. find out what that means a bit later.

>> welcome back. i'm stephen cole. voting in the first presidential election since army took power in july. generallalcycy is expected to win, and there is only one challenger in the race. narendra modi is expected to take the office of prime minister in india, an. armed men have taken over the airport in doneskt. witnesses said they heard gunfire. but let's go back to that first headline in egypt. retired general al sisi is the frontrunner. he was appointed chief in 2012. he led a cu coup.

his rifle socialist politics he came in third in the 2012 election. he sorted al sisi in the aftermath of the coup, but he wants to stage end the protestw that he says is draconian. >> reporter: al sisi's campaign camp is very strong. we look at his twitter page, and forget my arabic pronunciation, but they have been saying that

al sisi has been accompanied by armed commandos and he was watching the election from inside the interier ministry. the newspapers are trying to paint him as candidate of the state. they put up a news flash to say that no, this is all live. they have a very strong media team. that's what we saw from al sisi. i would like to say more. the interim president was appointed on fourth of july last year. after voting he had this to say. >> i ask all egyptians to vote to, build a future of egypt.

this the officers step. we have to stop talking and start action pause egypt needs all our earths. >> well, we heard earlier from our analysts about the significance of voter turnout. do we have any more on that? >> reporter: there is nothing concrete but suggestion at 1:00 two and a half hours ago that there had been a million voter turnout which is not a huge amount, but there is a few factors to take in consideration. i've got my white board out here. you have got in egypt 53.9 million registered voters. that's the number of people who can vote. the only thing we've got as a guideline is to go back to january where we had a vote on the constitution. but then you had a voter turn out 20.5 million. now here in may this is the big question, what are we going to get in may for turnout back al sisi, if we assume he's going

to win this election, he needs a strong turning out to say that yes, he has the mandate of the people. i saw this a tweet. someone said earlier dear egypt can we have the next election , i'm melting. there is a second day of voting that will be up to 38 degrees. that's tough conditions to be standing out in a big line all day to cast your vote. that's something to think about. a couple other things to tell you about the this is our live blog which our team has been working on all day. they've been lining up everything and the other thing we want you to do this, and forgive me as i flick through the ipad, you know it's "free

aj staff." we're wanting to get the word out about our detained journalists in egypt. that has had eight retweets. use that hashtag free aj staff to share your voice about freeing our journalists in egypt. >> thank you very much. let's go back to one of our other top stories, that is the inauguration of new prime minister narendra modi. thhe is known outside of india possibly inside india as well as controversial politician, not

the least of what happened. a divisive man. is he going to be a polarizing figure in india or will he unify the country? >> reporter: well, this has been the biggest apprehension regardel narendra modi since he became prime minister, will he polarize india, divide it in social groups or will it unify india. to understand that you have to understand that modi, he'll get through either from the left or from the right. my guess is that mr. modi after having made an entrance from the right will gravitate towards the center and become a slightly more centrist leader than he was before. finally in the last ten days he

has sent out signals that he wants to strike a greater posture of reconciliation. more importantly, leaders from pakistan and bangladesh. >> many who reach office tend to realize the realities of office. narendra modi, he was an international pariah after the massacre ten years ago. does this election now mean that he's been forgiven for what happened when he was chief minister? >> if you look at these figures, out of the 282 members of

parliament there is not a single muslim. neither has he reached out to the muslim, meter will they be working with him. >> the controversial is a complete mess. china has overtaken india rapidly. he said this victory will give india a better chance of prosperity. is that opinion shared by the economists? >> reporter: he has to insure that prices come down and increase the number of jobs because there has been steady rising of unemployment. in manufacturing and even in the sector of services, there has been a slowdown of the economy.

he has to think about the measures, but it's difficult to say what he has in mind. but given mr. modi's manner in which he hand handled his campaign, i'm sure he'll have ideas in min mind. what they are we'll hear over the next few months. >> indeed, we will. thank you very much for your analysis. pope francis' visit to the western wall wa wall, a site foh prayers. he toured jordan and bethlehem. a day of multi faith meetings today.

>> absolutely. today seems to be the day of unity. it started off with meetings. taking a tour of the muslim holy site as well as the dome of the rock. following that trip he went over to the grave site of theodore hertzel, who is known as political stie i don't knowism. the prime minister benjamin netanyahu had asked the pope to come to a monument for israeli attack victims, explaining that the separation wall that the pope prayed on in bethlehem was a necessity for israel to prevent more attacks and prevent more israelis dying from what he called terror attacks coming from the west bank. the day did not go by without politics just as we saw.

pope francis said he wanted this trip to be that of a pilgrim, but it turned into a trip of politics very fast. >> thank you very much, indeed, to joining us. colombians will go back to the polls june 15th. elections failed to produce a clear winner. many see it as a referendum on the fa rc rebel fighters. zuluaga said he would freeze the farc talk and announce war against the rebel fighters. we have reports now from bogota. >> reporter: they tried to put on a brave face. >> i call on those who did not

vote for me in the next three weeks join me in this crusade for peace. >> reporter: this election wil will-- >> president cannot be manipulated by the farc who are the world's largest drug cartels. >> reporter: widely seen as a stand in for the still popular president, a fierce opponent of a negotiated peace. >> we need zuluaga. vote for a free country, not the castro-chavez tyranny. >> reporter: but another former president insists it's peace or war that is at stake.

all presidents have attempted to end the 50 year war that has internal displaced a staggering 6 million colombians. now he said it may be within reach. >> this is not delusion. for the first time it's a real possibility. >> reporter: despite the high stakes voter turnout was extremely low, making many believe no one is serious about the crimes and redistribution of wealth. >> reporter: ianother election will be held three weeks away, and he must convince colombians that has he solution to the problems that impact order ordiy people the most. >> well, we'll be having sport in a moment, including the

latest french open, plus the world's top golfer stays atop the rankings, details next.

is justice really for all?

>> time to rub on the liniment, here is robin. >> thank you very much. in the match against portugal, delayed the start of sharapova's match. the san antonio spurs have had their lead reduced to 2-1 by the oklahoma thunder.

>> we talk about a teammate. that's everything you want your teammate to embody, a guy who gives himself up for the team. no matter how this game would go tonight i gain so much more respect for serg for laying it on the line, putting his body on the life and sacrificing his health for the betterment of the team. i'm glad we won the pablo team no matter what happened tonight. that's something that you want to have besides you every single day. >> the tension is building at the mercedes with the relationship between hamilton and rosberg seem to be deteriorating by the day. after the race the drivers refused to shake hands.

>> they might be mercedes team late, but hamilton said he and teammate rosberg are not friend. hamilton was upset how he was controversially denied pole on qualifying. the safety car was needed on the very first lap of supplied's race. hrunning world champion vettel began four from the grid but his race ended early with engine trouble. >> come on. >> both mercedes drivers pitted although hamilton felt he should have gone in earlier. towards the end of the race the britain had a problem with his eye, that's allowed rosberg to pull away and ricardo of redbull

to get closer. rosberg winning his second race of the year denying hamilton a fifth straight victory. the 2008 world champion managing to hold off ricardo for second. rosberg now replaces hamilton at the top of the standings four points ahead. >> i did really, really well, and pushed massively hard. the pressure was on all the way. but i was able to win. >> al jazeera. >> the indy 500 has an american champion for the first time in eight years. it was a thrilling race. hunter taking over castroneves. he would claim the biggest victory of his career. it was th the closest finish ine

race. and of course he he celebrated with the traditional bottle of milk. >> they followed up the record-breaking wins. the team broke a world record. 4 x 15 world record, the team led by double world champion. 14 minutes 27,22 2.22 seconds. kenya's women also shattered the world record in that same event.

golf's number one adam scott celebrating his first week at the top of the world rankings. australian scott finished 9 under par overall after final shout of 66 in fort worth, texas. that was matched by jason duff nery. the american birding the 18th hole to force a playoff. it took three extra holes to separate the pair but it was scott who prevailed to become the fourth australian to win at colonial. world number one rory mcilroy you put his personal problems behind him at wen wentworth. a round of 79 saw him drop to third. fall the week that he split with his fiancé.

>> it's ban difficult week in some ways, but it's been a great week in others. i played really good golf throughout the four days, and if just seemed like today it was meant to be. the guys ahead of me, i took advantage of that. even on the back nine there was a couple where the it just seemt was meant to be. >> canadiens 3-2 in overtime. in game four of the eastern conference final series. martin will secure them a ticket

to the stanley cup. >> on his way t, he promised to find the solution to issues of movement of officials which has hampered the development of the fifa in the nation. >> we want to defend the footballers. we want to defend the footballers in israel. what is the problem? the president obama is there are two nations. the problem is these two nations we have national football association, and they are entitled to work and to participate in all international competitions. where is the problem? one of these nations have no territory. it's an occupied territory. that's why it is so difficult that we shall find the solution

that football can be played, international football. teams, roads, coaches coming in to palestine and going out. here is the problem. that's the only problem. we try to do it. >> our top story rain delays the french open suspense play there. the defending champion should be making his appearance in the next hour or so. rafael in a del, and sharapova, these stories will be updated regularly on our website www.aljazeera.com/sport. www.aljazeera.com/sport. we'll leave it there. >> thank you very much. there are 16 days to go before the 2014 football world kicks off.

>> kick arounds on the beach. who could complain? >> now i'm terrified. it's absurd. all of these expenses do not have the population in mind. now most of it is coming from our own pocket. >> the estimated $14 billion hosting the tournament is at the pens of health, education and housing. louise loves his football, we he grays. >> every brazilian is in favor

of hosting the world cup. we are the country of soccer. but in terms of everything we're giving up it's not worth the sacrifice. >> reporter: brazilians around the country have been protesting as the world prepares to converge upon brazil. the tournament seems to get bigger and costlier every four years. there is obviously some passion for the world cup in a country that has won it five times. this at the iconic cabana beach in rio de janeiro, but as we check in on the days before the world cup kicks off we'll have to see if this passion affects the rest of the football-mad country. they'll tell you it was so different the last time that brazil hosted the world cup back in 1950. >> this explosion of enthusiasm did not start until brazil wan

in 1958, and then in the 70's when we started decorating the streets. >> reporter: they lost it that time to their tiny neighbors guilturuguay, and brazil is reao put that to rest. >> the marriage between football and brazil is a perfect one. i hoped that they would dive into the spirit of world cup. >> whoever said that football was just a game? brazil is the world cup looms it looks like a lot more than that. on and over the pitch al jazeera, rio de janeiro. >> stay with us. we'll have full coverage of the world cup when that happens at al jazeera. coming up late next the latest f

elections around the world and more from india

>> i'm ali velshi, the news has become this thing where you talk to experts about people, and al jazeera has really tried to talk to people, about their stories. we are not meant to be your first choice for entertainment. we are ment to be your first choice for the news. night. >> just how safe is our nuclear arsenal from the fo for terrorit attack. show that they are cooking the book. and how college may hurt a new generation of graduates. an iranian video celebrating happiness is anything but for those that created it. i'm antonio mora, welcome to "consider this". here is more of what is