>> israelis go to the polls in what looks like one of the closest elections in a generation. >> hello again from doha. this is the world news from al jazeera. four days after cyclone pam brought construction to venuatu rescue teams reach remote areas. >> one of north america's most famous soccer teams is now playing a role in political di

from see. >> styles are voting in one of the most closely fought elections in careers. the highest turnout since 1999 is predicted. turnout will be crucial and it's looking good already. >> indeed. we're hearing from various israeli media that voter turnout is 20% higher at this time in the day than it was in the last election, and you're right when

you say that some suggest that this is the highest voter turnout that israeli has seen since 1999. that is significant. we only have to keep in mind that israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has served as prime three times the first time in the 1990's from 1996 to 1999 when he was voted out of office. these opinion polls have been extraordinarily tight, some suggesting that he may lose a number of seats. this may be a sense of deja vu tutor prime minister. whatever the case, it's far too early to say just how this election is going to turnout. some are saying this is the most closely fought election in a generation. within the last 24 hours before polls opened, we had the various leaders of two major parties including mr. netanyahu appealing to their base.

mr. netanyahu saying quite categorically at one point that he would not engage in any kind of talks with the palestinians that would lead to a state. this appealing to the far right of his coalition. we had isaac hertzog, it was announced that his running mate, former peace negotiator had dropped their deal, which they agreed some months ago where they would rotate the prime ministership. this is significant. really a clear sign here that these leaders are trying to get as many votes as they possibly can. >> easy for us to look at this as a two horse race. certainly looking at who will be the next prime minister it is, however the smaller parties are

intriguing because of the voting threshold and the parties have come together in sort of a loose union. >> indeed. that is why this election is historic in many ways. this is the first time we're seeing the four main political parties joining together under what's called the joint list. they are predicted to win at least 13 seats and that will give them a considerable amount of influence should they choose to use it, however they are indicating that they will opt to sit in opposition. whatever the case, there are smaller parties that people are looking at and indeed the leaders of those parties some already anointing them so-called king makers in this election. when we look at these polls look at the spread, look at the potential seats individual parties might win at this stage, it's just still too hard to call.

>> i keep saying it's a fascinating race, thank you from west jerusalem then. >> a special representative to the middle east is the italian diplomat who fills the post vacant for over a year. it's hold the appointment will help break the deadlock in negotiations to end israeli-palestinian conflict. the e.u. denied reports tony blare may resign from his current role as envoy for the middle east quartet. >> dozen was families are leaving the libyan city of sirte after two days of fighting. clashes have taken place between militia's close to the tripoli government and those to isil. >> amnesty international said airstrikes carried out by the syrian air strike last november may amount to war crimes. the human rights group investigated bombings which occurred over 18 days and found

1800 civilians were killed. on one day, 60 people were killed by government shelling. it is the self declared capitol of isil, the islamic state of iraq and the levant. >> a coalition of iraqi forces, shia militia and sunni tribal fighters is trying to recapture the city from isil, tikrit is on the road between baghdad and mosul. >> more than 90% of our objectives are going according to plan. what remains is a very small part, the center of tikrit. we stopped our military advance to tikrit to lessen casualties among our troops. the second thing is to protect what remains of infrastructure. by halter military operations, we give a chance for civilians

and families to get away from the battlefield. >> rescue workers have started to reach some of venuatu remote islands. at least 11 people have been killed, more than 3,000 people made homeless by the cyclone pam. little aid has reached the outer islands. our correspondent was one of the first foreign reporters to reach one of those seven islands. he sent this report. >> this wrecked building is one of three that make up the primary school. 160 small children studied here. they won't be coming back for sometime. the lieu of of this one has almost totally peeled away. this is tanna perhaps the island hardest-hit by the cyclone. we flew down on a small propellor plane only they can get through.

what is needed are the big planes with aid onboard. >> the priorities are the roads the tents shelters, foods and medicines. they are really needed. >> this school is one of the least damaged buildings in tanna, many are totally flattened. we came across a family sitting in the ruins of their home, trying to salvage timber to start believe again. >> this house i've had it since 1995. i told my wife, we have to move out now. when i could see the house moving up and down, my heart was sinking. i said we have to move and we

moved out of the house. >> this building that become an iimpromptu place for people to stay about 100 people staying here at the moment. the hope is as big military planes come in in the next day or two that proper aid will arrive. people all over the island desperately need it. >> in myanmar, three have been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for insulting religion. the image showing buddha wearing headphones to promote a bar. we have more. >> all three men have been found guilty of insulting religion and sentenced to two years plus hard labor in prison. they were given another six months for operating a bar outside licensed hours. their offense had been to put up a poster on facebook using an image of buddha in psychedelic

colors. when the bar owner realized this caused offense and outrage, he took it down and issued an apology. that wasn't enough. buddhist monks organized protests outside the bar and the men were detained and charged. human rights activists say there are several things that worry them about the verdict. it points to a lack of free speech in myanmar. they worry the provision used to convict the men may be interpreted so widely it could criminalize any discourse on religion. it points to the rising influence of a group of hard lined baddist monks. it was pressure from these two groups who call themselves 969 that the authorities brought the action against the men. these groups have also been behind boycott of muslim businesses and has lately been issuing a lot of anti muslim

rhetoric. the fact that this group and their views may be allowed to gain more in flu ins in myanmar is worrying, because the country has seen a rise in religious conflicts in recent years. with elections coming later this year will these conflicts be exploited. >> argentina's environmental disaster how cutting back the forest now blamed for recent flooding. >> pakistan struggles to eradicate polio. thousands of children are about to be immunized.

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>> israelis are voting in what looks to be the most closely fought election in years. analysts predict one of the highest turnouts since 1999 because benjamin netanyahu is facing a strong challenge from opposition leader. >> rescue workers are reaching remote islands in venuatu. at least 11 people have been killed in the cyclone and more than 3,000 homeless. >> a court in myanmar sentenced a new zealand bar manager and two local business partners to 30 months in prison for insulting religion. they were convicted over a facebook post with an image of buddha wearing headphones to promote the bar. >> the nigeria army recaptured

two towns from the armed group boko haram. the military said it's completed what it called a mopup operation. >> a statement issued by defense headquarters here in the capitol, they describe what happened on the ground. they say that they were able to inflict massive casualties against boko haram terrorists, that many were killed in the fighting over the two towns. they said that they were able to recover massive supplies of arms and ammunition and that the terrorists, that's what they called them, who survived fled, and were being pursued by chadian forces towards nigerias various borders in the region. now the question of the impact of all of this on the upcoming election whether it looks good for president goodluck jonathan,

analysts say yes these victories are good for the president. you recall that the election was postponed by six weeks for the military to deal with boko haram and questions raised about whether the president could do poorly in the election because of a perception that he hadn't dealt with the group properly. many do feel that this is positive news for the president but those in the opposition say it's too little, too late, over a million people displaced and many killed. >> the international monetary fund praised the indian government for policy reform. they also applauded india's new budget as a step in the right direction that improves business confidence. the i.m.f. expects the indian economy to grow by more than 7% over the next two years. >> a town in eastern india shut down in protest against the gaining rape of a 72-year-old

nun. all businesses and schools shuttered businesses. around a dozen people reportedly attacked the nun after breaking into a convent in the town last weekend. the victim is being treated at a local hospital. >> let's go back to our top story, the israel election, voting underway now. with us today al jazeera daniel levy. i want to expand on the domestic issues, it's easy to talk about the foreign policy issues, but the domestic issues that are driving this election, talk us through that. >> absolutely. i think the terrain on which the opposition wanted this entire election to be fought would have been socio economic domestic matters. in the summer of 2011, israel also had its massive social

protest movement. that didn't really lead to change. the election two years ago was fought largely on socioeconomic issues, but the sense is that this government didn't address them especially the housing crisis. the cost of housing increased 55% in the last five years rental costs similarly went up. it was about let's make this about the failings in that arena. i think what you've seen is an israeli prime minister who tried to say all that is well and good, but first you need to be alive to worry about having an apartment and if this iran group goes through you won't be alive. people didn't buy that. i think the prime minister over reached and upset even his own constituency. >> he has pushed so hard on the foreign policy and dropping the no palestinian state line basically on the eve of the

vote your average israeli probably justice wants a job and financial security and the for the gap between rich and poor to improve. >> this you go. you have a phenomenon in israel where you have a very squeezed middle class that has trouble closing out the month. you a working poor who see a society in which inequality has risen exponentially in recent years. israel probably has the largest in quality gaps of all oecd countries. you could see this election is the cost of living versus the risk of dying. whether they've sealed the deal, we'll to have wait and see. >> can you remind viewers what happens now exit polls will come out later on and we'll get some sort of indication, sort of

how long is a piece of string, but how long can web waiting to see a coalition formed or the idea of the formation of it? >> well of course there will be those exit polls. the thing to look out for in those immediate exit polls and they may or may not be exactly accurate. three parties, two from the right, one from the left, who are just hovering on the precipice of making it into getting enough votes. if that drops below the line, that affects the fortunes of the two camps. beyond that, they look at coalition numbers is there enough of a lead to have legitimacy to get first shot at forming a government, do potential allies pass the 61 threshold, the magic number for a majority. what then happens is that the president has to decide who gets first shot at forming a

government. that can take 28 days. there can be a 14 day extension so this could take a long time to unravel, but we could have a clear sense tonight if one party or one camp really appears to have carried the day. there are probably three scenarios motor worth focusing on can netanyahu form an ultra rightest coalition. can his opponent form a narrow no one rightest coalition or will we see a grand coalition. that will look clearer with the exit polls. >> thank you so much for your time. do appreciate it. >> pakistan sent troops to the city of lahore to prevent more rioting there. rioting began after taliban steaks on a church. two people suspected of being involved in the bombings were burned to death by protestors during two dice of rioting.

>> new cases of pole aye in pakistan despite a vaccination drive earlier this year. polio workers face major challenges in the northwest. taliban attacks have stolen vaccination promise in some regions. in peshawar with, hundreds of thousands of children are due to are immunized. >> although there have been major success in the battle against polio globally, pakistan remains a major concern for the world holt organization because of a number of cases reported from pakistan. the immunization prom is underway. according to the officer in charge, there are problems, but up to 754,000 children are to be given those polio drops. the story in another province is not so good. deadly attacks on polio workers has brought that program to a grinding halt.

the government will ever to gear up to meet this challenge otherwise there will be restrictions object pakistan anies trying to go. >> they are trying to reach every child. the security situation, there are challenges, as well. we are trying our level best to satisfactory not only the international community but the local community, as well. >> also, there has been criticism of the way the government has handled this crisis. millions of dollars worth of vaccines have been wasted because of neglect. the government of pakistan will have to really gear up and meet this challenge in order to eradicate this deadly disease. >> a journalist was reporting

the mysterious death of alberto nisman. he said the government published his travel plans as he fled for safety. >> 11 people were killed in the province of cordova earlier this month in argentina. massive deforestation for growing the crops may be to blame for the flood devastation. >> every house ruined, residents evacuated. staying for now in the community center of the neighboring town, there were similar scenes across argentina in the north this month as more rain fell in a few hours than normally falls in weeks. >> when the water goes down, i

don't know what we'll do. we're going to have to borrow, but i don't know if they'll give us loans. >> one of the crops he lost now covers 60 million hectares of argentina. to make way for the crops huge forests had to be cleared. >> this is green but not natural. where ever all the trees gone? these vast as lucrative fields some say only exacerbate the flooding causing great suffering for many for the benefit of a few. >> production in argentina rose 126% in a decade, most for export to feed cattle. >> in the last 16 years 300,000 hectares of native

forest was lost, it's only got 4% of forest left. add in climate change, and it's a cocktail of conditions for flooding with itch will only get worse. >> the removal of vegetation leaves the soil less able to absorb water so when it rains the waters simply flow over it. >> we need long term policies to regenerate native forests and not allow ever more deforestation. >> local authorities say they are abiding by a national law. the flooding continues with greater frequency. >> we have lost everything. who is going to help us replace all of this? >> despite the warnings, the deforestation continues. al jazeera argentina. >> new evidence suggests the

largest glacier could be melting faster than ever. research published in nature geoscience shows two sea floor path weighs thought to be channeling warm water under the glacier. the melt could continue to a four-meter rise in sea levels. >> warmer sea temperatures could be causing record numbers of sea lion pups to be abandoned in california. workers won't be able to save them all. >> the new york cosmos set to play a historic game against the cuban national team. it comes at a time the two canaries are attempting to restart diplomatic relations after more than 50 years. we report from new york. >> it's an announcement for a sporting event unimaginable for

the past 50 years. the in the morning cosmos and north american soccer league play the cuban team, marking the first time in 16 years a u.s. professional sports team has played on cuban soil. >> this is bringing the people together more than presidents, more than secretaries of states, because nothing stops sports fans from enjoying their sports the way soccer now is taking over. >> cuba's a country with a deep history of sports, so there's excitement there, as well. >> this is great for both countries. everyone in cuba is looking forward to this. >> in 1972, the united states sent a table tennis team to beijing to play their chinese counterparts paving the way for

thoued relationships and prompted a trip to beijing by then president richard nixon. ping pong diplomacy is what it's been referred to since. >> since the historic announcement by barack obama and castro the number of americans want to go visit cuba skyrocketed. >> nobody knows better than bob who's run a travel agency for the 36 years taking groups to cuba. his phone hasn't stopped ringing from people wanting to know how to visit the island. >> it's really a brand new world as far as cuba travel goes. from the few dozen requests we got in january a year ago to this year in the last two weeks in january, we had 1,500 requests for trips. >> this week, regularly scheduled charter airline service between new york and havana will again resume, marking another step along the way to reopening ties, booking

business travel and now in sports. al jazeera, new york. >> there's plenty more soccer news or football as my director is insisting i call it at aljazeera.com/sport. the right word apparently. all your you sport news there. al jazeera d.c./sport. their control tear the country to pieces. a new report from a big group of non-governmental organizations details terrible suf rings at the hand of their government, various groups fighting the government and neighbours with designs on one outcome or another, in many ways leaving fate.