too close to call. benjamin netanyahu claims victory in israel's election but his rivals say it's premature. so who will lead israel? the reaction to the race from israel and the white house. they're still using chemical weapons and intentionally targeting syrian civilians. >> there's evidence that the syrian government forces

committed war crimes there. also the unseen consequences of the ebola outbreak in west africa. farmers in central argentina are reaping unwelcome results. >> flooding will only get worse. >> an unpleasant prediction during harvest season. good evening and thank you for joining us. >> at this hour there is still no clear winner in israel's general election. it's all but ensuring a messy process. >> final election results are not expected until tomorrow but both the prime minister and zionist union leader isaac

herzog are said to be finding other leaders to form alliances. >> the joint list a collection of parties is projected to win 13 seats. the remaining 41 seats are divided among smaller parties. >> dana lewis joins us from tel aviv with more. >>reporter: antonio, generally i'm told that the main television channels here are pretty accurate. any separation between the two parties now as the votes are officially counted over the next few hours becomes critical but certainly as polls came in as you mentioned, both parties

claimed that they have the same seats. prime minister netanyahu was the first to respond saying this is a great victory and then spoke several hours later saying he definitely intends to form a government. >> we have promised to take care of housing crisis and cost of living and we will do that. i spoke tonight with all the heads of the parties. i call them to join me and set up a government in israel without delay. the reality doesn't take a time out. citizens expect us to quickly form a government that will work for them. that is what we'll do. >>reporter: isaac herzog also spoke but did not concede and invited all political parties to come together under his

leadership. >> i want to form a government that is good for israel that will return it to a democratic jewish country and aid peace with our neighbors so i ask all of the parties to come together with my leadership in order to achieve the unity of israel. >>reporter: it doesn't get anymore confusing in politics than here in israel on election night but it's very important to note that either of the main parties have the 61 seats necessary to form a government out of 121 seats, so all the negotiations begin now and it could take weeks for this to unfold. >> so how does the confusion play out now starting tomorrow? >>reporter: what happens officially is that the president of the country normally a ceremonial role suddenly he

becomes very important. he has to determine which leader, which party is most likely to form a government. he turns to them and says give it a go you've got 45 days. that's the rule. they could extend it 45 days after that but generally 45 day window and then they see if they can form a government. >> all right. thank you. israel's election of course has the obama administration in a difficult position. if prime minister netanyahu is able to form a coalition, his relationship with the administration could be tested. mike, has there been any reaction from the white house to what's unfolding in israel? >>reporter: well good evening. no not yet. as a matter of fact, the white house tried not to comment at all on the elections which were ongoing through the course of the day here on the east coast ending at about 4:00 o'clock

eastern time. it's no secret, stephanie, in moments both on and off camera, hot mic moments, you name it the bad relations acceleration over the past two weeks when president obama refused to see the prime minister when he visited washington and violated what the white house felt was protocol. >> you just listed the main issues there and the fact that

netanyahu in that last stretch of his campaign completely reversed course. so where does the white house go from here? do they try to bridge this divide? of course assuming that netanyahu is named the next prime minister. >>reporter: right, and it's a great question and even though there is perhaps animosity between president obama and netanyahu as leaders, after all, the forces here the long standing relations, the strategic, economic political ties between these countries run far deeper than the heads of state, the president and the prime minister. there's $3 billion a year of course in american money that flows to israel. israel of course a lynch pin of american security policy in the middle east. its closest military ally. but certainly a strategic partner in everything it wants to do to say nothing of the

significant domestic supports here in the united states. so the relationship will obviously continue to be strong but the progress some had hoped to make on the peace process, for example, that looks like it's in a shambles. >> all right. we're going to talk more about that in just a moment. >> for more we're joined by a professor after american university school of international service from washington d.c. let's assume the final tallies confirm this dead heat. israel's president then has to ask the two leaders to form a government. >>reporter: at this point it may be a national unity government has the president of israel apparently wants to see or it might be a narrow right

wing/religious government headed by netanyahu. >> a series of right wing parties that have won at least five seats giving netanyahu the best chance of cobbling together a government without the zionist union. >>reporter: that's right. >> herzog and netanyahu have been called to form a union. >>reporter: i think there is a realistic chance that it will happen. as much as netanyahu supporters really don't want to see that happen and in fact when he gave his victory speech his supporters chanted no to national unity. but there are also basically realities and you can't avoid the numbers. we're seeing a tie here. it's going to be difficult for him to cobble a narrow right wing religious government. it may not be the final outcome of the coalition talks.

we'll have to wait and see what happens. >> did he have a better than expected showing because netanyahu's last minute moves to say no more to -- and scaring conservative israelis? main stream. he was able to get supporters of the right wing who fear a left wing government to back him up in the end. >> talked about the peace process being in shambles if netanyahu remains as prime minister, how do you see it? is the peace process dead and if his rejection of a two-state

solution with the palestinians is his true position has he been negotiating in bad faith? >> i believe he has been negotiating in bad faith. i don't think he was ever serious about a two-state solution. and in fact his statement the other day contradicts his speech in which he stated clearly his support for a two-state solution, a palestinian state. today he says he doesn't support it. i don't see the zionist union, the other major rival, supporting him in a national union government unless he goes for the peace process. regardless what happens in the months ahead he's going to have to work very hard to rebuild his troubled relationship with president obama and to repair his image abroad. >> good to have you with us.

thank you. an arab coalition party looks to be in third place in today's general election and now it could shape the outcome of israel's next government. >>reporter: the leader of the joint list has made some statements saying we are going be patient, we are going to see what's going to happen in the next few days and then we will decide if we would even recommend herzog as a candidate to form the next coalition government. when the joint list sits down with the israeli president in the coming days they will see to find out who is the best candidate, who's able to form the next coalition. they're making it clear that they're not making any decisions right now as to who they would recommend to form the coalition government, whether the joint list would actually be part of

the next coalition government. they do know right now that as the third largest political party, they are in a strong position. sot if herzog were nominated as the candidate, he may need to approach them. members might actually request certain demands and conditions from herzog in order to support him as a candidate for prime minister -- for the prime minister's position and to form a coalition. former legal advisor and spokesperson for the palestine liberation negotiations team joins us now from washington d.c. you just heard our reporter sdieb this unity among israeli palestinian parties as an unprecedented accomplishment. what will the real impact be

with idea logically they seem so different. >> they are in fact very different. this isn't just an arab party. this is a non-zionist party that also has israelis in it it people who believe in democracy and don't believe in granting privileges to jews over palestinians in the country. they are going to be facing a lot of problems in that this is a country founded on racism and has pushed forward racism and in the most recent years have been passing waves of racist legislation. so they're going to do their very best to block that legislation and will be standing up against races and israeli occupation. >> that's one of their main priorities clearly. do the leaders of these parties partiesparties talk to palestinian leaders and are they making changes?

>> i think it's become very clear that the israelis are not interested in peace and it didn't take netanyahu's statement for the world to realize that he's not interested in a two-state solution. all you have to do is look at his activities on the ground since he's been prime minister there's been an unprecedented level of settlement activity and he's made it clear he never wants to see freedom for palestinians. so it didn't take him to say he didn't believe in palestinian statehood. we've seen that all along. i think what it will be is where palestinians will go and this is where we see a great deal of shifting. there's much more of a push to hold israel accountedable. we see a rise in the push for boycotts and we see a push for israel's isolation. so i think the real challenge is going to get these issues brought to the forefront and continue to talk about a never

ending -- that has only yielded more and more settlements. >> to get back to the success of this coalition, do they speak to palestinian leaders in ramallah? >> yes, of course they do. of course this is a list that is partly concerned with citizens of the state who have been facing unprecedented racist legislation but they're also worried about occupation which is why they will not form a coalition with herzog or otherwise because herzog himself continues to believe in -- >> i also want to talk about something, back in 2013, he voiced concerns about how the growing number of israeli palestinians would turn israel israel into a quote binational

state. could that concern, that theory could that possibly lead to a return to negotiations for a two-state solution? >> no. look i think at its very core that whole ideology is actually a very racist one. in other words how many arabs can we stand in this country before it is no longer a jewish majority. they have separate laws for jews versus that of palestinians. so i don't think that the quote, unquote, demographic issue is going to push israel towards more negotiations because they've seen that this has been the demographic issue for many many, many years. the only thing that is going change israel is when they're starting to be held accountable for their violations of human rights and international law. this is why it's very important to be pushing for israel's

isolation. it's important to keep in mind the foreign minister of israel who himself is a settler. >> we'll have to leave it there. thank you so much for joinening us this evening. >> thank you. >> those most affected by the ebola virus in west africa are children. >> and those who survived the outbreak are severely suffering in the aftermath. >> plus syrian forces deliberately targeting civilians again.

unicef says 9 million children have been affected by the ebola outbreak. >> many of the young people who manage to escape direct contact with ebola could not escape the fallout. more than 16,000 children have lost at least, you of their parents to the deadly virus. sarah crow is unicef's spokesperson. thank you so much for your time. what did you witness in the communities in liberia? >> when i was there in september and october last year it was at the height of the ebola crisis and it was truly apock littic. every day 4 to 500 people were dying that we knew of at the time. children were being turned away from hospitals for ordinary illnesses. there were no facilities in place at all, health centers

were closed. women were dying outside hospitals. just in ordinary -- during ordinary pregnancy and child birth. so we're seeing a dramatic shift now but there's still a long way to go. >> when you think back to the images of last fall from places like monrovia and you remember children dying alone on the streets or remember seeing those images and they're always the most heartbreaking because you can't imagine anyone can hold them or properly hug them. there are people in protective suits staying away from them. how do you comfort them? >> it's extremely traumatizing for children. their schools have been closed. they've lost parents. they've lost loved ones. the concept of an extended

family is just as important as a nuclear family there so uncles aunts, grandparents. so the extraordinarily wide nature of this disease is unprecedented and remains that way. we have to continue until there's zero cases which is why our report launched today is getting to zero. >> you have covered africa for a number of years as a journalist and with unicef. when you look at the children affected, what does that mean for the long term impact on these countries' economies, for example? >> at the time, at the peak of the crisis last year these countries were really facing a threat. they were very fragile at the time. so now we're looking at trying to build them back and work with communities so that there are safe burials.

there was a real sense of distrust in the beginning. not understanding what it meant to change the behavior of burials. these are ancient practices where people would touch their loved ones during the burial period and this has changed. an improvement up to 70, 75% of the burials are now safe. so this needs to continue. but the lessons that we have learned from ebola we hope will stay with us forever meaning building stronger health systems so that these countries will be resilient to any future outbreaks of other diseases because we just don't know what's around the corner. >> hopefully they do come back stronger. sarah sarah crow thank you so much of the 25,000 people if

world health organization believes have been affected by the outbreak -- 116 new cases were reported last week in guinea and sierra leon. 840 healthcare workers have been affected. 491 of those have died. in guinea ebola has seen a rise from 8 to 21 cases a day. doctor, thank you so much for your time. talk about this recent spike in cases and why are we seeing this steep rise in guinea? >>reporter: up until recently, many of the cases in guinea were in rural areas bordering liberia and sierra leon. but what we're seeing now is an increase in cases right here in the capital and that's concerning because the population here is very dense and what led to the big spike in cases next door between december and september was that the

capitals were infected. those two capitals are combined smaller than the population here so it's quite concerning. >> the cdc director who i know you've met with recently said after his return from guinea last week he said he was terrified it was going to be the next monrovia or freetown. how concerned are you about what you're seeing there these days? >> i'm extremely concerned. yesterday i spent the afternoon with a priest working on the ebola epidemic and we went door to door and talked to residents in a neighborhood where a lot of these cases in the city are occurring and people had no idea. they really were not aware. they are still saying this is invented by the government this isn't real. and here at hospitals in town physicians doctors are not thinking about ebola when they're seeing patients. we've had a couple of infections

among healthcare workers as a result of that. >> how is that? guinea is where the first patient contracted this strain of ebola. you would think they would be completely prepared. >> in guinea the epidemic was more rural and why you saw the explosion in liberia and sierra leon is because they were urban epidemics. it's becoming urban in guinea. and i haven't appreciated this until i came here myself in that guinea is somewhat different. politically in terms of the government. in liberia and sierra leon you have -- in guinea they have a very strong system of civil society. there are advantages and disadvantages.

in the next door countries, other people can come in the united states, for example, ngos can come in and create what we call vertical programs military life programs to get things done and here you have to work through the system which there are some advantages to that but it is more bureaucratic slower. >> can you talk about some of the other impacts that ebola is having on other areas of the healthcare system in guinea? >> people with hiv, tuberculosis malaria, women maybe needing to deliver. they're not coming. that means they're not being treated for diseases, not having appropriate attended births. children aren't getting vaccinated. so the first vaccine prevented disease is measles.

tonight an american being treated for ebola remains in critical condition. the unidentified healthcare worker was in sierra leone on friday and flew to the national institute institute for health in maryland. coming up negotiators working in switzerland trying to iron out the wrinkles plus the struggle of minority groups living in russian annexed cry pee i can't imea .

welcome back. the syrian government faces new accusations of war crimes for

allegedly using poisoned gas to attack its own people also unvaccinated children creating serious problems from california to pack stand first, an egyptian police officer will now stand trial in the death of an activist who was shot to death in january as police tried to disburse a crowd. prosecutors charged the officer with involuntary manslaughter. he could face up to seven years in prison if convicted. no trial date has yet been set and a potential blunder by the pentagon that could being worth more than $500 million. the "washington post" says military aid given to yemen is unaccounted for. the paper says officials have lost the ability to monitor the location of the weapons and planes donated to yemen. the government was toppled in january and now there's concern that equipment could be in the hands of al quaeda and the rebels thought to be backed by

iran the secret service wants to build a replica of the white house. a fake white house would provide a more realistic training ground. he says white house security training currently takes place in a parking lot. one note from the real white house, al jazeera has confirmed an envelope delivered there yesterday has preliminarily tested positive for sianide. this week in switzerland -- two weeks to work out the framework. here's more from switzerland. >>reporter: certainly they're making progress here but how much depends on who you speak to. if you listen to the iranian side they're extremely optimistic. dr. alley akbar who is the head

of the nuclear energy agency says the nuclear aspects are 90% there, just one remaining issue. the u.s. side not quite as optimistic although they say they're making progress. but they say there's a great deal of work. and remember the deadline for this frame work deal is at the end of this month and coming at the end of this week an iranian holiday. so the talks we think will cause at that point. a lot of work still to be done. iran is stepping up its support for iraq in its fight against isil. iran has sent missiles and rockets to its western allies to help curb isil advances. however, it could lead to more civilian casualties because it's not precision guided. new video shows isil

fighters destroying shrines in libya. the images are said to be from tripoli a veteran of the u.s. air force is accused of attempting to join isil. he was deported to the u.s. after an unsuccessful attempt to cross the board from turkey to syria. he is expected to plead not guilty. pugh faces up to 35 years in prison. video shows victims having trouble breathing after bombs were dropped on a village in italy province overnight. the bombs were allegedly filled with chlorine. am necessity international says the syrian regime is committing war crimes.

>>reporter: a man suffering the facts of chlorine gas is doused in water after an attack. that's according to human rights groups who monitor attacks like these. in hospitals, survivors are given oxygen. chlorine gas attacks thes are prio tour system causing sufficient occasion ocation s are tremendousrespiratory

-- attacked the city in a bid to drive out isil fighters. but in a new report am necessity international says the rules of war were violated. >> there's damning evidence that have the syrian government forces committed war crimes there. the research shows over 100 civilians were closed and the places targeted were not islamic state bases at all but busy markets and busy mosques and residential areas. >>reporter: while attention was diverted to the u.s.-led air strikes elsewhere, assad's forces killed civilians relentlessly. at least 60 people were killed in one day alone. doctors say they know the world is following, watching, and condemning its crimes but action is needed to stop the blood shed

and syria says it has shot down a u.s. surveillance drone. state news reports say it was intercepted over the country's northern region. washington is looking into the reports. if so it would be the first american aircraft to go down over syria since the u.s. led coalition began air strikes last summer. russia and rebels have criticized the law saying it's meant to appease the west and draw down on $40 million in aid. russia annexed cry pee i can't a year ago. now they say they've been

suffering victim right abuses. here's the report on life under the new regime. >>reporter: he has not slept in his bed since last september. his bag hangs where he left it. his clothes where they were hung on the day men in black uniforms abducted the 18-year-old and his cousin. now his father is left half hoping, half grieving and wondering if he's in any way to blame. >> during one of the interrogations interrogations, the investigating committee said that they'd studied -- they said you need to be careful of your behavior. i asked does that mean your children are alive. he smiled and shrugged his shoulders. >>reporter: he was deputy chairman of the informal parliament before it was shut down by cry pee i can't's new

administration. cry mae i can't -- crimea. and then their later return. it pulls in long standing arguments over land rights and religious differences but the tar tars aren't the only people complaining of human rights abuses at the moment. abductions and prosecutions are being used against those too critical of crimea's return to russia. >> another group is activists who express involvement in organizations supporting ukraine. it's surprising. these people consider themselves

ukrainen. ukraine more evidence of china flexing its muscle. today, beijing welcomed italy into -- last week britain joined the bank as a founding member

despite u.s. objections. it's seen as a rival told the world bank. meanwhile, white house officials were on capitol hill today pushing imf reform. jack lou warned law maker that the u.s. is facing challenges of credibility from emerging powers. >> our continued failure is causing countries and our allies to question our commitment to the multilateral institutions that we worked so hard to create. the united states runs the risk to see its role in these institutions erode. back in 2010 the u.s. and other g20 countries agreed on a reform package worth more than $700 billion but congress has yet to sign off on that an emergency appeal on the search for survivors after a

category 5 cyclone swept through the island nation over the weekend. >> we look at the relief efforts after the break.

the red cross says it's asking for $3.8 million in donations to help with the relief efforts. andrew thomas reports. residents are running out of food and basic supplies. >>reporter: the vast majority of buildings that i've seen during my time here have been all but destroyed. many pretty much flattened. thankfully very few injuries and relatively few deaths here. but there is concern going forward that if aid doesn't start coming significantly soon they'll have other problems to deal with.

a lack of drinking water, food shelter given so many houses have been destroyed. it's a real possibility. this is a picture repeated right across the islands. unicef says that 70,000 children aren't going to school at the moment because their schools have been destroyed. 60,000 children are in desperate need of healthcare. there's low immunization rates and they're afraid children will get sick. aid flights are starting to arrive on some of the outlying islands. it's going to be one of the first to get an aid flight in. there are other islands too that are suffering rescue teams found a second body today in the search for flood victims in corsica. the french island has faced heavy rains since saturday. authorities put the region on an orange flood alert over the weekend. the rain is expected to let up

early tomorrow researchers at boston children hospital say low vax nation rates are likely responsible for the meesalesasles outbreak. two healthcare workers and a security guard were killed while giving polio drops to children. it's the latest in the deadly attacks against immunization teams. >>reporter: although there have been major successes in the battle against polio globally pack stand is a major concern for the w.h.o. because of a

number of faces here in pack stand. the immunization program is under way according to the officer in charge there are problems but up to 754,000 children are to be given those polio drops. the other province is not so good. a number of deadly attacks on polio workers brought that program to a deadly halt. . pakistani government will have to meet this challenge otherwise there will be restrictions on pakistanis who wish to go overseas. >> they are trying to reach every child. we are trying our level best to satisfy 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 of vaccines have been wasted because of neglect. they will have to meet this challenge in order to eradicate this deadly disease pakistani authorities have arrested hundreds of patients this month who have refused to vaccinate their children. many pakistanis believe it's a guise for sterilization. officials say slow progress against the disease and growing drug resistance are slowing chances of meeting their 2050 target to eliminate tuberculosis. it's a contagious bacterial lung disease mainly occurring in poor areas. it requires months of antibiotic

treatment antibiotics have saved millions of lives since first introduced but some bacteria are now resistant to the drugs. european scientists may have found one in of all things horse dung. >>reporter: horses were domesticated around 4,000 years ago and ever since they've played an important role in the lives of humans. now though a discovery in their dung could help preserve human health. >> it harbors a diversity of microorganisms. they are in constant competition for space and it's therefore very likely to find potent antibiotics. >>reporter: the common mushroom that grows in horse manure. while cultivating it the swiss

research team discovered the fun gus killed off certain bacteria. >> the cell wall binds to it. so when you disrupt the cell wall bacteria usually dies rapidly. >>reporter: discovery is one thing but if the proteins ever go into antibiotics it needs to be mass produced so the team developed a process that makes it possible they say. >> this is a long process and that's why we are using reactors which then provide sterile environment for production. >>reporter: the scientists say the protein is are bust and robust

and stable. with an increasing number of bacteria becoming drug resistant, they hope their discovery will lead to a new generation of antibiotics. a new warning sign for some farmers in argentina during harvest season. >> why severe flooding is causing major damage to crops but the farmers may be the cause of the floods. >> and a journey through paradise. giving you a bird's eye view of the world's largest cave.

>> sunday. >> you're taking "if" i have kids and you're changing it to "when" i have kids. >> a life-changing choice. >> it is wonderful to have children, but i think you can have a happy life without children. >> follow a very personal journey. >> after the age of 45 to get pregnant... is one percent. >> i'm a bit nervous. >> from the best filmmakers of our time. >> it's not traditionally what broadcast journalism does. >> the new home for original documentaries. al jazeera america presents "motherhood on ice". sunday, 10:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america stunning video takes us inside the largest cave system.

>> journey to the center of the earth. >> looks like it as well. >> in our global view segment, we look at how news -- france's national front with the headline of the resistible rise of marine lapenne. the newspaper writes it's softened its image. the economist calls on main stream french parties to attack economic policies and expose links to russia

and japan has an editorial entitled japan should play more active role at u.n. for world peace and should do more to support disaster relief relief and peacekeeping >> soy is now in a lot of the foods we eat including meat and chicken. it's contributing to deforestation in latin america causing major loading. in argentina, flood waters have destroyed millions of dollars worth of crops along with tens of thousands of homes. >>reporter: this is the sound in central argentina. every house ruined. all residents evacuated. staying for now in the community center of the neighboring towns.

it was similar scenes across the north earlier this month as more rain fell in a few hours that normally falls in weeks. >> the water is down and i don't know what we're going to do. we'll have to borrow but i don't know if they'll give us loans. >>reporter: one of the crops at loss was his soy harvest, the crop that covers 60 million hectors of argentina. to make way for the soy, huge swaths of native forest had to be cleared. it's all green but not natural. where have all the trees gone? these soy fields some say exacerbate the flooding causing great suffering for many to the benefit of a few. >> soy production in argentina rose 126% in a decade. most of it for export to feed

cattle. >> in the last 16 years, we lost 300,000 hectors of native forest which is an outrage. it's only got 4% of its original forest left. it's a cocktail of conditions for flooding which will only get worse. >>reporter: the removal of vegetation leaves the soil less able to absorb water so when it rains the water simply flows over

scientists in spain are now fairly certain remains found under a convent are the remains of the author of don quixote. the exact location of his tomb was lost when the convent was built. england is preparing to bury king richard iii hundreds of years after his death. his remains were found under a parking lot in 2012 and confirmed through dna testing. richard was the last english king to die in battle. >> great archeological finds.

that's it for this edition of al jazeera news. >> thanks for watching. america tonight is up next. i'll see you again in an hour.